When Yun Fenghuang and Nian Xuan arrived at the gate of Ning Bi Hall, two unfamiliar gate-keeping maids looked at them with hostility.
However, they didn"t do anything improper or say anything bad before Yun Fenghuang approached. Seeing that she was about to enter directly, they reached out to stop her, saying politely, "Cheng Gui, please stop. Now My Lady is grounded. Without the permission of Empress Dowager, Queen Mothers, His Majesty or Her Highness, we cannot let you in."
Nian Xuan thought that these people might have been warned by Qing Die.
"I dare not disturb My Lady." Yun Fenghuang also said politely, "Here is the thing. When I came here before, a maid of My Lady had commanded that it was not allowed to play any instruments or dance in Hu Zhu Palace. However, His Majesty invited me to visit Tai Ye Pool. So, I have to ask My Lady for instruction. Can I dance for His Majesty beside Tai Ye Pool?"
The two gate-keeping maids" eyes twitched, and they said after a while, "That maid is no longer here. We are newcomers. Please forgive us that we don"t know the rules."
"Could you get in and ask My Lady for instruction for me?" Yun Fenghuang smiled and looked very accessible, "I just joined the Imperial Harem, and there are no other sisters in this palace to ask for instructions. If My Lady gets angry for this, we cannot afford the consequence, right?"
Everyone in the Imperial Harem knew that you wished to provoke Consort Yue to death early!
What could the consequence be??
The maids were very angry, but didn"t dare to make trouble. They looked at each other for a moment, and one of them went in reluctantly.
After a while, she came out and said that Consort Yue was taking a nap with some maids close to her. She didn"t dare to bother, "My Lady hasn"t slept well for the past two days. If I walked over and disturbed her, the consequence might violate Cheng Gui"s original intention..."
"You"re definitely right." Yun Fenghuang nodded and approved, as if she really cared about Consort Yue, "In Hu Zhu Palace, naturally everyone should take My Lady at first place. In this case, I will go first and then pay respects to My Lady when I come back."
"Farewell, Cheng Gui." The two maids breathed a sigh of relief, saying goodbye immediately.
Leaving Ning Bi Hall, Yun Fenghuang and Nian Xuan walked towards the side door, which led the most accessible way to Tai Ye Pool.
All the way, Yun Fenghuang seemed to think about something.
Nian Xuan asked secretly why she went there.
Yun Fenghuang said that the maid did not ask Consort Yue for sure. She just stayed in a spot where they could not see for a while, and then made an excuse after coming out... It was not surprising. As for Consort Yue"s temper and current situation, everyone did not dare to ask for instructions for Yun Fenghuang, lest they would be punished.
The two maids were not stupid, and they would absolutely not tell it to Consort Yue.
As for the two maids" thoughts, even Nian Xuan could tell, so she believed that her lady had already known it.
In this case, they failed to stimulate Consort Yue. However, given Yun Fenghuang"s temper, they had specially detoured to come here. How could they give it up that easy?
"Don"t you think Hu Zhu Palace is too quiet in the past two days?" As expected, Yun Fenghuang chuckled and said, "It is too boring."
Nian Xuan was silent. They lived in Hu Zhu Palace for just a few days. On the first day, Yun Fenghuang pulled the skirt of Consort Yue in public. Then she pretended to plead guilty by jumping into the water, but "failed", and then was sent back to Xi Xing Building to recuperate; the next day, Yun Fenghuang lied to the Empress that she was pushed into the pool, which led to Consort Yue being reprimanded and her confidants being disposed by Empress Ji and Queen Mother Ji. Empress Ji also changed the maids in Ning Bi Hall. In the same day, Yun Fenghuang became the first one among all the new concubines to sleep with the Emperor; on the third day, after paid respect, Yun Fenghuang specially pa.s.sed Ning Bi Hall to frighten Qing Die, the gate-keeping maid, and then in front of Emperor Chunjia, she did everything Consort Yue forbade her to do, and continued to sleep with the Emperor at night; the fourth day... today was the fourth day.
Her lady firstly asked n.o.ble Consort Shu to take her to pay respects, and then she went to Yan Fu Palace to betray n.o.ble Consort Shu and Duke Yi"s Mansion. After that, just now she made a deliberate provocation in Ning Bi Hall again...
