It was already New Year's Eve when the smallpox in the late summer and early autumn of the thirteenth year of Chunjia gradually subsided.
There were several heirs involved in this disaster in the palace: according to ranking, King Qin, the third prince, the King of Chu, the sixth prince, the tenth prince, the thirteenth prince, and the fifteenth prince were all among them.
After all, most of the emperor's heirs were safe and sound under the diagnosis and treatment of the imperial doctors and the care of the waiters. But two heirs passed away before and after, both of them were princes: not long after the thirteenth prince passed away, the eleventh prince also fell ill and died young.
The biological mothers of the two princes collapsed for a time, and Concubine Jing was particularly determined to die. She tried various methods such as throwing herself into a well, swallowing gold, and hanging from a beam, but she was all rescued by her attendants. Later, she also contracted smallpox, and she was determined to wait for death. But what made her feel ridiculous was that she had no business and was not very willing to take medicine, but she survived!
Except for a few marks on the surface, there is nothing unusual.
It's okay for Concubine De, after all, there is still a third princess here.
After she cried several times, she finally recovered little by little with persuasion.
As for the concubines, Concubine Jing, the Jia family, and the Ping family were all infected, as well as at least a dozen palace concubines... Of course, at this time, no one cared about the life and death of the palace concubines, and the exact number was unclear.
None of the three concubines died, and even Jia's face was not seriously damaged. Concubine Jing was second, and the most unlucky was Ping. It is said that the ribbons that bound her at night were loose, so that she unconsciously scratched a lot of herpes. , although his life was saved, his originally beautiful face turned miserable.
"... People in the palace say that Ping Zhaoyuan was probably tricked by the Empress." Chen Jing told Yun Fenghuang privately, "It is said that the Empress deliberately ordered the people who served Zhaoyuan to take advantage of Zhaoyuan's sleep to steal the silk. The belt was loosened so that Zhaoyuan's appearance would be ruined. It's hard for Zhaoyuan to go out and walk like this. Even if Zhaoyuan is alive, what can she do?"
In this way, even if Ping Xianyi's mother became the Queen Mother of the Holy Mother due to her son's wealth, she would not be able to fight for power with Gu Zhen herself.
Yun Fenghuang thought that Gu Zhen might not be able to think of this method himself, or that the queen, who was still immersed in grief at the bad news that all three children were infected with smallpox, did not have such leisure.
Either someone is spreading rumors against the Queen again, or the Queen is controlling it, and the most likely cause is the Gu family.
After all, it was impossible for the Gu family not to learn from Queen Mother Qu's lesson.
She is in a relatively calm mood now, mainly because the fifteenth prince and the King of Qin got sick one after another, but they both survived.
Even though there were many marks on the faces of the two children, the imperial doctor swore that since the two princes were still young and had plasters applied on them every day, they would not be able to tell even if they were close in the future.
This made Yun Fenghuang feel very relieved, and he had become a lot more tolerant recently.
At this moment, he looked at the fifteenth prince on the hut not far away with a smile, and said with a smile: "Never mind them, it is still a grudge between Ping Zhaoyuan and the queen... Speaking of which, the queen is true, no matter whether she did this kind of thing or not Yes, people have been saying it once or twice, but she doesn’t know how to take care of it.”
"How can the Queen have the energy to take care of things now?" Chen Jing said, "She fell ill again yesterday."
This time the Queen was not sick, but simply tired.
After all, the three children under her knees were infected at the same time. Even if the queen was prevented from taking care of them personally, how could she relax for a moment
The most terrible thing is that the third prince and the tenth prince got sick at about the same time, but the King of Chu was sick at the same time as these two had already recovered!
In other words, the queen thought she could breathe a sigh of relief, King Chu was not good.
This kind of blow... Well, this year Yun Fenghuang actually received similar treatment. The fifteenth prince was declared out of danger by the imperial doctor, and King Qin suffered.
