The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

During the Great Sheng Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival already had the nickname of Reunion Festival; therefore, all the royal family members came together today.

Xie Yuzhen was placed in the upper-middle position among the concubines.

After accepting everyone's worship, the emperor and the empress sat down on the main seat.

Concubine Song Shufei was the first seat on the left hand side of the emperor, facing the prime minister and his family; below her were high-ranking concubines such as Concubine Deng Xianfei and Concubine Ning.

Because Liu Shuyi was sent back by the emperor before the banquet started, Xie Yuzhen, a fourth-rank talent, had the luck to sit in the first row. She looked up and saw that the table opposite her was occupied by a young couple, who, judging by their attire, were from the Duke's Mansion.

The current emperor is very stingy in granting titles and rewards to men. Even if he grants someone a title, most of them can only be passed down for three generations, and each generation will be demoted by a lower level.

In the current Great Sheng Dynasty, there are only three Duke's Mansions. The first is Concubine Deng's maiden family, the Duke of Yingguo Mansion; the second is the Empress Dowager's maiden family, the Duke of Chengguo Mansion; the third is the Duke of Shenguo Mansion. There is no concubine in the family, and there are no promising children. This generation of Duke Shenguo only has an idle position awarded by the emperor. He uses this idle position to seek immortality and burn furnaces to make elixirs.

These three dukes were all founding nobles and had fiefs at home. However, starting from the first generation, they only collected 40% of the income from the fiefs and did not maintain palace soldiers. Instead, they handed over the fiefs entirely to the court for management. Their entire family, young and old, stayed in the capital, especially the Duke of Ying, who had intermarried with the royal family almost from generation to generation.

Concubine Deng could also be regarded as the emperor's distant cousin. Since the previous generation of the Duke of England, this family had been trusted by the emperor, but the old Duke had passed away, and his wife was a princess of the royal family, and now she was already an old centenarian.

Concubine Deng's father was originally the second son of the Duke. After his elder brother died in the battlefield, he inherited the title and married the old lady's niece, who was also a daughter of the Lu clan. Now he serves as the General of the Cavalry of the Capital's Suburban Cavalry Guard. The Duke's wife died of illness ten years ago, and the Duke of England never remarried since then.

Concubine Deng had an older brother who took the path of imperial examination. After passing the exam in his early years, he had been honing his skills in the Hanlin Academy and occasionally walked before the emperor to deliver official documents.

If we really talk about the level of birth, in the palace, except for the queen from the Prince of Dongxiang's Mansion, no one can compare with Concubine Deng. The emperor also relies on and trusts the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion very much. It's a pity that Concubine Deng's appearance is not the type that the emperor likes, and her temperament is rather upright, so she is not very favored.

But even though she was out of favor, few people in the palace dared to provoke her because she acted fairly and generously. The Queen even ordered her to assist in managing the six palaces and help her. However, Concubine Deng could not refuse several times, so she asked Concubine Li and Concubine Ning to help her manage the palace affairs. As for Concubine Song, she was in poor health and could not bear the work. After being invited by Concubine Deng once, she directly refused.

Today, the guests attending the banquet at the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion were again the old Duke and his wife, who sat at the top of the first row. Xie Yuzhen knew it by just raising his head and looking to the left. As for the Duke of Chengguo's Mansion... although they were the Empress Dowager's maiden family, they were not on good terms with her.

After the death of the previous emperor, the empress dowager left the palace and lived in Yongfu Temple in the secondary capital to pray for the country. She only returned to the palace during the Chinese New Year.

She was not the emperor's biological mother, but his stepmother. The Chengguo Mansion was prominent for a period of time when she was the queen. Unfortunately, the prince born to the queen later fell off a horse and died. The family did not follow the late emperor's wishes for a while, and insisted on supporting the son of the then imperial concubine as the crown prince, and became enemies with the empress dowager.

The Empress Dowager and the late Emperor's concubine had been fighting for many years, and their hatred was endless. But somehow, the concubine's family managed to persuade the then Duke Chengguo, the Empress Dowager's brother, to support the concubine's son.

The empress dowager was also a hot-tempered person. She simply adopted the emperor, the youngest son of the previous emperor who had just lost his mother. She also took advantage of her status as empress to slap her own family in the face. In the end, the fiefdom of Duke Cheng was taken away, and the originally hereditary title was downgraded.

But the empress dowager's action just won the heart of the late emperor, who wanted to reduce the power of the vassal states and even more so the influence of the royal family. The couple joined hands to reduce the power of all the nobles, which laid a solid foundation for the current emperor's absolute power.

Nowadays, the Chengguo Mansion is very peaceful. The empress dowager's brother gave the title to his son a long time ago, and he himself became a monk. He was afraid that the emperor would one day remember that he had sided with another prince and settle the old accounts with his family.

But Duke Chengguo is now over 30 years old and does not look as young as the two opposite.

Xie Yuzhen gently raised his teacup, wondering in his heart whether the young couple opposite him were the son and wife of Duke Cheng, or the son and wife of Duke Shen. Duke Shen was also very old, seeking immortality and asking for advice. He himself lived a long life, but he outlived his wife, eldest son, and second son one by one, so the title could only be passed down to his grandchildren.

Before she could think clearly, Xie Yuzhen discovered something was wrong when she opened the lid of the teacup.

Ever since she became pregnant, the water she drank was boiled and then slightly cooled warm water, without anything added to it. The queen who arranged the banquet must have known this, but the cup in her hand now was actually a colorful flower and fruit tea, with the flowers and dried fruits fully soaked and exuding a rich aroma.

Xie Ruizhen just opened the lid and took a look without drinking it. She suddenly put down the teacup and turned to look at Huizhu. The latter's expression was very unnatural, and she was frightened by Xie Ruizhen's sudden look and trembled all over.

Seeing that she was frightened, Xie Yuzhen shook his head in his heart.

With such little courage, you still dare to plot against others?

Qian Shunyi is a pedantic fool, and the one who picked out the nail is also a person with a poor brain.

Huizhu was already sweating profusely from Xie Yuzhen's sudden look. She swallowed hard, thinking about her family members who were supported by the Qian family, and mustered up her courage: "My lady, do you have any instructions?"

Xie Yuzhen looked at her and smiled: "This cup of flower tea on my table looks very beautiful. You can present it to His Majesty."

Huizhu's knees suddenly went weak and she bit her tongue to stay calm.

When the tea was served, the palace maid quietly took Huizhu out to meet Qian Shunyi. This scented tea was mixed with some Datura pollen, which would make the drinker dizzy, like the symptoms of being drunk.

As long as Xie Yu really drinks the scented tea, she will definitely feel uncomfortable. At that time, Huizhu, as a palace maid who cares about her master, can take the opportunity to offer to help her to rest.

Qian Shunyi had already arranged people on the road, waiting for Xie Ruzhen to fall. Huizhu would then bravely rescue him and use herself as a human cushion for Xie Ruzhen, suffering some minor injuries... After that, she would gain Xie Ruzhen's trust.

When she first heard about this plan, even a young palace maid like Huizhu, who had never been to school, felt that it was inappropriate.

But Qian Shunyi seemed very confident that it was an honor for this second-married daughter of a common family to have Xie Yu pregnant with the child she had concocted.

Huizhu was unsure, but there was nothing she could do but do as she was told.

Xie Yuzhen looked like he didn't notice anything, but how could this tea with added ingredients be served to the emperor's table and used to drug the emperor? That would be a serious crime that would implicate nine generations of the clan!