Chapter 3

Chapter 3

By my third day in Jade Feather Palace, I still had not seen Imperial Consort Shen.

That day, while I was sweeping the courtyard, a palace maid happened to bump into me.

She fell to the ground as well, her expression dazed.

I kindly helped her up, but she pushed me away and ran off.

Seeing me frown, a maid beside me comforted me. “Don’t take it to heart. She might… be about to die.”

I froze. “What do you mean?”

“She is a cook in the small kitchen. Her Highness has recently wanted to eat sophora flower cakes. The cook has made them more than a dozen times, but none of them satisfied Her Highness. Instead, she angered Her Highness. They say she has been given one last chance. If she still can’t make cakes that satisfy Her Highness by tomorrow morning…”

The maid lowered her voice and breathed two words by my ear.

“Executed.”

My grip tightened around the broom.

I turned to look in the direction the cook had gone. After a moment of hesitation, I set down the broom and followed her.

…

In the small kitchen, the cook was washing fresh sophora flowers.

But her hands could not stop trembling.

Tears fell drop by drop into the basin, blurring her vision.

At last, she could not hold back anymore. She crouched on the floor and burst into loud sobs.

If she could not make sophora flower cakes the imperial consort liked, she would die…

She did not want to die!

The more frightened she became, the more she began considering whether she should flee the palace under cover of night.

But the palace was full of guards. She could not escape!

What should she do? What should she do?!

Just as she was nearly collapsing in terror, someone lightly knocked on the door of the small kitchen.

The cook turned to look.

It was a young, unfamiliar palace maid.

The maid walked in and crouched in front of her.

“Do you want my help? I can make sophora flower cakes too.”

The cook only froze for an instant before shoving me away.

“Are you trying to get me killed? I started learning to cook from my father when I was eight. Could the sophora flower cakes you make possibly be better than mine?”

She resisted fiercely.

But more than that, she was afraid.

This was her final chance to survive. She would not trust me easily.

I paused, then pointed to the white sophora flowers in the basin. “Her Highness’s birth mother was from Lin’an, and so am I. In our hometown, sophora flowers are famous, so every household knows how to make sophora flower cakes.

“Sister, if you don’t let me help, how else do you plan to make these cakes?”

The cook froze, her thoughts tangled.

That was right. How else could she make them?

She had already tried more than a dozen times, improving them every way she could… but it was useless!

Her Highness was still dissatisfied.

To be honest, she had no method left.

Her fists clenched, then loosened. Slowly, the cook raised her head and looked at me…

After the sophora flower cakes were finished, they were sent before Her Highness.

That evening, several momos came to the rear kitchen. The one leading them looked at the cook.

“Did you make the sophora flower cakes?”

The cook answered uneasily, “This servant made them.”

“Men, take her away.”

As soon as the order fell, two momos stepped forward without a word, seized the cook by the arms, and dragged her out of the kitchen.

The cook’s legs went weak. She spoke incoherently, “Is Her Highness still unhappy with the cakes?

“I can change them again! Please give me one more chance! I beg Her Highness for mercy!”

The momos said nothing.

Despair welled up in the cook’s heart. Around her, palace maids were secretly watching.

She looked around, and her gaze suddenly fixed on one spot.

Then she pointed at me.

“It was her! Today’s sophora flower cakes were made by her! If something went wrong, Her Highness cannot punish only me!”

The leading momo paused.

She turned her head and looked over.

The maids standing near me all moved aside, afraid to be implicated.

The momo narrowed her eyes. “Oh? Men, take her along as well.”