Thinking this to herself, Uya subconsciously smoothed her hair and straightened her clothes before sitting up straight and staring intently at the flowers and plants not far ahead, looking completely indifferent.
Bai Lan, who had been admiring the jewelry, immediately understood the deeper meaning behind her mistress's expression.
He stepped forward and smiled politely at Garu, saying, "It's such a hot day, how could we ask the Grand Steward to come and deliver it in person?"
After saying that, he tactfully handed over a bulging purse.
Garu glanced at Uya, who was pretending to be pretentious, chuckled, and unceremoniously pocketed the purse. "It's only early spring, the weather is fine, it's not hot at all. Miss Bailan, please step aside and don't get in the way of our delivery."
After saying that, Garu rudely pushed Bailan aside and then continued walking inside.
Bai Lan was stunned. Could it be that Garu thought his master, who had been demoted to a concubine, could still live in the main hall?
He's such a pig-brain.
Bai Lan stamped her foot, immediately ran forward, grabbed Garu's sleeve, pointed to the still un-cleaned bedchamber, and hurriedly explained, "Chief Steward, our master is staying... staying here."
Garu looked at Bailan as if she were an idiot, then looked speechlessly at Wuya, who was still pretending. Finally, he stopped pretending and sneered, "Do you think I'm crazy? I'm just delivering something to Consort Fu. I don't care where you live."
After saying that, he flung Bai Lan aside and started walking forward.
Bai Lan was stunned for a moment, then angrily ran forward to argue.
"What do you mean? You were delivering something to Consort Fu, so why did you accept our reward money?"
Garu scoffed, "What nonsense are you spouting in broad daylight? When have we ever taken any money from you?"
After saying that, she looked at the group of palace maids following behind her and said, "You be the judge, did I receive any money from Miss Bailan?"
A group of eunuchs and palace maids shook their heads in unison, and Bai Lan became anxious.
“They are all your people, so naturally they will speak on your side.”
Garu wasn't annoyed. He glanced at Uya, whose face was ashen. "De is in cahoots with you. Why don't you ask De if she saw anything?"
Unable to speak, Bai Lan began to pretend to slap herself in the face, saying, "Look how confused I am! Since entering our house, Consort De has been admiring the flowers and hasn't even glanced at us. How could she possibly have seen whether we took your money or not?"
For the first time, Bai Lan truly understood what it meant to be unable to explain oneself.
When she was still the head maidservant by Consort De's side, Garu always treated her with utmost respect whenever he saw her.
They've only just lost power, and they're already being treated like this.
She could be treated so badly, but he absolutely couldn't give her that huge bag of silver for nothing.
With that thought in mind, Bai Lan disregarded all rules and reached out to tug at Garu's sleeve.
Garu was a shrewd man. Seeing her like this, he immediately sat down on the ground and shouted, "Oh my god, our family is completely innocent. Miss Bailan, if you want to climb the social ladder by offering yourself up, you should go find someone else."
Not only was Bai Lan dumbfounded, but even Wu Ya was stunned.
Finally, Sun Dehai heard the commotion and came out of the main hall. Seeing Garu in such a state, he immediately ran forward to help him up and asked politely, "Oh my great chief steward, why are you sitting on the ground? There must be some pebbles on the floor of our palace that tripped you. I'll have someone sweep the floor properly to make sure nothing will bother you again."
Bai Lan blushed after hearing these words.
When Garu saw that Sun Dehai had come out in person, he naturally didn't put on airs and went along with his words, "Originally, we were ordered to deliver something to Consort Fu, but who would have thought that we would be stopped by Bai Lan as soon as we entered the door, and then she started winking at us."
As Garu spoke, he flicked his sleeves, “But I’m a respectable man. I’m only in charge of the Imperial Household Department because of His Majesty’s favor. I would never do anything like colluding with a palace maid. I didn’t expect that Bai Lan would come up to me and start touching me when she saw that I was unhappy.”
Sun Dehai glared at Bai Lan, "You used to be a head maidservant to a high-ranking concubine, how come you're doing this now that you've just fallen on hard times..."
Sun Dehai stopped talking in time, as if he felt that even saying just one sentence would rot his tongue.
"Grand Eunuch, it is against palace rules for a palace maid to seduce an official. Now that this has happened in Yikun Palace, I must inform the Imperial Concubine."
Garu immediately said, "Now that we are here, we must naturally pay our respects to the Imperial Concubine."
The two exchanged a smile and walked towards the main hall, exchanging polite greetings.
Seeing this, Bai Lan looked anxiously at Wu Ya Shi, "Your Highness, what should we do now? Will the Imperial Concubine use this as a pretext?"
Uya hadn't expected things to turn out so quickly. Before she could come up with a solution, Dongxue walked over with an unfriendly expression and said irritably, "Your Highness, the Imperial Concubine, requests that Consort De go to the main hall for questioning."
Unwilling to give up, Wuya followed Dongxue into the main hall. Consort Yi, Guoluo, was leaning on a soft couch, her light purple palace dress making her look extremely charming and beautiful.
Upon seeing her enter, his face, which had previously held a slight smile, immediately turned icy cold.
"I have no idea what De... is thinking or planning. If you want to use the beauty of a palace maid to turn things around, I advise you to give up that idea."
Uya knelt down immediately, "Your Highness, you misunderstand. I had no such intentions."
Consort Yi sneered, "Have you forgotten how you were favored in the first place? Or do you think the rest of the palace doesn't know?"
Uya felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her.
She initially gained Emperor Kangxi's favor by climbing into his bedchamber, which would have ruined her reputation and prevented her from receiving any promotion. Fortunately, she became pregnant in time, which allowed her to rise from a lowly palace maid to the position of one of the Four Consorts.
It's one thing for others to know about this, but it's quite another to bring it up in front of her.
At this moment, she had just fallen from a high position, and people were bringing up this matter to her face. She felt nothing but embarrassment and hatred.
She hated Yinzhen, the one who caused all of this to happen to her.
Yes, it was Yinzhen.
Why did Kangxi happen to appear at Yonghe Palace? It must have been because Yinzhen instigated the Crown Prince to bring Kangxi along, and Yinzhen himself deliberately said something provocative in front of him.
The more Wuya thought about it, the more convinced she became that this was the truth.
Seeing the change in her expression, but seeing that she had no intention of speaking, Consort Yi immediately snorted coldly, "What trick are you plotting now? You really can't change your ways. I'll put it this way today: if you behave yourself, you'll still have a place in Yikun Palace. But if you dare to cause trouble again, I won't hesitate to move you to an even quieter place."
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