Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 216: The Palace Maids of Chengxiang Palace
Although Li Zhi never neglected any concubine in the past two years, there were differences among the concubines in his heart.

Wu Meiniang was the woman he liked the most, not only because she was beautiful, but also because she was knowledgeable and had a thorough understanding of things.

He always felt happy both physically and mentally when he was with Wu Meiniang.

The second concubine in his heart was Concubine Zheng. On the one hand, it was because she was proficient in music, and on the other hand, she was quite knowledgeable about romance. Only when Li Zhi went to Xunfeng Palace could he feel the emperor's pleasure.

Then there is Xu Jin. She is actually very smart and sensible. Li Zhi respects her even more.

Liu Chong'er's Chengxiang Palace was the palace that Li Zhi visited least often, about three to five times a month.

As Li Zhi's personal eunuch, Wang Fusheng would accompany Li Zhi wherever he went and live in his side hall.

Wang Fusheng was the opposite of Li Zhi. He disliked Lizheng Hall the most and Chengxiang Hall the most.

Of course, he could only bury his preferences deep in his heart. He had no ability to influence which palace the emperor decided to visit, and he had never tried to influence him.

I was lucky today. In the afternoon, Prince Chen Li Zhong came to Ganlu Palace to pay his respects.

Perhaps because of Li Zhong, after dinner, the emperor went to Chengxiang Palace.

Wang Fusheng was secretly delighted, but his expression remained calm. As he was walking, he suddenly heard Li Zhi say, "By the way, Fusheng, Zhong'er just said that he wanted to select two officials from his own palace and send them to the Prince of Wu's palace. Has the Prince of Wu's palace's officials been assigned yet?"

When a royal palace is established, officials will also be assigned to it.

However, unlike the Eastern Palace, Li Zhi did not need to personally take charge of these officials, and they were usually coordinated and arranged by the Zongzheng Temple and the Ministry of Personnel.

Wang Fusheng hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the officials of the successor king are usually assigned more slowly."

Li Zhi said, "Li Ji is young and has no elders in the palace. We should prioritize assigning him some capable officials. Go to the Ministry of Personnel and let them know."

Wang Fusheng agreed and turned to head towards the Ministry of Personnel.

When he arrived at the Ministry of Personnel, he went to Xu Xiaode's office in person and told him Li Zhi's instructions.

Xu Xiaode hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Grand Supervisor Wang. I will have all the officials assigned to the Prince of Wu's Palace within ten days."

Wang Fusheng smiled and bowed, saying, "Then I'll have to trouble Minister Xu. I'll take my leave."

Xu Xiaode smiled and said, "Wang Dajian, please stay for a while. I have some freshly picked purple bamboo shoot tea from Huzhou."

Wang Fusheng smiled and said, "Thank you, Minister Xu. I still have to report to His Majesty, so I won't stay any longer."

After leaving the Ministry of Personnel, Wang Fusheng went all the way to Chengxiang Hall, where he saw Li Zhi instructing Liu Chong'er to draw a sketch.

When Wang Fusheng saw this, he was not in a hurry to report back. Instead, he took a closer look and saw that Li Zhi was painting a new landscape based on a landscape painting by Liu Chong'er.

He knew that it would take Li Zhi at least half an hour to draw this picture, so he quietly left the inner hall and went outside.

After a while, Liu Chong'er's maid Yuzhu also came out and stood beside him. The two looked at each other and smiled.

The reason why Wang Fusheng likes to come to Chengxiang Palace is because of Yuzhu.

He was a eunuch and had no impulses between men and women. He simply liked talking to Yuzhu. Since they were both from Shu and their hometowns were very close, they were naturally close.

Given Wang Fusheng's status, there were countless palace maids and eunuchs in the harem who wanted to please him, including many from Shu.

The reason why Wang Fusheng favors Yuzhu is because she is loyal to her master.

Every blade of grass and every tree in the harem could not escape Wang Fusheng's eyes.

He naturally knew that Liu Chong'er was too cowardly, which led to the palace maids in Chengxiang Palace being very presumptuous.

If Yuzhu had not risked her life to report the matter to the Queen and had a palace maid beaten to death, Chengxiang Palace would have been in chaos.

Later, for a period of time, Li Zhi did not go to Chengxiang Palace for a whole month.

Liu Chong'er could only wipe her tears in the middle of the night, but she did not dare to take the initiative to find the emperor, or even tell her son.

Yuzhu finally mustered up the courage to find Wang Fusheng and ask him the reason.

Wang Fusheng had secretly admired Yuzhu at that time, so he did not make things difficult for her and told her the reason.

It turned out that Liu Chong'er practiced the sketching skills taught by Li Zhi hard, and as a result, her painting skills improved greatly and even surpassed Li Zhi.

Li Zhi was not a stingy person. It was just that he used to like to give Liu Chong'er some pointers on painting every time he went to Chengxiang Palace. Now that he found that the other party painted better than him, he naturally would not give her any pointers.

