Chapter 130: Her hidden agenda (2/2)

Her blatant disrespect to Empress was obvious to all but because she was under the Emperor's protection. She was never punished, this made her stick out like a sore thumb. It was easier to make enemies in the imperial haram than friends. Her actions won her a lot of enemies, no one likes someone who didn't know their place.

Imperial Consort Shi was too arrogant and annoyed a lot of people, not just in the haram but also among the servants. However, no one acted on that but waited patiently for her to lose the Emperor's favour. As soon as she did, everyone sharpened their claws and prepared to dive on her.

By the next day, the news of Shi Xianyi losing his majesty's favour and getting grounded had spread all over the palace. The news was well appreciated by the imperial concubines because she had not only lost the Emperor's favor but also her political banking. Treason was a serious offence for any family since it resulted in the execution of mine generations of the family.

The Shi Family were done for, she had fallen to the bottom of the social ladder. Imperial Consorts Shi and the Shi family as a whole were fond of kicking people when they were down so everyone came out to get their revenge.

Empress Lu met a packed room of imperial concubines as she walked into her side room. Her lips tipped up when she saw their expectant expression. These women were like kids who were visiting a candy store. They all stood and walked to the red carpet at the center of the room as she walked up the Phoenix throne. They waited for her to be seated before performing a full curtsey.

Empress Lu smiled and waved her hands, ”please get seated, Sisters”

They bowed and returned to their seats. This was the first time they were paying respects in months. They couldn't do that while the Empress's was grounded, although the Emperor had released the Empress from her house arrest a week earlier. She had cancelled all visits until today, they were speculations that the Empress's had cancelled their visit to investigate the false accusations made on her paternal family.

All the accusations were put to rest so it was no surprise that she was lifting the ban on visiting Jiangxi palace. They were so curious about how the Empress planned to handle Consort Shi, she hadn't made any move. They suspected that she made a move in secret but since there wasn't a change in imperial consort Shi treatment, It couldn't be true.

They came over to test the waters but were short of words now that they were in her presence. No one wanted to take the risk, in case the Empress didn't want to talk about this. It was Imperial Concubine Sheng that broke the silence, ”This younger misses her highness. Your highness got prettier, I can't compare to her”. She turned to the consort's beside her and said ”her highness skin is visibly glowing, I am jealous. Look at how dry my skin is!”

The consort beside her nodded and said a few words of compliments. Soon a lot of empty compliments were passed around by the women. Empress Lu dismissed their compliments smiling, she knew not to take any of their words seriously. These women had a clear agenda, she would be stupid not to notice the direction these women were headed.