An Lingrong's Rebirth: Red

"I have my own considerations on these matters, Rong'er, don't worry too much."

The emperor pondered for a while before talking to Lingrong about another matter, "Two days ago, the queen mentioned to me the matter of conferring titles on the harem, saying that she wanted to do this to add some joy.

I think what the Queen said does make sense, and I am also thinking about conferring more titles on the harem."

"Indeed, a lot of things have happened in the palace since I returned from the Old Summer Palace. There are many things that I dare not even think about."

Ling Rong also sighed. Since the emperor was willing to promote everyone in the harem, she just had to follow his lead and said, "Your Majesty, have you thought about it? Which concubine will be promoted?"

"The Queen did draw up a list. I've looked at it and, except for a few individuals, all of them can be promoted."

Ling Rong responded and handed a bowl of medicinal food from the table to the emperor, "Your Majesty, it doesn't matter which sister you promote. There is only one thing you must agree to."

"What is it? I will agree to anything I can agree to."

"Your Majesty is very generous this time. He agrees to anything I ask for." Lingrong also took the medicinal food and drank a sip herself. It was so unpalatable that she almost vomited it out.

She calmly put the medicinal food down again, and even pushed it a little further away, "I only have one request, I hope the emperor will not assign other concubines to Chengqian Palace, after all, Youning and Hongyu both live with me.

If there is one more person, this Chengqian Palace really won’t be able to accommodate him.”

"Why are you still worried about these things?" The emperor saw the medicinal food and drank it more smoothly than Ling Rong, "I will not ask anyone to move to Chengqian Palace. The only one who needs to move in this palace is Concubine Xia.

She does want to live with you, but if she is promoted to concubine this time, it will be against the rules for the two of you to live together."

"There are many empty palaces in this palace," Ling Rong stared at the table, thinking about which palaces in the palace are suitable, "Chuxiu Palace and Zhongcui Palace do not have a main seat.

But if Concubine Xin and Concubine Qi are also promoted, it would be inappropriate for three high-ranking concubines to be together."

"Zhongcui Palace...if I remember correctly, that's where the noble lady Borjigit lives."

"Your Majesty is right," Ling Rong hummed, "Noblewoman Borjigit usually stays at home and rarely goes out. I seldom see her."

"She is in poor health, and I only visit her occasionally." The emperor was not very interested in Lady Borjigit, "It would be inconvenient to send more people to clean her up."

"Indeed, I think Lady Borjigit is also a person who doesn't like to be disturbed," Ling Rong thought, thinking about the other palaces, "There are also Jingyang Palace, Yikun Palace, Changchun Palace, Yonghe Palace and Yanqing Palace. There are only a few concubines and maids living in them, and the main seats are vacant."

"Forget about Yonghe Palace and Yikun Palace," the emperor ruled out these two palaces without a second thought, "Xiapin has a good relationship with you, so it's not bad for her to live in Jingyang Palace."

"Jingyang Palace is just too remote," Ling Rong paused, "No one has lived there for a long time. People in the palace jokingly call it the cold palace."

"It's because no one has lived here for a long time, so we need to make it more popular."

The emperor didn't care and decided on the palace where Xia Dongchun would live in the future with just a few words. Ling Rong couldn't stop him, so she could only get some benefits for her from other places.

"Then the emperor must prepare a generous reward, so that he can wash away the past bleakness and welcome the new concubine."

"I'll leave this matter to you," the emperor did not refuse, and even took the opportunity to throw the troublesome matter to Lingrong, "The queen has been busy with the affairs of the third prince recently, so you have to be responsible for the promotion. If you are too busy, ask Concubine Jing to help you."

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I will definitely complete this task. However, Sister Jing is of a higher rank than me, so it is better for me to help Sister Jing."

"Why, how can you be so sure that you are not among the concubines promoted this time?"

"I was just promoted not long ago, and I have no achievements, so how can I be promoted again?"

"You gave birth to Youning and Hongyu, which is your greatest achievement," the emperor didn't care. He took two more sips of the medicinal food and finally drank the whole bowl. "One son and one daughter, it makes a good word. No one in this palace is more qualified to sit on the throne of imperial concubine than you."

"I dare not take credit for it. Many of my sisters have children. Your Majesty cannot leave any of them behind.

