The emperor and empress’ argument came to an end for the moment.
Originally, Wei Yingluo had thought the empress would interrogate her. But after a few days of waiting, she still had not come to do so.
The saying “don’t use someone you can’t trust and don’t trust someone you can’t use” actually had some truth in it.
The scholar died for his bosom friend. Now that the empress valued her so much, Wei Yingluo served her even more attentively from then on.
The empress was fond of her carefulness and quick-wittedness, often keeping Wei Yingluo by her side. Today, when the empress took a stroll through the garden with Noble Lady Yu, she did not bring along Erqing or Mingyu, but rather Wei Yingluo.
The scenery at the garden proved a sight for the eyes, though it was somewhat cold. The two masters wore thick cloaks draped over their shoulders, fragrant handheld braziers hidden in their sleeves. Slowly, they strolled across the winding wooden bridge, countless koi beneath it. Wherever they swam, it appeared like the koi were wandering through colorful silk.
“You don’t have to stay shut indoors at Yonghe Palace every day. If you are free, come visit Changchun Palace some more. You can also come have a look at the garden. However, you must bring your servants. There has to be someone at your side at all times,” said the empress in a gentle tone.
Noble Lady Yu had paled and grown thin. Forcing herself to smile, she replied, “Even if this concubine spends my whole life to do so, this concubine can never fully repay Your Majesty the empress for your kindness.”
A smile graced the empress’ lips. “This palace is the empress and ought to take care of the six palaces. This palace is unworthy of your repayment.”
First, Noble Lady Yu smiled. Then, she sighed. “If those in the palace were as tolerant and magnanimous as Your Majesty, then there wouldn’t be as much gossip.”
Although the empress knew whom she was implying, she did not know how to console Noble Lady Yu. Once again, she worried that the other party would overthink and cause troubles for her pregnancy. The empress hinted to Wei Yingluo with her gaze: to find something to lift Noble Lady Yu’s mood, and to not allow her to suffer from pent-up frustrations.
For a moment, Wei Yingluo could not think of anything interesting to talk about. On the contrary, it was Noble Lady Yu herself who did. After looking all around for a short while, she suddenly stopped her in tracks and said with surprise, “What an adorable puppy.”
One could only see a snow-white lump approaching from not too far away.
Upon closer inspection, it was a completely snow-white puppy. A few little court eunuchs chased after it. One of them carried a colorful dog bowl to his chest. The bowl was filled with exquisite hot food. Another eunuch rushed as he shouted, “Aiyah, my little master. Wait for this slave, wait for this slave.”
It amused Weei Yingluo. A puppy actually became a master.
“What master, what slave? Truly outrageous.” The empress was someone very particular about etiquette and rules, an unhappy expression on her face as she said, “Who knows which palace’s imperial concubine is raising that dog…”
The puppy sniffed the air, nose raised to the sky. Then it ran straight at Wei Yingluo and the others.
Noble Lady Yu liked the young and adorable puppy. A sliver of a smile appeared on her lips. She bent down slightly, as if she wanted to pet it. But the closer the puppy grew, the smaller her smile became.
In the end, there was only alarm on her face.
The puppy growled and bared its fangs, charging at Noble Lady Yu as if it were mad. As the palace servants cried out, the puppy was about to sink its teeth on her, wild and crazed.
“Ah, go away!” Fangcao, a first-ranked palace maid who was supposed to be guarding Noble Lady Yu, seemed frightened out of her soul by the puppy. Not only did she fail to protect Noble Lady Yu and bring her away, she instead pushed her master closer to it.
Noble Lady Yu’s face was already as pale as snow. Due to excessive fear, she forgot to even call out for help, standing in place like a block of wood.
A blood-curdling howl.
The puppy was sent flying in the air in a parabola, falling to the ground, rolling quite a few times. Snow-white fur practically became one with the snow. It whimpered a bit, yet could not get up, only able to stare at Wei Yingluo from afar with fear in its gaze.
“Audacious!!”
A hand with its nails painted crimson scooped up the puppy from behind, carrying it to that person’s chest.
