Yikun Palace—
"Empress, life has become truly unbearable. Concubine Zhen keeps playing hard to get and tormenting us. Look how she has the Emperor wrapped around her finger. Does he even see the rest of us sisters anymore?"
"I heard the Emperor hasn't visited the harem for over a month. If this continues, the harem will become pointless, turning into Concubine Zhen's personal domain."
"Other concubines stop coming to pay respects to the Empress at Yikun Palace when they get pregnant, but she thinks she's so special. Is she carrying a golden egg or something?"
"Isn't it just that—a golden egg?"
Consort Liang stroked the golden nail guards on her fingertips, smirking disdainfully: "Didn't the Emperor just give Concubine Zhen a longevity lock weighing several jin for the baby in her belly? That Concubine Zhen is so shallow. She accepted all the gold, silver, and jewels the Emperor sent, but returned only that Fusang kimono."
She glanced meaningfully at Noble Consort Ye: "Look! It's the one Noble Consort Ye is wearing now. It's a priceless treasure that money can't buy, and now Noble Consort Ye gets to benefit from it."
Noble Consort Ye, who had been smugly thinking she alone possessed something others didn't, widened her eyes: "Does Consort Liang mean this garment is what Jiang Xinyue rejected, and the Emperor gave it to me instead?"
Consort Liang covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed: "What else did you think? Only a fool like you would want someone else's hand-me-downs. But it does suit you well, after all, you do love imitating Concubine Zhen, don't you?"
Noble Consort Ye was so furious she could almost smoke from the top of her head. She lifted the skirt of her kimono and gave a hasty parting bow to the Empress: "Forgive me, Empress, but I have matters to attend to. I shall take my leave now."
From her demeanor, she was either going to take off the garment or confront Jiang Xinyue at Hexi Palace.
Consort Liang had finally been clever for once, knowing how to use others to do her dirty work.
Empress Zhu glared at her: "Why did you go and provoke Noble Consort Ye for no reason? With her rash temperament, if anything happens, the Emperor will blame you again."
Consort Liang snorted: "What does it have to do with me? I merely spoke the truth. Whatever Noble Consort Ye does is her own business; I can't control her actions."
She was still unilaterally angry at the Emperor for giving the scar removal gel to Jiang Xinyue.
As the Prince and Princess of Ruyang left the palace, they were intercepted by the Pei family, who insisted on knowing why the Emperor had summoned them.
The Princess of Ruyang, who had her eye on Minister Pei of the Privy Council's second eldest granddaughter as a daughter-in-law, naturally sided with the Pei family.
After pondering for a while, she said: "Perhaps he hasn't seen my husband in a long time and missed him!"
Minister Pei of the Privy Council...
He was truly speechless.
How could the Emperor be the type of person to summon someone into the palace simply because he missed his uncle?
The Prince of Ruyang had no ambition and was the late Emperor's elder brother, making him the Xuanwu Emperor's great-uncle. As long as he didn't rebel or cause trouble for the Emperor, the Ruyang Prince's Residence would never fall, even after several generations.
This was also why Minister Pei of the Privy Council didn't object when the Princess of Ruyang changed the candidate for the Crown Princess from Pei Wu to Pei Xiang.
He needed to leave a lifeline for the Pei family.
Seeing the Pei family's apparent confusion, the Prince of Ruyang quickly pulled his wife behind him and explained: "The Emperor's thoughts are truly hard to fathom. He summoned me and Lord Old Lu into the palace, barely spoke to us, just had a meal with us, then had us stroll around the Imperial Garden for an afternoon before letting us leave. I... I really can't understand why the Emperor summoned us to the palace."
After the Pei family members relayed this information to Minister Pei of the Privy Council, he fell into unprecedented confusion.
Could it be that the Emperor didn't want to see the Ruyang Prince's Residence and the Pei family become in-laws, so he called the Prince and Princess of Ruyang into the palace to give them a warning?
If that were the case, it was fortunate that the Prince and Princess of Ruyang weren't very clever and hadn't understood the Emperor's intentions.
Then what was the purpose of summoning Lord Old Lu and his wife to the palace?
Was he hinting that Minister Pei should resign from his position like Lord Old Lu?
That was impossible.
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. Minister Pei of the Privy Council could only hasten his steps, wanting to send Pei Wu into the palace as soon as possible.
Having a clever person by the Emperor's side who could occasionally leak some information would save him from having to anxiously guess the Emperor's thoughts at his advanced age.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The main doors of Hexi Palace were being pounded so hard they shook. Nanny Xiang's expression was more cautious than before: "My Lady, it's Noble Consort Ye."
Ever since witnessing Concubine Zhen daring to strike even the Empress Dowager, and then twisting the truth to "exile" the Empress Dowager to Jiangnan, she felt that Concubine Zhen was truly formidable when provoked.
This strengthened her resolve to stay in Hexi Palace.
Nanny Xiang believed her judgment of people was accurate, and she was certain that Concubine Zhen was extraordinary and destined for greatness.
"What is she doing, coming to make a scene at my palace again?"
Xi Que ran in from outside: "She's wearing that... that Fusang kimono you said was indecent and attention-seeking, my Lady. The one the Emperor eagerly sent, but you refused to wear and threw out."
Jiang Xinyue coughed awkwardly a couple of times. Actually, that kimono was very beautiful, not ugly at all. She had only said and done those things to anger the Xuanwu Emperor, out of her personal nationalist sentiments due to the despicable acts committed by the small island nation in her previous life.
She hadn't expected Noble Consort Ye to end up wearing it.
The vermilion main doors of the hall continued to shake with loud bangs, accompanied by Noble Consort Ye's curses.
"She really relies on General Ye's military achievements, not putting anyone but the Emperor in her eyes."
Her vulgar insults grew increasingly offensive, even extending to the child in Jiang Xinyue's womb.
She slammed her palm on the table: "Xiao Xuanzi, go to the latrine and choose some night soil to splash on her. I'll wash out that foul mouth of hers."
Using night soil to wash a foul mouth—only their mistress could come up with such a wicked idea.
But Xiao Xuanzi was more than happy to carry out this mischievous task.
Jiang Xinyue wanted to say: It's all about fighting fire with fire!
A mouth fouler than excrement should be washed with sewage.
Several eunuchs, with cloth tied over their noses and wearing cloth gloves, wore pained expressions as they tried to keep their upper bodies as far away from the night soil buckets as possible.
Xiao Xuanzi pinched his nose and stood far away, whispering: "As soon as the door opens, splash it on her, then close the door immediately, understand?"
Don't give Noble Consort Ye time to react and rush in, or it would stink up their mistress's quarters.
The palace maids all hid far away. In Hexi Palace, such dirty work was always the duty of the young eunuchs.
"Jiang Xinyue, who do you think you are? Giving me something you didn't want, how dare you! I advise you not to do such disgusting things. Do some good deeds for the sake of the child in your belly. Be careful, or it might be born without an a—"
"Splash!"
"Pfffft!"
"Splash!"
Before she could finish her curse, three buckets of sewage came in quick succession from the opened palace doors.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Ugh... ugh..."
The palace maids beside her couldn't escape either. They ran away screaming, retching violently to the side.
