Chapter 6 Chapter 6 It's Her
Xiao Tao suggested to Lady Yang: "Perhaps we should go to your house another day to express our gratitude? It would also show your sincerity."
Lady Yang pursed her lips, not looking particularly pleased: "Forget it, since we've already met, there's no point in bothering to make friends."
Concubine Xue was just a daughter of a commoner. Even if she was mediocre, becoming a concubine was probably the end of her life. Concubine Yang did not intend to waste any more effort on her.
Xiao Tao, however, knew her master's temperament best, and raised an eyebrow in question, "You say so, but I'm afraid it will be hard not to smile when you see Master Xuepin again."
Lady Yang stamped her feet and said, "You naughty girl, you're teasing me now?"
In the distance, a palace framed by flowers, trees, and the reflection of the lake, stood the Qun Yu Hall, where Concubine Xue lived. While not the main hall of the palace, it was a separate chamber, unencumbered by neighbors, perfectly complementing the tranquility and peace Concubine Xue exuded. There were many other palaces like this within the palace, but only Concubine Zhen's Fang Xin Hall and Concubine Xue's Qun Yu Hall were inhabited.
Concubine Yang finally stopped approaching and went back to her residence: "Go back and get the stack of loquat cakes. Let's go to Ziquan Palace and introduce ourselves to the Queen Mother."
Long before she entered the palace, her family had given her a rough understanding of some of the factional situations in the harem. Concubine Xue seemed to be keeping to herself and had few friends... In fact, Concubine Yang was a little afraid of being rejected by such a Concubine Xue.
It would be better to go to the Queen Mother first and take over the responsibility of hosting the Dragon Boat Festival banquet. Being exposed to these palace affairs means being exposed to palace power, and she doesn't want to be a figurehead with favor but no power.
Concubine Xue, whom Concubine Yang had been unable to find, appeared by the Taiye Lake.
It rained for the past two days, and the entire Liang Palace seemed to be soaked in a pond. The water level was rising everywhere, and even the water hyacinths on the surface of Taiye Lake were lifted up and stood taller.
A team of eunuchs, each holding a long pole with a net bag, were fishing for these wild weeds by the pond.
Concubine Xue passed them and walked onto Hibiscus Bridge. The long bridge twisted and turned, connecting east and west, its railings clad in pink hibiscus stone. The section far from the center of the lake was particularly desolate, its misty waves like a veil of fog.
Walking gently and silently to the middle of the bridge, Concubine Xue met head-on a woman in gorgeous clothes coming from the other side.
The woman opposite was pretty, with golden hairpins and a high bun, which was different from the usual style of a boudoir.
Concubine Xue stopped to salute: "I pay my respects to the Empress."
The woman opposite didn't even look at her. She paused just as they were about to pass each other and spoke rather forcefully, "You were too reckless today. Never speak up for Yang again. It will only draw attention to you and put both of us in danger."
"I understand." Concubine Xue agreed at first, then her delicate figure bent again: "I just saw my former self in Yang... and I thought, she will not be a hindrance to the Empress."
"Not anymore."
Ming Zhaoyi glanced sideways and smiled, "I've heard people say that Yang is someone who refuses to suffer any loss, but she's not like you at all."
What happened this morning during the greetings spread quickly throughout the palace. Although Zhaoyi hadn't been there in person, she already knew everything. Concubine Xue said, "Your Majesty, please stop teasing me."
Seeing her like this, Ming Zhaoyi seemed to feel a little helpless: "Forget it, if you really like Yang, it's okay to get along with her. It will help to cure your lonely personality. Besides, you may need her in the future."
Then, she talked about more pressing matters, which was also the purpose of their meeting in secret: "How is the person you arranged to enter Fengzao Palace? It's been so long, have you learned any useful information?"
Concubine Xue frowned and said, "She's not on duty at the front now, so eavesdropping on her must be difficult."
Ming Zhaoyi pondered for a moment, "There must be something fishy going on with the Queen that she cannot reveal to the public. If this continues without success, I'll have to find another way out."
