Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Lychee

As August neared Mid-Autumn, the weather outside was pleasantly warm. Gentle sunlight spilled over the lake, casting a faint shimmer across its rippling surface.

From the pleasure barge, bursts of laughter and cheerful voices echoed from time to time.

Tan Yuanchu glanced discreetly at the young woman beside him. She hadn’t looked up once, fully focused on peeling lychees. Her apricot-shaped eyes drooped listlessly, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Her fingers were about to dig into the lychee flesh, and their fair tips glistened with sticky, translucent juice.

Something was clearly off with her.

Tan Yuanchu narrowed his eyes slightly.
Who had upset her?

Without a word, he glanced at Xu Shunfu. Xu Shunfu rubbed the tip of his nose, then nodded subtly in understanding. Before long, he slipped away silently.

When he returned, he leaned in and whispered beside Tan Yuanchu’s ear.

“Yun Jieyu came here with Consort Jing the whole way. This servant didn’t hear of anything happening.”

Consort Jing?
Tan Yuanchu nodded nonchalantly. His gaze drifted toward Consort Jing.

She was sitting upright, sipping her drink. Perhaps it didn’t go down well, she coughed lightly behind her hand, her face tinged with the flush of illness.

Tan Yuanchu recalled the Empress Dowager, far away in the palace. Before his departure, she had reminded him to look after Consort Jing.

Seeing this, Tan Yuanchu had no choice but to ask,

“Shall I summon the imperial physician?”

Consort Jing shook her head.
“Just an old ailment, Your Majesty. Don’t let me spoil everyone’s mood.”

Rong Zhaoyi gave a slight smirk.
Knowing full well she wasn’t in the best of health, if she truly didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere, she shouldn’t have come in the first place.

Tan Yuanchu gave a faint nod and didn’t press further.

Meanwhile, Qiu Yuan knelt beside Yun Si to tidy up the messy tabletop. She reminded her in a calm, quiet voice, “Lychees cause internal heat, Mistress you should be mindful.”

Only then did Yun Si notice that the plate of lychees was now completely empty. Picking up on the hint of disapproval in Qiu Yuan’s tone, she playfully popped the peeled lychee in her hand into Qiu Yuan’s mouth and whispered with a smile,

“You try it too, doesn’t it taste sweet?”

Qiu Yuan had just opened her mouth to speak, but it was quickly filled with sweet, juicy fruit. For once, she didn’t maintain her usual composure. With the lychee between her teeth, she couldn’t bring herself to say another word of protest.

When Tan Yuanchu looked over, this was exactly what he saw.

He suddenly let out a soft tsk.

Whether it was after she gained rank or back when she was in the Yangxin Hall, had this woman ever shown him such attentiveness before?

As far as he could recall, not at all.

Just then, a plate of lychees was placed on the table. Tan Yuanchu looked up along the hand that served it and saw it was Rong Zhaoyi. She pushed the jade plate toward him slightly.

“Today’s lychees are very sweet, Your Majesty should try some.”

Xu Shunfu kept his eyes on his nose, his nose on his heart, silently lowering his head without a word.

Honestly, it wasn’t surprising the emperor had favored Rong Zhaoyi for so many years, just by comparison, the difference was stark.

Yun Si also heard the commotion. She looked up, her brows faintly furrowing.

“This concubine also finds today’s lychees sweet. If His Majesty doesn’t want them, this concubine could help in his stead.”

At those words, Rong Zhaoyi’s gaze instantly turned cold. She had tolerated Yun Si for a long time, but now she could no longer bear it.

“Insolence! The lychees were peeled by this palace for His Majesty, when did it become your place to distribute them?”

Yun Si blinked her apricot eyes, not feeling she’d said anything wrong. She pursed her lips slightly, as if a bit aggrieved.

“Please don’t be angry, Your Ladyship Zhaoyi. Yesterday, Imperial Physician Chang mentioned His Majesty has had a bit too much internal heat lately, and specifically advised him to eat light. This concubine was only trying to ease His Majesty’s burdens.”

Everyone in the hall silently looked toward the unfolding scene.

Yun Si also lifted her gaze toward Tan Yuanchu, speaking softly with a hint of hesitation,

“Was this concubine meddling too much?”

