Chapter 917 The Intrigues and Gossip in the Palace
Lianye had breakfast delivered, and when the exquisite meal was placed in front of Fang Changzai, Fang Changzai suddenly clutched his forehead and pretended to be in great pain.
Lianye asked with concern, "What's wrong, my lady?"
Fang Changzai smiled gently, "I just feel a little dizzy, probably because I caught a chill last night! I don't have much of an appetite."
Lianye said, "Your Highness is not feeling well. This servant will fetch the imperial physician for you! Your Highness's health is of utmost importance right now, and you must not catch a cold."
Consort Fang originally didn't want to eat outside food. She was also afraid that someone would sabotage her and prevent her from having a child. After so many years in the palace, she had finally won the Emperor's favor and desperately wanted to have a child of her own. Only with a child would she have hope.
She wondered why the Emperor would suddenly remember her, the one with the lowest rank. Could it be that she had mustered up the courage to trip and fall in front of the Emperor that day, which made him remember her?
Her face flushed red with embarrassment. "I'm not that delicate. Thank you, Lady Lianye. There's no need to trouble the imperial physician."
Lianye didn't say much, and had the palace maid take away the breakfast in front of Consort Fang. "Since Your Highness is not feeling well, I will replace it with some light and delicious millet porridge."
Fang Changzai paused for a moment, then quickly said, "Thank you, Lady Lianye."
Her humble behavior was seen as smugness by the other concubines, who thought she was just putting on an act because the emperor had chosen her.
Someone muttered, "She's only served the Emperor for one night, why is she pretending to be weak?"
"Exactly, she thinks she can compare to the Empress!"
"Hmph, she doesn't even know her own limitations."
Consort Fang's family was not powerful to begin with, and she was the least valued among the concubines.
Hearing the whispers of the crowd, she couldn't help but feel uneasy. She lowered her head, bit her lip, and remained silent.
Jiang Fenghua was talking to Gao Qingtong when she overheard the concubines gossiping about Consort Fang.
Jiang Fenghua sat upright, a fierce glint flashing in her eyes. Everyone knew how to read the Empress's expression, and they immediately shut their mouths.
Gao Qingtong quickly smoothed things over, saying, "I don't usually get to taste Lianye's cooking skills; I'm only doing this because of Her Majesty the Empress."
Jiang Fenghua said, "Whatever the Imperial Concubine wishes to eat, just have Lianye prepare it and send it over."
"I'll just have a quick bite; how could I trouble Miss Lianye to do such a fuss?" Gao Qingtong said this to Consort Fang. The Empress's personal maid was serving her; why was she being so pretentious? Did she really think that just because the Emperor had chosen her, she didn't know her place?
If they don't behave themselves, the mistakes of the previous concubines who got into trouble serve as a warning to them.
Lianye said, "Serving the Imperial Concubine is no hardship for me. If Your Highness wishes to taste my cooking in the future, just send someone to let me know, and I will come immediately."
Gao Qingtong was overjoyed. "If the Empress is willing to release her, Lianye can come to my palace!"
Lianye knew that Consort Gao was joking. She picked up a delicate pastry for Consort Gao. The pastry was made of flower petals and had a faint fragrance. There wasn't much of it. She only ate one piece in the morning because there were other delicacies to go with it.
Jiang Fenghua eats very little at each meal, eating small meals frequently to ensure a balanced diet. This is all thanks to Lianye's meticulous care. Her curvaceous figure, long legs, and slender waist are also thanks to Lianye.
She smiled and said, "I am indeed reluctant to let Lianye go, but for Lianye's happiness, I have no choice but to let her go. Soon I will be like Qingtong, unable to eat the delicacies made by Lianye."
Gao Qingtong asked in confusion, "Has the wedding date for Lianye and Lord Lin been set?"
Lianye is now quite calm about hearing about her and Lin Feng from other people. After all, she's become quite the conspicuous person in the palace, mainly because Lin Feng always makes a big show of visiting her, and she often brings him food.
Even the Emperor doesn't care about them, so it's none of anyone else's business.
Jiang Fenghua said, "The Imperial Observatory has already chosen a date."
She owed Lianye too much in her past life, and in this life she hopes that Lianye can be happy.
Just then, a loud "clang" was heard. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Fang Changzai's millet porridge had been spilled all over the ground. The porridge was still steaming on the ground, and some of it had been spilled on her and her clothes were dirty.
Fang Changzai was startled and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it was just too hot..."
The palace maid serving Consort Fang quickly covered Consort Fang's hand and said sarcastically, "Your Highness was burned because you weren't paying attention when such hot rice porridge was served to you."
This means that the palace maids in Kunning Palace deliberately made things difficult for Consort Fang by deliberately serving her very hot rice porridge.
Jiang Fenghua frowned and said to the palace maid who brought the porridge, "How could you be so careless? Quickly check if Consort Fang has been burned."
The palace maid Chunfang quickly replied, "Yes."
Chunfang glanced at the palace maid serving Consort Fang, bit her lip, and quickly apologized, "This servant will wipe it clean for Your Highness."
Fang Changzai's maid said, "It's fortunate that such hot porridge wasn't spilled directly onto the back of your hand, otherwise you would have been burned."
Chunfang said, "I placed the porridge on the table; how could it have burned your hand, Your Highness?"
The palace maid Cuihe explained, "I was just making a hypothetical statement; I didn't say that Sister Chunfang was going to deliberately burn Your Highness's hand."
“Your assumption is completely invalid. Why do you say that?” Chunfang pressed on, “I clearly just put the porridge on the table and had no intention of getting it on Fang Changzai. But it was knocked over in the end. I really don’t know why. After all, I didn’t see whether Fang Changzai knocked it over on purpose or accidentally.”
Cuihe said, "How could my mistress deliberately spill the porridge and burn herself? Why is it that the other mistresses' breakfasts are not so hot, but my mistress's breakfasts are so scalding hot?"
Cuihe's eyes were red. "My mistress only served the Emperor last night, so why does Sister Chunfang disapprove of it and deliberately serve such hot porridge to her?"
These words seem to imply that the Empress deliberately had someone target Consort Fang.
Chunfang was speechless after hearing what she said. "I... I don't dislike Young Master Fang at all."
Jiang Fenghua saw through Chunfang's thoughts at a glance. Fang Changzai was chosen by Xie Shang last night, and Lianye was dissatisfied, so she asked Chunfang to bring over a bowl of very hot porridge. Who knew that the porridge would suddenly be spilled.
The porridge didn't directly scald her exposed skin, but it did spill and soil her clothes.
Before she could stop the two maids from arguing, Consort Fang suddenly stood up and slapped Cuihe across the face. "How dare you! How can you be so rude in front of Her Majesty the Empress? Chunfang did indeed place the porridge steadily on the table. I accidentally spilled the porridge myself."
Fang Changzai said sternly, "Hurry up and apologize to Miss Chunfang."
Cuihe covered her face, feeling wronged. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she said with pursed lips, "Sister Chunfang, I'm sorry. It's all my fault for not seeing clearly. I misunderstood you."
Fang Chang bowed respectfully to Jiang Fenghua again, saying, "It's all my fault for being careless. Cuihe didn't see clearly. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
She simply didn't want to eat breakfast and didn't intend to make a big deal out of it, but she didn't expect Cuihe to be so stupid as to bring up the matter of serving the emperor last night.
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