As the Chinese New Year is getting closer, there is also a festive atmosphere permeating the palace. In addition to the daily food consumption, the food consumption has become much richer.
The maids and chamberlains who usually walked around the various palaces also received rewards, put on new clothes, and looked in good spirits.
The lights were turned on early in the Palace of Qianqing, and Zhu Qiyu lazily leaned on the couch, wearing a comfortable wide-sleeved, one-shoulder dragon-patterned Yanju uniform.
Next to him was a warm hand stove, and he held a copy of "Huang Ming's Ancestor Instructions" in his hand, looking at it without a glance.
Scattered light snow fell outside the window, but Zhu Qiyu felt a little worried.
He had just come back from Hang's place. It was such a cold day that Brother Ji was infected with the cold again. When he passed by, his little face was burning red and he looked cute and tight.
There are many children in the palace now, and his brother is not good at anything else, but he has many concubines and heirs are prosperous.
Nowadays, there are no less than ten named concubines in the palace.
As for the heirs, in addition to Zhu Jianshen, who has been established as the prince, he also has two sons and one daughter.
The eldest daughter, Princess Huiqing, and Zhu Jianshen have the same mother, and they are both descendants of the noble concubine Zhou.
The other two concubines of Zhu Qizhen were the second prince Zhu Jianlin and the third prince Zhu Jianshi, both of whom were descended from Concubine Chen's Wan clan.
In addition, Concubine Hui and Wang Shi are also pregnant with a child. It is said that she will give birth in another month. If he remembers correctly, she should also be a prince.
Although these children cannot be said to have always been disease-free, they did not suffer from a few illnesses this winter.
On the other hand, Zhu Qiyu's side, Sister Hui's body is relatively strong and she has not been sick all winter, but Brother Ji has always been sick.
This time the wind and cold came with such force that it really made Zhu Qiyu feel uneasy.
You know, in his previous life, he only had one son, Brother Ji, so he was naturally very concerned about him.
He remembered clearly that although Brother Ji was not in good health in his previous life, he never suffered from such a severe cold.
After re-living, there are still many things that will not follow the original trajectory.
The mahogany door with hollow patterns was pushed open quietly, and Xing'an walked in lightly, saluted, and stood aside respectfully.
Zhu Qiyu glanced at him and rubbed his forehead, feeling a little headache again.
There are still too few people available to him!
Although there were many officials in the palace, there were only a few who he could truly rely on.
Now Cheng Jing is in charge of the Director of Ceremonies, Shu Liang is in charge of the East Factory, Wang Cheng is in charge of the Imperial Shop, and Zhang Yong is in charge of the four guards of Tengxiang, the Royal Horse Supervisor.
These are all urgent errands, so naturally you have to put your own people on the job.
But as a result, his manpower was stretched thin.
As a result, he had to transfer Xing'an, a young eunuch, from Kunning Palace to Jingyang Palace to help Empress Dowager Wu manage the affairs of the harem.
Putting back his chaotic thoughts, Zhu Qiyu moved his eyes from the scroll in his hand to Xing'an and asked.
"Have everything been cleared up?"
Brother Ji's illness came from something strange, which made Zhu Qiyu a little confused, so he asked Xing'an to check it out.
Now that he is back, there must be results.
Xing'an had been practicing in the harem these days, and he was obviously much calmer. Hearing this, he seemed to be hesitant, and he hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Your Majesty, we have found out everything, but it has nothing to do with Cining Palace. It's someone from the Imperial Concubine's Palace who failed to take good care of His Highness."
Zhu Qiyu frowned, but said nothing. He just focused his eyes on Xing'an, who broke into a cold sweat.
After a long while, Zhu Qiyu put down the book in his hand and said calmly.
"Xing'an, you are so capable that you dare to deceive me?"
Xing'an had been serving him since he was in the Prince's Mansion. Zhu Qiyu was naturally very familiar with the former's temperament.
His current tone clearly showed some guilt.
Zhu Qiyu had no doubts about Xing'an's loyalty.
But he also knows that loyalty does not mean that Xing'an will not deceive him.
Xing'an's head broke out in cold sweat, and he immediately knelt down on the ground and said.
"Your Majesty, I forgive you. I didn't mean to deceive you. It's really... it's..."
