Chapter 817 Turbulent Undercurrent
“Miss! Miss!” Lin Mengya was deep in thought when hearing herself called by Ningqiu.
“Oh, I’m sorry for missing your words. Go on please,” Lin Mengya glanced at Ningqiu and said with an embarra.s.sed smile.
She had not let her mind wander for a long time. However, she met Long Tianyu today.
Her mind was occupied with him. Fortunately, the Shen Nung system prevented her from forgetting crucial things.
“It’s my fault. I forgot that you should have a good rest after doing a great thing today. But Madame wonders if it’s a little inappropriate to leave Madame Hui there alone?” Ningqiu said.
Ningqiu thought that Helan let her mind wander again and again because she was tired.
Miss Helan, who had personally handled all kinds of matters concerning Shaoshi Yao’s funeral over the past couple of days, would inevitably be exhausted.
So Ningqiu considerately brought her a lot of nourishing medicinal materials.
Ningqiu became increasingly fond of Miss Helan.
After all, since she came, not only the Empress and Madame Hui had their downfalls successively, but also there was a considerable improvement in the relationship of the Emperor and Madame Jingrou.
Although Madame Jingrou liked Miss Helan, Miss Helan rarely followed Madame Jingrou.
Furthermore, Miss Helan hardly had any contact with anyone other than the members of the Fengyu Court.
Although Miss Helan was out of tune with everything in the imperial palace, she did not overshadow Ningqiu’s leading role.
Miss Helan was more like a guest than a palace maid.
Therefore, even Ningqiu wasn’t jealous of Miss Helan.
After all, she was Madame Jingrou’s most trusted maid who couldn’t possibly be replaced by Helan.
Even though outsiders considered Helan as the palace maid in charge of the Fengyu Court, Ningqiu knew better than anyone that Miss Helan wouldn’t stay in the imperial palace forever.
“If Madame is still worried about that, she can send more people there. But I don’t think it’s necessary. After all, Madame Hui wanted to return to the imperial palace, but she dropped this idea after getting His Majesty’s secret edict. We’re not afraid of her playing any tricks. The most important thing is that Madame must take everything in the imperial palace under her control,” Lin Mengya said.
She did not think it was possible for Madame Hui to turn the tables.
If what had actually happened back then had not been uncovered, Madame Jingrou probably would have pleaded with the Emperor to spare Madame Hui out of a sense of guilt. But now Madame Hui had become a person as unpopular as a rat crossing the street.
She could survive by staying in the Simple Courtyard. If she continued seeking trouble recklessly, given the Lord’s temper, he was unlikely to spare her life.
“That makes sense, Miss. Madame has suffered enough over the years. But, from now on, no one in the imperial palace is a match for Madame anymore. Thank you for changing Madame’s situation in the imperial palace,” Ningqiu said and stared smilingly at Lin Mengya with her eyes full of admiration for her.
Of course, besides her, everyone in the Fengyu Court looked at Miss Helan with new eyes now, not to mention Madame Jingrou who had an affectionate relationship with the Emperor.
“Don’t mention it. If it weren’t for His Majesty’s affection for Madame, my efforts would probably have gone to waste. Nevertheless, Madame and His Majesty should not neglect others when enjoying their sweet time. Although we have brought down the Yao Family, there are imperial concubines from other families in the imperial palace,” Lin Mengya said.
Ningqiu restrained her relaxed expression slightly. Presumably, she was also aware that although the Yao Family had suffered a crushing defeat this time, the other aristocratic families would probably take this opportunity to develop their forces.
After all, if there was going to be a reshuffle of the forces in the imperial palace, Madame Jingrou wouldn’t be able to get the full support of the other imperial concubines.
Madame Jingrou didn’t have the support of a powerful family, which was her weak point.
This weak point could only be filled in by Xiaoyu.
After all, a son particularly favored by the Emperor was a great advantage.
“Okay, I got it. You’d better go to bed early, Miss. By the way, His Majesty said that Madame would stay in his resting palace for a period from now on and wouldn’t go back to the Fengyu Court in a short time. I should go there to serve Madame, so I’ll have to trouble you to handle the affairs here,” Ningqiu said with a blush.
Lin Mengya realized after a while that although Ningqiu was around Baisu’s age, Ningqiu, who had worked in the imperial palace all year round, naturally had received a different education from that of Baisu who was simple.
Lin Mengya nodded calmly. Sometimes, even she felt strange.
How should she put it? She found the girls in the imperial palace particularly capable.
Perhaps they were taught by words and influenced by deeds.
Ningqiu came back not only to express solicitude for her, but also to fetch Madame’s daily necessities.
Seeing that a large group of palace maids almost emptied the resting palace under the command of Ningqiu, Lin Mengya involuntarily showed a trace of warmth in her eyes.
The Emperor really doted on Madame Jingrou!
Due to the various misunderstandings between them before and the Emperor’s intention to protect Madame Jingrou, the Emperor had to restrain his feelings for Madame Jingrou all this time.
