Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 425 Daily life
"Yesterday afternoon, the palace received a batch of gifts from Songkhla and Lan Fang. I will ask the attendants to select some new raw silk and tea produced this year and send them to your palace."

Li Mingyuan looked at the women standing in front of him and said gently.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward."

The Queen bowed and thanked him, saying, "The weather is getting a little colder, and you sisters are still wearing summer clothes. I heard that raw silk from Jiangnan is of high quality, so I will use the raw silk that Your Majesty has given me and ask the women workers in the textile factory to make a few thicker skirts and tops for you sisters to keep warm."

"The queen has worked hard managing the harem."

Li Mingyuan nodded and said, "At the end of March, the army and navy will conduct a joint military exercise. At that time, I will leave the palace to inspect the exercises and actual training of the army and navy. I may be away from Chang'an for half a month. After I leave, the queen will have to take care of the affairs in the palace."

"Your Majesty, rest assured. I, along with my sisters, will manage the affairs of the palace properly and will not cause any trouble to Your Majesty."

After the Queen replied, she continued, "Your Majesty is out of the palace to review the military training. It is inconvenient without someone who knows you well to serve you. It would be better to let Xiaolan and Ying'er stay with your Majesty and serve your Majesty's diet and daily life."

"No, Xiaolan and Ying'er are weak. Following me and traveling in the army will be bad for their health. It's better to let them stay in the palace."

Li Mingyuan turned his head and looked at Xiaolan and Ying'er who were standing at the edge, and said with pity.

Xiaolan and Ying'er are of low status. They were originally dowry maids of the Queen and the Imperial Concubine respectively. Their parents died early and they have no father or brother to rely on. Even though they were taken into the harem by Li Mingyuan and were fortunate enough to be canonized as Shufei and Defei, which were second only to the Queen and the Imperial Concubine in status, they still retained their previous cautious character when living in the harem. When encountering things, they mainly follow the opinions of the Queen and the Imperial Concubine and dare not express their own opinions directly. Only when facing Li Mingyuan's careful and compassionate care will they put aside their concerns and tell some secrets hidden in their hearts.

The gap in identity and status affected Li Mingyuan's direct perception of the five women in the harem. In Li Mingyuan's cognition, if he encountered an accident, perhaps the Queen, the Imperial Concubine, and the Virtuous Concubine would be sad and upset for a while, but it would be impossible for them to always care about it. Xiaolan and Ying'er were different. Li Mingyuan was their only support. If they lost Li Mingyuan's protection, their lives and safety would be difficult to guarantee.

After living in the palace for a long time, they slowly understood Li Mingyuan's deliberate care for them, and Xiaolan and Ying'er gradually developed an inexplicable feeling in their hearts. This feeling was completely different from the pure love between men and women in later generations. Because in Xiaolan and Ying'er's inherent thinking habits, they had a low status and were trained as maids of Wu Lingxuan and Zhang Baoyi since childhood. They were appendages of their masters and had no ability or qualifications to decide their own destiny.

Before following their young lady into the palace, Xiaolan and Ying'er had simple and similar wishes, that is, their young lady would marry into a good family, and the future son-in-law would not have such a bad temper and character, and would treat them with a basic bottom line, and not beat, scold or insult them like some mean gentry in mainland China.

As young girls, Xiaolan and Ying'er's pursuit was humble and helpless compared to their young lady. Fortunately, the man their young lady married was Li Mingyuan. After entering the palace, although the status of both parties was very different, Li Mingyuan did not take out his anger on them because of bad mood or other factors like traditional emperors.

Xiaolan and Ying'er were lucky to have met a good-tempered male master who was gentle and generous to those around him. After that, they successfully married Li Mingyuan and gave birth to royal descendants. In addition to feeling satisfied and happy, the two women also had a deeper affection for Li Mingyuan. Li Mingyuan gave them their current status and made them feel the dignity of being human. After marrying Li Mingyuan, their status and position changed from a dowry maid to one of the four concubines in the harem. Although the two women still treated the queen and the concubine as the main ones in the daily affairs of the harem, in terms of identity recognition, after Li Mingyuan's enlightenment and influence, they gradually realized that they were equal to the queen and the concubine in the harem. They were all the emperor's women, not the dowry maids attached to the young lady before.

Xiaolan and Ying'er's feelings for Li Mingyuan are mixed with a woman's admiration, gratitude, dependence and other emotions towards a man. Although not as pure as love, this kind of feeling is more lasting and stable than simple love.

For Xiaolan and Ying'er, Li Mingyuan is their man and their support. If Li Mingyuan is in danger, they are willing to sacrifice their lives in exchange for their husbands' safety. However, if faced with the same situation, even if the Queen, the Imperial Concubine, and the Virtuous Concubine can make the same actions, the reasons that inspire them to make sacrifices are unlikely to be as pure and decisive as those of Xiaolan and Ying'er.

Xiaolan and Ying'er could feel Li Mingyuan's love for them, so after hearing what Li Mingyuan said, the two women said in unison: "Being able to accompany Your Majesty is a blessing that I cannot ask for. I ask Your Majesty to agree to my request."

"If it were a normal tour outside the palace, it would be fine to bring you along, but this time we are going to the military to review the troops and exercises, so it is not appropriate for the ladies of the palace to accompany us."

Li Mingyuan bent down and stretched out his hand to help the two girls up, comforting them: "Guang'er and Song'er are still young. If you follow me out of the palace and leave the two children behind, I'm sure you two won't feel at ease. So, don't worry and stay in the palace and take good care of the two children. When I have the chance in the future, I will take you out of the palace to relax."

Li Mingyuan's attitude was clear. Seeing this, the two women whispered and agreed to Li Mingyuan's arrangement.

"In the month before and after the New Year, the palaces in the country were busy with affairs. You hosted many officials and generals' families on my behalf, and our family did not have the opportunity to reunite. So, since the government affairs have been arranged in the past two days and there is nothing to disturb us, we will take this opportunity to not invite anyone else, but just get together as a family, chat, and talk about some intimate things between husband and wife."

"Your Majesty has been worrying about state affairs all day long. You should find some time to rest."

Imperial Concubine Zhang Baoyi chuckled and said, "Jing'an and Hui'er haven't seen Your Majesty for half a month. They have been shouting to me these past two days, asking to see their father. It's a good opportunity for me to bring the two children with me tonight, so that Your Majesty can reunite with the children."

"I think the same as Sister Baoyi. Jingliang and Xin'er are still young and they like to stick close to Your Majesty."

"A family reunion naturally requires our little princes and princesses. Let's call all the children tonight and have a good time together as a family."

Li Mingyuan showed a happy smile on his face and laughed.

(End of this chapter)