The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Not long after.

Baoxi hurried back from the Shanggong Bureau. What surprised Xie Yuzhen was that Baolu, who was ordered to get the file book after Baoxi left, came back almost at the same time as him.

The two young eunuchs were both not given important positions, but this did not make them feel sympathy for each other. Instead, there was a sense of discord and opposition between them.

Bao Xi came in front, and after he entered the house, Bao Lu stood at the door with his head lowered and eyes downcast, as if nothing had happened. Xie Yu really didn't see where he put the booklet, but guessed that it should have been stuffed into his somewhat wide sleeves.

"Madam, I'm back." Bao Xi bowed as she entered the room, waiting for Xie Yuzhen to speak.

Xie Yuzhen nodded.

Baoxi then told Zhou's life story in detail.

It turned out that Zhou's parents were both doctors. They had only one daughter, and they had never thought of adopting a son from the family to carry on the family line. Instead, they wanted to find a son-in-law for their daughter.

Zhou's father picked and chose, and finally chose one of his apprentices named Yang. This apprentice had five brothers in the family, and he was the fourth oldest. He was neither up nor down, and was not valued by his parents at home. He just had a good nose and was very good at identifying medicinal materials. So he took the initiative to go to Renxin Hall to worship Zhou's father as his teacher.

Yang Laosi was very diligent in studying medicine, serving his master, and running errands. Zhou's father liked his ambition and, considering that Yang Laosi had many brothers in his family and he knew him well, he wanted to marry Yang Laosi into the Zhou family.

The Yang family was reluctant at first to let their son become a live-in son-in-law. Later, Zhou's father promised the Yang family that when Zhou gave birth to a child in the future, the second child could have the surname Yang. Only then did the Yang family agree to let the fourth son of the Yang family become a son-in-law.

After they got married, they lived a prosperous life, and Zhou's parents were relieved. However, after Zhou became pregnant, Yang Laosi followed some herbalists up the mountain to look for herbs, but he accidentally fell into a deep valley, broke his legs, and cracked his head. When he was carried down the mountain, he had already died.

After the grief, Zhou gave birth to twin daughters. They were originally prepared to fulfill their promise to the Yang family, but they did not expect that everyone in the Yang family disliked Zhou for giving birth to daughters and were unwilling to let her return to the clan. They also secretly accused Zhou of having a bad fate and killing Yang Laosi.

The parents of the two families even had a fight over this. The Yang family was large and powerful, while the Zhou family was just a few small ones. After a fight, Zhou's father broke his leg, and the case ended up in court. Both sides felt very unhappy, and in the end they almost cut off all contact with each other.

Zhou's father's leg was broken and he did not recover well, so he has been lame ever since. When Zhou's mother went to treat the women of an official's family, she was accidentally involved in the family's secret affair and both her hands were broken. The family was suddenly struck by this disaster. They had to raise two children and give their parents long-term medication, so their livelihood gradually became a problem. It was from that time that Zhou gradually started to work as a midwife while working as a female doctor, and she was able to support the whole family.

Zhou had been learning medicine since she was a child. She was also a rare female doctor who was willing to assist women in childbirth. Most of the children she had treated survived successfully. Gradually, Zhou's reputation as a female doctor became known. That's why the Shanggong Bureau summoned her to the palace when Xie Yuzhen gave birth.

"I see." Xie Yuzhen asked again, "Have you asked about the hospital that Dr. Zhou's mother went to?"

Bao Xi nodded quickly: "I have asked, the family's surname is Xiang, the Xiang family's eldest master used to be an official, but later he was involved in a case, his property was confiscated and he was beheaded."

Suddenly.

Mother Xie looked at her daughter in surprise. Xie Yuzhen was also a little surprised. She raised her eyebrows and didn't ask any more questions: "I know. Go find Xia Zhi to claim your reward."

"Thank you, madam. I didn't do my job properly. Fortunately, you are willing to give me another chance to make up for it. How can I have the face to ask for your reward?" Bao Xi breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that she had passed this hurdle.

Xie Yuzhen waved his hand and said, "Just take the reward. That's enough, go down."

Baoxi bowed and left.

Bao Lu watched him leave before he took out the book hidden in his sleeve and handed it to him: "Madam, this is the record made by the Shanggong Bureau on Sun and Zhou."

"Yeah." Xie Ruizhen nodded. Chunfen, who was standing next to him, immediately stepped forward, took the booklet from Baolu, and handed it to Xie Ruizhen with both hands.

Xie Yuzhen flipped through the book casually and found that the part about Zhou described by Baoxi was no different from the records in the Shang Palace Bureau, except that the written records were more rigorous and also included the ages of Zhou's twin daughters.

She read it carefully word by word.

Unlike Zhou, whose family inherited medicine, Sun was born into a commoner family in the alleys of Kyoto. Her mother-in-law was also a midwife and she probably passed on her skills to her daughter-in-law, Sun. But what surprised Xie Yuzhen was that while Sun was helping people give birth, she was also doing the business of selling human flesh.

And...she is also a fortune teller.

At the request of the Queen, the backgrounds of those who came from outside the palace and had important uses would be recorded in great detail. What Xie Yu had not expected was that since ancient times, the royal family had been very wary of all kinds of witches and wizards in the folk, as well as sorcerers and shamans. In the previous generations of the Sheng Dynasty, there had been royal heirs and concubines who had been punished for practicing witchcraft.

However, as long as they were not the kind that cast curses to harm people, the Sheng Dynasty was relatively tolerant of fortune-tellers who could help people tell fortunes and find things. Apart from the fact that she had told fortunes for her neighbors, there was nothing wrong with Sun Midwife's resume. On the contrary, her parents-in-law, parents were all alive and well, her husband was alive and well, and her children and grandchildren were all established. She was a rare and blessed person.

Xie Wei really didn't believe these claims. The fact that the Shanggong Bureau could record them in detail and even summon people in meant that the two supreme rulers above didn't take Sun Midwife's fortune-telling seriously.

What made Xie Yuzhen feel weird was that the people from the Shanggong Bureau wrote about her past as a midwife so carelessly, as if... they had calculated that Xie Yuzhen would investigate Sun the midwife's background and deliberately let her see the inappropriateness.

If it were an ordinary concubine, after seeing Sun Chanpo asking Mi Po about her identity, she would probably have to rush to replace her.

When the Shanggong Bureau was first ordered to select people, they might have been able to intervene to a limited extent, but that was not certain when it came to temporary replacements... The Shanggong Bureau must have put a lot of effort into investigating the backgrounds of the two midwives in such detail. Now that Xie Yuzhen was approaching her due date and they had to replace her, they would have to start all over again, which would make it easy for someone to take advantage of the situation and would also cause complaints from the Shanggong Bureau.

Xie Yuzhen closed the booklet, with no expression of sadness or joy on her face - since the person behind the scenes tried to push her to replace midwife Sun, she had to keep her.

She just wanted to know, if that person found out that she had investigated Midwife Sun and was unwilling to change, what tricks would she use next to make things go her way...

Xie Yuzhen felt her blood starting to rush in her veins and her heart beating stronger and stronger - she was excited.