The Job of an Imperial Concubine

Chapter 48: Misunderstanding (误解)

Thank you kae for the ko-fi!

“How was your relationship with Assistant Minister Zhuang in your youth?” In Xihe Palace, Zhuang Laoyan and Feng Jin sat as they chatted. Steam still rose from the surface of the tea before them.

Zhuang Laoyan picked up the tea pot, filling the cup in front of Feng Jin to the top. After hearing his words, she faintly smiled. “This concubine’s parents have always doted on me greatly. Elder brother has treasured me since young, and has been intelligent and articulate from his youth. He is well-mannered and good-natured. He has taken the blame for this concubine a few times back in our paternal estate.”

Feng Jin lifted his tea cup and muttered, “He is a good elder brother.”

The two did not mention Assistant Minister Su’s accusation. However, Zhuang Laoyan already had a plan. The emperor had no intention of acting against the Zhuang family. All in all, the Zhuang family had always known what to do and what not to. Furthermore, they did not threaten the emperor’s authority.

Once an emperor had the ability to consolidate all the power into his hands, the imperial concubines of the harem could do as they pleased. At least, he didn’t need to fear that the family of the woman sleeping next to him would usurp his power. Feng Jin desired absolute power in the court. The last step was the influential Zhao family.

This was the so-called “a centipede died but never fell down¹.” At present, although the Zhao family had somewhat dwindled, that its formidable background threatened the emperor could not be avoided. As for the Su family’s scheme against the Zhuang family, in the emperor’s eyes it was merely a farce.

Perhaps the Su family had suddenly accused the Zhuang family of misconduct in court because of the favor Zhuang Laoyan had received. After all, when the paternal families of the imperial concubines lost influence in court, it would influence the amount of affection the emperor gave the imperial concubines. This chess move of the Su family could not be considered beautiful. Or was it because after Noble Consort Shu had been allowed to visit her paternal family, they grew smug and conceited?

“But this concubine isn’t a good younger sister.” Zhuang Laoyan revealed a bitter smile, sighing inwardly. The previous owner of her body indeed hadn’t been a good sister.

In the past, Assistant Minister Zhuang had not wanted his younger sister to enter the imperial palace. He had already chosen a few good families for his sister. Unfortunately, the Zhuang Laoyan of the past, who merely had a glance of the emperor, insisted on going. She had thrown a tantrum in front of her parents and elder brother for many days.

When it came down to it, the family had spoiled the silly girl too much. She was beautiful without brains and schemes. She wasted her prime in vain, but this new soul had taken her place.

Feng Jin understood the meaning beneath Zhuang Laoyan’s words. The moment he had bestowed her a palace, he had already investigated the Zhuang family. Naturally, he investigated if her previous words on their first meeting had been true.

“Your Majesty, it is already noon. Shall the meal be served?” said Gao Dezhong as he approached. Noticing that the emperor had no intention to return, he had not asked whether he wanted to go back to Qianzheng Palace for his meal.

“Serve it.” Feng Jin turned his head and patted the back of Zhuang Laoyan’s hand. “In Our opinion, beloved concubine is very good.”

“Your Majesty.” Zhuang Laoyan’s eyes darted left and right, concealing the emotions in her heart.

The emperor had just demoted Jieyu Ma to a cairen because of Chongyi Zhao. The next day, he shared his noon meal with Chongyi Zhao, and even stayed overnight at Xihe Palace. It caused the women of the imperial harem to look at the joke that was Noble Consort Shu. Who didn’t know that Assistant Minister Su had accused Assistant Minister Zhuang of misconduct? In the end, nothing happened to Assistant Minister Zhuang. Rather, the emperor did not decrease the amount of favor he gave Chongyi Zhao.

Noble Consort Shu had been the most favored in the harem for many years. The other imperial concubines watched her lose face with glee.

In the morning, Zhuang Laoyan groomed herself and dressed. She sat in front of a mirror, lazily choosing a few things. She received a bowl of fresh water from a palace maid and took a few sips. Wiped at the corners of her mouth. “Bring the jade lotus lamp His Majesty bestowed into this room. Place it carefully so that it will not be knocked over.”

