Chapter 243

Chapter 243

When Consort Ping got back to her palace, it was like her long-dormant system finally booted up again.

However, the system was downright unhappy with her progress that day.

The affection points had only risen slightly when she first met Kangxi, but afterward, there was no fluctuation at all.

Consort Ping was ready to scream in frustration at the system’s tone—as if it had no understanding of human struggles.

She was lucky it hadn't dropped! Did it even know how difficult this was?!

If Kangxi’s affection were so easy to earn, she'd be living the high life by now!

She had spent most of the day working hard, only for all her efforts to vanish faster than it takes to change a robe.

It was already bad enough, yet this ruthless system still blamed her for not trying hard enough.

Who was she supposed to complain to?

But after learning not to mouth off to the system, Consort Ping was too scared to curse directly.

She was afraid of being accused of disrespecting the system and receiving another punishment.

The last punishment had taken her a while to recover from.

So she could only say that if she managed to join the hunting trip to Mulan this time, she would take the opportunity to work harder on the strategy and ensure the relationship points rose faster.

This shut the system up for now.

At first, Consort Ping was upset about not getting to stay the night.

She felt it had been a total waste of time—even the dinner had just been serving food, with no real interaction!

But after hearing the news brought back by her palace maids, she started seeing things differently.

Because after her visit, some lesser concubines also grew dissatisfied with merely sending servants to deliver soups and snacks.

Seeing that she had managed to meet the Emperor by bringing soup to the Qianqing Palace, many began copying her move, hoping they might get lucky too.

At first, Consort Ping seethed at these copycats—like hungry wolves—who immediately jumped on the bandwagon.

Now they were copying her method.

If she had actually brought the special treats no one else had prepared, the entire harem would probably have started imitating that too.

Consort Ping watched with bated breath for two days, only to find that apart from her, Kangxi had not received any of the concubines who had swarmed the Qianqing Palace like locusts.

In fact, because so many concubines had rushed there at once, trouble started brewing.

At first, it was just catfights, but later, they escalated into outright fights, making a huge scene.

In the end, not only did they fail to see Kangxi, but he couldn’t be bothered to appear.

The instigators were not only scolded but also punished with confinement and forced to copy palace regulations, banning them from the trip entirely.

The copied palace regulations had to be sent to the Cining Palace.

Now, even if they wanted to have palace servants secretly copy them to cut corners, they wouldn’t dare.

Though they knew the Grand Empress Dowager might not necessarily check, what if she did? Or if someone else seized the opportunity to expose them? That would be disastrous.

They truly had to grudgingly copy them themselves, with a sour expression all the while.

The Imperial Noble Consort, having failed to properly manage the palace concubines, was also held accountable.

When she went to pay respects at the Grand Empress Dowager’s palace, she was kept waiting for a long time before leaving. It was said her expression upon departure was visibly upset.

Consort Ping, over these past few days, had gone from initial anger and dissatisfaction to watching everyone else stumble—those who tried to grasp all, lose all. It was priceless.

When going out to meet others, Consort Ping had to carefully hold back to avoid appearing too smug and further provoking those green with envy.

After all, even among those who followed her example, she was the only one who had actually met Kangxi.

The others not only failed to see him but also ended up humiliated, with no hope of joining the royal retinue.

The commotion stirred by the entourage selection quickly died down.

Everyone fell in line, not daring to make any more moves.

They were terrified of following in the footsteps of those who were now confined and copying palace regulations—left regretting their actions. They could only fret silently in their hearts but dared not act further.

Yet, among those who had done the same, only Consort Ping remained unscathed. The concubines punished with confinement and copying regulations were seething with resentment—Why just her?!

At this time, Su Yi moved back to the Yonghe Palace.

Though she lacked nothing, there were simply too many watchers—open and hidden.

Su Yi was adept at seizing opportunities to make a scene. She immediately kicked up a fuss over Kangxi not dining with her.

Though belated—it happened after a night and a full day, only starting in the afternoon—

it was because she didn’t want to move at night, having already completed her nightly beauty regimen.

Nor did she want to wake up early in the morning—who’d bother rising for such a thing?

That left only after lunch.

Perfect for walking off lunch before lying down again—much more reasonable that way.

As for the Imperial Noble Consort throwing a tantrum only after finishing lunch,

Kangxi could only respond with silence.

Couldn’t she pick a more timely complaint rather than one from last night—or even after a full morning’s sleep?

Yet, the delay proved effective.

The point was to make a scene right then—and her departure went smoothly.

Even the journey back was utterly calm, without a hitch.

Unlike last time, with its being ambushed halfway and extra drama.

Even the usually bustling Imperial Garden was now quiet, with no concubines in sight, only palace servants coming and going.

Suddenly, the beautiful scenery took on a bleak tone, with everyone staying obediently in place without wandering around.

Just how many had been punished as warnings?

Yonghe Palace finally had its mistress back, looking no different from before.

Though the servants hadn’t been mistreated or bullied by others in their mistress’s absence, maintaining everything as usual and appearing steady, without their mistress, they still felt like they’d lost their anchor. Though they knew to do their work properly, the morale was simply different.

Now that the mistress had returned, they all seemed fired up, their spirits instantly restored, radiating an energy that was downright infectious.

With Qinxin absent, it was Yun Hua and the sharp young eunuch who’d been put in charge.

When Su Yi first returned, she felt like she’d walked into some neglected outpost—the looks she got upon returning were priceless.

