241 Untitled (1/2)
The representative of this era was none other than Consort Xian, the most favored person in the harem before the new Empress entered.
Consort Xian of the Gao Clan was a descendant of a prominent figure who contributed to the founding of the nation, and she was the daughter of King Xiping. This King was known to be a highly principled man with nimble foresight. As the former close confidante of Prince Wen Yi, he was in charge of many critical affairs under the Prince, but he sold those vital pieces of information to Xuanyuan Cheng, and once again became a close confidante.
Naturally, the Regent King bestowed the Gao family with gifts and his favor, and even Consort Xian seemed to be in charge of the Imperial Harem. She became conceited and stuck-up, and the attendants around her changed at the speed of chopping chives. The ones that were replaced were either dead or sent to harsh places such as the department in charge of washing clothes. As such, when other attendants and eunuchs were told to enter her palace, they acted as though they were told to drink poisonous wine - they quickly held the hands of their companions and friends and bade their farewells in tears.
The entire harem had long suffered under Consort Xian. After the new Empress entered the harem, many had naturally tried to influence the tough Empress to take action. After hearing these, the new Empress, in a half-asleep state, merely said, ”Oh.”
Many were so disappointed, thinking, 'So she was just here for show.'
Since it was the first time greeting the Empress, everyone should, supposedly, wake up no matter what. Yet Consort Xian sent an attendant the day before to inform that she was not feeling well, and she would greet the Empress on another day.
When Meng Fuyao heard the message, she smiled. ”Tell her that she should treat her illness. Go ahead.”
The attendant went back and relayed the exact message. At that moment, the well-dressed Consort Xian was just casually admiring the flowers in front of the window. Her palace had a special room, where the top-notch gardeners would specially attend to her flowers every day. The flowers which were in season would bloom right in front of her expensive, pale-rose and delicate muslin window so that Consort Xian could smell the scent of various flowers in her room without even sitting up on her bed.
However, she was not in a good mood as the gardener was unable to make her favorite peonies bloom. Hence, in her rage, she made the gardener turn into fertilizer, and she ordered the eunuchs to find a better gardener.
When the attendant relayed the Empress' decree, the corner of her lips lifted and she smirked. Extending her fingers that were guarded by sapphire nail protectors, she gently snapped a stalk of green chrysanthemum that was painstakingly taken care of.
Slowly, she tore off the petals of the precious chrysanthemum one by one, until a bare stalk was left. ”At least she's adaptive to the circumstances.”
Then, she went back to sleep and was prepared to wake up at her usual timing.
By 3 a.m., the concubines had already gathered in the Empress' palace. Those who were ranked equivalent to or higher than a Noble Concubine were given seats in the outer room, while those ranked lower than that could only kneel and wait in the courtyard. In the wee hours of a cold winter morning, this bunch of pampered women knelt to the point that they resembled the shivering stalks of grass in the harsh and icy wind.
In the outer room, though the flaming charcoal wood kept them warm, Meng Fuyao was not going to make their lives easy, and she tortured them in another way. Those of noble statuses sat stiffly in their spots and Consort Jade, Jian Xue, hung her head in discomfort. Her position was arranged in a very strange manner - the first on the left was Noble Consort, Tang Yiguang, the first on the right was Consort De, Hua Zhirong, second on the left was her and second on the right was Consort Shu, Situ Linyun.
The arrangement was… messed up.
According to the harem's hierarchy of status of the Four Consorts, Noble Consort should come first, followed by Consort Shu, then Consort Xian and finally Consort De. Other than Tang Yiguang's position, the other three Consorts were arranged wrongly. She who was supposed to be seated on the third position from the left was now sitting on Consort Xian's position.
If Consort Xian were to know of this, there would be trouble for her, and Jian Xue whimpered in her heart. 'Who said that the new Empress is a pushover? Even before she appears, she has already arranged the seats as such. That's pushing Hua Zhirong and me to become the enemies of everyone else, and especially me as an enemy of Consort Xian!' she thought.
At that moment, she was surrounded by the bizarre glances of the other women, and she sat so uncomfortably on her seat as though needles had grown all over her body. Looking at how Hua Zhirong remained nonchalant, and how Tang Yiguang only cared about eating the snack from her sleeves, she smirked to herself. 'How reckless of them!'
Then, she thought of how she sent tonics to Yu Wenzi and suddenly sneezed during the selection of Empress, resulting in her missing out on the position of the Empress and the Four Consorts. Was that… also not a coincidence?
As she thought of that, she could not help but shiver in fear.
Just then, Consort Shu grinned and asked, ”Sister Jian, are you feeling cold? Be careful not to catch a cold in this frosty weather in the winter.”
Forcefully, Jian Xue looked up and smiled. ”Thank you, Sister Consort Shu, for your concern. Please take care of your noble body too.”
Casually, Consort Shu surveyed her nail protectors under the light and said, ”I am an unrefined person and have always been able to handle tough situations unlike you, Sister. You're a real jade that can't catch any cold at all. I heard that after the day of the Empress selection, you caught the flu?”
In an instant, Jian Xue's face turned ghastly white. The incident of her sneezing during the selection was her greatest embarrassment in life, and these women indeed did not intend to let it pass by!
”Consort Jade is a real delicate one. No wonder His Majesty favors you. I heard that when you sneezed into His Majesty's palm, he did not even get angry.” Another Noble Concubine covered her mouth and mocked.
”That is because Consort Jade is so virtuous and beautiful, and hence His Majesty dotes on her. If it were ordinary people like you and me, forget about sneezing, we wouldn't even be able to pass if we just revealed our teeth when we talked.”
”… Well, not everyone can be the 'Sneezing Imperial Consort'…”
It turned into a lively discussion as everyone chimed in and laughed about it. Women in the harem had always been the most boring biological bunch in the universe. The only thing they would do other than trying to make themselves more beautiful would be to find ways to embarrass their opponents. With those gentle lips of theirs, they would sprout sentences that resembled sharps knives and daggers, making deep cuts in only the weakest spots of their enemies.
Being the laughing stock of the group, Jian Xue was drowned in a sea of mockery and laughter. She was already shivering with anger, and the acts of Hua Zhirong merely watching on and Tang Yiguang being engrossed in her snacks made her feel even more bitter. All three of them had fallen into the new Empress' trap, but the two of them were utterly ignorant and did not know how to help each other, leaving her to fight the war alone. Why enter the harem then!