Chapter 15: CH 15

Wei Yingluo turned to the direction of the sound.

The one who yelled out hadn’t been her. Rather, it was a woman who had dashed into the area.

Unlike Noble Consort Hui, this woman did not adorn herself with jewels. She dressed plainly from head to toe, with only a small magnolia flower tucked into her hair.  A glance, and one would think she was a low-ranked elegant lady. But trailing her was a grand procession. She was the imperial harem’s sole true female master—the empress.

Empress Fucha had rushed to get here, and as such did not have on her proper attire. Instead, she wore the clothes she usually put on while tending to flowers. There were even a few petals and smudges of dirt at the end of her dress. In quick, long strides, the empress reached Noble Lady Yu. She waved off her palace maids, her cold gaze landing on the grandly-dressed woman before her. “Noble Consort Hui, what are you trying to do to Noble Lady Yu?”

A slight smile graced Noble Consort Hui’s lips. “Noble Lady Yu is unwell. This concubine purposely summoned imperial physicians to check on her.”

“Oh?” Empress Fucha lowered her gaze for a second. Lowered it to the bowl of medicine held tight in the imperial physician’s hands. She asked, “Is this really medicine?”

“What do you think?” Noble Consort Hui shifted her gaze to the imperial physician. “Imperial Physician Liu, tell the empress what kind of medicine this is.”

“Responding to Your Majesty, the left side of Noble Lady Yu’s pulse is weak, whereas the right side is strong. Additionally, her liver has an excess of hot energy and her lungs are filled with phlegm. This causes the symptom of coughing. In order to clear the lungs of phlegm and the liver of hot energy, this official has prescribed a medicine that will cool down the body and nourish the lungs,” replied Imperial Physician Liu. “A loquat paste…”

“Lies!” screamed Noble Lady Yu. “This palace obviously is pregnant. How is it a cough? This is definitely a bowl of poison. Your Majesty, the empress please save this concubine…” Her sobs filled the garden.

Empress Fucha’s expression sank. Her suspicious gaze fell upon Noble Consort Hui. “Is this really loquat paste?”

“Zhilan,” said Noble Consort Hui with a slight smile.

“This slave is present,” said the palace maid who was supporting her hand with a lowered head.

Noble Consort Hui received the bowl of medicine from Imperial Physician Liu’s hands. She held it in front of Zhilan’s face and ordered, “Drink it!”

“Yes!” Then Zhilan gulped it down all at once.

Time ticked on. Noble Lady Yu’s face gradually paled. Empress Fucha furrowed her brows. Across from her, Zhilan stood there without any sign of pain of discomfort.

“Noble Lady Yu,” said Noble Consort Hui while looking at her, her smile growing all the more beautiful. It resembled a peony that swallowed malicious things. “Now this palace will ask you again. Is this poison?”

“This, this…” Noble Lady Yu gnashed her teeth. “Abortion drugs only work on those who are pregnant. If a normal person takes them, there won’t be any effects.”

“Then let’s have the imperial medical staff check it out,” said Noble Consort Hui, not one bit afraid. “Zhilan, give that bowl to the imperial medical staff. Let them study it well. See what’s actually in that bowl.”

She was very confident. On the other hand, Empress Fucha was hesitant. What if the bowl actually held loquat paste? Now that the case had come to this point, with so many ears listening in, they could not go through with this lightly. “Summon the head physician.”

Under the eyes of so many people, Head Physician Zhang checked the liquid contents of the bowl three times. In the end, he said, “Responding to Your Majesty, this medicine… is in fact loquat paste.”

Empress Fucha and Noble Lady Yu stood there in a daze.

“Noble Lady Yu, considering that you are pregnant, this palace will temporarily not press the matter with you.” Noble Consort Hui broke into a huge smile. “However, Your Majesty, the empress must fill me in. Who was it that told you to come here? Who said I was trying to poison Noble Lady Yu to death?”

Empress Fucha’s expression was unsightly. She glanced behind her. At Imperial Concubine Yi.

✿

“Imperial Concubine Yi will now experience something unfortunate.”

Once she returned from Chuxiu Palace, Jinxiu told everyone what they experienced. The days of the little palace maids were normally passed in boredom. Now there was some interesting news to hear. Everyone scooted close to Jinxiu, their hearts fluttering with joy as they listened.

“Although Noble Lady Yu’s pregnancy was originally a good thing, in the end she let paranoia get to her and kept her condition a secret. Noble Consort Hui summoned an imperial physician to examine her out of the goodness of her heart, yet Noble Lady Yu actually bit the hand that fed her!” Not only did Jinxiu relay what she saw, she even shook her head and criticized the other party. “And then there was that Imperial Concubine Yi. She was even more outrageous. She accused Noble Consort Hui of wanting to abort Noble Lady Yu’s fetus! She’s just a low-ranked Imperial Concubine. Yet she had the guts to wrong a higher-ranked court lady! That’s the most disrespectful thing to do! Then Noble Consort Hui brought her away. They probably won’t kill her, but she’s in for a world of torture!”

Had the situation been as Jinxiu reported?

Perhaps it wasn’t as simple as that.

Currently, everyone said that Noble Consort Hui had been wronged. But was that true? Perhaps it wasn’t so. Noble Lady Yu’s pregnancy had originally been a good thing, but became something entirely opposite. Everyone believed she had used the child she carried to wrong Noble Consort Hui. Even Imperial Concubine Yi had been seen as a snitch, spreading false rumors to the public, causing the empress to lose some face.

Wei Yingluo frowned. As for Noble Lady Yu… It’s not that she’s been let off. Rather, her punishment will come later. There’s more than one type of abortion method…

A couple days later, Granny Zhang once again looked for Wei Yingluo and Jinxiu in the embroidery workshop.