Su Yi: "..."

Su Yi skipped the pleasantries and went straight to something practical: handing out money.

Brutally simple, but it worked.

Nothing soothed nerves like cold hard cash.

The welcoming atmosphere instantly grew even livelier, no warm-up needed—it went from zero to sixty instantly.

After receiving their rewards, the palace servants walked like they were floating on air.

Even when going out on errands, if they ran into acquaintances—whether close or just passing ones—their greetings went something like this:

"Hey, you look so happy! Did something good happen?"

"How did you know our mistress gave me a reward today?!"

It was like New Year’s came early.

....

In no time at all, through these not-so-subtle exchanges, everyone found out.

Those who not only received no rewards but also had to be extra careful with their work were downright miserable, steering clear of everyone from afar.

If they couldn’t avoid it, they’d crouch down and find a spot to hide.

Before jealousy killed them.

As for Su Yi’s move from the Palace of Heavenly Purity back to Yonghe Palace—

Plenty muttered, *Finally, Noble Consort Rong is willing to leave the Palace of Heavenly Purity! She should’ve gone back long ago after recovering. What gave her the right to camp out there?*

But others just thought it was dumb.

Especially the concubines who had pulled every string to get an audience with the Emperor at the Palace of Heavenly Purity—all had failed miserably, unable to compete with Noble Consort Rong’s home-court advantage.

Talk about unfair advantages.

However, given the timing of her return—right after Consort Ping had visited the Emperor at the Palace of Heavenly Purity—rumors spread that Noble Consort Rong had left Yonghe Palace after some unpleasantness.

Reading between the lines, along with some speculation—was it possible that Noble Consort Rong had flounced out of the Palace of Heavenly Purity in a jealous snit over Consort Ping’s matter?

They all came to the same conclusion: this was probably what happened.

After all, even though Rong Noble Consort was staying in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, that didn’t stop Kangxi from seeing Consort Ping and even staying for dinner!

He might as well have spent the night.

But now that Rong Noble Consort had moved back to the Palace of Eternal Harmony out of spite, it wouldn’t be so easy for her to just waltz back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity whenever she pleased.

She shouldn’t assume it’ll be that easy.

Even if she cooled off later, there’d be no way she could casually move back to the Palace of Heavenly Purity like she had with the Palace of Eternal Harmony.

Consort Ping hadn’t expected such a lucky break—she had thought it would be useless, but the payoff came later than expected.

Stirring up drama was the way to go.

It was best to let Rong Noble Consort be the one to start the quarrel.

Fighting kills romance faster than anything.

That’s true in any era.

Especially when the other party doesn’t understand why you’re making a fuss—or even if they know the reason, they still can’t comprehend why you’d blow up over nothing.

They’ll just see you as dramatic, making a mountain out of a molehill, and it will just piss them off.

Consort Ping figured that with Kangxi’s typical clueless-guy mindset, he’d be even less capable of understanding a woman’s jealousy.

Jealousy is just being jealous, and women aren’t supposed to be like that—after all, it’s only natural for the emperor to have a harem of three thousand concubines. They certainly shouldn’t act jealous.

He’d probably just see it as disrespect, giving him attitude when there are plenty of other women who’d play nice instead. He could always turn to them for comfort or vent his anger.

Even if they made up, it would have to be the concubine who swallows her pride and apologizes.

And she’d have to put up with him running to other women during their spat—otherwise, she’d just push him straight into their beds.

The thought almost made Consort Ping laugh. For women of this era, who accepted polygamy as the norm, enduring such bitterness and humiliation was expected.

At least, on the surface.

But was Rong Noble Consort really that kind of woman?

If she were, she wouldn’t have moved back to the Palace of Eternal Harmony in a huff over Kangxi.

At times, Consort Ping both resented Rong Noble Consort for her early advantage and felt a perverse satisfaction at her mindset—she probably still thought this was like some 21st-century relationship drama.

As if she could act jealous, throw a tantrum, and wait for her "boyfriend" to come crawling back to appease her.

Even in modern times, if a woman throws fits too often, a man might humor her once or twice, but eventually, he’d grow tired of it.

Here, making a scene like this was just plain foolish.

But Consort Ping had no intention of warning her—in fact, she wanted to fan the flames.

She hadn’t even stayed the night, and Rong Noble Consort couldn’t take it. She’d held her anger in all night without immediately causing a scene—Consort Ping had thought she had more restraint, but in the end, she still cracked.

Consort Ping realized that she was the reason for Rong Noble Consort’s tantrum. Who knows—maybe a pissed-off Kangxi would even turn to her!

She wasn’t afraid that Kangxi might use her to provoke Rong Noble Consort—the benefits were tangible, and this was the perfect opportunity to drive a wedge between them.

One refuses to back down, the other holds onto anger and refuses to yield—the longer this feud lasts, the more she stands to gain, doesn’t she?

Consort Ping couldn’t be happier if Rong Noble Consort made an even bigger scene, even skipping the trip altogether out of spite.

The Mulan hunting expedition lasts a full two months. As long as Rong Noble Consort doesn’t go, two months is plenty of time to change everything.

By the time Rong Noble Consort realizes what’s happened and comes to her senses, it’ll already be too late—she’ll have pushed him away herself, thinking things were still as they were before.

Yonghe Palace

Su Yi faced Imperial Noble Consort’s expression that clearly said, *Care to explain?*, as well as the unfamiliar beauty standing beside her, wearing a soft, graceful smile.