Chapter 43 - Auntie Zhu was distressed

This evening, Emperor Chunjia wanted to stay in Ning Bi Palace to accompany Consort Yue. At most, he would be blamed by the Empress Dowager, Queen Mother Ji and Queen Mother Yuan. However, when he was coaxing Yuan Lianniang, Auntie Zhu, who had just persuaded Yun Fenghuang to go back, was astonished when she saw that scene in the back hall, “The palace gate is about to be locked. Why hasn’t My Majesty gone to Yan Lan Palace?”

“… Lianniang feels a little uncomfortable.” The couple was shocked. Emperor Chunjia subconsciously wanted to defend Consort Yue, “I am worried about her.”

“Don’t worry about her, My Majesty.” Auntie Zhu smiled, but there was a trace of murderous intention in her eyes. She said softly, “There are many of us who can take good care of Consort Yue. Anyway, if Consort Yue is really uncomfortable, you can’t stay here anymore. What if you are infected?”

Emperor Chunjia said with a smile, “Auntie Zhu, please, just tonight. I will go to Yan Lan Palace tomorrow morning, okay?”

He was adopted by Queen Mother Yuan since he was born. Before he became an adult, he didn’t even know his background. He thought Queen Mother Yuan was his birth mother, and regarded Yuan’s Family of Fuyang as his legitimate family, so he was familiar with Auntie Zhu, too.

Even if he was the Emperor now, he still requested cautiously. Auntie Zhu’s heart softened.

Of course, she only felt pity for Emperor Chunjia, but hated Consort Yue even more.

“Forgive me for my offending. You two are both raised by me. I will not stop you if it is the right thing to do.” Auntie Zhu was silent and sighed, revealing her sadness, “The Empress Dowager never interferes in the Imperial Harem, but this time, she spoke for Yan Lan Palace. If My Majesty is still hesitant to go there, what would the Empress Dowager think? Consort Yue is nothing but My Majesty’s concubine, but the General-in-chief of the Cavalry has defended Dijing City for years. He should be given credit at least for the sake of his hard work. My Majesty, please don’t hurt loyal courtier’s heart!”

Seeing that Emperor Chunjia was hesitant, she glanced at Consort Yue grimly, “Is My Lady really uncomfortable? If so, it is useless for My Majesty to be here. Shall I go out to summon an imperial doctor?”

“…” Consort Yue looked at Auntie Zhu for a moment, and finally lowered her head in frustration, pushing Emperor Chunjia, “You should go!”

Emperor Chunjia hesitated. In the end, under the almost imploring gaze of Auntie Zhu, he stood up slowly and walked out. When he went out, he whispered, “Auntie Zhu, it’s my fault. I want to stay with her. It’s not her fault.”

Auntie Zhu said softly, “I know. I have served Yuan’s Family for three generations. My fate is closely related to Yuan’s Family. Don’t worry, My Majesty.”

However, right after Emperor Chunjia left, she wore another face to Consort Yue, “Bastard! How many times have I told you?! Don’t pretend to be obedient! Don’t confront other concubines face to face in public anymore… You agreed in front of me but neglected it afterwards! We are in a difficult situation now. You could not be so ruthless. Yuan’s Family of Fuyang…”

“Yuan’s Family of Fuyang again!” Consort Yue interrupted irritably, shouting, “You only thought about Yuan’s Family’s reputation? When did you think about me?!”

“…” Auntie Zhu calmed down suddenly, and was a little bit nervous when she saw Consort Yue’s cold eyes, saying slowly, “Without Yuan’s Family of Fuyang, what the hell do you think you are?”

Before Consort Yue could answer, she waved her sleeves and left the inner hall.

When she closed the door, she heard the sound of porcelain being cracked in the hall. Absolutely, Consort Yue was throwing things to release her anger.

Auntie Zhu sighed, found a maid ahead, and told her in a low voice to enjoin the kitchenette, “His Majesty said just now that Consort Yue is uncomfortable lately. I am afraid she has to rest for several days.”

The maid understood what she meant, so she pondered, “But when Consort Yue was sick before, she didn’t like to drink medicine, and His Majesty had to come over to coax and feed her. We are kind of busy recently. If His Majesty always stays here, I am afraid that…”

“Leave her alone.” Auntie Zhu sneered, “Just be careful, and don’t let His Majesty know it. Since she is still grounded and can’t go anywhere, if we don’t mention it, how could others know it? Even if Her Highness and other noble concubines learn this, would they specifically tell this to His Majesty?”

