books44 Chapter 428: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 32
Chapter 428: Legend of Zhen Huan - Nian Shilan 32
Shen Meizhuang felt greatly humiliated by the news, and the joy of being the first to sleep with the Queen disappeared. She finally held back her tears and got herself ready to pay her respects to the Queen. However, when she came back, she heard Zhen Huan's personal maid Huanbi showing off to the young palace maid Pei'er.
"Lady Shen is taking advantage of our young master. If our young master's position wasn't low, the title of being the first to sleep with her would have long been hers."
"The Emperor must have thought of Concubine Shen who lives in Chengqian Palace because it was inconvenient for him to look up our lady's name card. Otherwise, why didn't the Emperor look up Concubine Fucha's name card when they were both noble ladies?"
"Sister Huanbi is right. I think so, too."
The same people were assigned to Zhen Huan's palace in this life, Pei'er, Juqing, and Xiao Yunzi. Shilan hadn't taken special care of them over the years. But Cui Jinxi couldn't even think about becoming the head aunt in Chengqian Palace, even if she had a relationship with Su Peisheng.
All the positions of power in the palace, except for the Emperor's Qianqing Palace, the Empress' Jingren Palace and the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace, are managed by Su Peisheng, Jianqiu and Aunt Zhuxi, who are irreplaceable. All the aunts and eunuchs in charge of other palaces are Nian Shilan's people.
Whether there are people behind Cui Jinxi or not has nothing to do with Nian Shilan, but if she becomes Zhen Huan's helper and joins forces with Su Peisheng to deal with herself, that won't work. Nian Shilan will not kill Cui Jinxi, but it is still easy to get her out of the palace. As for whether it will cause Su Peisheng's dissatisfaction, Nian Shilan said that he doesn't care about his master, so how could he care about a servant like him?
Obviously, Shi Lan's training over the years also trained Su Peisheng. After Su Peisheng entered the palace, he just contacted Cui Jinxi, a fellow villager. Before he could make any effort to arrange for the other party, he heard the news that Concubine Hua released people from the palace. For this reason, Su Peisheng did not fail to find Songzhi, hinting that Cui Jinxi had some relationship with him, but Concubine Hua was persistent, and Songzhi had no choice. In the end, Su Peisheng had no choice but to arrange for Cui Jinxi to be raised in his house outside the palace.
It is not clear whether this is good or bad for Su Peisheng, but it is definitely a bad thing for Cui Jinxi.
After Shen Meizhuang went to bed, the emperor could not help but turn over Zhen Huan's card the next day. What's more amazing is that the emperor accompanied Zhen Huan for seven days in a row and only stopped after being persuaded by the empress dowager. After stopping, the emperor did not summon others, but rested alone in the Qianqing Palace for a few nights.
Now, the rumor in the palace that Shen Meizhuang was the emperor's second choice came true. Shen Meizhuang had long lost the joy of being the first to sleep with the emperor. Except for paying her respects, she hid in Chengqian Palace all day long and didn't want to see anyone, for fear of being laughed at.
On the other hand, Zhen Huan was both proud and a little embarrassed. She was proud that she was the person the emperor wanted to see, the undisputed number one newcomer. She was embarrassed that the person who served as a shield was Shen Meizhuang, with whom she had a very good relationship, and that they lived in the same palace and saw each other every day.
Every time An Lingrong, who had not yet served the emperor in the imperial bedchamber, came to Chengqian Palace to find her sister Zhen, she could sense the emotional changes between her and Concubine Shen. However, An Lingrong herself was the last of the three to come, so she had no qualifications or ability to persuade the two to reconcile. She could only pretend to be deaf and dumb and ignore the embarrassment.
In this life, Zhen Huan did not pretend to be sick to avoid favor because of Concubine Hua's intimidation, which gave Shen Meiyu the opportunity to be favored and glorious. Instead, it made Shen Meiyu's help to Zhen Huan disappear. Now, the only affection between the two of them is the affection they had in their childhood, and no matter how they get along, it is lacking.
