Jiang shi paused, and answered matter-of-factly, “Your Majesty, my family name is Su.”

Su? So, she was taking the family name of her mother.

I looked up at Jiang shi and found that although she was still as thin as she had been before, her face had become quite redden. Though now she was wearing maid’s outfit, she still had the look of a pride and composed lady.

What a versatile talent she was! She was a fragile woman, a concubine, and a maid, all rolled into one.

I wanted to have her in the harem and so I asked tentatively, “Have you gotten used to living in here?”

Jiang shi replied, “There is nothing to get used to. I will live wherever the Emperor commands me to live.”

As if she was afraid that I didn’t know the relationship between her and Qi Sheng, she seemed eager to mention Qi Sheng’s name to me.

I sighed and said, “Yingyue, living with him like this, without official recognition and title, will not do you any good. Why don’t you come back with me? I will try to persuade the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager and give you a proper title.”

Jiang shi looked at me for a while and then sneered, “Your Majesty, what’s the point of me having an official title? So that I can compete for his love with the rest of his harem and become yet another concubine? No, thank you. I don’t think that’s a life for me.”

Well, there is no point in persuading her anymore if she thinks like that.

Seeing that she was not in the mood for a proper talk, I stopped talking altogether.

After a while, Xie Yi came back from outside. She first cast a look at Jiang shi, and then whispered to my year, “The Emperor and the rest of the officials have all eaten the porridge, and by the look of it, the meeting is about to end. The way I see it, Your Majesty should go in now and meet those officials.”

After finishing those words, Xie Yi winked at me.

I very much agreed with her. They should give me the credits for what I had done, or no one would remember it since I didn’t even keep diary. I nodded and hurriedly took Xie Yi with me and walked outside.

Xie Yi’s timing was perfect. As soon as I walked up to the entrance of the main hall, I saw several officials walking out. I stopped my steps and stepped aside with a gentle smile, trying to make way for them.

On their lead was the Chancellor, who was followed by a bunch of senior officials. Knowing that it was me who sent the porridge, they all came up to thank me.

I asked after their wellbeing and then sent them on their ways.

Bathroom Lord was the last of them to exist the palace. With a gentle smile, he greeted me, “Your Majesty.”

We hadn’t seen each other for days, and Bathroom Lord seemed as prettier as before.

I wanted to say a few words with him, but there were too many eyes on us, so I just nodded and said, “Chu wang. Thank you for your hard works.”

The Bathroom Lord bowed slightly and replied, “I am simply doing my job.”

I paused and asked, “I haven’t seen Yang Yan for a while. Is he still in Sheng City?”

Bathroom Lord slightly smiled, “Yes, he is. He has been wanting to visit Your Majesty in the palace and he said the thing that Your Majesty asked him to look for has been found…”

When he was talking, the little housemaid who had gone earlier shouted at the door, “Your Majesty, you have been summoned by His Majesty.”

The Bathroom Lord stopped talking with a smile, saluted to me, and then turned away.

I paused for a while before following the little housemaid into the hall.

There were few people standing aside in the hall. Qi Sheng sat at the royal desk and was looking at the documents. After hearing that I came in, he just raised his eyes for a second and then continued to read the documents in his hand. Then he asked, “You made the porridge? ”

I was confused for a moment, but immediately realized that Xie Yi must have said that the porridge was made by me in person. So I nodded and said, “Yes.”

Qi Sheng said, “It’s too sweet, less sugar next time.”

Next time? I was still a bit stunned at the moment, but Qi Sheng looked up at me and asked, “Anything else?”

I came back to myself and replied, “… Nothing.”

Then, Qi Sheng lowered his head again.

I felt like a stupid goose standing there while he was busy reading his documents, and so I said, “Your Majesty must be very busy, I will leave you to it then.”

Qi Sheng didn’t raise his head and only uttered a cold “um” in reply.

I turned around and walked out. On my way out, Qi Sheng suddenly said, “Yunxi needs troops, and the national treasury is having a tight budget now. You should consider cutting down some expenses of the harem to set an example to others.”

I froze for a second, turned around and respectfully replied “Yes” before leaving.

When I was out of the Da Ming Palace, Xie Yi who was following me all the time suddenly caught up with me and shouted excitedly, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, His Majesty asked you to come here again tomorrow.”

