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Chapter 203 The Queen's Concubine

The original owner was a concubine who came with Queen Wei Xuan as a dowry. She had delicate features and skin as white as snow. She was brought up by the Wei family since she was a child and was loyal to the Wei family and to Wei Xuan.

After entering the palace, Wei Xuan was unwilling to give the emperor to other women. Even when she was pregnant and gave birth to a child, she still held on to the emperor's favor and gradually became known as a jealous woman.

The Wei family was very dissatisfied because Wei Xuan was not the only girl in the family. Wei Xuan had ruined the reputation of the girls in the Wei family, and they couldn't find a good family.

But now Wei Xuan is the queen. Although they are parents and elders, they must abide by the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects. They have no way to warn Wei Xuan, but can only warn the original owner and another concubine Zhenzhu to persuade Wei Xuan as soon as possible and not lose the queen's demeanor.

Zhenzhu was raised to be naive. That evening, when she was helping Wei Xuan take a bath, she told her what Lord Wei meant.

Wei Xuan was extremely possessive at that time, and it was impossible for her to send another woman to the dragon bed. Therefore, Zhenzhu was confined by Wei Xuan.

At the same time, Wei Xuan was also wary of the original owner's desire to compete for favor and make things difficult for her. She only saw that the original owner had a desire to move up, but did not see that the original owner's parents were threatened by Madam Wei.

But no matter how strong Wei Xuan's possessiveness was, she could not influence the emperor's thoughts. She could only manage her own Kunning Palace, but could not stop the emperor from favoring other concubines.

After Zhenzhu died, the original owner gave up the idea of ​​helping Wei Xuan win favor, and turned to take care of the eldest prince born to Wei Xuan. However, the eldest prince had six wet nurses and Wei Xuan's wet nurse, so the original owner could only do the laundry.

Although it was dirty and painful, the original owner felt relieved when he was away from Wei Xuan.

However, Wei Xuan's wet nurse, Nanny Zhong, was a person with bad intentions. She often abused the eldest prince. She would wake him up even when he was sleeping soundly, and feed him calming soup when he was in high spirits. Soon, the prince became skinny.

Although the original owner was afraid of Wei Xuan, she was still a loyal girl and told Wei Xuan about this matter.

But Nanny Zhong turned black into white, insisting that the original owner was jealous of Wei Xuan for not letting her serve the emperor, so she framed her in order to cut off Wei Xuan's left and right arms.

Wei Xuan, her love rival and the nanny who nursed her, naturally chose to believe Nanny Zhong without a second thought. She thought the original owner was very scheming and ordered him to be beaten with thirty sticks.

Nanny Zhong took the opportunity to bribe the eunuch who was beating the original owner with a stick and had him beaten to death.

……

When Zhang Shan came, Zhenzhu had already been put under house arrest by Wei Xuan. It was called house arrest, but in fact she was locked up in a small dark room. She was only given a bowl of water and a stale steamed bun every three days, and the malicious palace maids and eunuchs would even scare her in the middle of the night.

Therefore, under such high tension, even if Pearl did not starve to death, she would be scared to death.

How could Wei Xuan not know about this situation?

But how could she care when those in power treated human life as worthless?

Wei Xuan is now nineteen years old. She entered the palace two years ago and is now five months pregnant. The emperor is one year older than her. Before her, there were already four concubines in the palace, namely, Li Fei and Rong Fei, illegitimate daughters of ministers, and Mei Fei and Xiang Fei, who were in charge of personnel management.

After Wei Xuan became pregnant, she often used the excuse of having a stomachache to intercept the emperor's favor many times, but the emperor became unhappy because of this. Although he had no children now, he was still young and it was impossible for him to have children with the queen alone.

Ordinary people all value having many children, let alone the royal family. They have the throne to inherit and need to have more children.

Maybe the emperor was dissatisfied with Wei Xuan, but he was not worried that she might have a miscarriage, so he couldn't say it openly and could only put the pressure on the Wei family.

This is why Madam Wei sent messages to blame and threaten the original owner and Zhenzhu for helping Wei Xuan to maintain her favor.

Zhenzhu is a brainless person. In this cannibalistic palace, she still thinks that as long as she is loyal to Wei Xuan and the Wei family, she and her family will be fine.

But the original owner grew up with Zhenzhu, so they naturally have feelings for each other, otherwise she wouldn't have delivered food to her in the middle of the night.

"Coral, are you still there?"

Pearl asked cautiously in a low voice.

"Ah."

