Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Half a year passed, and Concubine Wan still hadn't figured it out. Concubine Hui no longer had any feelings for the emperor, so she gradually stopped persuading Concubine Wan to reconcile with the emperor. In the harem, only Concubine Yi Xin, Concubine Hui, Concubine Yue, Concubine An, Concubine Guaerjia and Concubine Fucha had the opportunity to sleep with the emperor, while the emperor mostly visited the palace maids who had no status in the rooms behind the Qianqing Palace.

Only Yi Xin and Duan Fei, who were more well-informed, knew what was going on in the emperor's private quarters. Concubines like Jing Fei and Hui Fei, who were in charge of palace affairs but had no connections in the Imperial Household Department, knew nothing about it. Based on their impression of the emperor's diligence, they thought that the reason he had not given birth to any more princes or princesses was purely because he rarely spent time in the harem.

The emperor had long begun to suspect that someone had tampered with the concubines in the harem, so after he had stopped writing before the New Year, he immediately summoned Xia Qian to conduct an investigation of the concubines in the harem. This time he did not even let the empress go, and Yi Xin, who currently had the highest rank, was the focus of the investigation.

The emperor saw the benefits of the Sticking Office from the Nian Gengyao incident, so the Sticking Office has been well-funded for more than a year. Xia Qian has been working more meticulously, and even without the emperor's instructions, he has already arranged surveillance for the harem in advance. This time the emperor asked him to check the harem, and it took him about half a month to think about it. Anyway, he only needed to summarize and refine the words and deeds of the concubines that he had recorded before.

So, after the emperor urged him twice, Xia Jian changed his original plan and sent the records of the queen and concubines to the emperor just ten days later.

The data showed that even though the queen was imprisoned, she could not help cursing whenever she heard news about Concubine Wan or Yi Xin. The queen had placed extremely heavy suspicion on the two new concubines, especially Concubine Guaerjia, who had a not-so-good brain. She had been wearing the eighteen musk beads given by the queen for more than half a year, and her body had probably been damaged.

As for Yi Xin, Xia Jian certainly recorded a lot of things, but they were all unimportant. It seemed that Yi Xin was indeed as bright and beautiful as she appeared to be, a rare innocent person.

There was nothing wrong with Concubine Jing and Concubine Duan, but Xia Qian always felt that Concubine Duan must be no simple person. It was a pity that he still hadn't found any evidence against her.

The imprisoned Concubine Nian and Noble Lady Wan were both depressed, but Concubine Hui recently remembered what Concubine Nian had done to her and wanted to use this to encourage Noble Lady Wan to cheer up.

There was nothing wrong with Concubine Zhen, but Concubine Li, who had fallen out of favor and lost the support of Concubine Nian, frightened herself into neurasthenia. She would often panic at the slightest disturbance at night and was prone to nightmares. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before she was sent to the cold palace.

Concubine Yu was devoted to supporting the Fifth Prince and was too lazy to get involved in other matters. Concubine Xin was now only thinking about Princess Shuhe. Like Concubine Xiang, she was always worried that the princess would be sent to marry into Mongolia in the future.

Others all had some ideas, but most of them wanted to win favor and conceive an imperial heir as soon as possible. However, no one wanted to take action against other concubines.

However, this exposed the Empress and Concubine Hui. One of them wished that all the concubines in the palace would disappear, while the other wished to kill Concubine Nian. It seemed that neither of them had a good goal.

Especially Concubine Hui, the emperor's disappointment in Concubine Hui has never disappeared. Originally, he favored Concubine Hui in order to let her check and balance the former Concubine Hua. Who knew that Concubine Hui only looked smart, but her brain was not that good. When she was first proposed to share power with Concubine Hua, she actually proposed to reduce the mung bean soup for the palace servants to achieve the purpose of frugality. If he hadn't stopped her, Concubine Hui would have been the one who gathered the resentment of the harem.

Especially when she had not yet officially taken over the palace affairs, Concubine Hua dared to blatantly ask her to settle accounts and grind ink. She also dared to wander alone by the pool late at night, which really led to Concubine Hua pushing her into the water, and she caught a cold and hurt her body.

The fake pregnancy incident that followed made it even more clear that Huipin was a person who only looked good on the outside but had no real substance.

If Huibin's performance up to this point only made the emperor feel that he had misjudged her, then Huibin's resentment towards the emperor after the fake pregnancy incident, and even her determination to kill Concubine Nian, made the emperor want to kill Huibin.

The emperor even felt that Huipin was unable to check and balance Yixin. Now it seemed that she could share the palace power in Yixin's hands with Jingfei. In fact, it was all because of the emperor's support and the fact that Yixin herself had no idea of ​​dominating alone. If someone else took over, they could still do as well as Huipin.

As for the Queen, the Emperor reprimanded her again, which made him miss Queen Chunyuan even more.

Then there is Concubine Wan. The emperor feels that he still cares about Concubine Wan, but Concubine Wan is really unruly and does not have the virtues of a queen. She even said that day that her love was misplaced. He still thinks it is Concubine Wan's honor to be like Empress Chunyuan. Concubine Wan has been favored for several years because of Empress Chunyuan, but now she dares to speak rudely to him, not only does she hate Empress Chunyuan. She is really unbearable.

As for Yi Xin, the emperor saw that she was fair and upright, and was more like a queen than the empress, which made him feel very embarrassed.

Yi Xin knew from the beginning that the emperor was monitoring the harem, so she tried to do things openly and talked less and less behind closed doors. Anyway, there was no one worthy of her intervention now.

She didn't know that she had given the emperor the illusion that she was more like the queen than the empress. Even if she knew, she would only feel that the emperor's mind was unpredictable. Who knew when he would think that she, a concubine, dared to act like a queen.

The Huan Yi incense in Concubine Nian's palace had been used up long ago, and because the emperor did not order more to be made, the supply of Huan Yi incense was cut off.

And Concubine Nian's burning heart seemed to calm down gradually as the last scent of Huanyi incense dissipated. Even Songzhi gradually stopped persuading Concubine Nian that the emperor still cared about her.

It was on a spring day when flowers were blooming and Concubine Nian rarely walked out of her room that Concubine Wan appeared in the Yiku Palace.

Concubine Nian's enemy was Concubine Nian. Concubine Nian's expression had just changed when Concubine Wan, standing tall and graceful, bowed gracefully, saying, "I am Concubine Wan Zhen Huan of Yongshou Palace. I am honored to meet Concubine Nian."

As she spoke, Wan Guiren stood up and looked straight at Concubine Nian, challenging her: "Concubine Nian is truly a beauty of the country. The Manchus, Mongols and Han people combined are not as beautiful as you."

Concubine Nian had been depressed for many days, and her appearance had already been damaged. Song Zhi directly scolded Concubine Wan, "Concubine Wan really has no rules since entering the palace. Is this Yikun Palace a place where a mere noble like you can come at will?!"

Concubine Nian stood on the high steps and looked at Concubine Wan with full contempt. "Concubine Wan's character must be inherited from her family. In my opinion, Zhen Yuandao was probably just a false noble man in the previous dynasty. Who knows when he will reveal his greedy nature. I am waiting for your Zhen family to have a good end."