She did not age by more than ten years overnight like the Queen. One reason is that she is nearly ten years younger than the Queen. The second reason is that she does not have the Queen's love for her two children that she would like to give her body to them.
At this moment, I was very emotional when I heard it: "I'm sorry, I'll send some nourishing herbs to the palace later. This year... ugh, it's not going to be easy for anyone this year."
For the safety of the emperor, the imperial palace has not allowed the emperor to come to the harem. After Yun Fenghuang was out of danger, in order to show that he had never forgotten Chunjia, he specially sent someone to greet him. He learned that the emperor had aged in the past few months. A lot.
There is even a clear frown mark between the eyebrows.
Thinking of this, she suddenly asked: "How many women has your Majesty taken in front of you? Are there any that need special attention?"
Chen Jing was startled. The usually clever man choked for a while without answering, and his heart sank.
Yun Fenghuang smiled and said: "As expected. The harem has not been able to serve your majesty for almost half a year. Even if the queen is too busy to take care of it, many people in front of your majesty are not dead. How could you not worry about sharing your majesty's worries, and by the way, also for them? How about finding possible backers for yourself in the future? How many people are there? Where are they from? Is there anyone who particularly likes His Majesty?"
"... To answer the question, a few days ago someone did suggest that you should donate some good sons from a poor family to your Majesty to relieve your fatigue." The imperial concubine had already said this, how could Chen Jing dare to stop her
He had to apologize and said with a smile, "There are not many people, only ten, and Your Majesty doesn't pay much attention to it... I don't particularly like it. I didn't hide it from the Queen on purpose. I just saw that the Queen has lost a lot of money these days, and I was afraid that the Queen would be angry." "
Yun Fenghuang said lightly: "Zhiqi? It's just ten people. If I have to care about you, how can I still survive in the palace for these years? I will never hide such things in the future! If I hadn't become suspicious , What? Are you planning to hide the birth of a child from those favored ones, and His Majesty will completely forget about this palace? Is this good for you? "
Chen Jing hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed: "I don't dare! I just think that screwdriver is nothing. How can it be compared with the empress? But I am afraid that the empress will not be happy and can't take good care of her body and bones!"
This is the truth. He has been asking about the emperor since he knew there was a newcomer. If he thought there was someone who could threaten Xuanqing Palace, how could he continue to remain silent unless he could handle it
"Okay." Yun Fenghuang wasn't really angry, because as she said, she couldn't get angry. This kind of thing could be done for a while, so how could she expect it to last forever
Besides, from what she knew about Chunjia, the emperor himself might not be able to endure it for half a year. Mainly because he was very busy. He was not a sexy person in the first place, so when he was busy, he would never have thought of so many things.
But there are always some people in the Taichu Palace, as well as the ministers of the previous dynasty, who will help him think of it.
Only ten people entered, and they were all from poor families, which was already very good in Yun Fenghuang's opinion.
She thought that some people who resented her would bring in a noble girl from a noble family who was qualified to become a concubine.
At this moment, when Chen Jing was called, he asked calmly, "Tell me about the newcomers one by one... I have my own opinion whether Your Majesty likes it or not, but it's not your turn to comment!"
Although she felt that Chunjia would not fall in love with her now, but there were people outside the world, and Yun Fenghuang didn't think that there was another person as powerful as herself in the world.
In addition, there are many people in the outer court who dislike her, and she is probably looking for someone to share her favor with her for more than a day or two. I am afraid that the newcomers who are now being presented are all carefully selected, and they are definitely not good.
Chen Jing felt that there was nothing to be afraid of, as they may not really have no future.
At this moment, while Yun Fenghuang was listening to Chen Jing's report, he was thinking that it was time for him to benevolent to the Sixth Palace.
