The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Not long after the full moon banquet, Lady Liu gave birth to the sixth prince quietly.

Unlike the emperor who was overjoyed and attached great importance to the birth of the little princess, the birth of the sixth prince only raised his mother's status and promoted her to a selected concubine. All her treatment was also temporarily raised to the fourth rank of Wanyi because of the existence of the prince.

Beyond that, there is nothing more.

On the day of the third day of the birth, a simple ceremony was held in Concubine Liu's courtyard, and the full moon banquet was not a large banquet. In fact, because Concubine Liu's parents and relatives were all in Jiangnan, no one from the outside family could enter the palace to present the gift of birth to the Sixth Prince.

But Concubine Liu was relieved by this neglect from top to bottom.

The Queen was in charge of the harem and treated the concubines fairly. Since entering the palace, Concubine Liu had never been treated harshly in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation. She lived in Zhaohua Palace. The head concubine, Concubine Chen, was of a cool but not mean disposition and never made things difficult for the concubines under her.

It can be said that the greatest disaster that Concubine Liu has experienced so far was the time she fell into the water when she was just pregnant. Now that she has given birth to a son safely, her son will not be taken away by high-ranking childless concubines like in the previous dynasty. Her own treatment has also improved a lot because of the child.

Concubine Liu was not a greedy person. She was content to enjoy her peaceful and harmonious life. She secretly gave the child a nickname called Baoer. Even though the child's biological father had never come to see him and just gave him gifts as a reward, Concubine Liu happily coaxed the child all day long without any resentment.

Different from the emperor who completely ignored his youngest son, the head concubine of Zhaohua Palace, Chen Guipin, seemed to have welcomed a new life with the birth of this child. She walked out of the Buddhist temple, took off her dress stained with sandalwood, and often brought things to Lianqiaoju, the residence of Concubine Liu, to visit her and her son.

"Baoer seems to have grown a lot today." Chen Guipin had a faint smile on her face as she looked at the baby sleeping in the cradle.

Concubine Liu replied shyly in a low voice: "It's all thanks to the majesty. If the majesty hadn't come to visit me so often, I would have been plotted against without even knowing it."

A few days ago, the Sixth Prince was always crying and had symptoms of catching a cold. Concubine Liu was still young, and the wet nurse assigned to him could see that the Sixth Prince had caught a cold, but she could not find out the cause. It was not until Concubine Chen came to visit again that she discovered that someone would secretly put ice cubes in a plate under the cradle late at night every night.

After one night, the ice melted away, leaving only a few traces of water, and the small plate was flattened and could be disappeared without a trace by simply stuffing it under the foot of the cabinet.

Concubine Liu had never raised a child. She only knew to follow the advice of the wet nurses and sleep in a separate room from the child. She never breastfed the child herself and only took care of the child during the day.

After this incident, Lady Liu, who couldn't figure out which nanny or palace maid had the problem, asked Concubine Chen to replace all the palace maids in the room. She also started sleeping with the Sixth Prince, and no accidents happened again.

"Children in the palace have always been difficult to raise. It is only because the Empress is strict in managing the palace that most of the royal heirs survive." Concubine Chen lowered her eyes as she spoke.

Concubine Liu thought to herself, "Oh no! Why did the topic end here?"

There were also some heirs of the current emperor who were not born for various reasons, but as long as they were born, most of them could be raised. The only exception was the fourth prince of Concubine Chen...

Just as Concubine Liu was thinking about what to say to make amends, Concubine Chen let it go first: "You don't have to panic. I should be indifferent now. It's just that seeing you is like seeing my past self. I can't bear to see you and the child being schemed against. In fact, you are much better than I was then..."

She smiled and took the initiative to change the subject.

Concubine Liu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she also felt a little ashamed. She said hot-headedly, "If the queen doesn't abandon her, let this child grow up to honor you!"

Hearing this, Concubine Chen was stunned at first, then shook her head and smiled, "This is not why I'm helping you."

"I know. I just know that Your Majesty treats me well, so I..." Concubine Liu's cheeks flushed. She was timid and shy to begin with, so it was already very difficult for her to say such words. "...I just want to repay Your Majesty's kindness a little bit."

Chen Guipin took her hand and patted it twice: "I am very happy that you have this idea."

She didn't know what she was thinking about, and suddenly sighed: "Although you are out of confinement, don't rush to go out for a few days. Liu Shuyi is favored by the emperor again, and although Concubine Xu is pregnant,... This palace thinks that things are going to be uneasy again."

Concubine Liu nodded, half understanding, "After what happened, how could I dare to leave Bao'er behind and go out? I wish I could stay in the yard with him every day, with the door closed tightly!"

During this period, the most popular topic, apart from the emperor's immense love for the newborn fifth princess, was the conflict between the former "sisters" Liu Shuyi and Concubine Xu.

Liu Shuyi, whose temperament and temper had greatly improved, regained the emperor's favor with her cool and pure demeanor like a mountain snow lotus. The most amazing thing was that although she looked cold and aloof, she was willing to bow down to the most noble emperor in the world. She was humble but not weak, obedient but not flattering.

This brought a completely new experience to the emperor, and he went to Yanzhang Palace more often.

Xie Yuzhen was listening to Xiaoxi telling her gossip that she had heard from outside, while Yuanjun was rolling around on the bed in front of her.

This child is so healthy and lively, and grows much faster than ordinary babies. He is only three or four months old, but he has already learned to roll over and start crawling like a turtle, waving his short limbs.

"Your Majesty was going to rest in Yanzhang Palace last night. I heard that before he even finished his dinner, Concubine Xu sent someone to invite him to Yuchunju..." Xia Zhi said softly.

Concubine Xu's pregnancy was unstable because her body was weak after being tortured by Mrs. Hong.

But she certainly would not keep using this as an excuse. The imperial physician examined her pulse every day, and gave her good medicine and soup, and the fetus gradually grew stronger.

Of course, the emperor knew how disharmonious the two "sisters" were, but he enjoyed being fought over by the two sisters. He regarded it as a fun game and was happy to pretend to be confused.

Today he was snatched away by Concubine Xu, so tomorrow Liu Shuyi will come up with new ways to please him.

"If you ask me, Liu Shuyi has really become smart now. Her temperament is like an orchid in the valley. Ordinary people would be afraid to get close to her, but our man loves her. If she is really like Chen Guipin, an untamed iceberg, a wooden Buddha... then I'm afraid he will get angry soon and find other fun."

Xie Yuzhen pushed his daughter back after she had finally climbed out a short distance. He ignored Yuanjun's discontent and said to the girls who were eager to learn, "Is it really the orchid on the top of the snowy mountain, or is it raised in a flower and grass room and decorated with bonsai to look elegant? It's very difficult to control this!"