For example, Concubine Jin, Concubine Xin, etc., are all old people in the palace, and the emperor must not forget them. "

"You and Concubine Jin have a pretty good relationship. I can understand why you speak up for her," the emperor said, looking puzzled. "It seems that a lot of unpleasant things happened between you and Concubine Xin."

"Although I have had conflicts with Concubine Xin, considering her status and the time she entered the palace, she should be promoted. Even if I am stingy, I will not be stingy about this matter."

Lingrong picked up the medicinal food with a smile, and without noticing she took another mouthful of the unpalatable soup. She frowned and finally swallowed it down with great difficulty.

"The Emperor wants to promote the status of the concubines."

The emperor was just laughing at Ling Rong's miserable look, but was stunned by this sudden question, "Well... you, Concubine Xia, Concubine Jin, and Concubine Xin, who have children, will be promoted to a higher position, and the rest of the concubines will be promoted one level each."

Ling Rong did not hear the name of Concubine Tian. Although she knew it was because of Ma Yuan's incident, she still asked, "Your Majesty, Concubine Tian also has a princess. Have you forgotten her?"

"Princess Tian...Princess Tian, ​​I have my own plans. I will not promote her this time."

Lingrong still looked puzzled. She blinked her eyes as if asking the emperor something.

"I know you have a good relationship with her, but what she did in the past cannot make her advance to a higher position in a short time. She still needs to learn a lesson."

"The emperor has already made a decision, so I won't say much," Ling Rong nodded, then turned around and asked Imperial Concubine Jing, "Then Sister Jing..."

"Her position is already very high, and as long as the Queen is still here, I cannot appoint an Imperial Noble Consort.

At most, I can prepare a generous reward so that she won’t lose face.”

"That's right. Most of the people who were promoted this time are concubines with children. Sister Jing will definitely understand the emperor's good intentions."

The emperor just nodded. He didn't care what Concubine Jing thought. Rewards were something that not everyone could get.

"After the list was finalized, I started to prepare. This time, we will confer titles on the six palaces, so the ceremony will be kept simple."

"No need, it's better to do it in a lively manner. Your promotion to Imperial Concubine, and Jinpin and Xiapin's promotion to Concubine are both big events.

What's more, the purpose is to add some joy, if everything is kept simple it will completely lose its meaning."

The last time Lingrong was promoted, it was Concubine Jing who was above her. She was quiet and inconspicuous, and she was quiet for a while.

But later on, there was still all the targeting. In this harem, keeping a low profile when advancing in rank is the most useless thing.

Therefore, Lingrong wanted to make the promotion ceremony this time more grand and make up for what she had not gotten in the past.

Although she looked a bit like a mean person, Lingrong really wanted to hold her head high and use this joy to wash away all the oppression and torture she had suffered in her past and present lives.

With this in mind, Lingrong prepared more attentively, and Concubine Jing also came to help. Even when she heard that she was not included in the promotion, she did not show any displeasure.

She was even really happy for Lingrong and recounted the enthronement ceremony over and over again.

This was actually very similar to the ceremony of conferring a title of imperial concubine. Lingrong remembered the general idea after listening to it only once.

But because the imperial concubine's auspicious attire had to be newly made, they were only promoted in rank for now, and the ceremony would not be held until about half a month later.

This way they had more time, and everyone called the Imperial Concubine in advance. When paying their respects, Ling Rong sat on an equal footing with Imperial Concubine Jing, which made her a little uncomfortable.

The happiest person was Xia Dongchun. As soon as she finished paying her respects, she invited Lingrong to her Jingyang Palace and enthusiastically showed her the various newly replaced porcelain ornaments.

The Ninth Prince was also dressed cutely, all in red, with a hat with a white fur-trimmed brim on his head, looking particularly likable.

Lingrong hugged him and teased him with the handkerchief embroidered with butterflies, which made the Ninth Prince laugh especially happily.

"How long will your enthronement ceremony take?" Xia Dongchun finally seized the opportunity to eat two grapes without having to hold the child. "This auspicious dress took so long to embroider. I wonder how luxurious it is."

"You have seen the ceremony of conferring the title of Consort Jing. No matter how luxurious the auspicious attire is, it cannot surpass that of the Empress. At most, it uses some gold thread and gems, and it looks beautiful."

"The craftsmanship of that embroidery shop is not as good as your own. Why don't you consider embroidering one yourself?"

"That would take too much time and effort, stitch by stitch, and it would be difficult to embroider it in half a month." Although Lingrong was happy about the promotion, she was unwilling to embroider the ceremonial clothes herself.

