Chapter 2

Almost a hundred years ago, in the capital, there was the Ning family, who were imperial craftsmen since their ancestors. They used their knowledge and skills that only the Ning family knew, serving the imperial court for more than a hundred years, which led the Ning family to flourish until today. But the more they were trusted, the less safe their family members were. The more the competition in the imperial court had been for many years, the more careful they had to be for themselves and their family members not to make any mistakes that would cause them to be punished by the emperor. The Ning family, who were in charge of designing weapons and facilities for the imperial court, worked very hard. They had always been very disciplined in their work, so no one could find fault with them. The Ning family’s unique knowledge and skills caught the eye of the emperor even more. His Majesty even gave the Ning family many rewards for creating many useful inventions for the country. Although the ministers were jealous, they could not do the same as the Ning officials. They could only criticize them casually to reduce the favor the Emperor had for the Ning family. Ning Xuanyuan, the head of the family, taught his family members to hide some of their abilities. Because his feeling told him that if he continued to receive such favor, there might be people who were dishonest with his family.

Everyone in the Ning family changed their behavior from being proud and haughty to being calm and not interested in anything else except working for the imperial court. The change in behavior of the people in the Ning family surprised the emperor quite a bit, but since it did not affect their work for the imperial court, the emperor did not care much about anything.

Except for Concubine Guiying, whose family tried to imitate the Ning family but could not do better than the Ning family, when the Ning family found out about this matter, she had always been favored by the emperor, causing the empress in the palace to not be able to do anything to her even a little.

When Concubine Guiying had time to be with the emperor, she could only speak in a lowly tone that her family could not compete with the Ning family because they did not have the ability to design various plans like the Ning family who had hundreds of years of knowledge.

The emperor, who wanted to please the concubine, asked her what she wanted the emperor to do about this matter. The concubine could only coax, saying that she wanted to study the Ning family's plans. If you learn it, you can return it to the Ning family in the future. The emperor could only feel helpless when he heard this. In fact, he, who was in the highest position, did not trust the Ning family very much. This family usually married merchants rather than the children of nobles. Moreover, the family had not received any concubines since ancient times. He wanted to send someone in but could not because he was always rejected. But this time, his beloved concubine wanted someone else's things. He had to think of a way to get the blueprints for his beloved concubine. When the concubine knew that the emperor would handle this matter, she flattered the emperor even more until she was so happy that she did not want to go to court in the morning. But because of her duty, the emperor had to reluctantly prepare for court and he would come back to see her again soon. This made the concubine very happy. She would also be able to ridicule the empress who had been sleeping alone for many years since she became a concubine. Even though the empress already had three children, she did not care. In any case, her children were loved by the emperor. Of course, the concubine could not fight the empress head-on. She had been planning how to deal with the empress all along, but she never succeeded. Moreover, she herself was struck down by the sword and could not have children. This made the empress resentful. Fortunately, she already had a son. Therefore, she loved and spoiled her son even more to the point of almost spoiling him. Aside from the empress’s son, Consort Guiying’s son also put his power and authority on the emperor’s other children. He did not dare to do anything too bad to the empress’s three children. However, he always bullied others. After all, these people were less important than him. The other concubines who were bullied could only sue the empress to take legal action against Consort Gui’s son. But no matter how the empress punished him, he only bullied others more as usual. Regarding this matter, the empress had asked to see the emperor many times to find a teacher to teach Consort Guiying’s son to keep him in the right track. But the emperor who was infatuated with Concubine Gui Ying said that his son was too young even though he was already over 7 years old. According to tradition, he should have been able to attend the imperial school. However, Concubine Gui Ying requested that his son not attend, so the emperor did not allow him to attend. The concubine asked a teacher to teach him in the palace instead of going to the imperial school because she was afraid that her son would be bullied. The empress was angry at the emperor for being so infatuated with the concubine that he ignored the rules, causing the palace to be so chaotic. She still had many spies who knew about the Ning family, but she was helpless because she could not warn them. Otherwise, if the emperor found out, she and her son would be even more guilty. The empress could only pray that the Ning family would survive safely this time. She did not want Concubine Gui to have her wish fulfilled either. So the empress wrote a letter to the emperor saying that she did not want the emperor to trust Concubine Gui Ying too much. If anything happened after getting the blueprint, the emperor would be the one who would suffer. The empress also suggested that His Majesty keep the blueprints for himself rather than sending them to the concubine. Otherwise, what if she got the blueprints for a good weapon and rebelled? The emperor thought again about what he should do when he saw the empress's letter. In the end, the emperor decided to do as the empress told him. It was better to be safe than sorry. He would have someone copy the imperfect blueprints for Concubine Guiying to see if she would do as the empress thought. Although he was infatuated with her, when it came to the throne, he didn't trust anyone except the empress.