Zhang Shan hid in a dark corner. If you didn't pay attention, you wouldn't know there was someone there.

"Pearl, I have acquaintances in the palace. I can send you out of the palace, but your parents may die. What do you think?"

Zhenzhu didn't reply for a long time, but Zhang Shan knew that Zhenzhu would make a choice.

really--

"I want to leave the palace. As for my parents and brother, Madam Wei will sympathize with their loyalty over the years... If they die, it is their fate."

Pearl's voice was hoarse, but her words were very resolute. Pearl was different from the original owner. She had a biological father and a stepmother, and grew up in misery. If she hadn't had a pretty face that caught the lady's eye, she would not have had a good ending.

As if she had said goodbye to the first half of her life, Pearl cheered up and said, "Coral, will you come with me?"

This harem is a place where people are eaten, and she feels scared.

"I can't leave, my parents..."

Pearl thought so too. Coral’s parents were different from hers, so she could ignore them, but Coral couldn’t.

"If you need my help, remember to find me."

She knew that since Zhang Shan could send her away, she would definitely be able to find her.

"I will. Also, when you get out, don't stay in the capital, and don't go to the Wei family's territory, so as not to be discovered."

"it is good."

Zhang Shan gave Zhenzhu a bag of silver, about ten taels. With red eyes, Zhenzhu followed a eunuch and got on the carriage to go out for shopping.

The carriage went out of the corner gate. Zhenzhu had never been out of the Wei residence, but she had heard the two personal maids of the queen talk about many places in the palace. She didn't know where the Wei family was powerful, so she asked the eunuch who was accompanying her: "Eunuch, where are you from?"

"My ancestral home is in Huaiyang."

"Can I go to Huaiyang?"

The young eunuch was stunned for a moment, but still showed Pearl the way.

Zhenzhu had a good memory and was literate, so she kept the young eunuch's words in mind. After getting off the car, she bought some steamed buns and then hired a donkey cart.

"Wait, girl. Huaiyang is far away from here. You may not have enough money. Take these."

"No, you helped me a lot, how can I take your money?"

"Take it."

The young eunuch stuffed the silver change into Zhenzhu's hand and left without looking back.

The shopping cart returned to the palace. Before daybreak, the young eunuch came to look for Zhang Shan again.

"Girl, she has left the city, she..."

Zhang Shan nodded, "She has a connection with your family. Is your brother taking the provincial exam this year?"

The young eunuch nodded.

"She and your brother are destined to be together, so you did a good thing."

The young eunuch's younger brother did have some talent, but in his previous life he married a vicious woman who not only ruined his fame but also killed his entire family.

Zhang Shan calculated the relationship between the two and found that they were a match made in heaven, so she had no hesitation in bringing them together.

As for this little eunuch, he was willing to help because of Zhenzhu's identity as his future sister-in-law. Otherwise, who would be willing to risk being beheaded to send the emperor's concubine out of the palace?

She looked at the young eunuch's forehead and found that his face had changed. "It seems that you have done a good thing."

The young eunuch didn't understand, but Zhang Shan didn't want to explain, so he waved his hand and asked him to go back.

The palace maid who brought food to Pearl found that Pearl had not eaten for a long time. The food had grown mold and she didn't even move. She had a bad feeling.

"My lady, the servant who is guarding Pearl came to report that Pearl seems to be in trouble..."

Wei Xuan frowned, "What do you mean it's not good?"

"She hasn't eaten in days."

"do you died?"

Wei Xuan didn't ask, and frowned even more. "Go and have a look, and come back and give me an answer."

Wei Xuan's belly was very big, so Nanny Zhong used rose oil to massage her belly. Because of the incident with the pearl, she felt a little uncomfortable in her stomach. "Mammy, my stomach hurts a little."

"I will go call the imperial physician right now. Madam, please lie down and don't move."

As she spoke, Nanny Zhong gently massaged Wei Xuan's belly in circles twice before getting up and leaving.

Not long after Nanny Zhong left, Wei Xuan's stomach pain subsided. The imperial physician was unable to diagnose the cause and could only prescribe two doses of pregnancy-maintaining medicine for Wei Xuan.

Wei Xuan had a miscarriage, and although she was not told about the tragic death of Zhenzhu, the news had already spread throughout the palace.

"I didn't expect that the queen was not only a jealous queen, but also a vicious queen. I have met Sister Pearl a few times. She was a well-behaved and loyal person. I didn't expect the queen's heart to be so vicious. She was dead for so long without being discovered. When she was found, only a pair of skeletons were left."

