Knowing that Bohe was being angry at her, Helian Chacha tried to calm her down, “I didn’t mean to hide it from you since I didn’t really have a choice. Could you please just be nice and forgive me this time? Hmm?”
Hearing that, Bohe turned around and glanced at her for a second. She gave up immediately when she saw Helian Chacha staring at her with those puppy eyes.
However, she still felt very upset when thinking of the fact that Helian Chacha had kept the secret from her, “It’s not the time for jokes! Do you know that you are right now the public enemy of the entire harem?”
Hearing that, Helian Chacha was confused, “What does that mean?”
Since she asked about it, Bohe told her everything that had happened outside lately, including how the Empress Dowager saw her as the thorn in the flesh, the eunuchs saw her as a traitor, the concubines decided to fight against her together, and the others tended to stay out of this battlefield.
The more Helian Chacha heard, the more frustrated she became.
Ever since she had woken up, she was staying in Yangxin Hall, and she never had contact with anyone other than Ye Shengxuan. That’s why she didn’t know what had happened outside at all.
But she could imagine that she had become the topic of the whole imperial palace. After all, it might be the only time in centuries that a eunuch became a concubine. And she didn’t expect that things could go worse than she thought.
After talking for a few minutes with her, Bohe stopped talking. Helian Chacha knew that Bohe was still mad at her, so she didn’t ask Bohe to say more.
Time passed by gradually and half a month had gone in a blink.
She was almost back in a good condition, and right at the moment when she was able to get off the bed to walk, there were a bunch of uninvited people coming to Yangxin Hall.
“Here comes the Empress Dowager.”
Helian Chacha was so startled by that sound that she dropped her horn comb to the ground while combing her hair.
They were really good at picking up the perfect timing! Ye Shengxuan had just been called out by some ministers to discuss important matters, and he wouldn’t come back any time soon. It seemed that Helian Chacha would not be safe anymore.
Right after the announcement of the eunuch, the door of the hall was opened slowly as a lady in the golden gown was coming toward her slowly. Then, another beautiful woman in gorgeous clothes came in, and more and more were coming after her one by one.
Helian Chacha calculated them roughly and found there were more than 30 of them.
Ever since Helian Chacha had been badly wounded, it was the first time for those concubines to meet her.
They were all shocked to see such a beautiful woman standing in front of them, and even Xu Ruyun couldn’t stop thinking why she had not noticed such an attractive face when Lin Dagou was still a eunuch back then.
As she was wondering, a concubine shouted out at Helian Chacha, “Concubine Xian, how dare you not kneel down with the presence of the Empress Dowager?”
Hearing that, Helian Chacha immediately stared at the concubine who was speaking and found out it was a concubine she had never met before. But according to the way she looked at Helian Chacha, this concubine was not an emotionless stranger, but a brutal enemy.
Even a unfamiliar concubine tried to step on her by this chance, not to say those people that she had offended before.
Since Ye Shengxuan was not with her, she should act carefully. Thinking of that, Helian Chacha stood up and walked toward the Empress Dowager and bowed to her, “Good day, Your Highness.”
The Empress Dowager glanced at her slightly and passed her to sit on the chair on the right of the imperial chair.
All those concubines gathered together and none of them wanted to talk to Helian Chacha who was still bowing to paying courtesies.
After sitting down, the Empress Dowager finally spoke up, “You look quite pretty with the makeup. No wonder His Majesty is so enchanted by you.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t let her get up, so she could only keep the bowing courtesy.
Since Helian Chacha didn’t reply, the Empress Dowager continued to say, “I know His Majesty favors you a lot. But you still haven’t come to Cining Palace to pay your respect to me ever since you were granted the title of a concubine. Concubine Xian, do you still see me as the Empress Dowager?”
“I…”
Before Helian Chacha could finish the sentence, the Empress Dowager yelled, “How dare you talk back?! Maids, slap her!”
Hearing that, the mammy standing nearby stepped up and tried to slap Helian Chacha.
The moment that mammy was about to slap Helian Chacha in her face, Helian Chacha raised up her hand suddenly and grabbed the wrist of that mammy to press her to the ground by force.
“Your Highness, I think we can talk about it as we are all well nurtured. Let’s forsake violence so we won’t hurt any concubine or lady here. I’m sure it’s hard for His Majesty to judge.” As of speaking, she looked up at the Empress Dowager slowly, “Right?”
All the others were shocked by her action.
The first one to realize what had happened was the Empress Dowager. She looked at Helian Chacha with some vigilance in her eyes, “You are really something.”
Helian Chacha nodded slightly, “That’s very nice of you to say.”
After a while of silence, the Empress Dowager suddenly smiled a bit and waved at the mammy on the floor, “Mammy Zhang, you shall leave first.”
Hearing that, the mammy tried to get rid of Helian Chacha, so Helian Chacha let her go. She stood up and waited for further instruction of the Empress Dowager.
