Emperor Jiajing is also the father of Emperor Longqing, the grandfather of the little emperor, he is a notoriously ruthless emperor. He doesn't even care about his own son, and he won't be kind to the woman he used to be. When Emperor Jiajing was young, he changed women more than he changed clothes, and it is said that for a period of time, he issued an order for a civil draft almost every year, and there were more than 30,000 women in the palace. Every year, a large group of palace maids are released from the palace, and these palace maids leave the palace not because of Emperor Jiajing's kindness, but because there are too many women and they are not needed by Emperor Jiajing. Someone with a heart secretly investigated and learned that almost all of these palace maids who were released were not virgins, and they were all ruined by Emperor Jiajing. These women are not of high status, they are average-looking, so they are not qualified to stay in the palace, and they can't live in the cold palace in the palace, so they were driven out of the palace by Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing had a very bad temper, and once kicked a queen to death, and this queen was still pregnant with the blood of Emperor Jiajing at that time. The cold palace is not big enough to accommodate too many disgraced concubines, so Emperor Jiajing ordered some low rooms to be divided into small cold palaces. Emperor Jiajing no longer got close to women in his old age, so he simply sent all these women locked up in the cold palace to the Taoist temple and became female Taoist priests. It is said that the Taoist temple near the capital was overcrowded all of a sudden, and the common people knew that there were so many women in the harem of Emperor Jiajing. The small palace where Concubine Gong lived was one of the cold palaces set up by Emperor Jiajing that year, and the little emperor arranged Concubine Gong to live in this place, which obviously decided Concubine Gong's fate from the beginning.

The palace is not big, but there are several rooms, but only Concubine Gong's room is quite neat and clean, and the other rooms are either not endured for a long time, or are full of sundries. Concubine Gong was a little embarrassed and told Zhan Xiaoxiao that because the palace maids and eunuchs were gone, the place was a bit messy, and she didn't have time to clean up the other rooms. In fact, Zhan Xiaoxiao can see that some rooms are leaking rain or other reasons and cannot be occupied. And some rooms were cleaned up after Concubine Gong came, but because the palace maid and eunuch left, it became Concubine Gong's utility room. There are some personal belongings of Concubine Gong piled up inside, and more things that Concubine Gong secretly picked up. Concubine Gong became the only outlier in the palace who picked up the rags, relying on some picked up things to tinker and make a living, when necessary, which things were exchanged for what others needed, where is the dignity and hierarchical treatment that a master should have?

Concubine Gong didn't have tea here, so Concubine Gong had to pour a glass of boiled water for Zhan Xiaoxiao. Zhan Xiaoxiao sat on the chair brought by Concubine Gong, Concubine Gong sat on the bed, and the two entered the chat session. Zhan Xiaoxiao doesn't need to worry about Empress Dowager Li being in a hurry, and she doesn't need to worry about someone eavesdropping. Empress Dowager Li had already instructed her to get close to Concubine Gong and learn more about Concubine Gong's actual situation. As long as Zhan Xiaoxiao doesn't spend the night with Concubine Gong, Empress Dowager Li and Empress Dowager Chen won't care. As for eavesdropping, Zhan Xiaoxiao will not worry about it, because when he came in, Zhan Xiaoxiao did some tricks and feet on the periphery of Concubine Gong's palace, and as long as someone approached this place, Zhan Xiaoxiao would immediately find out. Besides, Zhan Xiaoxiao is already a master, and her hearing and feeling skills are much better than ordinary people, and she will sense it as soon as someone approaches. Here, Zhan Xiaoxiao can say anything you want to say with Concubine Gong unscrupulously.

