When Rongyue entered Crimson Snow Pavilion, the other beauties were all surrounded by the palace maid giving her rewards and favors, but Rongyue didn't show any expression at all. She had found a cool place early on to sit and rest.
Cai Ying squatted at her feet, massaging her calves, "Miss, you're tired today, and your leg injury hasn't fully recovered yet. Let me apply some more medicine for you after we each return to our rooms later?"
Rongyue smiled weakly and shook her head helplessly, "Whether you apply it or not, it'll be the same anyway, it doesn't matter."
"Miss..."
Amidst the conversation between mistress and servant, those beauties had already finished giving favors and returned to Crimson Snow Pavilion.
They were chattering noisily, surrounding a woman with exotic features, dressed in Mongolian clothing, wearing an exaggerated hat and dangling ornaments on her head. They were shamelessly fawning over and flattering her.
Rongyue had quite an impression of this Mongolian woman from the beauty selection.
She was the daughter of the Mongol King, called Ru Naren.
Among this group of beauties, her status was very prestigious. It was said that when she was presented to the Emperor, Xiao Jingheng only glanced at her once before keeping her identification plaque.
Now everyone was ingratiating themselves with her:
"Sister Naren, your outfit looks so beautiful, it sets off your good looks!"
"That's right! Mongolia has the well-known reputation as the 'Nation of Clothing and Adornment'. As soon as I saw Sister today, I was so stunned that I couldn't take my eyes off you!"
Ru Naren was puffed up by their flattery, and was very smug.
Although everyone surrounded her, her clothes were very thick and heavy in order to show off her prestige, making her feel rather hot.
Her gaze inadvertently caught sight of Rongyue sitting by the ice bucket, so she quickly walked over and arrogantly said to her:
"Hey you, get up and let me sit down."
Rongyue glanced at her. She thought it was better to avoid trouble, and was about to get up to let Ru Naren have the seat, but her legs were not very mobile, so her movements were a little slow. She didn't expect Ru Naren to impatiently snap:
"Why are you dawdling? Are your legs broken? You were walking so smoothly when meeting the Empress Dowager just now!"
Hearing this, Rongyue was also irritated.
She simply remained seated steadily, didn't even look at Ru Naren, and just said coldly:
"This hall is very spacious, go find another place to sit."
"You!" Ru Naren was furious. She strode forward to shove Rongyue.
At this moment, a beautiful woman stepped forward to stand between them, softly persuading:
"Sister Naren, I see that Sister Tong's legs really aren't working well, so...."
"Get lost!" Ru Naren pushed the beauty aside aggressively. She looked her up and down contemptuously, then snarled viciously: "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"I...I'm called Kang Baoxin, my father is...the Prefect of Yingzhou." The beauty stammered nervously.
"Prefect?" Ru Naren scoffed disdainfully: "Some poor, shabby petty official? How dare you block me?"
She shoved Kang Baoxin forcefully away, still acting wildly and shouting for Rongyue to give up her seat.
Rongyue let her rant as she pleased, and simply stopped responding.
Ru Naren felt like she was losing face. She raised her hand, wanting to hit Rongyue.
Just then, another beauty spoke up: "Sister Naren, I heard her father seems to be the Navy Commander. That's not a low position. We've only just entered the palace, so shouldn't stir up trouble!"
The speaker was the only one among the selected beauties who had some connections in the palace already.
She was called Li Zhen'er, and was the older sister of the disgraced Noble Consort Li.
The reason she was selected this time was probably because Xiao Jingheng realized he had wronged Noble Consort Li, so he wanted to appease the Li family like this.
But Ru Naren didn't listen to her persuasion at all.
"So what if he's the Navy Commander? My father is the Mongol King!"
She raised her chin arrogantly, increasingly smug as she declared:
"The seventy-two tribes of Mongolia have to be treated deferentially by the Emperor. What's wrong with me asking his daughter to give up her seat for me?"
"Heh."
A cold laugh came from Rongyue's mouth.
She still didn't look at Ru Naren, just pretending to chat idly with Cai Ying:
"There's an old saying, 'The rivers and mountains remain even when the nation falls'. But I actually don't think that's right. When a nation falls, the rivers and mountains will change ownership. Even if it's still the same scenery as before, when the ruling clan changes, it's ultimately not the old homeland anymore. Do you know which dogs bark the fiercest?"
Cai Ying frowned and shook her head. Rongyue smiled and said:
"Naturally, it's the dogs that have lost their home. They bark incessantly."
These words clearly mocked Ru Naren.
The Mongol nation had long ago been conquered by the Qi Dynasty. It was not even a nation anymore, split into seventy-two parts governed separately.
Although they still lived on the Argun Grasslands, they had to pay annual taxes to the Qi Dynasty. How was that any different from a dog that had lost its home?
Ru Naren was so angry with Rongyue's words that her face turned red. She pointed at Rongyue and cursed:
"Mongrel! Today I'm going to teach you a lesson!"
She raised her right hand, about to slap Rongyue's face, when at that moment,
a palace maid respectfully announced from outside the door:
"Her Ladyship the Imperial Concubine has arrived!"
[There are still two more updates after this. More people have entered the palace now. I've taken the outline table out for you to more intuitively see]