“Concubine Xian, you are now a concubine of His Majesty, so what’s passed is the past. I won’t mention it and I hope you don’t care about it either. But…” Speaking of that, she stared at Helian Chacha intentionally, “Since you are now a concubine, you need to follow the rules in the harem.”
Then, she told the mammy next to her, “Mammy Zhang, tell her what she needs to do as a concubine.”
Hearing that, Mammy Zhang went a step up immediately with pride. She cleared her throat and said in a louder voice, “As a concubine, you shall serve His Majesty and befriend his concubines. Respect his elders and don’t offend them. You shall not keep his love to yourself only, and never lose your dignity or manners. Traditional rules of a woman are deeply rooted in your heart, and always remember all the virtues and manners value since ancient times. Every morning, you shall greet Her Highness, and no delay is allowed except for emergencies. Without the summoning of His Majesty, you shall never enter Yangxin Hall by yourself, and you shall never spend the night at Yangxin Hall. Is that all clear to you, Your Highness?”
Helian Chacha’s lip corner twitched a bit. What kind of concubine was that? Even a eunuch could live a happier life than her.
Moreover, ever since she came to the palace, she never saw one single concubine that followed all the rules. Each one of those concubines tried so hard to dominate the situation with their own power.
Rules? Those were just some made-up regulations to give her a hard time.
Since she didn’t reply, the Empress Dowager looked quite unpleasant.
“Concubine Xian.” She asked Helian Chacha slightly, “Did you hear what Mammy Zhang just said?”
Helian Chacha clenched her teeth to reply, “Your Highness, I heard them all.”
The Empress Dowager nodded in satisfaction, “Well, since you’ve heard them all, let’s practice it first. You have been entitled for a few days already, but you still haven’t served tea to me and your sisters here. That was really rude. But I know that you were sick. Now you are back in condition, so let’s start with it as there is no inconvenience for you.”
After that, she said to the mammy to her right, “Mammy Li, tell them to bring up the tea.”
Soon, more than 30 palace maids came into Yangxin Hall, and each of them was holding a tray with a cup of hot tea on it.
Seeing that, Helian Chacha clenched her fists in the sleeves as her eyes were filled with rage.
Meanwhile, Bohe, who was assigned to serve Helian Chacha, had just finished her meal and was about to go back to Yangxin Hall in case Healian Chacha needed anything. However, she saw Lian’er and some other elder palace maid chatting at the gate.
She felt a bit uncertain so she stopped the guardians on patrol to ask, “Why is Lian’er here? Is Concubine Yun here?”
Knowing that Bohe was being angry at her, Helian Chacha tried to calm her down, “I didn’t mean to hide it from you since I didn’t really have a choice. Could you please just be nice and forgive me this time? Hmm?”
Hearing that, Bohe turned around and glanced at her for a second. She gave up immediately when she saw Helian Chacha staring at her with those puppy eyes.
However, she still felt very upset when thinking of the fact that Helian Chacha had kept the secret from her, “It’s not the time for jokes! Do you know that you are right now the public enemy of the entire harem?”
Hearing that, Helian Chacha was confused, “What does that mean?”
Since she asked about it, Bohe told her everything that had happened outside lately, including how the Empress Dowager saw her as the thorn in the flesh, the eunuchs saw her as a traitor, the concubines decided to fight against her together, and the others tended to stay out of this battlefield.
The more Helian Chacha heard, the more frustrated she became.
Ever since she had woken up, she was staying in Yangxin Hall, and she never had contact with anyone other than Ye Shengxuan. That’s why she didn’t know what had happened outside at all.
But she could imagine that she had become the topic of the whole imperial palace. After all, it might be the only time in centuries that a eunuch became a concubine. And she didn’t expect that things could go worse than she thought.
After talking for a few minutes with her, Bohe stopped talking. Helian Chacha knew that Bohe was still mad at her, so she didn’t ask Bohe to say more.
Time passed by gradually and half a month had gone in a blink.
She was almost back in a good condition, and right at the moment when she was able to get off the bed to walk, there were a bunch of uninvited people coming to Yangxin Hall.
“Here comes the Empress Dowager.”
Helian Chacha was so startled by that sound that she dropped her horn comb to the ground while combing her hair.
They were really good at picking up the perfect timing! Ye Shengxuan had just been called out by some ministers to discuss important matters, and he wouldn’t come back any time soon. It seemed that Helian Chacha would not be safe anymore.
Right after the announcement of the eunuch, the door of the hall was opened slowly as a lady in the golden gown was coming toward her slowly. Then, another beautiful woman in gorgeous clothes came in, and more and more were coming after her one by one.
Helian Chacha calculated them roughly and found there were more than 30 of them.
Ever since Helian Chacha had been badly wounded, it was the first time for those concubines to meet her.
They were all shocked to see such a beautiful woman standing in front of them, and even Xu Ruyun couldn’t stop thinking why she had not noticed such an attractive face when Lin Dagou was still a eunuch back then.
