Ch 292: Imperial Concubine in the Cold Palace 6
Consort Gao made a fuss all night, and developed a fever that very night, causing chaos in the palace. The Emperor also learned of this and made a special trip to see Consort Gao after court.
Learning that Consort Gao had a high fever, the Emperor stayed by her side, taking care of her meticulously, even personally feeding her medicine, showing extreme care.
Consort Gao originally only wanted to throw a small tantrum, but seeing the Emperor’s love for her, she couldn’t hold back anymore, crying and hugging the Emperor’s waist, telling him about her grievances during this time.
“The Emperor, I really want to be with you, one life, one world, a pair of people.” Consort Gao cried so hard that she was sobbing, and her eyes turned red.
Zhao Yan gently tapped Consort Gao’s nose and said playfully, “Although I can’t guarantee that you will be the only woman I have, you are definitely the most special one.”
Consort Gao also understood that as the ruler of the world, the Emperor had three thousand beauties in his imperial harem, and it was impossible for him to stay with her alone forever, but the Emperor’s promise was enough.
“The Emperor, I will be content as long as I can stay by your side.” Consort Gao finally relented. Even if the Emperor had many women, none of those women could compare to her, because only she loved the Emperor the most.
Because of Consort Gao’s high fever, the Emperor was no longer in the mood to favor other imperial concubines, and even blamed Lin Lang for this matter. If it weren’t for her favoring other women, Consort Gao wouldn’t have thrown a tantrum and developed a high fever, so he put Lin Lang out of his mind.
Although Lin Lang fell out of favor, it wasn’t too obvious. On the second day after she became a Beauty, the Imperial Household Department sent a large batch of things again, and also found someone to renovate the palace. Although this place was still the Cold Palace, at least it had a bit more life.
The number of people serving her also increased from the original five to the current eight. Originally, the Imperial Household Department should have sent people over, but Lin Lang chose some people herself. Most of these people had a relationship with her in the Cold Palace, and they were not involved with other imperial concubines, so she could use them with peace of mind.
Those people were also loyal to Lin Lang, because they themselves were not favored, but because of Lin Lang, they had all changed to a good place, at least they didn’t have to do hard labor, and life could be easier.
Lin Lang didn’t know that she was about to fall out of favor. After the Emperor favored her once, he turned around and became very close with Consort Gao, the two of them were as good as if they were mixed with honey, as if they had forgotten all the imperial concubines, and even Lin Lang’s loss of favor was somewhat unnoticed.
Lin Lang still had to live her own life. She was now at least a Beauty, and there were only eight imperial concubines with ranks in the palace, and there were also two Imperial Concubine Candidate who had not received favor.
Lin Lang used to have a good relationship with these Imperial Concubine Candidate, but as Lin Lang was moved into the Cold Palace, the two sides completely lost contact. Perhaps they didn’t expect that an imperial concubine who had been thrown into the Cold Palace could make a comeback and become a Beauty.
In the palace, whether it was the masters or the servants, they all liked to step on the low and praise the high. Those imperial concubines also came to congratulate her and sent a congratulatory gift. Since one shouldn’t hit a smiling face, Lin Lang still accepted the things and spoke to them with a smile, but after sending them away, she immediately changed her face.
Until three months later, the people from the Imperial Household Department also realized that she had fallen out of favor, and the things they sent were worse than the last, until it was time to receive the charcoal for the winter.
Lin Lang directly laughed out loud. The corrupt people sent black charcoal that was not easy to burn, and the smoke was very heavy and smoky. This was simply too demeaning.
There were only a few organizations in the imperial harem that could be counted. She was a Beauty, and a Beauty with an imperial title, but these Imperial Household Department servants actually sent these things over, really not taking her seriously. Even if she wanted to live a stable life in the imperial harem, it didn’t mean that she would let others bully her.
Lin Lang asked someone to take out the dried apricots she had made before, specially put them in several plates, and went to the Emperor’s imperial study with a smile.
Imperial concubines with low ranks like her naturally had no way to meet the Emperor, so Lin Lang just handed the dried apricots she had made to the Chief Eunuch beside the Emperor.
“Eunuch, this humble imperial concubine made dried apricots from the best apricots before, and I hope that Eunuch can send these things to the Emperor.” Lin Lang handed the things to the Eunuch’s hand, and then handed over a bulging sachet.
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The Eunuch raised his eyebrows slightly and put the sachet into his sleeve, “Please rest assured, Beauty, this servant will definitely deliver the things.”
The Eunuch didn’t take these dried apricots seriously at first, and even planned to throw them away after receiving them, but he didn’t expect to meet the Chief Eunuch beside the Emperor, so the Eunuch could only tell the truth.
Others didn’t know what was going on with these dried apricots, but the Chief Eunuch beside the Emperor knew what was going on. He immediately opened the box, looked at the golden dried apricots on top, and smelled the sweet aroma, the Chief Eunuch nodded in satisfaction.
“Alright, you can go down first.” After the Chief Eunuch sent the person away, he hesitated for a moment, but still handed the dried apricots to the Emperor.
The Emperor was reviewing memorials, picked up the dried apricots placed on the plate, and then raised his eyebrows slightly, sour and sweet, full of apricot flavor.
“This doesn’t look like the Imperial Household Department’s craftsmanship.” Zhao Yan looked at the plate of dried apricots with a hint of doubt in his eyes.
The Chief Eunuch chuckled a few times, “As expected, nothing can be hidden from the Emperor. This was sent by Consort Luo, it seems to be made from the apricots picked from the apricot tree before.”
Zhao Yan really didn’t expect who that Beauty was for a moment, but when he mentioned apricots, Zhao Yan remembered, nodded, she was indeed an interesting person.
The dried apricots were delicious, and in addition to the yellow apricots, there was also a kind of blue-gray apricot, which had a refreshing taste in the mouth, and also a minty fragrance, which was really rare.
Zhao Yan smiled with satisfaction, “Then I will have dinner at Consort Luo’s place tonight.”
Zhao Yan came to Lin Lang’s palace, but before he could enter, he was choked by the smoke inside and couldn’t say a word. He waved his hand impatiently.
“What’s going on?” Zhao Yan covered his mouth and coughed hard twice.
Lin Lang stepped forward with red eyes, like a little rabbit, “It’s all this humble imperial concubine’s fault. This humble imperial concubine was thinking of lighting a few stoves, but I didn’t expect this charcoal to be so useless. Once it burns, the whole room is filled with smoke…”
Zhao Yan’s face was gloomy, “What are the people from the Imperial Household Department doing? How can they send this kind of charcoal? Since they can’t even handle this little thing, someone come, dismiss the Head of the Imperial Household Department and investigate him.”
Zhao Yan actually knew about the twists and turns in the Imperial Household Department, but the premise was that these things didn’t come to his attention. But thinking about the time when his Imperial Concubine Mother fell out of favor, the Imperial Household Department also stepped on the low and praised the high, and he and his Imperial Concubine Mother also suffered a lot, and now it was his imperial concubine’s turn.
This time, Zhao Yan couldn’t stand it anymore, so he simply exiled the Head of the Imperial Household Department, dismissed a group of people from top to bottom, and also asked the Empress to discipline the Imperial Household Department well. If similar things were discovered again, they would all be dismissed and investigated.
The people in the Imperial Household Department no longer dared to step on the high and praise the low. Even if they encountered imperial concubines who were not favored, they would at most restore their original treatment, or do some things that were inferior, but they didn’t dare to do too much, for fear that the same thing would happen again.
Otherwise, they would not get any benefits but get a fishy smell all over their bodies, and even their heads would not be saved.
