Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 59

Chapter 59: People Prefer the New Over the Old

Yun Si delivered the armful of lotus leaves to the Imperial Kitchen and passed along Tan Yuanchu’s instructions before returning to the Yangxin Hall.

Qiu Yuan glanced at her. “Aren’t you afraid of offending Rong Zhaoyi, girl?”

Yun Si recalled the matter with Chang Deyi, a flash of disgust passing through her apricot eyes. Without even raising her head, her tone was calm.

“If I don’t offend her, will she spare me?”

Both Qiu Yuan and Yun Si knew perfectly well—the answer was no. Qiu Yuan said no more and simply followed Yun Si back to the Yangxin Hall, holding the lotus flowers.

Their trip had taken quite some time. By the time they returned, they saw a ceremonial palanquin stopped outside the outer chamber. Yun Si and Qiu Yuan exchanged a glance, each faintly guessing who the visitor was.

Sure enough, Lu Yuan was waiting by the door, whispering in a hushed voice, “Girl, not long after you left, Her Ladyship Rong Zhaoyi came.”

Yun Si responded softly, then handed the lotus flowers to him and said,
“Have someone wash and dry these flowers properly.”

Lu Yuan didn’t know where Yun Si had gone earlier, but now that he saw the lotus flowers, it wasn’t hard to understand why Rong Zhaoyi had come. His eyes widened in shock. After a moment, he stammered, “Girl, perhaps you should hide for a bit?”

From Luoyuan’s perspective, Rong Zhaoyi was still a high-ranking mistress of the palace—going head-to-head with her would rarely end in Yun Si’s favor.

Even the imperial guards stationed at the front gave her a look.

Yun Si declined Lu Yuan’s suggestion. As she approached the hall, she faintly heard crying from within. She was somewhat surprised—Tan Yuanchu had always held Rong Zhaoyi in high regard.
Who had ever seen her cry?

Lu Dongxun saw she wasn’t afraid in the slightest, and for some reason, he felt a bit helpless inside.

Just before Yun Si pushed open the door, he spoke in a low voice.
“Rong Zhaoyi has only been inside for about a quarter of an hour.”

The unspoken meaning: She’s still emotional right now—if you go in, it’ll only make things worse. Better to wait it out.

They both served in the presence of the emperor, so occasional interaction was inevitable. After this past year, Yun Si no longer deliberately avoided Lu Dongxun—but she hadn’t expected him to speak to her first. Her eyelashes trembled slightly as she looked up at him.

Lu Dongxun had already averted his gaze, as if that warning hadn’t come from him at all.

But Yun Si understood in her heart—she had now secured a smooth path with the Lu family. As long as no women from the Lu household entered the harem, she would remain their favored contact within the inner palace.

After all, she once had a past connection with Lady Lu.

Setting aside sentiment, the Lu family hadn’t risen to its current political standing by overlooking the importance of profit and interest.

A palace maid came over with tea. Yun Si glanced at it and casually took the tray from her, finding an excuse to enter the hall.
“I’ll take it in.”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Lu Dongxun, hesitated for a moment, then softly said,
“Thank you for the reminder, Lord Lu.”

Lu Dongxun didn’t reply. Even if he warned her, wasn’t she still going in?

The palace doors were pushed open. Yun Si carried the tea inside and finally took in the full scene—Rong Zhaoyi had turned her face away, tears falling like broken pearls. The once-proud woman now wept with a sorrowful grace that could easily stir pity.

At the sound of movement, everyone in the hall instinctively turned. When they saw Yun Si, silence fell. Even Rong Zhaoyi’s crying paused momentarily.

Xu Shunfu nearly choked on his own breath. This girl really has guts—coming in to serve tea at a time like this, as if nothing’s wrong.

Rong Zhaoyi’s gaze turned cold. She grabbed onto Tan Yuanchu, unwilling to let Yun Si see her cry. Though her sobs stopped, her voice still trembled with emotion.

“Even I haven’t been willing to touch the lotus flowers in that pond, and yet you allowed her to pick them. Is Your Majesty trying to break my heart?”

Yun Si stepped forward with the tea, passed by Rong Zhaoyi, and placed the tray calmly on the imperial desk.

Everyone in the hall stiffened. Someone was weeping bitterly, and she just… set down the tea like nothing had happened—completely out of place, shattering the mood. Xu Shunfu quickly lowered his head, afraid he might actually burst out laughing.

Tan Yuanchu lifted a hand to touch his lips, glancing sideways at Yun Si. Her fingers, which had been holding the tea, were a bit pale—clearly, her emotions weren’t as calm as she appeared.