Quiet?
So quiet?
Even if she was very loyal to Yun Fenghuang, it was hard for her to agree with her lady on this at this moment.
Although she did not know anything about how Hu Zhu Palace used to be, it had suffered many troubles since her lady lived here...
What made her more upset was that Yun Fenghuang not only detoured to Ning Bi Hall, but insisted on detouring to Tong Xia Palace after she left Hu Zhu Palace. Then she complained with tears to the maid of Tong Xia Palace, saying that she had just received a message from a eunuch that Emperor Chunjia invited her to visit Tai Ye Pool. She planned to try her best to serve the Emperor, but she remembered that Consort Yue did not allow people in her palace to dance or play any musical instruments, so she went to Ning Bi Hall to ask for Consort Yue"s instructions. However, Yun Fenghuang continued, "A maid went in for a while and then came out, saying that Consort Yue was resting and they could not bother her... I did not know whether this was true or not. Is Consort Yue unhappy because of my words?"
After all, the maid of Tong Xia Palace was different from that of Ning Bi Hall. Yun Fenghuang was brought in and out by n.o.ble Consort Shu in the past two days as if she was n.o.ble Consort Shu"s favorite sister. Maybe the latter"s trusted attendants knew the difference between Cheng Gui Yun and Mei Ren Yun for n.o.ble Consort Shu, but in gate-keeping maids" opinion, they could not offend Cheng Gui Yun but to flatter her. So, the maid was immediately full of indignation, "My Lady, please wait a moment. I will go in and report for you right now!"
"At this time, Consort Yue is resting. Maybe my sister is also resting." Yun Fenghuang acted cautious and obedient in front of n.o.ble Consort Shu, never calling the latter sister like Yun Qingman, but facing the maid, she called n.o.ble Consort Shu sister without any hesitation. She said with a poor, weak and helpless image, "Don"t bother my sister now... and I"m also afraid that His Majesty will be unhappy for waiting for too long. How about I go to Tai Ye Pool first, and then you tell my sister about this in a while, lest I dare not go back to Hu Zhu Palace later."
As she said, she gave the maid some money. The maid originally planned to flatter Yun Fenghuang. After getting the favor, she claimed that she would definitely bring her words to n.o.ble Consort Shu.
Hearing this, Yun Fenghuang was satisfied and left.
Her steps were obviously lighter. She revolved as she walked: Although it was kind of smooth when she showed her loyalty to the Empress before noon, when it came to her life, it would be unwise to just rely on the help of the Empress.
Emperor Chunjia only wanted to kill her for the sake of Consort Yue.
Since Yun Fenghuang felt that the Emperor invited her to visit Tai Ye Pool with bad intention, she decided to continue to get Consort Yue involved. As for Consort Yue who was grounded now, even if she was not grounded, it was difficult for a Cheng Gui to meet her. It didn"t matter. Anyway, everyone knew that this hostess was full of malice towards people in her palace. And as for Yun Fenghuang, Consort Yue even wanted to get her killed.
In this case, Yun Fenghuang went to the gate of the main hall, seeming like she was asking for instructions respectfully, but showing off and provoking the one inside indeed... If something bad happened after a while, could Consort Yue be innocent?
Anyway, Queen Mother Ji and Empress Ji would not believe it!
Of course, in Yun Fenghuang"s opinion, it seemed that Consort Yue was not enough, so she went to Tong Xia Palace to get n.o.ble Consort Shu involved as well.
She just betrayed Duke Yi"s Mansion in the morning. If something bad happened to her in the afternoon, and she also asked n.o.ble Consort Shu for help before the incident, could anyone prove that it wasn"t Yun"s Family who firstly forced Yun Fenghuang to change her family name to join the Imperial Harem, and now wanted to kill her?
Yun Fenghuang believed that if she really had an accident, Ji"s Family would surely blame that on Yun"s Family!
So, either Consort Yue who was eager to kill her, or n.o.ble Consort Shu, whether she received the news that Yun Fenghuang had betrayed her or not, would better pray that she was safe today.
However, after Yun Fenghuang did all of these, she wasn"t expecting the three concubines to protect her as a union. The one she truly relied on was... Emperor Chunjia.
