The affairs of the palace have always been managed by the Queen. For the sake of convenience, Su Huailing should also tell the Queen. Of course, this only requires someone to pass it on, and there is no need for Emperor Jingren to explain it to the Queen in person.
However, the emperor and the empress had a good relationship, and Emperor Jingren spent a peaceful night with the empress yesterday. After thinking about it, he decided to go and talk to the empress in person tonight.
So that night, Emperor Jingren did not turn over the cards and went directly to Qifeng Palace. People in each palace had their sources of information, and soon after Emperor Jingren decided to go to the Queen, the four concubines immediately knew about it.
Today was just an ordinary day for Emperor Jingren, but it was a very bad day for the people in this palace. The Queen had confiscated all their incense. The four concubines were actually very worried, fearing that Emperor Jingren would turn over their cards tonight. If there was no incense, would they have to do it themselves? Many people protested, but what was the point of protesting? The Queen was right in everything she did. Even if they complained to the Queen Mother and the Emperor, it would be useless. Moreover, Emperor Jingren always favored the Queen and would definitely support her.
This time, because it was not a sudden impulse, when Emperor Jingren arrived, the Queen was already waiting in her best attire. But the Queen's best attire... Emperor Jingren looked at the Queen silently, and finally said, "In informal occasions in the future, Jinyi does not need to wear such complicated clothes. The one she wore this morning is very beautiful and very suitable for you."
"Welcoming the Emperor is a formal occasion." The Queen smiled and helped Emperor Jingren undress, taking off his outer robe, revealing a bright yellow inner garment. He looked a little thin, a whole size smaller than the Queen.
"Your Majesty has lost weight." The Queen said with concern, "Your Majesty is very busy, so you must take care of your health. It is not enough to just pay attention to your diet, you also need to exercise your muscles regularly. You don't necessarily have to practice martial arts, as long as you exercise more, it will always be good for your health."
Emperor Jingren was very touched after hearing this. The concubines also cared about his health, but the way they cared about him was always to send him food, drinks and medicinal food. They simply stuffed him like a pig. The purpose was not to improve his health, but to show how good their small kitchen cooking skills were. Emperor Jingren was not naive to think that the food sent to him was made by the concubines themselves. How could they really cook with their ten fingers that had never touched water and their thin wrists that could not even hold a kitchen knife? The so-called "made by hand" probably meant that they served it out of the pot by hand at the end. Emperor Jingren understood all these things, but there was no need to expose them.
But the empress was different. She would order the imperial kitchen to prepare the best food for Emperor Jingren. Now, she not only cared about Emperor Jingren's food, but also other aspects that were not meant to please him, which made Emperor Jingren very happy.
Recalling the heroic appearance of the Queen in the morning, Emperor Jingren felt an inexplicable warmth in his heart. He felt that such a Queen was also very good. She had her own beauty, which was just different from those mediocre beauties. However, this did not deny the Queen's beauty.
Emperor Jingren suddenly held the Queen's hand. The hand was not smooth, but rather rough, with calluses on the fingertips and palms, probably from years of training with weapons. It was not as soft and fragrant as jade, but it was very moving.
"I will try to be active every day in the future. Does Queen have time to accompany me?" Emperor Jingren looked up at the Queen.
Such a request could not be refused. The Queen smiled and said, "It is an honor for me to accompany the Emperor. In fact, I have some experience in this regard. Morning exercises are the best. How about the Emperor do morning exercises with me tomorrow?"
"Of course you can," Emperor Jingren also smiled. He gently stroked the queen's palm with his fingertips and said suggestively, "Actually, tonight... I just want to stretch my muscles with the queen."
Of course, the emperor didn't need to ask for permission to sleep with any of his wives. He could just push her down and sleep with her. Emperor Jingren said this to flirt with her. It was hard for him to be moved by a queen who was taller, stronger and more majestic than him.
The queen withdrew her hand without leaving a trace, lowered her eyes and said, "I am suffering from lochia today, so I cannot serve the emperor."
Emperor Jingren was slightly stunned.
There would be someone in the palace to record the days when the women in the harem had their periods. If someone was not convenient, then the sign for that day would not be sent to Emperor Jingren, and Emperor Jingren understood this. Of course, there were also some women who probably had a hemorrhage, and their signs would not be seen every day. Emperor Jingren was too lazy to care about the mystery behind this.
There was only one person who did not need to bring her own name tag for the emperor to choose like the other concubines. According to convention, the emperor had to stay at her place for a few days every month. Even if he did nothing, he would go there to chat. So the queen's menstrual time... It's not that there is no record, but the time is relatively flexible. The queen has the final say on whether to have sex or not.
