The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Princess Zhaohua was the Empress's younger sister. After the palace banquet, she followed the Empress to the Empress's Fengming Palace.

I can't wait to share that I've made some amazing new friends.

"Sister, I've made a new and very impressive friend. Her surname is Su. Do you remember the gorgeous dress I wore when I went to the palace last time? It caused quite a stir. The design of that dress was conceived by Miss Su, and the flower tea I'm serving the Empress Dowager tonight was also made by Miss Su."

The Empress was very pleased, never expecting that her sister would make such a remarkable friend.

The Empress guessed that the flower tea must be very delicious, which is why the Empress Dowager bestowed upon Zhaohua an extremely valuable set of jewelry, making all the concubines present extremely jealous.

"Sister, has His Majesty not visited your palace often lately?"

"There are no fewer than a hundred concubines in the palace. How could His Majesty possibly stay in my palace every day?"

When she spoke of her situation, the empress's eyes welled up with tears. Everyone thought that as a high-ranking empress, she must be living a very respectable life, but they did not know that her life was not as glamorous as it seemed.

She and the current emperor were childhood sweethearts who grew up together and were once deeply in love. It was during that time that the emperor was in a good mood and, with a wave of his hand, bestowed upon her younger sister the title of Princess Zhaohua, making her the most prominent figure of the time.

Unfortunately, love has a very short shelf life, so short that before she could even react, the emperor had a new lover. She could only hear the laughter of the new lover and no longer hear the tears of the old one.

The emperor simply doesn't have time to see her, the empress.

She tried to see His Majesty several times under the pretext of delivering snacks, but His Majesty avoided her each time.

They were already tired of her being the empress.

Princess Zhaohua noticed the loneliness in her sister's eyes and felt a pang of sympathy.

My sister was once incredibly beautiful, but after only a few years of marriage, her face was filled with sorrow, and she lost her former vibrancy.

Yes, men are all fickle and easily bored. I heard that the most favored concubine in the palace recently is Consort Xian.

Consort Xian was the daughter of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. She was petite and had only entered the palace half a year ago. Because of her favor with the emperor, she was promoted from a concubine to a consort.

His promotion was faster than a shooting star, making the other women in the harem extremely envious.

Princess Zhaohua originally only planned to give her older sister two small jars of flower tea, but feeling sorry for her sister, she gritted her teeth and gave her four small jars.

She herself now had two fewer small jars. At this moment, she could finally understand Baozhu's feelings. Even though she was giving the things to her dearest sister, her heart was still bleeding.

"Sister, this flower tea is especially delicious. It will definitely make you feel better. Just be happy, sister. Men are like that. If he doesn't love you anymore, even if you hang yourself, he'll think you're just swinging on a swing."

The Empress chuckled upon hearing this.

"Silly girl, you're not even married yet, where did you get all these strange ideas?"

Princess Zhaohua chuckled foolishly, "Sister, no one can resist this kind of flower tea. If you really want to win favor, you can try using this tea. You might be pleasantly surprised. The palace gates are about to be locked, so I'll be going now. I'll come to see you again in a few days."

"Okay, I'll have someone escort you out."

Princess Zhaohua left the palace before it was locked.

The Empress thought of the tea that the Empress Dowager had been drinking at the palace banquet earlier, and it smelled particularly fragrant. She wanted to try it, so she asked a palace maid to brew a pot.

Once it's brewed, I drink one cup after another, unable to stop.

This is so much better than the tribute tea from Jiangnan. After tasting this flower tea, even the tribute tea seems inedible.

No wonder the Empress Dowager was willing to give away that priceless set of pigeon blood ruby ​​headdress.

I wonder where Zhaohua got this flower tea from; it's really something special.

After finishing her tea, the Empress realized that tea has a stimulating effect and that drinking too much might make it difficult for her to sleep at night.

It just so happens that His Majesty is diligent in his duties, working in the Imperial Study until midnight every day, and needs some refreshing tea to keep him alert.

The Empress personally brewed a pot of piping hot tea, which was then carried by a palace maid to the Imperial Study, thinking that by the time the tea arrived there, it would be cool enough to drink.

In the imperial study, Emperor Qi Jing had already chosen Consort Xian's nameplate, and was only waiting to finish his official duties for another hour before going to her place to retire for the night.

The eunuch Xiao Fuzi announced, "Your Majesty, the Empress has arrived."

"Let her go." Emperor Qi Jing didn't even raise his head, mainly because he was too busy with state affairs to listen to the Empress's complaints.

Last time the Empress came, she kept complaining to him that he had changed his mind.