Don’t support theft; read this free at sleepchaser’s wordpress.
“What are you even? Actually daring to harm this palace’s beloved pet dog!” said Noble Consort Hui, ice cold. “Arrest her!”
Shock collided with Wei Yingluo’s form.
Never had she expected—no, she should have long since anticipated it. Who else in the imperial palace would be this arrogant and despotic, daring to lift up her own dog’s identity into that of a master? It could have only been the Noble Consort Hui before her eyes.
“Your Highness the noble consort!” yelled Wei Yingluo to gain the upper hand by a show of strength, after seeing some eunuchs approaching from the other woman’s command. “But you had your dog harm someone. Were you plotting to kill the fetus Noble Lady Yu is carrying?”
Originally, Noble Consort Hui had wanted to frame Wei Yingluo. But at this moment, she would never admit it. And it was even less likely that she would make a move on Wei Yingluo right now. Otherwise, people would suspect her of killing someone to silence them.
“What a good slave. Not only do you injure this palace’s beloved dog, you even slander this palace now.” Noble Consort Hui sneered. “Your Majesty the empress, how do you think such a person should be taken care of?”
“Before she’s taken care of, handle your dog first.” How would the empress allow her to step on her head? To bully her trusted aide in front of everyone? At once, she said in a dull manner, “Dogs will not cause problems for no reason. Look at what’s in its dog bowl!”
Immediately, everyone threw themselves at the little eunuch who held the food bowl to his chest. But they discovered this: the food had vanished without a trace. When asked, the little eunuch hemmed and hawed, only saying that the puppy named Snowball had eaten it all.
A bunch of nonsense. But for now, they could not do anything to that eunuch.
From the crowd of palace servants, one said to the empress, “Your Majesty, the food bowl is empty. If we want to know what the puppy ate, the only option is to cut its stomach open—”
“Presumptuous!” yelled Noble Consort Shu, shrill to the ears. “This palace will tear open whoever dares touch a hair on my dog!”
How could that palace servant have the courage to offend her? She fell silent in a flash, to the point where she regretted talking too much.
Without evidence, things came to an impasse. The one who committed a crime was a dog who couldn’t speak. They couldn’t have someone interrogate a dog, right?
In the end, they could only drop the subject.
Both sides parted on bad terms. As the empress brushed past the other woman, she looked back and said, “Noble Consort, Yingluo basically helped you. If your dog actually injured Noble Lady Yu before, there would definitely be an uproar. The way this palace sees it, you need to control the people by your side well! If they’re this incompetent again, and can’t even control a dog, letting it cause an accident, this palace would not be as lenient next time!”
The hand Noble Consort Hui used to stroke the puppy suddenly tightened into a squeeze, causing the puppy to lift its head and whimper pathetically.
Not only did Noble Consort Hui ponder over the empress’ words, but on the way back, Wei Yingluo also pondered over them.
“What is it?” asked the empress with a smile. “Did you notice something strange?”
“…Could someone be using Noble Consort Hui as a tool?” asked Wei Yingluo with much caution.
Slowly, the empress nodded, expression grave. “If something happened, rather than the dog, it would definitely be its master punished. Although Noble Consort Hui is arrogant and despotic, she wouldn’t do something that would harm others without benefiting herself. There is definitely someone behind this…”
For now, there was no way to determine who it was.
But something was for certain.
And that was… someone wanted to make a move on Noble Lady Yu.
As Wei Yingluo carefully recalled the events of the day, the image of someone gradually emerged in her mind. A cold smile slid across her lips. She said to the empress, “Your Majesty, this slave would like to do a task for you…”
And the empress let her pay a sick visit to Yonghe Palace.
It was not only to visit a sick person, but also to deliver powder made of crushed pearls.
After Noble Lady Yu had been startled, she had nightmares every night. Because of this, she required fear-suppressing pills to sleep. But such things could harm the fetus, unsuitable for many uses, and needed to be taken with pearl powder to remove the side effects. Pearl powder was not considered a rarity, yet wasn’t something an unfavored imperial concubine could use every day. Therefore, after the empress had caught word of this, she specially allocated some pearl powder from her personal storage and had it sent to Noble Lady Yu.