I was still thinking about the words that Qi Sheng had said. Upon hearing what she said, I paused and looked at Xie Yi in amazement, “When did he say that?”

Xie Yi nodded, “His Majesty said next time, next time!”

When did “next time” mean “tomorrow”?

I was speechless, but seeing the joy on her face, I didn’t want to discourage her. While I was considering how to deal with it, an idea suddenly flashed across my mind about how I could reduce the cost of the harem. After thinking about it, I told Xie Yi, “Ok. Starting from tomorrow, you will send porridge to the Da Ming Palace every day.”

Xie Yi asked with confusion, “Your Majesty won’t go there by yourself?”

I laughed, “I’m the Empress. How can I send the porridge every time? You could send it to him on my behalf.”

Realizing that I was right, she nodded seriously. The next day she sent over a pot of porridge in my name.

On the third day, in an effort to imitate what Xie Yi did, Huang Xianfei also sent over a bowl of soup in person.

On the fourth day, Concubine Chen and Li also joined in to send soup.

On the fifth day, the procession to the Da Ming Palace got bigger…

On the sixth day, Qi Sheng finally got angry.

Qi Sheng called me over and criticized me with some ironic words. When I came back to Xing Sheng Palace in anger, I told Xie Yi, “Go send for those jealous women.”

Seeing my angry face, Xie Yi didn’t dare to ask, but run to call them over.

I sat on the chair with my eyes closed, thinking about how to vent out my anger and how to get everything resolved.

But in the face of a crowd of delicate women, I didn’t have the heart to reprimand them. So I pointed my finger at them and sighed, “Could you be more creative？Couldn’t you send something else for a change? Like some cakes or dessert? Stop laughing! You, how dare you send the soup of pork trotter and soy. Do you think His Majesty has just given birth to a baby and is in recuperation?

Comcubine Huang quickly covered her mouth with a hanky, and bowed her head obediently, “It’s my fault.”

The others also admitted their mistakes.

Seeing that their attitude was quite sincere, I nodded with satisfaction. It’ s good that they realized their mistakes and what was left to be done now was finding a way for them to change.

Firstly, I emphasized the idea that “A state always has its law and a family its rules”. Then I analyzed the sever situation to tell them that there was too much fighting in Yunxi and the country was not that rich.” On the matter of how to send soup or dessert to Qi Sheng, I also made specific arrangements and deployments. After that I talked about the future construction of the harem.

They all listened very carefully.

Later, when I suggested that the Emperor would take turns to visit them, Concubine Li was so focused that she couldn’t even drink her tea. Instead, she simply looked at me with a teacup in her hand.

Concubine Chen stared at me with amazement and asked, “Your Majesty, you mean you want to give us equal chances and let us take our turns to serve His Majesty in the future?”

I nodded seriously and said, “A divided house cannot stand on its own. Only when the harem is harmonious and stable can His Majesty not be disturbed by the harem and concentrate on state affairs. But there have been too much talks about a harmonious harem and sisterly love, and too few talks on how to make the harem harmonious. I would say that this hinges on the fact that all concubines get to serve His Majesty on an equal basis. You are all good daughters from good families, and no one wants to live alone in the palace. Since we are all here with the same purpose, we should work together.”

Although the words were simple, they were easy to understand. After I said that, their eyes were shining.

Concubine Huang stared nervously at me and asked, “Do Your Majesty already have a plan? ”

I had been thinking about this for several days and had a rough idea indeed. Hearing her question now, I said, “I have an idea, but it’s not mature now. I could tell you now and you could give me some suggestions.”

Before I finished my words, some of them hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, we are all ears.”

I smiled and slowly took a sip of tea. It was when they had become extremely anxious did I say, “His Majesty is a man of self-control. You are all official concubines in this harem. So, let’s forget about rank or title. We shall take turns and leave two days for His Majesty to rest. His Majesty has been busy these past few days, and rarely came to the harem. But he will not be busy all the time. We shall formalize a rule. If His Majesty ever comes to the harem, he would take turns to visit us. But there is no guarantee that he would visit you all. That’s where you have to work your charm.”

After those words, they all fell silent. After a long while, Concubine Huang asked with a blushed face, “Are you serious?”

“Of course. Definitely!” I laughed.

Concubine Li pondered for a moment, and asked timidly, “What if newcomers enter into the harem?”