Chapter 31

Chapter 31: Zhen Huan Chronicles, An Ling Rong

“The Empress really can act however she wants because she has the Empress Dowager covering for her.” Little Teapot agreed. “She knows the Empress Dowager can’t bear to let the Empress’s position fall into someone else’s hands. To protect the clan’s glory, no matter what she does, the Empress Dowager will shield her and clean up after her. No matter how bad this emperor is, he’s still Fourth Master, the one who won the Nine Lords’ Succession Struggle. If he didn’t trust the Empress Dowager and the Empress so completely, how could he let them cover the inner palace with one hand? Now the emperor still hasn’t seen through the true faces of this aunt-and-niece pair. Naturally, he’s being played around like a fool.”

“Like mother, like son.” Li Si Qi snorted. “That dog of an emperor isn’t any good either. He treats women like toys for amusement, and just like the Empress Dowager, he only cares about the people he likes. Forget the dead Empress Chun Yuan. In this whole palace, aside from Nian Shi Lan, only the substitute Zhen Huan gets a few scraps of his care. As for the other women-whether they live or die-he doesn’t care at all.”

Little Teapot laughed. “Emperors have always been like that. Otherwise, why would they be called lone men?”

“Forget it. I’m not going to mention that buzzkill.” Li Si Qi couldn’t be bothered to keep complaining about that dog of an emperor.

She changed the subject at once. “By the way, Little Teapot, how did Concubine Jing and Noble Lady Xin end up pregnant? The emperor should’ve already been using contraception. How did they still get pregnant?”

“Master, contraception pills don’t take effect immediately.” Little Teapot explained. “It takes at least ten days to half a month before the effect is fully in place. And Master shouldn’t forget that the emperor took the Daughter-Birth Pill first. On top of that, the Contraception Pill needs more than ten days to take full effect. Concubine Jing and Noble Lady Xin should’ve conceived during that window. After all, back then, almost all you new concubines were getting pregnant. If the emperor slept with them at that time, of course they would end up pregnant.”

“In that case, it makes sense.” “They were unlucky. They finally got pregnant, and before they even knew it, the children were gone again.”

“So the Empress keeps committing sins. If she ends up with a good fate, then even Heaven must be blind.” Li Si Qi smiled with a hint of schadenfreude. “Those two aren’t fools. Unlike the newcomers, they won’t stupidly believe Consort Qi and Consort Duan are the culprits. They might not dare to tear into the Empress head-on, but if there’s a chance to cause trouble, I’m sure they won’t miss it. At the very least, they’ll use someone else’s hand to kill. The show ahead is definitely going to be exciting.”

“Master, you really shouldn’t gloat.” Little Teapot splashed cold water on her without mercy. “The Empress Dowager wants to take your child. She’s planning to hand your baby to the Empress to raise after it’s born. As for you… Whether you’ll even be able to live through it is still hard to say.”

“She wants my life?” Li Si Qi raised her brows. “She doesn’t have that kind of ability. I haven’t gone after her old life first, and that’s already me being generous.”

“Master, the Empress Dowager isn’t easy to deal with.” Little Teapot said. “It’s no problem to teach her a lesson, but we can’t take her life.”

“No matter.” Li Si Qi showed a wicked smile. “I know who she cares about most. Aside from her old lover, it’s her precious youngest son. If she dares to make a move against me, Little Teapot, you go after her lover or her youngest son. If I’m going to retaliate, I’ll retaliate against the people she cares about most. I want to see whether she’ll go insane.” “Master, how do you plan to deal with Long Ke Duo?”

“Go collect some dirt on Long Ke Duo’s mess. Later, we’ll give our Empress Dowager a surprise.” “Yes, Master.”

… The commoner Qi Yue Bin died. It was said she was tossed into the mass grave outside the city, and she didn’t even end up with a single burial mound. The commoner Li Jing Yan kept shouting that she was wronged, yet she was still carried into the Cold Palace. The Yi Mei Garden tragedy finally came to an end.