Tan Yuanchu glanced at her.

As if she were simply being nosy?
No, she was clearly doing it on purpose.

If she had only meant to remind Rong Zhaoyi, then why add that line about serving him in his stead? It was obvious she was confronting Rong Zhaoyi directly. And the fact that she showed no qualms about eating a lychee personally peeled by Rong Zhaoyi?

It was fortunate Yun Si didn’t know what he was thinking, otherwise she would’ve told him plainly, with not the slightest hint of reservation, that she truly didn’t care.

After all, she had once peeled grapes for Rong Zhaoyi. So what if she ate a lychee peeled by her now?

She would eat it with a clear conscience.

Rong Zhaoyi froze. She clenched her handkerchief tightly, forcing herself to suppress her humiliation. She lowered her head.

“This concubine was unaware of the truth and nearly put His Majesty in a difficult position.”

His Majesty’s health, she had to hear it from Yun Si of all people?
How could she not feel humiliated?

Tan Yuanchu tried to maintain a balanced stance, and with an unhurried nod, said, “It’s all right. Your intentions were good.”

Rong Zhaoyi had always cared for him wholeheartedly. Even if he showed a bit of favoritism, he shouldn’t let her lose face like that.

As his words fell, the woman on the other side turned her head away. He couldn’t see her expression, but Tan Yuanchu knew her well, this was her getting a little annoyed again.

Tan Yuanchu gestured toward Xu Shunfu.

“Bring another plate of lychees for your Mistress Yun.”

The lychees Rong Zhaoyi had peeled still sat untouched. In the end, he didn’t eat a single one. After a pause, he pushed them back.

“I remember you used to like lychees too.”

Rong Zhaoyi forced a smile.

He said she liked them, but now, in his memory, who was the one that loved lychees?

Rong Zhaoyi glanced at the plate of lychees Xu Shunfu had brought to Yun Si. The answer was self-evident.

But what Rong Zhaoyi couldn’t understand wa, Yun Si had only been in the Yangxin Hall for less than two years. How could she so easily erase all trace of Rong Zhaoyi from the emperor’s heart after so many years?

The other concubines watched this silent rivalry between the favored consorts with a faint sense of bitterness. Yes, the emperor was biased, but at least Rong Zhaoyi and Yun Jieyu could still compete for favor and leave an impression in his heart. As for them, all they could do now was silently watch.

Not wanting to let others see her as a joke, Rong Zhaoyi picked up a lychee and popped it into her mouth. The once sweet fruit now seemed to carry a bitter aftertaste. Her eyes dropped faintly, and she didn’t reach for another.

In the end, that plate of lychees was completely ignored.

Once the storm settled, the host of the banquet, Consort De, finally spoke, “Look at me, said I invited you all to tour the lake, but ended up keeping you inside the pleasure boat this whole time. I’ve heard the lotus blossoms in the center of the lake are especially splendid this year, and a waterside pavilion has even been built there. It’s a rare sight. Come, let’s go take a look together.”

As soon as she finished, she turned to Tan Yuanchu, eyes curved in a smile.

“Your Majesty, will you come along with us?”

Tan Yuanchu nodded indifferently.

Yun Si was also helped up by Qiu Yuan. As she stood, she glanced toward Consort Jing, Liu Gui had indeed brought a cloak and was currently draping it over her shoulders. In the hot August sun, she was dressed tightly, not daring to catch even a trace of wind.

Once outside the pleasure boat, Yun Si looked out and saw that there really was a waterside pavilion built in the middle of the lake, standing as if out of thin air. Her apricot eyes widened in astonishment.

Someone tapped her forehead.

“What are you so surprised about? Never seen it before?”

Without turning her head, Yun Si already knew who it was. She pursed her lips.

“This concubine is shallow in experience. If not for Your Majesty’s favor, I would never have had the chance to witness such a sight in my lifetime.”

What she said wasn’t untrue, but to Tan Yuanchu’s ears, something about it sounded off.

Why did she make herself sound like such a pitiful little thing?

Afraid that her inferiority complex was surfacing again, Tan Yuanchu didn’t dare press further. He was about to move past the subject when someone deliberately brought it up:

“Even Yun Jieyu hasn’t seen this before? I thought only concubines like me, who entered the palace from truly poor backgrounds, would be so ignorant.”

