Chapter 378 Happiness (First Update)
The Emperor and Empress Dowager Zhuang were busy with their battle of wits, and neither of them noticed the unusual behavior of Consort Jing opposite them. In other words, at that moment, Consort Jing became invisible to them.
Gu Jiao, who had been observing Consort Jing's reaction, saw everything.
She didn't really understand.
Consort Jing was ruthless enough to drug the emperor and arrange for his assassination. Although the assassination attempt that night may not have been intended to kill the emperor, but rather to frighten and injure him to frame her aunt, it still shows that she did not love the emperor that much.
So why should she care who the emperor favors?
Gu Jiao is not a controlling person, so she naturally cannot understand Consort Jing's feelings.
But if we had to put ourselves in her shoes, it would be like if Xiao Jingkong, who always talked about Jiaojiao, suddenly stopped liking her and started clinging to someone else. She would probably be very hurt.
However, Xiao Jingkong's relationship with her was different from the Emperor's relationship with Consort Jing.
Therefore, Gu Jiao felt that this substitution was not entirely accurate.
However, this did not prevent her from directly observing Consort Jing's subtle actions.
Oh wow, it's angry!
He's still pretty angry!
Gu Jiao simply rested her chin on her hands and looked at Consort Jing with great interest.
Consort Jing's senses were not usually so dull, but perhaps she was so angry that it took her a long time to notice the two strange gazes fixed on her.
She turned her head and met Gu Jiao's gaze.
Generally speaking, being caught peeping at someone is quite embarrassing, and you have to immediately look away and pretend nothing happened.
Gu Jiao refused.
She wasn't embarrassed.
She even looked at the handkerchief with several small holes poked in it in Consort Jing's hand with exceptional good temper, raised her eyebrows, as if to signal to her.
—Please continue, don't be shy, anyway, even if the handkerchief is torn, it's not mine!
The most shameful thing in the world is not having feelings of jealousy that you shouldn't have, but being caught being jealous by others. So in the end, the one who was truly caught was Consort Jing.
Consort Jing froze, her heart pounding with anxiety.
She stood up abruptly: "I'm not feeling well, I'll be leaving now."
After saying that, she turned around dramatically.
This was naturally intended to attract the emperor's attention, to evoke his shame and pity through a spiteful act, but unfortunately, she miscalculated.
The emperor was enraged when Empress Dowager Zhuang wiped his mouth with a dirty handkerchief. He tried to dodge, but Empress Dowager Zhuang pressed his head down. He then tried to pry her hands off.
Honestly, this scene...it's almost like a fight broke out.
Both Eunuch Wei and Eunuch Qin couldn't bear to watch anymore and turned their faces away, each gazing at the sky.
Apart from Gu Jiao and Cai Mama, a trusted servant of Consort Jing, no one noticed that Consort Jing had stormed off in a huff.
Gu Jiao naturally wouldn't keep her.
She paused for a moment, looked at the two who were arguing fiercely, and noticed Gu Jiao's gaze.
She looked at Gu Jiao again.
Gu Jiao gestured for them to proceed.
Aren't you leaving?
Let's go?
Stop lingering!
Consort Jing was furious and left with a livid face.
When the emperor finally escaped the clutches of Empress Dowager Zhuang and looked up to see Consort Jing, she was nowhere to be seen.
The Emperor was momentarily embarrassed. He glared at Empress Dowager Zhuang: "Now look what's happened. You've angered the Consort and sent her away. Can't the Empress Dowager restrain herself a little in front of Consort Jing? This is an act for the murderer, not for..."
He was speaking when Empress Dowager Zhuang slapped the dirty handkerchief onto his face with a loud thud. Then she stood up and said, "Jiaojiao, let's go!"
Even when Empress Dowager Zhuang pressed a dirty handkerchief to wipe his mouth, her tone and smile showed no sign of impatience, making her seem like a kind mother with a slightly wicked sense of humor who loved to joke around with herself.
The emperor almost believed it to be true, thinking that Empress Dowager Zhuang was actually taking her charade seriously and doting on her son!
He was about to say to her: "Please don't take this seriously. I'm just acting with you. I will never consider you my mother. My only mother is Consort Jing."
As a result, Empress Dowager Zhuang snapped out of her act in a second, reverting to her domineering and regal demeanor. Her swift change of attitude left the emperor speechless!