It was worthy of being called something the emperor bestowed. The jade lotus lamp had been carved from a single piece of jade, the craftsmanship meticulous to the extreme. Even the dewdrop upon the lotus bud seemed real. As if it were about to drip down the petal, but naturally did not.

“Master, when the imperial procession had left early in the morning, His Majesty said to rest well. And that us slaves must not wake you up.” Tingzhu combed Zhuang Laoyan’s hair as she said with a smile, “Just now, the eunuchs from the Department of the Palace sent the new tea of this year. And he said that not many of the masters received this.”

Her hand that was holding a hairpin stilled for a moment. “Which palaces received it?”

“This slave heard that other than the empress dowager and the empress, only Noble Consort Shu, Consort Rou, Zhaorong Xiu, and Noble Imperial Concubine Yan had received it. Furthermore, Master and Noble Consort Shu received the most.” Tingzhu’s words held joy. “In any case, Jieyu Zhuang did not obtain any.”

Zhuang Laoyan held a bracelet in the palm of each hand, deciding which to wear. A smile bloomed on her lips. “This is the business of the Department of the Palace. As for whether Jieyu Zhuang received any tea, how is that any of my business?” However, she remembered that that illegitimate elder sister did not treat the original owner of her body with respect at all. She also wasn’t the Virgin Mary. She could not be virtuous and requite evil with good. Or perhaps Zhuang Laoyan had been the one at blame originally. But she did not have the ability to turn two formidable enemies² into friends. Let alone, it was originally impossible for the relationship between these two sisters to be good.

At the forecourt, Feng Jin received news that the crown prince of Chengfeng Country, Sha Duoka, was coming with tributes to pay homage. Although Chengfeng Country was called a country, it was actually a vassal state under Feng Jin’s Jiuzhou Country. Whose land was spacious. Whose products were rich. Compared to the poverty-stricken Changfeng Country, it was like a rich person to a poor person.

Every time that Changfeng Country came to pay homage, they were basically here to gain benefits under the guise of official matters. However, in these past few years, because of the inner power struggles between the princes, they did not have a crown prince to come pay homage ever since Feng Jin had ascended the throne.

Expressionless, Feng Jin looked at the officials in the court making a racket about how to receive the crown prince. And he laughed grimly.

“Your Majesty, this subject thought that although Changfeng Country is our subsidiary state, our nation is strong and powerful. Naturally, we should receive them with the manner befitting of a strong and powerful country and let them see how rich our nation is.”

Feng Jin looked at the person who had spoken. It was the empress’ father, Zhao Yong. He smiled, such an expression not quite touching his eyes. Arched a brow. “Oh, so this is Duke Chengen’s perspective?” 

Zhao Yong carefully examined the emperor’s countenance. He truly could not determine the emperor’s thoughts, wavering before saying, “This is merely this humble subject’s unworthy opinion.”

“Enough. This is just a small matter. There’s no need to make such a racket.” Feng Jin lazily said, “The Ministry of Rites will draw up the procedure for Us to look at. If there’s nothing else, then the court is dismissed.”

The Minister of Rites felt depressed. Did the emperor mean he wanted to do things grandly or simply?

Once he had arrived at the inner palace, Feng Jin dealt with some memorials and beckoned for Gao Dezhong to approach. “Did anything happen in the harem today?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, nothing much happened. However, Her Majesty, the empress, had someone remove Cairen Ma’s name tag from the selection. In Noble Consort Shu’s palace, two teacups shattered.  Noble Imperial Concubine Yan took a stroll in the imperial garden for two hours.” Gao Dezhong thought for a moment, making sure he didn’t forget anything. Then he didn’t speak anymore.

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Feng Jin rose to his feet. Once he reached his inner chamber, he waited for a palace maid to help him out of his ceremonial robe. Then he asked, “Any news from Xihe Palace?” He did not look back.