Yun Si glanced at An Cairen, who looked completely naive and innocent. Her apricot eyes blinked slowly, then she turned to Tan Yuanchu and asked seriously, as if seeking confirmation.

“Was I just mocked?”

She remembered that An Cairen was from Jiangnan, and she claimed she was poor?

An Cairen panicked slightly. She didn’t expect Yun Si to break convention and directly throw the question at the emperor.

Tan Yuanchu was briefly choked by the situation. He rarely encountered someone so lacking in awareness, her words sounded sincere, but they hit where it hurt. His tone turned cold as he glanced at An Cairen.

“Must you butt in every time someone speaks? Does it make you feel useful to have a mouth?”

When he wasn’t trying to coax someone, his words were always sharp. Yun Si had experienced that firsthand.

As soon as his icy remark fell, light laughter broke out around them.

An Cairen hadn’t expected the emperor to be so blunt. She stood there stunned, her face burning red with shame. Hurt and embarrassed, she didn’t even dare look up at anyone.

She quickly retreated behind the others, terrified that another cutting word from the emperor would make her lose even more face.

As the pleasure boat approached the waterside pavilion, everyone stepped off one by one. The pavilion wasn’t built high, only about a finger’s height above the water. When the waves lapped gently, the surface easily became wet, giving people the illusion of walking on water.

If Yun Si weren’t wearing this particular outfit today, she probably would’ve really liked this place.

But now, her face was full of worry. Once they went ashore, the hem of her damp skirt would get covered in dirt.
Who knew how messy that would look?

As soon as everyone arrived at the pavilion, they began to scatter and explore. Qiu Yuan supported Yun Si and looked around.

“Mistress, there are some stools over there. Shall we go sit for a while?”

Yun Si nodded. The waterside pavilion was surrounded by lotus flowers and leaves. From a distance, she saw Rong Zhaoyi bend down to pluck a lotus flower. Yun Si really didn’t understand this behavior.

Just because Tan Yuanchu once planted a pond full of lotuses for her, did she feel the need to constantly tie herself to lotus flowers?

The pavilion only had railings along the corridor; the areas surrounded by lotus flowers had none. Yet Rong Zhaoyi dared to go there, wasn’t she afraid of falling into the lake by accident?

Qiu Yuan noticed Yun Si looking toward Rong Zhaoyi and paused in thought.

“Why don’t you go pick one too, Mistress?”

After all, those lotus flowers didn’t belong to Rong Zhaoyi alone. There was no reason why she could pick them while others could only look.

Yun Si shook her head in refusal.

At some point, Qiu Bolin appeared beside Yun Si. The two of them made their way to the pavilion, where a palace maid brought over pastries. Qiu Bolin glanced at Consort Jing, who had been standing at the edge of the pavilion the entire time, and spoke softly,

“Consort Jing entered the palace the year His Majesty ascended the throne. Since then, she’s lived quietly and seldom appeared. I can count on one hand the times I’ve seen her.”

Yun Si quietly waited for her to continue. Sure enough, Qiu Bolin didn’t stop speaking:

“Before I married into the royal household, I had already heard stories about Consort Jing. When you think about it, her life does evoke a certain sigh of pity.”

Consort Jing’s mother died early. Her father remarried, and she was her birth mother’s only child, with no siblings. Her situation in the household was rather awkward, especially given how deeply in love her father was with his new wife. As the child left behind by the original wife, she became something of an eyesore.

Hearing this, Yun Si frowned slightly.

From the first half, Consort Jing’s story sounded somewhat similar to her own. The difference was, after her mother passed away, her father never remarried and devoted himself solely to raising her.

Qiu Bolin looked up.

“Consort Jing has always had poor health, and few in the capital have seen her. But I’ve heard that before the Empress married into the royal household, they were fairly close. And since the Empress Dowager had once been close friends with Consort Jing’s mother, even if some people disliked her, her life in the household remained relatively peaceful.”

Catching the implication in her words, Yun Si’s breath slowed for a moment.

Qiu Bolin met her gaze, her voice calm and unhurried, “But times have changed. Nowadays, few people in the capital remember any of that.”