Offering advice

  Yi Pin stretched out her ears to listen for news, and what she got was that the imperial concubine had only fined Ma Gui Ren three months' worth of pin money, which made her feel very uncomfortable.

  Yi Pin knocked on the melon seeds and said: "The noble concubine is really kind."

  As soon as she finished speaking, the reward from the Imperial Concubine arrived - a copy of "The Avalokiteshvara Mantra". Yihuan asked the little eunuch, "Did the Imperial Concubine only give me this reward?"

  The eunuch said: "Her Majesty the Empress has given this 'Avalokiteshvara Mantra' to all the masters in the palace."

  After that little eunuch left, Yipin furrowed her brow and pondered for a while, then suddenly slapped the table and said: "The Empress is truly benevolent!"

  The colored cloud beside him said: "Master, why did you say this?"

  Yi Pin sneered, "The Honorable Concubine probably knows that we were the ones who instigated and manipulated the matter of Ma Guiren from behind. This is a warning to us, telling us to be more merciful and not to use any random tactics."

  Liu Su handed Yiren a bowl of iced sugar pear: "Master, have some to soothe your throat."

  Yi Pin glanced at the snow-white ice sugar pear in the celadon bowl, feeling a bit thirsty, so she used some. However, her heart still felt somewhat uncomfortable and apprehensive. Although the imperial physician had prescribed her medicine to nourish her body, because it was initiated by the Noble Consort, she hadn't taken any of it. Who knew what kind of sinister plot this was?

  In the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Ci heard this and smiled, saying: "I didn't misjudge her. The women in the harem must have a broad mind and demeanor, especially the main consort who manages the harem; otherwise, not only will she herself not live long, but others also won't live long."

  Su Mo smiled and said: "The Empress actually came up with a way to send Buddhist scriptures, it's really narrow-minded."

  "Who says it's not? Go and give the white jade inlaid with red coral double happiness hairpin to the Imperial Concubine, saying that it's almost New Year's and it's for auspiciousness."

  The Imperial Consort received the reward from the Empress Dowager, everyone could guess that it was because of the matter with Ma Gui Ren. It was enough to make people feel uneasy in their hearts, after all, they had miscalculated and done things that ended up being a dowry for the Imperial Consort.

  In January of the 18th year, after achieving a phased victory in the suppression of the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the Kangxi Emperor declared triumph at the Meridian Gate.

  But eighteen years' worth of excitement was just that, as before the end of the first month, Henan Governor Dong Guoxing submitted a memorial stating that Chenliu and twenty-one other prefectures were suffering from both disaster and epidemic, requesting the release of stored grain to provide relief.

  It is said that the epidemic has caused people to fall down in large numbers, and many places have been closed off. People are starving, and countless numbers of them are dying from hunger and illness.

  Mingfei may not be able to do anything else, but at least there are two things she can do. Everyone knows that she is studying medicine, and she can write down modern epidemic prevention methods to help defend against the epidemic. Second, she can lead the imperial concubines in frugal spending, sharing hardships with the people in the disaster area, and boosting the morale of the nation's soldiers.

  As for the first item, she wrote a memorial to Kangxi, and whether it would be adopted or not was not guaranteed. What she wanted was for others to know her integrity.

  The second item, she had to discuss with the Empress Dowager, she herself wore a fox fur coat over her festive cheongsam, holding a Qinghua hand warmer in her hands, and went to Cining Palace with dignity.

  The Empress Dowager again mentioned the matter of the son-in-law to Orchid, Orchid's face turned red with shame, seeing Mingfei was like seeing a savior, only softly looking at Mingfei. Mingfei paid respects to Xiaozhuang and said: "Is the Old Ancestor teasing Orchid again?"

  Xiang Zhuang recently teased Lan Xing and said with a smile: "This child's face is too thin."

  Then looking at Lan Xiang said: "Alright, you go out and play, I'll talk to your mother."

  Lan Xing was finally liberated.