“Xihe Palace.” Gao Dezhong stared blankly. “Reporting to Your Majesty, this slave did not yet hear anything from Xihe Palace. Master Zhuang seldom visits the imperial garden. Her servants only do their duties. It may be assumed that…” Realizing he had spoken too much, Gao Dezhong immediately shut his mouth.

However, Feng Jin seemed interested in this topic. He turned to look at Gao Dezhong. “What can be assumed?”

“This slave has spoken out of turn. It’s just that a few months ago, Master Zhuang had not been favored and missed Your Majesty. So she would occasionally visit the imperial garden. It may be assumed that at that time, she accidentally offended the other masters and now doesn’t visit the imperial gardens anymore.” As the most favored eunuch in the imperial palace, Gao Dezhong of course knew how to make anything sound beautiful. Furthermore, he could do it in a way that wasn’t weaving a lie to the monarch.

After hearing those words, Feng Jin did not say anything. Gao Dezhong thought the matter was over. It wasn’t until after the noon meal had passed, and the interior supervision eunuch arrived with the nametags of the imperial concubines, that he realized this wasn’t so.

 “We heard that recently, Jieyu Zhuang and Jieyu Zhang had not been feeling well?” Feng Jin brushed his fingers past the name tags of these two. Then he placed them to the side. “Since this is the case, We will not have them attend to Us for the time being.”

Gao Dezhong glanced at the two lonely name tags that had been cast aside. And he understood. The Jieyu Ma who had offended Chongyi Zhao in the past had already gotten her name tag removed. Now, Jieyu Zhang, who had also humiliated Chongyi Zhao, had her name tag removed as well. As for Jieyu Zhuang…  If he remembered correctly, this Jieyu Zhuang was Chongyi Zhao’s elder sister of a different mother. However, it seemed that they did not have a good relationship. In the past, when Jieyu Ma and Jieyu Zhang had given Chongyi Zhao trouble, Jieyu Zhuang had also been at the scene. She did not even try a little to help her.

Was the emperor’s action showing that he especially cared about Chongyi Zhao? Gao Dezhong could not help but feel admiration for Chongyi Zhao’s measures. The measures of an imperial concubine were more useful than her beauty.

“Then today, Your Majesty will…”

“Let’s visit the empress,” said Feng Jin in an impassive tone.

“Master, did you hear the news? The emperor removed the nametags of Jieyu Zhuang and Jieyu Zhang from the selection.” Before the evening meal, Tingzhu had rushed into the room with a face full of joy. It was evident she was extremely happy about those two’s misfortune.

Zhuang Laoyan arched a brow, somewhat surprised. Those two had their name tags personally removed by the emperor. Did they violate some of the emperor’s taboos?

Noticing that her master’s expression seemed as usual, Yunxi said, “Since the emperor decided this, we shouldn’t make inquiries about it. His Majesty will have his own decision.”

Tingzhu was also aware that she herself was beaming with joy. She hurried to smooth her expression. Clapped her hands to instruct the palace maids to bring in the meal.

Zhuang Laoyan played with the jade bracelet on her wrist. She could not help but remind herself that to be an imperial concubine, one must pay attention, so as to avoid making a mistake and having the boss emperor throw her into the cold palace. Like playing a video game, when the player wanted to kill a big boss, they had to first trigger a quest in order to fight the big boss.

It’s evident from this that every job was not easy to do.

LOL rip Noble Imperial Concubine Yan, walking hours in the imperial gardens to meet the emperor “by chance.” So I changed all instances of “Ganzheng Palace” to “Qianzheng Palace.” Sorry about the mix up. That was the alternate spelling I think.

Also, right after I finished translating 48-49, the author edits a bunch of chapters XD. I’ll note the changes in 48 down here in case anyone’s interested.

If you think there are a lot of changes, chapter 49 has even more edits!

Edit 3/17/21: Changed nine states to “Jiuzhou Country.” Seriously, it wasn’t until translating chapter 99 that I realized 九州 referred to the country’s name… Kinda hard to pick up when there’s only like 5 instances in 99 chapters of the country’s name ever appearing, and the first time it does, it’s in chapter 48!