In October of the sixth year of Yong'an, smallpox plague broke out in Dashun and Kyoto.

In the early days, when it was not serious, many wealthy families moved their families to live elsewhere, leaving only a few families to take care of the home.

By mid-October, nearly a tenth of the city's civilians had fled.

It was not until mid-November of the sixth year of Yong'an that the smallpox epidemic was effectively controlled, and the phenomenon of the exodus gradually improved. Those who had fled heard the news and returned.

This menacing smallpox was completely eradicated after two months of insolence in the capital. This is due to the attention of Chao Ting, and the knife benefits from the cold temperature in winter, which effectively prevents the spread of smallpox.

Near December of the sixth year of Yong'an, smallpox in the harem of Dashun was completely eradicated. Empress Zhu ordered Ziwan to bring palace maids, eunuchs, and grandmothers to supervise the rough palace people, and thoroughly cleaned the palace again, and then she was relieved.

In this plague, in addition to the four princes of Concubine Ren in the harem, nearly 20 palace people also died.

Zhen Jieyu survived the smallpox, but her face was left with acne scars. This has ruined her life, and the women in the harem have always served the king with Israel, and without beauty, they are nothing.

On December of the sixth year of Yong'an, Zhen Jieyu handed a letter to Emperor Yong'an. In his letter, he asked Emperor Yong'an to allow her to become a monk, pray for the royal blessing like the concubine Jingping back then, and pray for the Buddha to bless the Dashun Dynasty and the Li family.

Emperor Yong'an was also helpless to Zhen Jieyu, and after several attempts to persuade her to no avail, he allowed Zhen Jieyu to make up for it, and let her go out of the palace to practice as she wished.

Several families rejoiced and feuded, and when Concubine Ren and Zhen Jieyu were cold, Xian Guifei burned incense and worshiped the Buddha all day long, and made vows to the Bodhisattva.

The three princes survived this battle against smallpox, and under the careful care of the noble concubines and nurses, the three princes only left a slight scar on their left arm. And these faint scars have no effect on a boy.

The three princes are good, and the happiest ones are Lingxi, except for the noble concubines and Emperor Yong'an. If the three princes are gone like this, Lingxi will blame himself for the rest of his life.

The Chinese New Year's Eve of the sixth year of Yong'an was more lively than in previous years, and it was also bleaker than in previous years.

It is lively because the plague has been eradicated, and Emperor Yong'an, as the king of a country, is happy! Desolate, it was in this smallpox that the four princes died, and Emperor Yong'an, as a father, was distressed!

And in this winter, the hardest thing to live is Concubine Ren.

Concubine Ren was like having lost her soul, and she cried all day long in her Jiyue Palace, holding the clothes that the four princes had not yet put on. A cry is a few hours, and no matter how much the palace maid persuades, they can't persuade them.

is so miserable that even Lingxi, who hates her so much on weekdays, can't help but want to comfort her.

Originally, Emperor Yong'an would go to the Jiyue Palace to see Concubine Ren, but when he saw Concubine Ren's tears rippling every day, he didn't go.

"The fourth prince is gone, and I am also distressed." When Emperor Yong'an was in the Lingyan Palace, he frowned and said to Lingxi, "I also want to visit Concubine Ren often. But when I saw Concubine Ren's face, the face similar to that of the fourth prince, and it was a crying face. I ...... this heart" Emperor Yong'an grabbed his chest fiercely, and sighed for the last time, "Let Concubine Ren be quiet by herself, and I will be quiet." ”

After smallpox, Emperor Yong'an also became more and more fond of Xian Guifei and the three princes. The three princes were safe and sound in this smallpox, which made Emperor Yong'an's heart extremely gratified, and he also felt that the three princes were blessed people.

On the tenth day of the first month of the seventh year of Yong'an, Lecai, who lived in the Yizhu Hall of Qingle Palace, was diagnosed by the imperial doctor and was born with a dragon heir for more than two months. The pregnancy of the Lecai people diluted the sad atmosphere in the harem after smallpox, and the concubines became active again.

Emperor Yongan was overjoyed, and felt that God treated him well, took away a prince from him, and returned a prince with him. It is precisely because of this that Lecai people are favored by Emperor Yong'an. On the second day after finding out that Le Cai was pregnant, he sealed Le Cai as a four-grade beauty, and rewarded him with a lot of good things.

Emperor Yong'an attaches so much importance to it, and his concubines attach even more importance to it. In addition to Concubine Ren, who was still immersed in grief, they all gave rewards and prepared congratulatory gifts.

The Le Mei people were also happy, and it happened that the sixth day of the second month was the birthday of the Le Mei people, and the Le Mei people begged the Yong'an Emperor to allow her to hold a banquet in her Yizhu Hall that day to entertain the sisters who had always taken good care of her.

Where do you want to set up a banquet by yourself, it is obvious that she wants Emperor Yong'an to give her a grand birthday, and she is so majestic.

Emperor Yong'an is now holding the Lemei people in the palm of his hand, and naturally he is as happy as the Lemei people's wishes, and ordered the birthday celebration of the Lemei people in the Yizhu Hall on the sixth day of the second month, and also let the concubines go to the lively and lively.

Emperor Yong'an loves Le Meiren so much, and the concubines in the palace will naturally not be held at this time. They are scrambling to give a good birthday gift to the Le Mei people to celebrate their birthday.

