Chapter 032

Chapter 032

"Why are you staring at me?"

Kangxi's gaze suddenly swept over, startling Liang Jiugong, who quickly lowered his head.

Kangxi retracted his gaze and added, "Do you see flowers blooming on my face?"

This line was something he had learned from Consort Rong.

The question left Liang Jiugong speechless. Seeing that the Emperor did not seem angry, his panic subsided slightly, but he still knelt down swiftly, forcing a dry laugh, "This servant dares not."

A servant must be adept at reading the room and aligning with the master's mood. Liang Jiugong was always extremely cautious. He had never seen the Emperor speak like this before, so why today?

And flowers?

After saying it, Kangxi found Consort Rong's words quite amusing. However, it seemed no one had the courage to respond, which made him feel somewhat bored.

"Just serve the meal."

Liang Jiugong's mood was a rollercoaster...

He didn't dare ask if the Emperor wanted to visit Consort Rong and hurriedly went to arrange for the meal to be served.

This time, without Consort Rong accompanying the meal, Liang Jiugong noticed that the Emperor's appetite was the same as usual. After the meal, he promptly had the dishes cleared away.

After dinner, a eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs brought over the green head plaques for Kangxi to choose from.

Kangxi glanced at the green head plaques but did not see Consort Rong's. This was normal; when a consort fell ill, her plaque would be temporarily removed and only reinstated after she recovered.

Kangxi calmly perused the plaques for a while but did not select any.

The eunuch holding the plaques grew increasingly anxious. Why hadn't the Emperor chosen yet?

He had placed the plaques so prominently; surely the Emperor would notice them.

Kangxi pinched the bridge of his nose, appearing weary. Seeing this, Liang Jiugong understood that the Emperor did not wish to choose a plaque.

He swiftly gestured to dismiss the eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs.

However, the eunuch seemed hesitant. He had accepted some bribes and had deliberately positioned a certain plaque conspicuously.

He had hoped the Emperor would notice it and recall the new consort who had yet to be favored.

Now that the opportunity had finally arisen, the Emperor was not selecting, and the anticipated benefits would be forfeited. He grew anxious.

After all, the Emperor had been staying with other consorts in recent days. Today was supposed to be the day for choosing, but the Emperor was not doing so.

Ignoring Liang Jiugong's gesture, the eunuch boldly said, "Your Majesty, you have yet to choose a consort's plaque."

Liang Jiugong's eyelids twitched. This eunuch was truly bold, daring to direct the Emperor.

He immediately reprimanded, "How dare you! Who sent this insolent eunuch?"

He knew that the Office of Imperial Household Affairs sometimes accepted bribes, but who would dare to do something like this, trying to tell the Emperor what to do?

The eunuch was already panicking, realizing he had committed a grave error. His hands trembled, and he inadvertently dropped the tray of green head plaques, scattering them across the floor with a loud clatter. He knelt down, begging for mercy incessantly, which was grating to the ears.

Kangxi's face had turned cold, and he was impatient to hear more. "Take him away."

Liang Jiugong dared not delay and immediately ordered the eunuchs to drag the little eunuch away, gagging him.

"Liang Jiugong," Kangxi's tone was somewhat impatient.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Liang Jiugong responded quickly, his heart pounding.

"Go and clean up the Office of Imperial Household Affairs. I don't want to see such situations again. Do you understand?"

"As you command. I will definitely clean up the Office of Imperial Household Affairs properly," Liang Jiugong accepted the task, assuring that it would be handled flawlessly.

The old supervisor of the Office of Imperial Household Affairs couldn’t even manage his own subordinates properly. Even though bribes were taken, now they were becoming increasingly audacious.

He would also have to face the fallout.

However, this was also because His Majesty was in a bad mood today.

On ordinary days, he wouldn't care about this and would just pick a name at random.

This little eunuch had stepped out of line, not understanding the situation and failing to read the room.

Now that he had been caught red-handed, it was a good opportunity to discipline the people in the Office of Imperial Household Affairs.

With His Majesty's authorization, Liang Jiugong handled the affairs of the Office of Imperial Household Affairs swiftly and decisively.

If he didn't have some tricks up his sleeve, he wouldn't be able to hold the position of the chief eunuch.

However, Liang Jiugong did not completely eradicate everyone. Those who were too lenient were singled out and demoted from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs to other less profitable and more demanding positions.

The remaining ones, seeing this, all wished to keep a low profile, each staying on the straight and narrow, and thus became obedient.

And the noblewoman who bribed the little eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs was also found out.

It was the newly selected Fucha Noblewoman. Her family background was only rivaled by Su Yi among the chosen candidates.

However, Su Yi was granted the title of Consort, while she stayed a Noblewoman.

Originally, without being granted the title of Consort, she was somewhat of a leader among the newcomers to the palace.

But with Consort Rong overshadowing her, this Fucha Noblewoman paled in comparison.

Moreover, His Majesty had visited Consort Rong twice, making her the only one among the newcomers to have gained favor, while the others hadn’t even gotten a chance.

With the other palace ladies watching closely, if she didn't come up with a plan, His Majesty might forget about the newcomers.

That's why she thought of taking the route through the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, hoping to catch His Majesty's eye earlier during the selection process.

The little eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, seeing that Fucha Noblewoman was generous and had a good family background, was tempted and accepted a portion of the bribe in advance, promising more after the task was completed.

That's how the earlier scene came about.

Fucha Noblewoman was anxiously waiting for news, unable to resist checking for updates every day.

Suddenly, she found that she could no longer reach that little eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs.

