Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 124

Chapter 124: “How Does She Know I Can’t?”

This night could truly be called nerve-wracking. After Su Jieyu and Qi Guipin were taken away, everyone else was dismissed, none daring to linger and disturb the Empress’s peace.

Yun Si glanced at Tan Yuanchu, and when he looked her way, she spoke first,

“Your Majesty, Her Highness has only just had the poison cleared. Please stay and keep her company.”

Tan Yuanchu was silent for a moment.
He squeezed her hand, drew her crane-cloak tighter around her, and said in a low, husky voice. “Have Xu Shunfu see you back, and let Imperial Physician Lin go with you.”

She had already slept fitfully earlier that night, and now, after all that had happened, kneeling, weeping, with no moment’s peace, her rest would be even harder.

Yun Si knew how to weigh matters. She nodded obediently, and before leaving, looked back at every step.

“Your Majesty must also take care of your health, so as not to make this concubine worry.”

Tan Yuanchu’s lips seemed to curve faintly, but quickly eased again. Once she was gone, he raised a tired hand to press his brow, looked toward the inner hall, and after a long while, stepped inside.

Imperial Physician Lin followed Yun Si back to Chu’an Palace. After taking her pulse, he ordered a bowl of fetus-protecting medicine to be prepared.

“Your Ladyship has been frightened, it’s best to be cautious.”

Even if Yun Si didn’t want to drink it, she could find no words to refuse.

When Chu’an Palace was finally quiet, she lay buried beneath the brocade quilt for a long time without falling asleep. As dawn’s first light began to pale the sky, Qiu Yuan kept the lamps lit; since the Emperor wasn’t in Chu’an Palace, she stayed up to keep watch.

After some time, seeing her mistress still with open eyes, Qiu Yuan asked,

“Your Ladyship, can’t you sleep?”

Yun Si answered dully, “After so much has happened tonight, how many in the palace could possibly sleep?”

Even now, she felt that Su Jieyu had seemed half-mad, utterly unreasonable.

Qiu Yuan was lying on a thick quilt spread on the floor. Hearing this, she rolled over, she couldn’t sleep either, and after a long moment, she asked quietly

“Your Ladyship, have you thought that if today the Empress had truly…”

She didn’t finish, but Yun Si understood the meaning she had left unsaid.

Had she considered that if the Empress had truly met with misfortune today, and that seat became vacant, what would she do?

Yun Si’s brows drew together slightly. On the way to Kunning Palace, how could she not have thought about it?
Her mind had been full of countless possibilities, but in the end.

“I’m pregnant, and the selection for new concubines is imminent. If that position were to become vacant now, it would bring me more harm than good.”

Everyone thought she was the closest to that seat, so naturally all attention would fall on her.

But what mattered most now was to give birth safely to the imperial heir she carried, everything else had to make way for that.

Besides, she had never thought of letting the Empress die.

To put it bluntly, the Empress being alive did her no harm.

The Empress could not bear children, and with that sort of temperament, she had almost no impact on her. So long as Tan Yuanchu truly wished to pave the way for the child in her belly, what she wanted would come to her sooner or later.

As for the central palace, if she could not occupy it herself, it was best that the Empress remain in it.

—

Even after the poison was cleared from her system, the Empress’s condition did not improve. She needed to remain in bed and recuperate quietly, and the morning greetings had to be suspended.

Most importantly, everyone in the palace could not help but wonder, what exactly did Her Highness mean by saying she had little time left to live?

No one would explain it to them. All they knew was that the Emperor had stayed in Kunning Palace the entire night, only leaving at dawn, and afterward an endless stream of tonics was sent into Kunning Palace as if they cost nothing.

With the deaths of Su-shi and Qi-shi, aside from Yun Si, the happiest person in the palace was none other than Meng Xiurong.

The Jade Butterfly register of the little princess was directly transferred under her name, meaning that from now on, the little princess was entirely her child.
She would never again have to worry about returning her to Qi Guipin in the future.

Yun Si could clearly see the joy on Meng Xiurong’s face. The usually quiet and low-key woman now wore an irrepressible smile. Yun Si’s own feelings about it were rather complicated.

She did not like Qi Guipin.

