Chapter 30: Exchanging Moves

  "Rise!" The calm and peaceful voice of Yongzheng echoed in the Western Warm Pavilion.

  "Thank you, master!"

  After the women finished their courtesy and expressed gratitude, they all stood neatly on one side. Yinzhen didn't say a word, so they could only stand there obediently.

  After they stood up straight and lifted their heads, Lin Qingyu was finally able to see their faces, and so she began to size up the crowd.

  Standing in the front row, among a group of women dressed in colorful clothes, the woman wearing a silver-red embroidered lotus flag dress is obviously Ce Fugui, historically known as Empress Qi - Li Shi.

  She is really a very beautiful and feminine woman!

  Lin Qingyu suddenly felt that she was beginning to understand why she was so favored. The children were born one after another.

  She stood quietly there, with a subtle elegance of Jiangnan, even in the thick and cumbersome wide flag costume of the Qing dynasty, her full chest could still be seen.

  Her face is like a lotus flower, her eyebrows are like willows, and her eyes, more charming than peach blossoms, hook people's heartstrings. Her skin is as white as snow, and the pearls and jade ornaments on her head shine with dazzling light in the sunlight. Her bright red lips curve slightly upwards, what a magnificent and beautiful woman!

  But beauty belongs to beauty, don't think that just because you're good at hiding it, I didn't see the disdain that flashed quickly in your eyes.

  What's there to be proud of?

  Lin Qinyin thought: Don't think that just because you're the son of a noble family, you're superior. Many sons are born, but only a few survive to adulthood! Later, Hongshi offended Yongzheng and was stripped of his title, and you couldn't avoid being implicated, never again receiving a promotion. He passed away in the fourth month of the second year of Qianlong's reign. Nima has no time for this nonsense, it's better to teach your sons properly!

  Lin Qingyu shifted her gaze away from Li's body because after seeing the portraits of women in the mansion, she could tell at a glance that the one standing behind Li was Song.

  Song Shi wore a light pink cheongsam, but the whole person standing there seemed somewhat dull. Perhaps it was because of her daughter's early death and not being favored by Emperor Yongzheng.

  Her curved eyebrows are soft and alluring, her eyes are bright and shining, her delicate skin is flawless, her cherry lips are red and luscious, looking extremely tempting. Her slender waist, soft and delicate, her slim figure, with curves in all the right places, her chest proudly protruding, captivating one's gaze.

  What a mature and elegant appearance! This is probably why she was chosen to guide Yongzheng in his adulthood.

  Beside Song was Wu Shi, who would later become Empress Ning.

  Her first impression on Lin Qingyu was that of a lively and lovely girl, but the flash of calculation in her eyes revealed that she wasn't a simple and innocent person.

  A fair and clean gourd-shaped face, lightly painted eyebrows carefully trimmed, long eyelashes flashing like two small brushes, bright and lively eyes, full of spirit.

  When she noticed Lin Qingyu looking at her, her cheeks and the slender white neck behind them turned completely red, and the bright red color was really beautiful. Don't tease me, I'm not a lesbian! Lin Qingyu's mouth twitched, damn it, her face is so red, but we're enemies after all.

  The gentle and virtuous woman beside Song is Jia Yuanchun, the wise and kind princess from Dream of the Red Chamber.

  Jia Yuanchun in Dream of the Red Chamber is a woman with beauty, wealth and wisdom all combined.

  Lin Qiong Yu can't see how wise she is, Nima's, just a small Gege, not even a Fu Jin! I should have the appearance of a concubine, showing off my virtuous and gentle nature! Is it to set herself off as narrow-minded and jealous, not even as good as a Gege? Has she become brain-dead or something? Lin Qiong Yu is truly incompetent!

  A simple purple cheongsam set off her beauty perfectly.

  She stood like that, simply and elegantly, her refined and elegant temperament fully revealed. Her figure was tall and slender, her movements light and graceful, her black hair shone like lacquer, her skin was as white as snow, her beautiful eyes sparkled with a charm that couldn't be described.

  Jia Yuan Chun is now Mrs. Zhang.

  She was a very low-key woman. She wore a light yellow cheongsam and stood there with her head bowed, making it impossible for Lin Qingyu to see her face clearly.

  Zhang's past was someone Lin Qingyu was somewhat familiar with - Geng Qiweng!

  Among the women present, she was only delicate and wore a light green cheongsam, like a small grass after rain, with a strong temperament on her body.

  She is no longer as low-key and silent as she was during the selection show, blending herself well into the crowd, changing with the environment, and appearing neither arrogant nor low-key.