Liu Chong'er was originally tongue-tied, and when talking to Li Zhi, she mostly just agreed with what was said. Now, there was one less topic for discussion between the two of them.

Subconsciously, Li Zhi naturally didn't like going to Chengxiang Palace.

Even the emperor himself may not have thought about these things in detail, but Wang Fusheng understood them clearly.

When Yuzhu learned about it, she knelt on the ground and begged Wang Fusheng to help save Liu Chong'er. Wang Fusheng then gave her an idea.

Painting skills are something that cannot be hidden. If one deliberately paints some poor works and asks the emperor for guidance, it will only make the emperor feel disgusted.

Wang Fusheng knew very well that although the emperor looked very kind, he was actually quite competitive in his bones.

If those who were better at chess than him gave him a break, the emperor would not like to play chess with them anymore.

So Wang Fusheng’s method was very simple, he asked Liu Chong’er not to touch the paintings for several months.

She had just learned the painting skills not long ago. She improved quickly but also forgot quickly. When her level declined to Li Zhi's, Li Zhi would naturally give her guidance again.

Liu Chong'er followed his teachings and indeed stopped painting for several months, and instead learned needlework.

Wang Fusheng would also mention Prince Chen in front of Li Zhi without leaving any trace. Not long after, Li Zhi's visits to Chengxiang Palace really increased.

After this incident, Wang Fusheng and Chengxiang Palace developed a special relationship.

He and Yuzhu became more and more familiar with each other. Yuzhu had a cheerful personality, clear likes and dislikes, and a typical Shu woman's personality. Wang Fusheng had already regarded her as a confidante.

Yuzhu and Wang Fusheng stood outside the palace gate, one on the left and one on the right, talking in low voices.

Yuzhu whispered, "A few days ago, my brother came to Chang'an from Yizhou and brought some local specialties from Mianzhu. If you don't mind, I'll have the palace maids put some in your room later when they clean it up."

Wang Fusheng said with emotion, "Thank you very much. Isn't your brother working as an accountant in the Han Palace in Yizhou? Why did he suddenly come to Chang'an?"

Yuzhu blushed slightly and said, "Although he has never been to school, he is very good at calculations. I thought of letting him come to Chang'an and study under a master for a few years, so that he can try his hand at the Ming Dynasty mathematics."

Wang Fusheng nodded and said, "You're right. Even if he fails the imperial examination, he can still gain more experience. As long as a person has more experience, he will not have trouble finding a good livelihood."

Yuzhu smiled and said, "Now that you say that, I won't worry anymore."

Wang Fusheng suddenly asked, "Have you met him?"

Yuzhu said, "Not yet. I'm going to wait for a day and ask Madam Chong'ai for leave to allow me to leave the palace."

Wang Fusheng asked, "Can you do me a favor?"

Yuzhu turned her head and asked in surprise, "How can I help you?"

Wang Fusheng said, "After you meet him, ask him about the King of Han for me, no matter whether it's big or small. Tell me when the time comes."

Yuzhu hesitated and said, "He's just a small accountant. He hasn't spoken to the King of Han many times. I'm afraid he doesn't know anything."

Wang Fusheng smiled and said, "It's okay, I'm just asking around."

Yuzhu hesitated for a moment and said, "Eunuch Wang, is there something wrong with the King of Han? I heard he's a wise king."

Wang Fusheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with him. I just want to know more about the prince's situation so that I can answer your majesty if he asks about it in the future."

Yuzhu nodded and said, "Okay, I'll ask him more questions when I see him."

The two chatted for a while. Wang Fusheng estimated the time and entered the inner hall. Li Zhi's painting was almost finished.

After Wang Fusheng stayed in the room for another quarter of an hour, Li Zhi finally finished the painting and ordered someone to serve the meal.

After the meal, Li Zhi sat in the hall reading a book, Liu Chong'er served him on the side, and Wang Fusheng had his meal in a side hall with Yuzhu and other palace maids.

At the hour of Hai, Li Zhi won the card and went to bed to rest.

Wang Fusheng waited outside the main gate until there was no sound behind the curtains, then he went to the side hall to rest.

There were indeed many special products from Shu placed on the table, including a bottle of Mianzhu Shaochun wine.

Mianzhu Shaochun, also known as Jiannan Shaochun, is the finest wine in Shu. Just one bottle costs two to three thousand coins.

Although Wang Fusheng was a eunuch, he never allowed himself to be humiliated. Da Jianer liked to drink, and he drank as well, and his alcohol tolerance was not inferior to that of an intact man.

He immediately had a drink and was getting a little drunk when there was a knock on the door.

Wang Fusheng had an idea and went to open the door, but the person who opened the door was a eunuch.

"Eunuch Wang, General Wang of the Imperial Household invites you over."

Wang Fusheng frowned and said, "I understand." He closed the door and put the wine away.

He first came to the outside of the bedroom and listened for a while. Seeing that the emperor showed no signs of waking up, he went to the inner palace.

(End of this chapter)