Now that everything had fallen into place, both of them felt like they had returned to their youth.
Lin Mengya could totally empathize with their showing off their affection for each other as if there were no one else around.
Compared with them, she and Long Tianyu probably would not be outdone.
The undisguised affection the Emperor suddenly showed for Madame Jingrou inevitably provoked new speculations in the imperial palace.
The Empress was demoted to Shaoshi Yao, and then died of a sudden illness.
No one was sure if there was any connection between the two things.
The trend in the imperial palace obviously changed. Yao Lu’s followers had been roughly divided into three groups.
The first group of people naturally turned to Madame Jingrou, but there weren’t many of them, which was unexpected.
Most of them had been intimidated by Yao Lu, so Madame Jingrou was not quite vigilant against them.
The second group of people were neutral and adopted a watch-and-wait att.i.tude.
After all, even the Emperor could not take the entire Lieyun Empire under his control. That was also the case for the imperial palace. So they naturally thought that Madame Jingrou might also be unable to take the entire imperial palace under her control.
The last group of people became solely a faction and even showed an inclination to draw the neutral forces and those who turned to Madame Jingrou over to their side.
But the Emperor asked Madame Jingrou to move to his resting palace this time, which was a deterrent to this kind of people.
Those who intended to go against Madame Jingrou in the future had better weigh up their capabilities and means before doing that.
As the night fell, Lin Mengya leaned against the window and chatted with Baisu.
In any case, the downfalls of Yao Lu and Madame Hui brought her one step closer to her goal.
Anyway, it was a good beginning. As long as things went according to her plan, Xiaoyu would definitely be able to succeed to the throne of the Lieyun Empire.
Speaking of this, she had no idea what Xiaoyu had been busy with.
She got no news of him other than a letter from him.
Lin Mengya did not ask Xiaoyu, for fear of distracting him.
Baisu was not an outsider and knew her thoughts the best, so she could only share her thoughts with Baisu.
She said, “Xiaoyu has changed a lot. I wonder how Moyan is doing. Ms. Tian and Baiji will definitely take good care of him and make a white and chubby baby out of him. Alas, I just wonder if he can still recognize me when I go back.”
Lin Mengya, who had just taken a shower, was dressed in a pure white gauze dress with her long and slightly wet hair hanging loose behind her head, drinking wine and enjoying the cool with Baisu by the window.
Her gauze dress was slightly transparent, probably because it was wetted by her hair.
Fortunately, all the members, including them, of the Fengyu Court were ladies.
A few days ago, she discovered there was not even a single eunuch in the Fengyu Court.
Later, Lin Mengya learned that the Emperor probably did not like the eunuchs to serve his beloved woman.
Therefore, all the servants in the Fengyu Court were gentle girls coming from decent families.
The Emperor was so childish when it came to his beloved woman that Lin Mengya found it quite funny.
“Yes, young master has indeed grown a lot. Even Prince Lie can’t help praising him. Miss, since you like children so much, why don’t you have a baby with Prince Yu?” Baisu said.
They were drinking the fruit wine offered by Xiaoyu. It was refreshing and tasty, neither bitter nor pungent.
After drinking a few cups of wine, Baisu became much livelier with a blush.
“It’s not the right time yet. Besides, even if I want to have a baby, I have to wait for the right time, don’t I?” Lin Mengya said in an increasingly low voice.
When she thought of the pa.s.sionate kiss in the daytime, her face involuntarily became burning.
She patted her cheeks. Probably because of the wine or something else, she felt the temperature got increasingly high and she got carried away.
It was rare for her to enjoy such a leisurely time. After taking a big sip of the cooled fruit wine, she saw Baisu, who could not hold her liquor, lying on the table, and thought Baisu was so cute.
Who would have imagined that Baisu, a swordswoman highly skilled in martial arts and as cold as ice, turned out to be a wimpy drinker.
Alas, it was a shame to enjoy the good wine and beautiful moonlight alone. She wondered who could share them with her.
“You became so fond of wine when I wasn’t around.” There came a man’s voice.
Then a big hand appeared in front of Lin Mengya and abruptly took the tall and slender porcelain cup away from her.
Lin Mengya turned around with a frown, only to see a slender figure tightly wrapped in black clothes.
“Why are you here? You were discovered by no one, weren’t you?” She, who largely sobered up at once, opened her eyes wide to stare at Long Tianyu with a tipsy look and asked.
How could there be such a coincidence that he appeared in front of her shortly after she thought of him?
She reached out her hand to pinch his face tentatively.
After making sure it was him, she smiled like a satisfied kitten, throwing herself into his arms.
“I have just been thinking of you, and here you are now. Tell me, are you capable of reading my mind?” Lin Mengya said in a particularly nasal voice and in a pettishly charming way totally different from the way she usually talked.
Long Tianyu put the wine cup on the window sill and hoisted Lin Mengya up.
His crystal clear eyes became blurry the moment he saw her lying in his arms with a slight blush.
Her lips were soaked with wine, emitting a fragrance even more tempting than fine old wine.