Chapter 4
Chapter 4
A month later, the palace began the imperial selection process.
No one had consulted the Noble Consort about this in advance. The Empress Dowager had likely anticipated that she would throw a fit, so the news had been strictly suppressed.
By the time the Noble Consort found out, the flower-like candidates had already entered the palace.
I was the one who broke the bad news to her.
Her face turned deathly pale. Her first reaction was to grab her whip and lash out at me like a madwoman.
“You shameless, lowly wench! How dare you lie to me!
“The Emperor would never do such a thing! He would never treat me like this!”
My back was whipped until it was a bloody mess. Blood splattered onto the Noble Consort’s hand, but she didn’t even notice.
The other palace servants watched silently from the side.
They knew the Noble Consort was simply unable to accept the truth and was taking her anger out on an innocent maid.
But no one dared to stop her.
Some were even jealous of me, wishing I would be beaten to death then and there.
But I didn’t die.
After dozens of lashes, the Noble Consort lost her strength, dropped the whip, and fainted.
She remained unconscious for several hours.
In the past, the Noble Consort’s constitution hadn’t been so weak.
However, she had faked illness so many times that the Emperor would send an Imperial Physician to check on her. She had ordered me to prepare several doses of medicine for her so that even the physician would believe she was truly sick.
I had always been diligent in helping her fake these illnesses.
As a result, after faking it so often, she had actually fallen ill.
When she woke up, the Noble Consort was burning with a high fever. Groaning that she had never felt so uncomfortable, she ordered someone to fetch the Emperor immediately.
Despite the whip wounds covering my back, I showed no resentment. I immediately ran out of the gates of Wanchun Palace with a display of unwavering loyalty.
Half an hour later, I finally returned. I wept before the anxiously waiting Noble Consort: “This servant could not see the Emperor. He is currently favoring the new beauties!”
Upon hearing this, the Noble Consort fainted once more.
An Imperial Physician came to take her pulse and concluded that she was indeed gravely ill this time.
I went to Haoqing Hall again, and this time, I finally managed to see the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, the Noble Consort is ill and wishes to see you.”
The Emperor was listening to the newly arrived Jieyu Jiang play the zither. Hearing my words, Jieyu Jiang advised him prettily, “The Noble Consort is ill, Your Majesty should go and see her.”
However, the Emperor had received countless such reports before. He simply waved his hand. “This is just Yan’er’s way of acting spoiled to seek my attention.”
Jieyu Jiang glanced at my expression and covered her mouth as she spoke. “But this time, it looks more serious than usual.”
The Emperor laughed and pulled Jieyu Jiang into his arms. “Of course it’s serious. Yan’er sees how much I dote on you and is consumed by jealousy.”
Jieyu Jiang giggled and playfully tapped the Emperor’s shoulder.
She was very young, yet already strikingly beautiful.
The Emperor and Noble Consort Wei had known each other since their youth, and Jieyu Jiang looked exactly like a sixteen-year-old Wei Yan’er.
Because of this resemblance, the Emperor was very indulgent toward her.
Jieyu Jiang was young, after all, and the legitimate daughter of a minister. With the Emperor’s favor, she quickly grew arrogant.
Half a month later, the Noble Consort’s health had improved slightly. Leaning on my arm for support, she went to the Imperial Garden to clear her head, where she ran into Jieyu Jiang and several other newcomers.
Jieyu Jiang gave a sloppy, perfunctory salute and stepped forward.
As the old flame and the new favorite stood together, the contrast was quite devastating. Jieyu Jiang was dressed in her finest, as radiant as a peach blossom, while the Noble Consort had just recovered from a major illness and looked sallow and grey.
Jieyu Jiang smiled and said, “When I first entered the palace, everyone said I resembled the Noble Consort.
“At the time, I took it as a compliment. But now that I’ve seen her ladyship in person, I feel that I’d rather do without such praise.”
The Noble Consort was furious.
Standing to the side, I felt a sense of disappointment as well.
I had originally intended to find an ally among this batch of newcomers to become the Noble Consort’s rival.
