SFS Chapter 239 Operational Flexibility
Chapter 239 Operational Flexibility
After Concubine Hua entered the Yiku Palace, she asked Lingzhi to serve a plate of crab meat crisps to whet her appetite.
From the Chinese New Year to now, I have finally had something enjoyable.
Hua Fei hummed a little tune and happily lit three incense sticks for Maitreya Buddha.
I was wondering what time I would wake up tomorrow.
The day after tomorrow, do you want to lie on the chaise longue and start a new storybook to catch up?
And a few days ago, Concubine Hua actually heard Concubine Xin say that she was also trying to write a storybook. If she wanted to go to Changchun Palace, she could coax her and trick her into writing some updates.
But if I go to Changchun Palace, will Concubine Qi catch me playing mahjong?
What to do the day after tomorrow? Research some new "rouge-colored" summer products?
Songzhi: Your Majesty, it is the Emperor who is going out, not the Empress. Should we plan to pay him a visit?
Hua Fei was eating crab cakes, and suddenly came to her senses after hearing Song Zhi's reminder: "Oh, that's right, Song Zhi, ask Zhou Ninghai to invite Doctor Jiang over, saying that I suddenly have a headache, please ask him to come and see me."
Zhou Ninghai: Your Majesty, I haven’t entered the Yikun Palace yet.
Concubine Hua: You don’t need to come in now. Let’s turn around and go to the Imperial Hospital.
Doctor Jiang went to Yikun Palace carrying a light medicine box, and left Yikun Palace carrying a heavy medicine box.
Then they went to Jingren Palace and described Concubine Hua's headache vividly. The Queen listened and sneered:
"Hua Fei, she got sick just in time~"
"Your Majesty, you are right. The epidemic in the palace has been cleared, and Concubine Hua has finally let go of her energy. In order to get the Imperial Hospital to find a prescription, Concubine Hua has spent a lot of energy and worked day and night. Now my son has exhausted his energy and blood, and has lost his strength, so the previous headache took advantage of the opportunity to sneak in..."
Jiang Cheng: I am getting more and more adept at making up lies, and I can do it without changing my expression or heart beating.
Pledge allegiance to Princess Hua (Yin) until death.
Jiang Cheng spoke eloquently, and the Queen became angrier the more she listened. Even though she knew that Jiang Cheng was covering up for Concubine Hua, she still had to pretend to be magnanimous and virtuous.
When someone is sick, they must be allowed to rest and recuperate.
The Queen exempted Concubine Hua from paying her respects and asked Jiang Cheng to leave. She then asked Jianqiu to take some pills for treating daily colds to the Yangxin Palace to deliver to the Emperor.
By the way, I would like to remind the emperor that Concubine Hua is ill due to overwork, and I hope the emperor will visit Concubine Hua before leaving.
The emperor found this strange and thought for a while before realizing that Shilan was trying to slack off while he was away. Well, just let her be. It was no big deal as long as she was happy.
"I understand. Before I leave, I still have some government affairs to deal with, so I will not go to Jingren Palace to say goodbye to your queen. You go back and take good care of the queen." The emperor looked at the memorial in front of him without even looking up at Jianqiu.
As soon as Jianqiu saw the emperor's attitude, she knew that her master's plan had failed again. If she were to come, she shouldn't have come. Why should the queen bother to haggle with Concubine Hua over such a trivial matter?
Also, before that, Concubine Qi and An Changzai were made to stand in Jingren Palace for several hours as punishment.
The queen has become more and more impatient recently.
Now that the Fourth Prince has made progress in his studies, I advised the Empress a few days ago to adopt the Fourth Prince. However, the Empress still insisted that the Emperor did not like the Fourth Prince, and she still placed her hopes on the Third Prince who had a biological mother.
Jianqiu is now increasingly unable to understand the Empress' thoughts.
The biological mother is still alive and raised the third prince by his mother. If the queen really wants to raise the third prince, will the third prince agree with her?
Moreover, when the Emperor mentioned the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince in Jingren Palace today, his attitude did not seem to show that he was disgusted with the Fourth Prince.
The emperor's mind might have changed a long time ago.
Jianqiu could not make any decision regarding her master's affairs. She could only go back and convey the emperor's words. As for the part about the emperor indulging Concubine Hua, Jianqiu could hide it. The queen was a smart person and she guessed it after thinking about it.
In this harem, the emperor would favor anyone. If An Changzai just stood in Jingren Palace for a few more hours, he would come to scold her. However, the emperor never treated her with the slightest tenderness.
When she was in the palace before, he used her position as the legitimate wife to demand that she must give birth to the eldest son, must take care of the backyard of the palace for him, and show the demeanor of a legitimate wife.
Later, when her elder sister entered the palace, he asked her to show the attitude of sisterly giving way to each other and let him give up the position of wife to his elder sister.
Now that she has entered the palace and become his queen, he requires herself to be a virtuous queen. While he praises her and spreads her warmth, she also has to look after the account books, manage the money, and coordinate the projects of the various palaces.
Why am I always the one who gives in?
The queen clearly knew the emperor's attitude, but she always wanted to give it a try. The emperor also knew that she was his wife.
Contrary to her expectations, the Empress ordered the Imperial Kitchen to select another cook to build a small kitchen for the Yanx Palace. The money was an expense that the Empress made after carefully calculating the account book sent by Huang Guiquan.
Originally, Concubine Duan's share of money had always been an agreed expenditure, which gave Yixiu a lot of flexibility in her operations.
But later the Emperor demanded that Qi Yuebin not be treated unfairly, so she had to instruct the Ministry of Internal Affairs to increase the expenses of Yanqing Palace. She had hoped that Hua Fei would still secretly instigate Huang Guiquan not to follow the rules because of her petty temper, but she did not expect Hua Fei to be indifferent.
The monthly expenses naturally increased, not to mention that Qi Yuebin was conferred the title of Imperial Concubine a few days ago. The monthly allowance of Imperial Concubine was much higher than that of a concubine.
Now I have to install a small kitchen in the Yanx Palace, which will cost me another expense in terms of population and food.
The Queen felt a headache when she looked at the accounts in front of her. In such a small Yanx Palace, the highest-ranking official in the palace was just a noble, and yet they had the nerve to install a small kitchen? Why didn't they refuse when the Emperor proposed it just now?
Your virtue is not worthy of your position. Don’t you have any idea about this?
What a class, they even dare to install a small kitchen.
Huichun looked at the empress with a frown and a worried look on her face, and placed the apples sent from the imperial kitchen on a plate in front of the empress.
The queen did not like to use incense, and usually liked to use fruits and vegetables as incense in the palace.
The natural fragrance of fruits is fresh and refreshing, so a batch of fresh fruits has to be replaced every two days. Therefore, the expenses of Jingren Palace are quite high every month.
The queen smelled the faint fragrance of the apples in the crystal plate, and her mood calmed down a little. However, if this continued, Jingren Palace might not be able to afford to use fruits and vegetables as offerings.
"Painting Spring..."
"My lady, what's the matter?"
······
"Forget it, nothing happened." The queen frowned and asked Huichun to leave.
It was her habit to offer incense with fruits and vegetables, but the queen couldn't bear to cancel this expense.
It would be better to wait until the next banquet is held in the palace and find an opportunity to ask Concubine Hua to make up for the recent deficit in the accounts.
Speaking of which, it is very normal for Yikun Palace to come in to report expenses recently, and the expenses are almost the same as those of Concubine Jing, Concubine Qi and others.
After calculating this way, I found that I spent the most.