Lingxi is in the harem, so it is naturally not vulgar. Seeing that the other concubines were all given heavy gifts, he had to give up a good one, made of jade, and deliberately took the light to send Guanyin, plus a pair of jade bracelets with good color.

When Qiaozhu was preparing this congratulatory gift, his nose twitched. A vigorous chanter, "The slave maid still thinks that she only suffered a loss from Xin Concubine, who thinks that Lemei is the real master here." When Niangniang was pregnant with the five princes, this Le Mei gave a pair of jade earrings, and when she gave the five princes a full moon, she gave a belly pocket embroidered by herself. In that way, the slave and maid will not choose, and the slave and maid will not be able to look at the stitches alone. If you really put it on the five princes, it won't wear out the tender skin of the five princes? ”

Lingxi sat on the low kang and listened to Qiaozhu's chatter, and he was not angry. For there was no stranger in the inner sanctum, and he was not afraid that the word would go out.

Lotus Ye was standing behind Lingxi and pinching Lingxi's shoulders, and his hands trembled vigorously when he heard Qiaozhu's words.

Xiao Dezi couldn't hold back his laughter, but he still nodded to Qiaozhu and said, "Qiaozhu is right, if you enter the small and go out of the big in this way, the Lingyan Hall will be emptied sooner or later." ”

Qiaozhu listened to Xiao Dezi's words and nodded to the right point, and was very satisfied that Xiao Dezi could think of this layer. Suddenly, Qiaozhu was clever, and said excitedly to Lingxifu, "Niangniang, the fifth prince happened to catch smallpox when he was a hundred days old, and he didn't handle it well. Why don't you make up for it on a good day first, or recycle and receive gifts? ”

Lingxi finally couldn't help it, and laughed out loud while holding his stomach and showing no shape. Lingxi smiled, and Lotus Ye and Xiao Dezi couldn't bear it anymore, and they all laughed out loud.

Qiaozhu was annoyed by the laughter of these three people, stretched out his hand and pinched Xiao Dezi's body, and then said to Lingxi with a red face, "Niangniang, the slave maid is also distressed about the silver that was spent." Niangniang now has a year of eight hundred taels of silver, although it looks like a lot, but it is distributed every month, so there is not much cash in a month. In this year, congratulatory gifts must be prepared for the emperor's birthday, and congratulatory gifts must also be prepared for the queen's birthday. The mothers and masters of each palace have to give gifts on their birthdays, or when they are pregnant with dragon heirs, and when they give birth to dragon heirs. In addition to these, there are now five princesses and four princes in the palace, and every birthday must be carefully prepared with a good gift. In this way, Lin Lin finally came down, Niangniang, you said, isn't it a big loss? ”

Lingxi was originally laughing, but when Qiaozhu broke her fingers and said one by one, the smile on her face could no longer be contained.

When she was Jieyu, she didn't worry about these things, because she had a low status, whether it was a gift for herself with a high position or a gift with a lower status than herself, it was all up to the point. And no one finds fault with her, almost that's it.

But now that she is the master of a palace, she must look at Concubine Ren, Concubine Ying, Concubine Cao, Concubine Rou, Concubine Yu, Concubine Ling. If she gives too much, she will be said to be transgressing. If you give less, you will lose your identity as the head of the first house.

In this way, her annual score of 800 taels is a drop in the bucket!

Qiaozhu saw the spirit rhino and lotus leaves, Xiao Dezi stopped laughing, broke his fingers again, frowned and said, "In the past few years, Niangniang has been sealing Jieyu, sealing concubines, and receiving a lot of congratulatory gifts when she was pregnant with the fifth prince. But no matter how many congratulatory gifts there are, they can't be enough to send them out. The congratulatory gifts given to you by the emperor and the queen must not be moved, and you can use them yourself. The rest of the congratulatory gifts are rarely good, and last year's election palace suddenly promoted forty new masters. Niangniang was rewarded according to her position, and this expenditure used up most of the Niangniang's body over the years......"

Qiaozhu wanted to say more, but Lingxi suddenly looked at Qiaozhu sadly and said, "Good Qiaozhu, don't say it, I suddenly feel that I am so poor." ”

Qiaozhu nodded, and also looked at Lingxi with grievances, "I have prepared the great gift of Lemeiren, and if there is a happy event for the master of the palace, you can only give the pair of broken jade earrings......"

Lingxi slapped his forehead, his face painful, "This situation must not only be for us, but also for other palaces." ”

Qiaozhu glanced at Lingxi's face and said cautiously, "The slave has a lot of mouths." From the third rank of concubines and above, their families are very wealthy. I heard the eunuchs and maids in other palaces say that those masters and ladies have co-authored and set up stores with others outside the palace, and they all make a lot of money, and they must not lack these face money. ”

The concubines in the palace are not short of food and clothing, and the silver is spent on treats and gifts, so this money is also called face money.

Lingxi was right when he thought about it, there were really not many concubines with such a low status as himself. The only one is Mei Guifei during the Yonghe Emperor's time, but since the death of the fourteenth prince, Mei Guifei has only eaten fasting and recited Buddha in her Ruyi Palace, and she doesn't pay attention to these mundane things at all.

Lingxi leaned on the lotus leaf behind him without looking like a master, and sighed, "Oh my God! I'm the third concubine of the Great Shun Dynasty, the biological mother of the five princes! Why am I so poor! ”

Lotus Ye had a bitter face and said, "Niangniang, seeing that it is about to be the Dragon Boat Festival, do the slaves and maids still have red envelopes?" ”