Rong Zhaoyi could no longer force out a single tear. Her delicate brows and eyes, once so alluring, now carried a trace of grievance as she spoke in a sweet but aggrieved voice.
“Your Majesty! Look at her—doesn’t she seem like she doesn’t hold me in any regard at all?”

Yun Si appeared as though she had just realized Rong Zhaoyi was talking about her expression. Her brows drew slightly together, and without hesitation, she lifted her skirts and knelt down, lips pressed together.
“May Your Majesty see clearly—this servant would never dare be disrespectful to Rong Zhaoyi.”

Not a single person in the hall believed that.

But Tan Yuanchu could only speak up for her, “Get up first.”

Yun Si made no move to rise, so Xu Shunfu quickly stepped forward to help her up.

Seeing how he couldn’t bear to punish Yun Si, a cold sinking sensation crept into Rong Zhaoyi’s chest. She slowly clenched her handkerchief tighter, forcing down her emotions.

Tan Yuanchu finally said, “I was the one who ordered her to pick the lotus flowers.”

Rong Zhaoyi had already known this. That was precisely why she was overwhelmed with emotion. Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
“Is Your Majesty trying to break my heart?”

Tan Yuanchu narrowed his eyes slightly. That lotus pond would eventually need trimming—otherwise the flowers would rot sooner or later. Regardless of Yun Si’s real intentions, on the surface she was acting for the benefit of Su Jieyu’s unborn royal heir.

Rong Zhaoyi, on the other hand, kept insisting this was a direct attack on her heart. Was she truly treating the entire lotus pond as her personal possession?

Tan Yuanchu lifted his gaze, his tone light.
“If you like them, have the gardeners transplant a few more.”

Rong Zhaoyi was so choked by his words that her chest hurt.
Was this really just about a few lotus flowers?

The emperor was clearly brushing her off!

And indeed, Tan Yuanchu was brushing her off. Even if everyone in the harem silently acknowledged the lotus pond as belonging to Rong Zhaoyi, she herself had no right to think so.

To put it bluntly—everything in the harem belonged to him. Not to mention picking a few lotus flowers—even if he ordered the entire pond to be uprooted, Rong Zhaoyi had no right to object.

Tan Yuanchu’s tone was indifferent—not only Rong Zhaoyi, even Yun Si was a little surprised.

She silently glanced at him and thought, So this is what they call imperial favor—ephemeral and illusory. One moment it’s there, and the next, it’s gone.

Yun Si didn’t feel the slightest bit pleased.

People are drawn to the new, not the old.

Today, Tan Yuanchu could distance himself from Rong Zhaoyi for her sake—but one day, he would also distance himself from her for someone new.

Perhaps Tan Yuanchu’s attitude had been too cold, Rong Zhaoyi, who had been blinded by anger, finally sobered a little. She realized she had misspoken—she shouldn’t have acted as if the lotus pond belonged solely to her. She took a deep breath and spoke in a soft, aggrieved voice, “Your Majesty knows what I’m truly upset about.”

She turned her head, as though trying to hide her emotions—but ultimately failed. Her voice choked as she said,
“It was wrong of me to come here today. I take my leave.”

With Rong Zhaoyi’s departure, the hall fell into a momentary silence.

Tan Yuanchu’s expression remained calm and unreadable—no one could tell what he was thinking. After a long pause, he glanced toward Yun Si.

“Are you happy now?”

Yun Si feigned confusion. “What would this servant be happy about?”

Tan Yuanchu turned to Xu Shunfu and gave a calm order,
“Have the gardening staff deliver a few more pots of lotus flowers to Changchun Palace.”

Yun Si paid no mind to it. She knew perfectly well that Tan Yuanchu would never neglect to appease Rong Zhaoyi afterward. If nothing else, there was still a young princess residing in Changchun Palace—Tan Yuanchu wouldn’t allow anyone to think Rong Zhaoyi had lost favor.

In any case, her goal had simply been to irritate Rong Zhaoyi—and now that she had succeeded, she didn’t care how Tan Yuanchu chose to handle the aftermath.

Rong Zhaoyi returned to Changchun Palace in tears. The news spread quickly through the harem. Before the others could even start speculating whether her favor had waned, word came by evening that the emperor had summoned Rong Zhaoyi to attend him that night.

The concubines could only sigh in frustration and mutter—
Rong Zhaoyi truly still holds the emperor’s heart.

Yun Si didn’t follow them to Changchun Palace. She couldn’t be bothered to comment on Tan Yuanchu’s habit of slapping someone with one hand and offering a sweet date with the other.

