Chapter 65

Chapter 65: Zhen Huan Chronicles, An Ling Rong

“Go to Shui Tian Yi Se.” Li Si Qi gave the order directly.

She stayed in the carriage and went straight to their courtyard. The other consorts did the same. No one got out of their carriage, and everyone went straight to their own place.

“This servant pays respects to Consort Xin, the Sixth Prince, and Princess Wen Ning.”

As soon as Li Si Qi entered the courtyard, a large number of palace maids and eunuchs had already knelt down.

“Rise.” After giving the instruction, she went straight into the main hall.

The entire Shui Tian Yi Se had been cleaned up spotless. Senior Maid Ruo Lan and He Xiang went in to inspect and tidy. Li Si Qi sat down and looked at the palace maids and eunuchs who had come in after her and knelt again in front of her.

“I don’t want to waste words.” Li Si Qi spoke bluntly. “Whatever you were responsible for, keep being responsible for it. If anything comes up, the people at my side will arrange it for you. But I’ll warn you once: don’t do anything disloyal. You can’t bear the consequences.”

“This servant would never dare!”

“No more kneeling. Lu He, rewards!”

“Yes!” Lu He took out the sachets she had prepared and handed one to each of them.

“This servant thanks Your Highness for the reward!”

“You may go.” Li Si Qi was not in the mood to talk and dismissed them.

Then she immediately had people prepare water so she could wash up.

“Your Highness, we haven’t found anything for now.” Senior Maid Ruo Lan came to report. “Everything looks normal.”

“Normal is exactly what isn’t normal.” Li Si Qi smiled. “Have people watch more carefully. I don’t want any accidents.”

“Yes, please rest assured, Your Highness.” Senior Maid Ruo Lan replied. “These two days, this servant will take people with me and check every place once.”

“Arrange it as you see fit.” Li Si Qi did not object, and added, “Keep an eye on those two little monkeys. Today, they didn’t sleep comfortably in the carriage. Tonight, you must arrange people to guard well. They need to check every hour.”

“Yes. This servant will go arrange it right away.” Senior Maid Ruo Lan saluted. “This servant takes her leave!”

Li Si Qi got up from the couch and went straight into the bedroom. The other masters in the palace were the same, settling down in their own places. The Emperor had two places: Qin Zheng Hall and Jiu Zhou Qing Yan. The Empress settled in Tao Hua Wu.

Noble Consort Hua stayed in Qing Liang Hall. Consort Jing stayed in He Tang Yue Se. Consort Tian stayed in Ming Yue Zhi Yin. Consort Li stayed in You Yuan Jing Meng.

Zhen Huan stayed in Bi Tong Academy. Shen Mei Zhuang stayed in Xian Yue Pavilion. Consort Cao stayed in Xi Xia Pavilion. Noble Lady Jing stayed in Fan Ying Pavilion.

Yuan Ming Garden had countless palaces and courtyards. This time, the Empress was unusually generous and did not make the consorts squeeze together in one place. After dinner, the consorts received word from the Empress: in three days, they were to go to Tao Hua Wu to pay their respects. Obviously, she was leaving them time to get used to life in the gardens.

But Li Si Qi had no intention of going to pay respects. She had the Empress Dowager’s “confinement” order. If she did not go, the Empress could do nothing about it. Clearly, Noble Consort Hua meant the same.

“Don’t bother with that old woman.”

Noble Consort Hua did not stay obediently in Qing Liang Hall. She had barely finished breakfast when she came to Shui Tian Yi Se. She played with the two little ones and talked to Li Si Qi beside her. “If we don’t go pay her respects, she won’t dare say anything.

When the Empress Dowager puts our green plaques back up, then we’ll go pay our respects. It won’t be too late.” In the palace, taking down a consort’s green plaque meant confinement. Even though there was no clear rule, everyone understood it.

Normally, consorts whose green plaques were not hung could only stay obediently in their palaces and reflect. They would wait for the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, or the Empress to speak, and have the people from the Office of Respectful Service hang the green plaque that belonged to a certain consort again. Hanging the green plaque again meant being allowed to attend palace banquets, and also being allowed to go pay respects to the Empress Dowager and the Empress.

“This concubine understands.” Li Si Qi understood her good intentions and smiled as she spoke. “I believe the Empress will not ‘remember’ to help us hang our green plaques.”