  Mingfei smiled as she watched Lan Xiang leave, then turned to Xiaozhuang and said: "Ancestor, I have something to discuss with you."

  "Xiao Zhuang slowly opened her eyes and said: 'What's going on?'"

  Mingfei held the hand warmer and said faintly, "Henan has broken out in plague, I've heard that many people have died of starvation and illness. Last year Shandong suffered a great disaster, and grain was already scarce. I know our ancestors and the Emperor are worried, so I thought about how to help alleviate their concerns. After thinking it over, I realized that all I can do is manage this small piece of land well, and make the palace more frugal. We can donate the saved medicine and food to the disaster victims in Henan. If we can inspire others below us to follow suit, that would be even better."

  The eyes of the Empress Dowager, who had been dozing off, finally opened wide, especially when she heard the phrase "the people below are emulating", which made her eyes suddenly brighten up. If even the Emperor himself was frugal with donations of food and medicine, how could others escape?

  Filial and Villainous laughed and patted Mingfei's hand, saying: "Not bad, not bad! You have vision!"

  Mingfei smiled slightly: "This servant's knowledge is shallow, and it's still up to the ancestors to decide."

  This is saying that he himself will not take credit for this, and in the end it will be attributed to Xiaozhuang.

  Xiao Zhuang's eyes sparkled, and his smile became even more benevolent: "You're a man of great spirit, but the old ancestors aren't inferior either. Naturally, it's clear who deserves credit for their achievements. If not, who would be willing to make efforts for the country in the future?"

  Mingfei's impression of Xiaozhuang rose another notch, and she began to talk about how to be frugal.

  After she became the Honored Consort, each meal only had four dishes, two meat and two vegetarian, other expenses were all halved. As for others, they would reduce accordingly, at least not reducing the food of the growing princes and princesses, the elderly Empress Dowager and Empresses' things could not be reduced, other consorts' things were calculated to reduce according to their monthly allowance, especially things that were not used much were permanently deleted.

  In the end, Mingfei's dishes were fixed at eight, and others followed suit, reducing one by one. Initially estimated that the things saved by the people in Zijing City could sustain the lives of a county's people for three days, which was already astonishing.

  Xiang Zhuang looked at Ming Fei doing math and exclaimed in surprise: "You can actually understand foreign things?"

  Mingfei was startled in her heart and smiled with a slight pursing of her lips: "Following the Emperor for a long time, when there's nothing to do, I pondered it myself, and slowly got used to it."

  Xiaozhuang was not interested in this and just had someone invite Kangxi over.

  After telling Kangxi about this matter, Kangxi pondered for a moment and said: "The idea is not bad, I think it's feasible. Tomorrow morning at the early court session, I will announce this to the world, and all the scholars and wealthy families in the world will have to express their opinions."

  He said with a smile, looking at Xiaozhuang and Mingfei: "There are actually two female Zhuge Liangs by my side."

  Xiang Zhuang smiled and said, "You shouldn't just say nice things either. Ah Jia and the Imperial Consort have helped you a great deal this time, so you should properly bring out some gifts to thank Ah Jia and the Imperial Consort. Otherwise, Ah Jia won't agree!"

  Kangxi smiled and handed a cup of hot tea to Xiaozhuang, saying: "The old ancestor can say whatever he wants."

  Xiao Zhuang smiled and said: "I'll ask the Empress Dowager for an edict, she has no children of her own, let's wait until next time someone gives birth to a prince and raise one by her side."

  Kangxi nodded after a pause.

  The emperor announced this matter in the morning, and the frugal movement in the harem was also a swift and decisive step. However, some of the imperial consorts were not pleased to see Mingfei being lavishly rewarded by the emperor for her thriftiness, thinking to themselves: "Why should they go hungry and be frugal while others receive rewards? If she's so capable, let her practice thrift alone!"