She was really annoyed with Consort Yue. After said this, she didn’t even want to have dinner which was specially reserved by the maids, and directly went to bed.

It didn’t take long before she fell asleep, and she was awakened by a maid—She originally thought that something happened to Consort Yue. Before she got up yet, she became very angry. But the maid whispered, “It’s Xi Xing Building. The maid said Gui Ren Yun had a nightmare.”

“She had a nightmare?” Auntie Zhu sneered, “If other concubines were panic for nightmares, I would believe it. But Gui Ren Yun… is she a timid person?”

She didn’t want to get up for this, so she just waved her hand in the tent, “If she wants to be comforted, tell her to invite His Majesty from Yan Lan Palace, but she is not allowed to go there in the name of Hu Zhu Palace. Anyway, she is very famous in the Imperial Harem now, and there is no need to mention Consort Yue. People of Yan Lan Palace know her for sure! If she wants to be diagnosed, she can summon an imperial doctor after dawn. Since the palace gate is locked now, it’s not easy to get in and out according to the rules.”

The maid who came to send messages was a little hesitant, “She said she dreamed of Xin Qing…”

This was not the point. The point was, “She dreamed that Xin Qing came to our Ning Bi Hall!”

“…” Auntie Zhu sat up suddenly, “Bitch!”

After a long while, Auntie Zhu met the maid of Xi Xing Building who sent messages in the side hall. She had white skin and beautiful eyes, seeming to be very meek and obedient.

Auntie Zhu didn’t dare to neglect the maid, “I seemed to have seen you in Yan Fu Palace.”

“I did serve in Yan Fu Palace before, and Her Highness ordered me to serve Gui Ren Yun in Xi Xing Building now.” Xi Le said in a low voice, “Just now, Gui Ren Yun woke up from a nightmare. She worried that Consort Yue might be disturbed by the ghost. So, she sent me to inform you for that.”

Auntie Zhu sneered, “We are very grateful for Gui Ren Yun’s kindness. Just as what you think about on the day, what you will dream on the night. Presumably Gui Ren Yun was also thinking about Xin Qing, so she had such a nightmare. But Xin Qing had nothing to do with Ning Bi Hall. Even if there is any ghost, how could it bother Consort Yue?”

Xi Le said slowly, “I’ll bear that in mind. And I’m going back to tell Gui Ren about this now.”

Speaking of this, she saluted and went away directly.

She came suddenly and also went away decisively, which didn’t take much time… It was strange!

After Xi Le left, Auntie Zhu couldn’t sleep at all. She called a few trusted maids and closed the door, trying to figure out Yun Fenghuang’s purpose.

“It’s better for Consort Yue to keep silent recently.” The maid, who had just been sent by Auntie Zhu to the kitchenette to send messages, said, “Otherwise, the bitch might spread the news that Consort Yue’s illness is caused by the ghost.”

Auntie Zhu nodded sullenly, “I’ll think of other ways to persuade Consort Yue.”

“Does she intend to tease us?” A eunuch in black hesitated and said, “Gui Ren Yun is really narrow-minded. Maybe she was sleepless, so she made a lie to awake us.”

“Possibly…” Auntie Zhu pondered, “But we should be careful! After all, Consort Yue’s reputation has been ruined all these years. Things like this, alas…”

Speaking of Consort Yue’s reputation, Auntie Zhu couldn’t help sighing.

Consort Yue had already been in the dry tree. If she couldn’t bear all the hardships and try to gain a virtuous reputation, she should at least not be so lack of mercy.

Because of her engagement with Emperor Chunjia since her childhood, Yuan’s Family of Fuyang really indulged Consort Yue, but they also taught her how to be a decent lady. Besides, Queen Mother Yuan also tutored her from time to time. How could she turn into this?

Auntie Zhu really could not get it.

“If only the Concubine Messengers could come back now.” The previous maid regretted, “Gui Ren Yun has been promoted several times since joining the Imperial Harem. If there are new concubines coming to distract Consort Yue’s attention this time, replacing Gui Ren Yun’s place, we will be able to send Yun out of our palace.”

