Chapter 1950: Learn Proper Etiquette

Ning Shu: …

So was she feeling sick or not?

“Have an imperial physician take a look at you,” Ning Shu helplessly said. “Don’t come to pay respects for the next couple of days.”

“This subject consort kowtows in thanks to Your Majesty’s grace.” Consort Zhuang withdrew.

After Consort Zhuang left the Palace of Prolonged Autumn, she returned to the Moonlight Palace. On the way there, she visited the Jade Court to see Attendant Zhou.

When she arrived, Attendant Zhou was standing upright while being lectured by Nurse Li. She had a book on her head and a flower vase sat atop it. Nurse Li held a bamboo stick in her hand, using it to force Attendant Zhou to curtsy.

Attendant Zhou only bent a bit as she did so, but the flower vase on her head crashed to the floor and broke into fragments on impact.

“Attendant Zhou, please take this a little more seriously.” Nurse Li hit the stick against Attendant Zhou’s lower back. “When you curtsy, you need to straighten your lower back without moving it.”

“An attendant must learn proper etiquette as quickly as possible,” Nurse Li said, her voice low. “And I’ve heard that Her Majesty was not at all satisfied with your manners. Over the next few days, this old servant will teach Attendant Zhou the proper customs.”

Attendant Zhou hissed in pain as the stick hit her waist. Her skin became very sensitive due to the system’s transformation. It would turn red at the slightest touch.

Being beaten by Nurse Li like this was incredibly painful.

Inwardly, Attendant Zhou regretted her rash move in the Palace of Prolonged Autumn more and more. The inner palace had a strict hierarchy. She shouldn’t have moved against the empress that early.

Now she understood why the favored concubine system gave her half a year’s time.

Seeing Attendant Zhou’s predicament, Consort Zhuang sneered and told the female attendant beside her, “I feel unwell. Call the imperial physician to the Moonlight Palace.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Consort Zhuang looked at Attendant Zhou’s graceful bearing. Even though Nurse Li humiliated her and made her seem pathetic, she still looked lovely and moving. There were even tears in her eyes. If a man saw her like this, their hearts would surely soften.

However, Attendant Zhou faced the stone-hearted Nurse Li. The same techniques women used against men to great effect didn’t work on other women.

It was just falling sick to close the palace down for a period of time, it was nothing if it hindered Attendant Zhou. After all, with Attendant Zhou’s looks, she’d definitely achieve meteoric success.

Consort Zhuang had offended Attendant Zhou before and made her enter the Cold Palace. She didn’t believe for a moment that there wouldn’t be retaliation.

The imperial physician arrived and examined Consort Zhuang. Consort Zhuang was informed that she had the summer flu and should recuperate properly. If she waited until the weather cooled down a bit, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Ning Shu sent people to deliver a bit of nutritional medicine to Consort Zhuang, as well as to tell her not to come to pay her respects and to rest well.

Ning Shu then asked the scribe to temporarily bar the Moonlight Palace’s imperial concubines from attending to the emperor at night.

After all, who knows how long it would take Consort Zhuang to recover? ╮(╯▽╰)╭。

Officially, Consort Zhuang was ‘recuperating’. In reality, she spent her time attentively watching Attendant Zhou. She took every opportunity to stop Attendant Zhou from meeting the emperor during chance encounters, so she was quite hard at work.

Consort Zhuang was not the only one watching Attendant Zhou like a hawk: Nurse Li also paid close attention. After Attendant Zhou was reprimanded by the empress in front of so many imperial concubines for her lack of manners, Nurse Li felt that they had considerably lost face.

No one would doubt her professionalism.

Attendant Zhou’s favorite thing to do was untying her hair and donning simple, elegant clothing. It made her appear like a fairy, placing her above the common folk. It also gave her a mischievous air.

But Nurse Li thought this was a breach of etiquette and had the maid comb her hair properly. At night, with her hair down, she resembled a ghost.

Attendant Zhou Xiaoyi was truly wracked with anxiety. Her task of becoming favored in the inner palace had failed. Two days had gone by since she last saw Zhao Xu.

Men were all creatures that were always enamored with new women and bored with the old ones. He had forgotten about her already.

“This is your second failure. You still have one more chance, but fail again and you will receive punishment,” the favored concubine system said.in