The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

The emperor's arrival temporarily eased the situation.

Concubine Li put away her aggressive look, and Concubine Zhang was no longer stubborn. Instead, she walked into the pavilion and looked at the emperor with her watery eyes filled with endless grievance.

The emperor's anger was immediately reduced, but he still blamed Concubine Zhang for taking the risk of not considering the heir of the dragon: "Send the ladies back first, and give each of them a pair of Ruyi to calm their nerves."

As he spoke, the Emperor glanced at Concubine Li, who had a sullen look on her face. Concubine Li's father was born in a poor family, and was currently serving as a doctor in the Ministry of Works. He was a man who focused on his work and would not seek personal gain. He would only do whatever his superiors told him to do. He had been promoted before, but after a few days, Li's father found out that he was not capable of being a leader, so he simply wrote a letter to the emperor to petition and applied to be transferred back to the position of doctor in the Ministry of Works.

Concubine Li is somewhat like her father in this respect. She is good at calculating but not so good at dealing with human relations. Back then, she and Concubine Xian both entered the palace as concubines after the Empress. The Emperor also liked them for a while. She should have been promoted to the position of one of the four concubines. However, she could not control her mouth and spoke out of turn several times in front of the Emperor, so she was kept as a concubine. For all these years, she has made no progress.

Take today's incident for example. The best way for Concubine Li to deal with everyone present was to first take down Pei'er who bumped into the second princess, then calm down Concubine Zhang who came to plead for mercy, then comfort the frightened ladies a little, send them all out of the scene, and then deal with the disputes between the concubines in the harem.

Instead of letting her anger burn out her reason and just accusing and scolding the palace maids and Concubine Zhang, she should not have allowed these women from outside the court to be present to watch the quarrels between the concubines.

She doesn't want face, but the emperor does.

The look in Concubine Li's eyes when she asked the emperor made her heart skip a beat: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Xianqiong hurt her hand... I raised her so young, I wouldn't want her skin to be broken, but a reckless palace maid bumped into her... She got such a big wound on the palm of her hand, it's bleeding!"

As she spoke, Concubine Li began to sob. She was really scared. First, she was afraid that her daughter was seriously injured. Second...she was scared and felt dizzy and short of breath when she saw blood.

The emperor sighed heavily, and told the palace servants to bring Pei'er over. He also told Concubine Li and Concubine Zhang to sit down. Finally, he sat in the main seat and called the second princess over: "Let father see how badly she is injured."

The second princess obediently walked over and stretched out her injured hand. There was a coin-sized scratch on her hand from the base of her thumb to the palm. She had washed it with clean water, and one could clearly see the tiny scratches left by the rough surface of the bluestone tiles. The scratches were not deep, but blood was still slowly oozing out.

The Second Princess took a deep breath and said, "Don't worry, Father and Mother. It just hurts a little. I just moved my wrist and arm, so I don't think any bones are injured."

The emperor was distressed by his daughter's struggling appearance: "Let's ask the imperial physician to take a look first. Although it's only the left hand that's injured, Xianqiong should stop her studies for the next few days and take good care of herself. We can talk about it after she's recovered."

Li Fei, who was wiping her tears, complained: "She is just a little girl, what will happen if she gets a scar?"

The second princess, who spoke almost at the same time as Concubine Li, became happy: "Then I don't have to learn needlework or practice calligraphy?! Father is so kind!"

Suddenly, Concubine Li was choked by her own daughter again.

The emperor smiled, "You still need to practice calligraphy. As for needlework..." He glanced at Concubine Li with a half-smile, "I'll pick a room of embroiderers for you. Just tell them what you want them to do. No matter which family my princess marries, it will be a great blessing for them. The princess' husband is half a son-in-law, so they should respect the princess. They don't ask the princess to be filial to them like ordinary daughters-in-law. Even if Xianqiong is kind enough to do needlework for them, they should kneel down and thank her!"

After hearing this, Concubine Li suddenly became dispirited.

She dared to think that the emperor might not be able to protect his daughter for the rest of her life, but she dared not say it out loud - even if the future new emperor was close to the second princess and was willing to treat this sister well, he was still a brother after all, not a biological father. There was a layer of distance between them, so how could he indulge the second princess like a biological father?

The Second Princess waved her intact right hand and said, "Mother is just worried that I don't get along well with others. Father, don't be angry. As a princess, how can I just be high and mighty and wait for others to flatter me? I should be flexible in dealing with things and people, and be good at distinguishing between relatives and strangers, so as not to bring shame to the royal family and avoid people criticizing the upbringing of the royal princess."

As she spoke, she habitually put her hands on her hips and said, "Besides, I am not the kind of person who would let others bully me. If anyone dares to disrespect me, I will whip him...Ah!!!"

The second princess shivered and held her left hand to blow on herself: "It doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt. I still have to learn martial arts. What's the big deal about this little pain?"

"Learning martial arts?!" Li Fei accurately captured the key words. She felt that the gentle, caring, dignified and generous little cotton-padded jacket she had imagined was flapping its wings and flying away from her.

The second princess realized that she had let the cat out of the bag and looked at the emperor with an innocent face.

The emperor coughed and brought Concubine Li back to her senses: "I promised to find a female martial arts master for Xianqiong, just to strengthen her body."

After a brief breakdown and struggle, Concubine Li finally accepted the fact helplessly and asked the emperor weakly: "Can you find someone with a better temper? I heard that some martial arts masters teach their apprentices to beat people."

Emperor: ...It is clear that this person did not take the precious words of the Princess of Heaven that I just said to heart.

Second Princess:......

Lady Zhang, who finally sat down nearby, looked at the happy appearance of the three people, and suddenly felt that she was an outsider who should not exist. She felt a little unwilling in her heart, and subconsciously raised her hand to touch her lower abdomen. Then she easily suppressed the unwillingness, and sat upright patiently, with a gentle but still somewhat uneasy smile on her face.

It was not until the imperial physician arrived and examined the second princess's hand, applied medicine and bandaged the wound on the palm of her hand that the emperor felt that he had ignored Concubine Zhang long enough and turned to look at her.

"Tell me, what happened that made your maid so impatient and made you go out in the snow despite your pregnancy?" The emperor stopped smiling, and his tone of questioning seemed to be mixed with cold snow particles.

Concubine Zhang once again showed a look of shame, uneasiness, and fear. She stood up and bowed calmly, "It is my fault. All the ladies were here just now, so I couldn't speak. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Seeing that she was still full of anger, Concubine Li turned her head away without disguising, "I dare not blame you."

The emperor gave Concubine Li another warning look, and Concubine Li shrank her neck and said, "Tell me what's going on first."

"Yes." Lady Zhang nodded and looked at the emperor weakly, "I felt a little unwell when I woke up this morning, and I saw blood in my lower body..."