The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Xie Yuzhen had never been able to leave the capital since she was born. Everything she saw and heard came from this most prosperous city in Dasheng. It was not until she officially came into contact with court politics that she realized that her previous vision was still too short and shallow. Even though she never stopped learning afterwards, she still often felt inadequate.

Xie Yuzhen admitted that she was very tempted by the emperor's proposal to go on a tour, but she still had things to do: "The official residences for the female officials have not been built yet, and I have previously told Your Majesty that I want to assign guards to the female officials..."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "It will take some time to prepare for the tour, so let Yuanjun go to Luzhou first... Speaking of which, Pingzhou is adjacent to Luzhou, so the matter of the female official from Pingzhou who was expelled from the family along with her husband can also be handled by Yuanjun."

The noble families in Pingzhou could not bear to see their daughters serving as officials, believing that this would bring ruin to the family tradition, so they expelled "sons who lack manliness and cannot control their daughter-in-law" and "daughters-in-law who are too ambitious and restless" from the house.

This matter had been debated for several days in the previous dynasty. Some people believed that the family's actions were a sign of dissatisfaction with the court's policies and should be severely punished; but some people felt that this was someone else's family affair, and if the young couple could behave more filially instead of repeatedly contradicting their elders just for the sake of becoming an official, the situation would never have developed to this point - implying that the female official was unfilial.

This was indeed a deadly accusation. If it had been put in twelve years ago, the woman would have been skinned alive. But times have changed. Soon, officials supporting the female official pointed out that although she could not stay at home to serve her parents-in-law due to her busy official duties, her family was one in which the woman worked outside and the man worked inside, and her husband often served his parents. How could male officials leave their wives at home to serve their parents, but female officials could not leave their husbands at home to serve their parents-in-law?

This is the filial piety of a biological son!

It's clearly the in-laws in that family who are unreasonable!

They have been arguing about this matter for a few days now, and since the two supreme leaders have not expressed clear opinions, I am afraid they will have to argue for some time.

Yunzhou, where the Hongyang Sect members appeared, is located by the sea. The inland side is half-surrounded from left to right by Tongzhou, Pingzhou and Luzhou. Compared with the other two states, Pingzhou is long and narrow in shape, with a flat terrain and a well-maintained official road. Usually, most people who want to go to Yunzhou will choose to pass through Pingzhou.

As for the female official from Pingzhou who was expelled from her family... there was indeed such a person, but she was not the daughter of a noble family in Pingzhou. Instead, she was just the daughter-in-law of a so-called farming and reading family that had been passed down for only two generations. Xie Yu really wanted to use her as a crowbar to pry the small families of the female officials out of the big family of the clan, so he deliberately gave them the name of a noble family so that this matter would attract more people's attention and expand the scope of influence.

The emperor was naturally very clear about Xie Wei's real plan. He had no intention of opposing it and even supported it secretly. As for why he didn't support him directly in public - playing chess is playing chess, and flipping the table is flipping the table. Compared to the pleasure of flipping the table at that moment, the emperor still enjoyed the pleasure of mixing up the black and white on the chessboard.

As someone who had been sleeping with the emperor for more than ten years, Xie Yuzhen understood the emperor's bad taste better than anyone else. He just poked him occasionally to remind him not to go too far again.

Of course, after losing his first beloved wife, the emperor finally realized that although he was the emperor, he could not control everything. So he learned to delegate more power to his "lover" so that she could protect herself even if he made mistakes.

"Then I will write another letter to Guanying and ask her to help keep an eye on things." Xie Yuzhen thought about it and was still worried about her daughter who was going on a long journey for the first time. Lu Weiyuan had practiced magic, so nothing in the world could hurt her, but this child... was too playful. Even if someone had ulterior motives or poison or weapons could not hurt her body at all, how could being sad not be considered an injury?

What if...what if she becomes like her dad in terms of having accidents? What should we do?

The emperor saw her looking at him solemnly, as if in a trance, and then he raised his hand and waved in front of Xie Yuzhen: "Xianming?"

"Why do I feel like you're thinking of some bad ideas again?"

Xie Yuzhen, whose train of thought was interrupted, glared at the emperor and said, "I was just thinking about how to arrange for Yuanjun's trip. A mother worries when her child travels a thousand miles away. What do you know?"

The emperor suddenly approached her and said dissatisfiedly: "How could I, as a father, not worry about my daughter? But my daughter was born extraordinary and destined to achieve great things. How could she not handle such a small matter?"

Xie Yuzhen said "Huh?" and glanced at the emperor with a critical eye: "It seems to be praising others, but it is actually praising yourself."

She raised her hand and poked the tip of the man's nose: "You are shameless."

The emperor laughed: "What is face? Apart from pleasing Madam Xie, it seems to have no other use."

"......So shameless." Xie Yuzhen was silent for a moment, then said with averted eyes.

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"Lianzhou is a great place." The girl held a small wooden statue between her fingertips and tossed it up and down several times. "The carpenters in Lizhou are really skillful. This wooden statue, which is only one finger long, can be carved so delicately and vividly. It would be great if you were a carpenter."

Lu Weiyuan looked at Yan Xun, who was kneeling on the ground, holding his dislocated right hand. The latter had a look of shock on his face, his cheeks were pale, and even his lips had turned from a bright and beautiful light pink to a pale white: "How... Impossible... How come the secret medicine doesn't work on you..."

Lu Weiyuan held the wooden statue and sniffed it. "The wood of the kiangsu tree, plus the leaves of the laurel tree, wormwood, and the safflower... It's rare that you have a way to combine these medicines to make a medicinal incense, and you also deliberately removed most of the fragrance. I guess this is the kind of incense you usually burn when you set up an altar for rituals."

"You use this incense to confuse people's minds first, so that the medicinal properties remain in the human body, and then send the garu wood carving to stimulate the medicinal properties. Without anyone noticing, you make the person who inhales the medicinal incense obey your orders... It's really interesting."

"It would be great if you were a carpenter. In that case, I could ask you to help carve a few small wooden statues like this and give them to my eldest and fourth sisters. They both believe in Taoism and Buddhism."