Chapter 273 Pampered Darling (First Update)
Zhuang Yuexi noticed the Empress Dowager's sudden change in demeanor and thought to herself that the girl was truly doomed. The Empress Dowager was genuinely enraged, and even if His Majesty came today, he couldn't save her!
However, to Zhuang Yuexi's surprise, the Empress Dowager did not make a move for a long time. She stared at Gu Jiao's outstretched hand, and after a long while, her eyes grew colder and colder.
But you're the one who gets angry!
Empress Dowager Zhuang closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and suppressed a surge of rage.
Zhuang Yuexi was excited. It's coming! It's coming!
"Who gave you permission to come in?!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang gave a stern shout.
"Yes, who allowed you to come in?" Zhuang Yuexi thought smugly, but she quickly sensed something was wrong. Why were Eunuch Qin and the others all looking at her?
Her heart skipped a beat for no reason. She looked at Empress Dowager Zhuang and belatedly realized that the words seemed to be directed at her.
Is the Empress Dowager blaming her for trespassing into her bedchamber?
Why? !
Wasn't that girl the one who trespassed first? She even climbed into the Empress Dowager's bed!
That girl is still in bed! The Empress Dowager doesn't punish her, but scolds her own grandniece? What kind of logic is that?!
Before Zhuang Yuexi could figure it out, Empress Dowager Zhuang spoke again, her voice as authoritative and cold as ever: "Who is guarding the bedchamber today?"
Eunuch Qin hurriedly replied, "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, it is Xiao Li Zi and Xiao De Zi."
Empress Dowager Zhuang didn't even lift her eyelids, and said mercilessly, "Twenty strokes of the cane, and expel them from Renshou Palace. I never want to see them again!"
Zhuang Yuexi's body trembled!
She had asked Eunuch Li and Eunuch De to let her in, and she had promised them that she would take full responsibility if anything happened. But in the end, she dragged them both down with her.
Empress Dowager Zhuang may not have been unaware that she had taken the initiative to ask them to do this, but she still did it anyway, as a way of making an example of them.
"Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty—"
Outside the bedchamber, before the two could utter a complete sentence, Eunuch Qin and his men gagged them and dragged them away to be executed.
This is the imperial palace, where no mistakes are allowed. The Empress Dowager went through the same thing. Everyone only saw her radiant side, but they didn't know how hard she had to walk every step of the way.
Was the Empress Dowager born so decisive and ruthless? She only ascended to the throne of Empress Dowager after suffering many losses and witnessing the deaths of many people.
So, did Eunuch Qin sympathize with them?
No sympathy.
Today they were just easily swayed by Zhuang Yuexi's words, but what if they were easily swayed by their opponents' instigation one day? Who would be the one to die then?
The sound of a cane being struck could be heard outside. With each strike, Zhuang Yuexi's face grew paler. By the time Eunuch Qin returned to report, Zhuang Yuexi's face had become completely bloodless.
She looked at herself kneeling at the Empress Dowager's feet, and then at Gu Jiao sitting comfortably on the Empress Dowager's phoenix bed. For a moment, she couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
She was clearly the daughter of the landlord, while that girl was nothing but mud in the dust.
Empress Dowager Zhuang spoke in a deep voice: "What are you standing here for? Do I need to teach you how to do things? You trespassed into my bedchamber and damaged my phoenix seal. What? Are you waiting for me to reward you? You should be glad that you are surnamed Zhuang and are a member of my maternal family. Otherwise, even if you had ten heads, they wouldn't be enough for me to chop off!"
"Empress Dowager!" Zhuang Yuexi was so frightened that she knelt down on the ground.
Empress Dowager Zhuang indifferently shifted her gaze and said coldly, "Go back to the Zhuang family and reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors!"
Zhuang Yuexi said aggrievedly, "The Phoenix Seal isn't..."
Empress Dowager Zhuang coldly interrupted her: "It is you who are already dead."
That's incredibly hurtful.
In front of the palace servants and Gu Jiao, Zhuang Yuexi felt as if she had been slapped hard in the face. The punishment behind closed doors was not terrible; what was terrible was losing face in front of someone she looked down upon.
Gu Jiao's slap only landed on Zhuang Yuexi's face, but the Empress Dowager's slap crushed Zhuang Yuexi's self-esteem.
Zhuang Yuexi felt extremely wronged, and tears began to well up in her eyes: "...Yes, Yuexi takes her leave. Please take care of your health, Your Majesty. Yuexi will visit you in the palace another day."
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "Without my summons, you'd better not come."
Zhuang Yuexi: I was just being polite. Was it necessary to be so extreme?
