Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

On the second day after the election, the positions of the ladies entering the palace were determined, and the eunuchs and palace maids went out of the palace to announce the decree. As expected, An Lingrong's move into the Sun Mansion was agreed. Everyone in the Sun family knelt again. An Lingrong was of course still very uncomfortable, but the maid who stayed to teach her the palace rules and etiquette reminded An Lingrong that she had received full respect from the Sun family.

The nanny's name was Malu, a member of the Majia clan of the Baoyi Banner. She worked in the Ministry of Punishment and had always been law-abiding. Who would have thought that this time she would be asked to go out of the palace to teach the young lady who was about to enter the palace, and this young lady was so poor that she had to rely on other people's families.

But she was not the kind of person who had high expectations but poor skills. Since she came to the palace to teach the young lady who was about to enter the palace the rules and etiquette, she was too lazy to care about other things.

But An Lingrong only knew the basic etiquette of meeting the emperor, so there were many things to be taught. Fortunately, the day before, Ma had generously given An Lingrong one thousand taels of silver for her to use. She also told An Lingrong not to be stingy when rewarding people from the palace, and reminded An Lingrong in advance to prepare a purse of twenty taels of silver as a reward for the nanny who taught her the rules, otherwise Nanny Ma Lu would probably scold her.

After settling An, Ma came to Sun Miaoqing's yard to talk.

Ma tidied Sun Miaoqing's hair with a look of satisfaction on her face, and said with a smile: "Sister has grown up a lot after entering the palace. She knows how to build connections for the family."

Just then, Ma came to visit. Sun Miaoqing signaled Chunjiang to guard the door. When she and Ma were alone in the room, she began to talk seriously about what she had seen and heard in the palace: "Somehow, An Yingmin, holding a cup of tea, bumped into Xia Dongchun, the sister of Xia Wei, the Baoyi Zuoling of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and made Xia Changzai's clothes wet."

"An Da Ying was of humble origin and had no money, so he was speechless for a while. It was the tattooed title Wan Changzai who brought Shen Guiren to help, and the farce was temporarily calmed down."

Ma was not in a hurry to speak, but she had already noticed Wan Changzai and Shen Guiren.

Sun Miaoqing continued, "When the Empress Dowager asked if she had studied, Concubine Shen replied that she had not. The Empress Dowager praised her for her dignity and virtue, so she was selected. But Concubine Wan was very special. She first stood up and responded after the eunuch called her name twice. Later, the Empress Dowager brought up her family name and insisted on putting down the sign. But Concubine Wan brought up the words of the late emperor who denied the Empress Dowager's statement that her family name was not good and violated the Emperor's taboo. She also did not move at all when the Empress Dowager poured water on her and scared her with a cat. This left the Empress Dowager helpless."

"What is most puzzling is that when she explained the origin of her name, she used the allusion of the King of Chu's love for thin waists, and she confronted the emperor in court with the line 'Hanhuan has a slender waist in the palace of Chu'. The emperor even said that the Forbidden City has good feng shui and will not let her beauty fade away."

Ma was so surprised that she was speechless. She felt that her understanding of the emperor was refreshed and she also deeply realized the difference of this Concubine Wan. She immediately decided to investigate the Zhen family.

Sun Miaoqing's next words were the key point: "The emperor's inner treasury is not rich, and this time the selection was all done by Concubine Hua. If you ask around, you will know that Concubine Hua has Huan Yi Xiang, which was specially awarded by the emperor. But I always feel that there is something wrong. It is said that Concubine Duan caused Concubine Hua to lose a child when she was in the palace, but now Concubine Duan can sit on an equal footing with Concubine Hua and share the same position as a concubine even though she made a big mistake. I don't know if it has anything to do with Huan Yi Xiang."

Ma's family background was stable, and after she got married, Sun Zhuhe also respected her, so there were no disputes in the backyard. However, although the Suzhou Weaving Factory looked prosperous, not just anyone could hold the position. Especially since Sun Zhuhe came to power during the most chaotic period of the late emperor's later years, one can imagine the dirty things Ma had witnessed.

So when Sun Miaoqing mentioned it, she keenly felt the fact that although Concubine Hua, who was at the peak of her career, seemed to be surrounded by glory, she was actually weak inside and full of crises. She immediately understood that the Sun family must not get close to the Nian family.

The Sun family had no way to find out more information, but Ma went through the route of marrying Gao Bin's cousin, and with the help of An Lingrong's face as the promised wife, and Ma gave a large sum of money, the Gao family did send over a lot of valuable information.

Later, Jiang Xinxin left and returned the body to Sun Miaoqing. At this time, the Sun family took the life-saving pills left by Jiang Xinxin and got in touch with the late emperor's Thirteenth Prince. They completely broke away from the Eighth Prince's party and threw themselves into the arms of Emperor Yongzheng, or to be more precise, Prince Heshuo Yi.

As for An Lingrong, who indirectly benefited, she formed an alliance with Sun Zhuhe, so naturally in the eyes of Emperor Yongzheng she belonged to the faction of his beloved Thirteenth Brother. In the palace, she was only one step inferior to Zhen Huan, the substitute for true love. Even later her father An Bihuai was executed for corruption and bribery, which did not affect her status in the harem.

Even her son Hongyan was quite favored by Emperor Qianlong during his reign. Emperor Qianlong even took his father and his thirteenth uncle as examples and always treated Hongyan as a real brother. Later, Hongyan did not disappoint Emperor Qianlong's kindness and really continued the friendship between Emperor Yongzheng and Prince Yi. It was just that he was a little unlucky and failed to obtain the same iron-hat prince title as Prince Yi, but only an ordinary prince.

The reason why Jiang Xinxin wanted to leave was because the Sun family intended to send her to be a concubine of Prince Yi's son. She herself did not want to live in such an overly feudal era, so she simply gave up the merits that Sun Miaoqing had done and wanted to capture Sun Miaoqing and do things for her.

After that, the Sun family prospered. Sun Zhuhe was able to serve as the Minister of Revenue during the reign of Emperor Qianlong and provided protection for Concubine Gao Xiyue. When Sun Zhuhe retired, Emperor Qianlong was already old, and Sun Zhuhe even had the opportunity to replace Zhang Tingyu, who was specially granted by Emperor Yongzheng, and he was given the honor of being enshrined in the Taimiao.

Of course, Jiang Xinxin guessed that this was simply because the Sun family had never had a daughter enter the palace.

Sun Miaoqing married Prince Yi's seventh son, Hongxiao, as a concubine and later gave birth to a son and a daughter. Her son failed to inherit Prince Yi's title, but after her daughter married Mongolia in place of a princess in the palace, Emperor Qianlong granted him the title of a prince.

Jiang Xinxin felt aggrieved for Sun Miaoqing when she saw this, but Sun Miaoqing herself thought it was a good idea. Later, when her daughter was able to bring her grandson and granddaughter back to the capital to live, she had even less intention of objecting. It seemed that only Jiang Xinxin, who was watching from the sidelines, felt a toothache.

In the early days, Zhen Huan and Shen Meiyu were not affected by the loss of An Lingrong. It was only later that the news of their affairs with other people came to light, and the Zhen family and the Shen family were exterminated along with their three clans. Yun Li was stripped of his title and demoted to a commoner, and the Wen family was exterminated along with their three clans.

Of the twins born to Zhen Huan and Yun Li, only the girl was sent to Dzungar to marry when she grew up, and the boy never grew up at all.

Shen Meizhuang's child never had the chance to be born, and all the ugly things the queen had done were exposed. She was not deposed thanks to the empress dowager's last bit of face, but she died of illness directly.