"Tianpin has been treating you badly recently."

Xia Dongchun nodded quickly and said, "Don't mention it. When I moved out yesterday, she stood at the door and said something in a sarcastic tone, 'So what if you move out? You're still living in a cold palace.'"

There is no need to think about it. It must be because I was promoted to the position of concubine and she was unhappy because I was suppressing her. Fortunately, I moved out, otherwise I don’t know how much humiliation she would have endured in the Yanxi Palace. "

"That's Concubine Tian's temper. There are only a few people in the palace who she can look up to. Especially since she has had some other thoughts recently, she naturally can't tolerate any grain of sand in her eyes."

"She can't tolerate the sand, but I can?" Xia Dongchun rolled his eyes. "Anyway, my position is higher than hers now, so she still has to bow respectfully when she sees me. If she doesn't bow properly, I will teach her a lesson."

"You are so brave. You are so humiliating to her. Aren't you afraid that she will retaliate against you later?"

"How can she retaliate against me? At most, she can use some small tricks to taunt me, sometimes pretending to be mysterious, sometimes acting weird. I am not in the Yanxi Palace now, so I am not afraid of her."

Lingrong knew Concubine Tian's methods very well. Xia Dongchun had no grudge against her and would not really kill her.

However, although Lingrong had been promoted to the position of noble concubine, she still did not receive any good treatment from Concubine Tian. When they met, she just nodded symbolically and did not even bend her legs.

Lingrong did not blame her too much and just turned a blind eye to it. On the surface, the relationship between the two was still harmonious. After all, the queen had not been completely overthrown.

"Just stay away from her on weekdays. Even if she is unhappy, she knows that promotion is not something you can decide alone."

"Whether she knows or not, what does it matter? She's been in a lot of trouble lately, and she's about to fall into trouble."

"What?" Ling Rong raised her eyebrows and looked at Xia Dongchun in surprise, "What happened recently?"

"The Emperor and the Empress have been checking the Imperial Kitchen recently. Four groups of people have been there in the past few days. Each time they came to Huang Xingkang and Fan Yaoguang, and they are getting annoyed with their questions.

You should have some impression of these two people, they are both related to the Empress Dowager. It is obvious that the Emperor and the Empress are suspicious of the cause of the Empress Dowager's death."

"The cause of the Queen Mother's death is very complicated. If we only investigate Huang Xingkang and Fan Yaoguang, it will be difficult to find the truth in a short time."

Xia Dongchun shook his finger and approached Ling Rong with a mysterious look on his face, "I heard that someone was brought back from outside the palace. It's a pity that my spies couldn't find out much, but I guess this person must be related to the Empress Dowager's affairs.

Tell me honestly, how much involvement did you have in the Queen Mother's affairs?"

Ling Rong shook her head, her eyes also showing some surprise, "I am the same as you, I just know a little bit of the inside story, I really have not participated in the specific things."

"That's good. Even if she is found out to have murdered the Queen Mother, it won't implicate you and me."

Ling Rong hummed, stood up and sent the Ninth Prince back to Xia Dongchun's arms, "Not only Huang Xingkang and Fan Yaoguang, but even Imperial Doctor He was held accountable by the Emperor. He has been at home these days, and I don't know if he said anything."

"Imperial Doctor He helped Concubine Tian do so many dirty things, it's a bit strange that the emperor didn't send him to the Ministry of Punishment."

Xia Dongchun hugged the Ninth Prince, patted his butt, and thought, "Maybe he told the emperor everything? That's why he was able to save his life and not suffer much."

"Doctor He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would easily abandon his master," Ling Rong also thought about the reason, but the emperor's thoughts were indeed a little difficult to guess. She thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. "... Sometimes I think that the emperor asked Doctor He to leave the palace, maybe not to investigate what Concubine Tian did."

"What else could it be?" Xia Dongchun shook her head, disagreeing with Ling Rong's statement, "I think the emperor is worried that these two will collude with each other, so he separated them first, and then defeated them one by one to get the evidence.

In this way, even if Concubine Tian wanted to sacrifice the pawns to save the chariot, it would be impossible. "

"What you said makes some sense, but I always feel that things are not that simple." Ling Rong's eyes suddenly lit up as she spoke, "It is very likely that Doctor He was asked to leave the palace to find medicine so as to get rid of Concubine Wan's control."