Chapter 3
Chapter 3
To make sure Chu Mumu didn’t stir up trouble at our wedding, the Empress personally brought her into the palace and locked her up.
Jin Ye practically flew ahead, no doubt because he hadn’t seen Chu Mumu in so long.
I was left far behind. Chun Ci supported my arm and muttered, “Your Highness, the Crown Prince is simply too…”
I shot her a warning look. “Where do you think you are? Mind your tongue.”
Chun Ci hurriedly shut up.
By the time we reached the Empress’s palace, Jin Ye was already there, looking east and west as he waited.
The Empress looked at me as though she’d seen a savior. I gave a cold little smile.
Chu Mumu was rather unruly in the palace, but because she was Jin Ye’s beloved, the Empress couldn’t bring herself to be too harsh with her.
According to the reports, Chu Mumu had nearly climbed into the Emperor’s bed. Of course, the Emperor had no interest in women. Or men, for that matter.
He only cared about political achievements. He was a truly wise ruler.
I wondered what Jin Ye would think someday if he learned that.
“I pay my respects to Mother Empress.”
I slowly handed over a booklet. “Mother Empress, the East Palace is too quiet. I was thinking of selecting a few attentive women for His Highness.”
Jin Ye looked at me in surprise and snatched the booklet from my hands. Chu Mumu’s name stood at the very top.
“I can’t believe you’re willing?”
I smiled. “I am not the kind of woman who can’t tolerate others. Besides, His Highness does truly like her. It’s only that Chu Mumu’s family is too humble for me to give her too high a rank. Surely Your Highness won’t blame me for that?”
Jin Ye hurriedly shook his head. “Of course not. Chu Mumu herself said that even if she were only a maid concubine, as long as she could stay with me, that would be enough.”
What a load of nonsense. She had once talked about a lifetime of devotion, and now she was willing to settle for a maid concubine.
It looked like even the rank I had chosen for Chu Mumu, Fengyi, was too generous. I should have given her an actual maid concubine instead.
“The noble ladies have never learned the rules of the palace, so I think we should send them to the Ceremonial Office to study etiquette first. What do Your Highness and Mother Empress think?”
If you wanted to hold the initiative, you had to keep your opponent by the nose.
I had done everything with such care that no one could fault me.
Jin Ye’s brows knit into a knot. The Empress nodded. “The Crown Princess is right. That is exactly what should be done.”
Jin Ye had nothing to say. I only had two months. I had to give birth to the legitimate eldest son.
–
The noble ladies were all ones I’d chosen carefully, and we’d already come to an understanding.
For half a month, Jin Ye stayed in my room out of guilt. When my monthly period didn’t arrive on time, I knew the timing was right.
Back in the residence, I heard about Chu Mumu repeatedly making mistakes at the Ceremonial Office, and every so often she would wait by Jin Ye’s path after court and cry to him.
With a beauty in his arms, Jin Ye felt heartbroken indeed.
The first batch of noble ladies entered the residence. There was the legitimate daughter of the Ministry of Revenue, the legitimate daughter of a general’s household. As soon as they arrived, they took the side consort positions.
There were also lesser ranks like Liangyuan and Liangdi.
I waved Jin Ye away to the other women’s rooms and couldn’t be bothered to keep pretending with him.
The East Palace ought to be a riot of flowers.
By the time Chu Mumu entered the residence, all sorts of beauties had already been sent in.
Soft and gentle ones, warm and fiery ones, bright and carefree ones, expressive-eyed ones, poetic ones…
I even found Jin Ye an exotic beauty. When she danced barefoot on the drum, her waist swayed like a celestial being descended to earth.
No wonder Jin Ye spent five straight nights with her.
The next day, Chu Mumu came in rubbing her waist. She must have finally had the man in her arms, and Jin Ye must have doted on her fiercely.
But when she saw the room full of flirtatious women, her expression changed.
She was the last batch to enter the residence, and by rights she should have been the first to receive favor among that batch. She had probably come to show off.