The next day, she went to the Queen specifically and talked about the matter with the Queen: "It has been a long time since the last time Jin was granted the title of Sixth Palace. Now someone from the previous court has dedicated new people to serve His Majesty. Although due to various reasons, they have not yet been There is a reputation, but it is only a matter of time. I thought about it, and now there are many vacancies in high positions. In addition, some people have served your Majesty for many years, and they have worked hard without credit... Do you think I am the queen? "
The queen is still ill. She just heard that the imperial concubine came to support the reception. Now she is listless, with weakness in her voice. She said slowly: "You can take care of these things. You are familiar with it anyway... I I've been tired for the past two days, so I won't say much."
The relationship between the empress and concubine is much better now than when the epidemic first spread.
The main reason was that the first child was healed and the next one had an accident. The queen couldn't bear it, and for a time she thought that they would just go on the road together. In normal times, the attendants could report to the emperor and ask for instructions from Gu, but the palace was closed. Under such circumstances, they were so anxious that they had no choice but to beg the imperial concubine.
Yun Fenghuang rarely showed kindness and went to Chongchang Palace to comfort the queen.
Her eloquence was of course no problem if she could convince the queen who didn't really want to die but was just too stressed.
After this incident, not only the queen herself, but also her attendants had a great impression of the imperial concubine.
In fact, it's not just the two of them. This time the Sixth Palace is closed, the relationship between the entire palace has improved a lot.
Therefore, the queen has agreed to the concubine's request. Besides, this is also good for the queen herself. After all, she knows the background of the newcomer. Most of them are from the company mentioned by Mrs. Zhaowu, and they have nothing to do with the Gu family anyway.
Then why does she take special care of her
Even because she still has a good impression of the imperial concubine, the queen still feels a little guilty, and is even less likely to object.
She even gave the phoenix seal directly to the imperial concubine, allowing the imperial concubine to take full charge of promotions in the harem: "You can just return it to me after you finish it."
Yun Fenghuang pretended to decline twice, but seeing that the queen was firm and not forced, he agreed.
After returning to Xuanqing Palace, she stood aside and took out the Phoenix Seal alone, admiring it carefully for a long time... Speaking of which, she had been co-managing the Sixth Palace for several years, but holding the Phoenix Seal in her hand and playing with it at will was still first.
After all, to this day, this seal, which represents the power and status of the Central Palace, still loves its rightful owner.
In the past, even if Yun Fenghuang relied on his favor and had more power than the queen, many things had to be done according to the queen's wishes, whether she wanted it or not, but...
When the phoenix seal needs to be stamped, it is always brought to the queen, who, or the queen's attendant, does it herself.
Occasionally she herself would get the opportunity to stamp it with her own hands, but it was all watched by the queen and her attendants, so it was impossible to say that she appreciated it so freely.
It was rare that Gu Zhen was so generous today. Yun Fenghuang rubbed the warm jade of Phoenix Seal, but he had the urge not to give it back.
After admiring it obsessively for a long time, she sighed, put it back in the box, and ordered someone to tell Concubine De and others: "Since this year, things have happened frequently in the palace confinement. Now that the new year is approaching, and the epidemic is gradually disappearing... Although Your Majesty, We are still blocked from coming to see us later, but we should take it easy and give it a good sign for the coming year."
"After discussing with the Queen, I have decided to be promoted to the Sixth Palace!"
"The fourth concubine cannot be promoted, so naturally she is not among them."
"But the vacant Concubine Shu still has the high position that has been vacant in the past two years, but everyone has a chance."
"Even the concubines below are planning to select a few to encourage me."
"After all, I have served His Majesty for many years. Even if I have not given birth to any children, it is still hard work."
"Oh, and also, in the past few months, the foreign minister seemed to have donated ten good sons from poor families to serve His Majesty. Although they have not yet been officially appointed, they will surely make arrangements after they are presented to the Queen. "
After Yun Fenghuang finished speaking, the concubines who were summoned to discuss the matter all had complicated expressions.
how to say
I was just happy to have the opportunity to be promoted, and then I heard that newcomers had arrived again, and there were still ten...
Everyone secretly looked at the imperial concubine's expression from the corner of their eyes, wondering how the imperial concubine was feeling now.