The girls that the Concubine Messengers brought were all girls from good but poor families. Although these girls were beautiful, most of them were timid because their family backgrounds were too powerless to rely on. They were obedient and easy to control, which were quite suitable for the mindless hostesses like Consort Yue to release their anger.

They discussed to whole night, and finally decided to… wait to see Yun Fenghuang’s movement next day before they made any plans.

The next morning, Yun Fenghuang got up full of energy. After Xi Le dressed her up, she went to Yan Fu Palace to pay respect as usual.

When she walked into the side hall, although a group of concubines still cast eyes over her, no one dared to provoke her.

Even the highest-ranking concubine among them, Wei Hengyan, took the initiative to beckon her sitting next to herself.

“Did you sleep well last night?” Wei Hengyan had heavy make-up, but still barely covered her pale face. She whispered, “I had a nightmare the whole night… I was really scared. This morning, I detoured from other door specially to leave Yi Jia Palace.”

The palace gate she used to pass was not far from the corpse-recognition house where they recognized Xin Qing’s corpse.

“Don’t mention it!” Yun Fenghuang observed her for a while, feeling like she was too energetic to pretend as weak as Wei Hengyan, so she sighed regretfully, “I woke up right after I just fell asleep, dreaming that Xin Qing entered Hu Zhu Palace…”

Wei Hengyan flinched suddenly, as if she was afraid that Xin Qing was on Yun Fenghuang’s body now and she would be infected at this moment.

“Then she went straight to Ning Bi Palace!” Yun Fenghuang didn’t care about her attitude, and continued, “I was suddenly awake, tossed and turned for a while. I couldn’t rest assured, so I asked Xi Le to go to Ning Bi Palace to report, but the Mammy there seemed not to care about that. I don’t know whether Consort Yue is fine or not at this moment. I didn’t get enough time to greet her since I have to come here first. But I’m thinking visiting her personally when I go back.”

“I wish Consort Yue safe and healthy.” Wei Hengyan echoed and picked up the tea bowl to drink, saying gratefully, “Fortunately, our grades are not high, and we are both not in the front when we pay respect… Otherwise, I am really afraid that Her Highness or the Empress Dowager would be aware of our feelings and think we are disrespectful to them.”

Yun Fenghuang said, “How so? The two ladies are very kind and generous. If they knew what happened to us, they would feel sorry for us instead of blaming.”

Wei Hengyan choked, and had to agree, “You’re right.”

Then she adjusted her body, felt embarrassed, and didn’t want to continue the conversation.

Yun Fenghuang enjoyed the quietness as well, so she closed her eyes to think about what she would say to the Empress today.

As time passed, the side hall was becoming more and more lively. Soon, a maid came to inform, saying that time was almost up and all the concubines should wait at the main palace.

It meant that almost all the concubines had arrived, and the Empress was coming soon.

After Yun Fenghuang entered, she saw that Noble Consort Shu was already sitting on the seat, talking with Consort Xin next to her. She could not hear the conversation since they were afar.

Consort Xin wore a cold face and still seemed to be angry for the discovery of Xin Qing’s hairpin in Cheng Yue Palace. It was possible that Noble Consort Shu was comforting her. Yun Qingman, who was standing behind Noble Consort Shu, noticed Yun Fenghuang’s gaze, spoke to the maid of Noble Consort Shu, and then came over and asked quietly, “Fenghuang, is there anything wrong?”

Yun Fenghuang nodded at her and quietly pouted at Consort Xin, “What are they talking about?”

Yun Qingman whispered, “They are talking about that our families are going to pay us a visit in a few days… My sister and I had agreed yesterday that my mother and my sister-in-law will bring Ms. Xie when they come.”

“…” Yun Fenghuang had forgotten that high-grade concubines could invite her mother and other female family members to enter the palace every two months. She did not even expect that Yun Qingman would ask Duchess Yi to take Ms. Xie with her.

She said thanks after a pause.

Yun Qingman was embarrassed, “It was originally my family’s fault. We dragged you down… Otherwise you are still outside the palace, and you can see your aunt whenever you want.”

Yun Fenghuang smiled and didn’t continue the topic, saying, “Her Highness is coming. You should go back to your position quickly.”