But putting herself in her place, if the child she had risked her life to give birth to ended up recognizing someone else as mother, she too would find it hard to eat or sleep in peace.

For the little princess’s sake, it was best if no one in the palace mentioned Qi Guipin in front of her again.

Thinking of the little princess inevitably made Yun Si think of the Eldest Prince at the Princes’ Quarters. Too much had happened in the palace, and his future arrangements had yet to be decided.

Her mind full of tangled thoughts, Yun Si was pulled from them when Qiu Yuan came in through the curtains from outside and said in a low, solemn voice.

“This morning at court, several officials from the Song clan were demoted, and Minister Song himself was stripped of his position.”

A flicker passed through Yun Si’s eyes. She might not know much of court politics, but she did know that Consort De’s surname was Song.

Suddenly remembering something, Yun Si sat upright and exchanged a glance with Qiu Yuan, blurting out, “Her Highness!”

When she had nearly miscarried, the Emperor had immediately deposed Consort De, causing the crown prince to lose favor and inflicting serious damage on the Song clan. Now, with the Empress’s poisoning, the Song clan had nearly been destroyed altogether.

Yun Si thought of that half-night Tang Yuanchu had stayed in Kunning Palace.

After a long silence, she said softly, “The Emperor knows why Her Highness miscarried back then.”

After nearly five years, the truth behind the Empress’s miscarriage had finally come to light. Yun Si recalled the Emperor’s past hopes for a legitimate heir and lifted her gaze toward the carved window.

Tan Yuanchu’s feelings at this moment must be extremely complicated.

He valued his eldest son, yet it was because of that son that someone had harmed the legitimate heir he had long awaited.

Qiu Yuan added, “The Song clan had planned to send one of their young ladies to this year’s selection, but now that can only come to nothing.”

At this, Yun Si’s brows drew together.

She could already guess the Song clan’s intentions. Consort De was gone, but the Songs still had daughters. If a Song daughter entered the palace, she would be the Eldest Prince’s best match.

With the Eldest Prince holding the title of eldest son, the Song clan would never willingly give up.

But in the current situation, they had no choice.

Song Fu also happened to report something else in time. “There’s one more thing, this servant heard that all the palace staff in the Princes’ Quarters have been replaced.”

Yun Si was not surprised. Even after her death, Consort De had managed to scheme against her and the Empress, who knew if she had left hidden agents at the Eldest Prince’s side?

It was a warm April, and the palace’s heavy crane cloaks had long been put away. The women were eager to change into spring dress, showing off their slender, graceful figures.

Yun Si glanced at Song Fu and Qiu Yuan. Her belly was now high and round, making even getting up difficult; she needed both hands just to protect it. Resting her chin on one hand, she asked unhurriedly,

“Is there something else you haven’t told me?”

The hall suddenly fell silent. Qiu Yuan and Song Fu exchanged a glance, both hesitating as if unsure how to speak.

In truth, they didn’t need to.
Yun Si could already guess.

“It’s already April, surely the selected ladies from all over the country for the selection have arrived in the capital by now?”

Qiu Yuan and Song Fu instantly fell silent, not knowing how to respond.

Yun Si arched a brow slightly, thinking they were making too much of a fuss. The selection was louder and more extravagant than ever. She had long known this year’s selection was unavoidable, and had already accepted that fact.

When all was said and done, by the time the new concubines entered the palace, she would have already given birth to the imperial heir she carried, so to her, it was hardly any loss.

Besides, perhaps these young ladies might be of special standing before entering the palace, but once they stepped into its deep walls, they would be no more than consorts of the harem, and all would have to bow to her. If anyone ought to be flustered, it certainly shouldn’t be her.

Seeing her so open-minded, Qiu Yuan suddenly recalled how the other day Eunuch Xu had carefully tried to test Her Highness’s feelings, and she found herself faltering for words.

She was curious too.

“Your Ladyship, are you not upset?”

The question made Yun Si feel like laughing. Her lashes trembled lightly as she countered:

“If I am upset, will His Majesty not hold the selection?”

Qiu Yuan was silenced.

A figure stopped silently in front of the double-layered pearl curtain.

Yun Si toyed idly with the object in her hand, not even lifting her head as she spoke in a light voice, “He won’t, and he can’t, so what use is there in my being upset?”

