The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

Wen Baolin and Shen Huiwan.

Xie Yuzhen silently calculated the time. She set out from the emperor's private residence half an hour earlier than Wen Baolin. She stopped for a while at the palace gate, changed to a carriage, and then arrived at Jinghua Tower. The palace servants unloaded the luggage and counted it. Xie Yuzhen herself also began to count the servants assigned by the Shanggong Bureau.

If you think about it carefully, it didn't take that much time.

But in such a short time, Wen Baolin and I arrived almost at the same time...

This girl looks calm and composed, but unexpectedly she is actually impatient.

The emperor of this dynasty holds great power and has the final say. He is even more unrestrained when it comes to women, and his tastes are so broad that even Xie Yuzhen, who has already abandoned all her upbringing as a womanizer, cannot help but be amazed.

Since he chose Shen Huiwan to enter the palace and specially bestowed a unique title on her, he must be more or less interested in this girl. But he doesn't know... Will Wen Baolin be the true love who will definitely use him as "cannon fodder" in the future as the system says?

"It's Wen Baolin. Baolin, please forgive me. It's a mess here. I'm busy now." Xie Yuzhen smiled sweetly, "Why don't you send this disrespectful maid back to her concubine, Xiazhi. Take someone to clean up and make another cup of flower tea."

"I just came here to pay my respects to the beauty. Why should I trouble the beauty to entertain me?" Wen Baolin waved his hands repeatedly.

The location of Shouning Palace is very close to the emperor's bedroom and the empress's bedroom, which is a rare good location in the palace. More importantly, there were no concubines living in Shouning Palace before, but when Xie came, the emperor gave it to her.

The location of her residence was not bad either. It was not located in a large hall in the palace, but in a separate pavilion next to Shouning Palace. However, Baosi Pavilion could not compare with Shouning Palace in terms of specifications or location. Wen Baolin was really curious about how this Concubine Xie was so beautiful that the emperor made exceptions for her again and again and was even willing to hold her above himself, the descendant of a founding hero.

Wen Baolin is the only daughter of Marquis Yuyang. She has three older brothers. Her father, Marquis Yuyang, is from the second branch of the Shen family and has a half-brother. Because of the old marquis's favoritism, Marquis Yuyang suffered a lot from this eldest brother when he was young, so he always held a grudge. Even after the old marquis retired and she inherited the title, she always competed with the first branch in both open and covert ways.

Several generations of the Yuyang Marquis' Mansion have been diligent and loyal to the royal family, and the royal family has always been tolerant and trusting of them. As the only daughter of this generation of the Marquis' Mansion, Wen Baolin did not have to enter the palace. However, unexpectedly, her uncle suddenly adopted a daughter from a distant branch of the Shen family as his adopted daughter, brought her into the Marquis' Mansion with great fanfare, fed her with fine clothes and delicious food for half a year, and hired a nanny and a female teacher to teach her palace rules and etiquette, as well as music, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this girl was specially prepared for the upcoming selection of concubines.

After Marquis Yuyang learned about this, he started to act stubborn again. He ignored his wife's objections and insisted on submitting Wen Baolin's name.

He was determined to compete with his eldest brother in every aspect, even using his only daughter as a bargaining chip.

Shen Huiwan was not unwilling to enter the palace, but she was a little heartbroken by her father's decisive action of using her as a pawn just to gain a momentary grievance.

But there is no point in saying anything right now.

She is already the emperor's Wen Baolin.

Wen Baolin recalled his father's smug face when he received the imperial edict. He stroked his sparse beard with an expression of great pride: "As a father, I knew that our Jixiang'er would be able to make you happy. Ha, do you really think that you can pass yourself off as a phoenix by finding a pheasant anywhere? Don't you even consider whether you are worthy enough?"

He looked at the direction of the eldest wife with half contempt and half disgust: "Jixiang'er, you must strive to be better after entering the palace. I am not worried about your eldest brother. He is the eldest son, and the title of Yuyang Marquis will definitely fall on him in the future. But your second and third brothers are different. Their future still needs your help."