Because she had detoured twice to ask for help, if something still happened to her, two top representatives of ministers in the Imperial Harem who supported Emperor Chunjia to take over the power, Consort Yue and n.o.ble Consort Shu, would probably be framed by Ji"s Family.
Because of n.o.ble Consort Gui"s pregnancy, the Empress planned to unite n.o.ble Consort Shu contending with faction of powerful ministers and eunuchs, but this kind of cooperation was only temporary.
The contradictions between the imperial relatives who wanted to keep their dictatorship and the royalists were irreconcilable. It was impossible for them to set disputes aside and work together. Even when the Empress sent a signal of alliance, she turned to accept Yun Fenghuang"s loyalty to her. And n.o.ble Consort Shu immediately called her allies she really trusted to discuss the countermeasures right after she returned to Tong Xia Palace... As for n.o.ble Consort Gui, who was targeted by both the Empress and n.o.ble Consort Shu, would also take the same measures as the Empress in dealing with n.o.ble Consort Shu and Consort Yue.
n.o.ble Consort Shu and Consort Yue in the Imperial Harem, or royalists in the court, originally had no advantage. That explained why Emperor Chunjia had no qualifications to take over the throne even if he was old enough.
If they gave Ji"s Family another chance to frame themselves, it was acceptable if Duke Yi"s Mansion and Yuan"s Family suffered a great loss. But it was quite possible that Emperor Chunjia really had no chance to take charge in this life!
After all, everything had changed. In the past, even if n.o.ble Consort Shu and Consort Yue made some mistakes, neither Empress Ji nor n.o.ble Consort Gui would not trouble them for their n.o.ble backgrounds. But Emperor Chunjia had been 23 years old without taking over the power, there must be more and more criticisms. Unless Ji"s Family and faction of powerful ministers and eunuchs wanted to hand over their power, their means of suppression would definitely be more serious to steady their positions.
This time, Yun Fenghuang, a concubine who just joined the Imperial Harem, just said that she was pushed into the water, which made Consort Yue embarra.s.sed and still grounded. It was a proper example to explain the current situation... Both Empress Ji and Queen Mother Ji, even without sending a person to pretend to investigate, immediately identified that Yun Fenghuang was telling the truth. They were sure that Consort Yue intended to murder the new concubine and she was not a good person... Their purpose was very clear.
This situation was very difficult and unfavorable for n.o.ble Consort Shu, Consort Yue and even Emperor Chunjia.
But for Yun Fenghuang...
It was great!
She didn"t believe that Consort Yue was more important than the power in Emperor Chunjia"s mind—if this Emperor was really such a rare person who thought beauty was more important than his country, she could accept the result.
After all, if Emperor Chunjia could not take over the power, he, Consort Yue and even Queen Mother Yuan would definitely have bad ends. Even if Yun Fenghuang died first, she could maintain peace of mind to see their miserable fates.
As she thought of these, she had arrived at the place where the little eunuch had told before. This was a gazebo near the pool with two characters "Sha Lv" written on a hanging plaque. It was built among a bunch of reeds on the sh.o.r.e. The withered reeds had been reaped, and the buds in the clear water were uneven, not luxuriant but very vigorous.
Since it was still a bit chilly in spring, the gazebo was surrounded by bead curtains as a protection against the wind. The table and chairs had been set up inside. The wind blew, faintly spreading the fragrance of Chancan incense which was commonly used by Emperor Chunjia.
Yun Fenghuang and Nian Xuan raised their heads and saw the Emperor"s figure in the gap of the bead curtains blown by the wind.
The young Emperor bowed his head, as if he was observing the color of the tea in front of him seriously. His lips raised, and he"s wearing his gentle image with a smile as usual. However, the starry eyes covered by long eyelashes did not show any emotions, revealing coldness in a casual and leisurely way.
"My Majesty!" Yun Fenghuang squinted at him, smiled suddenly, and ignored Nian Xuan. She lifted the skirt and ran without a salutation. She came directly into the arms of Emperor Chunjia— If it was not because the Emperor was young and often practiced martial arts, he would be hit from the stool with embroidery decorations to the ground. She threw her arms around Emperor Chunjia"s neck without shyness, asking sweetly, "I"m glad to see My Majesty. Are you happy to see me, My Majesty?"
Emperor Chunjia raised his head and smiled at her. The next moment, he grasped her neck without a sign!