Instead, the only women in the room who had not yet been favored were the two of us, and that was only because their family backgrounds were too poor for me to leave them for last.
“Sit down. From now on we’re all family. For His Highness’s sake, I hope we can all live in harmony.”
“Yes, Crown Princess.”
After everyone left, Chu Mumu naturally stayed behind.
I smiled faintly. “Does my sister have something else to say?”
Chu Mumu glared at me. “This was all your doing! Just you wait. I will definitely step all over you one day.”
There was too little entertainment in the East Palace. Without Chu Mumu, I honestly didn’t know where to find my fun.
But after studying the rules for so long, why still couldn’t she keep herself in check?
A mere transmigrator was daring to shout in the face of a noble lady raised by an aristocratic family with a century of pedigree. Where did she get the confidence?
Yes, I’d been having people watch her all along. I heard her talk about cell phones, watches, movies, transmigration…
She even said she would one day make Jin Ye depose me and that she would become empress.
I walked slowly over to her. “What is Sister talking about? I don’t understand.”
Before Chu Mumu entered the residence, Jin Ye had specifically told me to be nice to her.
The concubines hadn’t gone far yet, so I deliberately walked behind them with Chu Mumu.
“His Highness does very well at sharing his favors evenly. I’m afraid your dream of one lifetime, one partner is going to be hard to achieve.”
A few of the concubines turned to look at us. When Chu Mumu’s sore spot was touched, she really did lose her mind.
Her face twisted in rage as she suddenly shoved me. I deliberately teetered over the last step and fell.
Chun Ci caught me just in time and screamed, “Your Highness!”
I quickly clutched my stomach. “Chun Ci, it hurts…”
The concubines came running one after another. Chu Mumu stared at me in disbelief, her eyes blazing with hate.
I had hidden this for over a month just to send this final gift the moment Chu Mumu entered the palace, and at last I sent it off.
Chu Mumu was the sort of woman who had beauty but no brains. She believed she was Jin Ye’s true love, and she was impulsive and easily provoked.
I knew she’d lay hands on me. I just hadn’t expected it to be so crude and direct. I had actually been planning to announce my pregnancy today and wait for her to make the first move.
–
When Jin Ye rushed back, I was lying pale-faced in bed drinking a miscarriage-preventing tonic. The moment I saw him, I pouted and tears dropped at once.
He wrapped me in his arms in distress.
Tears were useful, but only when used at the right moment.
I had always been strong. When had I ever looked so weak and downcast in front of Jin Ye?
“You were pregnant. Why were you so foolish not to know?”
I buried myself in his arms. “I know I was wrong.”
Chu Mumu knelt below us, crying so prettily that she looked pitiful indeed, but Jin Ye didn’t even spare her a glance.
Consort Shen, the legitimate daughter of a general’s household, was quick to speak. Glancing at Chu Mumu, she said, “And you still have the nerve to cry? If you hadn’t pushed the Crown Princess, would she have fallen down the stairs? Would the child almost have been lost?”
Lady Liu of the Ministry of Revenue pressed the advantage at once. “After all, this was His Highness’s first child. Sigh…”
Chu Mumu hurried to defend herself. Looking up with tears streaming down her face, she was practically begging to be pitied. “Your Highness, I really didn’t know the Crown Princess was pregnant. I only pushed her because I had no choice…”
Jin Ye opened his mouth, and seeing that he was leaning toward leniency, Consort Shen immediately said, “What do you mean, that if the Crown Princess hadn’t been pregnant, it would have been fine to shove her?”
I almost applauded her.
Clinging to Jin Ye, I said, “Your Highness, Chu Fengyi is the one you hold dear. I don’t have anything serious going on, and the child is fine too. Why not let this be dealt with lightly?”
Jin Ye looked at me, and his eyes were full of unbroken tenderness. “It was I who wronged you before.”
I shook my head. The concubines in the room immediately began calling out to him one after another.
Chu Mumu’s voice couldn’t even get out clearly. Her rank was too low, so she couldn’t even kneel in the front row.