The Job of an Imperial Concubine

Chapter 44: Who’s Scheming Who (谁算计谁)

As the lion of autumn gradually retracted its might¹, Noble Consort Shu returned to her paternal home in a procession fit for a noble consort. In the night, the luxurious procession practically made the eyes of the other imperial concubines red from envy. Under the imperial canopy, the eight-treasure palanquin engraved with phoenixes attracted who knew how much jealousy and admiration from others, leaving the palace from a winding path.

Zhuang Laoyan leaned against the window, listening to the excitement outside her palace. She couldn’t help but smile. Brushing back her bangs, she stuck her head out the window. “The moon is very round and bright tonight.”

Yunxi lit the candles in the room one at a time. Once she had reached behind Zhuang Laoyan, she carefully said, “Master, it’s already autumn. The night is cold. This slave will fetch you an outer robe.”

“How am I this fragile?” Zhuang Laoyan pulled her head back inside. Smiled. “It’s rare that the weather would be this cool and refreshing. Yet you girls keep adding more clothes for me.”

Noticing that her master’s expression was normal, as if she didn’t yearn for her own family, Yunxi no longer felt as concerned.

As she watched the flickering lanterns hanging in the corridor sway from a gentle breeze, Zhuang Laoyan seemed to sigh in admiration. “In the past, I never examined the moon in the sky carefully. Now, as I gaze at it with a calm heart, I can understand why the poets like to use the moon to express love.”

“This slave does not have much of an education and vaguely remembers that Master is very fond of this poem. When did the people at the riverbank first see the moon? When did the moon by the river first shine on people?  Life… Life….”

“The generations of human life are endless. The moon by the river is similar year after year.” Zhuang Laoyan smiled as she recited those last two lines. Slightly shaking her head, she said, “The moonlight is certainly beautiful. I am fond of this poem because I like the poet’s emotion, view, and feeling toward life. He doesn’t use the moon to express his love.” She turned and left the window. Zhuang Laoyan said somewhat disapprovingly, “This moon changes so easily. To use it to represent love sullies those feelings.”

“What beloved concubine is correct. We also think the moon is beautiful, but what a pity it changes too much. It truly cannot represent love.”

“This slave greets Your Majesty.” Never had Yunxi expected the emperor to suddenly appear at this time. In a panic, she knelt and performed salutations. She wondered if she and her master had said anything that broke any taboo.

“This concubine greets Your Majesty.” On Zhuang Laoyan’s face was a hint of astonishment and joy. For a moment, she had not reacted to perform a full ceremony of greeting. Only after she had heard Tingzhu’s voice did she curtsy.

“Beloved concubine need not be so ceremonious. We are the one who suddenly frightened you.” Feng Jin approached Zhuang Laoyan and reached for her hand, covering hers with his own. “We have wronged beloved concubine. Beloved concubine also has some scholarly talent.”

Zhuang Laoyan shyly lowered her head. “Your Majesty is teasing this concubine again. It’s merely reciting one poem.” If it weren’t for the fact that this body had some of the previous owner’s memories, she would not have been able to recite even this poem. After her many years of school in the modern age, now that she had been thrown into an imperial harem, she wasn’t much different from the illiterate.

Once a man was together with a woman he liked, if they actually spent the whole night discussing verses of poems, this man would either be a person who only knew how to study or Liu Xiahui². And Feng Jin did not fall under any of those two categories. For this reason, after discussing the stars and the moon, after talking about poem verses, they still had to get down to the proper business.

Moonlight gradually shone through the window. The entire Xihe Palace was silent. Gao Dezhong kept watch outside, watching quietly as the moonlight entering the room grew brighter and brighter. Until close to the period of Zhi³, when a eunuch rushed over without a sound.

“General Manager Gao, Noble Consort Shu has returned from visiting her family. She said she wants to thank His Majesty. What do you think we should do…?”

Gao Dezhong glanced at the inner chamber. In a low voice, he said, “Noble Consort Shu should be tired from visiting her parents. His Majesty is worried for her health and has excused her from kowtowing in thanks today. Tomorrow, once Noble Consort Shu rested for the night, it won’t be too late to kowtow in thanks then.”

