Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Summer was approaching, and the days had already turned oppressively warm.
The smell of the Palace Labor Bureau grew even worse in the heat, so no one found it strange that Shengsheng Zhou covered her face with a cloth.
The newly appointed overseer matron approached without a sound, startling Shengsheng so badly that she nearly flung away the bucket in her hands.
The matron did not blame her. Before accepting the position, she had made sure to learn exactly how her predecessor lost her life.
“Miss Shengsheng, the Noble Consort has sent someone to collect you.” Smiling broadly, the matron kicked the troublesome bucket aside for her.
Shengsheng showed no surprise.
Fusheng Duan had evidently learned that Siran Ming ordered her slapped.
Sure enough, the young eunuch waiting outside was Xiaopingzi, who had always been on good terms with her.
“Sister!”
His joy at seeing her was genuine.
Over the past few days, Shenglan had made life difficult for every eunuch and palace maid at Qianyi Palace who had once been friendly with Shengsheng. Now that Shengsheng was coming back, they seemed to have found their pillar of support again.
“Xiaopingzi, what has happened at Qianyi Palace lately?” Shengsheng asked as they walked.
In the original novel, after Fusheng met the heroine, he often used his position as an imperial consort to summon her into the palace and indulge his private desires.
Xiaopingzi thought for a moment. “Nothing important. Everything is much the same.”
Then he remembered something.
“Oh, right. Sister Shengsheng, on the day of the Spring Banquet, Sister Shenglan sent me to the Palace Labor Bureau to check on you.”
“Check on me?”
The mention of Shenglan reminded Shengsheng that there was still one person she needed to deal with.
She had ignored their mutual dislike before because Shenglan had never actually harmed her. Yet the moment Shengsheng was sent to the Palace Labor Bureau, the woman had begun plotting against her.
It was time to clean house at Qianyi Palace.
Shengsheng had served as chief palace maid for years. She knew more than enough about harem politics to do what was necessary.
“Sister, are you not going to take that thing off?” Xiaopingzi asked weakly, glancing at the cloth over her face.
Shengsheng considered it. Since Fusheng already knew she had been beaten, there was no point hiding the evidence.
After her long-awaited return to her room, she rolled across her own bed in sheer delight. Then she changed clothes and went to see Fusheng.
She had intended to conceal the injuries with face powder, but cosmetics might irritate the wounds. In the end, she abandoned the idea.
With her face swollen like a pig’s head, she walked through the startled palace servants and entered Fusheng’s rooms.
The moment she stepped inside, she almost laughed.
Her archenemy Shenglan had apparently committed some offense and was kneeling on the floor, trembling. Above her sat Fusheng, his beautiful face dark with anger.
One glance told Shengsheng what had happened.
After a swift bow, she strode forward and kicked aside the rows of gaudy silk dresses arranged before Fusheng.
“Xiaopingzi,” she told the stunned eunuch, “take all of these away and burn them.”
He nodded as if this were perfectly routine.
Shengsheng was the only person in Qianyi Palace who dared destroy gifts from the emperor without even asking the Noble Consort first.
She walked to the still-trembling Shenglan.
“Raise your head!”
Shenglan slowly obeyed. Surprise flashed through her eyes at the sight of Shengsheng’s swollen face, then curdled into disgust.
“Who is our master?” Shengsheng asked, looking down at her.
Shenglan hesitated.
“The Noble Consort,” she answered tearfully.
Shengsheng almost smiled in approval, but the pain in her cheeks stopped her.
“Correct. Then when our master dislikes something, what should we servants do with it?” she prompted patiently.
Shenglan understood what Shengsheng Zhou meant. Gritting her teeth, she answered anyway.
“Throw it away.”
Their master was the Noble Consort, not the emperor. If the Noble Consort disliked something, what did it matter that the emperor had bestowed it?
Knowing that in principle was one thing.
Who truly dared throw away an imperial gift?
Probably only Shengsheng, who had survived years of the emperor taking out his temper on her and remained stubbornly alive.
She nodded.
“Qianyi Palace has no need for a servant who cannot attend her master properly. As of today, you are a penal servant at the Palace Labor Bureau.”
Thanks to the angle, Fusheng Duan could not see Shengsheng give Shenglan a playful wink.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, this servant was wrong!” Shenglan’s face went white. She looked at Fusheng with desperate hope and glared at Shengsheng with naked hatred. “What gives you the right to punish me? What right do you have?”
*A-Pang, did you see that? Her eyes can look at two different people at once! With a skill like that, why worry about going to the Palace Labor Bureau? She can scrub two buckets at the same time–left eye on one bucket, right eye on the other!*
Fusheng’s drowsy gaze shifted to Shenglan.
Now that Shengsheng mentioned it, the effect was rather remarkable.
Shenglan mistook his glance for salvation and lunged for his leg.
Shengsheng reacted instantly, catching her before she could reach him.
“Guards! Drag this penal servant away!”
Several eunuchs entered and removed Shenglan at once.
When she was gone, Shengsheng took away the teapot that had been sitting in front of Fusheng and brewed a fresh pot.
His languid gaze never left her face as she poured.
Only when his cup was full did his beautiful lips part.
“Hideous.”
Shengsheng fell silent.
*What do you know, you ass? I’m so cute I’m practically bubbling over.*
Fusheng studied the face that had little connection to the word *cute*, swollen or otherwise.
“The emperor of the Yong Kingdom is coming to Qianyi Palace tomorrow. I had intended to have Shenglan receive him properly, but you drove her away. The task falls to you.”
At the words *emperor of the Yong Kingdom*, Shengsheng’s spine straightened.
Was it reasonable for the ruler of one kingdom to visit the favored consort of another nation’s emperor?
More importantly, this scene had never appeared in the original.
Which meant she did not have to preserve the plot here. She could improvise.
The thought of Siran Ming entering her territory made her eyes turn contemplative.
Fusheng glanced at her suddenly grave expression, then looked away.
An emperor had dared strike someone from his palace. So what if the offender ruled a kingdom? Fusheng had handed Shengsheng an opportunity for revenge.
She had better not disappoint him.
Ideally, there would be blood.
*A-Pang, do you have a drug that can’t be detected but will make someone empty his guts until he collapses?*
Standing quietly beside Fusheng and doing her best to fade into the background, Shengsheng addressed the red panda on her head.
A-Pang thought it over.
[I do, Host, but what do you want it for?]
Half her face hidden in shadow, Shengsheng flashed a white-toothed grin while no one was looking.
*Obviously, I’m going to make Siran Ming walk in on his own feet and spray his way back out.*
“Cough… cough…”
Only years of self-control kept Fusheng from spraying tea across the table.
*Siran hasn’t started spraying yet, and you’re already showing symptoms.*
After delivering the jab, Shengsheng hurried forward to pat his back. Her mouth overflowed with concern.
“Your Highness, please be careful! If you choke, this servant’s heart will simply break.”
Fusheng smiled without humor.