Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Soon, the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince got married, and moved out of the palace to set up their own homes at the beginning of the year. However, the Third Prince was only qualified to participate in politics at this time, and he still acted along with his two younger brothers. In particular, like the Fourth Prince Hongli, he only worked as a handyman in the Imperial Household Department. Anyone with a discerning eye knew that he had no future, so he was spared from being plotted against by Hongli and the Eighth Prince's party, and from being the emperor's son, he was turned into a descendant of the rebellious royal family.

Prince Guo married Meng Jingxian, although the couple had some awkward feelings at first, it was nothing more than Prince Guo's unilateral desire for Concubine Xi in the palace. But now Concubine Xi did not fall into misfortune and become a nun in Ganlu Temple, so naturally she had no chance to cultivate feelings with Prince Guo. Although Concubine Xi did treat Prince Guo differently, she could not resist her imagination that Prince Guo wanted to use her to harm the emperor.

So when Yunxi married Fucha Langya, Yunxi, under Langya's guidance, saw the awkwardness between Prince Guo and his wife, and personally went to persuade Prince Guo. Later, Prince Guo lived a good life with Meng Jingxian. After all, Meng Jingxian gave birth to a son, Yuan Che, for Prince Guo.

Although this child was adopted by Yunxi and was not well raised by Zhen Yurao in the original plot, Yuan Che was born with the expectations of his parents. Prince Guo is in his thirties and this is the first time he becomes a father. Naturally, his joy far exceeds that of others.

However, after the first three princes entered the court to participate in government affairs, the emperor began to restrict Hongsheng from meeting Yixin, to the point where even Yixin's things could not be delivered to Hongsheng.

Yi Xin didn't care about the emperor's sudden madness. Anyway, she had already fulfilled the original owner's expectations and was not in a hurry to leave this world. She just wanted to stabilize the matter of the woman leaving the house.

After Concubine Hui was promoted to Concubine, she was also qualified to summon ladies from other clans, so she exchanged all the tributes that the Shen family sent to the palace after she was named Concubine for property.

Among them was a shop selling spices and skin care products, which was mainly run by Concubine An. Concubine An provided the recipes, while Concubine Shen and Concubine Zhen provided the raw materials. Concubine Hui used her reputation to recall those palace maids who had reached the age to leave the palace but were not living a happy life. This shop became very popular not only in the capital, but also later, at the request of ladies from all over the country, it opened branches in Jiangnan, Guangzhou, and Yunnan.

Seeing that the shop assistants they hired were mainly people from the palace, Yi Xin asked Fu Cha to secretly give them a lot of conveniences. She also suggested that people from institutions such as local charity bureaus be arranged to work in the shop. Now, the business became even more prosperous, and Yi Xin had to help them find several helpers, including young royal family wives such as Meng Jingxian and Langya.

It's not that Yi Xin is unwilling to lead those older wives, but they themselves prefer to do the wool business. In their small group, there must not be too many wives and concubines from various Mongolian tribes. Besides, after becoming proficient in knitting sweaters, it is just a matter of hands-on work, and it doesn't stop them from gossiping, which makes them very popular.

Later, when the emperor saw that Yi Xin had no intention of getting close to Hong Sheng, he gradually felt guilty towards Yi Xin and had treated Hong Sheng badly, so he made some not-too-excessive requests of Yi Xin, such as renovating the horse farm in the Old Summer Palace and opening it to wealthy people in the capital.

Moreover, Yi Xin also persuaded the emperor to pick up the activity of polo again. The emperor originally did not like Yi Xin's doing this, but after seeing Yi Xin playing several games of polo with the young wives and girls of the royal family, he felt that this activity was not bad. At least it could really prevent the Manchus from forgetting the skills of riding and shooting.

Concubine Hui felt that polo was something that could only be played among the upper class, and lacked the meaning of sharing the fun with the common people, so she turned around and picked up Cuju. Yi Xin also found a lot of information, which allowed her to restore the rules of Cuju in the Song Dynasty and a series of activities surrounding Cuju. She only tried two games in the capital, and the results left the emperor dumbfounded.