"Please urge her again."
The two of them exchanged a brief and discreet exchange, then each walked towards the other end of the bridge and went their separate ways.
*Taiji Hall. The emperor was solely focused on reviewing memorials, and the list of palace ladies remained untouched.
After an unknown amount of time, he pressed his eyebrows and said to Xu Delu, "Accompany me for a walk."
The emperor did not like to be disturbed when he was handling government affairs. The palace servants in Taiji Hall had been tiptoeing and holding their breath until now. After hearing this, they finally regained their spirits, some handing over cloaks, and some preparing to ride.
However, the emperor seemed to be just tired of reading the memorials and wanted to rest nearby. He did not plan to walk too far, so after passing Ganlu Gate, he got off the imperial carriage and walked with his entourage.
Xu Delu naturally accompanied him like a servile boy. As for the emperor, he walked leisurely in the garden with his hands behind his back, not caring about anything. But Xu Delu always felt that His Majesty was worried about something. If something could become the emperor's worry, it must be no small matter.
I don’t know if it’s a matter of family and country, or… the person I’m looking for?
The emperor suddenly paused, raised his chin slightly, and nodded towards a group of people not far away: "What are they going to deliver?"
Xu Delu looked at them, also bewildered, unable to answer. But he immediately used his agility to his advantage, raising his finger and shouting, "Stop, I'm talking to you!"
When the eunuchs heard the voice and saw that it was the emperor, they all stopped, turned around, put down their things and saluted.
The moment he saw clearly what they held in their hands, the emperor's eyes changed from bright to dark, revealing a hidden danger.
He had seen a box of this style once before in Lianbi Hall.
The game ended even faster than he expected.
After hearing the eunuch's report of what was inside, the emperor asked in a deep and determined voice, "Did any palace take the jade materials away in advance?"
As expected, the young eunuch replied, "In reply to your Majesty, only Fengzao Palace sent someone to collect it in advance. There was only one piece left that was half his height, and someone just came and took it away."
Right in front of Xiao Fang, the figures of the daring thief in Lianbi Palace and the palace maid who was punished to stand against the wall outside Fengzao Palace were quietly overlapping.
Oh……
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Goodbye, it won’t be too late.
Xu Delu was stunned. He hadn't realized that His Majesty was so good at predicting things. He didn't think His Majesty would pay special attention to such trivial matters.
But until the emperor finally pointed his finger and took off one of the boxes, Xu Delu didn't react. What was His Majesty going to do?
According to the eunuchs who were stopped, they were originally going to distribute the tribute jade materials to the palaces of several favored empresses, saying that they had just dug out the dirt and removed the knots in the past two days.
Jade materials and finished products are different. As the saying goes, there is no jade without flaws. From the time the seed materials are tributed to the time they are actually delivered to the hands of the ladies, they have to go through a period of processing.
But as soon as His Majesty saw the boxes in the eunuchs' hands, his expression changed.
Xu Delu was very sure that he saw the box, not the things inside.
In order to prevent the boxes containing the jade materials from overshadowing the main feature, the boxes used for each batch of jade materials are basically the same, with the same style, texture, and grain. Since they are all the same, what did Your Majesty see?
As for the jade material withheld by the Emperor, I heard that it was originally intended to be sent to Concubine Yang. Concubine Yang was not among those to be distributed, but because she was the first of the rookies to serve the emperor in bed and was highly favored, the people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs gave her an additional portion. Unexpectedly, it was withheld by His Majesty by mistake.
At this moment, watching the eunuch being pointed out bring the item over, Xu Delu took it and asked in a troubled tone, "Your Majesty, what should we do with this jade material?"
Emperor: “Leave it there.”
Then he added, "Let's go to Fengzao Palace for dinner tonight."
Xu Delu still hadn't figured out the secret of the jade material, nor did he know where the emperor meant to put it. He could only hold the box, feeling the heat, and quickly replied, "Yes."
