The night was still young, and the clear breeze was blowing gently. Consort Dowager Hui was not in a hurry to go back, so she walked along the river with Li Huairou.
“What did you think about Concubine Ling’s dance tonight?” Consort Dowager Hui asked, smiling.
Li Huairou’s lips curved. “Just so-so!” Su Wan’er’s regaining favor twice was related to her two dances of The Flying Fairy from the Sky. The first time, it still had her own characteristics. But the second time, it was purely a copy of the original Empress Xiaoyuan. Whether it was clothing or makeup, they were exactly the same as Empress Xiaoyuan’s.
This dance’s description was exquisite, but it wasn’t that exquisite when seen on the spot. Victory laid in the artistic conception—the quiet night, the deep lake, the bright moon in the sky, the leaf boat, and the light dancing. It was such a posture that some immortals would ride the wind to return home.
She didn’t know what The Fairy Flying from the Sky would be like for the second time.
Fang-momo also smiled. “It’s just Concubine Ling’s blind imitation. Others don’t know, but the empress dowager must already be clear about this.” How did the consort dowager get into the emperor’s heart in the first place? Didn’t he witness the consort dowager’s flying dance on Buddha’s Birthday? At that time, the consort dowager was only fourteen years old. She’d been chosen to dance on Buddha’s Birthday. At that time, she was covered with a veil, and no one else knew her identity, but how could she hide it from the monarch of a country?
Li Huairou suddenly became interested. “Really? Can the consort dowager dance? What kind of dance?”
“I remember that the first emperor painted a painting of it himself. It’s still in the warehouse. When I go back, I will show it to you,” Fang-momo replied with a smile, seeing that the consort dowager’s expression didn’t reject her mentioning the past.
“Presumably, many people will have a hard time sleeping tonight!” Consort Dowager Hui looked into the distance and smiled.
“It is none of our business! Consort dowager, let’s go back; there are too many mosquitoes. Is there anything to eat? I didn’t have enough to eat just now,” Li Huairou said, rubbing her stomach.
Consort Dowager Hui was speechless. “You haven’t eaten enough yet? Is your stomach a bottomless pit? Half of the snacks on my table have entered your stomach. You haven’t eaten enough yet, and you’re still eating!”
“What’s wrong with me! I’m still growing!” Li Huairou frankly replied.
“Growing? Hmph, where did it grow?” Consort Dowager Hui looked at Li Huairou with disdain, her eyes glancing from the top of Li Huairou’s head to her chest.
Li Huairou suddenly straightened her chest. “It’s growing! It’s just not obvious!”
Consort Dowager Hui rolled her eyes and walked away with disdain.
Li Huairou felt that she had been humiliated. “Momo!”
Fang-momo said perfunctorily, “Alright, alright, I will have the dining room make you something good to eat!” Then she caught up with Consort Dowager Hui.
Li Huairou stomped her feet angrily. It really couldn’t be blamed on her. She ate a lot, but despite that, her height was still the same, and there was no improvement. She still looked petite and childish. It didn’t fit her royal sister‘s personality!
[The “royal sister” type refers to young women who are more mature in appearance, figure, personality, and temperament]
After Consort Dowager Hui and her party left, Prince Qi’s figure came out from behind a tree. “So it turned out to be her,” Prince Qi murmured to himself. It turned out that she was the little palace lady who was the most favored by the consort dowager in the stories.
“Your Highness, who did you mean?”
“Nothing. Let’s go!” Prince Qi smiled, but he quickly plotted whether he could use this palace lady in his plan.
Su Wan’er was favored again, and she was still being loved as ever. On the second morning after the empress’s birthday banquet, the emperor couldn’t wait to go to Su Wan’er’s Lanyue Pavilion. And he’d take ten days to stay.
Nanshan Palace was almost drowned in the jealousy of the concubines and consorts, but the emperor still went his own way. The empress dowager was almost drowned in the empress’s tears, so she had to ask the emperor to come over and exhort her.
