radicalducati Chapter 80 Doting on a concubine and destroying his wife
Chapter 80 Doting on a concubine and destroying his wife
Her tantrum has nothing to do with the Empress. She's stubborn, but she's also clear about right and wrong, and has a carefree nature; she doesn't have many ulterior motives, so the Empress needn't worry about it. The Empress takes good care of her in the palace, so I'm quite at ease with her, and I don't want her to suffer any injustice!
The Empress was taken aback for a moment, then quickly smiled and said, "Yes!"
The emperor patted the back of her hand, "You should rest. You are the empress; you don't need to do these things yourself."
"It is my honor to serve Your Majesty!" But she still had to let go.
"Li Fude, prepare the meal! Empress, please stay and dine with me!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty! I could never have asked for this!"
"Your Majesty will need to put in extra effort for the Mid-Autumn Festival family banquet tomorrow."
"This is my duty! I thought there were many new ladies joining the palace this year, so I instructed the music academy to rehearse new pieces. The ladies can have some fun, and Your Majesty can also enjoy the festival. Your Majesty has been working hard for the past six months and hasn't had a proper rest!"
"Thank you for your trouble, Your Majesty!" the Emperor said.
After the emperor and empress had lunch together, the emperor wanted to take a nap, so the empress took her leave.
Emerging from Qian Yuan Palace, the Empress was clearly in a good mood. The weather had turned cooler, and she was interested in taking a stroll in the Imperial Garden. "Go and tell Lady Song that tomorrow's outcome depends entirely on her. This is her only chance; as long as she can catch the Emperor's eye, that's all that matters!"
"yes!"
That evening, the emperor came again, but Zhaoyang Palace remained closed. Even when Consort Qiong knocked on the door, it was not opened. The emperor simply had someone hand Consort Qiong a few recipes and told her to study them herself.
The emperor was not angry. He sat in the pavilion outside for a while longer, enjoying the moonlight alone. He ordered tea instead of wine and sipped it slowly.
But no one could fathom his thoughts, and everyone was filled with apprehension.
Even the people inside Zhaoyang Palace were afraid.
The emperor is out there, who wouldn't be afraid!
Except for the young master!
It's killing me!
Shen Shixi ignored everything, reclining on the couch, reading the novel she had just acquired.
It is a storybook called "The Cave of Immortals," in which the protagonist, while on a mission to the source of the Yellow River, spends the night in the "Cave of Immortals," where he drinks wine, composes poems, and engages in flirtatious sexual acts with Shi Niang and Wu Sao.
The entire piece is in parallel prose, making it very difficult to read.
The flirting process was gradual. First, they exchanged poems to prove that the protagonist was a learned scholar of high status. Then, they used poetry to express their love and hinted at special requests.
The protagonist first made a move on Shi Niang, trying to hold her hand. Shi Niang pretended to refuse, while Wu Sao advised her from the side.
Once hands are held, the arm around the waist follows; once the arm around the waist, a kiss follows. Once the lips are kissed, Shi Niang says, "We've already kissed, so please don't ask for anything else, my lord. There's nothing I can't grant."
Shen Shixi found it very boring.
After reading the story of over ten thousand words, Shen Shixi felt like she was scratching an itch through a boot by the end, and she had an urge to snatch the author's keyboard.
The writing is far too subtle, especially the crucial process, which is glossed over.
"What? Couldn't you have written it more clearly? Even if it's free, you can't write it like this!" She threw the storybook down, almost hitting the fish that came in.
"Your Highness, the Empress went to Qian Yuan Palace for lunch today."
"So what if they went? What does it have to do with me?"
"The Empress went to apologize to the Emperor, saying that yesterday she had taken it upon herself to go to Cining Palace with the Emperor, which upset the Consort and caused her to quarrel with the Emperor. She also asked the Emperor to be patient and not let the Consort suffer any grievances."
Clearly, these words were tacitly approved by the emperor; otherwise, no one, no matter how capable, could possibly find out anything from the Qian Yuan Palace.
Shen Shixi chuckled. "I understand. You may leave. From now on, don't inquire about anything from Qian Yuan Palace. Don't offend the Emperor. However, I'll still reward you this time!"
