Harem for a living

Chapter 45

"Clean up the East Side Hall, and Ma Jieyu will live in later." Concubine Yang Guifei took a sip of tea and remained silent for a long time before she turned her head and said to Dong Xue who was beside her. Dong Xue responded and was about to turn around and go out. Suddenly he stopped and asked: "Your Majesty, we are using the East Side Hall as a warehouse, should we move it all out now?"

Dongmei smiled and said, "Madam, why don't you let Ma Jieyu live in the West Palace? It's empty there, just add some furniture."

"She is pregnant with a child now." Concubine Yang Gui was still a little annoyed when she mentioned this matter, she took two deep breaths to suppress the resentment in her heart.Empress, just wait and see, in the future, this post may not be someone's.

Dongxue and Dongmei were also clever, seeing that Concubine Yang's expression was not very good, the two hurriedly withdrew, one went to find someone to move things, and was going to clean up another warehouse, and the other asked someone to clean the East Palace.

In less than an hour, Ma Jieyu brought her four court ladies and one eunuch over.Let the eunuch lead the two maids to settle the things she brought, and Ma Jieyu led the remaining two maids to greet Concubine Yang directly.

"Is Ma Jieyu satisfied with the room I prepared for Ma Jieyu?" After Yang Guifei asked her to stand up, she asked slowly.Ma Jieyu hurriedly smiled and said: "As soon as the concubine came here, I came to pay my respects to the empress, and I haven't had time to look at it. However, the empress is a famous talented woman, and her eyes have always been very high. The empress prepared it. The concubine knows it without looking. It must be very good." Beautiful, my concubine is very grateful to my mother, and I will trouble my mother in the future."

"I don't need you to thank me, you just need to give birth to children for the emperor in the future." Concubine Yang twitched her eyes, and said with a half-smile: "This palace is strange. Without friendship, Ma Jieyu has been very enthusiastic about this palace since more than a month ago, but Ma Jieyu predicted that she would live in this Jingren Palace?"

Ma Jieyu smiled shyly and said: "Your Majesty, I think about it a lot. In fact, I wanted to get closer to my Majesty before. My Majesty's poetry, calligraphy and painting have always been very good. She is known for her talent. My concubine grew up in a poor family. Otherwise, I would not have sold myself." I'm a slave. It's just that my concubine liked reading when I was young, and I wanted to ask my mother for advice."

"It's just that during the three years of national filial piety, my concubine didn't dare to move around more during this period, so please forgive me." Ma Jieyu said, got up and gave Yang Guifei a big gift, Yang Guifei sneered and said: "Forgive me, but don't dare. Ma Jieyu is expensive now."

"I don't dare." Ma Jieyu looked panic-stricken, and wanted to continue to kowtow to plead guilty, but Concubine Yang asked her maid to support Ma Jieyu: "Don't do this to me. There's something wrong with my stomach, and Ben Gong didn't explain it clearly."

Ma Jieyu became even more flustered. She originally wanted to find a backer because her status was too low. It happened that Concubine Yang Guifei had no children at that time, and Concubine Yang Guifei herself was the emperor's favorite. This child will grow up under Yang Guifei's name in the future, and his status will definitely not be too low.

But unexpectedly, the queen never said who would take care of the child in the future, only that she would live in Jingren Palace now.Concubine Yang has no child, she walks in front of Concubine Yang every day with her belly outstretched, isn't that in response to Concubine Yang?It would be strange if Concubine Yang liked it.

Although it is said that after living in Jingren Palace, the possibility of her child being handed over to Concubine Yang in the future becomes much greater, but the premise is that she can persuade Concubine Yang to keep her stomach.Miscarriage halfway, all calculations after that day are empty.

Ma Jieyu analyzed all kinds of pros and cons very clearly, and even knew what Concubine Yang wanted at the moment, but it would be too cheap for Concubine Yang to just ask her to come up with the prescription.Thinking of this, Ma Jieyu looked up at Concubine Yang, and said with a little embarrassment: "My concubine, it's not that I don't want to come to pay your respects, it's just that in those few years, my concubine has been taking care of her body, so she can't move around freely, so... ..."