She and Qiu Yuan stayed in the side room, embroidering sachets. Qiu Yuan shook her head and said,
“Rong Zhaoyi probably hates you to death now.”

Yun Si didn’t care. She sifted through the fabrics, picking and discarding one piece without hesitation.

Qiu Yuan glanced at it—if she remembered correctly, that fabric was originally chosen by Yun Si to make a waistband for the Emperor. And now, it had been tossed aside like nothing.

Qiu Yuan fell silent. Suddenly, she found it difficult to understand what her mistress was thinking.

—

Following Yun Si’s instructions, the Imperial Kitchen prepared beggar’s chicken and sent it to Qingyu Courtyard.

Su Jieyu knew nothing about this, and whether it was coincidence or not, she actually managed to eat a little.

The palace maids at Qingyu Courtyard were overjoyed. Baishao couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief and said,
“The Imperial Kitchen even came up with such a dish especially for you—how thoughtful.”

Su Jieyu also let out a breath and sat up straighter, one hand resting on her lower belly.
“Go give them a reward in person.”

Baishao made the trip herself. The staff at the Imperial Kitchen didn’t dare take credit and told her the truth.

Surprised, Bai Shao asked around again until she finally uncovered the full story.

When Su Jieyu heard, her good mood from being able to eat was immediately dampened. She frowned.

Everyone in Qingyu Courtyard knew she didn’t like Yun Si.

After a long silence, Su Jieyu sneered,
“So I gave her a raft to sail on—she used me to cause trouble for Rong Zhaoyi.”

She absolutely didn’t believe Yun Si was genuinely acting out of concern for her. Just knowing she had been used left Su Jieyu feeling stifled and irritated.

Her expression turned cold. The senior attendants in the hall exchanged a look and tried to gently advise her, “No matter what that Yun Si girl is up to, what matters most right now is that Mistress takes good care of your health.”

So what if she was used?
In the end, her mistress still benefited from it.

The two senior attendants had been personally assigned by the Empress to care for Su Jieyu during her pregnancy. Everyone else in Qingyu Courtyard was just an ignorant servant. Su Jieyu was deeply grateful for the Empress’s thoughtful arrangement, and she actually listened to what the two attendants had to say.

Hearing their words, no matter how displeased Su Jieyu felt, she could only swallow her dissatisfaction.

In Kunning Palace, Bai Zhi received the message from Qingyu Courtyard and shook her head.
“Good thing she still knows to listen to Her Highness.”

The Empress was slowly flipping through some dossiers and said nothing.

Bai Zhi glanced over and saw that Her Highness was reading files from the Office of Records. Out of curiosity, she took a closer look—and saw an entire page filled with water requests from the Yangxin Hall. She couldn’t help but purse her lips.

Bai Zhi muttered softly, “The entire harem of consorts isn’t as competent as a single servant.”

She had to admit that when it came to gaining favor, Su Jieyu truly couldn’t compare to Yun Si. If it weren’t for the Empress deliberately elevating her, Su Jieyu probably wouldn’t be pregnant with the Emperor’s child at all—it might’ve taken until doomsday.

If they had known things would turn out this way, it might’ve been simpler for Her Majesty to support Yun Si directly from the start.

The Empress glanced sideways at Bai Zhi, as if she could read her thoughts. Her tone was calm.
“I like dealing with smart people, but I don’t like working with them.”

Or perhaps it shouldn’t even be called working together—it was using.

Smart people always try to negotiate benefits for themselves, which takes far too much effort and calculation. They’re never as easy to handle as the simple-minded.

And if you try to use such people, one careless move and they’ll turn the tables on you.

Besides…

The Empress looked down at the dossier in her hand. When she saw that the Yangxin Hall had called for water more than three times this month, a shadow of complex emotion flashed through her eyes.

A very simple truth: Yun Si is currently favored, so all she needs to do is maintain that favor—she doesn’t need to form alliances.

Yun Si’s position is different from that of the other consorts in the harem. She has no powerful family backing her, which means she is entirely alone in the palace. But to someone like the Emperor, who holds absolute power, this isn’t a flaw—it’s exactly the kind of vulnerability that inspires endless pity.

The more isolated she is, the more the Emperor will cherish her.

Put yourself in her shoes: if the Empress herself were in Yun Si’s position, she would never cooperate with anyone, lest she undermine her own advantage.

If that weren’t the case, the Empress wouldn’t have bypassed so many other options to choose Su Jieyu in the first place.

The Empress set aside the dossier from the Office of Records and opened another file. After a brief pause, she casually raised an eyebrow.

