I swept the harem by pretending to be weak

Liu Zhirou also realized this, but she didn't take it to heart.

She is not the original owner, she did not grow up in the Liu family, and she does not have a deep relationship with the people in the Liu family. At best, she is just a partner.

What's more, after the extra grace from the Emperor and the Empress this time, the possibility of them entering the palace to meet him again is almost unimaginably low. Since they can't meet him, it doesn't matter what their attitude is.

Although grand banquets were held in the palace during the New Year and the emperor's birthday, women of noble birth were allowed to enter the palace to pay homage to the empress and meet her daughters who had entered the palace to become concubines.

However, this kind of meeting also has hierarchical requirements. The queen has to receive the princesses of the princes, the wives of various noble dukes, and the wives of the prime ministers and ministers, but she will never receive the families of all the important figures and the relatives of all the concubines.

If they wanted to attend the banquet, the Liu family was undoubtedly too low in status. Liu Ming was just a nominal official who developed from a businessman. He even donated money to get his official position. He was the most humble one, the one that was looked down upon by the clean officials.

As his mother and his wife, the old lady and Zhao, of course, did not have any imperial edicts.

The possibility of entering the palace without an imperial edict is really small.

Moreover, although the current imperial court claims that bloodline is not important and that talent is the only factor in all matters, in fact, people in the capital still highly respect the dignity of bloodline.

Just like the emperor, even when he felt most sorry for Liu Zhirou, he only promoted her position and ordered people to send a large number of rewards to appease her. He never mentioned that he would promote her father's official position in the previous dynasty, let alone any title to reward her.

The old lady thought for a while, and seemed to have remembered something. She slowly said, "There have always been many strange things about the royal family. There are indeed a few that may be helpful to Your Majesty."

"Whether it helps or not, just tell me. If it doesn't work, I'll just listen to your story." Liu Zhirou was very gentle in her attitude towards the old man.

After hearing what she said, the old lady slowly spoke.

"The first thing is an anecdote about our great ancestor. When he was young, he went hunting with his uncle. During the hunting trip, he encountered a very rare white fox."

"When Taizu saw the white fox was bloated, he thought it must be pregnant, so he felt pity for it and didn't want to hurt it, so he let it go with the arrow on his bow."

"Later, the former emperor was extremely licentious and killed loyal officials. Taizu's family suffered a great disaster and he himself was imprisoned. Fortunately, a beautiful woman in white rescued him at all costs. Later, this woman married Taizu and gave birth to Xingzong."

"Taizu was grateful for the woman's life-saving grace, and seeing that she was not afraid of the gossips of the world, and did not have any grudges against Taizu's criminal status at the time, he was very happy to have a beautiful wife and son all of a sudden."

"But Taizu felt heartbroken every time he thought of the injustices suffered by his family members and saw the sufferings everywhere. He was determined to do something to change the miserable world."

"The woman also supported Taizu very much, so she spent all her family wealth to help Taizu recruit soldiers and horses. But Taizu's expedition at that time was not smooth sailing, and he soon encountered a great disaster."

"The woman died because she protected Taizu from disaster. On the night of her death, Taizu was extremely sad. In a trance, he dreamed that the white fox came into his dream, bowed to him and thanked him, saying that he had repaid the favor and could become an immortal."

"After Taizu woke up, he felt lost and regarded Xingzong as a treasure. Later, he had many sons and daughters, but no one could shake Xingzong's position."

Liu Zhirou didn't have much hope at first, but she really didn't expect that the old lady would give her such a big surprise all of a sudden.

This matter concerning the white fox was indeed something she was eager to know.

At this time, Zhao poured cold water on him.

"Old lady, it's fine if you talk about this kind of strange story at home, but why are you talking about it in the palace? It's just a rumor spread among the country folk. If Taizu really experienced such a thing, how could he have issued an order to ban the worship of ghosts and gods?"

Zhao looked as if she didn't believe it at all.

What she said actually made a lot of sense. It was true that Xingzong was very favored and respected at that time, but it was also true that there was no record of Xingzong's mother in history books.

If that woman was really Taizu's beloved wife, and had such a unique identity and experience, then how could Taizu not have this matter recorded?

Even if Taizu really hated the belief in ghosts and gods because of some experiences in his childhood, he would immediately order people to stop spreading such news instead of letting the matter ferment.

This legend can be seen from various signs that it was obviously made up by someone.

If Liu Zhirou had not seen the huge white tiger phantom with her own eyes when she first slept with the emperor, she probably would not have believed such a ridiculous legend.

"You are so young, what do you know? There must be some truth to all the different opinions. What's more, this is what the queen wants to hear!"

The old lady was not polite either. She scolded Zhao harshly, while vaguely telling her the importance of the lady in front of her.

Liu Zhirou knew that what the old lady said was not groundless, but was based on facts. However, it was hard to talk about such things. Among the three women who came to visit him, only the old lady was the one who had a plan in mind. The other two were not very reliable. If one of them accidentally spread the news, it would cause some trouble for her.

So she did not comment on the authenticity of the story, but just kept urging the old lady to continue telling the story.

After the old lady finished telling the stories of Emperor Taizu in the long past, she also talked about the interesting stories in the harem of the previous emperor.

"When the late emperor was in his prime, he was full of vigor and vitality. He conquered all directions and made great contributions. He defeated the barbarians from all directions and offered various gifts to him in order to seek friendship and avoid the disaster of national destruction and extinction."

"There is a tribe called the Santoya tribe. They live in a remote area with a small population and no natural treasures to offer. But their chief has a little daughter, only about fifteen or sixteen years old, who is pretty and charming, graceful and charming, and a famous beauty."

"They thought hard but couldn't come up with a solution, so they had no choice but to use this beauty as the main gift, and put other beautiful women from other elders' families as foils to send to the late emperor."

"As the ruler of a country, the late emperor had seen all kinds of beauties, but when this obviously exotic beauty approached, he was still fascinated. He was immediately delighted and soon favored this beauty. He also exempted the Santoya tribe from taxes for several years and even gave them many rewards."

"The chief of the Santoya tribe is also a capable man. He is very good at using the power of the late emperor to intimidate many powerful tribes around him. Under his management, the Santoya tribe has suddenly grown from a small, inconspicuous tribe of only a few thousand people to an important presence among the southern barbarians."

"And his daughter, after entering the palace, was also quite impressive. Even if she wasn't the most favored in the harem, at least she had the late emperor infatuated with her."

"It is said that after this beauty married into the palace, she gave birth to a son! This way, she will have someone to rely on when she gets old, and she won't have to worry about losing her love as her beauty fades. Her tribe will also have a supporter in the future. As a foreign woman, this is truly a blessing."

Zhao curled her lips where the old lady couldn't see. Liu Zhilan and her mother maintained the same expression. They didn't quite believe the strange stories the old lady said.