Chapter 462: Bound to the Child-Bearing System and Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 463: The Rise of a Bystander (31)

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

One and a half months later, Shen Yao finished her postpartum confinement.

Shen Yao had been unable to attend the previous Full Moon Banquet, but the Emperor still gave her ample respect.

Shen Yao smoothly transitioned from Noble Consort to Noble Consort, successfully taking the top seat among the imperial consorts in the harem; above her, only the Empress remained.

"The Empress's rank is not urgent; the Emperor has not completely given up on heirs," so he will not temporarily appoint Shen Yao as Empress.

But once the Emperor grows older and the harem still has no new imperial heir, it would be unreasonable not to appoint her as Empress.

The court officials are just a bunch of weather vanes; they ran around everywhere earlier because they saw no hope, but now that they have a Head of the Caravan, they can settle down.

"Host, you need not worry about the matter of heirs," without them needing to act to create sin, all hope can be directly cut off from the source.

Shen Yao sat before the copper mirror, smiling as she let Xiao Ji and Xiao Fu dress her up, "Recently, the Jiangnan Consorts in the palace have gained favor; I heard He Meiren is expected to be promoted to He Jieyu, truly surprising."

Back then they evaluated He Meiren as dull and uninteresting; although extremely beautiful, she might not necessarily keep the Emperor, but now they have been slapped in the face; looking across the harem, He Meiren's promotion speed is indeed not slow.

System:...

"Host, shouldn't we guard against her first?" The newly favored favorite will always go find trouble with the old love; Deng Chongyuan was like that before, and the Noble Consort was too (even though both are gone), what about He Meiren now?

"Noble Consort Niangniang is of national beauty and heavenly fragrance, with deep blessings; concubines are merely of common appearance, how can they compare with Niangniang."

The meeting with He Jieyu took place several days after Shen Yao finished her postpartum confinement.

By this time Shen Yao was already Noble Consort, while the other had gone from Beauty to Jieyu.

Shen Yao had a sudden whim and brought people to run to the Imperial Garden, which was still early spring, to stroll idly.

The Imperial Garden, where plants withered but hinted at a vague greenness, was not like before with clusters of flowers, but it had its own unique flavor.

Unexpectedly, they ran into the new favorite He Jieyu; the two met and exchanged greetings, which then drew out the other's overly modest polite remarks.

"He Jieyu not only has outstanding looks, but even speaks so movingly; if this palace were the Emperor, I would also like Jieyu."

Shen Yao raised her eyebrows, her voice clear and pleasant to the ear; He Jieyu, spoken to directly, unconsciously lowered her head.

"Master, He Jieyu's entire outfit has changed greatly from before."

Xiao Fu glanced at the departing He Jieyu, lifted her foot to approach her Master and whispered cautiously.

Shen Yao smiled, "The Emperor's new favorite, palace attendants flatter her; it's unavoidable to be happy."

But besides being happy, He Jieyu was also somewhat strange, especially at the corners of her eyes and brows, where alluring charm came rushing at her face; had she used some special medicine?

Summoning the system, who didn't know where it had run off to for liveliness, Shen Yao asked it to help investigate.

Without checking, one wouldn't know; upon checking, one would be startled.

The system called out anxiously, "Host, there is the scent of Passion Incense on He Jieyu!"

Wah wah wah

What kind of trick is this now? The palace has always banned these aphrodisiacs that harm the Emperor's dragon body; He Jieyu's family is in Jiangnan, how did she manage it?

"There are many types of Passion Incense; I know the imperial consorts in the harem drink Fertility Soup; He Jieyu wouldn't be thinking of offspring, she must have listened to someone's words."

Imperial consorts in the harem are cautious when using medicine; apart from spending money to ask Imperial Hospital physicians for help, they privately give silver money to Imperial Hospital menial eunuchs to secretly buy medicine and concoct it themselves.

The scent on He Jieyu's body was not light; even Shen Yao's sense of smell could easily detect it, let alone the capable people around the Emperor.

