Consort Rong was dumbfounded.
According to her rank, she was only a mere Zhaoyi, with Consort Yun above her. It was only right that she was punished by the Empress Dowager for speaking such disrespectfully.
But upon closer reflection, she realized that her outspokenness wasn't entirely without reason.
If Consort Yun hadn't acted first, why would she have been so eager to avenge Consort Rou?
She shuddered and raised her head, hurriedly explaining, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. It was Consort Yun who attacked Consort Rou. She... maliciously shoved her. If I hadn't reacted quickly, Consort Rou would have been pushed to the ground!"
Consort Rong tried to justify her earlier statement.
From her perspective, she couldn't see Gu Jiangli attacking Consort Rou. She heard Consort Rou scream and saw her unsteady on her feet, so she concluded that Gu Jiangli had maliciously pushed Consort Rou.
After listening, the Empress Dowager's expression grew impatient: "Consort Rong, in this harem, speaking recklessly deserves to suffer. Consort Yun's rank is above yours, yet you show her no respect—that is your first offense. His Majesty, as the ruler of the country, has the right to choose whom to favor, and no one in the harem can interfere. You say that because the Emperor favors Consort Yun, he cannot distinguish right from wrong, and that he speaks ill of the monarch behind his back, thus undermining his prestige—that is your second offense."
"You deserve to be punished for both crimes."
"Twenty strokes of the cane, either to the mouth or to the hands, the choice is yours."
The cane used in the imperial harem was different from the cane used for interrogating criminals. The cane used in the imperial harem was actually a thick little bamboo cane, only as long as a forearm and about the thickness of a finger.
I heard that if a skilled nanny were to strike, the skin would swell up with just one stroke of the paddle.
This was usually a tool used by the empresses in the palace to secretly discipline the palace servants; it was rare for concubines to be punished in this way.
Today, in front of so many concubines in the harem, whether it's hitting their hands or slapping their mouths, it's not just a physical punishment, but a spiritual insult.
Consort Rong swallowed hard, staring at the Empress Dowager in disbelief, and burst into tears.
"Your Majesty, I was wrong. I shouldn't have spoken ill of His Majesty. I didn't mean it. Please forgive me, Your Majesty..."
She cried bitterly, but the Empress Dowager was annoyed. "Since you don't want to choose, then I will choose for you. Guards, slap her!"
The nanny beside the Empress Dowager immediately stepped forward, and the board, as if it had been prepared in advance, walked majestically to Consort Rong and struck her without any mercy.
The sound of the bamboo clappers striking flesh was deep and loud, and the concubines around them would tremble with each strike.
At first, Consort Rong cried and begged for mercy, but soon her lips swelled up and she could only cry and could not speak.
Consort Rou, who was standing to the side, could not hold back any longer. Tears streamed down her face as she choked back sobs and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Consort Rong only spoke impulsively because of me. Please forgive her!"
No matter how much Consort Rou and Consort Rong cried, the Empress Dowager remained unmoved, coldly watching Consort Rong receive her twenty strokes of the cane.
Twenty strokes of the cane didn't take long, and Rong Zhaoyi's lips were already swollen and red, with blood dripping down her cheeks from the corners of her mouth.
Within a month, she found it very difficult to say anything unpleasant.
Consort Rou couldn't bear to watch any longer, and her grievances and resentment intensified, her gaze towards Gu Jiangli revealing a great deal of resentment.
She immediately kowtowed and cried out, "I don't know where I offended Consort Yun, that she struck me so hard on the waist just now. When Consort Rong saw how much pain I was in, she couldn't help but say some nonsense. But does Consort Yun have no fault at all?"
Consort Rou blamed all the mistakes on Gu Jiangli.
The Empress Dowager snorted coldly, her face instantly darkening: "I know Consort Yun's temperament well! She's only been in the palace for three months, what grudge could she possibly have against you, Consort Rou? Why would she lay a hand on you for no reason?"
The Empress Dowager's tone was noticeably angrier than before.
Consort Rou choked up, almost forgetting what she was going to say.
The biggest reason was that she had never seen the Empress Dowager so angry before.
The Empress Dowager was originally an approachable person, and her temperament had become even more gentle over the years when she went up the mountain to pray for blessings. But today, however, her eyes were wide with anger, and her tone of voice was very sharp.
Consort Rou was stunned for a moment, then pinched her hand, trying to calm herself down.
"Your Majesty, perhaps... the punishment of several palace maids in Yongning Palace has caused Consort Yun to harbor resentment towards me. I have already explained to her, but I did not expect that Consort Yun still thinks that I am deliberately making things difficult for her."
She spoke through tears, looking utterly pitiful and innocent.
But her appearance still failed to move the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager asked coldly, "What is the matter that the palace maids of Yongning Palace were punished for?"
Gu Jiangli seized the opportunity to interrupt before Consort Rou could speak, and slowly recounted the incident of the palace maids in Yongning Palace being beaten that day.
She recounted the events exactly as they happened, but added some embellishments at appropriate points.
After saying this, Consort Rou and Consort Rong were portrayed as vicious concubines who went to Yongning Palace to cause trouble for Gu Jiangli, but failed to encounter her and could only take their anger out on her subordinates.
The Empress Dowager listened attentively, then slammed her hand on the chair and shouted, "Consort Rou, you have quite the audacity! The Emperor gave you the title of Consort, not so you could bully the palace maids at will!"
Consort Rou trembled, her eyes twitching uneasily. "Your Majesty, I did not intend to target the maids of Yongning Palace. It was those maids who were impolite. I was merely teaching them a lesson on behalf of Consort Yun."
Gu Jiangli smiled gently and said, "It must have been hard for Consort Rou to teach her a lesson. However, I have heard that in the harem, only the Empress, who holds the Phoenix Seal, has the right to deal with the servants of other palaces. Is it because the servants of Consort Rou's Qingde Palace are not disciplined? Is that why you were allowed to show off your power in Yongning Palace?"
"Even if the servants of my Yongning Palace make mistakes, it is I, the master of Yongning Palace, who should punish them. At the very least, the Empress Dowager is still here. If the servants in my palace really do something disrespectful, it should be the Empress Dowager who disciplines them. When did it become Consort Rou's place to take action?"
"Your Highness, you were just implying that I haven't been paying my respects to you every day. But thinking about it carefully, you've always considered yourself the highest-ranking person in the harem, so you've probably been coveting the Phoenix Seal for a long time, haven't you?"
Consort Rou's meticulously made-up face revealed a look of utter panic.
She could no longer care about her usual dignified and elegant image; she waved her hands incessantly in front of her chest, trying to deny what Gu Jiangli had said.
If she had said these words earlier, she might have just brushed them off and not taken them seriously, but now that the Empress Dowager has heard them, it's a completely different story!
She was anxious and flustered, and her voice trembled as she spoke:
"No, no, no, Your Majesty, it's not like that. I've been by His Majesty's side since he was a prince, and I've only ever thought of doing things that are good for him. I've never dared to dream of the Empress's position. Consort Yun's words are just wild speculation. I have absolutely no such thoughts. Please, Your Majesty, investigate thoroughly."
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