Chapter 19 Entrance V Announcement

Chapter 19 Entrance V Announcement

Su Peisheng didn’t have time to dwell on his thoughts and gestured for Zhao Song to come and guard the door. He then hurried down the steps to the white jade stone plaza in front of the hall and waited.

The light blue soft sedan chair slowly landed, swaying gently and revealing a peach-colored figure.

Her cloud-like hair and cherry-red lips framed a double-breasted palace dress that revealed her slender neck, while the peach-colored qipao accentuated her curvaceous figure, making her look alluring.

It was Consort Qi, née Li.

While Su Peisheng lamented inwardly, he couldn’t help but acknowledge that although this lady lacked brains and had lost her child, there was a reason she was favored in the prince’s residence.

Consort Li, with her fox-like eyes marked with a peach blossom, lazily glanced at Su Peisheng, exuding an indescribable charm.

"Su Gonggong, has the emperor not gone to rest yet? I’ve brought a hangover remedy for him," she said.

Su Peisheng bowed and smiled without moving from his spot, "In reply to Consort Li, the emperor has already gone to rest."

Consort Qi arched her delicate eyebrows and glanced at the still-bright candles inside the hall, her beautiful face now tinged with anger.

"I’ll just take a look and leave," she said, not wanting to waste words with Su Peisheng. Supported by her maid, she stepped forward, confident that Su Peisheng wouldn’t dare to stop her.

Su Peisheng indeed didn’t dare to collide with Consort Qi, but he still retreated and blocked her way.

"Consort Li, please don’t make things difficult for this servant. Without an announcement, if we let you in, we would lose our heads."

Consort Qi, not caring at all, stepped up two layers of stairs with an overbearing air, "Then you should—"

Before she could finish her sentence, having moved a bit closer to the Hall of Mental Cultivation and not being deaf, she instantly heard the familiar sounds of intimacy from inside.

Her expression darkened, and clutching her handkerchief, she glared at Su Peisheng, coldly demanding, "Who is inside?"

The Empress, that old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud, would never come to curry favor. As for the others, Consort Qi didn’t give them a second thought.

Dare to steal her favor? They must be asking for trouble!

Su Peisheng straightened his back slightly, lowering his eyelids, intending to gently remind her.

"Please forgive this servant, Consort Li. It’s no longer the time when he was just a prince. I can tell you about matters in the study, but..."

"Matters in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, if anyone dares to gossip, they would be immediately beaten to death at the Imperial Punishment Bureau."

He smiled humbly and respectfully, "It’s getting late. Once the keys are put away, movement becomes difficult. I suggest Consort Li return early."

Consort Qi was left speechless, her face turning livid, but she wasn’t one to take advice. She was about to proceed forward.

The guards at the Hall of Mental Cultivation tugged their sword sheaths, making a sound that stopped her in her tracks.

She glared at Su Peisheng with malice, then finally sneered after a moment.

"I’ll remember your kindness, Su Dazongguan!"

With a cold face, like a biting wind, Consort Qi entered the sedan chair and left the Hall of Mental Cultivation at a speed faster than when she had come.

Upon returning to Changchun Palace, Consort Qi hurled a set of green jade porcelain teacups to the ground, her teeth clenched in fury.

*

"Find out! I want to know who is asking for trouble!"

The personal attendant, palace maid Hong Ying, persuaded with a pained expression, "My lady, please calm your anger. While Su Peisheng may be overstepping, he does have a valid point."

"If you go out now... the Empress will find a way to make things difficult for you."

The emperor, once settled in a place, rarely ventured elsewhere. In the prince’s residence, the only one who could be considered favored was Lady Li.

In the main courtyard, aside from the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, people hardly ever saw him.

Lady Li believed she was favored because she had more children than the main courtyard, and she was not known for having a good temper. She was arrogant and domineering, showing no respect for Ula Nara.

Once she entered the palace and became the only consort in the imperial harem, she became even more ostentatious.

At first, seeing that the emperor didn’t come to the harem, Lady Li bribed palace maids and searched for information about the emperor’s whereabouts to intercept him.

However, she forgot that while it wasn’t a major mistake to inquire about the master’s whereabouts in the prince’s residence, spying on the emperor’s movements in the palace was a serious offense.

Before the emperor could respond, the Empress reported the matter to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager directly punished Lady Li with three months of house arrest, making her pray for the victims of the disaster, which finally kept Lady Li in line until now.

