For most concubines, this night should have been as uneventful as any other.
At dinner time, the concubines learned that the emperor had turned over the card of Ru Guiren tonight, and they could only suppress their dissatisfaction and jealousy.
They closed the palace gates and endured the loneliness and desolation of the long night alone.
When the moon was up above the branches, a deafening sound came from Ru Guiren's Yueyi Pavilion.
The concubines who were nearby were awakened one after another and didn't know what was going on.
The braver ones hurriedly called their personal maids to go and investigate;
Those who are timid huddled tightly in their beds, not daring to breathe, for fear that they would become the next target of this unknown disaster.
The shouts of the guards and the clash of weapons intertwined, breaking the quiet night in the harem.
The smell of blood gradually spread, making people sick.
Guards wearing cold armor stood outside the door, intimidating any palace servants who came to inquire and refusing anyone to peek.
Afterwards, the side door opened, and one cold corpse after another was carried out silently from Ru Guiren Palace.
The last one was particularly eye-catching - she was wearing noble clothing, her face was pretty with a hint of exotic mystery, and her stiff face still showed the disbelief before death.
Some palace servants saw the face of the corpse and screamed in fear.
That is... a noble person!
The sounds of fighting lasted for about an hour before gradually subsiding.
Even though the noise had died down, the concubines in the palace were still frightened and couldn't sleep at all.
If the noble lady is a princess of Western Xia, she entered the palace for marriage five years ago and is usually quiet. How could she cause such a big fuss?
The flames shot up into the sky, illuminating the entire skyline red.
When the concubines walked out of the house, they saw that the noble lady's Yueyi Pavilion had been engulfed in a raging fire, with thick smoke billowing, covering the sky and the sun.
In the second half of the night, a sudden imperial edict once again sounded like thunder and fell into everyone's ears.
"Who are you talking about? ... Wu agreed? The emperor wants to promote her to a noble lady?"
"Wu Da Ying, who is that?" someone asked puzzledly.
"Wasn't it Consort Ru who got into trouble? What did Guan Wu promise? Where's Consort Ru? ...Dead!?"
The concubines fell silent immediately after hearing this fact.
"Isn't Wu Da Ying seriously ill and under house arrest by the Queen?"
"Wu Da Ying, could it be the one who went crazy in the Queen's Palace that day?"
As the news came out, there was a lot of discussion in the various palaces.
The chief eunuch came with an oral order. The sick queen was the first to know about it and smiled knowingly.
There was so much noise in the palace today that she couldn't fall asleep.
Then the queen frowned again and asked the eunuch softly what happened tonight.
The head eunuch did not dare to conceal anything and told all the stories about Ru Guiren being a spy from Xixia, including the fact that several of his junior eunuchs were also spies.
The queen was frightened, and her already pale face turned even worse.
She asked anxiously, "How is the emperor?"
The chief eunuch: "Don't panic, madam. Although there are dangers everywhere tonight, the emperor seems to have seen through everything."
When he said this, the eunuch showed some sincere admiration on his face: "The emperor knew that the noble lady was a spy from Xixia, so he specifically ordered me not to alert the enemy, and asked the imperial guards to block the palace gate in advance, so as to catch the turtle in the jar."
"The emperor was very careful and cleverly avoided the poisoned wine, poisoned powder, and poisoned incense," said the chief eunuch.
"If the nobleman is desperate and uses a flying knife to attack the emperor, the force will be weak and the emperor can just block it with his hands."
"But the noble is cunning and has coated the flying knife with a deadly poison all over its body and even on the handle. If the emperor touches it with his own hands, the consequences will be disastrous."
"What about the emperor? Was he hit in the slightest?" the queen asked.
The chief eunuch shook his head and said with a smile, "The emperor is very good at predicting things. He picked up the teacup on the table and blocked the flying knife. Your Majesty, the emperor is in good health and has no injuries at all."
The queen let out a long breath and smiled, "That's good."
The queen lay down again peacefully, feeling unprecedented comfort and peace in her heart.
The decision to shelter Wu Da Ying that day was undoubtedly the best decision she had ever made.
Without her advance warning, the emperor would be in danger today.
…
Several people who knew that Wu Daying had strange abilities, such as Concubine Shu and Concubine Yue, had a vague guess about the truth and did not react much to Wu Daying's promotion.
After hearing this, the two of them just nodded slightly and went back to sleep.
When Concubine Li heard the news that Wu Da Ying was promoted to Concubine Wu, she almost went crazy.
This news was like a thorn that pierced deeply into her heart, making her feel extremely angry and unwilling.
She hurriedly got up from the bed and paced back and forth in the palace, puzzled.
"What on earth is going on?!" Li Guiren pulled the eunuch's braid and asked viciously.
The young eunuch cried, "My lady, I don't know either. I just heard that the emperor went to Linhua Palace and promoted Wu Ying to a noble lady after he came out."
Went to Linhua Palace.
Linhua Palace!
Li Guiren understood that Wu Da Ying was favored by the emperor because of the imperial concubine.
She gritted her teeth and became more and more angry.
That should have been hers! Whether it was the emperor's favor or the position in the imperial concubine's palace, it should have been hers!
It’s not like Wu had never seen someone she agreed with before. He looked so ordinary, but now he could be on par with her?
Li Guiren did not dare to hate the Imperial Concubine, nor did she dare to hate the Emperor, so she vented all her anger on Wu Qing.
Li Guiren said to the young eunuch in a sinister tone: "Find some time and ask someone to take a letter home."
Her father was the director of the Imperial Observatory, and he had plenty of ways to make Concubine Wu an "unlucky person".
She wanted to see how the daughter of a seventh-rank honest official would compete with her!
…
How the concubines in the various palaces react has nothing to do with Concubine Wu, oh no, Concubine Wu.
When the chief eunuch came to announce the decree, Wu Qing was sleeping soundly.
When Jinxiu dragged her down from the bed in a daze, she thought the emperor was dead and she could be buried with him.
Wu Qing wiped his face and showed the brightest smile ever.
The chief eunuch also smiled and said, "Lady Wu, I accept your order and thank you for your grace."
Wu Qing: “Hmm?”
She thought she was hallucinating.
Lady Wu, who is that?
Is there another person with the surname Wu in this palace?
The chief eunuch urged, "Oh, Lady Wu, my hands are getting sore from holding it."
Jinxiu hurriedly pulled the hem of her mistress's clothes.
Wu Qing couldn't believe it and his smile disappeared immediately.
She took the imperial edict in a daze, tore it open and read it over and over again, confirming again and again that this was indeed the edict for her promotion.
“Why… is this happening?!”
Wu Qing screamed.