In the days that followed, the concubines of each palace quietly recovered from their injuries and tended their pregnancies. Aside from visiting the pregnant concubines, Fourth Master also went to Sui Yu Pavilion every few days to comfort Noble Lady Wan, who had lost her child. As for Concubine Jing, Noble Lady Hui, and Noble Lady Xin, he only sent people over with a bit of reward money to comfort them. Even if they wanted to see Fourth Master once, it was very difficult.

Compared to how calmly Concubine Jing and Noble Lady Xin accepted it, Noble Lady Hui, who had also suffered a miscarriage, couldn’t bear this cold treatment. Day and night, she longed for His Majesty to come, yet she still rarely saw the imperial presence even once. As time dragged on, Shen Mei Zhuang felt what jealousy meant for the first time. Especially after she learned that Zhen Huan spent every day talking sweetly with His Majesty, she was truly jealous beyond words.

Even though that person was her own little sister Huan’er, she still couldn’t control the jealousy.

“Cai Yue, is my face very ugly?” Shen Mei Zhuang sat before her dressing table, touching the cheek that had once been scratched. “You can still see the scar, right?”

“My Lady, it’s already very, very faint.” Cai Yue repeated what she said every day. “In a few more days, My Lady’s face will definitely return to how it was.”

“How long will it take?” Shen Mei Zhuang murmured. “I used so much scar-removal ointment. How can I still see the mark?”

“My Lady, it needs time to heal…” Cai Yue seemed to know her words were not convincing either, and she couldn’t think of anything else to say. Shen Mei Zhuang stared blankly at the reflection of herself in the mirror.

“My Lady, I heard Noble Lady Wan doesn’t have the slightest scar on her face.” Cai Xing could not help speaking up. “That’s because His Majesty personally bestowed Scar-Smoothing Gel on Noble Lady Wan, so she recovered so quickly. Now she’s favored every day, and she’s completely forgotten how good My Lady used to be to her. Even though she clearly knows My Lady has a scar too, with something that good in her hands, she never once thought of sending a little for My Lady to use.” “Cai Yue, don’t say things like that again in the future.” A strange flicker passed through Shen Mei Zhuang’s eyes, but her voice remained calm. “Huan’er just didn’t think of it for the moment.”

“My Lady!” Cai Xing argued, unconvinced. “Noble Lady Wan has been in favor for so many days. If she had any heart, she would’ve come to visit My Lady long ago.”

“Enough. I told you not to say it!” Shen Mei Zhuang frowned and told Cai Yue beside her, “I feel a bit stifled. Let’s go out for a walk.”

“Yes, My Lady.” Cai Yue helped her mistress up, and she did not forget to give Cai Xing a silent warning to be quiet. Cai Xing lowered her head, feeling wronged. She followed behind them at a slow pace.

… After more than ten days of favor, the emperor stopped entering the harem, and Zhen Huan finally remembered Sister Mei. She brought the Scar-Smoothing Gel she hadn’t finished using and came to Xian Fu Palace to see Shen Mei Zhuang, excited and full of energy.

“Sister Mei, your wound has recovered very well too.” Zhen Huan seemed not to notice Shen Mei Zhuang’s forced smile. She carefully examined the faint mark on her face. “As long as you apply Scar-Smoothing Gel for a few days, the scar will disappear very quickly.”

“Really?” Shen Mei Zhuang lowered her head and said softly, “The scar-removal ointment the Imperial Medical Office sent wasn’t called Scar-Smoothing Gel. I used it for so long and still have a scar.”

“Sister Mei, don’t worry.” Zhen Huan beamed. “This Scar-Smoothing Gel was bestowed on me by His Majesty. Look-don’t I have no scar left on my face? I heard Scar-Smoothing Gel needs precious medicinal ingredients and is extremely rare. His Majesty only had one bottle. Luckily there was still some left, so I specially brought it over. Sister Mei, you won’t mind that it’s ointment I’ve already used, will you?”

“Of course not.” Shen Mei Zhuang smiled faintly. “It’s already good enough that you thought of me. Speaking of it, I should thank you. If you hadn’t given me Scar-Smoothing Gel, who knows how long it would take for this scar to fade.”

“Sister Mei, we’re sisters. Why talk about thanks?” Zhen Huan stuffed the whole bottle into her hand. “I just want you to recover your beauty sooner and regain imperial favor.”