When the month-long confinement ended, the guards outside Hexi Palace departed, and Jiang Xinyue finally emerged from the palace.
The Xuanwu Emperor, under the guise of quarreling with the Dowager Empress, seemingly out of spite, had a small kitchen built for Hexi Palace. Others merely thought Concubine Zhen was fortunate, benefiting from the Emperor's clash with the Dowager Empress.
In reality, the Emperor was concerned for Jiang Xinyue, fearing someone might poison her food. The incident with the bowl of saffron and white fungus soup had made him vigilant.
The Investigative Bureau had been investigating for nearly half a month. They had thoroughly questioned all suspicious individuals in the imperial kitchen, using torture when necessary, but still couldn't uncover the mastermind behind the plot.
In recent years, only the eldest princess, second princess, third prince, and a forgotten fourth prince had grown up in the Emperor's harem.
The fourth prince was already six years old, and the palace hadn't welcomed a new prince or princess in four years.
All pregnancies had ended in miscarriage not long after conception.
One or two could be coincidence, but when it happened to everyone, it was clear someone was harming the pregnant concubines.
Concubine Zhen was his beloved, and he would not allow any harm to come to her under his watch.
Thus, the day Hexi Palace's confinement was lifted coincided with the completion of the small kitchen.
"The Emperor is becoming increasingly absurd," the Dowager Empress fumed, having just settled Consort Shu in her quarters and returned to the main hall of Kunning Palace. She struggled to contain her anger. "Who does Concubine Zhen think she is? A mere illegitimate daughter, being a Noble Consort would be the height of her ambitions. Yet he treats her like a treasure, and I'm not even allowed to touch her."
Granny Gui, who had been the Dowager Empress's personal maid since before she entered the palace and was now the highest-ranking elderly servant in the palace, brought over a cup of warm tea. As she rubbed the Dowager Empress's back, she said, "Your Highness knows she's just the illegitimate daughter of a fifth-rank official. No matter how much the Emperor favors her, at most she'll be one of the four consorts. You are the Dowager Empress. If you want to deal with her, it's as easy as lifting a finger. What can the Emperor do to you, no matter how angry he gets?"
The Great Yan Dynasty placed great importance on filial piety, and the Dowager Empress was the Emperor's birth mother. When the Emperor had purged the Wu family, he had already gained a reputation for being cold-blooded and heartless. If he were to do anything to the Dowager Empress now, the people of the world would point their fingers at him and call him unfilial.
The Dowager Empress dared to oppose the Xuanwu Emperor so boldly precisely because she knew he couldn't do anything to her.
Her anger subsided a bit at Granny Gui's words. "You're right. The Emperor's passion for Consort Shu back then was far more intense and fervent than his current infatuation with Concubine Zhen. But I see that the Emperor is exactly like his father, falling in love with every new face he sees. If I hadn't played hard to get, this position of Dowager Empress wouldn't have fallen to me."
That's why she had Consort Shu follow in her footsteps, keeping the Emperor on his toes.
As she pondered this, the Dowager Empress's anger flared up again.
If it weren't for Concubine Zhen's sudden appearance, Consort Shu would still be the only woman in the Emperor's heart.
Now... now all their years of scheming had been ruined by Concubine Zhen.
"Your Highness, Concubine Zhen is outside requesting an audience."
The Dowager Empress was still seething with anger when Jiang Xinyue conveniently presented herself.
"She dares to come here?" The Dowager Empress slammed her hand on the low table beside her, her fury almost visible. "What does she want?"
The eunuch kept his head lowered, not daring to look at the Dowager Empress's expression. "Concubine Zhen says... she says the Emperor bestowed upon Hexi Palace over ten catties of top-grade Da Hong Pao tea from Nine Clouds Mountain. She thought... she thought Kunning Palace might not have any, so she specially brought a few catties for Your Highness to try."
Wasn't this blatant provocation?
"Crash!"
The sound of porcelain shattering came from the inner chamber. Jiang Xinyue patted her belly, worried the noise might startle the little one inside.
Shortly after, a young palace maid emerged. "Concubine Zhen, the Dowager Empress invites you in."
The maid lifted the curtain, and Jiang Xinyue entered with her maids Xique and Xiaoxuan, her face still wearing the smile the Dowager Empress despised.
"This concubine pays her respects to the Dowager Empress. May the Dowager Empress enjoy boundless fortune and longevity."
"Hmph!"
"If you'd stop irritating me, I might actually enjoy some fortune and longevity."
The Dowager Empress deliberately didn't tell her to rise, intending to make her kneel longer. She had heard that when Jiang Xinyue first entered the palace, she had offended Noble Consort Li and was punished to kneel for half a day, injuring her knees. Even now, the Emperor had ordered the Imperial Hospital to treat her.
Why couldn't she have just died from kneeling?
"How can the Dowager Empress say such things? How would this concubine dare to irritate Your Highness? I respect you more than anything."
But who was Jiang Xinyue? What was she here for today?
She had come specifically to irritate the Dowager Empress, so how could she let her have the upper hand?
As she spoke, she stood up and nonchalantly sat down to the Dowager Empress's right.
"How dare you!"
Granny Gui immediately scolded her, "The Dowager Empress hasn't told you to rise, let alone granted you permission to sit. Concubine Zhen, your disrespect towards the Dowager Empress is blatant. Do you have some grievance against Her Highness?"
"Oh my! Granny Gui even knows that the Dowager Empress was going to tell me to rise and grant me a seat!" Jiang Xinyue tilted her head, feigning innocence. "But I saw that the Dowager Empress didn't ask me to rise, and I thought perhaps Her Highness had forgotten. I've always been considerate and wouldn't want the Dowager Empress to feel guilty."
Guilty, my foot!
The Dowager Empress nearly burst out with vulgar language at Jiang Xinyue's brazenness, but her refined upbringing held her back.
Jiang Xinyue waved her hand, and Xique presented a red wooden box to Granny Gui.
"This is what the Emperor gave me yesterday. I kept some for myself and brought the rest to you, Dowager Empress."
The implication was that the Da Hong Pao tea in the box was what remained after Jiang Xinyue had selected the best for herself, leaving the inferior tea for the Dowager Empress.
The Dowager Empress looked into the box that Granny Gui had opened and felt her head buzzing.
Indeed... indeed, she shouldn't have harbored any hope for Concubine Zhen.
The red wooden box contained a pile of tea stems and some finely crushed tea leaves.
While Kunning Palace didn't have Da Hong Pao tea from Nine Clouds Mountain, she was the Dowager Empress. The Internal Affairs Department and the Bureau of Palace Affairs always gave her the best of everything. Was she a beggar who needed to drink the dregs Jiang Xinyue brought her?
"You give me..."
"Mother!"
The Dowager Empress's hand was already raised high, clutching a white teacup with blue flowers. If not for the Xuanwu Emperor's sudden shout, she would have brought it down.
"Your Majesty!"
Jiang Xinyue threw herself into the Xuanwu Emperor's arms, pinching her own arm to bring tears to her eyes as she sobbed.
The Dowager Empress widened her eyes: Has it begun? Has it started again?
That familiar feeling of being manipulated by Concubine Zhen's cunning acting returned.
"Mother, Concubine Zhen is still young. If there's anything she's done wrong, you can guide her. But please, in the future, don't let me see you constantly berating her with harsh words or resorting to physical violence. It's unbecoming of your status and highly improper."
The Dowager Empress: ?
She hadn't even had the chance to do anything yet, had she?
