Chapter 7 Treacherous living in the Imperial Harem

Hearing this, Noble Consort Shu froze for a moment, but Yun Qingman immediately agreed, “Yes, sister. You said yesterday that Fenghuang is different from other concubines, because the Empress Dowager personally issued the imperial decree to cordially invite her to join the Imperial Harem. So, Consort Yue must dare not hurt her. But the current situation is: Consort Yue is narrow-minded, and Fenghuang is unfortunately involved in the fight between the two groups. One is Queen Mother Ji and the Empress, the other is Queen Mother Yuan and her niece Consort Yue. What will Fenghuang’s future be if she can’t leave Hu Zhu Palace?”

“... Let’s go back to Tong Xia Palace first.” Noble Consort Shu glared at Yun Qingman reluctantly. She then took a deep breath and berated her in a low voice, “Consort Yue is the hostess of Hu Zhu Palace. It’s okay for me, a Noble Consort, to privately judge her, but not for you, a Mei Ren to do the same thing. I have told you the Imperial Harem is not our home. Remember to be careful about your words and deeds all the time!”

Yun Qingman held her sister’s arm and coquettishly said, “I know, I know. I can say this because my dear sister is here. You won’t let us be bullied, right?”

Yun Qingman hinted Yun Fenghuang to hold her sister’s another arm while speaking. But Yun Fenghuang just smiled obediently without any action. Even though Yun Qingman and Noble Consort Shu had different mothers, they had the same father. Yun Qingman could take it for granted to act coquettishly to her sister, but Yun Fenghuang could not. The three of them knew clearly how she, the so-called sister, became a member of Yun’s Family. So, why bothered to act like close sisters?

After a while, their sedan stopped at Cheng Cai Hall, the main hall of Tong Xia Palace. Yun Fenghuang and Yun Qingman supported Noble Consort Shu down the sedan. Seeing that, a group of concubines of Tong Xia Palace following them bowed to Noble Consort Shu. The latter talked to them kindly and let them go back to their own residences. Then she took Yun Fenghuang and Yun Qingman into the hall.

Tong Xia Palace had always been the residence of high-ranking concubines. The whole palace was magnificent and majestic, but Cheng Cai Hall was simple and elegant.

Noble Consort Shu seemed not valuing luxury... Of course, this kind of simplicity was relative to the grade of the noble consorts.

“You just joined the Imperial Harem yesterday, and Fenghuang was not with me”, said Noble Consort Shu. She ordered the maids to serve tea and desserts, and then let them leave. Letting the two sisters sit down, she said sincerely, “Therefore, I didn’t say too much about the Imperial Harem to Qingman yesterday. Since you are both here now, I will tell you something unknown for the outside people or hard to speak out.”

Emperor Chunjia’s harem was probably the most complicated Imperial Harem since the establishment of the dynasty.

Even within the Imperial Harems in history, it must be among the most complicated ones.

First of all, Emperor Chunjia was not the son of late Emperor Xiaozong, but his cousin’s son. Xiaozong had only three daughters in his life. After Xiaozong died, it was taken for granted that his nephew should be enthroned... but the problem was that although Xiaozong had no sons, he had a half-brother!

This half-brother was the youngest son of Emperor Shenzong, the former Lord Yi and the current Prince Regent.

Although both Prince Regent and Xiaozong had a few children, Prince Regent had a son, the current Shizi (heir) of Prince Regent.

Therefore, when Emperor Xiaozong was critically ill and the Palace was going to adopt a nephew to be enthroned as the Prince of the country, Prince Regent’s son was the most popular choice. However, the Empress Dowager, Queen Mother Ji and Ji’s Family refused the suggestion by the reason that as the only son of Prince Regent, Shizi of Prince Regent shall succeed to his father’s title instead of the Emperor’s, and then made the current Emperor, Chunjia, who had less royal family’s blood, be enthroned… But the problem was that Emperor Chunjia was also the only son of his biological father, Duke Fuyang. Besides, he was also a son of the concubine. He was only able to succeed to the title of his father under the scheming and help of his legitimate mother, Ms. Yuan.

How could Prince Regent and his son submit to such humiliation?

Noble Consort Shu murmured when she said the following words, “There is a forbidden hearsay in the palace that when the Former Emperor fell ill, he did not mention to adopt a son at all, but hoped to make Prince Regent the Huang Tai Di (the Emperor’s brother who was selected to be enthroned as the next Emperor)... But this idea was severely refused by the Empress Dowager.”

Yun Fenghuang thought that the Empress Dowager surely would not agree.

