The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"She said that Liu Xiaoyi was able to enter the palace as a concubine because she, a mere marquis' wife, had given her great wealth and honor, and told Liu Xiaoyi to remember to be grateful. She also said that she was magnanimous and specifically asked Liu Xiaoyi to replace the name of her capable servant to be selected. Otherwise, even if Liu Xiaoyi was the concubine of the Marquis of Jing County, she would only be worthy of marrying a servant of the Hong family!"

As Xie Ruizhen spoke, he glanced at Liu Hongshi, whose face was becoming increasingly uglier.

She said everything exactly as Liu Hong had said, only cutting out some parts in the middle and then adding them together, making the words that were not very pleasant to hear in the first place even more unpleasant to hear.

The Queen Consort Ning, who was listening nearby, also gradually became grimacing.

What does it mean that Liu Xiaoyi was able to enter the palace with the help of the wife of Marquis of Jingjun?

In this dynasty, there are usually two ways to select concubines to enter the palace. One is that the court sends out flower and bird envoys to select girls from good families among the people, but this is not forced. If they are unwilling, they will not be forced. If there is someone who is willing, after the daughter is selected, her father or brother will be given a low-level official position so that they can live on salaries and silver rice, which can be regarded as a class leap.

Therefore, there were few women who were unwilling to participate in the beauty pageant. There was even a case where a wealthy businessman paid a large sum of money to bribe the selection officials just to have his daughter selected.

Another way is to choose from the families of officials.

The selection method for the children of officials was different, but it was not forced. Instead, those who were interested in participating in the selection submitted a petition. When the flower and bird envoys sent to the people returned with the selected beauties, they would be brought to the palace together for His Majesty and the ladies to choose. Whether or not they would be selected depended entirely on the will of those above them.

But when the wife of the Marquis of Jingjun spoke, it sounded as if she had influenced the outcome of Liu Xiaoyi's selection.

After hearing this, the Queen looked at Liu Hong indifferently and said, "There have been rumors in the capital that you, Madam Hou, are not strict in managing your family, that you have confused the noble and the humble, and that you are harsh towards your illegitimate children. I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect you to be so bold!"

Liu Hongshi shuddered and quickly knelt down: "Your Majesty... a concubine's daughter is lowly in the first place, a legitimate daughter is noble, your humble servant... your humble servant is only trying to dispel their thoughts of stepping on a legitimate daughter to advance themselves, so as to avoid disrupting the family rules!"

She had a pig-like face and stammered to explain herself.

Concubine Ning didn't give her face and rolled her eyes directly, saying, "Look at how you act. You are a fool. I think your offspring in the next life will be stupid too. You actually want to trample your siblings into the mud and not let them stand out. Only then can your son and daughter stand out. You are really - mediocre."

She spoke quickly and bluntly, and looking at her expression, Xie Yuzhen couldn't help but speculate in his heart: Could it be that Liu Shuyi had offended Concubine Ning before? Why did it look like they had a personal grudge?

"I don't know the family rules of your Jingjun Marquis's Mansion, but I want to ask you, the law set by Emperor Gaozong of this dynasty clearly states that the nobles and the commoners cannot marry each other, do you really mean it by marrying the daughter of the Marquis' Mansion to a slave of a noble family?"

Where has Liu Hongshi ever studied law books?

She could not even read a few words, so she trembled and defended herself, "The child was released. He is a good person and has passed the imperial examination... His grandmother was the wet nurse of my marquis. He was also raised in the marquis's mansion. He and my daughter grew up together. His family is simple, so I married my daughter to him with good intentions. Please, Your Majesty, please understand!"

After hearing what she said, the anger in the queen's eyes subsided a little, but Xie Yuzhen rolled her eyes and said, "After all, he used to be a servant serving the daughter of the Marquis's mansion. After the family let Liang go, the servant became the parents-in-law that the girl had to serve. Madam Marquis, you did a really undignified job. You said you were doing it for the good of your daughter, but in fact, you were wronging her."

As soon as Xie Yuzhen opened his mouth, Liu Hongshi's old and new hatreds surged up in her heart, and she retorted without thinking: "I am only doing good for my daughter, how could I treat her so unfairly!"

Liu Hong said with a hint of pride: "My daughter is also a person who knows her limits and observes etiquette. She never covets what is not hers, and she respects legitimate children. She once saved Madam Shuyi when she was young, and has always been considerate to me. Of course, I will not let her marry and suffer grievances, so I only let the boy and the wet nurse go. His parents are still working in the mansion!"

Xie Yuzhen sighed twice and said, "Ah! Madam Hou, it would be better if you didn't say this. Now that you say this, it makes you look even more stupid, incompetent, mean, and vicious!"

She was about to curse, but she held back and looked at the queen. The queen was also annoyed, but when she saw Xie Yuzhen's bright eyes, like a kitten that had gotten into trouble, her heart softened, and she silently looked away, allowing her to act so unbridled in front of her.

With the tacit approval of the Queen, Xie Yu really had nothing to worry about: "The daughter of the Marquis of Jing County can be married to a prince or a grandson of the emperor. You, a foolish woman, married her to the son of a servant, and you think you are such a kind person. Who can't see the calculations in your heart? You just don't want the concubine's daughter to live a good life, so you treat her like this. You are really a wicked person!"

"Oh, that girl also saved Liu Shuyi. This is your own daughter's life. How come your own daughter's life is so cheap that she is only worthy of a slave, and he has passed the imperial examination? Oh, even if he passed the imperial examination and became an official, it would be a low marriage for the daughter of a marquis to marry him. It is the girl who lost her whole life. And you, on the other hand, treat it as a great reward. You say that you were raised by an aristocratic family, but your actions are even more stingy than those of a small family!"

"Let's talk about that scholar. He has achieved fame and married the daughter of the Marquis's family, but he didn't even think of bringing his parents out to take care of them. Instead, he left them to be slaves in your Hong family and be ordered around. He is truly an unfilial and rebellious son. This rubbish who doesn't even care about his own parents has become a good son-in-law for the Marquis's wife. I'm afraid he is a wolf. What good can that poor girl get from being caught between you, her unfilial husband and her stepmother? Don't let you suck her blood clean one by one and torture her to death!"

After Xie Yuzhen finished scolding her to his heart's content, Liu Hong had already fallen to the ground, trembling and unable to speak.

She never treated illegitimate sons and daughters as human beings, but was afraid that they would make progress and surpass her own children in marriage and career. She was born stupid and ignored everything except taking care of the household affairs, so she brought her favoritism between legitimate and illegitimate children to the surface.

The Marquis of Jing County was far away in his fiefdom and could not take care of her. The old lady was old, blind and deaf, and she had no idea that Liu Hong had done such a disgraceful thing to the family.

Just like that, Liu Hong became more and more fearless, and her actions became more and more radical and extreme. She really thought that the children of the marquisate who were not her own were livestock and slaves that she could control at will.