  No wonder she was able to give birth safely and live up to her 90s?

  The rest of the people, Lin Qingyu just glanced over, most of them had the unique temperament of Jiangnan women, so that's where the rumor about Yongzheng liking Han women came from!

  "Let's begin!" Yi Zan said calmly. "You first, Li!"

  "Yes!"

  Li looked at Yongzheng with deep affection and bowed down: "Your concubine obeys!"

  Is this flirting with someone in front of his sister? Lin Qingyu thought to herself.

  Li walked slowly towards Lin Qingyu in her flower pot shoes, but her eyes were fixed on Yongzheng, until she was three steps away from Lin Qingyu before turning her head to look at him.

  Hey... hey... so you're ignoring me like this? Aren't you afraid I'll get back at you?

  If Li knew what Lin Qinyu was thinking, she would be very happy that Lin Qinyu was putting on airs in front of her.

  In this way, the whole city of Beijing will know that as soon as the fourth wife enters the house, she suppresses the concubine who has given birth to the second imperial princess and currently the second imperial son, with a narrow mind and good jealousy, not as virtuous and generous as Nala's wife.

  "Good luck and prosperity!"

  Li's elegant figure knelt down, took over the cup and saucer held by a maid beside her, and softly said: "Please have some tea, Madame Fu!"

  The soft and mushy voice made Lin Qingyu, a Jiangnan native, get goosebumps all over. I really don't know how Yun Chen endured it. Or is it that men just love this kind of tone?

  Lin Qingyu took it over and slightly sipped a mouthful. Of course, she wasn't guarding against Li Shi by putting poison in the tea or anything like that; it was just that she had eaten too much at breakfast and was afraid of getting bloated.

  Lin Qingyu took out a white jade hairpin carved with plum blossoms and inserted it into Li's headdress, saying: "This is one of Ben Fu Jin's favorite hairpins, and it matches you, a beauty like jade!"

  With jade-like fingers, he lifted up Li's pale and small chin, his eyes full of admiration: "Look, how beautiful! Ben Fu Jin likes it!"

  Is this irony?

  Li heard the words and looked up at Lin Qingyu, finding that her eyes were full of praise without any dissatisfaction or jealousy. Her mouth twitched, thinking to herself: Oh dear! The mistress is flirting with me! How scary, hurry up and save me! But she replied: "Thank you, Mistress, for your kindness!"

  Yin Zhen watched from the side, his eyes twitching slightly. Furen, where did your etiquette go? It's simply out of tune!

  Lin Qingyu's eyes narrowed slightly, Li Shi's hands felt really good, but they were still a bit worse than mine! Dizzy... It turned out that praising Li Shi was to set off yourself! Is this the old woman selling melons and boasting about herself?

  "Cough..."

  Yin Zhen coughed lightly and saw that Lin Qingyu had noticed him. He said, "Sir still has business to attend to, you all go together!"

  Note, several! Yongzheng said it was several!

  It seems that the other concubines were completely ignored by Yongzheng, or even if he saw them, he didn't care!

  "Alright! No matter what the situation is, Lin Qingyu's little heart is filled with sympathy and her expression is genuinely sympathetic, not gloating... Lin Qingyu: ...Alright! I'm indeed gloating, what can you do about it? Looking at these lowly concubines."

  "Yes!" The five gege replied in unison.

  Then, after the same process, when Song Shi, Wu Shi, Jia Shi, Zhang Shi and Geng Shi finished their tea, Lin Qingyu gave each of them a gift: a silver-gilt gold-inlaid odd-shaped agate bottle hairpin, a silver-gilt gold-inlaid gemstone butterfly hairpin, a gold-inlaid pearl flower bat hairpin, a jade glass earrings, a gold-inlaid pearl jade bat earrings.

  Yuan Zhen saw that everything was settled and left, leaving behind a house full of women with different thoughts.

  Lin Qingyu looked at the women inside the house, and a sentence flashed in her mind: One woman is a bright landscape, twelve women are a wall of purple and red.

  "Everyone sit down!" Lin Qingyu waved her hand, indicating for everyone to take a seat.

  "Cheers!"

  After everyone sat down, Li relied on her own favoritism and having children by her side, and actually took the lead in speaking out, "Fu Jin, you are so young and beautiful, I am really envying!"

  Lin Qingyu was somewhat perplexed. This Li family member had spoken up before her, could it be that they were just trying to boast about themselves? Was there some hidden motive?

