How to award her?

This was a good question.

The circumstances had changed. Emperor Chunjia had initially taken the authority of an emperor.

At this time, if she priced up terribly, the Emperor might not be able to give her what she wanted. Moreover, if he managed to give her what she wanted, he would ask her for more in the future, not to mention liquidating in the future. On the contrary, if she charged a low price, it didn’t make much sense for her current situation. Moreover, regarding Yun Fenghuang’s previous performance, the Emperor would not believe that she was a kind person who asked for no return.

The most important thing was that the Emperor must have other intentions when he asked the question.

Yun Fenghuang thought for a while and finally said, “My adoptive father intends to serve the Imperial Court, but his official position is low…”

“I thought you would take the opportunity to ask for a promotion.” Emperor Chunjia was a little surprised. “I didn’t expect that you would ask a promotion for Yun Ju. I remember that you joined the Imperial Haram just because of Yun Ju who did not keep his mouth shut in front of Duke Yi, right?”

Emperor Chunjia implied that he did not believe that she sat down under her adoptive father and even if he had ensnared her, she still cared about his future.

“My Majesty, if my adoptive father hadn’t said so before Duke Yi, I would not be able to serve you. I have said that I like you the most! Therefore, even if I have not thought about joining the Imperial Harem before, after I see you, I am grateful to be your concubine.” Yun Fenghuang grinned and said sincerely, “Besides, I am surnamed Yun now, and Yun’s Family and I all rise and fall together. Therefore, I have to help my adoptive father, right?”

As for the reason that she didn’t ask a promotion for herself, Yun Fenghuang asked in surprise, “Isn’t the promotion a compensation I should have?! Qingman and Noble Consort Shu stayed in Small Ying Zhou for a few days and was released. After that, one of her maids died. Then she was given a promotion. I had lived in Small Ying Zhou for a long time. I had been in a state of anxiety. Now some imperial doctors say that it is difficult for me to get pregnant. It is unfair if you do not give me the promotion of a consort!”

What a joke! She took the contraceptive medicine after she was reminded by Nian Xuan.

On the one hand, Yun Fenghuang thought that if she got pregnant under the current situation, someone would profit at the expense of her pregnancy and even kill her. Moreover, she was young and did not want to have a child. On the other hand, she, learning from the experience of Yuan Lianniang’s promotion to a consort from Jiu Pin, wanted to gain a promotion to a consort at the cost of having no child.

After all, the consort with the lowest background in this dynasty was the adopted daughter of Marquess Qingping.

Regardless of Empress Ji’s sweet words when promising, Yun Fenghuang didn’t believe that Empress Ji would think of her hard work and break the tacit understanding in the Imperial Harem for her. She wouldn’t even believe that Queen Mother Ji wouldn’t stop her from being a consort just because she had previous contacts with the princesses.

She had vowed that she would never be separated from Qi Jiulu before, but she reversed herself on Kong Que Hill within less than a year.

Perhaps Empress Ji and the princesses were sincere when promising, but people always have an impulse. After that, when they calmed down and thought about their promises, whether they would perform their promises was uncertain.

Yun Fenghuang would not place the hope of promotion on their trustworthiness.

This was also the reason why after making trouble for Yuan Lianniang, she took Ji Muzi as her next target. Revenge was only one of her intentions. She also noticed that Ji Muzi was a legitimate daughter of Ji’s Family. If others committed the murder of concubines and royal heirs, Queen Mother Ji and Empress Ji must be more willing to punish the culprit than to increase the compensation to the victim.

However, it was Ji Muzi who made mistakes… Ji’s Family couldn’t bear to punish Ji Muzi severely and wanted to save face. Therefore, they could only refer to the example of dealing with Yuan Lianniang’s miscarriage in that year, breaking a rule to give Yun Fenghuang a promotion and a generous reward.

This time, Ji Muzi was punished severely in the special period. However, because of the special period, Ji’s Family should be more generous to the victim in order to show that the daughters of Ji’s Family did not have selfish motives when managing the Imperial Harem and would not tolerate anyone who dared to hurt royal heirs.

In short, although this was beyond her expectation, the result was pre-announced. Therefore, she should get the promotion of a consort for her good work. Why should it be the grace of Emperor Chunjia?!

This was what she earned by taking precautions!

You said that the Emperor also helped to find out and fill up the loopholes so that things went so smoothly.

That was just because she had already prepared for it.

Otherwise, the Emperor dared not demote Ji Muzi to Pin Ji without foundation.

In the final analysis, the Emperor simply took advantage of the situation.

Besides, did he do that because he loved her so much? No, it was just because he also disliked Ji’s Family. Moreover, he could use this matter to join other groups to put pressure on Ji’s Family in the Imperial Court. Therefore, he took part in it secretly.

In Yun Fenghuang’s view, she had worked hard to make a good plan. The Emperor just achieved his intentions based on her previous work. What’s worse, he did not intend to give her an award. She did not even ask the Emperor for a partnership fee. It was absolutely impossible for her to thank the Emperor.

“…” The Emperor stared at her for a long time, and sighed, “Awesome. Being a female is really unworthy of your talents!”

He always felt that these old officials in the Imperial Court were cheeky and shameless. He thought he was too gentle. Pin Yun, who was nearly ten years younger than him, was more shameless than those old officials. Moreover, she was also good at claiming all the credit for herself and shirking responsibility like those old officials.

Before Yun Fenghuang was about to speak, the imperial carriage stopped. They had already reached Ning Bi Hall.