This was a complicated matter. Noble Lady Yu wasn’t favored or high-ranked. No one wanted to do this errand, so when Wei Yingluo agreed to take it on, other people let out a breath of relief.
Today, like usual, Wei Yingluo delivered pearl powder to Yonghe Palace. Because she went there often, the servants there all recognized her, and she made for the sleeping wing without issue. She saw Noble Lady Yu still curled up in bed. Obviously, she was pregnant, but she appeared emaciated, with not a bit of flesh visible on her body. Forcing a smile, she said, “Yingluo, you’ve come.”
Wei Yingluo looked around, smiling. “Where is Fangcao?”
“She went to make pills out of the pearl powder.” Noble Lady Yu sighed. “I haven’t finished the ones from last time. You don’t have to give me more this urgently.” Coughs spilled from her lips. “Sit. This palace will have her pour you some tea. Fangcao, Fangcao!”
“This slave is here, this slave is here,” said Noble Lady Yu’s personal attendant, pushing the door open before entering the room. She presented Wei Yingluo a cup of good tea. In the end, just as the teacup was set down, Wei Yingluo grasped her hand.
“Fangcao.” Wei Yingluo smiled at her. “What is with your hand?”
Because she had been in a rush, Fangcao only washed her hands a little. They were not completely clean, a bit of pearl powder remaining beneath her fingernails, bright and yellow.
“I-I was making pearl pills before and haven’t washed my hands clean. I’ll go wash them some more now.” Although Fangcao wanted to pull her hand back, she discovered that Wei Yingluo’s fingers were like metal pincers, grip vice-like. She could not help but have her expression change.
Noble Lady Yu looked at her, then looked at Wei Yingluo. Suspicious, she asked, “Yingluo, what is going on?”
“Noble Lady.” Wei Yingluo slowly turned to her. “You have traitors by your side.”
The emperor and empress’ argument came to an end for the moment.
Originally, Wei Yingluo had thought the empress would interrogate her. But after a few days of waiting, she still had not come to do so.
The saying “don’t use someone you can’t trust and don’t trust someone you can’t use” actually had some truth in it.
The scholar died for his bosom friend. Now that the empress valued her so much, Wei Yingluo served her even more attentively from then on.
The empress was fond of her carefulness and quick-wittedness, often keeping Wei Yingluo by her side. Today, when the empress took a stroll through the garden with Noble Lady Yu, she did not bring along Erqing or Mingyu, but rather Wei Yingluo.
The scenery at the garden proved a sight for the eyes, though it was somewhat cold. The two masters wore thick cloaks draped over their shoulders, fragrant handheld braziers hidden in their sleeves. Slowly, they strolled across the winding wooden bridge, countless koi beneath it. Wherever they swam, it appeared like the koi were wandering through colorful silk.
“You don’t have to stay shut indoors at Yonghe Palace every day. If you are free, come visit Changchun Palace some more. You can also come have a look at the garden. However, you must bring your servants. There has to be someone at your side at all times,” said the empress in a gentle tone.
Noble Lady Yu had paled and grown thin. Forcing herself to smile, she replied, “Even if this concubine spends my whole life to do so, this concubine can never fully repay Your Majesty the empress for your kindness.”
A smile graced the empress’ lips. “This palace is the empress and ought to take care of the six palaces. This palace is unworthy of your repayment.”
First, Noble Lady Yu smiled. Then, she sighed. “If those in the palace were as tolerant and magnanimous as Your Majesty, then there wouldn’t be as much gossip.”
Although the empress knew whom she was implying, she did not know how to console Noble Lady Yu. Once again, she worried that the other party would overthink and cause troubles for her pregnancy. The empress hinted to Wei Yingluo with her gaze: to find something to lift Noble Lady Yu’s mood, and to not allow her to suffer from pent-up frustrations.