The emperor had just returned to his palanquin when a young eunuch came breathlessly to him, "Your Majesty, someone has come from the Empress Dowager's palace. They want you to come over after you finish your court business."
Thinking that the emperor had a busy schedule today, Xu Delu asked on his behalf, "Did the Empress Dowager say what it was about?"
The young eunuch frowned, timidly speaking but not daring to speak directly. "It seems, it seems to be about the selection of hosts for the Dragon Boat Festival banquet, and also... the matter of you asking everyone in Ziquan Palace to collect the reward money. Somehow, someone fabricated that you had set your sights on a palace maid in Ziquan Palace, but didn't know her name, so you resorted to this method to find her."
Eunuch Xu asked him to spread the news, and of course he also contributed. However, he never thought that once the rumor involved the emperor, everyone would suppress their temper on the surface and dare not spread false information, but privately they would come up with eighteen kinds of tricks and fabricate such a gorgeous rumor out of thin air.
Xu Delu was too guilty to face the emperor on the palanquin.
But why did he feel that maybe he wasn't wrong at all?
*
On the shores of Taiye Lake, the water hyacinths collected were piled into small mounds resembling graves. Later, people from the Palace Department would come and pick some away to feed the chickens and ducks.
It was too troublesome to destroy the remaining ones, so when Qingzan said she wanted to take a few away, the eunuch took her there without a second thought. But he couldn't help but wonder, "What do you want these for, young lady?"
Qing Zan followed the eunuch with an umbrella, "To be honest, sir, I like the flowers of water hyacinths and plan to plant them in the yard in front of the lower house."
In the morning, the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to inform her that if the inspection was successful, she could take the half-human-high jade statue back. It was still sunny at that time, but for some reason it started raining again at noon.
The young eunuch didn't dare look directly at Qing Zan. He had seen this girl once or twice before, and in fact, he didn't even know who she was, but he just remembered her. Hearing this, he shyly but positively said, "If it's not enough, come back next month! I guess we'll have to clean up a lot more, and maybe the flowers will be in bloom by then."
This thing is easy to keep alive. Nobles think it is an eyesore and often have people pull it up by the roots. But even if it is out of water for a few days, it can survive if it is thrown into water again.
Qingzan naturally responded, and after thanking the young eunuch, she took a small basket full of water gourds and set off back to Fengzao Palace. She had slipped out during lunch break, as she couldn't afford to stay out too long, as the rest of the time was not at her disposal.
But to take the shortest route back to Fengzao Palace, she had to pass through Ziquan Palace, where the Empress Dowager lived. Now, because of the Emperor, she felt a little scared when she thought of this place.
For some reason, the traffic outside Ziquan Palace was particularly busy today. When Qingzan was walking back, he met many concubines and they bowed to each other many times on the roadside.
I overheard what they said and realized that May was about to begin. After the Dragon Boat Festival at the beginning of May, the middle of the month would be the Empress Dowager's birthday, which is also known as the Qianqiu Festival.
Previously, Zheng Xiuyi suggested that the newcomers should come up with ideas for the Qianqiu Festival so that they could have a chance to show their talents, but the Queen rejected it on the grounds that the Queen Mother's birthday could not have any mistakes. In the end, it was handed over to the Ministry of Rites, Guanglu Temple and the Six Shangs to organize it. The newcomers were only responsible for presenting gifts or performing at the inner banquet to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday.
The Empress Dowager had heard about this from somewhere the other day and had decided to hand over the organization of the Dragon Boat Festival banquet to a newcomer. Any new concubines who had entered the palace this year and wanted to host one could go to Ziquan Hall and volunteer themselves. It was just a small banquet, so they could do whatever they wanted.
Qingzan had not met most of the new concubines in person, but he had recognized their portraits. However, it was still quite difficult to accurately match those equally vivid and beautiful faces with their names.
At this moment, I don’t know which new master came from the corner of the palace road and whispered something to the other two concubines not far away. Then the three of them stood there together without moving.