“How could that old woman possibly be that kind?” Noble Consort Hua snorted with a laugh. “She wishes all the consorts in the harem would disappear.”

“She is the Empress. She is destined to get along with all the consorts in the harem.” Li Si Qi fanned herself. “Besides, even if she weren’t the Empress, as long as she’s the principal wife, she still has to deal with concubines. Who gets to enjoy wealth and glory but refuses to bear the responsibility that comes with that status? There’s no such good thing under heaven.”

“You even understand that?” Noble Consort Hua looked strange as she ate a slice of melon and sized her up. “I really couldn’t tell. An Ling Rong, you actually have this kind of insight.”

“Your Highness, I’m not a fool.” Li Si Qi looked utterly speechless. “Forget it, let’s not talk about that. Anyway, I just guard the two children. Everything else has nothing to do with me.”

“If you can guard the two children, that’s already not bad.” Noble Consort Hua snorted. “If anything happens, remember to send someone to Qing Liang Hall to find me.”

“Yes. Thank you, Your Highness.”

“I’m not doing it for you.”

“This concubine knows. It’s for the Sixth Prince and Wen Ning!”

“Good that you know!”

… After a while, the two little ones fell asleep. The proud Noble Consort Hua took her people and left Shui Tian Yi Se, a grand procession heading to Qin Zheng Hall. After Li Si Qi saw her off, she began to close her eyes and rest.

“Master, Noble Consort Hua treats you so well.” Xiao Hu Zi could not help re minding her. “Aren’t you planning to change Noble Consort Hua’s ending?”

“We’ll talk about it when the time comes.” Li Si Qi frowned. “The original An Ling Rong didn’t hate Noble Consort Hua the most. But if we want to give Noble Consort Hua a good ending, I don’t know whether she’d be willing.”

“Master, actually, An Ling Rong didn’t have a huge conflict with Noble Consort Hua.” Xiao Hu Zi explained. “If there really was anything, it was only back then, when she followed Zhen Huan and got caught in Noble Consort Hua’s anger. Noble Consort Hua didn’t especially target her. The one who truly ruined An Ling Rong was the Empress.”

“Compared to her hatred for the Empress, she really didn’t resent Noble Consort Hua that much.” Li Si Qi could not help laughing. “She might even hate Zhen Huan more. “An Ling Rong kindly gave Zhen Huan the most precious thing she had, Fu Guang Brocade, but Zhen Huan didn’t care about her sincerity at all and casually gave it to her maid Huan Bi. Who doesn’t know Huan Bi is her personal maid?

“That was basically slapping An Ling Rong in the face, trampling her self-respect. And Huan Bi looked down on An Ling Rong from the start. Whether in what she did or what she said, she was always targeting An Ling Rong. Did Zhen Huan really not know? She just didn’t care. “On the surface, it was Sister this and Sister that, but she never truly kept her in her heart. In the show, An Ling Rong helped them get Yu Ying’er killed, but Zhen Huan and Shen Mei Zhuang said she was vicious and ruthless, as if they were the good ones.

“In the show, Noble Lady Fu Cha didn’t have any huge grudge with them. Zhen Huan still chose an innocent person to start with. She pretended to be a ghost to scare her, and in the end she scared her into madness. “Zhen Huan was selfish from the very beginning. She pretended to be sick to avoid favor, and wasn’t she hiding it even from her good sister Shen Mei Zhuang? Not to mention An Ling Rong. It was always Zhen Huan who pushed people away first, and in the end, wasn’t it normal that An Ling Rong betrayed her?” “Master, you always say Zhen Huan is hypocritical.” Xiao Hu Zi continued. “I found she really is like that.

“Whatever she does is always right. Even if someone else hasn’t done anything at all, she still thinks they’re plotting and using tricks.”

“How so?”

“Master, Zhen Huan and Shen Mei Zhuang are already only friendly on the surface. They don’t trust each other anymore. In their hearts, they’re both guarding against the other.”

“What did you do?”

“I only had two palace maids say a few things for Shen Mei Zhuang to hear.” Xiao Hu Zi told her about what happened to Shen Mei Zhuang in Yi Mei Garden.

He also told her about the conversation between Zhen Huan and Shen Mei Zhuang.