For a moment, Wei Yingluo could not think of anything interesting to talk about. On the contrary, it was Noble Lady Yu herself who did. After looking all around for a short while, she suddenly stopped her in tracks and said with surprise, “What an adorable puppy.”
One could only see a snow-white lump approaching from not too far away.
Upon closer inspection, it was a completely snow-white puppy. A few little court eunuchs chased after it. One of them carried a colorful dog bowl to his chest. The bowl was filled with exquisite hot food. Another eunuch rushed as he shouted, “Aiyah, my little master. Wait for this slave, wait for this slave.”
It amused Weei Yingluo. A puppy actually became a master.
“What master, what slave? Truly outrageous.” The empress was someone very particular about etiquette and rules, an unhappy expression on her face as she said, “Who knows which palace’s imperial concubine is raising that dog…”
The puppy sniffed the air, nose raised to the sky. Then it ran straight at Wei Yingluo and the others.
Noble Lady Yu liked the young and adorable puppy. A sliver of a smile appeared on her lips. She bent down slightly, as if she wanted to pet it. But the closer the puppy grew, the smaller her smile became.
In the end, there was only alarm on her face.
The puppy growled and bared its fangs, charging at Noble Lady Yu as if it were mad. As the palace servants cried out, the puppy was about to sink its teeth on her, wild and crazed.
“Ah, go away!” Fangcao, a first-ranked palace maid who was supposed to be guarding Noble Lady Yu, seemed frightened out of her soul by the puppy. Not only did she fail to protect Noble Lady Yu and bring her away, she instead pushed her master closer to it.
Noble Lady Yu’s face was already as pale as snow. Due to excessive fear, she forgot to even call out for help, standing in place like a block of wood.
A blood-curdling howl.
The puppy was sent flying in the air in a parabola, falling to the ground, rolling quite a few times. Snow-white fur practically became one with the snow. It whimpered a bit, yet could not get up, only able to stare at Wei Yingluo from afar with fear in its gaze.
“Audacious!!”
A hand with its nails painted crimson scooped up the puppy from behind, carrying it to that person’s chest.
Don’t support theft; read this free at sleepchaser’s wordpress.
“What are you even? Actually daring to harm this palace’s beloved pet dog!” said Noble Consort Hui, ice cold. “Arrest her!”
Shock collided with Wei Yingluo’s form.
Never had she expected—no, she should have long since anticipated it. Who else in the imperial palace would be this arrogant and despotic, daring to lift up her own dog’s identity into that of a master? It could have only been the Noble Consort Hui before her eyes.
“Your Highness the noble consort!” yelled Wei Yingluo to gain the upper hand by a show of strength, after seeing some eunuchs approaching from the other woman’s command. “But you had your dog harm someone. Were you plotting to kill the fetus Noble Lady Yu is carrying?”
Originally, Noble Consort Hui had wanted to frame Wei Yingluo. But at this moment, she would never admit it. And it was even less likely that she would make a move on Wei Yingluo right now. Otherwise, people would suspect her of killing someone to silence them.
“What a good slave. Not only do you injure this palace’s beloved dog, you even slander this palace now.” Noble Consort Hui sneered. “Your Majesty the empress, how do you think such a person should be taken care of?”
“Before she’s taken care of, handle your dog first.” How would the empress allow her to step on her head? To bully her trusted aide in front of everyone? At once, she said in a dull manner, “Dogs will not cause problems for no reason. Look at what’s in its dog bowl!”
Immediately, everyone threw themselves at the little eunuch who held the food bowl to his chest. But they discovered this: the food had vanished without a trace. When asked, the little eunuch hemmed and hawed, only saying that the puppy named Snowball had eaten it all.
A bunch of nonsense. But for now, they could not do anything to that eunuch.
From the crowd of palace servants, one said to the empress, “Your Majesty, the food bowl is empty. If we want to know what the puppy ate, the only option is to cut its stomach open—”
“Presumptuous!” yelled Noble Consort Shu, shrill to the ears. “This palace will tear open whoever dares touch a hair on my dog!”