Jieyu Jiang was the most promising of the lot. She was beautiful and of noble birth, having been titled a Jieyu as soon as she entered the palace. The Jiang Family’s influence was not much weaker than that of the Wei family.
Jieyu Jiang should have been a candidate capable of competing with the Noble Consort for the position of Empress.
Yet, she was so foolish that after only a few days of being indulged by the Emperor, she had become this arrogant and reckless.
I sighed silently in my heart: She’s finished.
Sure enough, even though the Noble Consort had been ill for many days, she still held the great power of managing the six palaces.
On the grounds of flouting palace regulations and offending a superior, she sent Jieyu Jiang to the Prison Directorate to be flogged with a staff.
The other newcomers were also implicated, and all were sent to the Buddhist Hall to kneel in punishment for twenty-four hours.
Even so, when the Noble Consort returned to her palace, her lingering anger had not yet dissipated.
“Back then, the Emperor said he wanted to be with me for a lifetime, just the two of us. Now, these newcomers are practically stepping on my face!”
The Noble Consort was so angry that her chest tightened with pain. I hurriedly offered her tea and patted her back to help her catch her breath.
“This servant knows Your Ladyship is angry, but you have heavily punished all the newly entered concubines. The Emperor is bound to ask about it later.”
The Noble Consort slammed her teacup down. “They were the ones who were disrespectful first!”
“Yes, but in front of the Emperor, Your Ladyship should be soft rather than hard.”
Thus, when the Emperor arrived at Wanchun Palace with a cold face, what he saw was a truly pitiful Noble Consort.
Her clothes were half-slid off, revealing a glimpse of her shoulder. On her fair skin, an old scar was startling to the eye.
The Noble Consort looked up and forced a smile. “It’s raining now, and this wound is acting up again. I asked Liu Ying to apply some ointment to ease the pain.”
My movements were gentle as I spread the ointment over the scar on the Noble Consort’s shoulder.
This scar was from years ago when the Noble Consort accompanied the Emperor during his struggle for the throne. As they fought their way into the palace, a stray arrow had flown toward them, and the Noble Consort had taken the hit for him.
Jieyu Jiang’s thinking was too simple.
There was no way the Emperor would have doted on the Noble Consort like this for so many years based on beauty alone.
This was indeed a woman he had loved deeply; on the path to the throne all those years ago, the young man and woman had traded their lives for one another.
Therefore, while the Emperor might favor others out of a desire for novelty, it would be difficult for any woman to replace Wei Yan’er’s place in his heart.
That night, the Emperor personally applied the ointment for the Noble Consort, and they chatted about the amusing stories of their youth.
The matter of her heavily punishing the other concubines was thus brushed aside.
For the next half month, the Emperor stayed at Wanchun Palace every single night, neglecting the other consorts.
The Noble Consort was triumphant.
With her return to favor, her face became increasingly smooth and radiant.
I used fresh rose juice to wash her body. When I reached her fingers, she suddenly flinched.
I immediately knelt.
“Your Ladyship, please forgive me. There is a small wound here.”
The Noble Consort was puzzled. “Where did I scratch this? I didn’t even notice.”
It was just a tiny nick, so the Noble Consort didn’t take it to heart. She turned back to happily anticipating the Emperor’s arrival.
I watched her coldly, a malicious smile in my heart.
When I was young, I once told my Elder Sister that I wanted to develop a medicine called ‘Heart-Piercing Poison.’
This poison is not apparent at first, but as long as a person’s mood worsens, its toxicity becomes stronger, causing them to rot away bit by bit.
At that time, Elder Sister patted my head and said, “Just how much hatred would you need to have to use a poison like that?”
When Elder Sister was alive, I hadn’t developed the Heart-Piercing Poison.
After she died, I finally learned exactly how much hatred was required to create it.
Right now, the Noble Consort is very happy, so the Heart-Piercing Poison lying in wait within her body is weak, having only corroded this tiny wound on her fingertip.
So, if she were to fall from the clouds and land in the mire…
At that time, how much of her body would the Heart-Piercing Poison consume?
Thinking of this, I trembled with an almost overwhelming excitement.