Chapter 6 – Big News
"I went to the Cold Palace [1] to visit Ning Yan."
Liu Ning Yan, was someone who entered the Palace to become court maids at the same time with Ying Er and me. Because our ages were more or less the same and we lived quite close to each other, we became good friends. Ning Yan was the most beautiful court maid who entered the Palace that year. Just like her name, that beauty was like a mist condensing the form of a weeping willow in Autumn, not knowing when it would disseminate, bringing forth a feeling that made people want to protect it with their hands.
It was also because of her beauty that Ning Yan was not willing to resign herself to be a court maid for life. In the second year after entering the palace, she immediately thought of ways to gain the Third Prince Pei Yuan Hao"s favor, and become his wife.
At that time, we were happy for her as her sisters. We thought her long-awaited wish had been realized. Who knew that Pei Yuan Hao had too many women by his side that not even two months had pa.s.sed that she had lost his favor. Later on, because she committed an offence, she was kicked into the Cold Palace, never to see the light of the day again.
At that time, we finally understood. This is the Royal Family.
No matter how much love you receive, unexpected calamities of the royal family would come faster than favor. How high we could climb in the Imperial Palace, could also cause us to fall just as hard.
It was also at that time that I thought of a plan. I"ll live in the palace without stirring up any trouble and try my best not to attract anyone"s eye. I only needed to endure a few more years and wait for the day where I"ll be bestowed pardon to leave the palace, then I could leave this chaotic place and go back to being an ordinary girl.
And so after all these years, I"ve given up so many opportunities of getting promoted and just stayed in this deserted storehouse.
Hearing Ning Yan"s name being mentioned, Ying Er looked shocked. "She, is she still well?"
I sighed. "Not really. The expenditure for food and clothes was especially docked by a big amount so I gifted her a few things."
"So because you went to the Cold Palace to accompany Ning Yan for a night, you lied?"
I lowered my head and avoided Ying Er"s probing eyes. "Yeah."
Ying Er then nodded and let out a breath. "If it"s like that, then I feel a.s.sured. Qing Ying, I"m really scared that you"d become the second Ning Yan."
"What?"
"You still don"t know?" Ying Er looked around making sure there aren"t any people around and lowered her voice. "I just heard the court maids on duty gossiping, at the crown prince"s wedding banquet, after the happy festivity was over and the crown prince and imperial princess completed their marriage ceremony, the third prince then appeared. I heard he was really drunk that people couldn"t recognize him, but I heard that while he was really drunk, he bestowed favor on a girl but can"t seem to remember who."
My heart felt like it took a beating as my face paled.
"After hearing that, I was really scared because you didn"t came back yesterday night and I thought it was because you were meeting the Third Prince. But since it doesn"t seem to be true, I feel a.s.sured." She said to me smiling. "Because, I was at the administration when I heard some really good news.
[1] Cold Palace: The place where any prince, princess, concubine, or anyone else who had fallen out of favor but were not allowed to leave the imperial palace, would be subjected to live in.