Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1233 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 157

The appearance of Concubine Bai was somewhat solemn. After all, everyone originally wanted to take advantage of the three years of mourning for the late emperor not to give birth to children and simply compete for favor. However, they did not expect that Emperor Qianlong would break the rules and bring a newcomer who was a musician from the Southern Palace into the palace. This made the concubines who were either from the minor or major selections feel very uncomfortable.

The Queen had no opinion about Bai Changzai. She was only concerned about whether Qianlong's move would affect the outside world's reputation of the royal family. After receiving the news that there was not much discussion about this matter outside, she treated Bai Changzai normally.

But the other concubines felt very unhappy, especially the two concubines, who wished they could dig up all of Bai Changzai's secrets and expose them to the sun.

As a result, people dug up Bai Changzai's gossips. It turned out that Bai Changzai was not really as without any foundation as she claimed. She was secretly trained by Ulanara and sent to the palace, in order to please Big Fat Orange.

So the news quickly went around a few corners and was sent to Kunning Palace.

After the Queen received the news from Ye Xin, she immediately burst into laughter. "Well, well, it seems that I am too kind, and people are blatantly trying to use me as a pawn!"

Lian Xin quickly advised: "Your Majesty, please calm down. Anger is harmful to your health and will only make your loved ones sad and your enemies happy."

Ye Xin knelt down and admitted the punishment: "Please punish me, Madam. It's all my fault."

"It was all because of my incompetence that someone took advantage of the opportunity and brought such great trouble to you, Your Majesty."

The queen sighed. Seeing the reactions of the two maids around her, her anger immediately dissipated. "Ye Xin, since you know where you are wrong, I will not be polite. I will fine you two months' salary and confine you to your house for two months."

Ye Xin kowtowed repeatedly: "I accept the punishment, thank you very much, Your Majesty."

Ye Xin stepped back. Lian Xin looked at the queen with a frown on her face worriedly and didn't dare to speak for a moment.

The Queen didn't have the habit of venting her anger on others. Ye Xin had also been punished, and now she was thinking about how to deal with this matter. Turning around and seeing Lian Xin's worried face, she couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Okay Lian Xin, a young girl shouldn't be bitter and resentful, or she will age quickly."

Lian Xin saw that the Queen was still interested in teasing her, and the big stone in her heart was mostly relieved. She explained embarrassedly: "I just think that even if Ye Xin was not here today, those people would still find some excuse to put the blame on our Kunning Palace."

The Queen had understood this truth long ago, so she only fined Ye Xin her monthly salary and prohibited her from going out in the near future.

The Queen smiled and said to Lian Xin: "Everything you understand is also understood by others. But if those people want to hide away, it depends on whether I am willing or not."

The Queen wanted to use this incident to establish her authority, so she simply went to the Qianqing Palace.

When Qianlong heard Wang Qin's report that the empress wanted to see him, he was quite surprised. After all, since the empress moved out of the Qianqing Palace, she had never come here on her own initiative. If she came here today, something important must have happened.

Qianlong quickly invited the queen in, and indeed heard the queen say, "Your Majesty values ​​Bai Changzai. Although it is a little inappropriate to directly confer the title of Changzai over the official women and concubines, I think Bai Changzai has the greatest advantage of being knowledgeable and interesting."

Qianlong also sighed and said, "Yes, Bai Changzai is knowledgeable and interesting. This alone is much better than anyone else in the palace."

The queen's heart tightened, but her face remained unchanged. She smiled and continued, "But there are many people in the palace who want to use Bai Changzai to cause trouble."

Qianlong immediately stopped smiling, looked at the queen with cold eyes, and said lightly: "Really? I didn't know that there are many people in the harem who are dissatisfied with me."

The queen did not dare to keep the secret any longer, and directly stated her purpose: "As the queen, I should take care of the harem for the emperor and appease the concubines. The complaints from the harem should also be my responsibility."

"But I didn't expect that the concubines in the harem would be connected with the previous dynasty and easily dig up the concubines' origins. Today, a first-class maid in my palace went out, and when she came back, she brought back the news that Bai Changzai is a member of the Ulanara clan, and was secretly trained and sent to the palace during the time of the previous emperor."

"If it was just the concubines fighting for favor and being jealous, I would have come out to appease them, but this is such an obvious connection with the previous dynasty. I think I can only ask the emperor to make a decision."

The queen's meaning was very clear. It would be enough for her to take action when the concubines were jealous of each other, and there was no need to bring it to the emperor's presence. However, there were people in the harem who refused to learn their lesson and even went so far as to liaise with the previous dynasty and try to frame the concubines in the palace. If this kind of thing could not be stopped from the beginning, there would definitely be people who would follow suit in the future, making it impossible for her, the queen, or to bring it to the emperor's presence.

When Qianlong heard this, he was really concerned. He comforted the empress with a few words and asked her to go back and wait for news.

Qianlong hated it too. He had just cleaned up the bannermen in the Imperial Household Department. As for Jiang Xinxin's suggestion that the positions in the Imperial Household Department should no longer be lifelong and could even benefit future generations, and that promotions should be based entirely on assessment results, he accepted both.

But he still couldn't help but dismiss all the people who were found to have problems during the investigation, and the new people were selected from the lower five flags.

A noble lady has just died in the harem, how dare someone cause trouble!

Qianlong felt that his authority was challenged, and immediately ordered the Sticking Rod Office to investigate the matter.

There were indeed people in the harem who were watching the Queen's every move. When they saw the Queen go to the Qianqing Palace, they were very happy and had no idea that a disaster was about to befall them.

The empress did not just go to the Qianqing Palace to pass the buck. As she herself said to Qianlong, it was her responsibility to appease the concubines in the harem, so when she paid her respects to the concubines, she said directly to them: "Since the Qing Dynasty entered the country, we have been blocking the connection between the harem and the previous dynasty. Today, people's hearts are unsettled. I failed to appease you in time. It is my fault."

"Today, I am admonishing you all. Do not forget the virtues of a concubine. Be careful about the degree of jealousy. Do not lose the big picture for the sake of small things and bring disaster to the family's reputation."

The Queen did not say what it was about, but everyone knew that she was talking about the matter of the harem ostracizing Bai Changzai.

Now Concubine Bai has no empress dowager to support her, and she is lucky to have gained the favor of Emperor Qianlong. Of course, she dare not do anything to offend others, especially since she lives in Chuxiu Palace with Concubine Chen. They have a good relationship, and Concubine Chen told her many rules of the harem.

Although she was sad and even felt inferior because of her background as a Nanfu Le Ji, she also understood that in the harem, as long as she did not aspire to be the queen, her background did not matter to her.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her, Bai Changzai couldn't help but shrink a little, but she was generally calm. The Queen couldn't help but treat her differently, but there was nothing more.

On the way back to Chuxiu Palace, Concubine Chen couldn't help but sigh, "It seems that someone wants to use your identity to cause trouble. Sister, I just hope you can stay calm and don't end up like Concubine Jin before."

Bai Changzai assured her again and again: "Don't worry, my dear sister. Although I did bribe the Nanfu housekeeper to be favored by the emperor, it's not much more. I have always been law-abiding. Even if someone framed me, there must be a reasonable reason."