Zhuang Yuexi left the palace in a disheveled state.
The Zhuang sisters entered the palace to serve the Empress Dowager a few days earlier. However, because the Empress Dowager favored Zhuang Yuexi, Zhuang Mengdie found it boring and packed her bags to go home early, thus avoiding an awkward situation.
Eunuch Qin led the palace maids inside and cleaned up the mess on the floor.
The lamps were lit inside the sleeping quarters.
Perhaps it was because of the presence of a little maid on the phoenix bed that, despite her somewhat incongruous appearance, unexpectedly brought a touch of life to the otherwise austere and cold palace.
Gu Jiao sat on the bed, fiddling with her fingers, unsure whether she should get off or not.
Mrs. Zhuang came to sit down by the bed, staring intently at the back of her reddened hand, but said nothing.
The sharp-eyed eunuch Qin walked over and said to Gu Jiao with a smile, "Miss, your hand is injured. I have some wound medicine here. Please apply some to it."
Gu Jiao looked at her hand strangely: "Where are you hurt? I'm not hurt."
Empress Dowager Zhuang's eyes were icy cold.
Gu Jiao looked at her, then at Eunuch Qin standing to the side.
Eunuch Qin winked at her.
Gu Jiao: "Oh."
She stretched out her little paw: "Okay."
Eunuch Qin made a gesture as if to apply medicine to Gu Jiao, but suddenly seemed to remember something, patted his head and said, "Look at my memory, oh, I just finished sweeping and my hands are not clean. I will trouble the Empress Dowager to apply the medicine for the young lady."
Look, this is what a shrewd person looks like.
Eunuch Qin seemed completely unashamed of his harsh words to Gu Jiao; when it came to face, he didn't care about saving face.
Eunuch Qin gave the medicine to Empress Dowager Zhuang, and then tactfully withdrew with his palace servants.
So the Empress Dowager can be kind after all. How come I didn't know that before? But I suppose the Empress Dowager doesn't want this unknown side of her to be known.
Only Gu Jiao and Empress Dowager Zhuang remained in the room.
Gu Jiao thought for a moment, then held out her hand to Empress Dowager Zhuang: "Hurry up and apply the medicine."
It's almost healed if I don't wipe it off soon!
Empress Dowager Zhuang: "..."
Gu Jiao's hand was indeed fine. After applying some cooling ointment, Empress Dowager Zhuang told her, "Turn around."
"Hmm?" Gu Jiao was slightly taken aback.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said in a deep voice, "I say, turn around."
"Okay." Gu Jiao obediently turned around.
Empress Dowager Zhuang gently lifted Gu Jiao's nightgown. Gu Jiao's small body stiffened for a moment, and she was about to turn around when she heard Empress Dowager Zhuang say, "Don't move!"
Gu Jiao then stopped moving.
Gu Jiao's back was covered with scars. The swelling had subsided, but there were still large patches of bruises. The scars had formed thick scabs, and the skin around the scabs was slightly red.
It itches if you don't scratch, but it hurts if you do. Gu Jiao usually just endures it.
She didn't mention how she got the scars, and instead acted as if nothing had happened as she walked around in front of Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Empress Dowager Zhuang recalled how she would cook one moment and hang upside down from the roof the next, laughing carefree in front of her, and felt a strange tightness in her chest.
She dipped her fingertips in the medicine and gently applied it to her wound.
"Ouch." Gu Jiao's body trembled, and she subconsciously dodged to the side.
"Does it hurt?" Empress Dowager Zhuang asked anxiously.
"It's so itchy," Gu Jiao said.
The itchiest time is when the scabs fall off. Empress Dowager Zhuang couldn't help her with this, so she could only apply more ointment to make her feel cooler.
Gu Jiao sat cross-legged on the phoenix bed, letting her aunt apply medicine to her.
Suddenly, something occurred to her, and she asked, "Grandma, do you remember?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang paused, and said sternly, "No."
"Oh." Gu Jiao said disappointedly.
After applying the medicine, Empress Dowager Zhuang ordered a meal to be served.
Gu Jiao was indeed hungry. She rarely took a nap, but unexpectedly ended up sleeping until evening.
She looked at the exquisite and delicious dishes on the table, including a plate of meat jerky sprinkled with sesame seeds. She and her great-aunt shared the same love for sesame seeds.
This is clearly the butcher shop that Xiao Liulang got from his classmates at the Imperial Academy; the taste is exactly the same.
"Grandma, you really don't remember?" Gu Jiao asked, eating the meat jerky and looking at Empress Dowager Zhuang with some suspicion.
This is clearly what she loves to eat.
Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly, "Just eat your food, why are you talking so much?"
Gu Jiao continued to eat, head down.
The food in the palace was very plentiful, and Gu Jiao even got to eat sea crab.
The crab meat and crab roe are all removed and put back into the crab shell. All the internal organs that need to be removed are removed. One bite with chopsticks, and you'll find plenty of crab roe and crab meat.
"Why isn't Auntie eating?" Gu Jiao asked.
"I have already eaten," said Empress Dowager Zhuang.
Yes, she had eaten, and it was Xiao Liulang's terrible cooking. Empress Dowager Zhuang found it so bad that she didn't want to eat for the next three days!
Gu Jiao thought for a moment, then took out a small paper packet from her purse. Inside were three candied fruits: "Grandma, would you like some of these? Have a little after your meal, it won't cause indigestion."
Empress Dowager Zhuang cleared her throat, took it with a look of disgust, and made sure Gu Jiao didn't see her drool.
It's the taste I remember, sweet and sour, with a faint plum fragrance.
Unlike the candied fruits in the palace, these weren't as sweet, but they were surprisingly delicious.
After finishing the three, Empress Dowager Zhuang was still not satisfied.
Gu Jiao blinked and asked, "Is it a familiar taste?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said in a serious tone, "How could you tell the difference from just three?"
"That's true." Gu Jiao hesitated for a moment, then took out a small paper packet from her purse, which contained three candied fruits.
Empress Dowager Zhuang looked silently at the candied fruit, then glanced at Gu Jiao's purse.
That purse was embroidered by Empress Dowager Zhuang herself. It was Gu Jiao's coming-of-age gift when she turned fifteen. She embroidered two quails and a few quail eggs. Actually, she wanted to embroider mandarin ducks, but the embroidery was not satisfactory, and it ended up looking like quails.
How could she have given away something so stupid?
Empress Dowager Zhuang was very disgusted.
Sure enough, when people's brains are damaged, they do stupid things. This is the dark history of Empress Dowager Zhuang's entire life.
Empress Dowager Zhuang finished eating the three candied fruits.
Back when she was still the old lady, Gu Jiao only allowed Empress Dowager Zhuang to eat three pills a day, and only five during the New Year. If she wanted to eat more, she had to find a way to hide them from her.
However, she couldn't really hide much, because Xiao Jingkong loved to check up on her, and if he found out anything, he would go and complain to her!
Empress Dowager Zhuang was still not satisfied after eating six. She snorted and said, "What do you mean by familiar or unfamiliar? I couldn't taste anything. Have a few more to try!"
Gu Jiao looked at her suspiciously: "Auntie, you're not doing this on purpose just to get a few candied fruits, are you?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang choked: "How...how could this be!"
In the end, Empress Dowager Zhuang did not get to eat the seventh candied fruit. Not only that, before leaving, Gu Jiao also instructed Eunuch Qin not to allow Empress Dowager Zhuang to eat sweets, and she was also forbidden from eating certain fruits with high sugar content. She had to abstain from certain foods.
Eunuch Qin smiled and agreed.
Empress Dowager Zhuang's face turned completely black!
After Zhuang Yuexi returned to the Zhuang family in tears, Grand Tutor Zhuang asked her what was wrong, whether something had happened to the Empress Dowager, and why she was crying so much.
When the Empress Dowager was sent to the imperial palace to recuperate, Zhuang Yuexi didn't shed a single tear, even though she was somewhat saddened.
Zhuang Yuexi said aggrievedly, "The Empress Dowager... the Empress Dowager has banished me from the palace..."
Grand Tutor Zhuang was utterly puzzled: "Why?"
Zhuang Yuexi recounted how she caught Gu Jiao climbing into the Empress's bedchamber and how Gu Jiao slapped her, causing her to break the imperial seal: "...It was clearly her fault, she was the one who hit me, that's why I bumped into her! But the Empress Dowager blamed everything on me..."
Grand Tutor Zhuang frowned in confusion: "Didn't the Empress Dowager dote on you? How could this be..."
How could Zhuang Yuexi possibly say that the Empress Dowager favored that girl more than her?
But it's strange, the Empress Dowager wasn't so obvious during the day, but at night she seemed like a completely different person. Something must have happened in between!
She expressed her doubts.
Grand Tutor Zhuang remained silent for a long time before saying, "I understand. You go back to your room first. I will go to the palace to see the Empress Dowager tomorrow."
"Yes." Zhuang Yuexi replied reluctantly, her eyes red as she went back into the house.
The next day, after the morning court session, Grand Tutor Zhuang caught up with Empress Dowager Zhuang's imperial carriage: "Empress Dowager!"
