The Love of Passerby A

Chapter 136 The Little Transparent in the Princess and Prince Consort Story (1)

Li Handan is the daughter of Concubine Rou in the palace, who can be regarded as a legend in the palace.

Because Concubine Rou had no distinguished family background or noble blood, she started out as a maid in the palace's laundry room, a lowly maid who could be stepped on by anyone.

When she first entered the palace, she couldn't even get enough to eat and couldn't even get her monthly salary.

Her monthly salary was often used to honor her aunt who was in charge or eunuchs of some status.

She lived like this for six whole years. She entered the palace to serve at the age of thirteen. According to the rules of Yuan Yao Kingdom, women from the common people were selected to serve in the palace, and they could leave the palace and get married when they turned twenty.

But not long after she turned nineteen, by chance, she was favored by the emperor.

Then her road to promotion began. She was first a Changzai and then a Guiren. In just a few years, she climbed to the position of a concubine and was given the title "Rou".

There were not many people in the emperor's harem, and he was very stingy with their positions. Even the position of concubine was still vacant.

The only concubine who held the title of Shufei was an old lady in the emperor's palace when he was the crown prince - the crown prince's concubine.

Therefore, it is incredible that Concubine Rou was promoted so quickly.

However, both the Empress and the Consort Shu knew that this titled concubine was the highest rank the Emperor could give her.

After all, Concubine Rou had no advantages from her maternal family, no help from the previous dynasty, and no talent. For a laundry maid who could barely read and write, it was a blessing to have such good fortune.

Others don’t know why Concubine Rou was favored, but the Queen knows it clearly.

When the emperor was young, he had a childhood sweetheart, Cui Lanzhi, the eldest daughter of the Cui family, who was also the queen's cousin.

Unfortunately, Cui Lanzhi was a premature baby and was weak and sickly since childhood. She did not live past the age of thirteen.

If she could grow up safely, the position of queen would definitely be hers.

But there are not so many ifs in this world. Cui Lanzhi is not only the most favored daughter of the Cui family, but her aunt is also the favorite concubine of the late emperor.

Cui Lanzhi had a beautiful appearance and a kind character. Because she grew up in her aunt's palace, she was favored by the emperor at that time. Her treatment was once comparable to that of a legitimate princess.

Moreover, she is humble and gentle, unlike many girls from aristocratic families, and the prince admires her very much.

Perhaps because such a person was blessed too much, God did not give Cui Lanzhi too much time. She died of exhaustion in the palace in the winter when she was twelve years old.

At that time, the prince was in great grief and knelt before the emperor for a day and a night, wanting to posthumously confer the title of Crown Princess on Cui Lanzhi.

Because Cui Lanzhi died before she was fifteen, according to the rules she could not be buried in the Cui family's ancestral tomb.

However, the emperor rejected her request to posthumously confer the title of Crown Princess at the age of twelve because she was too young and against the rules.

He directly gave Cui Lanzhi a title, making her a princess, and built a princess tomb for her separately, which was located near the imperial mausoleum. She would also receive a share of offerings during the annual sacrifices to the imperial mausoleum.

The queen had seen the then crown prince and the current emperor, and she knew how they loved someone, so she was particularly clear-headed.

Over the years, except for the time when the emperor favored a few concubines in order to expand his family, he never stayed in the harem for long.

Later, after he had three princes and four princesses, the emperor basically slept in his own palace and rarely set foot in the harem.

Oh! There are exceptions. On the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month, he would go to the Queen's Palace to sleep for a night, but of course he would just sleep and not do anything else.

It was one winter that the emperor met Concubine Rou, who was still a laundry maid.

That day was Cui Lanzhi's birthday. He dismissed everyone and asked the imperial kitchen to prepare a bowl of longevity noodles in the pavilion where the two of them used to meet often. Just as he was serving the dish, he remembered that he had not put her favorite pastries in it.

As there was no one else around, the emperor went to the side hall to get the snacks that were always prepared. When he returned to the pavilion, he saw a woman in palace dress eating the bowl of noodles with gusto.

The emperor's eyes turned red with rage in an instant. He pulled the woman up roughly, but was shocked beyond words when he saw her face.

It was a face that was both familiar and unfamiliar. It was familiar because the same features were often seen in his dreams, but it was unfamiliar because the person's face only looked like that of a twelve-year-old, but the girl in front of him was obviously already seventeen or eighteen years old.

The emperor couldn't tell whether it was a dream or reality, but he could no longer let go of the woman's hand. He picked her up and brought her back to his palace, and favored her that night.

The next day, the emperor looked at her and became disgusted with himself again. He gave her a position as a maid and sent her to a remote palace.

But longing is like a maggot on the tarsus.

Before he met this woman, the emperor was suffering from depression, and even after he favored her, he hated himself even more.

The emperor thought about it for too long. After only half a month, he could not help but go there again. He hid in the dark and observed the newly appointed concubine. Then he found that she was different from many women in the palace.

He also sent secret guards to the woman's hometown to investigate her background, fearing that she was a spy sent by another country.

The end result was that she was just a little farm girl, and even when she entered the palace to serve, she was forced by her mother to take her own place.

The secret guard also brought back a piece of news that her birthday was only a few days later than the time of Cui Lanzhi's death.

This incident seemed to be the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the emperor seemed to have found a reasonable excuse to favor her.

From then on, the emperor began to favor her, and within two years, even though she was not pregnant, she was named "Roupin".