“General Manager Wu has just given us instructions,” Granny Zhang said to the two girls. “Because Noble Lady Yu is with child, the embroidery workshop must present her with new clothes. You two and I will be heading for Yonghe Palace.”

Above stretched dark clouds as far as the eye could see. Not a ray of light broke through the skies. Yonghe Palace resembled a coffin in its atmosphere; even the front doors were cracked open like the popped lid of a coffin, waiting for a fresh corpse.

Before Wei Yingluo could take a step through the doors, her ears caught a single loud slap.

Once she entered the courtyard, the sound of slaps filled the air, each slap increasing in volume as she drew near.

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Servants rushed in and out of the main room of the residence. Within kneeled Imperial Concubine Yi, each side of her face swollen red. Blood trickled down the corner of her lips. She looked absolutely pitiful. In the next moment, someone smacked her again with a wooden paddle.

“Imperial Concubine Yi!” The person who held the wooden paddle was Zhilan. She smiled coldly as she said, “This slave represents Her Majesty, the noble consort in asking this question: why do you deserve to be hit?”

Imperial Concubine Yi gritted her teeth. “This concubine had wronged the noble consort by spreading lies and acted in insubordination.”

Once again the wooden paddle collided with Imperial Concubine Yi’s face. Zhilan’s voice was cold enough to freeze. “Her Majesty, the noble consort asks if resentment exists in your heart.”

“It doesn’t.” Imperial Concubine Yi swallowed the blood pooling in her mouth. “This concubine deserves to be punished and as such will not resent anyone.”

Zhilan took a rare break from swinging the wooden paddle. A smile danced on her lips. “Her Majesty, the noble consort asks if you will remember to mind your words from now on.”

Imperial Concubine sighed. “Yes, this concubine will remember…”

Slap!

A tooth flew out of her mouth. It landed by Wei Yingluo’s feet. White stained with red.

“Speak louder!” Zhilan raised the wooden paddle high.

Hands shaking, Imperial Concubine Yi attempted to cover her mouth. But in the end, fresh blood splattered through the gaps of her fingers. A long while later, she dropped her hand. As her gums and the inside of her mouth bled, Imperial Concubine Yi said, “This concubine will never forget this!”

“No!” Imperial Concubine Yi was still able to endure, but another person could no longer stand by the sidelines. Noble Lady Yu rushed from the courtyard into the room and covered Imperial Concubine Yi’s body with her own. As she faced Zhilan, she shook with sobs. “Stop hitting her! You can’t hit her anymore! Older sister Imperial Concubine Yi committed a wrong for my sake. If Her Majesty, the noble consort wants to punish someone, she can punish me! She can hit me!”

“From what your honored self has said in the past,” said Zhilan with a smile, “Noble Lady Yu is pregnant and as such has a precious identity. Owing to the fact you are with child, Her Majesty, the noble consort will forgive your previous wrongs. However, Imperial Concubine Yi is a different story…”

Zhilan slowly turned to Imperial Concubine Yi. A cruel master would naturally have cruel servants. Like the rest of Noble Consort Hui’s personal palace maids, Zhilan had a cold and malicious gaze. A venomous snake flicking its tongue.

“There’s still fifteen more slaps,” said Zhilan with a laugh.

“No!” Noble Lady Yu clung desperately to Imperial Concubine Yi. As if she had become a chest to cover and protect her friend, locking her within, barring the people who wanted to harm her from entering.

“Noble Lady Yu, for you to noisily block people from approaching carries the risk of harming the fetus. This slave will not get implicated because of you!” Zhilan swept her gaze through the palace maids to her left and right. “Are you all blocks of wood? Hurry and escort Noble Lady Yu back to her residence!”

In fear of offending her master, the group of palace maids followed Zhilan’s orders, quickly moving forward. In a blur of limbs, they dragged Noble Lady Yu away.

“No! Let go of me! Let go of me! Older sister Imperial Concubine Yi!”

Slap!

Wei Yingluo, Jinxiu, and Granny Zhang followed the group of palace maids away from Yonghe Palace.

As they had waited for Noble Lady Yu to summon them, Jinxiu pressed a hand to her chest. Heart trembling with fear, she asked, “Granny, back then… back then…”

“Imperial Concubine Yi committed an act of insubordination toward and wronged Noble Consort Hui. Her Majesty, the noble consort punished her by slaps to her face.”

“But Imperial Concubine Yi is a master of one of the palaces!” Jinxiu stared at Granny Zhang doubtfully. “How could just a palace maid—”

“Be quiet! What do you mean, just a palace maid?” Granny Zhang shot her a frigid glance. “It’s you that’s just a palace maid! She is Zhilan, a personal palace maid of Noble Consort Hui! The gatekeeper of the prime minister’s estate is a 7th-rank official. Her identity is higher than regular imperial concubines!”

At this point, Jinxiu was aware she had misspoken again. All of a sudden, she thought of something, her gaze falling upon Wei Yingluo. “Yingluo, what are you looking at?”

Throughout their walk, Wei Yingluo had not spoken a single word. She only looked over her shoulder a few times, looking back at the far away Imperial Concubine Yi..

“When hitting a person, the face is usually kept out of it. This is the case outside the palace, much less within,” she muttered to herself. “The fact that Noble Consort Hui actually did this is meant to create a mockery of Imperial Concubine Yi. To cause her to lose all her face. To say that she, a person with the rank of Imperial Concubine, is less than a lowly palace maid. She… Would she be able to endure this?”

Reflected upon Wei Yingluo’s eyes, the shaking figure of Imperial Concubine Yi swayed to the right and toppled to the side.

“Wake her up!” Zhilan’s voice traveled far from a distance. Cold and unfeeling. “There’s still thirteen more smacks!”