concubines

When Ji Ru entered the second prince's mansion, Nai's father was just a small member of the household department. Before entering the mansion, there are only concubines and servants in the palace. Ji Ru even took over the power of housekeeping, and she and Li Chen really had a loving time. Sometimes Ji Ru felt that she was no different from the royal family.

Later Concubine Li got the prince's favor, and she became pregnant herself. She was worried that after her child was born, the prince would be dazzled by those beautiful concubines. The Sheng Pavilion has hired a male waiter, and I have an idea in my mind.

But she didn't expect that the prince really fell in love with Ji Huan, a Ji Huan took away half of the favor of the palace!Later Concubine Wei entered the mansion. Concubine Wei had poems and books in her stomach. She was knowledgeable about the past and the present. In front of the concubine Zheng, she seemed to be as low as the dust.

But the more so, the more unwilling she was to bow to Qi Niqun, as long as the prince fell in love with her again, just like a few years ago, she would be able to compete with her.

"Brother doesn't want to help me..."

"Things of love cannot be changed by humans."

Ji Ru said indifferently: "In the coming year, I wish eldest brother the title of the gold list."

"Thank you for your blessings."

Ji Ru silently watched Ji Huan leave, and some vicious thoughts gradually came into his mind. He knew why his biological mother died, he was talented enough to be named on the gold list, and he still had the prince's fancy and love on him. With him, his two direct relatives The younger brother will never be able to get ahead.

Ji Huan...Qi Yunruo!

A sinister smile appeared on Ji Ru's face.

In the small building opposite, Concubine Wei looked at Ji Huan who was leaving, and yawned lightly, "Concubine Ji can't sit still."

Xiao Qiao, her maidservant, said: "Recently, the prince hasn't seen Concubine Ji for a long time, but he often comes to your place, and if the concubine gets a man in one fell swoop, her son will be worthless."

Concubine Wei still looked at Ji Huan's back, and said: "That Mr. Ji is liked by the prince, so he won't get involved in our women's affairs. Concubine Ji is stupid, and now he is in a panic."

Xiao Qiao said with a smile: "After three years in charge of the family, I have raised Concubine Ji's heart."

Concubine Wei gently shook a round fan with a green silver silk embroidered mandarin duck handle, smiled and shook her head and left the window, she stroked her belly, and said: "The sour radish, I will continue to ask the kitchen to deliver one tonight. "

Xiao Qiao smiled and said, "I have already ordered you."

As the Thousand Autumn Festival is approaching, Qi Niqun's pregnancy reaction is getting worse and worse, and her belly is gradually getting bigger. Even if she doesn't admit it, she knows in her heart that she is more and more powerless with the housekeeper.The aristocratic families who can make friends with the palace must not be ambiguous in their dealings, and the ordinary relationships of those inferior families cannot be left behind. As for the hundreds of servants in the palace, she needs to control those in charge and learn to subdue them. Get down the obedient ones and lift up the obedient ones.

Although she is a princess, after all, the child has not yet been born, and she has not been married for a long time. Many people dislike her. Those nuns are all from the palace. In the eyes of the young lady, Qi Niqun can be kind and powerful to those servants, but before she can control the palace, she needs to support those old mothers. Thinking about it at night, she feels a stomach ache.

But she still can't let go of the power. She transfers the housekeeping power to others before taking it back, which is tantamount to wasting all previous efforts. She just wants people to see that even if she is pregnant, she is still the undisputed master of the palace.

But when Mrs. Zhao came, she said angrily: "Could it be that the housekeeper is more precious than your child? Why can't you understand Quer? When you give birth to a son, who in the whole house will have trouble with you?"

Qi Niqun's face was sallow, and she said fiercely: "But if I propose, the prince must still call Concubine Ji the housekeeper, Concubine Ji is not a good match."

Mrs. Zhao said distressedly: "Then you can recommend someone you can trust. Don't tell me you still cling to the power of housekeeper when you are in confinement?"

Qi Niqun slowly said: "Apart from Concubine Ji, only Concubine Wei is the only one who can be said to be worthy of mention in the mansion. Concubine Wei and Concubine Ji are at odds, but they are not close to me."