Qingzan Wuxin had no right to explore the reasons behind this, so after greeting them, he continued on his way back.
However, in just a moment, she was forced to know the reason why they were stuck here.
The sound of uniform footsteps of guards wearing ceremonial swords came from behind the corner, followed by pheasant-tail fans and elephant-drawn carriages, which came out from behind the vermilion wall one after another.
In the heavenly family’s battle, gold is like dust and jade is like earth.
Coming here is the emperor's ceremonial procession.
Because it was a rainy day, raindrops flowed down from the edges of the canopy of the imperial carriage in the distance, like cold silver pearls hanging.
Drop by drop, Qingzan felt cold all over.
If there was a glimmer of hope before that the emperor had not found the person and that he had been able to escape danger temporarily, now he felt deeply desperate about this coincidence that was a trick of heaven.
Why did the Emperor go to Ziquan Palace again? Was he really so stubborn that he wouldn't give up until he found her?
With the dignity of an emperor and the power of a king, how long could she hide there if he really dug three feet into the ground... Moreover, since the emperor had summoned all the palace maids together, he should have discovered long ago that she was not among them.
But he still went to Ziquan Palace frequently. Wouldn't every visit to Ziquan Palace make her crime of deceiving the emperor even more serious?
Could it be that he already knew who she was and just wanted to watch her tremble in fear from the shadows, so he wouldn't let her die.
Or am I just overthinking it? How could the emperor be such a bad and evil person?
As she squatted down, Qingzan lowered the brim of the umbrella forward again and again until it covered most of her face.
When the emperor's carriage approaches, no one can walk freely on the road where the emperor will pass. They must wait for the carriage to pass by in a ceremonial manner before they can resume their movements.
Not far behind Qingzan, the new concubines had also stood on the side of the road, almost sticking to the wall, observing the palace etiquette, waiting for the emperor's carriage.
One of them exclaimed in surprise: "Here it comes!"
"Who do you think didn't see it? Hush, stop talking!" said Zhao Cairen.
The other man straightened his bow and spoke in a lower voice, but he couldn't hide his excitement: "I wonder if I can see the person sitting inside. I've been in the palace for so long and I still haven't seen the emperor..."
They were standing there excitedly just for this moment.
The new concubines all hoped that the emperor could see them, but Qingzan, who was several feet away, just kept hiding behind the umbrella, praying that the emperor would never see her and never recognize her!
The Holy Chariot was getting closer and closer, and Qingzan's heart was beating fast and hard, almost reaching an uncontrollable and almost pathological speed.
It's almost here.
Relying on her head being lowered low enough and an umbrella blocking the view above her, she closed her eyes just as her heart was about to jump out of her throat.
Everything will be fine soon.
soon.
Qingzan opened his eyes again——
The eunuch's voice, so high that it seemed to reach the sky, rang out at this moment: "Stop—"
The yellow elephant-drawn carriage with twelve carriages that had made her despair, instead of passing smoothly and steadily as she had expected, landed right in front of her.
The misty rain was thin and weak, separating her from the imperial carriage. The thousands of thin, slanting threads were more like a dust net, binding her tightly.
Then, a slender hand reached out of the car window and pushed up the loosely hung curtain with the back of its hand. The world outside the car was suddenly revealed, along with the figure of the palace maid half-kneeling in the rain.
"Look up."
The emperor's voice was slightly hoarse.
The last bit of hope in Qingzan's heart was finally extinguished.
Behind that simple, ordinary umbrella, a face, whiter than frost and snow, was lifted. Because it had lost its color and never wore rouge, it looked as cold as the moon and as clear as white jade. In her hands, she held a basket of water gourds, which, unprotected by the umbrella, were covered with wet green and awash with water.
"Your servant greets His Majesty."
Such a face, such a voice, everything matches.
During this meeting on the palace road, Xiao Fang was no less surprised than Qing Zan.
Just today, he already knew that she was from Fengzao Palace. If they hadn't met by chance at this moment, he would have used a more interesting way to make her stand in front of him.