Today, however, Lady Li was livid, and in her rage, she hurled a teapot, shouting—

"If some shameless wretch dares to sneak into the emperor’s chambers, am I not allowed to investigate?"

"Go and investigate! We’re only checking who visits the emperor, not where the emperor goes. If I don’t even dare to do this, I might as well wait for death, and I shouldn’t be the main lady of Changchun Palace!"

Hong Ying, helpless, didn’t dare to persuade her further while her lady was still angry. She also valued her own life.

But after leaving the room, she quietly reminded the chief eunuch of Changchun Palace, Li Mao—

"Just go through the motions. We’ll know by tomorrow morning anyway. Don’t get any wrong ideas."

"It’s not like the old days, and today is an important day. The lady’s favor is not what it used to be. We must be extremely careful not to provoke the Empress and the Empress Dowager."

Li Mao nodded slightly. "Rest assured, sister. I understand."

Since the emperor’s first summons wasn’t for their lady and the second prince was sickly, the current hot spot wasn’t Changchun Palace, so even if he wanted to act arrogant, he couldn’t.

Lady Li was angry inside for a long time, too upset to sleep. She waited and waited but didn’t receive any report from Hong Ying, and her anger gradually cooled along with her heart.

Tears fell unknowingly, streaming down her face.

Hong Ying had grown up with her, and she didn’t doubt her loyalty.

Because she knew Hong Ying was acting for her own good, it made Lady Li feel even worse now that Changchun Palace had become blind to what was happening, and she had lost her favor.

She could only suppress her anger and sorrow. Lady Li used a handkerchief that was already crumpled beyond recognition to wipe her tears, and her once enchanting face slowly lost all expression.

Before, she was able to suppress Ula Nara in the prince’s residence, and now she would never admit defeat!

Without favor, she would fight for it. Anyone who dared to block her path would face death!

*

In fact, although news from the Hall of Mental Cultivation was hard to obtain, the fact that water was called for in the middle of the night was handled by the Bureau of Bedchambers and couldn’t be hidden.

Hong Ying was right.

If an elder consort served the emperor, they would pay respects at Yongshou Palace, and the Empress would likely offer some pointed comments.

If a new consort served the emperor, they would also have to bow before the Empress, so the consorts in the harem would always find out who had been favored.

The first to know wasn't the queen in charge of the imperial records, but Geng Shuning, who was woken from her sleep in Cining Palace.

Niuheru Jingyi's eyes were red and swollen, trembling with rage.

"How dare she! To use such despicable tactics in Cining Palace—if she dares to do this here, won't she eventually target the imperial children too? She must be desperate!"

Geng Shuning sat up groggily and asked instinctively, "Who is it?"

Realizing it could only be Tong Siya, she looked up and, by the light of the oil lamp in Niuheru Jingyi's hand, noticed the fading red marks on her face.

It looked like an allergic reaction.

Geng Shuning recalled what Geng Xue had secretly told her the previous night—Dan Zhu had gone to the Imperial Household Department, saying that the ice supply in Cining Palace wasn't enough and requested more be sent over; nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

But now, it seemed that what had been delivered to Cining Palace wasn't just ice.

Niuheru Jingyi put down the oil lamp and, in her anger, tore the handkerchief in her hand.

"That vile woman! I knew all along she wasn't a good thing!"

"She knew I'm allergic to crabapple flowers. If I hadn't been too busy yesterday and had noticed the discoloration of the ice in the ice chest, I wouldn't have let her take advantage of the situation!"

The previous evening, Niuheru Jingyi's face had swollen like a pig's head, and she cried in her room for half a day, too afraid to go out.

Nanny Zhou was helpless but, knowing Geng Shuning's condition hadn't fully recovered, could only arrange for Tong Siya to go in her place.

The more Niuheru Jingyi thought about it, the angrier she became, her swollen eyes wide with fury.

"This isn't over. I won't let her off!"

Geng Shuning yawned, her voice still soft with the sleepiness of just waking up.

"Given her family background, she'll at least become a noble consort after today, and the Tong family has influence in the palace; you mustn't act rashly."

The Retired Emperor was still around, and the Tong family was the maternal family of the Retired Emperor.

Geng Shuning estimated that the emperor would at least grant Tong Siya the status of a Noble Consort; otherwise, it would be a disgrace for the Tong family.

Niuheru Jingyi sneered, "Do you really think the Niuheru family is without power? She may be a mistress, but once we know her whereabouts, the Six Bureaus will ensure she receives proper attention!"

