Chapter 464

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

"Duke Guo, quickly receive the edict."

Outside the palace, the Shen Family, everyone was struck dizzy by the sudden title of First-Class Duke.

Oh my, the Emperor is far too generous; this is a hereditary title!

Shen Chunbai loudly kowtowed in thanks for the Emperor's grace; when he rose to receive the imperial edict, he still couldn't help quietly probing why it was him, what virtue and ability he possessed.

Li Guiquan:...

Li Guiquan rolled his eyes at the old fox feigning ignorance, thinking: what else could it be? Naturally, it's because the backing in the palace is solid; those two imperial heirs sitting in Furong Palace are the equivalent of a mountain-suppressing Feng shui; how could the Emperor not find ways to bestow favor on the Shen Family? This is the maternal clan of imperial heirs.

"Duke Guo, the Emperor values you; you and the Shen Family must not disappoint the Emperor and the Imperial Consort."

Li Guiquan dropped a piece of nonsense everyone knows; after all, ninety percent of the Shen Family's rise to today comes from Shen Yao's support.

Shen Chunbai nodded and agreed, "Yes, yes, yes; the Emperor and Imperial Consort's deep favor, this subject engraves on his heart; I will surely exert my utmost, death without regret."

Li Guiquan raised his hand, hurriedly steadying Shen Chunbai who was still bowing; "Duke Guo has the heart, that's enough; we also believe in Duke Guo's capability."

With words finished, Shen Chunbai shouted at the top of his voice two lines praising the Emperor's benevolence, and respectfully saw off Li Guiquan and the others.

Once the grand palace procession left, the originally quiet Shen Family crowd finally caught their breath, one after another patting their chests and touching their foreheads, marveling at the extraordinary bearing of that eunuch who serves by the Emperor's side.

"Enough, none of you discuss excessively at the gate; return to your courtyards first."

Shen Chunbai tightly gripped the imperial edict in hand, and called Shen Changyu and Shen Zhanghe to follow; the three father and son bypassed the crowd and headed to the study to discuss.

Lady Shen saw this and opened her mouth, but was directly pressed down by the sharp-eyed, quick-handed Shen Rong.

Lifting her gaze to sweep over the now-settled crowd, Shen Rong's lips pressed slightly; her words were direct and cold: "Did you not hear Father's words just now? Do not stir up trouble at the gate; all of you return to your courtyards and stay put."

The crowd heard this, looked at each other — I look at you, you look at me — and finally scatteredly replied "Alright."

Now is not the past; the mansion's two grown young ladies have both climbed high branches.

No one with a brain would offend Shen Rong; even the scheming ones are hoping Shen Rong can pull the Shen Family along in the future, blessing them by association.

Who asked for it — Shen Rong's marriage to the Zheng Family is already settled, currently going through the betrothal gift process; this is a rare good match.

"Truly enviable; Madam doesn't have to do anything, just sits and reaps the fisherman's gain." Indeed, one must be the principal wife to have a way out.

The red-eyed concubines led their own children back, directly engraving this envy and jealousy into their hearts; who wouldn't want Shen Yao's and Shen Rong's luck?

"Fourth Sister's achievement today isn't just luck;" more of it is her own capability.

Shen Changyu refuted Shen Zhanghe's luck theory, pointing out that over these years in the palace there have been many pregnant consorts, yet to this day only Fourth Sister stands out.

What does this show?

"If our Shen Family wants to develop well, we must center on Fourth Sister."

Yu Guo is this large; are there few talented and capable clans? The Shen Family alone broke through the encirclement; the one most deserving thanks is Fourth Sister.

Shen Zhanghe:...

Shen Zhanghe opened his mouth, awkwardly discovering his elder brother's words were not wrong in the slightest; even their positions in the Yulin Guard were the Emperor's special consideration for Shen Yao's sake.

Even after Shen Yao gave birth to the imperial heir, their superiors praised and valued them daily, guiding and promoting them at every turn; these are all benefits Shen Yao brought.

Shen Chunbai stroked his beard, extremely satisfied with Shen Changyu's behavior of not forgetting his roots.

It should be exactly so; united we advance together, divided we fight internally.

The Shen Family has not yet become a century family like the Zheng Family, Cheng Family, Xie Family, and so on; how can we fall prematurely to internal strife.

Moreover, the palace's Imperial Consort and Prince currently still need to rely on the Shen Family to win over the Court; the Shen Family needs to expand its own influence, strive for more power to use for its rise.

"Changyu speaks well; Changhe, you'd best open your thinking some. In the future when Father is old, the Shen Family's next generation wanting to stand firm will still need you brothers to mutually support each other.

The situation inside and outside the palace is just right now; it doesn't mean it will remain so later.

The Huang Hou is unstable, the Court is in turmoil; these all affect the Imperial Consort's and Little Prince's safety."

As time passed, the previously concealed news slowly leaked out. Shen Chunbai knew the difficulty of Shen Yao's childbirth, so he wanted to grasp power even more.

"The more eye-catching our Shen Family becomes recently, the more danger the Imperial Consort and Little Prince are in.

The Emperor is in his vigorous years; selections will continue endlessly. If one day a new imperial heir appears in the harem, who can guarantee the Imperial Consort's and Little Prince's interests?"

The more Shen Chunbai spoke, the more worried he became; the precedent must be engraved on the heart.

Our Shen Family absolutely cannot pop the champagne at halftime; just like the dead Zhou Family and those once-highly-touted little princes, going offline so abruptly — who could have predicted it.

Shen Changyu solemnly guaranteed, "Father rest assured; this son will certainly not disappoint you."

The Imperial Consort's and Little Prince's interests, the further it goes, the more they oppose the Emperor.