But he always followed God's will.
Follow this, and there will be surprises again and again.
But even the ever-planning emperor couldn't explain why, seeing her figure from afar, he knew it was her. Perhaps it was because the way she pulled down her umbrella, trying to hide something, was so awkward and funny. Perhaps it was because the emperor's wishes were naturally met with divine intervention. Or perhaps it was simply because it rained today.
He picked up something beside him and called Xu Delu: "Give this to her. And..."
When Xu Delu saw what it was, he was immediately shocked. Isn't this the box that His Majesty had confiscated while taking a walk outside this morning and was going to give to Concubine Yang?
It turns out it’s related to this girl!
Xu Delu held the box carefully and asked cautiously, "Yes. And...?"
Xiao Fang chuckled with an ambiguous tone.
Xu Delu always boasted that he could read the emperor's expression better than others, but lately he felt that His Majesty was becoming more and more unpredictable!
When did His Majesty first meet this palace maid? With such beauty, if I had seen her before, there was no reason why I wouldn't remember her. Could this be the person His Majesty is looking for?
He glanced at the ladies not far away: Consort Zhao, Zhou Baolin, and Consort Yuan. Fortunately, Consort Yang wasn't there. It was a real ordeal, the Emperor's carriage stopped here, and they could only continue to bow, and it was raining, which was not pleasant. They all seemed to have noticed what was going on, and each one was silently listening and observing.
Zhao Cairen was the cousin of Zheng Xiuyi, who had been promoted from the old Eastern Palace residence. In terms of family background, she was second only to the newcomers. Seeing that the imperial carriage had stopped before reaching this place, and in fact stopped in front of a palace maid, she immediately asked indignantly, "Who is that person? What did His Majesty give her?"
Zhou Baolin questioned her in a low voice: "Didn't you tell me not to talk just now?"
Consort Zhao glared at her, but she didn't dare to make any noise. Seeing the imperial carriage start moving again, the three of them bowed their heads politely again.
Although Qingzan raised her pale and beautiful face, her pupils looked down respectfully and solemnly, not daring to look directly at the king on the imperial carriage.
Until the imperial carriage sets off again.
The famous eunuch in front of the emperor did not accompany the emperor away, but turned around and walked in front of her.
Qingzan recognized the box he handed over almost at first sight. The style and lacquer pattern were the same as the one she held in her hand when she escaped from Lianbi Palace that day.
There was a storm in my heart.
But he tried to keep calm and stretched out his arm to take it.
"Your Majesty has something else to ask me to bring to you." Knowing that His Majesty treats people specially, Xu Delu's attitude was naturally extra kind and he even used respectful titles.
Qing Zan had no intention of being polite and courteous to him at this moment. She forced herself to calm down amidst the pounding of her heart, which was beating like heavy rain, and spoke in a neither humble nor arrogant manner, "Please speak, eunuch."
Xu Delu smiled even more flatteringly: "The first sentence is, Your Majesty, please send this jade material to Lady Yang."
"yes."
"The second sentence is, His Majesty is asking whether you will be serving in Ziquan Palace or Fengzao Palace. If it is Ziquan Palace, you can accompany him there now since it's convenient. If it is Fengzao Palace, please go back and inform the Empress that His Majesty will be dining at Fengzao Palace tonight."
Qingzan's body swayed slightly, then she knelt firmly again. She could hear the teasing and coercion in the tone. She had no choice, and she couldn't give a direct answer. So she just said calmly, "Yes."
"And one more thing..."
Just as Xu Delu was about to continue speaking, he saw the woman in front of him frowning slightly with her willow-leaf eyebrows.
It was as if she was blaming him for not letting him go on, but the next moment she saw that her face was fine, as calm and peaceful as before, as if that frown was just his illusion.
He cleared his throat, feeling that the words coming out of his own mouth had a strange taste: "His Majesty asked me to tell you one last thing. He said -"
"I found you."
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