After serving wine together with the Queen, the Queen went to the back hall to meet the ladies. She was very familiar with this kind of work, and it was very simple every year. Although there were more women, there were more things to do, but the Queen was so powerful that the ladies didn't even dare to breathe in front of her. Every year's annual banquet was extremely quiet. Everyone didn't talk and just ate and drank. Occasionally, they would communicate with each other through eye contact. The Queen didn't care what the content of the communication was.
If it weren't for the four concubines who came to assist every year and talked to their mothers or relatives, this New Year's Eve dinner would be like the last meal before the guillotine, and they would eat in fear and trepidation.
This year, all four concubines were demoted, and no one was qualified to attend the annual banquet with the queen. The queen felt that without those annoying guys, this year might be the most relaxing year in history. Even if he took off his shoes and sat on a chair, no one would notice because no one dared to look up.
However, the queen, who walked into the back hall with ease, underestimated the power of women. As soon as she entered the door, she was surrounded by a group of enthusiastic ladies.
Most of these wives of high officials and nobles were ladies from well-off families, each of them was beautiful, even if not extremely beautiful, they were very pretty, and they were also quite cultured. They didn't chatter like gossipy women, each of them had something to say, and what they said was incomprehensible to people outside of this circle.
These people used to be afraid of and disdainful of the Queen. They were afraid of the murderous aura of the Queen, but disdainful of her background. Even though the Queen was the most noble woman in the world, she could not hide the fact that she was born into a military family, had practiced martial arts since childhood, had never learned the "Female Code", had never attended a female school, and had never learned the most basic things for a woman to get married.
In the eyes of these ladies, the queen was rude and they were unwilling to make friends with her. And the ladies who were not so noble were also frightened by the queen's aura and dared not make friends with her.
But this year, all these respects and fears were thrown aside. Everyone treated the Queen with the utmost kindness and tried every means to make friends with her. The implicit flattery made the Queen a little surprised.
What was the reason that made these noble ladies make friends with a vulgar man like him
Although she didn't understand why these people's attitudes changed so much, the queen still sat firmly on the chair and looked at them one by one with murderous eyes. Unexpectedly, these people just trembled and came over again with strength.
The queen didn't understand why these people were like this until the wife of the Dali Temple sent a painting. In the painting, the grass was lush and the cattle and sheep were fat. The painting was painted with delicate plum blossoms in small regular script. It was obvious that it was written by a woman, a young woman who had never really gone out to see the magnificent mountains and rivers. Although the scenery in the painting was beautiful, it did not have the vastness and loneliness of the real wilderness. If you saw the real thing, you would not paint it like this. It must be a copy.
"Yes," the Queen said calmly, "Who painted it?"
"This is painted by my daughter. I heard that the Empress grew up in Mobei and has not visited her parents since she came to Beijing five years ago. So I specially found a famous painting from Mobei and copied it carefully and gave it to the Empress." said the wife of the Dali Temple.
"Oh?" The queen retracted her raised lips. Although this gift was not expensive, it was thoughtful and was drawn just to please him.
Unfortunately, he already understood why these people were trying to curry favor with him, so it was impossible for him to be in a good mood.
For the draft.
The four concubines were all from noble families. When Emperor Jingren demoted the four concubines, there was bound to be a commotion in the court. So when the court officials raised objections, Emperor Jingren silenced them by saying that the four concubines had not produced any children for many years and that they would be selected in the next year.
If a lustful emperor were to select concubines, the censors would risk their lives to stop him. But it was different for Emperor Jingren. His harem was too thin. Apart from the concubines he had appointed at his wedding, he didn't even appoint a talented woman, nor did he even visit a maid. He only had a few concubines and the empress. Even the wives and concubines of his ministers were more numerous than the empress's harem. In addition, Emperor Jingren had no children for many years, and the imperial physician said that Emperor Jingren was in good health, so there must be something wrong with the women in the harem. It was really wise to select concubines at this time!
The most important thing is that the positions of the four concubines are vacant. Although the queen is highly respected by the emperor, she is just a paper tiger without an heir. At this time, if you send your own daughter over and give birth to a prince, it will be a great honor and endless benefits.
But Emperor Jingren said that the Empress would be in charge of all matters related to the selection of concubines. The Empress was in charge of all matters related to the harem, so this decision was understandable. But Emperor Jingren clearly meant that he would not look at any of the women who came to the selection, and it was the Empress who would decide who would be given what position.
This immediately put those who wanted to send legitimate daughters, concubines, adopted daughters, biological sisters, concubines, and cousins into the palace in a difficult position. If a woman selected to enter the palace gave birth to a prince, her status would threaten the empress, and the empress would not select a woman who was too beautiful, too scheming, or too powerful to enter the palace. And the wise people also guessed that the purpose of the women selected to enter the palace was probably only one, which was to give birth to a prince and then raise him with the empress. When the time came, the mother would be killed and the child would be left. The women who entered the palace would only end up in tragedy.
Even if we understand this truth, it cannot stop some greedy people. Maybe the women who enter the palace can persuade the emperor to favor them and be named concubines, and have the right to raise their own children? Everything is possible. Let's go to the palace first.