The system was torn, not knowing how to say it, stammering for a long while before saying, "This Passion Incense was prescribed by He Jieyu herself asking an Imperial Hospital physician."

It does not have the effect of Fertility Soup; quite the opposite, it has contraceptive effects."

Of course, the contraceptive effect is one of the side effects brought by Passion Incense; this incense's essence can regulate emotions, lighten the body, maintain a radiant complexion and one's own Qi and Blood, more like an external-use version of Ten Complete Great Nourishing Soup with added ingredients.

For men, it has only benefits and no harm; for women, apart from offspring, it has no shortcomings.

It's like this; both parties hit it off immediately; it seems He Jieyu values favor more than offspring.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao walked along the path with an expressionless face, "So He Jieyu's rank came like this; what a great sacrifice," the Emperor plays quite wildly.

But this is also good; the Emperor's body, the more he plays, the less it can hold up.

If these "He Jieyus" can truly make the Emperor forget Shu and be unable to let go, once Shen Yao gets what she wants here, she will definitely give them a good ending.

Curling the corner of her mouth, Shen Yao thought, "The effect of Passion Incense is significant; He Jieyu is the best example in the harem."

The system was tense, "Host, what do you want to do?"

Shen Yao raised her eyes to look at the mountains, waters, forests, and gardens not far away, with light green spreading everywhere, "What can I do? Naturally, I must help publicize He Jieyu's skills; where there's a will, there's a way; it can't be only He Jieyu eating meat, others should also drink some hot soup, right?"

System:...

Shen Yao felt the Emperor still didn't understand what is hardest to bear is a beauty's grace.

One person is refreshing; many people are tiring.

She needs to help the Emperor have a long memory; doing certain things for too long will affect the body.

"Shouldn't the Host be hoping the Emperor is more wanton?" That way, when the New Emperor ascends, there won't be too many opposing voices, because the contrast is sharp.

Shen Yao rolled her eyes at the system, "Sheng'er is still young; what can a milk baby who only knows how to drink milk do?"

The Emperor being wanton should also wait until her family's child grows up; otherwise, it would completely cut off all hope for the imperial clan relatives, leaving only her family's child as the sole one, or perhaps the Shen Family's court development is rapid and unshakable; achieving any one of the above three conditions, Shen Yao would without hesitation send the Emperor offline.

"Master, there is someone ahead."

Xiao Fu suddenly spoke to remind her, thereby drawing Shen Yao's thoughts back to the present.

"Is that Zheng Xiurong?"

A rare guest; Shen Yao revealed a smile at the corner of her mouth; the Shen Family and Zheng Family had just spread the good news of their joyful union, which was not bad for her relationship with Zheng Xiurong.

"Help this palace go over and take a look; I haven't seen Xiurong for a long time; I miss her in my heart."

It was all because Shen Yao had given birth at such an inconvenient time—not only had she missed the festival, but even the few days after it when she should have shown her face were spent in postpartum confinement.

In the palace, apart from her, the First-Rank Consort position was vacant, and only four of the Second-Rank Nine Pin remained.

Zheng Xiurong was the most capable consort among them, and naturally took on many matters, only returning part of the harem authority when Shen Yao finished her postpartum confinement.

After all, Shen Yao's Noble Consort rank was high, but she still had two children to raise and could hardly devote her energy to palace affairs management.

Otherwise, the Emperor would not be pleased.

"Imperial Consort pays respects to Noble Consort Niangniang, may Niangniang be auspicious."

"Zheng Xiurong is being courteous, please rise."

Shen Yao glanced behind Zheng Xiurong and asked with a smile about the purpose of her coming out.

"Staying in the palace all the time is boring, so I wanted to go out for a walk," she had not expected to run into Noble Consort, which caught her somewhat off guard.

"Zheng Xiurong is truly like this palace, since that is the case, why not go together?" Shen Yao invited her, and Zheng Xiurong had no reason to refuse.