As she was wondering, a concubine shouted out at Helian Chacha, “Concubine Xian, how dare you not kneel down with the presence of the Empress Dowager?”
Hearing that, Helian Chacha immediately stared at the concubine who was speaking and found out it was a concubine she had never met before. But according to the way she looked at Helian Chacha, this concubine was not an emotionless stranger, but a brutal enemy.
Even a unfamiliar concubine tried to step on her by this chance, not to say those people that she had offended before.
Since Ye Shengxuan was not with her, she should act carefully. Thinking of that, Helian Chacha stood up and walked toward the Empress Dowager and bowed to her, “Good day, Your Highness.”
The Empress Dowager glanced at her slightly and passed her to sit on the chair on the right of the imperial chair.
All those concubines gathered together and none of them wanted to talk to Helian Chacha who was still bowing to paying courtesies.
After sitting down, the Empress Dowager finally spoke up, “You look quite pretty with the makeup. No wonder His Majesty is so enchanted by you.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t let her get up, so she could only keep the bowing courtesy.
Since Helian Chacha didn’t reply, the Empress Dowager continued to say, “I know His Majesty favors you a lot. But you still haven’t come to Cining Palace to pay your respect to me ever since you were granted the title of a concubine. Concubine Xian, do you still see me as the Empress Dowager?”
“I…”
Before Helian Chacha could finish the sentence, the Empress Dowager yelled, “How dare you talk back?! Maids, slap her!”
Hearing that, the mammy standing nearby stepped up and tried to slap Helian Chacha.
The moment that mammy was about to slap Helian Chacha in her face, Helian Chacha raised up her hand suddenly and grabbed the wrist of that mammy to press her to the ground by force.
“Your Highness, I think we can talk about it as we are all well nurtured. Let’s forsake violence so we won’t hurt any concubine or lady here. I’m sure it’s hard for His Majesty to judge.” As of speaking, she looked up at the Empress Dowager slowly, “Right?”
All the others were shocked by her action.
The first one to realize what had happened was the Empress Dowager. She looked at Helian Chacha with some vigilance in her eyes, “You are really something.”
Helian Chacha nodded slightly, “That’s very nice of you to say.”
After a while of silence, the Empress Dowager suddenly smiled a bit and waved at the mammy on the floor, “Mammy Zhang, you shall leave first.”
Hearing that, the mammy tried to get rid of Helian Chacha, so Helian Chacha let her go. She stood up and waited for further instruction of the Empress Dowager.
“Concubine Xian, you are now a concubine of His Majesty, so what’s passed is the past. I won’t mention it and I hope you don’t care about it either. But…” Speaking of that, she stared at Helian Chacha intentionally, “Since you are now a concubine, you need to follow the rules in the harem.”
Then, she told the mammy next to her, “Mammy Zhang, tell her what she needs to do as a concubine.”
Hearing that, Mammy Zhang went a step up immediately with pride. She cleared her throat and said in a louder voice, “As a concubine, you shall serve His Majesty and befriend his concubines. Respect his elders and don’t offend them. You shall not keep his love to yourself only, and never lose your dignity or manners. Traditional rules of a woman are deeply rooted in your heart, and always remember all the virtues and manners value since ancient times. Every morning, you shall greet Her Highness, and no delay is allowed except for emergencies. Without the summoning of His Majesty, you shall never enter Yangxin Hall by yourself, and you shall never spend the night at Yangxin Hall. Is that all clear to you, Your Highness?”
Helian Chacha’s lip corner twitched a bit. What kind of concubine was that? Even a eunuch could live a happier life than her.
Moreover, ever since she came to the palace, she never saw one single concubine that followed all the rules. Each one of those concubines tried so hard to dominate the situation with their own power.
Rules? Those were just some made-up regulations to give her a hard time.
Since she didn’t reply, the Empress Dowager looked quite unpleasant.
“Concubine Xian.” She asked Helian Chacha slightly, “Did you hear what Mammy Zhang just said?”
Helian Chacha clenched her teeth to reply, “Your Highness, I heard them all.”
The Empress Dowager nodded in satisfaction, “Well, since you’ve heard them all, let’s practice it first. You have been entitled for a few days already, but you still haven’t served tea to me and your sisters here. That was really rude. But I know that you were sick. Now you are back in condition, so let’s start with it as there is no inconvenience for you.”
After that, she said to the mammy to her right, “Mammy Li, tell them to bring up the tea.”
Soon, more than 30 palace maids came into Yangxin Hall, and each of them was holding a tray with a cup of hot tea on it.
Seeing that, Helian Chacha clenched her fists in the sleeves as her eyes were filled with rage.
Meanwhile, Bohe, who was assigned to serve Helian Chacha, had just finished her meal and was about to go back to Yangxin Hall in case Healian Chacha needed anything. However, she saw Lian’er and some other elder palace maid chatting at the gate.
She felt a bit uncertain so she stopped the guardians on patrol to ask, “Why is Lian’er here? Is Concubine Yun here?”