The current prosperous status of Ji’s Family began since the current Empress Dowager was registered as the Empress of Emperor Shenzong. Not only Prince Regent was not the biological son of the Empress Dowager, but Princess Regent was of modest origin and had nothing to do with Ji’s Family. The key point was that Prince Regent was very mature and strong, and had gone through the frontier training. Even if he was willing to abandon his wife and marry a daughter of Ji’s Family as his legitimate wife, he couldn’t be controlled as easy as Emperor Chunjia.

Anyway, Emperor Xiaozong had failed to make his half-brother as the Huang Tai Di, but he might have given his brother some support before his death. After Emperor Chunjia was enthroned, his brother was titled as Prince Regent.

Noble Consort Shu also wasn’t clear about the mutual compromise between them.

The Imperial Harem was supposed to be centered on the emperors, but now Emperor Chunjia had a complicated background and was like a puppet. Therefore, it seemed that there weren’t enough concubines in the Imperial Harem, but actually different groups of powers had formed.

Empress Ji Lingzi and Zhao Yuan Ji Muzi, based on their family background, were undoubtedly about to replace the Empress Dowager and Queen Mother Ji, guaranteeing that Ji’s Family could continue their decisive role in the imperial issues;

Noble Consort Gui, Zheng Shangchu, was the niece of the powerful official, Zheng Jv. He had used to be the leading eunuch who had served Emperor Shenzong, and now the General-in-chief of the Cavalry who was in charge of the Imperial Guards. It was fair to say that the security of the Imperial City was decided by this person;

Noble Consort Shu, Yun Shuangyu, as the daughter of Duke Yi, was regarded as the representative of the royalists as a matter of course;

Next, the grandfather of Consort Xin (Cui Lianye) not only was titled as the Ceremonial Master, but was also a well-known learned scholar at home, who could be seen as the leader and representative of the literati and incorruptible officials;

Let alone Consort Yue, Emperor Chunjia’s childhood sweetheart and Queen Mother of Mercy’s biological niece. From standpoint to affection, she was the closest concubine to Emperor Chunjia;

And Fu Ren Yaoning, Gu Zhen, was a firm supporter of Prince Regent. She was the lovely daughter of the commander of the Dingbei Army, Duke Zhaowu, Gu Fangshu, who belonged to Prince Regent’s party.

The above was the general situation in the Imperial Harem: Ji’s Family, powerful officials, courtiers, Prince Regent, and the Emperor himself... If the royalists represented by Duke Yi who merely supported the emperor no matter who he was were counted, Emperor Chunjia was not that dangerous to hold his power. However, as for the power of Emperor Chunjia himself, he was definitely the weakest one.

Speaking of this, Noble Consort Shu drank the tea to moisten her throat, and then talked about the residences where Yun Qingman and Yun Fenghuang lived after they jointed the Imperial Harem, “You know that it was the Empress Dowager’s instructions to cordially invite noble ladies and some ladies from good families.... The Empress Dowager hadn’t handled the affairs in the Imperial Harem for a long time. Even if she was worried about the offspring of My Majesty, she could merely urge the Queen Mother and the Empress to think highly of this. The reason why she issued the imperial decree directly is that a Cai Nv died in Hu Zhu Palace not long ago.”

The Cai Nv was originally a maid in Hu Zhu Palace. It was said that she secretly slept with the Emperor and then was titled as Cai Nv.

According to Consort Yue’s temper, the Cai Nv would have been hit to death on the spot. However, the maid was titled as Cai Nv instead. Probably Empress Ji’s group intentionally did it to embarrass Consort Yue. Therefore, it was no surprise that Consort Yue wanted to find a chance to kill the girl. Unluckily, Empress Ji’s group protected that Cai Nv for months, deliberately making Consort Yue angry. When Consort Yue finally found an opportunity to hit the Cai Nv to death, she found that the Cai Nv was actually pregnant just sleeping with the Emperor once!

When the Cai Nv was killed, the fetus already took shape and was even a male fetus... This incident was heard by the Empress Dowager who had been worrying about Emperor Chunjia’s offspring for a long time. She suddenly became furious and summoned Queen Mother Ji, Empress Ji, Queen Mother Yuan and Consort Yue to Qing Ci Palace to scold them.

It was said that the four of them were scolded to kneel in Qing Ci Palace trembling for a long time.

After that, the Empress Dowager issued the imperial decree to enrich the Imperial Harem. Regardless of what the four people thought, they definitely dared not oppose her.

Although they dared not oppose the decree, they could do other things. For example, Empress Ji poured out her woes to the Empress Dowager on the spot, “Consort Yue is Your Majesty’s childhood sweetheart and Queen Mother of Mercy’s biological niece. Although I know she has a bad temper, I dared not punish her heavily. But in this way, she didn’t listen to me at all...”

