The next day,
[{"Chinese":"宋昭","English":"Song Zhao"}] as usual got up early and went to Yonghe Palace with the other imperial consorts to pay respects to [{{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}}.
After finishing paying respects and returning to her own palace, [{"Chinese":"宋昭","English":"Song Zhao"}] was about to take a rest, but before she could sit down, [{{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}}'s attendant [{{"Chinese":"康玉斌","English":"Kang Yubin"}} came over.
He smiled obsequiously at [{"Chinese":"宋昭","English":"Song Zhao"}] and bowed with clasped hands, "Esteemed Concubine Yi is in good health. [{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}] summons you to Yonghe Palace. Yesterday, His Majesty granted you the privilege of learning to assist in managing the Six Palaces. [{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}] happens to have time now and can teach you."
[{"Chinese":"宋昭","English":"Song Zhao"}] smiled, "This concubine understands. Please relay to [{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}] that I will arrive shortly."
[{{"Chinese":"康玉斌","English":"Kang Yubin"}} bowed and withdrew.
When he had left the palace gate, [Yun Shan] watched angrily from the window lattice and said to [Song Zhao]: "It's obvious that [Noble Consort Chen] is deliberately making things difficult! She said she wanted to teach you, so why didn't she ask you to stay after paying respects just now? She insisted on waiting until we had just returned to the palace before sending someone to summon us again! Isn't she clearly just trying to vex people?"
Compared to [Yun Shan]'s anger, [Song Zhao] appeared much calmer. "Let her be. After all, we only have to endure her torment for a few more days."
[Yun Shan] couldn't stand to see her mistress bullied, but there was no alternative for now. She could only remind: "Then this servant will change you into lighter clothes. [Noble Consort Chen] is afraid of the cold, and with the pregnancy she is even more delicately cared for in the palace with seven or eight braziers. It's stiflingly hot. Your current outfit is too thick. I saw you were sweating just from paying respects earlier. There are many rules in [Noble Consort Chen]'s palace, so it would be inappropriate for you to take off your outer robe there. It's better to change into something thinner, to avoid suffering."
After thinking it over briefly, [Song Zhao] said, "Just fetch a lighter outer shirt. But the middle garment and undergarment must be added with cotton - the warmer the better."
[Yun Shan] didn't ask further upon hearing this, only followed [Song Zhao]'s instructions.
Later when [Song Zhao] hurried to Yonghe Palace, she saw that the desk in the inner chamber was piled high with ledgers and records of various sizes, like a small mountain, stacked in layers.
[{"Chinese":"宸贵妃","English":"Noble Consort Chen"}] leaned lazily on the heated seat, seeming to smile while not smiling, and said, "Since you're going to be in charge, you must first understand the prices of firewood, rice, oil and salt. What's in front of you are the expenditures of each palace in the inner palace for the last three years, as well as the daily expenses of the six thousand three hundred palace servants. Go through them one by one and familiarize yourself first."
It was obvious she was deliberately making things difficult for [Song Zhao].
No matter the expenditures of the inner palace or the daily expenses of palace servants, these accounts would all be summarized and analyzed by specialized personnel at the end of the year, with all the data organized into 'grand totals'.
After seeing the 'grand totals', the expenditures for that year could be understood at a glance. There was no need to laboriously view each one individually.
But [Song Zhao] knew that [Noble Consort Chen] had not truly called her here today to teach her how to assist in managing the Six Palaces. It was clear she just wanted to intimidate her.
So she did not try to reason with [Noble Consort Chen], but sat down in front of the desk and started flipping through them one by one.
The inner chamber of [Noble Consort Chen]'s palace was even warmer than the main hall.
Added to this was the sedative incense she had lit in the palace for peace of mind and to protect the pregnancy.
Heated by the warm air, the fragrance was most prone to make people drowsy.
As [Song Zhao] looked at the tiny words densely packed together, she soon felt spiritually weary and couldn't help but yawn.
[Noble Consort Chen] watched her like a sharp-eyed eagle, waiting for her to make a mistake.
Before [Song Zhao] could finish her yawn, she already sarcastically said, "His Majesty has granted you such great power, yet I see you don't seem to take it seriously. Just a quarter hour and you're already yawning?"
Then slowly continuing, she sternly ordered: "[{"Chinese":"康玉斌","English":"Kang Yubin"}}, move all these account books outside to the corridor. Have Esteemed Concubine Yi stand out there and read them. The sun is nice now, it'll also help wake her up."
The palace maids efficiently moved everything outside.
The moment [Song Zhao] stepped out into the corridor, she also couldn't help but deeply breathe in some fresh air, feeling carefree and comfortable.
The cotton middle and under garments were warm enough, and the corridor was sheltered so there wasn't much wind.
Standing in the corridor was definitely more comfortable than being in the inner chamber that was like a furnace.
The account book [Song Zhao] was currently flipping through happened to be for [{"Chinese":"惠嫔","English":"Consort Hui"}] manor, Zhuangchun Palace.
She looked at the expenditures listed and saw that the Imperial Household Department gave an allowance of over one thousand taels of silver per month to [Consort Hui] alone.