“Consort Jing was seriously ill last month?”

Bai Zhi was puzzled that Her Majesty would bring this up.
“Isn’t Consort Jing always falling sick every other day?”

The Empress didn’t bother responding. It was true that Consort Jing was frequently bedridden, but hers was a chronic condition from birth, mainly manifesting as frailty. After entering the palace, she had consistently paid her respects at Cining Palace—but last month, she hadn’t gone even once.

Correspondingly, Yongning Palace had been requesting a lot of medicine from the Imperial Medical Bureau.

A thoughtful glint flickered in the Empress’s eyes. After pushing aside the dossier, she suddenly gave an order:

“Have the ceremonial escort prepared. I’m going to visit Consort Jing.”

Bai Zhi was caught off guard. She glanced at the sky outside—it was midday in July, the hottest time of the day—and quickly tried to stop her.
“It’s sweltering outside. Let me go on your behalf, Your Highness. There’s no need for you to go in person.”

The Empress gave her a cool glance and replied blandly, “What difference would it make if I sent you or didn’t go at all?”

Bai Zhi pouted.
“Your Majesty always belittles me.”

The Empress tapped her forehead with a finger.
“Who told you to be so useless after all these years?”
Bai Zhi lowered her head, deflated. Tugging dejectedly at her handkerchief, she murmured, “It’s because this servant is stupid… Does Your Highness find me unworthy?”

The Empress didn’t even look at her, her tone light and detached.

“I only hope you stay exactly as you are.”

If it were possible, who wouldn’t want to remain as they were in their youth?
She herself couldn’t—but under her protection, Bai Zhi still could.

Yongning Palace.

When Consort Jing heard the Empress had arrived, she paused for a moment before lifting her eyes and speaking calmly, “There’s nothing in this palace that escapes her notice.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Gui shrank back a little and muttered under her breath.
“Then let’s not receive her.”

Consort Jing was amused and let out a soft laugh.
“What nonsense. Hurry and invite Her Highness in.”

The interior of Yongning Palace was thick with the bitter scent of medicine, filling the nose the moment one stepped in. Bai Zhi instinctively wrinkled her brow as she entered, but the Empress’s expression remained unchanged, calm and composed as always.

She stopped Consort Jing from bowing to her, and once seated, sighed softly.

“I noticed you haven’t stepped outside once this past month, so I came to see how you are.”

She spoke plainly, making no effort to hide the reason for her visit.

Consort Jing lowered her head and gave a faint, stifled cough. The coughing wracked her body—her knuckles tightened, a flush of unnatural red colored her cheeks, and her frame trembled violently as if her organs might be expelled from the force of it.

Bai Zhi watched, heart pounding in alarm.

The Empress stepped forward and gently patted her back, frowning.
“Has your condition worsened again?”

Consort Jing’s face was composed, though her coughing had clearly caused pain. After stifling it, she let out a faint, bitter smile.

“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. This is just an old illness.”

The Empress, as usual, asked about the attentiveness of the palace attendants. After a long while, she finally remarked offhandedly.

“The medicine in this hall smells more bitter than usual. Did the Imperial Medical Bureau change the prescription?”

Consort Jing knew perfectly well that this was the Empress’s true reason for coming to Yongning Palace. She did not conceal anything and replied honestly, “I caught a chill some time ago, so Eunuch Chang prescribed me a different medicine.”

The Empress seemed to have asked the question casually, and didn’t pursue the topic further. After sitting a while longer in Yongning Palace, she took her leave.

Liu Gui watched, thoroughly confused. “Your Ladyship, what did Her Highness the Empress come here for?”

Consort Jing kept her head lowered, her expression subdued, “She wanted to see if I knew what she was planning.”

Liu Gui still didn’t understand.

But Consort Jing didn’t bother explaining. She only lifted her gaze to the pile of medicinal packets in the hall. Everyone was talking about Su Jieyu’s good fortune in conceiving the imperial heir.

But they had all forgotten that before Su Jieyu became pregnant, she had caught a chill for quite some time—and during that period, Qingyu Courtyard had gone to the Imperial Medical Bureau to fetch medicine just as frequently as Yongning Palace.

At first, Consort Jing had only had some doubts. Now, she was certain—there was definitely something hidden behind Su Jieyu’s pregnancy.

And the Empress’s visit today made something else clear—

Su Jieyu would not be able to keep the child.

While Liu Gui still wore a confused expression, Consort Jing looked out past the eaves and window lattice. Her eyes seemed a little distant, and she murmured softly, “She’s still chosen to walk this path after all.”