After hearing this, Queen Mother Yuan immediately begged forgiveness for Consort Yue, suggesting that her niece was framed. What her implying meaning was that Empress Ji set the trap for Consort Yue, because Consort Yue didn’t succeed to kill the Cai Nv for months, then she made it suddenly before she got any news that the Cai Nv was pregnant.

Probably Empress Ji discovered the Cai Nv was pregnant, so she stopped protecting her anymore and made use of Consort Yue to kill her.

“In my opinion, among all the concubines jointing the Imperial Harem this time, except the ladies from the poor good families,” Empress Ji pretended not understanding what Queen Mother Yuan meant, and begged the Empress Dowager, “The concubines being cordially invited should not be arranged to Hu Zhu Palace for their own sake. Otherwise, If Consort Yue does something bad again, even though it’s not a big deal to be a joke in the whole Imperial Harem, it will hurt the feelings of the courtiers. If so…”

Since she mentioned this, Queen Mother Yuan definitely had to help her niece win over concubines. If it was done as the Empress said, everyone either in the Imperial Court or the Imperial Harem would regard Consort Yue as a mean and cruel woman.

Therefore, Queen Mother Yuan made every effort to refute the Empress’s suggestion. She firstly pointed out that the Cai Nv asked for her death, because any maid who seduced the Emperor should be killed in accordance with the rules of the Imperial Harem. However, Empress Ji not only did not support Consort Yue to kill her on the spot, but made her a Cai Nv, which was not right!

Of course, Queen Mother Yuan could understand the Empress who was being gentle, kind and tolerant at that time.

However, Empress Ji couldn’t just be gentle and kind to the Cai Nv. Her niece Consort Yue was the Empress’s official sister in the harem and also needed the Empress’s gentleness, kindness and forgiveness... Indeed, Consort Yue was not very sensible. Her family didn’t expect her to be a consort when she was young, so she was spoiled by her families. Therefore, she needed more tenderness, kindness, tolerance and generosity from the Empress.

To sum up, as for the arrangements for concubines jointing the Imperial Harem this time, especially the noble ladies being cordially invited, Hu Zhu Palace should be the first place to be chosen instead of being abandoned!

Anyway, after the arguing for a long time, Empress Ji reluctantly agreed to Queen Mother Yuan’s request, promising Hu Zhu Palace would be taken into consideration when arranging the concubines being cordially invited.

“Then the Empress chose Fenghuang?” Yun Qingman asked confusedly to hear this, “Why?”

“...The Empress chose you!” Noble Consort Shu glanced at Yun Qingman reluctantly, “The reason is that I’m gentle and polite, so my sister is definitely a submissive girl and can get well along with Consort Yue. Besides, you are from a super noble family. Although Consort Yue has a bad temper, she will be discouraged and dares not treat you badly.”

Yun Qingman froze for a moment, subconsciously looking at Yun Fenghuang.

Noble Consort Shu nodded with no expression, “Yes. After I heard about it, I discussed with our father to send another daughter of Yun’s Family into the Imperial Harem to replace you! I know Consort Yue very well. If you go to her palace, she will dare not make you die, but she will torment you badly... You have the same father with me and are raised by my biological mother, so I regard you as my biological sister. How can I allow you to be treated wrongly?”

Although the Yun tribe had other daughters suitable for joining the Imperial Harem except Yun Qingman, the current Imperial Harem was so complicated that no one was willing to send his own daughter into it if there was another way. It happened that Yun Jv’s family raised Ms. Xie’s niece of her natal family from afar, and the girl was beautiful and just at the right age. There was an old saying that the sacrifice of others was better than the sacrifice of families. So, Xie Fenghuang became Yun Fenghuang and was sent here to bear the suffering of Yun’s Family’s daughter.

Noble Consort Shu took the tea and sipped. Looking down at Yun Fenghuang who was thinking, she said calmly and peacefully, “As for you, after you came to Dijing City from the north, you became a noble lady as Qingman’s close friend. Over the past three years, Qingman has helped you a lot no matter intentionally or not. This is the first reason.”

“Secondly, the affair of your sister not only caused you to leave your family and get to Dijing City, but made very bad local influence of the reputation of Xie’s Family. After I decided to let you joint the Imperial Harem to replace Qingman, I had informed the subordinate of Duke Yi’s Mansion in the north to take care of your family!”

“So, it’s okay for you to regard this either as a payment to my bounty or a threat. In short, the story has been told. This is a compromise between the Empress and me, so I won’t get you out of Hu Zhu Palace right now!”

After speaking, Noble Consort Shu took her tea again and squinted at Yun Fenghuang, waiting for her response.