You have to know that Concubine Hui spent no less than 100,000 taels of silver to build the Cuju field, but she didn't expect that after two Cuju games, the 100,000 taels of capital would be almost recovered. Basically, any subsequent games she held would be pure money-making!

Although the national treasury was full, the petty emperor always felt that he was short of money. Seeing that the concubines in the harem, including the queen, were all better at making money than the other, he became depressed and autistic.

This time, it was clear that Concubine Xi was different. After all, even though she was demoted to a concubine from the Guaerjia clan, some people in the palace took her under their wing because of her surname. Concubine Jing also shamelessly participated in the Cuju field project because she had to support Princess Wen Yi. Only Concubine Xi seemed to have been forgotten. She could only compete for favor with a group of young concubines in the harem!

Concubine Xi herself could not stand such comparisons, so she put on a humiliating front against the others in front of the emperor, saying openly and secretly that they, as concubines, had forgotten the fundamental duty of serving the monarch and father, and were only thinking about competing with the people for profit, and that they had no virtues whatsoever as concubines.

Although Yi Xin did not place any people around the emperor in recent years, she never relaxed her surveillance on Concubine Xi. As soon as Concubine Xi showed signs of eliminating dissidents, she went directly to the Qianqing Palace and pretended that she had just heard what Concubine Xi said. She didn't need to say anything, as her mere appearance was enough to embarrass Concubine Xi.

Although the emperor did feel that it was not good for the concubines to make those noises outside, he sometimes valued practicality more. Everyone in the palace made money, so why should the emperor's share of the dividends be missed?

Not to mention that once the Cuju field was built, all the idle royal family members and children of powerful nobles in the capital went to the field, the public security in the capital improved a lot, and those incidents of bullying men and women almost disappeared. Wasn't this enough of a benefit for the emperor?

After sending Concubine Xi away, Yi Xin was also worried that the emperor would make a one-size-fits-all decision, so she directly told the emperor the benefits of the concubines finding something other than competing for favor: "Your Majesty should understand this principle even more: people should not be idle. Once they are idle, they have time to think about this and that, which often leads to trouble."

"There are few heirs in the harem, so the inheritance that the sisters have now will sooner or later be divided among the royal family members outside. Anyway, the meat will rot in the family pot, so why should the emperor worry about it?"

"If Your Majesty is worried that if this policy is opened, others will follow suit, I think that is unnecessary."

"There are thousands of people in this world, and smart people are rare. But looking at the emperor's residence and harem, do you think there are people with the character of Concubine Hui and Concubine Jing? Is there anyone else like them?"

The emperor did not think that Yi Xin was flattering him, so while he was secretly happy, he had to admit that a virtuous concubine was as rare as the loyal ministers of the previous dynasty.

So the matter just passed like that, but Yi Xin and the Qianqing Palace did not deliberately conceal the news of Concubine Xi's complaint, so Concubine Xi was portrayed as a villain in vain.

Yi Xin simply followed the example of the British royal family in later generations and turned watching polo at the racecourse, watching cuju at the cuju field, and going to the charity bureau into "royal affairs". Especially when watching polo and cuju, she did not hesitate to bring the concubines and princesses with her, and they presided over the opening and subsequent award ceremonies together with the clan leaders.

These measures seemed absurd, but the emperor did not object. In fact, because his reputation among the people, the dignitaries, and the students gradually improved, he simply allowed Yi Xin to do what she wanted outside the palace, which in disguise promoted the improvement of women's status.

The later emperor was Yi Xin's biological son. Although Da Pang Ju intended to separate the relationship between Hong Sheng and Yi Xin at that time, Hong Sheng was smart and had the support of the Fu Cha family. It was impossible for Da Pang Ju's actions in those years to alienate the mother and son.

Although Hongsheng did not overtly elevate the status of women after he ascended the throne, the mere fact that he allowed the establishment of female households was enough.

After losing their household registration for a thousand years, women finally regained their independence.