Emperor: "...you just left like that?"
Empress Dowager Zhuang snorted, not even deigning to give him a glance, and strode away with Gu Jiao.
emperor:"……"
Meanwhile, Consort Jing led Granny Cai back to the nunnery.
Throughout the journey, she maintained a gentle and proper demeanor, but her face turned cold as soon as she entered her meditation room.
In Cai Mama's view, her mistress was asking for trouble. Since the emperor had been drugged, his closeness to her would gradually decrease. There was no need to verify anything in front of the emperor; it was obvious, and there was no solution.
The master probably understands all of this, but he just can't accept it in his heart.
Over the years, the emperor has been too good to her, so good that she has forgotten where this kindness came from. Perhaps she hasn't forgotten, but she has also put in a lot of effort, believing that they have cultivated an unbreakable mother-son bond.
To put it bluntly, it's her pride and self-esteem that won't allow it; she feels she shouldn't be so unattractive, unable to even manage a son.
—He must have truly developed a mother-son relationship with me.
Consort Jing had said this to Granny Cai more than once.
Granny Cai still remembers the smile on Consort Jing's face. It was an incredibly happy smile, but it wasn't a mother showing off her affection for her son. It was more like a victorious general showing off his spoils of war.
Now that trophy is gone.
His self-esteem and pride were crushed.
Regardless of the circumstances, Consort Jing was still her mistress, and as a servant, Granny Cai would never harbor any disloyalty towards her.
She just didn't want to see her master continue to wallow in such terrible emotions.
“Your Highness the Imperial Concubine…” she looked at the other person intently.
Consort Jing, however, summoned the Dragon Shadow Guards with a flick of her sleeve.
A sense of foreboding rose in Granny Cai's heart. She asked nervously, "Your Highness... what are you going to do?"
Consort Jing looked at the Dragon Shadow Guards before her, who were like killing machines, and said coldly, "Go to Renshou Palace and kill Empress Dowager Zhuang!"
Granny Cai was horrified: "Your Highness! You can't do this! If you're discovered, you'll have no way out! You'll be buried with the Empress Dowager!"
Consort Jing coldly looked at the Dragon Shadow Guard: "Be discreet and don't let anyone find out, or you won't be coming back!"
The Dragon Shadow Guards are capable of infiltrating Renshou Palace to kill people.
The reason we didn't do this before was because it wasn't necessary. Empress Dowager Zhuang was fighting with the emperor day and night, and her life was not easy at all. Wouldn't it be better to watch her suffer than to kill her?
However, the Dragon Shadow Guards did not move.
Consort Jing frowned: "I'm sending you to Renshou Palace to kill Empress Dowager Zhuang Jinse!"
The Dragon Shadow Guards remained motionless.
Consort Jing repeated the order to make sure the Dragon Shadow Guards heard it, but they still refused to carry it out.
When the Dragon Shadow Guard was first assigned to her side, the emperor ordered them to obey her every command.
But she also knew that the orders of the Dragon Shadow Guards were hierarchical.
The first order he obeyed came from the late emperor, and the second from the current emperor.
The Dragon Shadow Guards will not carry out her orders if they conflict with those they have previously given.
Since the emperor gave the Dragon Shadow Guards to her, he has never spoken to them again.
In other words, before she obtained the Dragon Shadow Guards, someone had already given them orders not to harm Zhuang Jinse.
Who gave this order to the Dragon Shadow Guard?
Is it the emperor? Or the late emperor?
If it was the late emperor, then what was the purpose of that imperial edict?
If it were the emperor, the late emperor would have passed the Dragon Shadow Guard to the emperor before his death. At that time, his relationship with Empress Dowager Zhuang had already begun to break down, but he still ordered the Dragon Shadow Guard not to harm her.
Consort Jing couldn't understand it. She didn't know which of the two men had protected Zhuang Jinse, since Zhuang Jinse was clearly so unworthy!
As a wife, she never truly loved her husband. She used the late emperor her whole life, turning his entire harem into leeks in her pot.
As a mother, she never wholeheartedly assisted her son. She ruled from behind the curtain, monopolized power in the court, and turned the emperor into a puppet emperor who was ridiculed.
Zhuang Jinse is a wicked empress who brought ruin to the country, the source of all evil, and everyone has the right to kill her!