Empress Dowager Zhuang raised her hand.
The palace maid kneeling beside her understood and whispered, "Stop."
The phoenix carriage stopped near the Golden Palace.
Grand Tutor Zhuang bowed respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, may I have a word with you in private?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang dusted off her wide sleeves: "Speak, there is no one here who cannot listen."
"Yes." Grand Tutor Zhuang glanced at the expressionless palace attendants carrying the sedan chair and Eunuch Qin, stepped forward, and approached the high and mighty phoenix carriage, saying, "Xi'er caused trouble in the palace. I have already disciplined her when she returned. Please forgive her, Your Majesty."
"Speak like a human being," Empress Dowager Zhuang said calmly.
Empress Dowager Zhuang disliked beating around the bush unless necessary, but clearly, there was no such need with her own brother.
Grand Tutor Zhuang sighed and said, "I asked Xi'er about what happened yesterday. She was indeed wrong to trespass into the Empress Dowager's bedchamber. However, she is, after all, the Empress Dowager's own grand-niece. Wasn't it too unfair to punish her in front of so many servants and a commoner?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang said, "She is not a commoner, but the daughter of the Marquis of Ding'an, and the wife of the newly appointed top scholar."
Grand Tutor Zhuang: Is that the point?
Empress Dowager Zhuang continued, "Furthermore, she dared to forge my imperial edict; what excuse do you expect me to give her?"
Grand Tutor Zhuang was unaware of the false imperial edict; if it were true, then it would be no small matter.
This is just as unforgivable as falsely conveying an imperial edict.
Empress Dowager Zhuang: Ha, how dare she tell Jiaojiao that I don't want her anymore? She'd better go to heaven.
Grand Tutor Zhuang originally came to question him, but he ended up being outmaneuvered and extremely embarrassed. He naturally blamed Zhuang Yuexi for being secretive and not making things clear, but he was also very curious about the girl's fate.
Grand Tutor Zhuang looked at the Empress Dowager in the imperial carriage and asked, "May I ask how the Empress Dowager dealt with that girl?"
He didn't care about the top scholar's wife, nor did he care about the daughter of a marquis. The point was that she had climbed into the emperor's bed and smashed the imperial seal, so she deserved to die!
"Do I need to explain to you what I do?" Empress Dowager Zhuang shot her a cold glare.
Grand Tutor Zhuang immediately fell silent. He cracked his knuckles and said, "Then... I shall take my leave."
"Wait a minute," Empress Dowager Zhuang called out to him. "You've come at the right time. I just remembered something. I recently sent your granddaughter quite a few things. Return them all to me!"
Grand Tutor Zhuang stumbled and almost fell over!
Did he hear that right?
The Empress Dowager sent them out, and now she wants them to return them?
You, you are the Empress Dowager of a country, how could you do such a thing?
The original Empress Dowager Zhuang would never have done something so unbecoming of her status, but she is now Empress Dowager Zhuang who has experienced hardship!
Her precious daughter even sold mountain produce at the market to support her family. What does her social status matter! Can you even eat that?!
She earned her money through her own abilities, so why should she give it to the wrong people?
She's coming back, what's wrong!
Grand Tutor Zhuang nearly coughed up blood. So why did he come looking for her? He wouldn't have remembered if he hadn't come looking for her.
When Grand Tutor Zhuang returned to his residence, Zhuang Yuexi was overjoyed and waited for her grandfather to seek justice for her. However, she was met with her grandfather's stammering response instead.
"Grandfather, what's wrong? What did the Empress Dowager say?" she asked.
Grand Tutor Zhuang coughed lightly and said, "The Empress Dowager wants you to return the things she bestowed upon you."
Zhuang Yuexi's face paled: "What?"
Grand Tutor Zhuang also felt that he had been wronged in this matter, and he said awkwardly, "Anyway, didn't you say you didn't like it?"
When did she ever say she didn't like it? She only said it was different from her previous preferences. Besides, it's one thing if it's not something she likes, but it's another thing if the Empress Dowager wants it back!
Suddenly realizing something, Zhuang Yuexi exclaimed, "Then... what about the princess's residence in the south of the city? Surely the Empress Dowager won't take it back too?"
When Eunuch Qin, who had come to collect the items on the Empress Dowager's orders, reached the door, he heard this. He turned to the accompanying eunuch and said, "Go back and ask the Empress Dowager whether the new residence should be taken back?"
Zhuang Yuexi: "...!!"
Why did she have to say that?!
I checked the monthly votes in the middle of the night, and it's only 7878! Are you guys doing this on purpose? How about 7888?
(End of this chapter)
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