How could that palace servant have the courage to offend her? She fell silent in a flash, to the point where she regretted talking too much.
Without evidence, things came to an impasse. The one who committed a crime was a dog who couldn’t speak. They couldn’t have someone interrogate a dog, right?
In the end, they could only drop the subject.
Both sides parted on bad terms. As the empress brushed past the other woman, she looked back and said, “Noble Consort, Yingluo basically helped you. If your dog actually injured Noble Lady Yu before, there would definitely be an uproar. The way this palace sees it, you need to control the people by your side well! If they’re this incompetent again, and can’t even control a dog, letting it cause an accident, this palace would not be as lenient next time!”
The hand Noble Consort Hui used to stroke the puppy suddenly tightened into a squeeze, causing the puppy to lift its head and whimper pathetically.
Not only did Noble Consort Hui ponder over the empress’ words, but on the way back, Wei Yingluo also pondered over them.
“What is it?” asked the empress with a smile. “Did you notice something strange?”
“…Could someone be using Noble Consort Hui as a tool?” asked Wei Yingluo with much caution.
Slowly, the empress nodded, expression grave. “If something happened, rather than the dog, it would definitely be its master punished. Although Noble Consort Hui is arrogant and despotic, she wouldn’t do something that would harm others without benefiting herself. There is definitely someone behind this…”
For now, there was no way to determine who it was.
But something was for certain.
And that was… someone wanted to make a move on Noble Lady Yu.
As Wei Yingluo carefully recalled the events of the day, the image of someone gradually emerged in her mind. A cold smile slid across her lips. She said to the empress, “Your Majesty, this slave would like to do a task for you…”
And the empress let her pay a sick visit to Yonghe Palace.
It was not only to visit a sick person, but also to deliver powder made of crushed pearls.
After Noble Lady Yu had been startled, she had nightmares every night. Because of this, she required fear-suppressing pills to sleep. But such things could harm the fetus, unsuitable for many uses, and needed to be taken with pearl powder to remove the side effects. Pearl powder was not considered a rarity, yet wasn’t something an unfavored imperial concubine could use every day. Therefore, after the empress had caught word of this, she specially allocated some pearl powder from her personal storage and had it sent to Noble Lady Yu.
This was a complicated matter. Noble Lady Yu wasn’t favored or high-ranked. No one wanted to do this errand, so when Wei Yingluo agreed to take it on, other people let out a breath of relief.
Today, like usual, Wei Yingluo delivered pearl powder to Yonghe Palace. Because she went there often, the servants there all recognized her, and she made for the sleeping wing without issue. She saw Noble Lady Yu still curled up in bed. Obviously, she was pregnant, but she appeared emaciated, with not a bit of flesh visible on her body. Forcing a smile, she said, “Yingluo, you’ve come.”
Wei Yingluo looked around, smiling. “Where is Fangcao?”
“She went to make pills out of the pearl powder.” Noble Lady Yu sighed. “I haven’t finished the ones from last time. You don’t have to give me more this urgently.” Coughs spilled from her lips. “Sit. This palace will have her pour you some tea. Fangcao, Fangcao!”
“This slave is here, this slave is here,” said Noble Lady Yu’s personal attendant, pushing the door open before entering the room. She presented Wei Yingluo a cup of good tea. In the end, just as the teacup was set down, Wei Yingluo grasped her hand.
“Fangcao.” Wei Yingluo smiled at her. “What is with your hand?”
Because she had been in a rush, Fangcao only washed her hands a little. They were not completely clean, a bit of pearl powder remaining beneath her fingernails, bright and yellow.
“I-I was making pearl pills before and haven’t washed my hands clean. I’ll go wash them some more now.” Although Fangcao wanted to pull her hand back, she discovered that Wei Yingluo’s fingers were like metal pincers, grip vice-like. She could not help but have her expression change.
Noble Lady Yu looked at her, then looked at Wei Yingluo. Suspicious, she asked, “Yingluo, what is going on?”
“Noble Lady.” Wei Yingluo slowly turned to her. “You have traitors by your side.”