She lifted her steps to follow beside Shen Yao, the two chatting and laughing, leading the people behind them away.

"Has Zheng Xiurong been well lately? Have you heard news from home outside the palace?"

Shen Yao plucked a leaf and held it in her hand, speaking casually.

Zheng Xiurong's heart tightened, and she pretended not to know, "Recently there has been much busyness in the palace, this consort has not yet heard news from home."

Shen Yao made an "oh" sound upon hearing this, "Is that so? That is truly a pity."

It seemed she did not want to get involved with herself on the surface; Shen Yao raised her eyebrows slightly, with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Zheng Xiurong remained as she had been, not asking and not curious, putting on an act of playing dumb.

"It seems that for us women who entered the palace, meeting with family is a thousand difficulties and ten thousand hardships."

"As Niangniang is Noble Consort and has imperial children under her knees, I believe the Emperor will surely satisfy Niangniang's longing."

"The Emperor can satisfy it once or twice, but this palace cannot keep adding trouble; ancestral rules are such, we palace consorts should naturally keep to our proper places."

"Niangniang speaks truly; we palace consorts are helpless, but bloodline and kinship cannot ultimately be severed; even if family and relatives are not in one place, thinking of them and missing them in the heart will not lessen."

Shen Yao blinked her eyes, "This palace and Xiurong truly felt like old friends at first sight; Xiurong, if you have nothing to do in the future, you might as well come to Furong Palace more often to walk around; as fellow palace consorts serving the Emperor, the word 'fate' is truly wonderful."

Zheng Xiurong nodded, "Niangniang invites me; this consort certainly dare not forget."

"It is just that recently there are many matters in the palace; Lanxin Palace cannot be without this consort for too long; I reluctantly temporarily disappoint Niangniang's great kindness; please Niangniang understand."

Shen Yao waved her hand very generously, "Xiurong's matters are more important; our friendship need not be rushed in a moment."

When the words landed, the two gazes met, and then each dispersed.

The Imperial Garden in early spring really had nothing to stroll through; Shen Yao returned to Furong Palace, first glanced at the two little steamed buns sleeping soundly, then changed into casual clothes and sat back in the bedchamber to turn over the account books of expenses brought by the Imperial Household Department.

"Are the slaves of the Imperial Household Department trying to fool this palace?" Does she think I don't know the situation, or does she think I lack common sense? One chicken egg for one tael of silver, ha?!

Shen Yao was nearly driven to laughable anger by the account books before her, thinking to herself that it was no wonder the Imperial Household Department became harder and harder to shake off the further back it went—all were this sort of goods; how much money in the state treasury was enough to spend? Every one of them was a gluttonous rat.

"Master, there is truly no need to lower yourself to their level," Xiao Ji brought over the brewed teacup; speaking of the Imperial Household Department, the most famous were just those few households; it was said their mansions were even better than the palace.

Shen Yao sneered, "Having the fate to be greedy, but not the fate to enjoy."

She had Xiao Ji record all the more outrageous account books above and keep them as a bottom line; Shen Yao pinched her wrist, "The accounts must be calculated one by one"; the Emperor would not show mercy in dealing with several brothers of different mothers, let alone these people of the Imperial Household Department? In Shen Yao's view, they had already been placed on the death list.

Whether they died early or late, it was indeed not necessary to ruin one's health over these people; it was not worth it.

She raised her hand to rub her forehead; Shen Yao relaxed her spirit and casually tugged at the fur pelt draped over her body.

Xiao Fu came in from outside the door and quickly walked to Shen Yao's side, lowering her head to whisper two sentences.

Shen Yao looked up, "True or false?"

Xiao Fu nodded slightly, "Manager Li says the Emperor had a great fire in Qianqing Palace."

Shen Yao clicked her tongue; how could it not catch fire? Of the two princes locked up in Zongren Fu, one was dead and one heavily injured; what were those guards eating?!