“This slave understands.” The eunuch bowed and retreated, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

Gao Dezhong moved the horsetail whisk into his other hand. Then he glanced at the inner chamber behind him again to see if there was any noise. He lightly yawned, calling two eunuchs over to carefully attend to the masters. He turned around and headed for his own dwelling to rest. The things he should do had already been done, so he ought to sleep now. Otherwise, it wouldn’t fare well to make a mistake during his duty.

The next day, after Zhuang Laoyan had sent off the emperor, she found out that Noble Consort Shu had only visited her parents for a bit more than four hours. Last night, before the period of Zi, she had returned. How could anyone visit their parents in such a short time? After returning, she had to face the envy of a whole harem’s worth of women. It really could not be considered anything good.

But compared to the imperial concubines who had not seen their paternal families in a couple years, Noble Consort Shu was considered fortunate. What was even more fortunate was that she was very favored. In the imperial harem, her position was also high. If it were just some ordinary imperial concubines, one would fear their lives would not be that great.

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After Noble Consort Shu kowtowed to the emperor, empress dowager, and empress in thanks early in the morning, she sat in the empress’ Jingyang Palace with rosy cheeks, waiting for the other imperial concubines to arrive. Although she did not see the emperor, and only kowtowed outside of the emperor’s resting palace, it did not affect her high spirits. As the only imperial concubine who had been allowed to visit her paternal family after the emperor had ascended the throne, she was in an extremely good mood.

“Shurong Ye has arrived.”

Although Shurong Ye wasn’t considered too favored, because she used to be pregnant, and also had the support of the empress dowager, no one dared to cause trouble for her in the imperial harem. However, whether or not it was because of her miscarriage, she had been very gloomy these past few months. So much so that she was even more subdued than when the empress dowager had still been in seclusion.

“Greetings to Your Majesty the empress.” Shurong Ye’s face was somewhat pale. She was obviously wearing expensive silk, but others could not discern any liveliness from her. Despite the fact that the empress dowager had suppressed the empress, the latter was skilled at keeping up appearances. After she gave Shurong Ye a seat, she chatted with the other women.

“Noble Consort Shu arrived early to give her thanks. Are you tired?” Deeply concerned, the empress said, “This palace doesn’t have any strict rules here. If you are tired, hurry and go rest. No one will dare to speak poorly of you.”

“For Your Majesty to hold tender affection for this concubine is this concubine’s fortune. This concubine is fine.” A gentle smile bloomed on Noble Consort Shu’s face. She didn’t seem tired at all.

“You are well behaved.” The empress nodded. “His Majesty did not stay in his resting palace last night. That you had kowtowed outside his resting palace early this morning shows that you are moved by His Majesty’s kindness.”

“Chongyi Zhao should be arriving soon to pay respects,” said Shurong Ye, indifference lacing her words and tone as she picked up on the conversation.

After hearing those words, the empress glanced at Shurong Ye. A smile graced her lips. “She is also well behaved. Although she attended to the emperor, she would arrive early to pay respects.”

The smile on Noble Consort Shu’s lips did not change. She faintly looked down, hiding the mockery in her gaze. The empress thought that with just these tricks, she would fight with Zhuang Laoyan. Truly a good joke. If she truly caused trouble for Zhuang Laoyan, after she and Zhuang Laoyan suffered casualties, she would be known as a woman who grew arrogant because of her favor. Then wouldn’t the one laughing at this show be the empress?

“This concubine also likes that Chongyi Zhao is well behaved.” Noble Consort Shu raised her head and smiled. Such a smile was akin to a flower in bloom.

“Chongyi Zhao has arrived! Consort Xian has arrived!”

“Consort Xian and Chongyi Zhao seemed to have arranged to come together,” said Noble Consort Shu with a smile.

The empress smiled as well. “Coincidences can be considered as fate.”

As Zhuang Laoyan entered the hall, the women within were smiling as beautiful as spring. It made others feel they were close friends discussing an interesting topic.

