After all the Merchants have greeted the Emperor and the Empress, Xing was allowed to return to her courtyard.As Xing was taken back in a sedan prepared for her, her mind was filled with thoughts of the various problems looming in their kingdom.
First no one has any idea how many factions are there in the court for now. And then there was the problem with her family. If they are not doing business, they won"t be paying taxes and the treasury will be in trouble without the second highest tax payer"s tax money. The Huang family pays highest tax next to the Heavenly Flowers Palace after all.
Also there is war approaching and there is this issue with the non-existent relations.h.i.+ps with the other kingdoms and also the draught approaching and the threats of food shortage.
A lot of things have to be taken care of!
Xing got down from the sedan and entered her courtyard hoping to get rid of those heavy robes and take a nice long warm bath and a good sleep.
*Gasp *
Xing was surprised to see around thirty women and their maids waiting for her in the main hall of he courtyard.
Xing had forgotten about her greeting the Concubines. When those women saw her, all of them stood up and face her an elegant curtsey. Xing looked at all of them dressed impeccably with their face well done and eyes full of hope and fake reverence and sighed.
I"m so not prepared for this now!
But Xing knew running the inner palace properly is also very important. Many of the power struggles for the outer court will be dragged into the inner palace using the women of those families.
The One who catches the eye of the Emperor will have a good life inside the inner palace and her family will have a good life outside in the court. This has been the rule of the inner place since forever.
For this reason, the inner palace is also a battle field and each woman here is a warrior fighting for her family. And handling a bunch of such women with selfish motivations would be the toughest job in the entire world. But thankfully Xing had experience in this field as she had seen how Lady Shaoyao treats the women there and solve their problems. You have to be very careful to maintain the harmony between the women without being too soft or too imposing. You"ll have to be really smart!
Xing sat in the host seat and everyone took their respective seat. Bai Li had trained her maids really well it seemed as everyone were in the order of their ranks and their refreshments were provided and their moods were maintained to a peaceful state even though it took her long to return.
Smart maids are an absolute must in the inner palace or else it would be hard to survive!
Thankfully she had maids sent from the Heavenly Flowers Palace. Only her previous head maid died in the hands of s.h.i.+hong in the burning of her courtyard.
Xing accepted gifts from each of the Concubine and she gave each of them Jade Hairpin set from her collections her father sent again for her.
Even though most of the women were from rich families, none of then were as rich as the Huang family and the gift they received was worth more than every jewellery they owned.
The inner place is a different world and has different set of rules. You cannot trust anyone there and that doesn"t mean you can ignore anyone there either. You can be in the top one day and become the bottom feeder the next day.
Xing had no interest in competing with the other women inside the Harem as she had decided to leave soon. All she had to do as the Empress is that other women behave themselves and not break any major rules thatigjt harm the Emperor or the Kingdom.
If anything, she tried to find someone who"d suit the Emperor.
That"s why Xing interacted slightly with each one of them. Her role as the Empress is as intimidating as it would be and her family name is also a factor that would enable those other women to show their innermost character. And Xing could understand the intentions of these women easily as she knew women.
Some were purely jealous of her and some were shy and some were arrogant of their beauty and thought that the end of the Huang family is near and she won"t be Empress for long and they could easily s.n.a.t.c.h their position.
Xing noted the demeanour of each one of them and she didn"t like any one of them for the Emperor. None of them seemed like the type the Emperor would like.
None of them were honest!
Although another important issue that must be addressed in their Empire is the Emperor"s heirs and as an Emperor it is his duty to have the next generation for the stability of the kingdom, Xing knew he cannot be forced to do so.
It might be hard for him to find his one true love in this life time as she had screwed up his fate but he could find at least someone he likes, someone who has the same wavelength as him and someone who could possibly become his true love. You cannot force him to have children with someone he doesn"t even like for any reason. A good guy like him should have at least that much freedom even though he is the Emperor.
But why is there no proper woman in the Harem?
Xing sent them off and her entire body felt heavy as if she was. .h.i.t by ten people and she felt the need for a bath and got undressed with the help of maids and entered the bath area and slipped into the warm bath.
This is comfortable!
Xing sank deeper into various thoughts as she was soaking. The kingdom is still in a dire state and no one knows how to help the Kingdom. It is not going to be easy when s.h.i.+hong and the G.o.ds are trying to work against their Kingdom.
Xing got off the bath and after dressing up, she was served some food which she ate and she felt so tired and she ended up taking a nap.