roccoschili Chapter 210 Langya: 32
Chapter 210 Langya: 32
Hongli looked at the somewhat dilapidated Yikun Palace in front of him. He turned to look at Qin Li behind him and said in a deep voice: "Qin Li, go and make arrangements to repair the Yikun Palace. Use the best materials and craftsmen to make it magnificent."
Hongli took out a large amount of silver from his private treasury and invested it in the renovation of the Yiku Palace.
He hoped that through this method, the queen would be able to reflect on herself and return to her virtuous and obedient appearance in the palace.
After a period of renovation, the Yikun Palace was finally completely renewed and became magnificent, far surpassing the Changchun Palace.
However, things did not go as Hongli wished. The empress did not seem to care much about rewarding Concubine Xian and granting Yikun the right to live there. Instead, she ordered many valuable ornaments to be added to the palace, making the entire Yikun Palace luxurious beyond the norm for a concubine.
When Hongli learned about this, he was angry and annoyed.
Originally, he wanted to make the queen angry, but now he has spent a lot of money and made himself even angrier.
So, he decided to make up for his losses by saving money elsewhere.
After thinking for a long time, he finally ordered that the concubines' shares be reduced by half, and reduced the number of people serving the princes and princesses by half.
This action caused an uproar in the harem, and there was widespread complaints for a while.
The concubines complained that their lives were affected, and the princes and princesses also felt uncomfortable because there were fewer people serving them.
The emperor, out of filial piety to the empress dowager, spent a huge amount of money to turn the Cining Palace into a magnificent fairy-like palace. As concubines, they could only agree and praise the emperor for his benevolence and filial piety.
However, the concubines could not help but feel dissatisfied and doubtful about Empress Xian's merits and abilities.
It is really unfair to deduct the share of concubines and princes and princesses to subsidize the Yikun Palace.
Although the concubines were unwilling, it was the emperor's order after all, so how could they disobey it?
In desperation, everyone had to accept it silently, while the concubines whose families were powerful, such as Concubine Hui, could get some extra subsidies from their families.
But some concubines whose families were not prominent could only rely on their own hard work to take on some embroidery work to maintain their survival in the harem.
Hongli didn't care about it at all. As long as he could live a comfortable life, he was happy. He believed that he was the emperor and whatever he said and did was right.
When Concubine Xian came out of the cold palace, no one liked her except the emperor and Hai Lan.
Yikun Palace
Qingying pouted whenever she saw Hongli. She looked playful and cute when she was young, but now it hurts her eyes a little.
"Have you had any random thoughts these days in the cold palace? Whatever I do is for your own good. I have specially sent people to inquire with those Western missionaries. They do practice monogamy, but there are many who do not give official status in private. It is not as good as ours!"
Qingying didn't know how to refute, so she had to admit that she was wrong. Hongli was in a good mood after hearing this, so he invited her to watch the wall horse. The two of them snuggled together like young boys and girls.
After a long time, Hongli got tired of it, so he stayed away from Qingying and started listening to pipa music instead.
Yangxindian
Hongli was sitting in the main seat when the sound of a pipa was heard. It was the courtesans from the Southern Palace who were playing below. One of them was a courtesan holding a phoenix-necked pipa inlaid with ivory, and her eyebrows and eyes were the most beautiful.
Hongli closed his eyes and looked extremely happy, listening to the beautiful sound of the pipa in the warm hall on a cold day.
He sighed, "When it comes to the pipa, the imperial concubine is a national expert, while the prostitutes can only be a diversion."
Wang Qin quickly agreed and followed the emperor's words to praise the imperial concubine.
Suddenly, a note was played wrong. Hongli opened his eyes and asked unhappily, "Stop, there is a wrong note. Who played it?"
The courtesan holding the phoenix-necked pipa stood up, bowed and said, "Yes, I am your servant."
I wanted to scold her, but seeing her pretty face and eyebrows, I couldn't get angry at all.
"Well, your singing skills are not proficient enough!"
The pipa prostitute looked at Hongli lovingly and said, "I was worried that my skills were not good enough, so I was distracted and made mistakes. People who are not proficient in pipa cannot point it out. I am glad to be reprimanded by the emperor and am willing to accept the punishment."
Qu misunderstood Zhou Lang's words, and the two exchanged glances. Hongli hurriedly said, "Come forward."
When the Pipa prostitute came forward, Hongli asked with a pig-like face, "What's your name?"
"My surname is Bai, and my name is Ruiji."
Hongli pinched her small and delicate chin and lifted it slightly, taking a closer look at her appearance, and casually praised her: "Well, she is slender and delicate, and her name is nice too."
Bai Ruiji looked at the emperor with a smile on her face, and the two dimples at the corners of her mouth deepened.
The next day
The courtesans from the Southern Palace came to the Yangxin Palace to perform as usual. Hongli enjoyed it with his eyes closed, and occasionally opened his eyes to exchange glances with Bai Ruiji.
Concubine Hui came and saw that the emperor was resting with his eyes closed, so she did not disturb him. She just stood there quietly listening to the pipa music.
After the song, the emperor opened his eyes and saw the imperial concubine standing below. After the imperial concubine bowed, he quickly called her to sit down. He pulled Imperial Concubine Hui's hand and found it was indeed cold. Worried that she was weak and afraid of the cold, he ordered the servants to add two charcoal basins.
She also showed concern for the imperial concubine's health and asked about the medical skills of Qi Ru, the imperial physician she had sent to treat her, and whether she was feeling better. Imperial Concubine Hui answered all her questions one by one.
"You were listening to them playing the pipa just now. What do you think of their skills?"
The imperial concubine looked at the courtesans. They were pretty, but their pipa playing skills were so poor that it was annoying to just listen to them.
Little did the imperial concubine know that the emperor had other intentions. What he wanted was not the superb skills or how pleasant the pipa playing was, but the beautiful and pleasing pipa prostitute.
Concubine Hui sighed in confusion, "Is there no one in the Nanfu who can play the pipa? They chose these few for the emperor to appreciate. Aren't they afraid of polluting the emperor's ears?"
When the Pipa prostitute heard the imperial concubine scolding her, she stood up and knelt down to apologize.
The imperial concubine didn't want to pay attention to them. One of them even used such a good phoenix-neck pipa, which was a waste of talent.
The emperor saw Bai Ruiji kneeling on the ground, peeking at him pitifully, and he quickly called out, "All of you get up."
Then he comforted the imperial concubine, saying, "You are a master at playing the pipa, but it's cold and I'm afraid you'll be tired, so I just asked them to listen to me to kill time."
The imperial concubine thought that the emperor wanted to listen to her pipa, so she quickly asked Mo Xin to bring Bai Ruiji's phoenix-necked pipa.
The imperial concubine took off the armor on her hands, took over the phoenix-necked pipa, and muttered, "If you don't have real skills, even if you use the burning groove pipa of Queen Zhou of the Southern Tang Dynasty, it will only be a waste of heaven's gift."
He tested the sound, tightened the strings, and when the pitch was right, he played a piece of elegant music that was cheerful and beautiful, with smooth fingering, worthy of being a national player.
Not only was the Emperor fascinated by the performance and staring at the Imperial Concubine, but the Pipa prostitute below was also impressed by the Imperial Concubine's skillful and superb skills.
The imperial concubine was weak, but her fingering of the pipa was smooth and powerful, worthy of being a national player.
After the song was over, they couldn't come back to their senses for a long time. They had to admit that what the imperial concubine had scolded them for was right. No matter how good the pipa was, it couldn't make up for their poor skills.