For a ruler to be so petty and narrow-minded is incredibly narrow-minded and uninteresting.

Consort Xian is the best; she always smiles like a flower in front of him.

As Emperor Qi Jing was pondering this, he suddenly smelled a strong aroma of tea. "Little Fuzi, have you brewed tea?"

Xiao Fuzi was almost at the door when she quickly turned around and replied, "Your Majesty, you drank sweet soup that Consort Xian had sent over tonight, so I didn't make you any tea. The aroma you smelled should be tea brought by the Empress. I'll have someone come in right away."

Xiao Fuzi secretly rejoiced that he was a step too slow and hadn't driven the Empress away yet, otherwise His Majesty wouldn't have been able to drink the fragrant tea.

He opened the door to the imperial study, bowed respectfully, and said, "Your Majesty, please come in."

The young Emperor Qi Jing looked up at the empress who had entered and noticed that she was smiling today, not like someone who had come to be jealous.

Lately, the Empress has been acting like a resentful woman in front of him, so he has forgotten that the Empress's smile is also very gentle and charming.

"Your Majesty, I received this fine tea and felt very pleasant after drinking it, so I wanted to send it to Your Majesty to try."

Even though the tea was personally delivered by the Empress, Xiao Fuzi still carefully examined it with a silver needle.

Emperor Qi Jing saw that the silver needles had not turned black before taking the teacup, taking a sip, and then suddenly tilting his head back and gulping down the entire cup.

Xiao Fuzi thought to herself, "His Majesty usually values ​​his demeanor, but I never expected that a cup of tea would cause him to break his usual composure."

"Good tea." Emperor Qi Jing drank tea while handling official business, feeling refreshed and clear-headed, and was able to process memorials with even greater ease.

He finished reviewing all the memorials in less than half an hour.

He wanted another cup of tea, but the teapot was already empty.

Seeing that the tea was almost gone, but the emperor was still gazing longingly at the teapot, the empress suggested, "Your Majesty, I have some more in my palace. If you would like, I will go back and brew some tea and bring it over immediately."

Emperor Qi Jing stood up, stretched, and said, "I've finished my official duties, Ayan. It's been a long time since I've had a heart-to-heart talk with you. Let's go to your Fengming Palace now."

The Empress paused, startled: His Majesty hasn't called her by her childhood name in a long time.

Seeing the emperor leave, Xiao Fuzi quickly flicked her whisk and followed behind, thinking to herself: Your Majesty, you forgot about Consort Xian. We agreed to stay at Consort Xian's place tonight.

Xiao Fuzi sighed, "Alas, if Consort Xian knew that she was defeated by a pot of tea, I wonder what she would think."

Should we send someone to inform Consort Xian? No, I'd better not. Just do what His Majesty tells me to do, but don't do anything more than that, or you'll make more mistakes.

Incense has already been lit in Consort Xian's palace.

She has loved osmanthus since she was a child, and the fragrance she used was made with osmanthus, with only a very small amount of aphrodisiac added. His Majesty always praised the fragrance whenever he came over.

Consort Xian had already taken a bath and put on her battle armor. The peach-pink, sheer fabric accentuated her graceful figure.

"Bai Zhi, His Majesty should be arriving soon. Please adjust all the lamp wicks in the room."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The palace maid Bai Zhi tidied up all the lamp wicks in the palace, making the palace even brighter.

The lamp oil used is shark oil from the East China Sea, a gift from Emperor Qi Jing. It is exceptionally durable and can burn all night without needing to be refilled.

Bai Zhi had a particularly sweet tongue. "Your Majesty, wherever His Majesty's heart is, that's where all the good things in the palace are. Your Majesty's golden nanmu wood bed is absolutely unique in this harem."

Bai Zhi gently pulled up the bed curtains and hung them on the hooks carved with flowers and birds, so that His Majesty could see the graceful Empress on the bed as soon as he entered.

"His Majesty has bestowed so many fine things upon the Empress; our Peony Palace is far more magnificent than the Empress's Phoenix Palace..."

Consort Xian was delighted to hear this, a charming and smug smile spreading across her face.

The palace maid Bai Shao, who had gone to keep watch, ran back and knelt down in front of Consort Xian's bed with a thud. "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened! His Majesty has gone to the Empress's Fengming Palace."

The joyful and smug smile on Consort Xian's face froze on her face.

How could this be? His Majesty has not set foot in the Empress's Phoenix Palace for two months, and has been resting in her Peony Palace every day. Why did he suddenly go to the Empress's place today?

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.