The emperor acknowledged this, but as soon as he came out of the empress dowager’s pavilion, he turned and went to Lanyue Pavilion.
Now, even the empress dowager was angry. On this day, as the emperor summoned the courtiers, she ordered Concubine Ling to come over. It was unexpectedly found that although the emperor had been resting in Lanyue Pavilion these days, the two were only playing chess, painting, and discussing poetry and books. They slept in separate beds when resting.
Su Wan’er knelt on the ground and said seriously, “All the people in Lanyue Pavilion know about it. If the empress dowager doesn’t believe this concubine, you can ask Luo-gonggong. The title of ‘fox’ confuses the lord; this concubine really doesn’t dare to accept it.”
The empress snorted coldly. Just as she was about to speak, the empress dowager glared at the empress—she shouldn’t have listened to that idiot empress! “Alright, aijia understands. Go back first.”
After Su Wan’er left, Luo Fu was called in by the empress dowager. It was confirmed that Su Wan’er’s words were true.
“A few days ago, the lady Concubine Ling refused to even see the emperor. It was not until later that she opened the door and let him in. However, the two only read books, played chess, and painted together, and the emperor did not have Concubine Ling wait for him to go to bed,” Luo Fu explained.
The empress dowager waved Luo Fu away.
The empress was furious and frustrated. “That hypocritical bitch. Who does Concubine Ling show her pretense for! Does the emperor seem to treat her differently?”
“Shut up! Don’t forget your identity!” The empress dowager was angry. “You don’t have the ability to hold the emperor’s heart, so what’s the use of saying these!”
The empress’s eyes widened. “Mother empress!”
“And you still care about this little thing at this point in time. No matter who the emperor favors, they can’t shake your seat in the palace. But you only have Yue’er under your knee—a center without a son. Ask yourself this: is the phoenix crown on your head stable?” The empress dowager stared at the empress and said, “At this moment, do you not know what is most important to you?”
The empress stood up abruptly. “Mother empress, don’t speak anymore. As long as I live another day, the Gu family’s women will never enter the palace to divide my husband’s attention. If not, Gu Xingyun will meet an end!”
Then she turned around and left without paying any respects.
The empress dowager was trembling with anger. She fainted directly away, her hands on her chest.
The momo hurriedly supported the empress dowager and ordered someone to bring medicine and water, and to find the imperial physician.
Fortunately, the empress dowager was fine. The momo helped her lay down and knelt beside her, tears streaming down her face. “Empress dowager, don’t worry so much. Your health is the most important!”
Perhaps she was only one step away from death. The fear of death lingered in the empress dowager’s heart. She slowly closed her eyes and said, “I know.” She had to live, live to enjoy everything! If you died, there would be nothing! What “family honor”? What “descendants” and “generations”? In this world, nothing was more important than for her to live well.
The momo finally felt relieved after hearing this.
On the empress’s side, when she heard that the empress dowager had fainted and asked for an imperial physician after her departure, the momo and maids around the empress were frightened. The empress was unimpressed. In her view, she and the empress dowager shared the same interests. She and the empress dowager were both the daughters of the Gu family. For the sake of her family, the empress dowager would not leave her out to dry.
Persuaded by people around her, the empress went to the empress dowager’s palace to attend to her illness, but she was not allowed to see the empress dowager. The emperor even reprimanded the empress in front of all the concubines, saying that the concubines were all here, but she was late. It was truly unfilial.
The empress saw that the empress dowager behind the curtain did not plead on her behalf, and the people around her also turned a blind eye, which scared her.
During the next period of time, the empress lingered around the empress dowager all day, serving her during her illness and begging her for forgiveness.
Consort Dowager Hui looked at the empress, who was waiting for the empress dowager to take medicine before leaving, and smiled. “Jiejie is really blessed. Your Majesty the empress is quite filial.”
The empress dowager sneered. “If this blessing was given to you, would you want it?” She felt sick because of her anger toward the empress. It was alright if others didn’t know, but could Consort Dowager Hui really have no idea? Why bother to say this to ridicule her?