So these ladies, despite the murderous aura that was almost overflowing from the queen, desperately moved forward to show their loyalty to the queen, telling her that their own family members who came into the palace would behave themselves, respect the queen completely, and would never have any selfish thoughts. In this way, when selecting a concubine, the queen would choose her own daughter and pay special attention to her when she slept with him.
It’s a pity that all of them hit the horse’s legs.
Looking at the gifts these people presented, such as paintings, folding screens, porcelain vases, and double-sided embroidery, the queen smiled coldly. His fingertips passed over the grassland map, and with a slight force on his palm, the painting turned into ashes.
All the women in the room were stunned. What...what on earth had just happened
The wife of the Dali Temple Minister turned pale and immediately knelt down and said, "This, this, this is painted on the finest rice paper, how come it turns to dust when I apply too much force? Could it be that the manager of the paper and pen shop sold me old and inferior paper? Queen, I..."
"It's not that the paper is bad," the queen said calmly, "it's that I've been quite strong since I was young. When I couldn't control my strength, I broke the household appliances many times. Sometimes when I was in a bad mood, I wanted to imitate the girl next door and hit the tree, but I accidentally broke the tree that my father had planted when he was born. This painting is very good, but it's a pity that I'm too strong and the paper is too fragile to withstand my strength."
Ladies: “…”
They all knew that the queen was murderous, but they didn't know that the queen could really kill people!
Looking at the thoughtful gift in front of her, the queen lightly touched it with her finger. It looked like she was just touching it lightly, very lightly. But the screen fell apart, the porcelain broke, and the pearl cracked.
After destroying all the gifts with one finger, the queen withdrew her hand and sighed slightly, "I also wanted to control my strength, but unfortunately I am too strong. These items are really... vulnerable."
What he was looking at were those objects, but everyone knew that he was talking about the beautiful girl.
The ladies swallowed hard, and their hearts were bleeding as they watched the gifts that their daughters had carefully prepared turned into ashes. They were not sad about the gifts, but about their daughters who were about to enter the palace.
Looking at the Madam of the Dali Temple who was still kneeling and unable to get up because of her weak legs, the Queen said apologetically, "This palace really didn't mean it, Madam Qin, please don't take it as an offense. Someone, come, why don't you help Madam Qin up?"
At his command, Xiao Shunzi, who had just been given to the Queen by Emperor Jingren, came forward tremblingly and helped the stunned Madam Qin to her seat.
Seeing that everyone was quiet this time and no one came forward, the queen was satisfied and said, "Next year, there will be a selection of concubines. I am ordered by the emperor to select beauties to enter the palace for the prosperity of the Xia Kingdom and the royal family. Therefore, the requirements for the women in this selection are not high. It doesn't matter what their status is, as long as they have a clean family background. It doesn't matter what their appearance is, as long as they have regular features. It doesn't matter what their talent is, as long as they are well-educated. The most important thing is that these women must be easy to give birth to, so that they can have children for the royal family. Do you understand, ladies?"
I understand. The queen is determined to dominate the harem and will not allow anyone else to have the slightest chance to rise to the top. The selection of concubines should also be of average status, average appearance, and average talent, as long as they can give birth. Those outstanding and beautiful women sent to the palace will probably end up like the concubines in the past, never getting ahead in their lives.
Then the whole palace returned to its former peace. No one dared to speak. Everyone ate in silence and no longer bothered the queen. Everyone understood the truth, but whether they could listen to it or dare to go to the tiger mountain was unknown.
Fortunately, the Queen did not expect them all to be obedient. Now she just wanted to have a New Year's Eve dinner in peace and did not want to see the faces of these people trying to force their daughter to Emperor Jingren.
The Queen spent New Year's Eve peacefully, but Emperor Jingren's place was extremely lively.
The cause was naturally the incident in which the Prince of Huainan led five hundred elite soldiers to break into the imperial city at night. Originally, such a depressing matter should not be mentioned on such occasions, but if the censors knew how to consider the occasion and the emperor's mood, they would not all bang their heads against the pillars to leave a nameless name for posterity.
When the censors of the Imperial Censorate saw that the King of Huainan, a criminal, was attending the New Year's Eve banquet, their faces were already bad. But after all, it was a New Year's Eve dinner, and they couldn't deny the brothers who hadn't seen each other for many years a reunion dinner, so they endured it and planned to wait for Emperor Jingren's decision. Previously, Emperor Jingren acted decisively and put the King of Huainan in the Imperial Clan House for the sake of justice, which made all the officials praise him. Privately, they all said that Emperor Jingren was selfless and would not protect the royal relatives, and was a wise monarch. So now that the King of Huainan was under the care of the Imperial Clan House Zongzheng, they were willing to wait.
Unfortunately, the King of Huainan is not a person who can read other people's expressions.
There was still more than an hour before midnight, so the ministers could not be as silent as the Queen. Such occasions did not require rigidity, so they played drinking games. The poems written by the ministers were mostly about praising the Emperor's merits and virtues, and they were all cleverly flattering the Emperor Jingren. But when it came to the King of Huainan, he could not write poems at all, so he stood up and said, "Brother, I have never liked reading since I was young, and I am not good at drinking games. How about I drink a glass of wine as punishment and perform a show for you, brother?"
There was nothing to worry about, so it would be fine if the King of Huainan just sang a song.
But what the King of Huainan wanted to perform was shooting fruits with darts.