Mrs. Zhao smiled, "When you hand over such good things to her, she will naturally get close to you."

"I listen to my mother."

In the evening she mentioned it to the prince, Li Chen paused and said: "Concubine Wei is pregnant, I'm afraid she won't be able to manage the house, the concubine should think about others."

Qi Niqun was taken aback for a moment, and forced a smile: "How can I not know about this..."

Li Chen casually said: "Her fetal image is unstable, and I want to wait three months before mentioning it to you."

Qi Niqun said slowly: "Then you can't trouble Concubine Wei with the housekeeper, Concubine Ji has to take care of Brother Jing'er, and Concubine Li Shu..."

"Concubine Li Shu can't!" Li Chen frowned.

Qi Niqun was startled, a few thoughts flashed through her mind, and said with a smile: "That concubine wants to recommend someone, it depends on what the lord wants."

"Ok?"

Qi Niqun smiled and said: "My concubine's younger brother is literate and reasonable. The inner house is easy to walk around. If you have anything to do, you can go to the front yard and talk to Mr. Su Ge. If he can't suppress his servants, there will be concubines behind to help you." He is the master, I don't know what the prince wants?"

Li Chen thought for a while, then hesitated and said, "Xiao Qi is a man after all."

Qi Niqun smiled and said: "The third younger brother is from the prince's inner house, but everyone knows it."

"Since the princess thinks so, that's fine."

Qi Niqun couldn't tell whether she was sad or happy, but since both of them passed the test, Qi Niqun didn't regret it, so she called Qi Yunruo to talk about it the next day.

Qi Yunruo had obvious confusion on his face, he couldn't figure out what the housekeeper had to do with him.

There was no smile on Qi Niqun's face, she said lightly: "This is the meaning of me and the prince, you can go with the account book, follow the old rules in everything, and ask me if there is anything you don't understand."

Qi Yunruo saw that she was not very talkative, so he took things back by himself, Qi Niqun gave the most useful Song Nanny around him to Qi Yunruo for temporary use, and Song Nanny followed her to Guanhe Tingzhou with her bedclothes that day .When she went, Lu Lan frowned, and gave up the room where she and the two little girls lived, and the three of them moved to another empty room.

Liusu was also a little displeased to see Nanny Song coming. Judging from her status, Nanny Song is the nanny of the princess of the palace, the most useful person around her. Judging from their age and experience, they are far inferior to her in the yard , so during Qi Yunruo's time as housekeeper, Nanny Song might want to control Guanhe Tingzhou.

Guanhe Tingzhou is not big, but Qi Yunruo's main house is not small. The interior is a bedroom, and there are two side rooms on the left and right. One is used for maids to stay on duty at night, and the other is used to store things. The outside is his study, with a shelf and a bookcase on both sides. , Nanny Song brought over the rest of the account books in a mighty way, and grandly told the people in the whole house that Qi Yunruo is now the housekeeper.

Since Li Chen built the palace, Zongzheng Temple gave him the Huangzhuang that belonged to the prince, and Li Chen's retainers also took care of the shops and private forests for him. It's nothing, when he got married this year, the palace bestowed a total of 9000 taels of silver, and there were countless other congratulatory gifts.

Li Chen is very rich, Qi Yunruo couldn't help feeling a little sour when he was doing the calculation.

After moving to Guanhe Tingzhou, his monthly silver was under the management of the front yard. Su Ge gave him ten taels in the first month, which was a heavy two ingots. Compared with Li Chen's property, it was nothing at all.

The dowries of concubines and concubines can be incorporated into the mansion, and the accounts are calculated every year or every month, or you can find someone you can trust to run the business yourself. The dowry of the two side concubines in the mansion is not too much, even Qi Danxia from Ziyangbo’s mansion can’t compare. Concubine Ji has a spice shop, which was watched by a steward who came as her dowry. Concubine Wei has a hot spring village outside the city, and Li Chen went to live there once.

Qi Yunruo spent a whole day without straightening out the accounts, and the third day was the day when the monthly silver in the backyard was distributed.There is no silver treasury in the backyard of the mansion, only the two silver boxes that Qi Niqun took care of in the backyard in the warehouse of Dongmeiyuan, and these were also brought back by Qi Niqun to the Wangfu silver treasury every few months.

