Harem Daily Life

Chapter 434 Arrangement of the Sleeping Mission

He Linzhang hummed and said nothing more. When Eunuch Zhang heard this, he knew that His Majesty didn't care whether Concubine Lu would be rewarded or not, so he could just do whatever he wanted.

Tao Yanyan felt the weather in June was too hot, so she stayed in her room during the day to cool off, drinking iced fruit tea, eating mung bean soup, and reading storybooks. She lived a very comfortable life.

Qingfeng was making small clothes for her. Since His Majesty stayed overnight, Qingfeng found that her mother's small clothes were used up very quickly.

Not worn out, but torn.

Every day when they went in to make the beds, Qingfeng and Mingyue's faces would turn as red as cooked shrimps.

Tao Yanyan complained many times and asked He Linzhang to stop tearing her clothes, but he didn't listen and tore them again next time...

"My queen, let me make a button here so it will be easier to untie, and you don't have to... tear it up." Qingfeng asked with a red face.

Tao Yanyan's ears turned red, and she nodded gently: "You decide. Oh, by the way, ask Caiyun to cook mung bean soup every day for the children to drink when they come back. Then, send some to the Imperial Study, and don't forget to send some to Eunuch Zhang and the others."

Mingyue, who was practicing calligraphy at the side, agreed and went out to give orders.

After a while, Mingyue came in and said, "Your Majesty, the Empress Defei asked you to come over. She said she wanted to discuss some harem affairs."

Tao Yanyan put down the script and said, "Harem affairs? Aren't they all in her care? Why are you still discussing this with me?"

Mingyue smiled and said, "It's so hot and I'm sweating as soon as I go out. How about I go and tell Concubine De that if there's anything, please send someone to reply."

Tao Yanyan thought about it and sighed: "Forget it, lest she say I'm taking Qiao. Go and make arrangements, with the parasol open, we'll be there soon."

When Tao Yanyan arrived at Defei's Yongxing Palace, she saw that she was not alone. Shufei, Wang Zhaoyi, Zhou Jieyushi, Li Jieyushi... almost all the concubines above the fifth rank were there, making it a huge crowd.

She had the best relationship with Wang Zhaoyi, and the two of them walked in hand in hand, talking about the third princess's lovely and interesting stories as they walked.

"The Third Princess has become plump again recently. I am so busy every day that I only come here when she is asleep. I am afraid that if I delay too long, she will wake up and not be able to find me, and she will cry and make a fuss."

Wang Zhaoyi looked very contented as she had a daughter, and said with joy on her face.

"Children are the cutest at this age. In the evening, I'll have someone take a few children to see the third princess. They are all clamoring to see their sister!" Tao Yanyan said.

"Yes, yes. Every time the Third Princess sees her brothers and sisters, she is so happy! She can't speak, she just keeps talking nonsense."

"They understand it among their babies, but we don't." The two of them walked into the main hall chatting and laughing. Defei greeted Tao Yanyan and invited her to take a seat. Only then did she separate from Wang Zhaoyi.

After everyone was seated, Concubine De said, "I invited Concubine Gui, Concubine Shu, and several sisters here today because I have a few things I want to discuss with you."

"The first thing is to pay the harem's cooling allowance. In previous years, it was based on the number of people, one tael of silver per person, and five taels of silver for the masters, which was enough to get through the summer. However, this year, the imperial concubine proposed that the whole palace should be subsidized with mung beans every day from the beginning of summer. It is calculated that more than 4,000 taels of silver will be subsidized for the four-month summer vacation. The summer expenses alone are 4,000 taels more than in previous years. If you don't manage the household, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. If you add more of this and that, you will end up with more of the excess. So I hope you can understand and consider me. This year's cooling allowance will be halved. Do you have any opinions?"

As soon as she finished speaking, everyone felt uncomfortable. Who wouldn't love the money they got? No one wanted to give it back.

But if I objected, it was just a matter of a few taels of silver, and I would seem stingy if I asked. So I felt unhappy, but no one objected.

Tao Yanyan looked around and said with a smile: "De Fei, the cooling subsidy should not be reduced by half. The mung beans are all collected from the farm. I sold some of them and earned some money. It's okay for the palace to use some. As long as everyone spends the summer safely and doesn't get heatstroke, it's fine. The accounts are just records anyway, and there is no real money transaction. When I make more money from other places, the four thousand taels I spent will be compensated."

After Tao Yanyan said this, Concubine De didn't mention it again: "Since it is not included in the expenses, I won't say anything. Thank you, Concubine, for working harder and leading the workshop and the imperial farm to earn more money."

Everyone's mood finally improved and they started talking and laughing again.

"The second thing is that several royal aunts and aunts from the royal family are all very worried about your Majesty's child problem, saying that the harem is not doing its best and so far there are only three princes and three princesses. The eldest princess said something very unpleasant, saying that the late emperor had eight sons and six princesses when your Majesty was your age. She also cried to the empress dowager. The empress dowager has gone to the summer resort again, so this matter has been thrown to me."

De Fei glanced at Tao Yanyan and said, "Your Highness is now the leader of all the concubines. What should I do? I still need your advice."

Tao Yanyan looked at Concubine De thoughtfully. If there was anyone in the palace who was most reluctant to see others get pregnant, it would be Concubine De.

She has an eldest prince, and as long as no prince is born, her eldest prince is the heir that everyone expects. So throwing this difficult problem to herself at this time means that she has to take the blame herself!

Tao Yanyan smiled and said, "What can I do? I have tried to persuade His Majesty, but he... Hey, can I disobey his orders and tie up His Majesty and take him to you sisters? In the end, if you want to gain his favor, you still have to take the initiative, send him food more often, and spend more time with him."

You don't try to provoke him, or you can't provoke him, but you just blame me, Tao Yanyan, for your unhappiness. Humph, no way!

Concubine De looked around at everyone in embarrassment and suggested, "How about this? I want to arrange the order of the ladies in the harem to sleep with you, and ask Your Majesty to go to the palace according to the date. How do you think?"

Tao Yanyan: "..."

Is this the arrangement for His Majesty's sleeping arrangements? Today he will sleep with this one, tomorrow he will sleep with that one, and it will be different every month!

She shut up and chose to remain silent.

When the others heard this, although they didn't know if it would succeed, at least they had a chance to sleep with him!

So everyone thought this method was good and supported it.

"Your Highness, do you have any objection to this idea?" Defei asked.

Tao Yanyan said, "Okay, in the end it all depends on His Majesty. If he thinks it's feasible, then it's feasible."

Anyway, I am not the one who gets tired from working at night. If I dislike the emperor, I can just eat vegetarian food for three months to get some sleep.

Seeing that Tao Yanyan did not object, Concubine De sneered in her heart and said the third thing again: "This third thing was decided at the court today. Yan State wanted to send a princess to marry, but was rejected by His Majesty. Later, the original plan was to select a concubine every three years, but His Majesty also rejected it. Your Majesty will not have new people in the harem for the time being. You should work harder and strive to give birth to an heir as soon as possible to expand the royal family."

Tao Yanyan raised his eyebrows and sighed inwardly. It was really not worth it to urge the baby to give birth every day and then worry about it after the baby was born.