Concubine Yang snorted, and motioned to the maid who was holding Ma Jieyu's arm to help Ma Jieyu up, glanced at Ma Jieyu and said, "Nursing up your body? How do you take care of your body? I think you are quite capable." Yes, they can be taken care of and conceive a child."

When it finally came to Fangzi, Ma Jieyu didn't know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or feel more depressed.He just quickly lowered his head, covering the expression on his face for a moment.

"Before my concubine was sold, my father was a barefoot doctor, and I accidentally got a prescription, and I was raised according to that prescription." Then, he smiled at Concubine Yang in a slightly fawning manner: "In the days to come, we will Thanks to your empress for taking care of her, as a token of gratitude, I would like to dedicate this recipe to my empress."

Concubine Yang didn't speak, Ma Jieyu saw that Concubine Yang didn't refuse, so she hurriedly told her maid: "Lanhua, go and bring my jewelry box here."

Lan Hua responded, and soon came over with an old jewelry box.In front of Concubine Yang Guiyu, Ma Jieyu groped under the jewelry box for a while, and then pulled out a thin drawer from the bottom, inside were several bank notes and a piece of old yellow paper.

"My lady, please look, this is the prescription for my concubine." Ma Jieyu respectfully handed out the prescription, and Concubine Yang's maid rushed over to catch it, and then presented it to Concubine Yang.Concubine Yang showed joy on her face, and carefully read the prescription twice: "Is there anything taboo?"

"Once you start using this prescription, you can't stop it. If you keep using it for a year, it will be effective. There are not many taboos, but you can't eat things that are too strong. In addition, it is best not to bring too much gold jewelry." Ma Jieyu said in detail, within a year, her child has already been born, and it will be determined who will take care of her when the time comes, and there is no need to worry about Concubine Yang getting pregnant halfway and forcing her to another place.

At that time, if the queen gives her child to Concubine Yang to be raised, she will have a way to make Concubine Yang unable to conceive.

Concubine Yang didn't move. After listening to Ma Jieyu's words, she nodded and said, "I know that Ma Jieyu is still pregnant. It's been a long time and I must be tired. I won't keep you here. Go back and have a good rest."

Ma Jieyu responded, and led the two maids out of the main hall, towards the east side hall.When the two maids who placed things in the East Side Hall saw Ma Jieyu coming back, they hurried up to support her.One of the maids stepped forward to take the jewelry box that Lanhua was holding in her arms, turned around and put it in the inner room.

"Lanhua and Meihua will live in the west room in the future, and Qiaoxin and Qiaoling will live in the east room. As for Xiao Duzi, you can ask the manager of Concubine Yang's place. Orchid and Meihua will go and clean up first, and wait." Go to the imperial dining room and bring me lunch."

After Ma Jieyu gave her orders, she let out a sigh of relief and leaned on the cushion after everyone had gone out.

Concubine Yang waited for Ma Jieyu to leave, took a look at the prescription for a long time, then turned her head and said: "Chunhua, in a few days, go out and send a message to let my mother come into the palace."

Chen Manrou didn't need to inquire about what happened in Jingren Palace. She could guess more than half of it. Ma Jieyu wanted to please Concubine Yang from the beginning. If the imperial concubine protects her with all her heart, she will definitely bleed heavily, this prescription is a good bargaining chip.

Therefore, she doesn't care much about the matter here, she is only curious, didn't Concubine Cheng go to fool Concubine Liu that day?Why was Concubine Liu completely silent that day?Could it be that Concubine Liu is not willing to have that child just like herself?
However, Concubine Liu's situation is different from her own.She is only 16 years old, and there will be more opportunities to have children in the future, but Concubine Liu is already in her 20s, even if she can have children in the future, Ma Jieyu's child is also a temptation for her now.

Chen Manrou didn't think about things that she couldn't figure out, and it wouldn't help if she figured it out anyway.The end of October is the emperor's birthday. Although it is not a full birthday, it is also the first birthday after the filial piety. Since the emperor ascended the throne, it is also the first time that the emperor's birthday can be more than half, so the scale must not be small. Chen Manrou is the most important thing now The most important thing is to prepare a birthday gift for the emperor.

