From ancient times to the present, women are the ones who are most reluctant to have their age mentioned, and even more reluctant to be called old.
Especially in this day and age when people can get married at the age of fifteen and are no longer young if they are in their early twenties.
Ye Jun's words "I'm almost 30" are enough to make people angry to death.
In fact, Concubine Shu and Concubine Jingde are not old, including the Queen who is the same age as Ning Chen.
It’s just because they feel they are no longer young, so they dress more conservatively and behave in a very proper manner, making them look like they are in their thirties.
But whoever brings up the topic should just bear with it.
Ye Jun smiled calmly, "I meant it literally. Could it be that I remembered your majesty's age wrong?"
Concubine Shu's face turned pale and she wanted to say something.
He was interrupted by the Queen.
"Okay, you're still not stable at this age, and you're making a lot of noise so early in the morning."
Shufei was still afraid of the Queen. After all, her position was higher than hers and she could punish anyone she wanted.
So he suppressed his annoyance and sat back down.
She knew that the queen was deliberately allowing the concubine to bully her, but she could do nothing about it.
At this moment, Ziyi Shunyuan acted like a well-behaved and sensible person and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Ming Shunyuan's temper has never changed. Although we are all sisters, the Empress Shufei is a concubine after all. How can she be so impolite in her speech?"
After he finished speaking, he gave the queen a look.
The latter immediately got on the right track.
She immediately took over the conversation, "Yishunyuan is right, Ming Shunyi, although the emperor likes your outspoken and straightforward personality, you should not lose your sense of propriety. After all, you have offended the emperor with your words today. If I don't punish you, it will be difficult to convince the public. Go back and copy the Buddhist scriptures three times in the next two days to calm your mind."
Ye Jun's eyes darkened, but he didn't refute. He stood up, bowed and agreed.
At last, he suddenly smiled and said to Yi Shunyuan.
"It turns out that Yi Shunyuan is such a well-behaved person. How could she have forgotten this when she was staying at Lingxi Garden? That day, she specially called Lady Qi, Lady Wan, and Lady Huo to Jiaotang Garden to pay their respects to me. Oh, I was so panicked that I didn't even dare to see them."
Hui Zhaorong on the side immediately cooperated and acted surprised. She looked at Yi Shunyuan and then at the Queen with a complicated expression and said in a low voice.
"These concubines... can only pay their respects to the Queen. Yi Shunyuan has always been well-behaved. How could she do such a thing? This is too..."
You don't take the Queen seriously.
Regardless of whether the Queen understood that Yi Shunyuan's action at that time was intended to discredit Ye Jun, but now that Ye Jun pointed it out in front of everyone in the harem, it was undoubtedly a clear lack of respect for the Queen.
This is a slap in the face of the Queen.
For a moment, the queen's face darkened a little, and she asked in a cold voice, "Yishunyuan, is this true?"
"Your Majesty, I did go there, but I didn't go to pay my respects. I just went to talk to Ming Shunyi early in the morning. How did that become paying my respects?" Yi Shunyuan clenched her handkerchief.
This shows that he is prepared to deny it even if he is beaten to death.
Ye Jun narrowed his eyes slightly, "Could it be that my servants are deaf and have conveyed the wrong message?"
"It is not uncommon for servants to make slips of the tongue," Yi Shunyuan said immediately.
Before Ye Jun could say anything else, the usually silent Lady Qi suddenly spoke.
"It's fine if a servant is deaf, but is my servant also deaf?"
This statement surprised everyone.
It is not clear what Lady Qi means. Is it because she dislikes Yi Shunyuan and is therefore helping Ye Jun, or is it because she wants to join Ye Jun
But there is no time to delve into these at the moment.
After Lady Qi started talking, Lady Wan, who was still wavering, calmed down and followed suit, saying almost the same thing.
Since both of them told the truth, Lady Huo couldn't keep it to herself anymore, so she admitted it.
This way, the fact that Yi Shunyuan had gathered everyone to pay respects to Ye Jun was completely confirmed.
"I'm not dead yet, but Yi Shunyuan knows how to support her new master." The queen sneered, "Just now I praised you for being sensible, but you really are stupid!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down. That's not what I meant..." Yi Shunyuan stood up and saluted with an unpleasant look on her face.
The queen was too lazy to listen to her. "Alright, whatever you mean, put all those thoughts away for me. Go back and copy the palace rules ten times to wake up!"
Wow, reciting the palace rules ten times is several times more work than copying Buddhist scriptures.
With a hint of sarcasm and provocation in his eyes, Ye Jun looked at Yi Shunyuan.
If you are punished, you have to take someone with you.
Everyone was unhappy during the morning greetings and we all went our separate ways after a quarrel.
After leaving Fengqi Palace, Ye Jun got on the sedan chair, but ordered the servants to wait for a while on the road that Concubine Qi would take on her way back.
Sure enough, we met.
They avoided meeting each other here in the sight of others because they were afraid that others would think they were in a relationship.
You can't form an alliance with just anyone.
"Your concubine wishes Ming Shunyi well." Lady Qi bowed.
Ye Jun waved his hand gently, "No need to be polite, I am waiting here just to thank you, beautiful lady."
Just now in Fengqi Palace, if Qi hadn't spoken, it would have been difficult to drag Yi Shunyuan into the water.
"This is my personality. I cannot stand dirty things. Yi Shunyuan lied, so I naturally cannot turn a blind eye to it. It's not that I'm deliberately helping Shunyi." Lady Qi said.
It's just that she said part of it, and there is another part that she didn't say.
The emperor dotes on Ming Shunyi so much, so if Ming Shunyi was wronged or bullied, he would definitely feel distressed.
Although she didn't want to see the emperor favoring others, she didn't want the emperor to feel uncomfortable even more.
Ye Jun saw that she was telling the truth and narrowed his eyes. "Anyway, the beauty's words today have helped me. I also have something to say to the beauty."
"Shunyi, you can talk as usual." Qi nodded.
"Too much rigidity will lead to failure." Ye Jun said seriously, "Beauty is smart, I don't need to explain the meaning of this sentence."
After saying this, he got back into the sedan chair and left.
Looking at Ye Jun's receding figure, Lady Qi's eyes darkened.
Being too rigid can easily lead to breaking. This is a reminder for her that she cannot be too upright and tactful in the harem. However, she is afraid that she can't do it.
The Qi family has been a family of Confucian scholars for generations, and even the daughters, like the boys, have developed a very rigid literary character.
Qi likes to distinguish right from wrong clearly and do things clearly.
It was a brief conversation but nothing else happened, but it made the other people in the harem who found out later feel relieved.
Qi is considered the most favored among the new group of people. If she is paired with Ye Jun, who has always been in favor, wouldn't the two of them be able to turn the tables
Fortunately, they had no intention of joining forces.
After this incident, the palace became quiet again for a while.
It was not until late March that the Spring Examination began, and the tutors hired by the palace to teach the eldest, second and third princes also started classes.
Classes are held in Hongwen Pavilion, a small courtyard next to the upper study.
From now on, the three princes will begin to learn the rules seriously.