hotmtlnovel Chapter 116
Chapter 116
concubine zhen had indeed given her mistress a grand gift.
"don't go around spreading baseless rumors," consort de glanced at her. "if someone catches you in a mistake, i won't be able to save you."
especially when it came to consort liang's quarters - she was the type to explode at the slightest provocation.
knowing the gravity of the situation, cui yin quickly closed her mouth and sat down to trim lamp wicks for consort de.
the next day, after the consorts finished paying their respects at yikun palace, consort de had just stepped out when consort liang called out to her: "sister de, do you have time to visit my shunan palace?"
xi que was in a good mood today, humming a little tune as she entered hexi palace.
jiang xinyue had just finished breakfast and was using scissors to trim green beans in the vegetable garden. seeing xi que's demeanor, she couldn't help but ask, "what happy news has got you so excited?"
xi que had been waiting for this question. her eyes narrowed mischievously, looking utterly ridiculous though she didn't realize it herself, which made it all the more amusing. "my lady, didn't i say that bad people would surely get their comeuppance? guess what incredible event happened in the palace today?"
jiang xinyue handed the scissors to xiao xuanzi and pretended to stroke her chin pensively. "given your gossip-loving nature, i'm sure there must be some excitement brewing somewhere."
"my lady, my lady..."
if we're talking about excitement, no one in the entire hexi palace was more thrilled than jiang chuan.
he ran from the front hall to the back garden, ignoring nanny li who was carrying a vegetable basket nearby. he gesticulated wildly as he exclaimed, "my lady! consort liang beat consort de! consort de was injured and bleeding! the emperor was furious and slapped consort liang, calling her a vicious snake. he ordered the empress to punish her by confining her to shunan palace to reflect on her misdeeds. she..."
jiang xinyue and shuang jiang wore strange expressions and kept signaling to jiang chuan with their eyes, as if telling him to stop talking.
jiang xinyue thought to herself: be more confident, just remove the "as if" part.
xi que puffed up like an angry pufferfish. jiang chuan only glanced at her once before she raised the wooden ladle she was using to water the fruits and vegetables, yelling as she charged towards him, "ah! jiang chuan, you stole my lines! i won't let you get away with this!"
xi que, that little gossip trumpet, must have been trying to show off in front of the mistress but ended up having her news stolen and revealed first.
jiang chuan took off running, not daring to get too close to jiang xinyue, so he led xi que on a chase around the entire vegetable garden. "my lady, i really didn't mean to! next time... next time i'll definitely let you speak first."
nanny li and nanny xiang exchanged another glance. they had never seen servants in any palace as carefree, relaxed, and happy as those in hexi palace.
why did noble consort su, living in yanqing palace, harbor such inexplicable hostility towards her?
wasn't it because someone had been constantly exaggerating her favor with the emperor in front of noble consort su, subtly influencing her to believe that jiang xinyue was the cause of her own lack of favor?
jiang xinyue was certain that in the entire palace, only consort de could accomplish something so flawlessly without leaving a trace.
unfortunately, even until noble consort su had her tendons cut and was sent out of the palace, she never realized she had been used as someone else's executioner.
"boom—"
"is it going to rain?"
xi que and shuang jiang closed the doors and windows. jiang chuan's expression calmed as he rubbed the red bump on his forehead and said, "there's one more thing i think i should inform you about, my lady. the dowager empress forced the emperor to issue a decree demoting concubine li to consort li. and before dawn today, a matron from kunning palace forced consort li to kneel at the gates of kunning palace and kowtow, apologizing to consort shu!"
of course, the dowager empress was furious!
she had been hoping for a grandson with wu family blood to replace the emperor, removing the father but keeping the son to restore the glory of the wu family.
she had waited patiently for six months, but consort li's... no, consort li's actions had completely shattered the dowager empress's beautiful dream.
she must be so angry now that she could eat consort li alive to quell her rage.
but all of this had absolutely nothing to do with jiang xinyue.
although everyone believed that the jiang family was the main culprit behind concubine li's downfall, the decision was made by the xuanwu emperor himself. as long as the emperor understood that she had nothing to do with it, that was all that mattered.
the misunderstanding of others would only make the emperor feel more guilty towards her. jiang xinyue's task was to transform this guilt into tangible benefits, all directed towards herself.
who wouldn't want to rise to the position of the top four consorts?
what did it matter if she lacked seniority?
wasn't the imperial harem a place where whoever the emperor favored could do as they pleased?
if she could just give the xuanwu emperor a little push, it wasn't impossible for her to become the worthy consort.
as long as the emperor bestowed the title upon her, whether she could secure her position would no longer be the emperor's concern.