Emperor Jingren's face was obviously a little disappointed. He really respected his first wife and wanted to treat her with respect. But there was nothing he could do. He would talk about it later.
Normally a woman with lochia should not stay with her husband, but Emperor Jingren did not want to leave, and the Empress did not mention it, so the two of them sat casually in the room and chatted about things inside and outside the palace.
Emperor Jingren explained Su Huailing's story. He said, "Whether Su Huailing is a spy or not, she should be executed according to the law. But Yan Xu swore that this girl has great luck. If that's true, we need to think about it carefully. Although it is said that a gentleman should not talk about strange things, it is better to be careful about some things. This matter is very strange when you think about it. In order to confirm whether Su Huailing is really as Yan Xu said, I will banish her to the cold palace and send someone to watch her secretly to see if she can really escape danger every time."
The Queen was slightly stunned when she heard that Emperor Jingren had banished Su Huailing to the cold palace, but she soon regained her composure. After listening to Emperor Jingren's words, she nodded and said, "I will send someone to take good care of her and will not let anyone with ulterior motives ruin your Majesty's plan."
Emperor Jingren was relieved, and from then on Su Huailing's matter was put aside.
People in the world think that the emperor is high above and can do whatever he wants, but this is not actually the case. Being an emperor, especially being a wise ruler, requires too many things to consider. For example, he clearly knows that a certain prime minister is extremely powerful, but for the sake of stability, he cannot touch him. He can only shake his power little by little and support another faction to confront the prime minister. At the same time, he must also be careful not to let the other faction become too powerful and cause another prime minister to appear. Only by making good use of the art of checks and balances among his ministers can he truly achieve what he wants to do and benefit the people.
At present, Li Xiang is in control of everything in the court, while Lin Daxueshi, who is supported by Emperor Jingren, is a little weak and will always suffer losses when facing the powerful party represented by Li Xiang. Moreover, the Qingliu party is very rigid in some aspects, which makes it difficult for some of Emperor Jingren's policies to be implemented.
Emperor Jingren recently wanted to promote a new decree to improve the status of merchants and take money from some low-status but wealthy merchants to return to farmers. The specific approach is to increase commercial taxes and reduce agricultural taxes. He also wants to buy some oxen in some barren areas so that each family can rent oxen during the spring ploughing season. This is a move that benefits the country and the people, but raising commercial taxes affects the interests of some people, and some big merchants are bound to make small moves behind the scenes. In order to better implement the decree, Emperor Jingren decided to give some merchants a sweet treat first, such as merchants who pay more than a certain amount of tax, their descendants can participate in the imperial examination.
Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants had the lowest status and were considered to be of the lowest class. Once they were considered to be of the lowest class, no matter how rich they were, their descendants could not participate in the imperial examinations. This move by Emperor Jingren could be said to have broken the tradition of successive dynasties. The Qingliu Party vowed to die rather than obey, and Grand Secretary Lin even hit his head against the pillar on the spot, hoping to gain the reputation of Bai Shi, who died for his advice.
"Lin Hongxi, that old bastard," Emperor Jingren became angrier as he spoke, perhaps because he felt particularly relieved when he confided in the Empress. "When I asked him to deal with Prime Minister Li, he shrank his neck like a quail and refused to come out. But when I wanted to implement a new policy, he was the first to stick his neck out. He wished I would chop off his head to preserve his loyalty!"
"What the emperor has done is beneficial to the country and the people." The queen did not follow Emperor Jingren in scolding him, but supported him by affirming his actions.
"He has hit his head now. I allow him to go home and rest. The new policy will be put on hold for the time being. That old man was smiling when he was carried out!" Emperor Jingren said angrily.
As the queen, she shouldn't interfere in government affairs, but when the queen saw that Emperor Jingren was furious because the new policy could not be implemented, she said tactfully: "Actually... Your Majesty can just blame this matter on Prime Minister Li, there is no need to go against the Qingliu Party yourself."
Emperor Jingren was not a fool. He understood what the empress meant after she gave him a slight hint.
Seeing that he looked thoughtful, the queen smiled and said, "Your Majesty, it is late at night, go to bed early."
"Hmm..." Emperor Jingren nodded thoughtfully, but he had no intention of lying down. As a result, he was slapped down on the bed by the Queen, and heard the Queen's slightly helpless voice in his ears -
"sleep."
It was clearly a scolding, but the meaning of care was very obvious. Emperor Jingren was very pleased and simply threw away his own quilt and covered himself with the empress.
Queen: “…”
Can you please stop hugging her waist? If you go any lower, it will be exposed!