Geng Shuning remained silent, knowing it's hard to dissuade a person bent on their own destruction.

As long as this matter didn't involve her, she could treat it as mere gossip.

She thought to herself that the angriest person certainly wasn't Niuheru Jingyi—there were plenty of other consorts in the palace.

Unexpectedly, this time she was wrong.

After the successful conclusion of the Thousand Autumns Festival, the Empress Dowager was so happy that she came back drunk that night, and Geng Shuning finally felt at ease.

*

She didn't want to get involved in external matters, and after reporting to Nanny Zhou early in the morning, she holed up in the storeroom to check the items that had gone in and out the previous day.

The palace people in Cining Palace were also curious about the news from the Hall of Mental Cultivation the previous night and had been eagerly listening for updates.

Only Nanny Chen felt that this exclusive privilege should have belonged to Geng Shuning, gazing at her with hesitant pity several times.

Geng Shuning, pretending not to notice, found it irritating.

In the end, no news came from outside even by late morning.

By the time it was lunch, Niuheru Jingyi rushed into Geng Shuning's duty room at a more frantic pace than that morning, nearly crashing into the corner of the kang table.

Geng Shuning was so startled that she dropped her chopsticks and looked up with her small mouth open, "What’s going on...?"

Niuheru Jingyi exclaimed, "I’m so happy!"

Geng Shuning: "..." Is the child stunned silly?

Niuheru Jingyi grinned, indeed looking a bit foolish. She opened her mouth and began with the familiar phrase, "You don’t know..."

"That scheming woman plotted and schemed, only to end up on the imperial bed, and was carried out of the Hall of Mental Cultivation horizontally hahaha..."

Geng Shuning’s heart skipped a beat. Oh my, did Fourth Master... you know, kill her?

She would never see Emperor Shizong the same way again.

Niuheru Jingyi’s schadenfreude could not be contained. "The emperor is wise and knew she wasn’t a good thing, so he sent her to the rear side hall of Yanxi Palace with only the rank of attendant."

Geng Shuning was stunned for a moment, oh, not dead, just passed out... tsk tsk, truly a fitting punishment.

She slowly picked up her chopsticks and continued eating, using Niuheru Jingyi’s gossip as a side dish.

"I heard from some gossip in the Six Bureaus that when she went to offer the emperor some hangover soup, she used despicable tricks and almost harmed his health!"

"Hah... after she was carried out, the young palace maid assigned by the Imperial Household Department couldn’t even get a doctor to see her, and she’s still passed out."

"The Empress rewarded her, but Lady Qi remained silent. The lower-ranking ladies don’t dare send anything to Yanxi Palace without going through Lady Qi, tsk tsk..."

After the gossip, Niuheru Jingyi patted her chest and sighed, "Thank goodness it wasn’t me—she practically saved my life!"

"When she wakes up, I’ll definitely send some ginseng roots to thank her for saving my life hahaha..."

Geng Shuning: "..." You really have a sarcastic side to you.

Niuheru Jingyi’s morning anger dissipated completely, and knowing that Tong Siya had met a miserable fate, she hadn’t eaten breakfast. Seeing Geng Shuning munching away with her puffed-up cheeks, she felt hungry too.

She didn’t stay long and happily returned to her own duty room to eat.

*

Geng Shuning felt this had nothing to do with her.

Whatever happened to Tong Siya, she brought it on herself, and Geng Shuning only took Niuheru Jingyi’s news as a side dish to eat and then forgot about it.

The weather was too hot, and the Forbidden City felt like a steamer. If not for the Empress Dowager’s birthday celebration (known as the Thousand Autumns Festival), they would have already left for the Summer Palace to escape the heat.

The emperor had already given the order: three days after the Thousand Autumns Festival, they would head to the Summer Palace, celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Retired Emperor’s birthday there before returning to the palace.

With the trip approaching, the Empress Dowager had a lot of items to pack, and similarly, many things were moving in and out of the storeroom.

Geng Shuning stayed busy in the storeroom and didn’t bother to ask about Tong Siya’s situation.

She never expected that something so distant from her would come back to bite her the night before they left for the Summer Palace.

Zhao Song stood in front of Geng Shuning’s duty room for the first time, his expression cold—

"Miss Shuning, there is a matter involving you. The emperor commands you to go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Please."

Geng Shuning: "..." Is this a legal matter, or something worse?