Schönbrunn Palace.

A small tea party was going on in King Qi's imperial garden.

Queen Qi lazily half leaned and half lay on the first new velvet sofa, and on the small table beside her were various small snacks such as honey money and dried fruits, as well as sweet fruit wine and tea.

Several palace maids were waiting behind her, and as long as the queen gave her a look, someone immediately sent what the lady wanted to her mouth.

On either side of the queen, eight slightly smaller eiderdown sofas are placed side by side, and the owners of these sofas are all the princesses of His Royal Highness King Qi in recent years, and they are also served by a different number of palace maids.

His Royal Highness King Qi is busy with court affairs, and his harem will naturally seem too idle, so when he has nothing to do, the queen will gather the sisters of the harem to hold this kind of tea party in the imperial garden.

Originally, this kind of tea party also had some soothing music played by the opera troupe from the south, but today is the day when the army goes out, and the cheers of the people and the majestic military music are surging everywhere inside and outside the spring city, and even the high palace walls of Schönbrunn Palace cannot stop it.

At this time, it would be too inappropriate to let the music band play those soft tones, so today the queen did not call the court band on an exceptional basis, and the sisters had to listen to the military song and say some considerate words among women.

"You said that this expedition will go out, just go quietly as before, what are you doing so grandly? It's as if it had to be heard by the whole world. ”

A woman in her early twenties, with a remarkable demeanor, said dissatisfied:

"Niangniang invited us to tea, when we women talk about ourselves, it is too ...... to listen to this voice"

"Concubine Wei Hui, be cautious."

The queen glanced at the woman who spoke, and said lightly:

"I have established the country with martial arts, and the king has emphasized the status of martial artists many times, and the sisters must not say something unpleasant because they don't like it, and then the king will blame it and it won't look good."

According to the harem system formulated by the King of Qi, the queen set up eight concubines below Xian, Shu, Zhuang, Jing, Hui, Shun, Kang, and Ning, and the palace concubines at all levels below the queen concubines were named Jieyu, Zhaoyi, nobles, and beauties.

Originally, King Qi also planned to let the harem concubines enjoy the treatment of nobles at all levels, such as: the queen enjoyed the treatment of the prince of the county, the concubine enjoyed the treatment of the duke, and then the Marquis of Jieyu, and Zhaoyi enjoyed the corresponding treatment of earls, barons, and viscounts.

This idea was dismissed by Xu Shiyang as a national name that could not be easily dismissed by others.

At that time, Xu Shiyang even completely stripped King Qi's property and palace expenses from the treasury, and the treasury was no longer responsible for King Qi's expenses, so naturally there was no need to pay wages and corresponding benefits to King Qi's harem.

Since then, all the income and expenses of all the staff of Schönbrunn Palace, including all the concubines, have been solely responsible for the income of the Inner Palace.

As for the harem enjoying aristocratic treatment, there is no shadow left.

Therefore, Xu Shiyang's reputation in King Qi's harem is actually quite tragic, and everyone is secretly complaining that this son is not "filial" enough and is too harsh on his father's concubines.

Corresponding to this emotion, Schönbrunn Palace also had some complaints about the Qi army established by Xu Shiyang, and it was a bit of hatred for the house and Wu.

Therefore, the queen suggested that Concubine Hui should not speak ill of the army, but Concubine Wei continued as if she had not heard:

"Why does the king value those martial artists so much? I've heard that those martial artists only listen to the son of the world, and they don't listen to ...... at all."

"Shut up!" The queen shouted angrily: "The father-son relationship of the Great King family is also something you can provoke? Go back and think about it behind closed doors! ”

Xu Muhe's harem has no ladies at all, and the eight concubines are either the concubines of the lord of Wubao or the palace maids given by the Great Zhou to the Tartars and their own use, and there are also local folk girls who are more beautiful and favored by the King of Qi.

In contrast, the queen, who came from a family of poor scholars, was particularly knowledgeable - although she was often unkind to her husband's concubines.

Concubine Wei Hui was born in an opera troupe in Jiangnan, and after being favored by King Qi, she was admitted to the house, and was named a princess because she gave birth to six princes.

But the promotion of status does not mean that her performance can match her new status, and this woman with a rather spicy personality even wanted to refute the queen, but the sleeve was pulled hard by another young woman next to her, so she did not quarrel with the queen on the spot.

Concubine Wei Hui sat back on the sofa angrily and didn't say anything more, but she didn't go back to think about it behind closed doors as the queen said.

"My sisters have entered this palace, try not to bring the outside atmosphere into the palace."

The queen looked at Concubine Wei Hui and said coldly:

"Do you know that Heaven is ruthless!"

"Niangniang also knows that the heavenly family is ruthless?" Concubine Wei Hui couldn't help but say, "I don't know where the biological mother of the son is?" Now that the prince is powerful, even the king's decision to knight his sisters has been refuted by him, I don't know that Niangniang protects him so much, and when His Royal Highness the prince ascends the throne, will he do his filial piety for you? ”

As soon as these words came out, the other concubines present all looked at Concubine Wei Hui with shocked eyes, and a few of them who understood something about it had already begun to fidget.

The queen also trembled violently, and a very complicated emotion surged in her heart.

In fact, judging from her ability to understand, what Concubine Wei Hui said is not wrong.

Xu Shiyang is not her biological son after all, and she herself is not particularly favored in front of King Qi now.

She can be this queen only because after Xu Shiyang's biological mother died, she became Xu Muhe's wife.

In addition, she also has such an outstanding son as Xu Shiliu.

However, it is a pity that Xu Muhe has been in the south of the Yangtze River from the owner of the Xu family's second room dock fort to the head of the family to the envoy of Jiedu and then to the king of Qi.

Therefore, there is no dispute about the succession to the throne of King Qi - yes and can only be Xu Shiyang.

The queen also followed Xu Muhe from the lady of the lord of Yiwu Castle all the way to her current position, and it seems that it will not be long before her title will become the queen, the real mother of the world.

She knew that at this critical moment, the harem must not drag King Qi back, let alone provoke the father-son relationship between King Qi and the son.

But the queen always couldn't help but think that it would be good if her own son could take Xu Shiyang's place and become the undisputed son of the Qi Kingdom.

In this mood, she sometimes even feels that Xu Shiyang's proposal to let Xu Shiliu go to Jiangnan to study is a deeply hidden conspiracy, and he wants to branch Xu Shiliu so that he can inherit the family business.

But reason told her that when Xu Shiliu went to Jiangnan, the Xu family was just a group of dock fort owners in the countryside of Juzhou, and her husband was not even the head of the family.

At that time, the Xu family, the Tartars could be so frightened that they shrank in the dock wall and didn't dare to come out, and when they came to a Meng'an, they felt like the sky was about to fall.

At that time, all the female dependents of the Xu family carried knives with them in order to maintain their innocence at the last moment, how dare you imagine that ten years later, the Xu family is only one step away from the throne of the Son of Heaven?