One day, in terms of authority, the two sides will directly face off head-on; the Imperial Consort and Little Prince will only be able to rely on their same-blood Shen Family.

Blood is thicker than water is not just empty words; whether the Shen Family is willing or not, they are already tightly bound to Shen Yao; if either side has an incident, neither can survive alone.

'This is the terrifying aspect of ancient clans; pull one hair and the whole body moves.'

Here there is no concept of each bearing their own responsibility; the concept of stock connection is more prevalent.

One mishap, the whole family is wiped out, never any chance to turn over again.

'The Shen Family sees clearly; for now, they won't drag the Host back,' the system praised verbally.

Shen Yao held a reserved attitude: 'Right now, who knows where it will go? The authority the Shen Family has gained is but a drop in the bucket; when one day they become the class that calls the shots in the Court, whether they will still weigh things like today is an unknown.'

After all, quite a few external relative families didn't start out big and strong; this requires a development process.

Historically famous external relative families all met extremely miserable ends.

'Hope they can stay sober forever; otherwise,' Shen Yao glanced at her wrist, eyebrows curved, 'how they went up is how they'll come down; no one can block our mission progress.'

System:...

Time flies like an arrow; days and months pass like a shuttle.

Life in the palace repeated day after day, yet because of the bloodline-connected children, it was no longer unbearable.

In the blink of an eye, the busiest season of the year arrived again; snow drifted from the sky, dyeing the palaces white.

"Xiao Ji, haven't Sheng'er and Xi Er returned yet?" Shen Yao stood outside the door admiring the falling snowflakes, draped in thick winter clothes.

Xiao Ji stood behind Shen Yao, carefully holding the paper umbrella in hand to shield her master from wind and snow.

"The young masters usually go over to play for a long time; I reckon this time they will also return together with the Emperor."

After all, the young masters went to Qianqing Palace, the place where the Emperor handles governance.

Ever since the young masters could run and jump, the Emperor would summon them over every three or five times to spend time together, and whenever this happened, the Emperor would often choose to stay overnight at Furong Palace.

It's just that recently a He Meiren appeared in the palace; she is He Chongyi's younger sister, entered the palace less than a year ago and luckily became pregnant — she's really causing quite a stir.

There were even two times when the Emperor himself was stirred up by the commotion; if not for the Emperor later specially bestowing rewards to shut mouths, Furong Palace would have become the laughingstock of the entire harem.

"Master, let this servant help you inside to rest; the young masters return rather late, and with the cold weather today, you should pay more heed to your own body."

As the words fell, Xiao Ji stepped forward, hand supporting her master at the arm bend, the paper umbrella tilting slightly.

Shen Yao gave a light laugh, "Remove the umbrella, and have the small kitchen prepare the meal.

Time has flown; Sheng'er and Xi Er are already five years old; this palace's body indeed cannot compare to when I entered the palace."

With system favor, cruel time left no marks on Shen Yao, yet her mature appearance and bearing still revealed the traces of years passed.

The Emperor's harem is like the fresh flowers of the Imperial Garden, filled batch after batch with beautiful newcomers, never lacking a favored consort.

It is also because of the existence of the two children that Furong Palace's status is special; the Emperor's visits to Furong Palace are fixed, so this old love of his has not exited the stage.

"Your Ladyship's wind and grace are peerless, demeanor myriad — even more outstanding than when you entered the palace."

Xiao Ji's pleasing words came readily, because in her heart she truly thought so.

The smile on Shen Yao's face was obvious, her eyes holding delight and joy; she raised a hand and lightly tapped Xiao Ji's head, "Nonsense, to actually use such words to fob off this palace."

Xiao Ji cooperated with an 'aiyo' cry, indicating her master had truly misunderstood her; "This servant speaks sentence by sentence from the heart, from the bottom of my lungs."

Several basins of charcoal fire burned in the room; upon entering one could feel a wave of warmth.

Taking off the thick winter clothes on her body, Shen Yao removed the shoes and socks on her feet and sat on the couch, casually picking up the still-warm hand stove to warm her hands.

Xiao Ji had already brought the pastries and beverages the small kitchen kept ready at all times.

"Has He Meiren been causing trouble recently?" These two days it snowed; the plum blossoms in Qimei Palace where He Meiren resides are in full bloom; given He Meiren's fondness for appreciating snow and viewing flowers, she ought to be able to quiet down for a while on her own.

Xiao Ji couldn't help suppressing a laugh, "Master, He Meiren still called He Chongyi over last night to keep her company chatting, and only let He Chongyi leave this morning; not causing trouble? Then that wouldn't be He Meiren."

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao's head was full of black lines; "They are sisters of the same family, close in relationship; when He Meiren entered the palace she was merely a Sixth Rank Baolin, entirely relying on He Chongyi to pull her up; the result — this person walked into dog shit luck, conceived the imperial heir, and transformed in a shake into this appearance."

If not for Shen Yao privately investigating with the system, and having Xiao Ji feel out the He sisters' relationship, she would not dare believe He Meiren could change face this fast.

It's not even a legitimate-vs-concubine distinction; they're merely cousins; how did it become such a mess.

Xiao Ji pursed her lips, also despising the petty person He Meiren who succeeded through luck; "Pregnant less than three months and already daring to act like this; if she peacefully gives birth, who knows what she'll become?"

Reckon her tail will cock straight to the sky, openly challenging Furong Palace.

Secretly praying in her heart that He Meiren cannot give birth, Xiao Ji lowered her head and stuck out her tongue, apologizing to herself that she absolutely isn't some wicked-hearted person.

Blame He Meiren for acting arrogant and domineering; I only spoke with my mouth and didn't personally lift a hand — that already counts as leaving enough face.