The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

After visiting Xu Xiaoyi, Xie Yuzhen thought about it and felt that he still had to go and meet Qian Shunyi.

Out of an instinct that she herself couldn't explain, Xie Yuzhen wanted to get to the bottom of the whole thing after she discovered that the emperor's behavior was a little strange. There seemed to be a voice telling her that if she went to the cold palace, she would definitely be able to find some clues.

The Cold Palace is located right next to the Ye Ting Palace, where palace maids who made mistakes were punished. It is extremely deserted and remote, and is already the outermost part of the imperial palace. A few lonely palace maids come and go in a hurry on the palace road. Although the old palace is not in disrepair due to years of disrepair, it is also very desolate. A high wall separates the Cold Palace from the Inner Palace.

There was also a high wall on the other side of the cold palace. Under the wall was a section of the Jing River, which was guarded by the Yulin Guards, and soldiers patrolled day and night.

Xie Yuzhen was only curious about the closed door guarded by the Yulin Guards at the end of the palace corridor, and then he paid no more attention to it and led the palace people towards the gate of the cold palace.

Two young and strong eunuchs were guarding the gate of the cold palace. Since only Qian lived in the cold palace now and no one came back in the past, they sat lazily at the door with a plate of fried soybeans at hand.

Seeing a gorgeous lady dressed in luxurious attire swaggering in through the moon gate, the two young eunuchs immediately dusted off their bodies and stood up, saying respectfully, "Greetings, lady. May I know why you are here?"

Xia Zhi took a step forward and said, "My wife is Lady Xie from Shouning Palace. I want to go in and see Qian who came yesterday. I wonder if she is available to visit now?"

As she spoke, she took out two plain purses, and the two eunuchs took them hurriedly: "Convenient, convenient, of course it's convenient!"

As they weighed the weight in their hands, they bent deeper and the smiles on their faces became more sincere.

One of them was busy tidying up the things at the door and wiping the dust off the steps with his sleeves; the other followed Xie Yuzhen eagerly and introduced himself, "Thank you, Madam Cairen. I'm Feng Gui and he's Zhou Si. If Madam Cairen has anything you want to tell me, just call us."

Xie Yuzhen nodded: "You are thoughtful."

Feng Gui smiled so hard that wrinkles appeared on his face: "Of course, of course."

There is basically no profit to be made from working in the cold palace. Eunuchs like them, who are at the lower level, are often exploited by the eunuchs and palace maids above them, and their lives are very tight.

He did want to plan to move to another place, but he had no connections, he didn't know how to flatter, and he couldn't save enough money to bribe... But yesterday, a guilty concubine was sent in, and the money came with it.

"The lady from the family just left," Feng Gui said happily, pinching his purse. "It sounds like a lot of noise. Why don't I lead the charge for the lady to prevent her from getting angry and hurting others?"

"Oh?" Xie Yuzhen asked, "Someone from the Qian family came to see her. Is it Qian's mother?"

Feng Gui couldn't answer this. He just heard the two people talking loudly inside, but he didn't listen carefully to what they said. So he scratched his head and said, "When that lady came, she just said that her family came to visit the abandoned concubine Qian, but she didn't say who she was."

Not only that, she was clearly the kind of person who wore silk and a gold hairpin, but the reward she gave was only a dozen copper coins, which was very stingy.

Feng Gui secretly disdains.

Xie Yuzhen didn't say anything else, but motioned for him to go forward and open the door.

As soon as the door opened, Xie Ruizhen saw Qian sitting on the ground with disheveled hair. Her face was pale and tears were streaming down her face. When she heard someone opening the door, she turned her head woodenly and saw that it was Xie Ruizhen. Only then did Qian's face show a bit of fresh hatred.

Qian held the small porcelain bottle in her hand and subconsciously hid it in her sleeve: "What are you doing here? Are you here to laugh at me?"

Xie Yuzhen saw her actions and was afraid that Qian had a weapon in her hand, so he stopped moving forward: "What you said is really strange. I have seen all your jokes outside, haven't I?"

She raised her hand to cover her lips slightly, the bright red nail polish made her jade-white skin stand out even more: "Not only me, but all the sisters in the palace treat you as a joke."

Ignoring Qian's increasingly angry expression, Xie Yuzhen continued to sneer, "Why do you look like I bullied you? Or do you still think that I should be grateful to you for drugging me and trying to take the baby from my belly?"

Qian's face immediately turned red, and she said stubbornly: "If you really want to be good to your child, you should find him a mother of high birth. What's wrong with that? Everyone does this!"

"Only people like you who come from a declining family would act like this. Stop dragging everyone down with you. Who are you? How many people in the palace can talk to you?" Xie Yuzhen rolled his eyes unceremoniously.

Qian's face turned red and white, and then white and red, as she talked about it. It was extremely wonderful.

Although she was unwilling to admit it, Qian knew in her heart that she was indeed not liked by others in the palace.

"Besides, my child already has the most noble father in the world. Even if my background is not as good as yours, so what? She is the heir of the royal family, what are you?" Xie Yuzhen said leisurely, "Or is it that the rules of the Qian family are different from others, and when your child goes out to discuss marriage and take the imperial examination, he has to ignore his father and say that he is the son or daughter of a certain woman?"

"Is your father a son-in-law?"

"Is your mother's last name Qian?"

of course not.

Qian opened and closed her mouth, unable to utter a word to debate.

She only saw Xie Yuzhen with a sarcastic smile on his face: "After all, we are born women, whether it is the inner house or the court, isn't it the same and unimportant?"

"Do you know your mother's name?"

"How could I not know, I..." Qian suddenly choked up, thinking of her mother who had so coldly indicated to her to commit suicide, her heart ached. But after Xie Yuzhen asked her this, she suddenly realized that she only knew her mother's surname was Qi, and she had never seen or heard of her name. Even in the family tree, it was only recorded as Qianmen Qi.

She felt something was collapsing.

Clearly... Clearly this is what her elders taught her since she was a child!

She had such a good background, as a lady of aristocratic family. After entering the palace, it was natural for her to step on those who were of inferior backgrounds than her. Even if she gave birth to a child, her child should be more noble, but...but if that was the case, then why didn't the child she gave birth to have her surname? When outsiders mentioned it, they would only say that it was the child of a certain public official, but they would not mention who the mother was.

If she had not entered the palace, she would have become a so-and-so family member named Qian, and her children would not even know her name...

Qian couldn't figure it out and had a splitting headache.