A trace of regret flickered in Qiu Yuan’s expression, she should never have asked.

“There will be many years ahead. If I can’t think it through, I can’t possibly spend every time being upset, can I?”

The pearl curtain was suddenly lifted, and someone stepped inside, his voice neither loud nor soft, betraying no emotion.
“You are quite open-minded.”

Hearing the voice, Yun Si looked up in surprise. She tried to rise and salute, but someone pressed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down.

The man said irritably, “Xi Xiurong should be resting.”

Yun Si lifted her hand and placed it atop the back of the one on her shoulder. The two hands overlapped, and an inexplicable hint of intimacy arose. Her apricot eyes blinked lightly, her face all innocence, as though somewhat puzzled.

“Who has provoked Your Majesty?”

Tan Yuanchu lowered his gaze to her. In truth, he couldn’t tell whether or not she was upset, but either way, the matter of the selection was hardly something she could be happy about.

In a low voice, he said, “No one has provoked me.”

It was just that there was a heaviness in his heart, one whose source he could not quite place, nor did he know how to rid himself of it.

Catching sight of the tiny clothes she was sewing for the child in her belly, he sat down beside her. With a casual motion, he pulled the garment from her hands and tossed it aside.
Yun Si’s apricot eyes rounded in indignation.

“What are you doing? This concubine had just finished threading the needle!”

Tan Yuanchu lifted his eyes slowly and deliberately, “Your body is heavy now, how can you trouble your mind and eyes with such things?”

Sewing clothes was meticulous work, bound to strain both eyes and concentration. She ought to be mindful of her condition.

Besides, he had never seen her this attentive toward him.

There was a faint note of dissatisfaction in his tone, and Yun Si seemed to pick up on it. She glanced at him to the left, then to the right, looking him over so intently that he grew rather uncomfortable and frowned.

“What are you looking at?”

Yun Si sighed softly. “This concubine’s heart and eyes are full of you. Now I’ve only spared a little for something else, and still you must begrudge it.”

Tan Yuanchu shot her a sidelong glance, this woman’s ability to tell blatant lies with her eyes wide open truly never changed.

And she actually had the nerve to say it out loud.

Tan Yuanchu remained steady and composed; even having his thoughts exposed didn’t make him the least bit flustered.
He lifted his gaze lazily, speaking slowly and deliberately. “And if I do mind?”

“Or is it that I’m not allowed to?”

Yun Si was choked into silence.

She really never learned, when it came to shamelessness, how could she ever win against the man before her?

Yun Si stopped speaking to him and turned to glance at Qiu Yuan. Qiu Yuan immediately gathered up the little garment and sewing things, and before long, all the palace attendants in the hall had withdrawn.

The lively spring air carried a drowsy warmth.

Just as Yun Si was about to speak again, she turned and saw that someone had already closed his eyes. She froze, then looked more closely, dark shadows lay under his eyes, fatigue deeply etched and lingering, as though it had been a long time since he’d had a proper rest.

Yun Si swallowed quietly and moved with care, not wanting to wake him.

But now, with her movements so hindered, even turning over was difficult. Inevitably, she brushed against the man behind her. Instinctively, he drew her into his arms and shifted inward, making space for her. Without even opening his eyes, he pressed her against his chest and said in a low, husky voice,

“Be careful.”

Leaning against him, Yun Si’s apricot eyes trembled almost imperceptibly.

The people from the Imperial Wardrobe Bureau had been to Chu’an Palace several more times; her measurements were constantly changing. Now her palace gowns could nearly fit two of her former self. Sitting before the mirror, she sometimes felt the woman in the bronze reflection no longer resembled her past self.

The imperial physicians visited often, giving her the best medicines. No marks had appeared on her face, the ointments were checked and applied daily, and there were no unsightly scars on her body.

Even so, just looking at the waist in the mirror was enough to make her furrow her brows in dismay.

Yet the man beside her seemed not to notice her changes. Every time he came to Chu’an Palace, he was as casual as ever, drawing her easily into his arms as though her weight meant nothing at all.

He could always help her find the most comfortable position in his embrace, instinctively making room for her.
From the time her belly had been flat to now, when it was high and round, the space he left for her on the soft couch had shifted little by little, so naturally and quietly that she had never once felt her body hanging uncomfortably off the edge.