Concubine Gong didn't know what Zhan Xiaoxiao wanted to know, so she simply told her experience one by one. Zhan Xiaoxiao took out the pen and paper she had prepared in advance, ready to record useful information at any time. Carry a simple pen and paper with you, which is one of the habits that Zhan Xiaoxiao has developed since she followed her husband Qin Tai to handle the case. It is not always possible to handle cases in the interrogation room or in the public court, sometimes at the place where the crime occurred, sometimes at the home of witnesses. It is not necessary to write pen, ink, paper and inkstone in those places, and some people may not even be able to write their own names, so the person who needs to handle the case carries a pen and paper with them, and at the same time has to record the confession of the witness. In order to facilitate the carrying of paper and pen, Qin Tai invented a detachable brush, the barrel is hollow, and some ink that has already been ground can be stored inside, and the pen head can be removed and installed. When you put the pen on it, you will be a brush, and if you remove it and put it upside down, you will find a tube with ink and brushes. The paper was also carefully rolled into a cylinder and packed in a wooden tube, with the modified brush in the middle. It is not only easy to carry, but also easy to use, and does not take up too much space. Zhan Xiaoxiao knew what Concubine Gong would say, so when she left Cining Palace, she put a wooden tube on her back, because it was not too big, so ordinary people didn't pay attention, and even if they did, they didn't know what the role of the wooden barrel was.

Concubine Gong and Zhan Xiaoxiao moved a coffee table as a table for Zhan Xiaoxiao to use. It's not that I don't want to make a table here, but Concubine Gong doesn't have a complete table here. The table in Concubine Gong's room is missing corners, and two of the four table corners are missing, and they can't be restored if they can't be moved. There are two tables in Wufang, but one table has no table, and the other table is too heavy to move. At the beginning, Concubine Gong didn't know how to drag it back, but it seemed that it took Concubine Gong a lot of time and effort to get it back alone. Zhan Xiaoxiao had no choice but to choose a high-legged coffee table to serve as his temporary desk. The quality of the things in the palace is very good, and the furniture is not only strong and durable, but also the raw materials are solid. A coffee table is several times heavier than the coffee table outside, if it weren't for Concubine Gong's help, Zhan Xiaoxiao might not be able to move it alone. Zhan Xiaoxiao found out that Concubine Gong's strength is not small, and it seems that she has been honed by doing things alone these days.

Concubine Gong's surname is Liu, and her parents are both businessmen. My mother's family used to be a grain merchant, buying grain from ordinary people and shipping it to other places for sale. However, in his later years, Emperor Jiajing had to give up because of natural and man-made disasters, and the grain business became more and more difficult. Concubine Gong's mother was introduced to the Liu family, who was also a businessman, and at that time, she paid attention to the right family, so the businessman had to marry the businessman's descendants. Merchants had a low status at that time, and even ordinary scholars looked down on them, and businessmen with daughters did not want to see their daughters marry to poor families and endure hardship, so they had to marry their daughters to people who were also doing business as their wives. Concubine Gong's father couldn't study, so he had to follow Concubine Gong's grandfather to start a small business, and later married Concubine Gong's mother and had his own small family. It stands to reason that Concubine Gong's parents cannot have anything to do with the imperial court, let alone the palace. However, the evil ancient laws led to the tragic outcome of Concubine Gong's family, and also made Concubine Gong a member of the palace.

Concubine Gong's grandfather was in the tung oil business, and it was an ancestral business. The raw materials of tung oil are very simple, and there is no need to worry about sales, but there are few people who do tung oil business. The reason lies in two points, the first is because tung oil is volatile, and if it is not properly managed, it will not only shorten the catty but also lead to poisoning or skin allergies. The second reason is that the boiling process of tung oil is complicated, and it is not something that ordinary people can learn. If people who do tung oil business do not boil tung oil, they are equivalent to working in vain, so people who do tung oil business will boil tung oil by themselves. The old Liu family's boiling tung oil craft is the old Liu family's unique job, not only do not pass on to outsiders but also even the girls and daughters-in-law in the family can not learn, this practice is called passing on the inside but not outside, and passing on the man but not the woman. Lao Liu's family relied on this craft to have a solid business sales channel and living foundation. When it was passed to Concubine Gong's grandfather, Concubine Gong's grandfather somehow didn't want his son, who was later Concubine Gong's father, to continue the family business, and Concubine Gong's grandfather sent his son to the school to let the child become a scholar and become an official in the future and leave the businessman's business.