Marquis Yuyang hated his elder brother because he was a bastard favored by the old marquis. But Wen Baolin and his elder brother were siblings from the same mother. How could he not hate his other two brothers who were also bastards and favored by their father, and who used this favoritism to target his brother and sister?

"Yes, father, I understand." Shen Huiwan's gentleness made Marquis Yuyang even happier.

But this joy did not last long. When he learned that there was a lady with a higher rank than his own daughter, Concubine Xie, and that his eldest brother's adopted daughter was also selected, he almost exploded with anger.

"You have to do your best! Shen Huiwan! You have to do your best. Mrs. Xie is just a second-married slut. How can she be above you? And you can't let the bastard from the first wife go. My daughter, daddy has raised you up so big, you have to share daddy's worries!"

Marquis Yuyang was almost impatient to send his daughter to the palace gate. Originally, they were supposed to leave home when the time came, but he forced his daughter to enter the palace in a carriage as soon as the time came.

His father's words full of resentment seemed to still be ringing in his ears. Wen Baolin was enthusiastically pulled by Xie Yuzhen into the flower hall that was temporarily set up next to Jinghua Building.

This Xie is indeed a rare beauty.

Even though she looked at him with a critical eye, she had to admit that Xie Yu was extremely beautiful.

Her skin is as white as mutton fat, her lips are as red as cinnabar, and she has a tall and slender figure.

The flowers on her red palace skirt bloomed brightly and vividly, which perfectly set off her appearance and demeanor. Just sitting there, her bright light made it impossible to ignore her.

Wen Baolin originally planned to just meet her and leave, but now he couldn't help but sit down with Xie Yuzhen.

The hot flower tea bloomed in the delicately glazed white porcelain cup. Xie Yuzhen took a sip first, and then Wen Baolin followed suit and sipped: "My beauty is so polite."

"How can we not entertain guests well?" Xie Yuzhen turned the cup in his hand, wondering in his heart whether Wen Baolin was the unknown one in his true love.

But she was born in a marquis's mansion, her initial rank was not low, and she also had a title, which was not very transparent no matter how you looked at it.

Then, will she also have something strange like the system?

Xie Yuzhen now sees everyone as an enemy, but she has a strange premonition that if the "strange thing" appears in front of her again, she will definitely recognize it at a glance.

But Wen Baolin did not touch her extremely sensitive nerve.

Putting down the teacup, Xie Yuzhen smiled and sighed, "Baolin, don't blame me for the simple tea today. There's really nothing I can do. I just got here and haven't gotten to know everyone yet, and there's already a disturbance with that palace maid who has no respect for her majesty."

She looked carefully at Wen Baolin's unchanged smiling face, and secretly sighed that she was worthy of being the daughter of a noble family. Etiquette and rules were engraved in her bones. When she first entered the palace and saw such things, she did not hide or avoid them, and her demeanor was still so calm.

"The palace maid is disrespectful to her superiors, so the beauty will punish her according to the rules." Wen Baolin did not mention Qiu He's claim that she was specially appointed by Concubine Song Shu before she was taken away. "This tea is refreshing, thank you for your trouble."

"They are just some wild food. It's fine as long as Baolin is used to eating them."

They chatted one by one.

The palace servants came and went in the courtyard, and soon the place was tidied up. Wen Baolin sat for a while, drank a cup of scented tea, and then stood up to say goodbye.

Xie Yuzhen did not mention a single word about Concubine Song Shufei who had started to cause trouble for the newcomer on her first day in the palace, and Wen Baolin only said a few polite words. Except for the first two sentences, the rest of the entire exchange was full of useless information.

"She is quite steady. If she is an enemy, she must be a strong one." Xie Yuzhen stared at the softened petals at the bottom of the cup.

She heard hurried footsteps. She thought it was Chunfen who had taken Qiuhe to the Shanggong Bureau. But when she turned around, she saw Xiazhi hurried over: "Madam, His Majesty is here."