  As expected, Li continued to say: "Compared with the imperial concubine, I... am like yesterday's yellow flower. Fortunately, there are children around me to chat and relieve boredom, otherwise I would be depressed."

  The word "children" was emphasized by Li with a heavier tone, and his eyes still carried a hint of pride as he looked at Lin Qingyu.

  Lin Qingyu said she didn't understand what they meant, and with a kind face said: "They called Ben Fu Jin 'Da E Mama', of course Ben Fu Jin will treat them well!"

  Li's eyes dimmed for a moment, Lin Qingyu looked but didn't see, glanced around and said to Li, "Why can't I see Hongyun, Hongshi, oh right, and Yiyuan?"

  Li heard this and felt a sudden tightness in her heart. Could it be that Furen was thinking of adopting Hongyun and Hongshi? Otherwise, why would she put Yiyuan after them?

  Li thought too much! Lin Qingyu simply almost forgot that Yongzheng had another daughter, who could blame her for remembering his sons so vividly.

  "Hongshi is still young and shouldn't be exposed to the wind. Hongyun and Yiyuan caught a chill this morning and can't get out of bed!" Li heard this and said with a worried face: "Once Hongyun and Yiyuan are feeling better, I'll have them come and apologize to Madame Fu! Please don't be angry, Madame Fu!"

  Wow! This is trying to frame Lin Qingyu for being unfilial! And, it just so happens that they all caught a cold this morning, isn't that too coincidental?

  "The children are ill, has the imperial physician been summoned?" Lin Qingyu looked at Li with a worried face, ready to play her part.

  "Nothing..."

  "How did you become a mother? So careless and sloppy. Royal bloodline, can it be taken lightly? It seems necessary to tell the Beile Lord!"

  Li heard this, her face turned pale, and she knelt down with a thud, begging Lin Qingyu for mercy: "Please forgive me, Madam! Today wasn't I supposed to serve you tea? So, I haven't had time yet..."

  Lin Qingyu raised an eyebrow upon hearing this, "From what you're saying, it seems like Ben Furen is at fault?"

  "No... I didn't mean it like that, I meant..."

  "Alright! I don't want to hear it anymore!" Lin Qingyu waved her hand impatiently, "Moju, take Ben Fujin's note and pass it on to the imperial physician!"

  "Yes!" Mo Jue took orders and left.

  Li saw this and had no choice but to get up, sit down on one side, and stop talking. In her heart, she thought: This time I was too careless and underestimated the enemy, allowing Fu Jin to take the upper hand. I thought she was just a little maid who was spoiled by her mother and didn't know the height of the sky or the thickness of the earth, but it seems that's not the case. It's also true that with a small concubine supporting the main wife, one can't get by without some tricks up their sleeve. She secretly made various calculations in her heart without mentioning them.

  "Fu Jin's sister, you know..."

  Very good and powerful, a concubine actually dares to call the mistress of the house "sister", where does she get the nerve?

  As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes immediately focused on Jia Yuanchun.

  Lin Qingyu's mouth curled up, her eyes filled with disdain, and her face turned cold: "Jia Gege, don't try to establish a relationship arbitrarily. I don't recall my mother having a daughter surnamed Jia? Or are you looking down on Ben Furen, thinking your status is above hers? Shouldn't Ben Furen step down and yield to you? Let you become the Fourth Furen?"

  "I..."

  Lin Qingyu's face turned stern, quite intimidating! At this moment, Jia Yuanchun was so flustered that the word "I" slipped out of her mouth.

  "In front of Mrs. Ben, you called me, where did the rules and etiquette go? Go back and copy the female precepts a hundred times!"

  "Yes! I will obey your orders!"

  Jia Yuanchun's words were not yet out of her mouth when she was blocked, with a look of suffocation on her face. In her heart, she thought: It seems that Fugui does not recognize me. That's right, when I entered the Beile Mansion, Lin Qingyu was still a little girl, and naturally didn't know about this cousin of hers. Let's wait for another day to come and acknowledge our relationship! Alright! This time, I'll forgive her!

  Jagger, how did your brain circuit go wrong?

  The rest of the people saw Li Ce and Fu Jin, these two people who were usually good at calculating, both lost to Fu Jin, and honestly sat there without making a sound, afraid that the fire would burn over to themselves.

  "Anything else?" Lin Qingyu was getting impatient. "Ben Furen is a bit tired, if there's nothing else, let's disperse!"

  "Yes, I bid you farewell!"

  As soon as everyone in the Western Warm Pavilion dispersed, Lin Qingyu immediately relaxed.