After Zhuang Laoyan had paid respects and sat down, she heard Noble Consort Shu say, “Just now, Her Majesty the empress praised Younger Sister Chongyi Zhao for paying respects early after attending to His Majesty. The moment we finished talking about this, Younger Sister arrived.”

Once she had heard those words, Zhuang Laoyan smiled. “Aren’t all us sisters like this? This concubine is merely abiding by protocol.” There was definitely some meaning behind Noble Consort Shu’s words. Was she simply informing Zhuang Laoyan that the empress was scheming against her, or was she trying to incite disharmony? 

“It wasn’t just this palace who said this. Previously, Shurong Ye also mentioned that Chongyi Zhao was rule abiding.” Once again the empress smiled. “Everyone naturally should praise you if you are so well behaved.”

A shy smile appeared on Zhuang Laoyan’s lips. Slowly, she lowered her head. This empress also hid some meaning to her words. What left her lips had been perfectly clean, making Noble Consort Shu unable to say anything. But why did she also mention Shurong Ye?

The women of the imperial harem all had high IQs.

After paying respects, Zhuang Laoyan left Jingyang Palace. As she sat in her sedan, many palace maids and eunuchs paid respects to her as she passed by. She yawned. Last night she had overexercised and seemed to not have slept her full yet.

“This concubine greets Chongyi Zhao.” The person who had spoken had a somewhat indifferent, proud, and aloof tone to her voice. Zhuang Laoyan threw aside her drowsiness. Looked at the woman who had just paid respects to her. After a moment of daze, she thought, wasn’t this Shurong Ye’s younger sister?

The day Shurong Ye had miscarried, her implicated sister had been demoted from a shuyi to a ronghua. Zhuang Laoyan was not interested in knowing those secrets that could not see the light of day. However, it seemed that Ronghua Ye and Shurong Ye no longer contacted each other. She knew this matter was not simple.

“No need to be so polite, Ronghua Ye.” Zhuang Laoyan looked at the direction from which Ronghua Ye had come. “Is Ronghua Ye heading for Jingyang Palace?”

“This concubine has troubled Chongyi Zhao in asking. These past few days, this concubine has not felt well and did not dare to disturb the others in Jingyang Palace. But after hearing that the chrysanthemums have bloomed in the imperial gardens, this concubine wanted to take a look.” Ronghua Ye and Zhuang Laoyan did not have much of a connection. Naturally, they did not share a large grudge against each other. For this reason, although she responded stiffly to Zhuang Laoyan, her words were not lacking in manners.

“Indeed the chrysanthemums have bloomed quite nicely at this time. If Ronghua Ye is fond of them, you should come see them often. But if your body is not too well, you must take care of yourself more. Otherwise, the bitter medicinal soups are really hard to endure,” said Zhuang Laoyan with a smile. “Then I shall not disturb you any longer.”

“Take care, Chongyi Zhao.” Ronghua Ye continued to stand there, watching as Chongyi Zhao and her procession left. Then she averted her gaze, her face expressionless.

“Master, Shurong Ye has come over,” said Ronghua Ye’s maidservant in a soft voice.

Ronghua Ye sneered. In a ridiculing tone, she said, “No matter how much she schemes, she cannot obtain the emperor’s heart. Who knows who is the most pitiful?” She turned to the side path and went off, unwilling to give her sister even one glance. 

So much scheming XD. And we still don’t know who caused Shurong Ye’s miscarriage. There’s actually a lot of mysteries that have yet to be solved. Like who did the empress dowager speak to that made her search Taoyu Pavilion? Who schemed for Third Prince’s death? I’m sure there are more I overlooked too.

The poem about the moon is “A Moonlit Night on the Spring River” ( 春江花月夜) by Zhang Ruoxu of the Tang Dynasty. It’s a very famous Chinese poem.

For those of you still interested in advanced chapters, please refer to this post. Read it carefully! There are only two advanced chapters left this month, so if you pledge a tier that gives three or more chapters now, you’re basically my suga daddi.