"Your Highness... Your Highness..." Seeing that Consort Jing's expression was getting worse, Granny Cai stepped forward worriedly and gently supported her arm. "You're tired. Don't think about anything. I'll help you to bed to rest for a while."
Consort Jing raised her head in a daze, but in the instant she turned around, her blood surged, and she spat out a mouthful of blood—
Renshou Palace.
Empress Dowager Zhuang is very happy today.
Not only did he slap his silly son a few times, but he also got the five candied fruits he had worked so hard to earn. No, including yesterday's, it was ten in total!
She found her little candy jar, ate only five candies, and saved the remaining five to eat when food ran out later!
That's how clever the ruthless and cunning empress who brought ruin to the country was!
Gu Jiao had lunch at Renshou Palace before leaving.
Eunuch Qin sent a carriage to take her.
Gu Jiao didn't return to the clinic; instead, she gave the driver a different place name.
The carriage moved at a moderate speed, maintaining a driving frequency that was neither too slow nor too fast, just right to keep Gu Jiao from getting anxious or too bumpy.
Gu Jiao was very satisfied, thinking that the coachman from Renshou Palace was indeed worthy of his reputation.
Gu Jiao was in a good mood today. She even hummed a few lines of a tune she had heard from Gu Chengfeng in the car. However, while her voice was good for singing popular songs from her previous life, it was not very good for singing opera.
The coachman almost drove the carriage into the ditch several times because he couldn't resist!
The carriage stopped at the entrance of the Narcissus Embroidery Building.
The coachman said, "Miss Gu, I'll be waiting for you here."
Gu Jiao said, "No need, I'll go back by myself in a bit, you go back to the palace."
People from Renshou Palace are all shrewd. He realized that Gu Jiao wanted to do her own thing, so he didn't insist and drove the carriage back to the palace.
Gu Jiao passed through the Narcissus Embroidery Building and arrived at the underground martial arts arena of the dye house.
Old He had been pacing at the door for a long time. When he finally saw Gu Jiao, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh my, I was so scared, little brother Gu! I thought you weren't coming!"
Gu Jiao had already changed her clothes and put on a mask while in the carriage.
She took out her notebook and quickly wrote: "Is it my turn to perform today?"
Old He hurriedly said, "We're here! Don't worry, the first match won't be difficult. I've already given you instructions; with your skill level, it shouldn't be a problem! I've already explained the rules to you, right? You still remember them, don't you?"
Gu Jiao nodded.
The rules of the underground martial arts arena are similar to those of Taihe Martial Arts School, also a promotion system, but more stringent and brutal. Here, there are ten levels, and for example, a novice can advance one level for every ten wins.
You can challenge opponents of higher levels, but unlike in a martial arts school, winning doesn't automatically take away the opponent's score.
Gu Jiao glanced at the most conspicuous wall in the martial arts arena, where a black and gold relief banner hung high, with several small wooden plaques hanging on it in order.
“What is that?” Gu Jiao wrote.
Old He looked at it and revealed an extremely respectful expression: "That is the ranking list of masters in the underground martial arts arena. The top 100 are all on the list."
"What will happen if I make the list?" Gu Jiao wrote again.
Old He smiled and said, "I can receive offerings from the underground martial arts arena."
You get paid?
Gu Jiao's eyes lit up: "How much should we offer?"
Old He patiently explained: "Those under fifty receive very little, ranging from one to ten taels a month. Those over fifty receive twenty taels a month, those over forty receive fifty taels a month, those over thirty receive one hundred taels a month, and those under twenty receive offerings based on their respective status."
Gu Jiao quickly typed again: "What's the highest one?"
Old He took it as a casual question out of curiosity and didn't think her ambitions could be that great. Old He said, "There is no limit."
Gu Jiao wrote: "So that means you can have as many as you want?"
“It’s based on the value of the donations. As far as I know, there’s a top donor who received this much in a single month.” Old He said, holding up one finger.
Gu Jiao wrote in surprise, "One thousand taels?"
Old He smiled and said, "Gold."
Gu Jiao looked at the murderous aura emanating from the dueling platform, narrowed her eyes slightly, and licked her lips.
She likes it here.
Top of the list: Did you ask me if I agreed?
(End of this chapter)
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