The Empress upon hearing this, showed an inscrutable smile, then like a magician, she produced the third will.
This will demanded that the childless concubines accompany the Emperor in his mausoleum.
In plain words, all concubines who had not born offspring would have to be buried with the Emperor.
No one knew the number of women in the harem better than Jiang Ning.
She had been idling in these past two years just killing time in the harem. She got to know many low-ranking concubines whom even the Emperor had never met. Including the Empress, there were 357 known concubines in the harem.
As far as Jiang Ning could estimate, out of these 357 women, there were only around seven or eight high-ranking concubines who had given birth to children. After subtracting the twenties who were favorites, those who had simply grown old and no longer served the Emperor, and the hundred-or-so who were forgotten after serving the Emperor once or twice.