Li Chen has one key for the Fuzhong Bank, one for Qi Niqun, and one for Su Ge. Every time you open the warehouse, you need three keys to use together.The silver treasury is a separate room in the treasury of the palace, not in a conspicuous place, and there are many people patrolling it secretly.

Qi Yunruo calculated the money needed the next night, wrote a note for Qi Niqun to read, and Qi Niqun sent her own key.

Qi Yunruo went to look for Su Ge again, Su Ge was in the Molian Courtyard, Qi Yunruo stood outside the courtyard for a while, the guard looked at him suspiciously for a long time, Qi Yunruo explained his purpose, and went in to find Su Ge.

Su Ge listened to him with a smile, and said, "Young Master Qi, have you settled your account?"

Qi Yunruo said: "This month is more than 5000 taels, I want to take [-] taels directly and put them aside for emergencies."

Su Ge smiled and said, "That's exactly the truth."

Su Ge said again: "My lord hasn't come back yet, it's only about half an hour away, you can wait here."

"Ah good."

Su Ge asked someone to serve tea, Qi Yunruo said: "My father-in-law takes care of the front yard, it must be very hard."

Su Ge couldn't help laughing again and said: "Several gentlemen have their own rules every month, and the servants also have their own rules. Young Master Qi finds it difficult because this is the first time you have to look at the accounts and you have to review them all over again." Count once."

Qi Yunruo said: "It will be fine next month."

Su Ge nodded, "Exactly."

If Qi Yun wasn't a talkative person, Su Ge asked someone to serve some cakes and fruits, and asked: "Young Master Qi, what do you think of this job? Is it a bit boring?"

Qi Yunruo smiled, "Although I'm a bit busy, it's very interesting. I just need to move my mouth, and the rest will be done by the people below."

"Interesting?" Su Ge looked at him.

Qi Yunruo nodded, "Well, yesterday I looked at the general ledger of the palace, and in the afternoon I started to look at the monthly regulations, rewards and punishments of the inner houses, courtyards, and workmanship offices, and listened to people's answers, patrolling at night, and arranged things one by one. I think it's very interesting .”

Su Ge didn't speak, and poured tea for Qi Yunruo himself.

It was already dark, Su Ge heard the movement, and said: "It seems that the prince has something to do, so he went directly to the study outside, and I don't know when he will come out, is Young Master Qi hungry?"

Qi Yunruo shook his head.

Su Ge went out to deliver tea to the outer study, Li Chen's expression was not good, and the prince's python robe on his body was not changed, Su Ge served tea to the four gentlemen who came here, at this moment, they must be eating.

At this time, the four people who came to discuss the matter said that they were retainers and had no official positions. Only Li Xiuqi was dismissed from office, and the other Cao Manjin was a juren. Chen appreciated his talent and invited him to Fuchu.

In addition, there is Mr. Ouyang who is an old god. He is like a wild crane. Li Chen dug it out from nowhere. However, he didn't want to do scientific research, and he didn't want to be sheltered by his family, so when he became an adult, he came to seek refuge with Li Chen.

"...My good third brother clamored for a hundred thousand elite soldiers to conquer the Northern Qiang. I sent troops to the border every year and raised money every year to build border defenses. He thinks that he has read a few books and is capable? "

Li Xiuqi said: "My lord, don't be angry. From my point of view, no one agrees with King Qing to lead the army except for the noble concubines. The Northern Qiang is different from the small tribes in the south. We have fought against the Northern Qiang for many years since our ancestors, with mixed results. Today, the Holy Majesty He is talented and ambitious, and he has always been strong against the Northern Qiang, and I am afraid that the old man will not ask me to bear a big defeat just because he loves his son."

Li Chen is silent. He has practiced martial arts since he was a child and is familiar with military books, but he is worried that his father will dislike him if he takes the initiative to invite Ying Ying. When his son grows up, if he takes the initiative to pick up a knife, his aging father may not like it.

But Marquis of Beichang and Uncle Ziyang no longer lead troops, there are many generals in the court, but there are few capable generals like these two, but if the prince is in charge, the situation is naturally different.

He, do you want to ask for an order?