Although it was said that there was still more than a month to go, the time passed quickly. Almost in the blink of an eye, it was the end of October, and the palace began to prepare for the emperor's birthday.

Generally speaking, in order to prevent witchcraft and other things, the emperor's birthday preparation is an absolute state secret.Therefore, the emperor's birthday does not announce the exact date, but a festival that lasts for three days, also called Longevity Festival.

In this era when the emperor is the sky, the Longevity Festival can almost be compared with the Spring Festival.

On the first day, the emperor will receive congratulations from all civil and military officials, and will entertain all officials at night.On the second day, various imperial edicts of mercy were issued, sometimes for the amnesty of the world, sometimes for tax reduction and exemption, and sometimes for the increase of Enke, depending on the needs of the society at that time.On the third day, it was time for the women in the harem to perform.

If there is only one empress dowager, then the banquet must be held in Ci'an Palace, but now there are two empress dowagers.In this way, no matter where to hold the banquet, it would be inappropriate, so simply put the address of the banquet in Jiaotai Hall again.

First, the eldest prince and the eldest princess sent congratulatory gifts, because these two grades were still young, so the gifts were probably prepared by the queen for them, and they looked quite satisfactory.However, the eldest prince added in a childlike voice: "Father, I copied that filial piety scripture myself."

Concubine Yang immediately smiled and said: "The eldest prince is really smart, but at the age of four, he has already recognized all the words in the filial piety. The emperor is really lucky. With such a smart prince, in the future, someone will help the emperor solve his problems." .”

Before the emperor could speak, the eldest prince looked up at Concubine Yang with his small face: "Young Concubine, I didn't say that I fully understand the words on the Book of Filial Piety."

Empress Dowager Ci Ning snorted coldly: "Since you don't know how to read, why did you copy the filial piety scripture yourself? Did you find someone to copy it for you? In order to please the emperor, you lied that you copied it yourself?"

The eldest prince's eyes turned red, and he pouted aggrievedly: "I copied it myself. Although I don't know the words on it, I don't need to read it out. I can still write it down. Father, this is really a son." I copied it myself, you can see it when you look at it.”

The queen said gently on the side: "Your majesty, it's not my concubine who is pleading for my son. This scripture was indeed copied word by word by the emperor himself. Some time ago, in order to copy this, he spent midnight every day. I just went to sleep, and I ruined a lot of paper, just throwing it away every day is an inch thick."

"Really, bring over the filial piety of His Majesty, and I will have a look for myself." The emperor's expression did not change much from the beginning to the end, and he turned his head to give instructions, and Liu Chengcheng went out immediately, and came in with a tray after a while.

When everyone looked at the tray, some of them couldn't hold back their expressions of surprise.On the tray, the paper was at least three inches thick.The Book of Filial Piety is only a few dozen pages long, not even half an inch thick, how many times did the First Prince copy it?
On the contrary, the emperor calmly picked up the top stack and flipped it over, and then the smile on his face became more real, with a bit of admiration in his eyes, he stretched out his hand to signal the eldest prince to come to him: "My son is pure filial piety!" , this book of filial piety was indeed copied out stroke by stroke by the emperor, the emperor is very happy, what does the emperor want?"

The eldest prince also had a bright face, leaning against the emperor, looked at the queen, and said expectantly: "Father, my sister also made a purse for my father, it's very beautiful, my son wants one, my sister doesn't." Make it for your son, and my father asked my sister to make one for my son."

"Your sister pricked her fingers to bleed." The queen said slightly reproachfully, "If you want it, can the queen make you a few more?"

The eldest prince looked at the eldest princess, hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Well then, I don't want the one made by my sister, wait for the queen mother to make it for me."

"Yi'an can make a purse?" The emperor looked at the five-year-old princess in surprise and asked. I don't know if the emperor likes it or not."

"I like it. My daughter made it with her own hands. How could I not like it?" The emperor smiled happily, and as soon as he turned his head, he ordered: "The eldest prince and the eldest princess both have hearts. Both siblings are very filial. What is my heart?" Consolation, reward the eldest prince with a set of four treasures in the study, and reward the eldest princess with six bolts of silk and satin. In addition, the empress is also very good at teaching, and rewarded with a set of ruby ​​jewelry."

(End of this chapter)