"Your Highness, please come down. It would not be good if someone saw you!"
Jiang Xinyue, who was holding a wine bottle, had already climbed up the peach tree in the courtyard of Xihuo Palace. She had lifted her pink skirt to her legs, exposing half of her snow-white calves, swaying and dazzling anyone who looked at them.
There was no one as bold as her in the palace.
"Shh!"
A slightly tipsy Jiang Xinyue put her index finger on her lips: "Quiet down, we are in our own palace, we won't be discovered."
In her previous life, she was a psychotherapist, often having to accompany patients for a few drinks to bridge the gap between them, making them trust her.
Back then, she was known as the one who could never get drunk.
Just now, she accidentally discovered a Daughter's Red wine that had been buried under the peach tree for many years. Overjoyed, Jiang Xinyue dug them all out.
She had only entered the palace three months ago, and she was the only concubine living in Xihuo Palace. The wine was buried by her predecessors, who had not had the chance to drink it. She, as the successor, was lucky to have found it.
Her posture while drinking was elegant, she was lying lazily among the branches. The peach blossoms had already withered, otherwise, it would have been a perfect picture of a beauty lying drunk underneath the blossoms.
"A pot of wine among the flowers, I drink alone, with no companion. I raise the cup to invite the moon, then turn to the shadow which makes us three."
The melancholy and sentimental voice of the woman fell into the ears of the Xuanwu Emperor.
He didn't know how he ended up outside of Xihuo Palace, and stumbled upon Consort Zhen, drunk and reciting poetry.
She was like a spirit from the mountains and wilderness, out of place in this harem, full of love, making her stand still in this deep palace.
The Xuanwu Emperor's always lonely heart seemed to find comfort at that moment.
In the vast world, there was someone who came for him.
If Jiang Xinyue could hear the inner voice of the Xuanwu Emperor, she would definitely mock the ancient emperor for his wild imagination.
She just felt utterly content lying on the tree, looking at the stars in the sky, with the sounds of frogs and cicadas in her ears.
It was only the beginning of the night, equivalent to nine o'clock in the modern world. She was not sleepy and was just mimicking her childhood days at her grandmother's house in the countryside, climbing trees.
"I didn't know my beloved consort was so talented, even able to write poetry."
Jiang Xinyue squinted her eyes, tilted her head to look at the Xuanwu Emperor, then chuckled, jumped directly over the courtyard wall, and pounced down.
Xi Que, Shuang Jiang, and Wang Dequan were all scared nearly to the point of screaming, but seeing the Xuanwu Emperor dashed over like a flying bird, catching her steadily, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hmm?"
The culprit who scared everyone was not aware of what she had done wrong. She poked the emperor's face with her finger: "You... you look a lot like someone."
Wang Dequan lowered his head, while Xi Que and Shuang Jiang immediately knelt on the ground, sweating for their mistress.
Such disrespectful touching of the emperor's dragon body was a serious breach of etiquette.
A drunk mistress was too frightening.
But to their surprise, the Xuanwu Emperor did not get angry. Instead, he weighed the person in his arms, held her more securely, and asked with a laugh: "Who do I look like?"
Her face was flushed, her eyes were dreamy, and she was charming.
She squirmed in his arms, lowered her eyes, and dared not look: "You look like... the person I... like."
After saying that, she covered her face with both hands out of excessive shyness, not daring to look at the Xuanwu Emperor again.
The heart of a young girl, depicted in its fullest.
The Emperor's throat bobbed twice, but thinking of Concubine Li's temperament, he still carried Jiang Xinyue back to the Xihuo Palace, instructing Xi Que and Shuang Jiang, "Take good care of your mistress, and do not allow her to get drunk again."
He did not want others to see her in this seductive state.
"Understood."
Just when Xi Que thought the Emperor would stay, he returned to the Changxin Palace.
Once he left, Jiang Xinyue opened her eyes.
She was scared to death!
Thank goodness the Emperor did not spend the night here.
She dared to snatch someone from Concubine Chu because Concubine Chu was not particularly favored, and she had no strong backing behind her.
Concubine Li was different.
Not to mention that she was already highly favored in the harem, ranking only below the Empress, and she had the authority to manage the six palaces.
Just the fact that her father was the Grand Chancellor of the Great Yan Dynasty, a position the Jiang family could not reach even if they tried, was already significant.
Not to mention their family full of high-ranking officials.
If she truly angered Concubine Li, it would be as easy for her to crush Jiang Xinyue as it would be to squash an ant.
The Changxin Palace was brightly lit. Concubine Li woke up halfway through the night to find the Emperor not around and had already had a fit, smashing several vases and injuring several palace maids.
When the Xuanwu Emperor returned, Concubine Li hadn't had time to wipe the anger from her face, and a palace maid with a palm print on her face was picking up the shards on the floor.
"Em...Emperor?"
A flash of shock and regret passed over Concubine Li's face, quickly replaced by a look of grievance and frailty, "Your consort... for the Emperor..."
"What happened, my dear consort?"
The expression on the Emperor's face was unreadable. He reached out to support Concubine Li by the elbow and pulled her into his arms, "Did some blind servant upset my dear consort?"
He gave her an out, and Concubine Li immediately took it, "The ice basin in the room was used up, and those slaves didn't refill it. I was awakened by the heat. You were not here, Emperor, and I was scared for a moment..."
Scared, so she smashed things and beat the servants?
More likely, she was angered by the Emperor's absence and took it out on the palace maids!
Wang Dequan muttered in his heart. Eight years ago, when Concubine Li first entered the palace, what a charming girl she was!
Pure and innocent, kind and lovable, and absolutely beautiful, she deeply won the Emperor's heart.
Now, she's no different from those calculating women in the harem.
Thinking about it, it's not hard to understand why the Emperor would be attracted to Consort Zhen.
Consort Zhen of today truly possesses some of the charm and temperament Concubine Li had in her early days.
"Why is it raining again?"
Xi Que held the umbrella, flanking Jiang Xinyue on one side with Shuang Jiang, "The weather has been so unpredictable lately, I don't know how to dress anymore."
It was indeed the season where wearing too much was too hot, and wearing too little was too cold. It was also rainy and occasionally windy.
Jiang Xinyue found it annoying too. She wasn't a high-ranking consort who could ride in a sedan. Walking from Xihuo Palace to Yikun Palace took nearly half an hour. For someone as lazy as her, who would take a cab for a ten-minute walk, it was torture.
She was so tired that she had to get up a bit earlier every day, so she wouldn't be late for the morning greetings at Yikun Palace.
"Consort Zhen is indeed early today. It seems that when the Emperor is not around, Consort Zhen has to be a bit more diligent."
Concubine Chu held resentment towards Jiang Xinyue for her attempts to usurp the Emperor. She always looked for opportunities to take a jab at her.
However, everyone in the palace was like this; those who didn't vie for power had long since met the King of Hell. Wasn't it true that Concubine Chu herself had snatched something from others?
Jiang Xinyue seated herself at a higher position than Concubine Chu, her eyes full of indifference, "If that's the case, then Concubine Chu should be the most diligent of all. Why don't I see you getting up early to pay respects? Are you slacking off in your heart towards the Empress?"
As a concubine with no favor, she should be the earliest to arrive.
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Concubine Chu's face turned pale as she knelt on the ground, "Empress Zhu, please discern the truth. I absolutely do not have such intentions."
Empress Zhu didn't even spare her a glance, "Consort Zhen is just joking with you, how could you get so frightened?"
Fen Yun glanced at Concubine Li, Concubine Chu was Concubine Li's person. She must be feeling guilty!