In her previous life, the reason why Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang were able to maintain their relationship was that she saw the sincerity of Shen Meizhuang's devotion when she was out of favor in the early days and then after she was favored. When she was favored in the later days, Shen Meizhuang was exhausted from being tortured by Concubine Hua and had no energy to compete for favor. Later, Shen Meizhuang completely lost interest in the emperor because of the fake pregnancy. Otherwise, based on Zhen Huan's possessiveness when she fell in love with the emperor, it would be impossible for Zhen Huan to continue to trust Shen Meizhuang as before.
In this life, Zhen Huan and the emperor did not have their first meeting in Yimei Garden, nor their acquaintance under the spring rain and apricot blossoms, but she still easily fell in love with the emperor. After all, Zhen Huan was quite vain in nature, and the emperor's exclusive favor and the only title left Shen Meiyu with only the humiliation of being the first to sleep with him. In Zhen Huan's heart, it became a proof that the emperor loved and valued her alone. How could she not fall for it?
Soon it had been almost a month since the newlyweds entered the palace, but the Emperor had only summoned Shen Meiyu and Zhen Huan to his palace. The newlyweds inevitably had many complaints, and the Empress used this as an excuse to go to the Qianqing Palace to advise the Emperor to treat everyone equally.
On the contrary, the newlyweds, including Concubine Hua, who was formerly the most favored concubine in the harem, were all indifferent to the newcomers. Even Concubine Qi, who was the most brainless in the past, never said anything. After a long time, An Lingrong realized that something was wrong, but she had no influence and could not find anyone who knew the inside story, so she could only tentatively ask Zhen Huan.
"Sister Zhen, I wonder if the ladies in the palaces are getting along well when we pay our respects?"
An Lingrong has not yet served the emperor in the emperor's bedchamber. Except for the day when she paid her respects on the day of the audience with the whole palace, she is still not qualified to pay her respects. When Zhen Huan heard An Lingrong's question, she couldn't help but frowned. She thought An Lingrong was hinting that she should serve her in the emperor's bedchamber.
"The ladies in the palaces are kind-hearted. Lingrong, you will know them naturally after a long time."
At this time, Zhen Huan herself was still "passionately in love", so naturally she was not happy to have An Lingrong share her favor. She answered An Lingrong's questions perfunctorily, only hinting that it was still early and that she would sleep with him sooner or later, without mentioning anything else.
At this time, there were many newlyweds who had not yet slept with the emperor, so An Lingrong was naturally not as anxious as she was in her previous life. She did not think that Zhen Huan meant, but thought that Zhen Huan did not understand her meaning, so she asked again: "Sister Zhen, Lingrong means that since you are so favored, have the ladies in the palace ever made things difficult for you?"
"The ladies in the palaces are all kind people. Although we have had some quarrels, they have never made things difficult for me."
I heard in my early years that except for Concubine Hua who was quite favored in the entire harem, the other concubines were not very favored. I guess it was because of this that I would not be troubled by the concubines if I was favored?
"But I heard that Concubine Hua was the only favorite in her early years. I think the ladies in the other palaces have long been accustomed to it, so they never made things difficult for me."
Realizing that Zhen Huan had secretly regarded Concubine Hua as her rival and at the same time acknowledged that she was the only one favored, An Lingrong thought about it and finally did not say anything further.
But she still cared a lot about why no one made things difficult for Zhen Huan, the newcomer. If the ladies were used to being out of favor, then why did Concubine Hua, who had her favor taken away, have no reaction?
An Lingrong couldn't help but feel curious about Concubine Hua. Ever since the first time she met her, she felt ashamed and envious of her. Concubine Hua was so dazzling, whether it was her appearance, family background, power and status, or even her straightforward and arrogant personality, these were all what An Lingrong, who had always been tolerant, compromised, and self-abased, longed for.
In her previous life, the one she yearned for was Zhen Huan, but Zhen Huan revealed her inner hypocrisy many times, which made An Lingrong's yearning flawed and turned into hatred. In this life, An Lingrong also yearned for Zhen Huan at the beginning, but there was a Nian Shilan who was too dazzling, which made Zhen Huan look ordinary all of a sudden. An Lingrong could not control herself from being attracted to Nian Shilan.