As she was still trying to make sense of it, she received a reprimand from the Imperial Noble Consort of Yikun Palace.

She was accused of violating palace rules and was ordered to stay in her room to copy the palace rules ten times over, confined until she finished copying, and not allowed to come out until it was done.

Hearing such punishment, Fucha Noblewoman's soft, delicate features immediately twisted in distress.

Why did the Imperial Noble Consort punish her like this? Although it was just house arrest and copying palace rules without any other lessons, it was still a blow to her dignity!

Everyone knows that the concubines in the harem care the most about their reputation.

Now, everyone knows she is to be confined and punished to copy the palace rules—won’t she be laughed at by the other lower-ranking concubines?

Lady Fucha, proud and unwilling to submit, wanted to go to Yikun Palace to confront the Imperial Noble Consort.

But she was stunned by the words of the palace maid from Yikun Palace who came to deliver the message.

She insinuated, "Noble Lady, don’t you really understand why the Imperial Noble Consort punished you?"

These words struck a chord with Lady Fucha’s hidden thoughts.

The sudden crackdown by the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, and the eunuch who had taken bribes could no longer be contacted—she was already anxious, and then the Imperial Noble Consort sent someone.

It must be known that she had bribed the eunuch from the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, so she came to reprimand her.

Lady Fucha’s face turned pale, and after a while, she uttered a few words, "Tell the Imperial Noble Consort that I will copy the rules."

"It’s good that the Noble Lady has understood. This servant will take my leave."

After the palace maid from Yikun Palace left, Lady Fucha couldn’t help but grab something and throw it fiercely on the ground, looking at the maid attending to her, "Look at the terrible advice you gave! What have you done to me!"

"My lady, this servant is wrong. Please forgive me."

The maid also knew it was bad—if the matter had succeeded, it would have been fine, but now that it failed, she would surely be blamed by the Noble Lady. She could only quickly kneel and beg for mercy.

Crying with tears and mucus, Lady Fucha was annoyed by her crying and repeatedly told her to go out and kneel. The maid felt bitter but dared not disobey—her family relied on the Fucha family, fearing to implicate them. She could only hurry out and kneel, hoping to appease Lady Fucha’s anger.

The masters in the harem do not beat or scold their servants, but kneeling as punishment is excruciating. Kneeling in the freezing cold for a night could ruin one’s knees.

Fortunately, it was not the middle of winter. She only hoped that the Noble Lady would be merciful and remember to let her get up.

Yikun Palace

"My lady, Lady Fucha has been handled."

Yuzhi massaged the Imperial Noble Consort’s shoulders with just the right amount of pressure.

"Hmm."

The Imperial Noble Consort was not very concerned about Lady Fucha’s matter. Lady Fucha wasn’t the only one who had tried to bribe the Office of Imperial Household Affairs to move her name on the green head plaque.

Lady Fucha was not the first, and might not be the last.

But since the Qianqing Palace had sent someone to inform her, she had to give Lady Fucha some reprimand, also to warn the other concubines in the harem.

Compared to this matter, she was more concerned about, "Is Consort Rong still sick?"

Consort Rong had not been in the palace for long, but had been sick for quite a while. Her name was removed from the green head plaque of the Office of Imperial Household Affairs, and she stayed in Yonghe Palace all day without coming out.

The Imperial Noble Consort wasn’t sure if Consort Rong was genuinely ill or feigning sickness.

Hadn’t it been said that she had recovered in the Niohuru mansion?

Why did she start getting sick again as soon as she entered the palace?

"Yes, my lady." Yuzhi also didn’t understand why the Imperial Noble Consort and Consort Rong didn’t seem very close.

These days, only some medicinal herbs and tonics have been sent to Yonghe Palace.

"It's not good to stay ill like this. Let's head over to Yonghe Palace and check on her." The Imperial Noble Consort still wanted to visit Yonghe Palace to see her in person.

When the two sisters were chatting that day, she noticed that Consort Rong didn't seem seriously ill, just a bit thinner.

Yonghe Palace:

Since Su Yi fell ill, it's been almost deserted. At first, some thought Consort Rong had caught the Emperor's eye and would be a tough competitor. But the good times didn't last. She fell ill just like that, and even Yipin's foot injury healed, but Consort Rong is still sick.

Consort Rong really isn't that lucky.

Originally, I was considering whether to go to Yonghe Palace and interact with Consort Rong, to see if I could get some benefits and share in the spoils.

Well, the Emperor hasn't visited Consort Rong for over ten days straight. Since Consort Rong can't see the Emperor, neither can we. So, it's the same for everyone, and there's no need to interact now.

Su Yi feels a bit sorry that no young beauties are visiting, but overall, it's quite comfortable. Every day feels like being a lazy fish, and there's no need to get up early to pay respects or check in. It's just blissful.

It's just that the food is really bland, with no taste at all.

Su Yi, who's pretending to be ill, has no chance for rich and hearty meals. Eating healthy vegetarian dishes is a bit sad, but she can handle it.

"What has Consort Rong been up to today?" Kangxi's been quite busy lately, but he occasionally asks this during breaks.

Liang Jiugong is very used to this question.

"Her Highness is the same as yesterday, sleeping until noon, having a meal, and then listening to the eunuchs and maids tell stories in the afternoon. She still secretly pours out the medicine.

Previously, she wanted the imperial kitchen to prepare some meat dishes, but following the orders, the imperial kitchen only provides vegetarian dishes. Her Highness has been eating them, and these days she hasn't mentioned it again."

Kangxi snorted, "She can endure it, indeed."