“My Majesty, Jie Yu is thinking of you.” Before eunuchs lifted up the curtain, a maid of Ning Bi Hall had come up and said, “Aunt Zhu has asked the cooks to make your favorite Fuling pancake sandwich and…”

Before the maid finished, she saw that Yun Fenghuang opened the curtain and then walked down first. The maid was stunned.

“My Majesty, I won’t disturb you to accompany Jie Yu Yue with snacks. I will leave first!” Yun Fenghuang stepped down from the imperial carriage, turned around and saluted the Emperor. Then she said softly, “I’ll wait for you at Zi Quan Hall after taking a bath and putting on clean clothes… Please come early.”

Then she didn’t look at the maid, held Xi Le’s hand, and walked away enchantingly.

After a few seconds, she guessed that the Emperor couldn’t see her. Then she let go of Xi Le and resumed her normal walking posture. She said, “Do you think that His Majesty can still eat these snacks?”

“I am afraid that the bad-tempered hostess will pat the dessert plate on the Emperor’s face!” Yun Fenghuang thought to herself.

When thinking about it, she wanted to wipe the bitter tears for the Emperor. Her heart danced with delight.

… When Yun Fenghuang smiled and went back to Zi Quan Hall, Emperor Chunjia was receiving the handkerchief handed over by a maid to wipe off the water stains and a few tea leaves on his shoulder. He said helplessly, “Ji’s Family is trying hard to trouble you these days because Ji Muzi was demoted to Pin Ji. I am worried about you. If I do not sleep at Zi Quan Hall at night, where else can I go?”

It was an unspoken rule in the palace that after one concubine was pregnant, because of the dual considerations of miscarriage prevention and not committing public anger, generally the concubine would not sleep with the Emperor anymore.

Of course, this rule also varied from person to person. If the one really had the ability to be favored by the Emperor and the Emperor was the one who could make the decision, no one would put forward this rule.

The problem was that Yuan Lianniang had a bad reputation. Now Ji’s Family wanted to revenge for Ji Muzi. The situation was very serious.

If the Emperor sleep at Ning Bi Hall, there would be someone who impeached Yuan Lianniang in tomorrow’s morning meeting and rebuked her because she was jealous and dared occupy the Emperor when she was pregnant. She should persuade the Emperor to treat other concubines equally to give birth to more children.

“Even if you can’t stay overnight with me, couldn’t you to go to other palaces?” Yuan Lianniang could understand him, but she was still pissed off. Now she was crying and said in an injured tone, “In these days when that bitch was grounded in Small Ying Zhou, you did not stay with me at night! You went back to the Tai Chu Palace! Why do you sleep with her when she comes back?”

Recalling the appearance and figure of Yun Fenghuang, she was more jealous. She said jealously, “Is it because she is beautiful?! You say that you dislike her, but you still miss her, right? You have taken over the reins of government. Why do you still keep her?! You know how she treated me before relying on the support of Her Highness!”

Emperor Chunjia sighed, “Lianniang, you blame me wrongly. Haven’t I told you two days ago? We cannot kill Yun Fenghuang now. Even if we want her to die, she cannot be killed by us. After all, only I, she and Deng Yueting went sightseeing on Pine Hill. Deng Yueting is my reading partner and is constantly together with me. Except his uncle Minister Cui, everyone does not trust him very much. Everyone knows Yun Fenghuang is loyal to the Empress and has offended you. It is impossible for her to help me, let alone concealing anything for me. If not, I would be accused of shooting Duchess Ye!”

“She just came out of Small Ying Zhou. If we kill her now, Ji’s Family will make a big fuss and say that I have a guilty conscience, so I murder her to prevent divulgence of my secrets!”

Yuan Lianniang sobbed and said, “Okay! This is reasonable. We can’t kill her now. You have so many concubines. Why do you go to her palace to sleep?! Can’t you accompany me to dinner and then go to other palaces?!”

She endured the sorrow in her heart, “You can go to Tong Xia Palace. Noble Consort Shu and Yun Qingman are the biological daughters of Duke Yi. If you go to Tong Xia Palace frequently, Duke Yi will be relieved.”

“However, Noble Consort Shu and Yun Qingman are healthy.” Emperor Chunjia looked at her and said softly, “Noble Consort Shu has been pregnant in her early years. Although she miscarried, if I go to her palace frequently, she will be pregnant again like you. Yun Fenghuang is disgusting. But three oldest and most experienced imperial doctors in Imperial Hospital have confirmed that it is difficult to for her to be pregnant. You know that I only want the child that you give birth to.”

Yuan Lianniang was stunned. She wanted to cry and her anger disappeared. She felt a sense of joy that was hard to describe. She could not help getting up and throwing herself into his arms, and said apologetically, “Have you always had such an idea?! I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t doubt you!”

“Be careful!” The Emperor caught her with a smile and patted her on the back gently. He said softly, “My mistake. I didn’t explain it to you in advance… I have remembered the grievances you suffered for all these years. Taking over the reins of government is just the beginning. In the future…”

He paused to let Yuan Lianniang imagine, and then continued after a moment later, “Now, please be patient. I am sorry that I have to let you be wronged temporally.”

Yuan Lianniang was laughing, but she still pretended to be angry. She said, “However, I am angry when I think about that you will sleep with that bitch tonight… I do not allow you to have sex with her!”

“OK.” The Emperor responded softly, with a pampering look, as if he said that “there’s nothing I could do about you”. The trusted maids standing nearby blushed enviously.

They didn’t know that actually the Emperor hid all his feelings and was indifferent.