[Song Zhao] held the same concubine rank as [Consort Hui], and even enjoyed special favor from [Xiao Jingheng], yet her own monthly allowance was only eight hundred taels.
[Consort Hui]'s allowance of one thousand taels was already approaching that of a consort.
Privately, [Song Zhao] felt a little puzzled, but she didn't think deeply about it.
After all, [Consort Hui]'s maternal family was wealthy and powerful, providing the court with a lot of silver and money every year.
It was understandable that [Xiao Jingheng] would give her more allowance for this 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' arrangement.
After looking through the ledgers for a while longer, [Song Zhao] felt her eyes grow tired, so she raised her head to gaze into the distance.
When she did, she discovered that at some unknown point, the courtyard had been covered by a thin layer of white.
The first snow of the year had fallen, just like that, without any warning.
*
In the inner chamber,
[Noble Consort Chen] had taken a short nap. When she woke up, it had probably been about half an hour since she had sent [Song Zhao] to the corridor to read the account books.
[Liu Yue] was attending her as she got up. [Noble Consort Chen] casually asked, "What about her? Has she been slacking off out there?"
[Liu Yue] giggled and said, "Master Kang is keeping an eye on her, not letting her be lazy for a moment."
Then she ran to the window lattice, opened up a crack, and said,
"Esteemed Consort, look - it's snowing outside! This servant saw that Esteemed Concubine Yi is dressed lightly today. Even though standing in the corridor means the snow won't fall on her, she's probably very cold!"
"It's snowing?"
[Noble Consort Chen] went to the window. Seeing the silver wrapped courtyard outside, she immediately glared at [Liu Yue] and said in displeasure,
"Foolish thing! She has just given birth and cannot catch a cold, otherwise her health will be ruined for life! Why didn't you call her back in?"
[Liu Yue] was berated by [Noble Consort Chen] for no reason, also feeling very confused. "I... Esteemed Consort ordered her to stand in the corridor. How dare this servant..."
"Useless fool!" [Noble Consort Chen] looked at her disdainfully and rolled her eyes. "Go bring her back in."
As [Liu Yue] hurried to carry out the order, she also heard [Noble Consort Chen] call her back,
"When you return, brew a pot of ginger brown sugar tea. On a day with the first snow, I'm craving that taste and also want to warm up."
After [Song Zhao] was summoned back, [Noble Consort Chen] didn't even glance at her, only immersed herself in flipping through a painting album.
But this time, [Song Zhao] discovered that the previously empty desk had inexplicably gained a brazier next to it.
Shortly after, [Liu Yue] brought in a pot of hot ginger brown sugar tea, and filled a jade cup in front of [Noble Consort Chen].
As soon as [Noble Consort Chen] brought the cup to her lips for a sip, she immediately spat it out into a nearby jade spittoon, frowning and complaining,
"How can you serve like this? You put in so much brown sugar, are you trying to sicken someone?"
[Liu Yue] was so frightened she repeatedly admitted her wrongs, "Esteemed Consort, please forgive this slave's offense... This slave will brew a fresh pot for you..."
"Forget it." [Noble Consort Chen] impatiently raised her eyelids, and seemingly casually swept [Song Zhao] a glance, saying,
"As the new year approaches, His Majesty wants frugality in the inner palace. Since it's already brewed, don't waste it. I can't drink it, but Esteemed Concubine Yi isn't so delicate. Go reward it to her to drink."
[Song Zhao] was always cautious. She almost never touched the food and drink of other palaces,
so even when [Liu Yue] poured her a cup now, she only thanked [Noble Consort Chen] for the reward but hesitated to drink it down.
Seeing that she wasn't drinking it, [Noble Consort Chen] became somewhat annoyed. "I'm rewarding this to you, hurry and drink it while it's hot. What's the fuss?"
Left with no choice, [Song Zhao] raised the cup.
In her heart she thought, no matter how overbearing [Noble Consort Chen] was, she surely wouldn't dare to openly drug her.
This ginger tea could at most just be unpleasant to drink. There probably wouldn't be any issues.
Only then did she steel herself and take a sip.
Unexpectedly, the ginger tea was warm on the tongue, with mild sweetness and just the right flavor. There wasn't the slightest trace of the cloying sweetness [Noble Consort Chen] had described.
[Song Zhao] was confused for a moment. She raised her brows to look at [Noble Consort Chen],
only to see her still with that aloof expression, even throwing [Song Zhao] a white eye before continuing to look at her painting album.
Seeing some babies asking when the solo pampering will start, to avoid people giving bad reviews because sister Song doesn't have a romance, I should clarify in advance:
The intention of this book is the comment I made above - feudal male authority has always been suppressing the awakening of female gender awareness (an ugly way of phrasing it, but it persists even now), so in the end when Song Jie is completely awakened, all she wants with the women of the rear palace is absolute equality. The storyline develops towards them uniting together in the end to resist the oppression of male authority, rather than indulging in petty romance from start to finish.
Even if the wretched emperor wants to favor Song Jie alone, she would still find him disgusting and tell him to get lost immediately.
With the emperor being so nauseating already, I also don't understand why there would still be people wanting to read about him being affectionate and devoted to Song Jie without doubt.
Sister! Go ahead and eat something nice!
There's still another update coming later~