“I don’t have such a good blessing as jiejie does!” Consort Dowager Hui smiled. Toward the empress dowager, her feelings were complicated. Sometimes she felt that she should hate her, and sometimes she felt pity for her. Of course, more often, she faced the empress dowager with the attitude of watching the excitement. She had long thought about it clearly—hatred would only make her more miserable. People lived a lifetime, so why should she make her life so exhausting?
The empress dowager also knew Consort Dowager Hui’s thoughts, but she didn’t take them seriously. She already had everything she wanted, and she could tolerate that idiot empress, not to mention Consort Dowager Hui’s innocuous jokes.
“Jiejie, this snack tastes good. Who made it? Jiejie, can you send me the one who made it!” Consort Dowager Hui said, smiling.
The empress dowager looked at the momo beside her.
The momo smiled and said, “This snack is made by Fang Cao. She grew up on the south coast. Not only does she make good snacks, but her soup is also very good. This servant will have Fang Cao clean herself up and go back with the consort dowager later.”
Consort Dowager Hui smiled, and when she left, she really took the palace lady who could make snacks away with her.
The empress was puzzled. She knew that the empress dowager valued the court lady Fang Cao, and that the empress dowager’s food was all served by Fang Cao. But with one word, the empress dowager gave Fang Cao to Consort Dowager Hui.
She felt that the empress dowager was so good to her former rival—Consort Dowager Hui—but so harsh to her niece and daughter-in-law. She was already so meek and subservient, but her mother empress was still cold to her, without even a smiling face. She didn’t dare to show anything. She just held the momo behind her back and cried.
The momo was distressed and helpless. Finally, she gave the empress an idea: since the empress dowager valued Consort Dowager Hui so much, she would ask the empress to ask Consort Dowager Hui for advice.
The empress wanted help so badly she was sick and depressed, and she really went.
When Consort Dowager Hui saw the empress, she almost couldn’t hold herself back. It should be said that the empress had always been proud of her position as wife in the palace; except for the empress dowager, she didn’t consider anyone else. Although she was respectful to Consort Dowager Hui, the respect was only on the surface, and she secretly looked down on her, the favorite concubine.
Is the sun rising from the west today? Concubine Hui exchanged glances with Li Huairou.
After listening to the empress’s cries, it became clear to Consort Dowager Hui: it turned out that she was asking for her guidance?
Looking at the empress’s expectant eyes, Consort Dowager Hui smiled helplessly. “Your Majesty, in fact, between you and your mother empress, you are both niece and daughter-in-law—already very intimate. Why should you worry so much? The empress dowager is just in a bad mood now. Plus, she also wants to teach you a lesson. After all, the empress dowager is an elder; no matter how much she loves you, you must pay attention to her. You can’t disobey her.”
“Then what should I do? Consort dowager, please help me!” the empress cried.
“The empress dowager is a person who eats soft things, but not hard things. Soften your stance a little bit. If it really didn’t work, if you played a bitter trick, the empress dowager would definitely feel distressed. If that doesn’t work, take the third princess with you. The empress dowager loves her granddaughter—for the third princess’s sake, she won’t really not care about you,” Consort Dowager Hui said perfunctorily. She didn’t bother mixing these messy things up. However, if the empress quit, the play acted out in the palace would become a bit thin and unsightly.
[A person who can be persuaded by reason, but not be cowed by force]
So, let’s give some pointers!
The empress’s eyes lit up. She subconsciously ignored the previous few sentences and lowered her posture a little bit. What bitterness? She was already lower; how low could she be? After all, she was also the empress of the palace! But the consort dowager’s last words were right—mother empress loved Yue’er the most!
“Thank you, consort dowager! This one still has something to do, so I will leave first,” the empress said, standing up and hurriedly leaving.
Consort Dowager Hui curled her lips in disgust. This level of emotional intelligence was not even as good as Auntie Zhao’s. If she didn’t have the empress dowager’s support and her identity in the central palace, she would have no legs left to stand on.