When he was in Chu’an Palace, Yun Si would forget that her figure was no longer the same as before.

Yun Si was not a slow-witted woman.

She could sense Tan Yuanchu’s feelings for her; at times, the gaze he cast upon her seemed to hold emotions he never voiced. And since he never spoke them aloud, Yun Si simply pretended not to know.

If she lifted her eyes now, she could see his face. He always said she was beautiful, yet he was, too.

The warm sunlight spilled across his features, casting sharp definition along their lines. With his eyes closed, his brows and expression lost their usual coolness, touched instead with a faint, refined elegance, so different from the man he was in daily life.

Yun Si’s lashes trembled lightly as she withdrew her gaze.

Tan Yuanchu slept soundly in Chu’an Palace. Only when Xu Shunfu came to report that officials were seeking an audience at the imperial gates did he rise to leave.

Before going, he suddenly turned back and, in a tone laden with unspoken meaning, left her with one remark,

“Sometimes, you don’t need to be too perceptive.”

Yun Si looked at him in puzzlement, but he offered no explanation, turning with Xu Shunfu to leave.

After the imperial carriage departed, the lantern’s shadow cast across the carved windows of Chu’an Palace faded quietly, and Yun Si, too, suddenly fell silent.

Outside Chu’an Palace.

The imperial carriage was heading toward the Imperial Study. In the warm spring sunshine, the heavy curtains on the carriage had been removed. Tan Yuanchu leaned back inside with his eyes closed, when suddenly he spoke in a casual tone,

“Sometimes I truly don’t know whether her courage is great or small.”

When she was lying to him, she dared to say anything at all.

But when it came to matters beyond the palace, she became cautious and restrained, as if instantly reminded of her own station.

Xu Shunfu looked up in surprise, momentarily unsure if the Emperor was speaking to him.

Tan Yuanchu suddenly opened his eyes, his tone light, as if discussing something of no consequence.

“After Emperor Xingwen of the former dynasty took Lady Wen into his harem, there was no further selection of concubines for the rest of his thirty-year reign. With precedent like that, how does she know I can’t do the same?”

Xu Shunfu was taken aback.
He understood what the Emperor meant, but could only fall silent.

The journey continued in quiet. Glancing at the now-silent Emperor, Xu Shunfu thought inwardly that perhaps Xi Xiurong never dared believe she could be like Lady Wen, nor that the Emperor could be like Emperor Xingwen.

Everyone knew that when the former dynasty fell, Emperor Xingwen and his favored consort Lady Wen bore most of the blame.

Who would want to be remembered by later generations with the infamy of having brought ruin to the state?

Having known Xi Xiurong for many years, Xu Shunfu finally said,

“Your Majesty, you know better than anyone, the boldest thing Her Ladyship has ever done in her life was to be with you.”

He spoke the truth.
Aside from becoming involved with the Emperor, Xi Xiurong had lived within the bounds of propriety. Perhaps some believed that during her time in the Yangxin Hall she relied on the Emperor’s favor to act willfully, but in truth she was never the one to take the initiative.

It was only prejudice, or conflicting interests, that kept people from seeing clearly.

Someone who had always been proper had, back when she was still serving her mistress in Heyi Hall, secretly become entangled with the Emperor, discreetly and without a word to others. It could hardly be called anything but bold.

Xu Shunfu’s single remark made Tang Yuanchu lift his eyelids slightly, and the heaviness in his heart suddenly dissipated.

His lips curved faintly. “You’re right.”

Her courage was only so much; if she would not open her mouth to ask, he would simply take it upon himself to give. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time he had taken the initiative.

Seeing the hint of self-satisfaction in the Emperor’s expression, Xu Shunfu couldn’t help clicking his tongue inwardly.

When the carriage stopped before the Imperial Study, Xu Shunfu heard him say,

“Once she gives birth to the imperial heir, everything will be fine.”

Xu Shunfu didn’t quite understand and wasn’t sure what the Emperor meant by that.

But Tan Yuanchu had no intention of explaining. He stepped down from the carriage, his expression returning to its usual composure, cool and careless enough to remind those around him of his status, so that none would dare act presumptuously in his presence.