Chao Yu knelt down with a thud. "Master, it was my duty. I don't expect any reward from you. Master, the Emperor is here and waiting outside!"
"Chaoyu, tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. The court will be given a three-day holiday. Do you think your master doesn't deserve a holiday? I'll give you all three days off too, in rotation. Remember, don't cause trouble!"
But nobody was happy. With the Emperor squatting outside, how could they possibly relax?
Bai Ping came over and said, "Your Highness is still angry. As Chao Yu said, it wasn't His Majesty who invited the Empress yesterday. It's just that Your Highness is overthinking things and has misunderstood His Majesty."
"You mean, I was wrong?" Shen Shixi pointed at herself. "Bai Ping, what did I say? Whoever is wrong, you can't be wrong!"
"Yes, yes, yes, it's all a mistake, Your Majesty, you're not wrong. The mistake lies with others! But now Your Majesty has misunderstood the Emperor..."
"How could I have misunderstood him? Isn't the Empress his Empress? Husband and wife are one. Since the Empress is scheming against me in this way, then let her scheme to her heart's content, let her get what she wants. I'm going to have a falling out with the Emperor! Let her be smug!"
The Empress's scheme was perfectly clear; it was an open and aboveboard plot.
If the Emperor were allowed in now, what would she become? In the eyes of the world, she would be seen as a concubine who dared to be jealous of the mistress, and Li Yuanke would be seen as favoring his concubine over his wife.
Therefore, the Empress's move put Shen Shixi in a dilemma, but was she afraid?
The emperor waited outside for about half an hour before returning to Qianyuan Palace.
For two consecutive nights, Zhaoyang Palace remained closed, and the emperor did not summon anyone to his bedchamber. Everyone in the harem was cursing Shen Shixi.
She no longer serves the emperor in bed, and she also forbids others from receiving his favor.
Shen Shixi read the storybook for a while, and around nine o'clock, she went to sleep. She slept soundly until dawn. When she woke up, she was curled up in a corner, like a shrimp ball, with the blanket wrapped around her body and her head and feet sticking out.
"Master, please get up quickly, we still need to pay our respects later."
"So annoying!" Shen Shixi complained.
She can't take leave. If she takes leave today, will she be able to invite everyone to the family dinner later?
If you have to take leave for every family dinner, that's going a bit too far.
A little bit of acting up can be fun, but if you go too far, it's not acting crazy anymore, it's just being dead.
She wanted to make a scene with the emperor and let him know her bottom line, but she didn't plan to fall out with him yet.
I haven't had enough to eat yet.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the imperial court granted a three-day holiday. Li Yuanke was not idle either. He led the Ministry of Works to harvest the potatoes and sweet potatoes planted in Qianyuan Palace. The potatoes and sweet potatoes were already ripe, and the weight was estimated.
The Ministry of Works calculated that the yield of potatoes per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.067 hectares) reached 50 shi (another Chinese unit of area, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 jin).
Of course, this is also due to the fact that everyone in Qian Yuan Palace takes good care of the crops, but the upper limit is high.
I have never seen a crop with such a high yield.
Li Yuanke had never farmed before, but Shen Congzhang was there. He didn't know anything about farming either, but he was in charge of land reclamation in the Ministry of Works, so he had a good memory and remembered the data well.
"Your Majesty, rice is grown in both the north and south of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even at best, the yield per mu (unit of land area) is no more than three shi (unit of dry measure). I wonder how filling potatoes are!"
"I think it's very good. You may all try it in a moment."
It's okay to try a small amount, but the rest should be used for seed saving.
After the sweet potatoes were dug up and weighed again, the yield was slightly lower, about 34 shi per mu, which is more than 3,000 jin.
These yields far exceeded those of rice and wheat per mu.
The imperial kitchen brought out the steamed potatoes and sweet potatoes, and each person was given a small piece. Perhaps because it was their first time eating them, these high-ranking officials actually found them delicious.
It was incredibly filling, and everyone who ate it still wanted more, wondering if the Emperor would reward them with some for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
The novel items bestowed by the emperor were meant to convey a sense of prestige.