Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 188: Legend of Zhen Huan 58

At the beginning of the year, the emperor obtained evidence that Concubine Duan's family had once controlled the midwife, and he also discovered that the Qi family intended to replace the Nian family's influence in the northwest, so he secretly replaced Concubine Duan's health-enhancing medicine, and at the same time vigorously promoted Concubine Xin's family.

Concubine Duan was such a smart person. When she found out that she was drinking nourishing medicine but still felt worse day by day, she knew that this was all the emperor's intention. After thinking everything through, she did not run to the emperor like the deposed queen did and cry to express her friendship to the emperor. Instead, she lay on the bed and cried silently. Early the next morning, she ordered the palace maids to dress her in the dress of a concubine, and then quietly took poison to end her life.

When the news of Concubine Duan's death came, the emperor felt a little lost. From then on, the only two people in the palace who still had some connection with Empress Chunyuan were Concubine Jing and Concubine Wan.

The funeral ceremony of Concubine Duan was simple in accordance with the regulations for the position of a concubine. Yi Xin did not play any tricks and strictly followed the regulations for the position of a concubine, slightly reducing the number of things and making it simpler. She did not let the funeral of Concubine Duan surpass that of Concubine Dunsu.

Of course the emperor would not come to see them off. He only issued an edict to confer the title of Beizi on the third prince Hongshi, the title of Beile on the fourth prince Hongli, and the title of Beizi on the fifth prince Hongzhou. He also ordered the Imperial Household Department and the Ministry of Works to prepare their mansions as soon as possible so that they could move out of the palace as soon as possible.

The Third Prince Hongshi was extremely happy when he heard this. He felt that life in the palace was very depressing. Even when someone whispered in his ear that the Fourth Prince had been awarded the title of Beile, which was one rank higher than his, he felt that the title of Beile was earned by the Fourth Prince in exchange for his good health, and he was not jealous at all.

As for the Fifth Prince, the only thing that the Third Prince Hongshi envied was that his biological mother, Concubine Yu, was still alive. Even though she had left the palace and set up her own residence, the Fifth Prince could still visit Concubine Yu in the palace from time to time.

The Fourth Prince felt that the title of Beile was not enough. After all, he no longer had a healthy body, and the possibility of him ascending the throne in the future was greatly reduced. He should at least be a Prince of a County.

But Concubine Wan told the Fourth Beile that the emperor only gave him the title of Beile because he was implicated in Concubine Duan's death.

The Fourth Prince accepted Wanpin, who approached him on her own initiative. After all, there was a huge difference between having someone in the palace and not having someone, and Wanpin was a favorite concubine after all. He even planned to let Wanpin find a way to change the jade book so that he could just become Wanpin's son.

Wanpin also happened to want a child. Even though the age difference between her and the Fourth Prince was less than ten years, she felt that as long as she had a child in her name, she would have a chance to regain her position as Wanfei.

As for the Fifth Prince, he had been raised by Concubine Yu to be a playful person. After returning to the palace, he saw greater wealth than the Rehe Palace, and just hoped that he could always enjoy such wealth. So he was ready to start learning from the Ninth Prince of the previous emperor, secretly doing business to make money, and he didn't care about his studies and government affairs at all.

His only dissatisfaction with his title of Beizi was that his salary was not high.

However, after the first three princes were granted titles and established their own palaces, only the sixth prince, Hong Sheng, was left in the palace. Yi Xin felt that this was a hint from the emperor to the court officials and her, but she ultimately decided to stabilize the current situation and not reveal anything too much.

Fucha will only be more stable than Yixin. After all, Fucha is a serious court official. Their understanding and judgment of the political situation are not comparable to that of Yixin, an outsider. Strictly speaking, Yixin has completed all the entrustment of the original owner by giving birth to the sixth prince Hongsheng. Fucha will also be able to smoothly get through this period of transition because of the existence of the sixth prince.

Although some people in the previous dynasty mentioned the issue of establishing a queen from time to time, the emperor's policies of "changing the native system to officials" and "equalizing the land tax and making officials and gentry pay taxes together" all went very smoothly. Looking at the growth of population and taxes, the emperor felt that he was worthy of the previous emperor's choice of him to succeed the throne, and was also happy that he had a good reputation among the people.

As soon as the emperor was happy, he directly pulled out all his more sensible brothers to do the work. Prince Ding no longer had to just be a clan leader and manage the clan affairs office, but was responsible for compiling books together with Prince Cheng.

The emperor asked Prince Cheng and Prince Ding to jointly compile the "Regional Records of the Qing Dynasty" and, based on the previous emperor's understanding of foreign countries, to compile a "Records of Foreign Countries".

Prince Cheng and Prince Ding both felt that this could be done, especially Prince Cheng. Ever since the crown prince was deposed during the reign of the previous emperor, he had been imprisoned just like Prince Zhi, and if you count carefully, he had even been imprisoned for a few years longer than Prince Zhi. So he cherished the opportunity to come out and do something.

As for Prince Yu Ding, he had an average relationship with the emperor and was originally unemployed at home. It was after Yi Xin entered the palace that the emperor remembered that his legitimate wife was Yi Xin's cousin, so he pulled her out to temporarily manage the clan affairs office.

The emperor was so busy with the affairs of the former court that he naturally had no time to visit the harem, and even the matter of hiring fewer people to accompany him became less frequent. Concubine Wan and Concubine Hui and others began to send some soups and drinks to the imperial court, but unfortunately they always benefited only the eunuchs in front of the emperor, and the emperor seldom ate the food sent by the harem.

Nowadays, the harem is quite peaceful. Before the queen was deposed, the emperor asked the concubines to pay their respects to Imperial Concubine Yi Xin in order to slap the queen in the face. Now that the queen has been deposed, Imperial Concubine Yi Xin dare not continue to ask the concubines to pay their respects to her. So for many people, now that there is no such thing from above, they don't have to get up early and busy themselves, and it is also good to sleep a little longer.

But for some others, if even the greetings are cancelled, then they really can't find anything to kill time.

There is a theater in the palace, as well as places like the Nan Mansion, which employ many musicians. Yi Xin first went to Changyin Pavilion with Concubine Yue, and found that Changyin Pavilion was often maintained, so she tentatively spent money to order a play of "Dream in the Garden". Seeing that the emperor didn't care about them at all, she and Concubine Yue boldly went to Changyin Pavilion every day.

Later, the two of them went to Changyin Pavilion and not just listened to operas, they even invited a few storytellers, and later the Nan Mansion even set up a stage for everyone to perform dance and music.

Yi Xin and Yue Guiren were wealthy and had high status, so they could certainly act without restraint, but the other concubines couldn't do that, especially Jing Fei. Although she really wanted to go to Changyin Pavilion or Nan Mansion with Yi Xin to kill time, she couldn't resist the emperor's promotion of her to be Jing Fei and sharing palace power with Yi Xin in order to check and balance Yi Xin, so she and Yi Xin couldn't have any intimate actions at all.

But if she wanted to go to Changyin Pavilion by herself, she didn't have that much money. What's more, that was her personality. She would never touch anything that the emperor didn't clearly say was allowed.

Concubine Wan and Concubine Hui, as well as Noble Lady Guaerjia and Noble Lady Fucha, did not think as much as Concubine Jing. They often got together and went to Changyin Pavilion to listen to a play or storytelling when Noble Lady Yi Xin and Noble Lady Yue were not there. It was indeed a fun way to kill time.