The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

When Concubine Qian heard these two words, a fear greater than facing Dianpo instantly enveloped her.

A man's shadow quickly passed by Concubine Qian Guipin, and the emperor, wearing a black dragon robe, hugged the unconscious Xie Yuzhen amid the uneven greetings from the concubines and palace servants.

He did not even glance at the pale-faced Concubine Qian. Instead, he frowned and ordered the eunuch Li Zong who was following behind him to call the imperial physician.

"Your Majesty, please place Concubine Xie in a side hall first," said the Queen.

She also didn't like Concubine Qian's pretentious and lecturing attitude, so she didn't stop Xie Yuzhen from confronting Concubine Qian. But she also didn't expect that Xie Yuzhen would cry or go crazy at will.

The queen was born into a wealthy family and was the only daughter. She was brought up very strictly by her parents. She had only come into contact with noble ladies who had etiquette and rules ingrained in their bones. She had never seen Xie Yuzhen act so shamelessly, so she was frightened for a moment like everyone else, until the emperor appeared, she did not react.

Rubbing her temples, the queen said helplessly: "Let's all go, Concubine Qian stay."

The concubines did not dare to say anything and left together. The last one left, Concubine Qian, was already shaking like a sieve: "...Your Majesty..."

She was still kneeling on the ground, with a red mark still visible on her forehead from the heavy knock. Concubine Qian was stunned for a moment, then crawled over on her knees like a madman, no longer caring about her dignity as a concubine, and hugged the queen's thigh: "Your Majesty, save me! I, I didn't know she would... I just wanted to teach her a lesson, no, just give Concubine Xie a few words of warning..."

She was almost on the verge of tears.

The Queen wanted to kick Concubine Qian away for losing her composure, but seeing how pitiful she looked, she softened her heart a little and ordered her attendants to come forward, pull Concubine Qian away, and help her stand up.

The queen said, "I know you have always been a rule-abiding person."

"...Your Majesty." Concubine Qian looked at the Queen with expectant eyes, asking for help.

However, the Queen's eyes turned down: "But the palace is not a Qian's house. There is no rule that a woman cannot divorce and survive if she is killed by her husband's family."

"Empress!" Concubine Qian's eyes widened. She said anxiously, "The Xie family has a bad reputation. It will, will implicate Your Majesty and the sisters in the palace!"

"There has never been a woman in this world who would do something to survive, which would cause outsiders to talk about her reputation and implicate other women!"

The Queen frowned, "Besides, if you're talking about a bad reputation, then the Wuwei Marquisate has raised such a vicious and mean son, which is a disaster for the whole family!"

Concubine Qian sobbed, "That's... how can it be the same? Men don't marry for reputation..."

"You can rest assured about this. His Majesty is not as narrow-minded as you are."

"......Empress?" This time Concubine Qian really burst into tears.

However, the Queen was already annoyed to the extreme by her: "It seems that I was wrong to give you the position of noble concubine. I thought you had learned your lesson from criticizing Ning Fei before and no longer disrespected Ning Fei. Who would have thought that you are bullying the weak and afraid of the strong."

Concubine Qian was forced by the palace maids to stand in place, but she only felt the fear in her heart growing stronger and stronger, and her limbs became soft as a puddle of mud. If there were no palace maids to support her, she would have collapsed to the ground immediately.

"Qian, do you still remember that when you were fighting with Concubine Ning for the custody of the Third Princess, you criticized her for being married and spoke ill of her. What did His Majesty reprimand you for?"

Concubine Qian's face became increasingly flustered, she opened her mouth and forgot to breathe.

The Queen stared at her fiercely: "Your Majesty has said that you should not let mean and stupid women harm the heir to the throne. Qian cannot be the mother of the heir to the throne for the rest of her life!"

Concubine Qian could no longer hold on, she rolled her eyes and collapsed completely on the two palace maids.

At the last moment before she fainted, she heard the Queen's ruthless decree, depriving her of her position as a noble concubine and demoting her to the rank of Shunyi.

During the Dasheng Dynasty, a concubine could become the main lady of a palace starting from the rank of Jieyushi, a third rank. However, Qian Shunyi was demoted from the rank of Guipin, a second rank, to Shunyi, a fourth rank, losing her main position and being demoted three levels. This huge blow caused Qian Shunyi to faint completely.

The Queen shook her head and said, "Help Qian Shunyi down and ask the imperial physician to come and see her."

Even if she fainted, she couldn't be sent back to the palace. What if the emperor remembered and asked about it later?

Seeing the emperor's desire for control growing year by year, the queen decided to be prepared.

A side hall of Kunning Palace.

The emperor put Xie Yuzhen on the bed. The woman's cheeks were red, her eyes were closed, and there were traces of tears in the corners of her eyes.

The emperor pinched her nose and said, "Now that you are awake, stop pretending to be asleep."

Xie Yuzhen's eyelashes trembled slightly. She opened her eyes and looked at the emperor shyly: "Why is your majesty here?"

The emperor told her to look up with a smile: "If I hadn't come, you would have scared Qian to death, and it would have been hard to explain."

Xie Yuzhen curled his lips and said, "I never take the initiative to provoke others. Your Majesty, please go ask others, ask what the noble concubine said... I am indeed not a woman who stays content, but do I want to do this?"

She sniffed and complained in a sobbing voice: "Should I just obey their wishes and die in that mansion?"

The beauty shed tears, and she was the one he loved the most. The emperor couldn't help but blame Qian Shunyi: "Don't cry, don't cry. The queen is the most fair. She will definitely let you vent your anger."

Xie Yu almost couldn't maintain his expression of resentment and grievance. Listen to what nonsense this man said. He was a concubine who was bullied by another concubine with a higher status, but he didn't even say a few words of comfort, but praised his first wife...

In that case, what's the point of having this man? You might as well just climb into the Queen's bed yourself.

Xie Yuzhen was complaining in her heart, and she thought that this might be a good idea, so she looked at the emperor with resentment: "Of course I believe the Queen, but Your Majesty doesn't want to comfort me, I really didn't mean to faint just now, I just got so angry that my eyes went black and I didn't know anything."

She covered her chest and said, "And my chest feels stuffy..."

Xie Yuzhen felt uncomfortable all over. When she was arguing with Qian Shunyi, she felt as if a huge shadow was falling over her head, as if something familiar but incomprehensible had descended.

Maybe it's those weird things that want to be "cannon fodder" for me... The thing called system is very magical. What if there are some weird things that can make me die suddenly or die of illness?

The emperor said "Oh". Seeing that Xie Wei was really upset and worried, and he was not pretending, he also became a little worried.

Li Zong happened to come in and report that the imperial physician had arrived, so the emperor beckoned him to come over and diagnose Xie Ruizhen.

The imperial physician was a white-haired old man with a very kind look. He took a silk handkerchief as thin as a cicada's wing and placed it on Xie Yuzhen's wrist, then placed his finger on it.

The old imperial physician frowned his long white eyebrows and couldn't help stroking his beard, as if he had encountered some difficult and complicated disease that he couldn't figure out, which made Xie Yuzhen's heart hang in the air.