Chapter 27

Chapter 27: Zhen Huan Chronicles, An Ling Rong

The Empress celebrated too soon. Noble Lady Yu, a daughter of the grasslands, had a kind of courage that the women of the Forbidden City did not. Facing the feral cats that lunged at her, her panic only lasted a moment. Once she calmed down, she endured the pain in her ankle and led her maids and eunuchs as they fled.

The whole group charged straight toward the Empress. Because Noble Lady Yu noticed that the Empress’s side was not being attacked by cats, she naturally treated it as a way through. “What are you doing?!” When Consort Qi saw Noble Lady Yu and her group rushing over, she opened her mouth to scold them.

Not realizing the danger, she was shoved hard by a fast-moving eunuch. “Ow!” Consort Qi turned pale in fright. She spun in place, lost her balance, and toppled straight toward the Empress, who was trying to withdraw.

“Consort Qi, you-” Before the Empress could finish, she was knocked down. The two of them fell to the ground together. Consort Qi was not small, and she nearly crushed the Empress half to death. The people around them were also stunned by the sudden turn of events.

Only when the two mistresses hit the ground did they finally realize what had happened. “Empress!” “Consort Qi!” Jian Qiu and Cui Guo rushed forward in a panic and quickly helped their mistresses up.

“Ow, Empress, this concubine didn’t mean to!” Consort Qi was so terrified her soul nearly left her body. For a moment, she even forgot to get up. “Useless trash – get up, now!”

The Empress’s face turned iron-blue with rage. In her heart, she wanted nothing more than to slap Consort Qi to death. At this moment, waves of screams came from ahead.

“My child! My child!” “Ah, my face – my face!”

“Get away! Get away!” “So much blood! Someone, save my child!”

“Imperial Physician! Summon the Imperial Physician!” “Help! Someone save me!”

“It hurts! My stomach hurts so much!”

… Looking at the chaos in the distance… The Empress and Consort Qi, freshly helped up, felt a strange thrill deep in their hearts. On the other side, Consort Hua had just been jostled. Fortunately, her people shielded her in time, and she did not get hurt. Supported by Song Zhi and Nanny Jiang, she stared blankly at the scene of the feral cats ravaging the crowd.

It was so brutal that she could not bear it. She spoke up and ordered, “Zhou Ning Hai, hurry and take people over there. Beat those feral cats to death.”

“Your Highness!” Nanny Jiang’s expression showed disapproval. “Nanny, I can’t stand the sight of them, because those wretches fight me for His Majesty.”

Consort Hua stared at the consorts crying and screaming about their children, as if she saw the woman she had once been when she lost her own child. Her expression dimmed, and she murmured, “No matter what, children are innocent. What did the children do wrong? They did nothing wrong, because they’re innocent!”

As the words fell, her gaze turned razor-sharp. She barked, “Zhou Ning Hai! Why are you still standing there? Go save them!”

“Yes!” Whatever Zhou Ning Hai thought, he could only obey. He immediately led several young eunuchs to catch those crazed feral cats. Elsewhere, Xia Dong Chun was struck dumb with fear, so shocked she could not speak.

It was far too horrific! She could clearly see that the consorts, palace maids, and eunuchs all had claw marks on their faces, necks, and the backs of their hands. Everything was a bloody mess. It looked terrifying.

There were also several patches of bright red blood on the ground. Not only was it glaring, it stabbed painfully at her heart. Noble Lady Fu Cha swayed, so frightened she nearly collapsed, leaning limply against her personal nanny like a fool. “How could this happen?

How could it be like this? It’s too horrible. It’s truly too horrible…” Li Si Qi, who had long expected it, was extremely calm. She had seen scenes tens and hundreds of times more brutal than this.

When she carried out missions in other worlds, she had long since grown numb to fields of shattered limbs, mangled bodies, and rivers of blood. To her, what was in front of her was child’s play. But to keep anyone from noticing something off about her, she turned deathly pale and wore a stunned, frightened look. “Someone!”

Li Si Qi seemed to snap back to her senses. Her voice shook as she ordered, “Someone, hurry and fetch the Imperial Physicians. Call every Imperial Physician here. And hurry – report what happened here to His Majesty.

Go, now!”

“Yes!” Xiao Song Zi answered and immediately sent two young eunuchs sprinting away.

Hearing her voice, Xia Dong Chun finally came back from her terror. She looked tense and frightened, her voice trembling with tears. “Ling Rong, what do we do now?”

“This is bad. This time it’s really bad.”

Noble Lady Fu Cha shivered, and she also realized their situation seemed dangerous. “Yes, Ling Rong. What do we do? Right now, only we’re still fine…”

“Then make yourselves hurt.” Li Si Qi said it, then turned her face and scraped it hard against the plum tree beside her. A burning pain flared across her cheek, and she knew she had scraped the skin. “Hiss!”

Xia Dong Chun sucked in a breath and lowered her voice. “Are you crazy? Why would you hurt your own face?”

“Your injury-” Noble Lady Fu Cha could not help worrying. “Good thing it isn’t too deep. But if it doesn’t heal well, your face will be ruined. You were too impulsive.”

“It’s fine. I have a scar-removal prescription.” Enduring the pain, Li Si Qi raised her right hand and slammed it hard into the plum tree. “Mn!”

Li Si Qi let out a muffled groan, her whole body trembling from the pain. “Y-you…” Xia Dong Chun pointed at her self-harming, so shocked and angry she could not force out a full sentence. “Don’t just stand there.” Li Si Qi glared at them.

“If you don’t want to be blamed later, hurry up and ‘get hurt.’ At least if we do it now, we can control it. If you give others a chance to strike, you won’t know how badly you’ll end up hurt.” Their faces changed at once when they heard her.

Their nannies nodded too. Clearly, they understood. For the three mistresses of Yan Xi Palace to remain safe and sound in a situation like this… It went without saying they would become targets for everyone else’s anger. Including His Majesty and the Empress Dowager – either they would leave a bad impression, or they would draw unwanted attention.

With that understood, Noble Lady Fu Cha gritted her teeth and slammed her right leg hard into the plum tree. “Ah!” Noble Lady Fu Cha screamed despite herself. Her nanny caught her at once, stopping her from falling.

It had to be said: delicate as she looked, Noble Lady Fu Cha was ruthless enough to smash her own foot into an injury. Xia Dong Chun wore a miserable face. Left with no choice, she whipped her left arm hard into the plum tree. “Ah, it hurts so much!”

Xia Dong Chun clutched her left arm, tears filling her eyes. Then she casually yanked down a few strands of her neatly arranged hair with her right hand. It wasn’t only the mistresses who needed to look injured. The nannies, maids, and eunuchs who followed them had to be hurt a little too.

They roughed themselves up together until they looked properly miserable, so they would not stand out. While no one was paying attention to them yet, they quietly moved closer to the scene. They found a suitable spot, kept their pained expressions, and continued watching the drama. Just then… Li Si Qi noticed the feral cats that had been attacking the consorts, palace maids, and eunuchs suddenly stopped.

Their eyes turned to the Empress and Consort Qi. “Meow!” “Meow, meow, meow…”