【Quick Wear】My Years as a Mother-in-law

Chapter 177 The Queen Mother who picked up the bargain is very upset 23

In the morning, the palace maids from Renshou Palace were taken away, and before noon, several maids and servants were sent back.

Yun Xi called over Nanny Zhong and the others to inquire about the situation. She asked seriously, "Zhong Lingyuxiu, Yue'er, Xi'er, and Jinzhi, the seven of you, did the people from the East Factory give you any trouble?"

"Your Highness, the people from the East Depot were very polite and asked very detailed questions. Each of us had to have several people testify to our whereabouts last night before we were released."

Yun Xi's expression eased a lot, and she asked worriedly, "Isn't he torturing you?"

Xiu Er, who loves to show off, calmed down a bit after her trip to the prison, and said with lingering fear: "No, but I saw a few second- and third-class palace maids being beaten badly."

Nanny Zhong shook her head and said sharply, "Sister Xiu, don't bother with them. They always try to escape whenever something happens in the palace. I wonder which shameless person they're passing the news to. They deserve to be beaten."

Yue'er pouted and nodded in agreement, her delicate little face flushed red, and she was obviously also indignant.

"I know all of this, and there's nothing shameful going on in our palace. I'm sorry to have frightened you all. Xiu'er, I have some new rouge and powder in my room. They were tributes from a small country in the southwest, and they're all made from the finest flowers. An old lady like me doesn't need them, so you can divide them up and dress up nicely."

Aunt Xiu grinned, "Your Majesty, that's not true. You are in your prime, your face looks ageless, you are so beautiful, you don't even need these rouge and powder to dress up, you are already the most beautiful in the world."

"You're such a good girl, Xiu'er! I gave you some worthless rouge and powder, but you kept flattering me. You're my enemy! Go get the new gold ingots that were sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and give two to each of you. Go back and have a good rest. I have Feng An here, so he can handle it."

"Yes, thank you for the reward, Her Majesty the Queen Mother."

Several people bowed deeply and left one after another.

Yun Xi ate lunch with the two little babies. The wet nurses had not been sent back yet, so she asked the eunuchs to find some goat's milk and boil it to feed the children. The two babies had good appetites and drank half a bottle of goat's milk at noon. Soon they needed another snack.

The two children are now almost half a year old and are raised very well by Yun Xi. Unfortunately, their mother is irresponsible and only visits them a few times a month.

"Your mother has made a good plan. When the time comes, grandma will definitely discipline you and let them know how powerful I am."

"Cuckoo~"

"Err, eh, eh, eh..."

The two children knew Yun Xi and thought she was playing with them, so they made sounds in cooperation. Yu Yang even stretched out his little hand to hold Yun Xi's fingers, grinning.

Yun Xi saw the child drooling and gently wiped it with a handkerchief, scolding him with a smile, "What a foolish child."

Feng An quickly stepped forward to join in the fun and gave him some compliments.

"You old slave, you only like to brag. Xiu'er, give my agate stone to Feng An. This old fellow works for me like a shill. I won't let him suffer any loss."

Feng An slapped himself on the lips, "Oh my goodness, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, you are embarrassing me. It is my great honor to work for Her Majesty the Queen Mother. I am so happy running errands every day."

"It's your business if you like running, but my reward for you is my attitude. This piece of raw stone has been cut a little, and it immediately turns out to be green agate, which is just right for your fair skin. Take it and go back to find a craftsman to make it into jewelry for you to wear. Look at your clothes, they are all patched." Yun Xi waved her hand.

Feng An nodded and wiped his tears, "Thank you, Her Majesty, for your consideration. I will accept this."

Yun Xi asked him to go down, "Xiu'er and the others have arrived, you should go down and have a rest, the two kids have been giving you a hard time."

……

After Feng An left, Yun Xi held her forehead and said, "Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. The rules for the rewards will definitely be different this year. I'm getting older every year, and my memory is not good enough. Zhong'er, you have a good memory. Please list the complicated relationships in the capital and give them to me."

Nanny Zhong immediately agreed, "Yes."

Xiu'er wondered in her heart why the Empress Dowager said that suddenly. A list of rewards would be submitted every year, and Yue'er would modify it according to the officials' circumstances and submit it to the Empress Dowager for her decision.

When is the relationship between outside officials needed?

Weird weird.

Yun Xi gently patted the two sleeping babies, "Xiu'er, take Jinxiu and Nianhua and take good care of the two children. They have been drinking goat's milk recently. You don't have to feed them after the wet nurses come back. Give them a reward and send them out of the palace. Let them drink goat's milk until they are one year old, and then slowly switch to solid food."

Aunt Xiu whispered, "Master, aren't you going to keep the children's wet nurse?"

The status of the wet nurse of a noble young master is very special. Generally, she is more respectable than an ordinary servant. Some wet nurses are strong and may even use filial piety to oppress others, losing their duty. Of course, there are also advantages. The wet nurse is considered to be a close person to the master, and the bond is more solid, and she has more trust than other servants.

Now the Queen knows that the Emperor doesn't like women, so she doesn't care about breast shape and insists on feeding the eldest prince with breast milk. She is very strict with the wet nurse. Occasionally, if the child doesn't have enough to eat, she only allows the wet nurse to be fed with squeezed milk and rarely allows her to show up. This is also to be on the safe side to prevent the child from being closer to the wet nurse than to herself.

"Forget about the wet nurse. It will make the relationship awkward in the future if she's gone. When the child grows up, let the two princesses pick some young maids and servants to grow up with him." Yun Xi said softly.

"Okay, I understand."

There was nothing else to do. In the afternoon, all the palace maids came back. Zhang Lai brought them here personally and said that these people should be innocent, unless someone was so stubborn that he could withstand the interrogation, which was generally impossible.

Zhang Lai said respectfully, "...Her Majesty, please let me know that His Majesty has stated that a group of palace maids will be selected from outside the palace this September to be paired with each palace. However, the number will be much smaller. The main purpose is to find more eunuchs to serve in the palace."

"Well, it's up to the emperor. Just assign all the people here, whether they are palace maids or eunuchs, to me. The staff has already been reduced. If they are not assigned, it will be difficult for the girls to carry out their work." Yun Xi was calm. The emperor must have been traumatized and did not dare to let the palace maids serve him.

This also reflects the different status of eunuchs and palace maids in the palace. Most of those who come to the palace to be eunuchs are desperate because they can't make ends meet and have basically no relatives to rely on. Some young eunuchs may have families, but they grew up in the palace and are not close to their families.

The situation of palace maids is much better. Most of them are selected from ordinary people's families. They have family members to rely on. When they reach a certain age, they can apply to leave the palace and get married. They have many more options than eunuchs. Conversely, there is no eunuch who can be trusted wholeheartedly. Of course, there is another reason, that is, the promotion channels are too narrow.

Eunuchs can enter the East Factory and hold real power, but the palace maids have no chance to become officials. Last time, when the emperor and empress were asked to reform the promotion system of some palace maids, the two of them did it perfunctorily and did not take it very seriously.