Dress up as a sickly person to capture the villain princess!

Not long after His Highness left, the palace maids brought today's breakfast one after another.

Looking at the dazzling array of dishes in front of him, Xia Zhiyuan silently counted them in his mind. Although there were a large number of them, most of them were light-flavored dishes.

How miserable! How miserable!

But for the sake of your own health, you'd better hold on.

As a meat lover, Xia Zhiyuan was in tears. Just as he picked up the chopsticks and was about to pick up a vegetable, he heard a shrill voice outside the door.

"Her Majesty the Virtuous Consort has arrived—"

De imperial concubine?

Xia Zhiyuan did not stop his movements and continued to put the vegetable into his bowl, frowning in confusion.

The original novel did not mention much about the old emperor's harem. After all, it had nothing to do with their early palace fights.

Even if it later evolved into a harem struggle, it had no intersection with the old emperor's former concubines, so the author did not describe it much.

But now, why would Concubine De come to me?

While thinking.

Then a woman in plain robe walked in. She had black hair and did not wear any complicated jewelry, just an ordinary hairpin inserted diagonally in her hair.

The late emperor is in mourning. No matter whether the concubines in the harem are affectionate or indifferent to the emperor, they must observe mourning for their husbands.

However, judging from Concubine De's expression, she didn't seem to be sad about the death of her husband.

Instead, she walked over with a smile on her face.

He stretched out his hand and dismissed the palace maids and eunuchs who were following him.

"All of you please go down. I have something to say to the daughter of the Xia family."

Upon hearing their master's instructions, they all bowed slightly and did not step into the hall.

The palace maids and eunuchs stood outside the hall door, waiting for Concubine De's next instructions.

There is something to say to me. This is really a case of no one coming to visit you for no reason. Xia Zhiyuan suddenly perked up and put down the chopsticks in his hand.

He gave an extremely business-like smile.

"See Empress Dowager De."

She was about to stand up, but Defei stopped her with her hand. Defei seemed to be very familiar with the place and pulled a chair over and sat down.

"You are Welcome."

"I'm here today, so I won't beat around the bush with you."

"It was the Queen Mother who asked me to come here~"

With her palm resting on her chin, Concubine De stared at Xia Zhiyuan with affectionate eyes, like a vixen.

What does this mean?

Xia Zhiyuan was considering whether to call on the system to scan the background of Concubine De first, otherwise he would not be sure how to deal with the person in front of him.

But before he could open his mouth, he saw Concubine De took out an exquisite yellow pear wood box from behind her.

A bunch of pear blossoms is carved on it, which looks lifelike.

No, when did she hide?

This can be hidden too! ?

Xia Zhiyuan opened her eyes wide, but before she could say anything, Concubine De placed the box on the dining table and pushed it in front of her.

"This is what the Queen Mother asked me to give to Miss Xia."

"I hope Miss Xia will not be polite and accept it."

"Miss Xia also knows that the emperor's old man is dead, so the empress dowager has to pretend, right?"

Wow, can you just say something like that? You really don't mind if the walls have ears.

If someone eavesdrops on you, you should be fined two zhang of red hair!

Xia Zhiyuan's originally steady movements paused, and a piece of tender tofu in his hand fell into the bowl.

"What's wrong? Is there any need to make such a fuss?"

"We all said that when Lao Deng was alive, let alone when he's dead~"

The reason why Concubine De was Concubine De was naturally because she was born into a noble family and had made great contributions to the founding of the country. No one in the harem dared to disrespect her.

What's more, the old emperor knew about the rumors in the harem when he was alive, but he didn't care. Many people reported them to the old emperor, but he ignored them.

Maybe it's because of guilt, or maybe it's for some other reason.

So the concubines in the harem were used to calling the old emperor like this. Of course, there were more teasing and excessive names in private, but Concubine De still gave the deceased emperor face and did not say it in front of Xia Zhiyuan.

"But having said that, isn't Empress Defei afraid that the wall... has ears?"

Xia Zhiyuan placed his index finger to his lips, signaling Concubine De to speak more quietly in the hall.

Others may say so, but this may not be allowed in your Highness's hall!

Doesn't this implicate His Highness? !

"What is there to be afraid of? The emperor is dead, and now everyone in the palace is in a panic. These little rats are eager to curry favor with Her Royal Highness the Princess~"

Defei spoke in a cheerful tone, picked up the chopsticks on the table, picked up a piece of delicious-looking pastry, and stuffed it into her mouth.

"But don't look at me like that. If it weren't for the Queen Mother's order, I wouldn't have bothered to come here."

"Oh, this is the only time I can talk to the Queen Mother more than the other sisters."

Defei's eyes revealed deep admiration for the Empress Dowager.

Hiss, should I say worship?

Why does she feel a little weird?

Xia Zhiyuan always felt that Defei's expression was a little strange when she mentioned the Empress Dowager. Logically speaking, the relationship between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the harem should be very serious.

Could it be that, because the late emperor had few offspring, there was nothing to fight for among the empresses, and the emperor only had one princess, the eldest daughter of the late empress?

He was trained as an heir since childhood and treated as a treasure.

All the ladies in the harem reached an agreement without prior arrangement. They should be friendly and harmonious with each other and stop pulling each other's hair. Is this how everyone celebrates?

In this case, the old emperor's accidental "loyalty" is actually a good thing?

However, the ministers of the previous dynasty did not think so. They believed that even if the emperor could not give birth to a child, he had to find a royal family member, recognize him as his own son, and train him as a prince in the future.

"Our Queen Mother knows that Miss Xia is not in good health, so she asked me to tell Miss Xia that she doesn't have time to see her recently. Once things are sorted out, she will come to visit your Highness in the palace."

"Inside this is a top-quality old mountain ginseng."

"Add two Tianshan snow lotus flowers. Whether it's used as medicine or soup, it's top quality."

"How about it, is our Queen Mother kind enough?"

Why do you always say that you are our queen mother? Is there something ambiguous between you two?

I'm a bit disappointed with you two.

Xia Zhiyuan then picked up the piece of tofu again and stuffed it into his mouth, remaining silent without answering.

Her brain CPU is about to burn out.

Only after swallowing the tofu did Xia Zhiyuan adjust himself and replied softly, "I understand. Please ask the Empress Dowager to convey the Empress Dowager's great kindness. Zhiyuan will never forget it."

"Zhiyuan is always available to welcome you. Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please come."