Seeing that Xing'an was still hesitating, Zhu Qiyu also felt a little strange.
He originally guessed that the strange illness of Brother Ji might be related to Queen Mother Sun, but Xing'an denied this.
He would not dare to speak nonsense on such a big matter.
Of course, he is hiding something, that's for sure.
What makes Zhu Qiyu feel strange is that even though he has already pointed out the matter, Xing'an still dare not say it out.
Is it possible...
Zhu Qiyu frowned and asked, "Is it because my mother and concubine didn't let you tell me?"
In today's palace, apart from Zhu Qiyu himself, the only one who can suppress Xing'an and make him behave like this is Empress Dowager Wu.
Even if other people, including the Wang family, could make Xing'an obey his orders, they would not let Xing'an take such a big risk to deceive him.
Xing'an nodded obediently and said bravely.
"Your Majesty, it's not that I want to deceive you, but the Queen Mother said that the current turmoil in the capital would not allow you to be distracted by the affairs of the harem."
"The old lady has already severely reprimanded the imperial concubine regarding your little highness's matter, and similar things will never happen again."
Reprimand the imperial concubine?
Zhu Qiyu's face suddenly darkened. He remembered that when she just went to Hang's palace, she was indeed very haggard and tear-stained.
He originally thought it was because Hang was worried about Brother Ji's health, but now it seems that it may not be that simple.
With a cold snort, Zhu Qiyu waved his hand to cheer up Xing'an and said.
"What is the situation? Tell the truth. Otherwise, I will go to the imperial concubine's palace to ask in person!"
Xing'an was embarrassed for a while, but finally said.
"Your Majesty, the reason why Your Highness is suffering from this disease is actually... because he is tired."
tired?
Zhu Qiyu looked at Xing'an, waiting for his explanation.
As soon as the words started, Xing'an stopped covering up, organized his words, and said.
"The thing is like this. Didn't you and the Queen Mother discuss before that you would hold a talent show after the new year and take the opportunity to set the rules for the harem?"
"Now that the New Year is approaching, the empress has begun to prepare for this matter. In the past few days, she has summoned many imperial ladies into the palace and asked them about the women with good looks, talent and learning near the capital, who are preparing for the new year.
Draft.”
"But this matter somehow spread to the imperial concubine's palace, causing her to lose her temper."
"Then not two days later, the empress began to order people to teach the young highness to recite poems. But I never thought that this accident would tire the young highness, and that's why he got so sick."
Xing'an still didn't say it clearly, but the meaning was expressed clearly enough.
It’s nothing more than a fight for favor!
Since Zhu Qiyu woke up, he has new views on many people and things, and some subtle changes have taken place in his relative attitude.
In his previous life, his favorite was the Hang family, but he was not very close to the Queen Wang.
But this time after he ascended the throne, he and the Wang family settled their differences and their relationship became even better than before.
In addition, having learned from the past, he has been taking care of himself during this period and trying to have as little sex as possible, so he spends most of his time resting in Kunning Palace and Qianqing Palace, and the number of visits to Hang's palace is indeed less.
many.
At this moment, Hang couldn't help but feel that she had been left out. In addition, there was news from Empress Dowager Wu that they were looking for a new draft girl, so she was naturally anxious.
So, he set his sights on Brother Ji.
Although Brother Ji is frail, he is precocious and a smart child.
Probably, Hang was planning to let Brother Ji learn to recite poems, show off in front of him, and then regain his favor.
Zhu Qiyu could understand this idea, but what she did...
"Nonsense!"
His palms were slapped on the table, making a heavy sound, which frightened all the maids and chamberlains serving around him and knelt down one after another.
Zhu Qiyu stood up, walked back and forth in the hall, and said.
"Brother Ji is still less than two years old, and he has only just learned to speak for less than three months. For such a young child to recite any poems, Hang is just fooling around!"
Xing'an was also so frightened that he knelt on the ground and said.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. The Queen Mother has already severely reprimanded the concubine for this matter. She has also punished the concubine by not being allowed to step out of the palace before the first day of the year. She will sit behind closed doors to think about her faults, and she will copy the scriptures a hundred times as a punishment."
Zhu Qiyu calmed down his anger slightly, picked up the tea cup on the table, drank it, thought about it, and still felt something was wrong, and said.