"It's really strange. Normally, it takes a year or two for a person to completely rot after death, but how could it be that pearls... could it be the work of ghosts?"

"In that case, will Zhenzhu become a ghost?" Meipin's face turned pale as she spoke.

"What are you afraid of? If a ghost wants to take my life, it's the Queen's life!"

Wei Mansion.

Lord Wei slapped Madam Wei hard, "Stupid woman, look at what you gave birth to. If she had a bit of intelligence like Ming'er, she wouldn't have done such a thing. If you hadn't stopped me, would I have sent her to the palace?"

"It would be fine if she was just being obedient, but now go out and listen, what kind of reputation does she have? The Wei family has been ruined by you two!"

"Master, Xuan'er is the queen. Those people are too bold to make irresponsible remarks about the royal family. You must help Xuan'er. What if the emperor is dissatisfied with Xuan'er? And that Zhenzhu, she didn't care about the dead and jumped into the dry well to end it all. Xuan'er was accused of a crime. You can't let Zhenzhu's family off easily!"

Lord Wei was almost pissed off, "Don't you think it's not chaotic enough?"

"Give me the indentures of Pearl's family, as well as Coral's family!"

"Master, what are you going to do? Can't you help that little bitch Shanhu get rid of her slavery? Without the indenture, will she still be loyal to Xuan'er and keep Xuan'er's favor?"

"Stupid woman, now that the emperor is in the limelight, he wants our Wei family to take an attitude. If you want to kill the Wei family, I will never forgive you. If you keep talking, you will go back to your parents' home."

Madam Wei then reluctantly handed the indentures to Lord Wei. After Lord Wei left, she quickly called Madam Ye over and said, "Hurry up and tell the Queen in the palace that Shanhu must not be allowed to become the Emperor's woman."

Since there is no way to control Coral, then I can't let Coral stand up for myself. I believe that my daughter must understand what I mean, and I can't be merciful this time.

Zhang Shan learned that her parents and relatives had been freed from slavery and her younger brother had gone to school, so the next step would be much easier.

Lord Wei had already freed Zhang Shan's family from slavery, so they must have been worried because they had lost their source of income. However, with Zhang Shan's help, they had moved into a courtyard with an entrance.

Although the rumors stopped, Wei Xuan's reputation did not improve, and Wei Xuan felt even more disgusted with Zhenzhu.

But she didn't have time to think about it because this year's draft was about to begin.

To be honest, the emperor was born at the wrong time. The daughters of the ministers in the court are still young, and it would not be Wei Xuan's turn to become the queen.

The same is true for this year's talent show. There are not many girls of noble status and who are daughters of legitimate wives, but there are many illegitimate daughters who are charming and attractive.

The emperor selected ten beautiful girls to enter the palace, and soon the good news spread throughout the palace.

"What? Yingpin is pregnant?"

Wei Xuan stood up suddenly, feeling dizzy and having stomach cramps. "Mammy, my stomach hurts!"

"Oh no, the queen is about to give birth!"

Wei Xuan was helped into the delivery room and gave birth after two days and one night.

"Your Highness, look, this is the eldest prince. He looks so much like the emperor!"

Wei Xuan took the eldest prince with satisfaction and touched his face lovingly, "Has the emperor come to see the eldest prince?"

"Here he comes, and he exaggerates how cute the prince is."

Wei Xuan was satisfied.

Wei Xuan gave birth after two days and one night, and her body suffered considerable damage. She had to stay in confinement for two months. These two months caused a lot of trouble for Zhang Shan, but since the emperor would not come in, she was not worried about him seeing Zhang Shan.

"My lady, it's time to take the medicine!"

Seeing that Wei Xuan was about to break the medicine bowl again, Zhang Shan reminded her, "The imperial physician said that there is a set time interval between each dose of medicine. If you miss the time, it will be harmful to your body. If your majesty finds it bitter, I have brought you some candied fruit. Please take some to relieve your pain."

Wei Xuan's hands froze. The imperial physician had indeed said so. She would never joke about her own body, but she couldn't bear to see Zhang Shan feel comfortable.

"You test the medicine for me."

Zhang Shan nodded and took out another bowl, which was also filled with dark medicinal juice.

"My lady, your bowl of medicine has been checked and weighed by the imperial physician. It is just the right amount, not too much or too little. This bowl of medicine is the water from your pot, which is even more bitter... Of course, if it is poisonous, it is the most poisonous."

Wei Xuan was skeptical, but when she saw Zhang Shan drink more than half a bowl, she felt much better.