Low Level Consort Yu still thought it was just a simple game of cards, unaware that she had already fallen into Jiang Xinyue's trap.
What was the point of pretending not to know how to play? What was the point of losing for several days in a row?
It was all just Jiang Xinyue slowly feeding her appetite.
Even if Low Level Consort Yu got addicted, it didn't matter, as she couldn't leave the palace anyway. Playing cards for entertainment was harmless. In the palace, there were either masters or servants, so whether she won or lost money, it wouldn't lead to bankruptcy.
Low Level Consort Yu played a pair of flower cards, and Jiang Xinyue first pretended she couldn't afford to play, causing Low Level Consort Yu to gloat and deliberately play a three: "Your Highness, I'm afraid you'll lose too badly, so I'll let you win this round!"
This was exactly what Jiang Xinyue wanted.
She nodded: "Thank you, I have a big king, do you want it?"
Who could afford to take that?
But Low Level Consort Yu looked at her own cards and then at the cards she had just played, thinking Jiang Xinyue didn't have any big cards, so she broke up all her bombs.
Her face darkened as she shook her head.
Jiang Xinyue played a straight flush, and Low Level Consort Yu's face turned even darker.
"Can't take it? Then I win!"
She mimicked Low Level Consort Yu's tone and placed the last small king flat on the pile of cards: "Oh, I'm so sorry, but with this hand, Low Level Consort Yu, you've lost all the money you won from me over the past four days! Not only did you return everything you won, but you even lost your principal! Will you cry in a corner later, Low Level Consort Yu?"
Realizing too late that she had been set up, it was too late. All her money was taken away by Sparrow and Frostfall.
Her legs went weak, and she slumped into the chair: "It seems I've lost everything, even my pants."
Noble Consort Ye followed Low Level Consort Yu out again, but unlike the light atmosphere last time, today was quite gloomy.
She didn't dare to speak.
"Tsk!"
Low Level Consort Yu suddenly laughed: "She played cards with so many twists and turns that she completely fooled me. Where did I get the confidence to think I could outsmart her?"
In the past, she and Jiang Xinyue fought fiercely, and although she always lost, Jiang Xinyue always won, she never admitted defeat, always thinking she had a chance to turn the tables and win one day.
But after today's game, she fully realized the gap between herself and Jiang Xinyue.
Take playing cards, for example, ordinary people would never dare to bet four thousand taels on an uncertain outcome.
Jiang Xinyue dared.
For the past few days, she lost four thousand taels to Low Level Consort Yu. Don't think four thousand taels is a small amount; in the Great Yan Dynasty, ten taels of silver was enough for an ordinary family to live frugally for a year.
Think about how many families four thousand taels could support?
She wasn't afraid that Low Level Consort Yu would take the four thousand taels and stop playing with them.
Noble Lady Jiang, who received five hundred taels in kickbacks from Jiang Xinyue, also had the same question as Low Level Consort Yu: "Your Highness, you asked me to invite Low Level Consort Yu, but you keep giving her money. Aren't you afraid she'll take the money and run?"
"She won't."
Jiang Xinyue's eyes gleamed with cunning: "I've lost every game for four days straight, and I'm both bad at it and addicted. It's a surefire way to make money. Why wouldn't she come? Gamblers want to turn four thousand into forty thousand, and forty thousand into four hundred thousand. Not to mention that Low Level Consort Yu is already holding a grudge against me for taking the Emperor's favor. She won't let me off until she wins back her pride in the gambling hall."
Now, to vent her anger, she's lost everything, even her coffin money!
However, when Low Level Consort Yu left, her expression didn't seem to be one of hatred towards the Imperial Noble Consort, but rather one of sudden contemplation.
"But now it's all over!"
Jiang Xinyue cupped Noble Lady Jiang's face: "Thank you for helping me invite her. She would have definitely refused if I had invited her myself. When the Emperor's poison is cured, I'll ask the Emperor to take you out to play."
She had heard that the Emperor, whenever he came to Qin Province to escape the heat, would travel incognito, ostensibly to inspect the people's livelihood but more so to enjoy the local scenery.
There were even a few concubines in the palace who were brought back by the Emperor from the common folk!
Noble Lady Jiang blushed and giggled, "Hehe," the Imperial Noble Consort's hands smelled so good!
"It's my honor to help Your Highness."
This wasn't flattery, but Noble Lady Jiang's heartfelt words.
She suddenly remembered something and snapped out of Jiang Xinyue's beauty attack: "By the way, did your family, the Jiang family, offend Consort De or the Duke of Cheng's family?"
Jiang Xinyue, upon hearing the name "Consort De," immediately became alert and asked carefully, "Why do you ask?"
Noble Lady Jiang was uncertain: "My father is the Minister of Personnel, right? The Ministry of Personnel is in charge of the promotion and assessment of all officials in the Great Yan Dynasty. Not long ago, my father wrote to me saying that after we arrived in Qin Province, a chief clerk from the Ministry of Punishment took leave. My father thought it was too coincidental and secretly investigated, only to find out that this chief clerk was actually a man planted by the Duke of Cheng. He didn't go home on leave but went to the Mansion of the Duke of Cheng. As for what the Duke of Cheng told him to do, that's beyond my father's reach."
Minister Jiang wasn't afraid of anything else; he just didn't want Minister Jiang to find out when he returned to the capital that the Ministry of Punishment's official had taken leave from the Ministry of Personnel and caused trouble. He really couldn't stand Minister Jiang's sharp and venomous tongue.
It was better to investigate clearly now, even if it was hard and tiring, than to be scolded by Minister Jiang in the future.
It was strange; the Ministry of Personnel was the head of the six ministries, yet he was always under Minister Jiang's thumb, watching his every move.
"Consort De..."
Jiang Xinyue murmured: "When the chief clerk Ma Yiyang returns, you should ask the Emperor in front of him the question you just asked me."
It was appropriate to say the right thing in the right place.
Whether she had offended Consort De or her father had offended the Duke of Cheng, that was something to ask the Emperor.
The Emperor, being so intelligent, would give Noble Lady Jiang an answer.
Noble Lady Jiang thought for a moment and understood her meaning, nodding vigorously: "I will not fail Your Highness."
"Whoosh—"
After the sound of galloping horses, there were bodies strewn all over the ground.
Ma Yiyang wiped the blood off his sword clean, his cold eyes still full of undiminished killing intent.
A ragged young man lay on the ground, and if it weren't for him rushing out to block the sword for him, he would have been either dead or seriously injured, unable to complete the task entrusted by the Minister.
The cold blade lifted the barely conscious young man's chin, and the tone was as cold as his appearance: "What's your name? Why did you save me?"
The young man squinted, half of his face covered by a mask, using all his strength to say: "Zhu... Zhu's Second Son..."
After saying that, the young man's head tilted and he passed out.
Ma Yiyang quickly withdrew his sword to avoid injuring the person.
"Zhu Erlang?"
The younger brother of the late Empress!
