Harem Daily Life

Chapter 259: Unable to get over it and become enemies with the other palaces

After the nanny finished complaining, Princess Yu snorted coldly, "She was not your Majesty's legal wife. The Queen was pregnant, and the former Imperial Concubine had committed a crime and went to Jingci Temple. She was just temporarily in charge. As for whether it was intentional, only she knows."

After saying that, he looked at the gifts in front of him and said, "Put these things in the storeroom first. The prince will have to go and express his gratitude someday. Although she doesn't know the rules, we must understand them. When the time comes, let the prince thank the Empress Defei for the gifts she sent."

The nanny immediately understood what the princess meant. She wanted the prince to clearly state the gift and pointed out that it was inappropriate for Concubine De to give a gift. She smiled and said, "Yes, I will keep the gift list well and remind the prince when he enters the palace."

As for Concubine De, after fixing this loophole, she took people to calculate the expenses of the palace. She was very proud of her idea of reducing the monthly allowance: "Look, just the monthly allowance alone can save more than 3,000 taels a year. You should remember all of this. When I see His Majesty, I must ask for a reward. Humph, the Queen Mother and His Majesty have always thought that I am not good at managing affairs. This time, I will let them see that I can save His Majesty thousands of taels of silver a year. How can I not be good at managing affairs?"

Haitang agreed, "Before, neither the Queen nor the former Concubine Wen saved money for Your Majesty from this. Your Majesty is doing something new and will surely be appreciated by Your Majesty."

In Fengyi Palace, the Queen was taking care of her baby while listening to the recent news from the palace that Nanny Fang had inquired about. Although she was not in charge of palace affairs, she was not completely ignorant.

"Ever since Empress Defei proposed to reduce the monthly salary by 20%, all the palaces have been complaining. They all say behind her back that Empress Defei is using chicken feathers as a token of authority and forcing them to live a worse life just to show off to His Majesty."

The queen couldn't help laughing out loud, "She actually dared to touch this, hahahaha, my belly is about to hurt from laughing."

After laughing, the queen looked incredulous: "Why is she so desperate that she wants to make enemies with all the palaces?"

If you affect other people's interests, it would be strange if they would be nice to you!

"The women in this palace, first, are for the prosperity of the family, to become a chess piece placed by the family to stabilize the relationship and interests of the royal family; second, for the love of the emperor, just because of your majesty's extraordinary bravery and first-class appearance, everyone also sincerely wants to accompany the emperor; third, for the benefits and power to be obtained. No matter how much this monthly allowance is, it is something real to rely on. Anyone who touches it is simply asking for an enemy!"

After the Queen finished speaking, Nanny Fang also laughed and said, "That's right, Concubine De really did a stupid thing this time."

As soon as she finished speaking, she saw the queen glaring at her, and she quickly apologized: "I spoke out of turn and shouldn't have criticized the master. I hope the queen will forgive me!"

Nanny Fang was just talking nonsense and let the secret slip.

"Then Concubine Tao is now assisting Concubine De in handling palace affairs. If there is chaos in the harem, she will also be implicated. But she did nothing to stop it. It's really strange." The queen said lightly.

Nanny Fang thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I am too young to understand these things?"

The Queen shook her head. "As someone who can handle the royal property, do you think she wouldn't understand? I think she is very smart. She deliberately didn't stop it. She just wanted to watch Concubine De get along with everyone. Maybe she can even reap the benefits."

Nanny Fang echoed and said something else: "News came from the previous dynasty that His Majesty agreed to lend troops to help Yan State quell the rebellion. I'm afraid they will go out to fight in a few days. Currently, the people who will lead the troops are Princess Yu's father, General Duan, and Prince Gu of Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion as deputy generals. They will go together to fight."

The queen didn't care who went to war, but she cared about the State of Yan.

"Yan State? Is it the Yan State where Princess Pingning married?" asked the Queen.

The nanny nodded and said, "When your majesty was still the crown prince, the Kingdom of Yan came to ask for the princess of the Great Zhou in order to make peace with the emperor. However, the princesses of the late emperor were either married or too young to marry. Princess Pingning volunteered and said she was willing to go to the Kingdom of Yan for marriage. For this, the late emperor rewarded Princess Pingning handsomely and prepared a generous dowry for her."

The Queen frowned as she recalled the past and said, "I heard that His Majesty tried to stop Princess Pingning from marrying, and even had a big fight with the late Emperor over this. Although I didn't see His Majesty trying to stop her, he was really distracted during that time. Our Majesty and Princess Pingning were childhood sweethearts, and he didn't want her to marry far away to another country."

Nanny Fang said, "Even if they are childhood sweethearts, they are both married now, so there will be no more entanglement."

The Queen laughed, "Really? That's not necessarily the case. Otherwise, why would she come all the way to Your Majesty to borrow troops when her country of Yan was in chaos? In my opinion, Princess Pingning and Your Majesty are still in love. And the reason Your Majesty is willing to lend her troops is probably because of the friendship you have with Princess Pingning since you grew up together."

Nanny Fang did not comment and did not respond.

"By the way, Concubine Tao has only been in the palace for a short time, so she probably doesn't know about these past events. Find a chance to leak some information to the people around her. She is favored now, and has been made a concubine in less than a year. If she knew that Princess Pingning and His Majesty were in love, and His Majesty was willing to send troops for her childhood sweetheart, do you think she would feel uncomfortable and go to His Majesty to throw a tantrum?"

It has to be said that it was fate that the Queen and Shu Fei became friends. They both liked to leak information everywhere and fan the flames.

Tao Yanyan was discussing matters with Manager Li.

The noodle processing workshop has started ahead of schedule, seven days earlier than expected. Manager Li was very happy. He just came back from the imperial farm today and brought the first batch of noodles for Concubine Tao to inspect.

"Well, it looks good. Let's cook a few bowls and try them today." Tao Yanyan asked Caiyun to take the noodles to the kitchen.

"I've already had a bowl of this at the Imperial Manor at noon. It tastes very chewy, not inferior to freshly made hand-rolled noodles, and is easy to carry. It doesn't have to go bad over time, so it's a must-have dry food for traveling." Manager Li praised, "This is all thanks to the Queen's recipe. The people in the workshop follow the recipe. Once it's successful, we can produce it in large quantities, not only to supply the palace, but also to sell it in grain shops. The packaging is small, two pounds of noodles per handful, and most people can afford it."

Tao Yanyan was also very happy: "It all depends on Manager Li's attention. He supervises the construction of the workshop in advance. As for the subsequent sales, I hope Manager Li will follow up and see the customer's reaction. Then, according to the sales volume, we can see if there is anything that can be improved."

"Yes, I will keep a close eye on it recently, don't worry, Madam." After saying this, Li Zongguan remembered something and asked, "These dried noodles are very convenient to carry. They won't go bad even if they are stored for three months. Do you want to add a batch to the team for this expedition?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chang Tai coughed lightly and glanced at Tao Yanyan.

Tao Yanyan said suspiciously: "Chang Tai, if you have something to say, just say it. Manager Li is not an outsider, so you can say it."

Chang Tai was a little embarrassed, but when it came to the army going out, he couldn't help but tell his master the news he heard: "My queen, I heard that His Majesty sent troops to go out for Princess Pingning. And Princess Pingning is your childhood sweetheart. When Princess Pingning wanted to marry, Your Majesty was heartbroken and tried to stop her, even arguing with the late emperor. Now Princess Pingning is caught in civil strife, and Your Majesty has sent troops to help her, and spent a lot of manpower and material resources. The imperial farm you manage has provided so much food support, and I feel upset."