  The rumors eventually reached Mingfei's ears, and Wang's nanny angrily said: "They know how to be jealous now, why didn't they go to the emperor to offer a plan earlier? It's really despicable, their eyelids are too shallow!"

  "Let them say what they want, the hardest thing to control in this world is people's hearts. If the Empress Dowager is really unhappy, just catch a few wasteful ones tomorrow and teach them a lesson, and then punish a few palace servants who like to gossip."

  She didn't want to go and catch people for such a small thing, that would make her look lacking in elegance and demeanor. She just needed to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, and intimidate those people.

  The queen mother heard this and indeed thought it was a good idea.

  On the second day, she brought several palace maids and caught a few small eunuchs who had been gossiping about her, first reciting "Who knows that every grain of rice in the plate is hard-earned", then mentioning those people who starved to death in Henan, and finally beating them ten times. Then, just as they met several small palace maids discussing their master's affairs, she dragged them over and whipped them five more times, beating them until their noses and mouths were bleeding. From then on, no one in the palace dared to casually gossip about her anymore.

  As for Mingfei's methods of preventing and treating the epidemic, Kangxi didn't say much, apparently not taking hers as the main one. Although she felt a bit regretful, her ultimate goal was just to enhance her status and image in Kangxi's mind.

  In a few more days, it was reported that General Shun Chongjun Wang Le Erjin said that Commander Tong Hui had embezzled 800 taels of military pay and tied him up.

  Tong Hui Nian was not a direct descendant of the Tong family, but because he had some achievements, he always got along well with Tong Guo Wei and others, and had frequent exchanges.

  Mingfei was furious when he heard about it, a commander who hadn't embezzled yet, went to embezzle you for 800 taels? Do you think all commanders are fools? This is purely an insult!

  Kangxi was also somewhat unhappy about this matter, and issued a decree: "The governor is a high-ranking official of the state, how can Wang dare to privately restrain him? Moreover, Tong Hui was originally from a noble family, would he dare to privately invade and seize power? This matter should be thoroughly investigated." After finishing his morning court session, he looked at the memorial again and then came to Mingfei.

  Mingfei's emotions seemed to be somewhat down, making Kangxi feel a bit uncomfortable. He had already shown his attitude by coming to Mingfei, so what did this expression of hers mean?

  Mingfei served Kangxi, who was sitting on the couch, and brought up a cup of hot tea. Kangxi didn't say a word, nor did Mingfei speak. After a while, Mingfei let out a sigh: "I had no idea Your Majesty was so busy to this extent."

  Kangxi was taken aback: "What's wrong with you now?"

  Mingfei carefully massaged Kangxi's legs and said: "I'm just a woman in the inner chambers, I don't know what Your Majesty is busy with. But judging from today's events, it seems that Your Majesty has to ask about everything big or small on the court. Big things require careful consideration, small things cause annoyance. It's really not easy for Your Majesty to manage the Qing dynasty."

  Kangxi's eyes shone with warmth, and he pinched Mingfei's hand: "You're thoughtful..."

  Mingfei bit her lip and said: "The Prince of Shuncheng is still on the front lines leading troops in battle, let's put this matter aside for now, Your Majesty has been overworked lately."

  The emperor is already working hard, but these ministers do not sympathize with the emperor's hardships at all. Instead, they go around causing trouble and creating unnecessary troubles. They are really not people who can help the emperor share his worries.

  Even if Mingfei didn't say anything, Kangxi had no intention of making a move on Shunqin Junwang for the time being. There were disasters everywhere and rebellions kept breaking out, and he couldn't afford to stir up any more trouble.

  Kangxi hugged Mingfei and leaned on his own shoulder: "Don't worry, I will investigate the facts."

  He smelled the faint scent on Mingfei's body, and the fatigue and worry of the past few days gradually dissipated, and he fell asleep unknowingly.

  The author has something to say: O(∩_∩)O~~Flower collection~~~Thank you, Little Horse Jacket, for pointing out the mistake, bowing down!!!!!!

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