Little Palace Maid Desires a Higher Seat of Honor - Chapter 99

Chapter 99: Reflection

Consort De was ill.

The news spread through the palace as quickly as the wind. Not only that, but word also came that the Eldest Prince had moved into the Princes’ Quarters.

All the concubines in the harem were taken aback.

Qi Guipin had been claiming illness for the past few days and hadn’t gone to pay respects. Ever since the day she had been moved out of the main hall, she thought no piece of news could stir her emotions again. But she had overestimated herself, she couldn’t help but be startled.

“What?!”

Consort De had fallen too?

Qi Guipin’s first reaction was disbelief!

She had known Consort De for many years, knew her far better than others. That woman was habitually cautious, her conduct always impeccable, how could she possibly be toppled overnight?

Tong Yun saw her disbelief and couldn’t help but speak with a hint of bitterness.

“The news is absolutely true. The Eldest Prince has already begun moving out of Yihe Palace.”

Qi Guipin fell silent.

After a moment, when she was sure Tong Yun was telling the truth, a flash of blankness and confusion passed through her eyes.

She herself, with a princess under her knee, had now been demoted to a fourth-rank Guipin and moved out of the main hall of Changchun Palace. Consort De, with a prince under her knee, was now bedridden, and her son had moved into the Princes’ Quarters.

They had thought that once they bore imperial offspring, their positions in the palace would be unshakable.

But today, reality told them, absolutely not!

Qi Guipin suddenly collapsed limply to the floor. She looked up at Tong Yun, her face caught between a laugh and a cry, looking unspeakably ugly and bitterly miserable.

“Tong Yun…”

Tong Yun looked at her with concern.

But all she heard was two streams of clear tears falling as Qi Guipin muttered blankly, “…The princess will never come back.”

The day she was moved out of the main hall, no matter how much she had raged, by now she had to see clearly.

Her greatest support had truly left her.

When had it all started?

From the day she disregarded the little princess’s safety and used her as a tool, the ending between her and the princess had already been set.

Qi Guipjn closed her eyes, tears falling endlessly, her voice filled with sorrow, grief, and desolation.

“How could His Majesty treat me so coldly!”

—

Yun Si returned to Panju Hall. Although Tan Yuanchu hadn’t vented his anger on her, for a long time afterward she still felt a lingering fear, and her hatred toward Lu Song had sunk deep into her bones.

Qiu Yuan was also visibly shaken, unusually tense, with cold sweat on her back.
She whispered. “Mistress, you were right, this Lu Song must be guarded against!”

She had only met Lu Song two or three times, yet she always had the feeling that he still harbored feelings for her master. But the same Lu Song who gave her that impression had, without hesitation, chosen to drag her master into the water in this incident.

Qiu Yuan couldn’t help but shiver.

How could a person manage this?
On one hand, he acted guilty and affectionate toward her master; on the other, he could calmly set her up to take the blame.

Qiu Yuan had seen many two-faced people, but Lu Song still made her frown.
Could guilt and malice truly coexist without interfering with each other?

Yun Si, however, found Lu Song’s behavior both surprising and not entirely unexpected.

She still remembered that night she had eavesdropped on the Lu couple. When Mother Lu only wanted to sell her as a servant, Father Lu had suddenly muttered, “She’s good-looking.” Just one sentence, spoken dully, had dragged her into an abyss.

Later, even when she was being sold, Father Lu merely squatted there, leaving everything to Mother Lu. Everyone remembered the mother’s meanness, but still thought the father honest.

His dullness made people think he hadn’t wanted to do such a thing.

How much Lu Song resembled his father.

After a long while, Yun Si finally spoke, her voice a little cold, “Have someone keep an eye on Lu Song.”

Qiu Yuan nodded solemnly. “Rest assured, Mistress. This servant knows what to do.”

The next day, after the news spread that the Eldest Prince had moved into the Princes’ Quarters, Qiu Yuan came with a grim face to bring another piece of news.

“Lu Song entered the Princes’ Quarters together with the Eldest Prince.”

Yun Si’s expression instantly turned cold.

She finally understood why Lu Song had been so fearless the day before, his registered identity was never truly that of Consort De’s man at all, but at some unknown point had become that of the Eldest Prince’s.

So, from the very beginning, he had calculated everything, he knew the Eldest Prince would appear at that moment. Even if His Majesty was enraged beyond measure, he would still have to consider the Eldest Prince. Consort De’s servants might all be doomed, but the Eldest Prince’s attendants would escape death.

He had long since prepared himself a way out.

Perhaps she, too, had once been a way out he had prepared for himself.

Whenever Yun Si thought again of the guilt and unease Lu Song had shown her time and again, she couldn’t help but feel disgust rise in her heart.

Her almond-shaped eyes turned cold. From the matter of Consort De, she had completely realized, Lu Song could not be allowed to go unchecked any longer!

Qiu Yuan was also frowning. “Now that he’s entered the Princes’ Quarters, it’ll be much harder to deal with him.”

The Emperor would never allow the imperial consorts to meddle in matters of the Princes’ Quarters.

Yun Si lowered her gaze. “Then have him come see me.”

Qiu Yuan was startled, hesitating a little. “After what just happened, would he still come to see you, Mistress?”

Yun Si heard the doubt in her words but curled her lips slightly, a trace of sarcasm in her expression.
“He will.”

Hypocrites always liked to wear the mask of deep affection and loyalty. Unless absolutely forced, they would never remove it.

Yihe Palace.

Lu Song had taken thirty heavy strokes of the rod. His life was stubborn, he didn’t die.

Lying in a side room, he could hear the Eldest Prince crying in the adjoining chamber, but his eyelids didn’t even twitch.

Not only was Yihe Palace’s main gate guarded by the imperial guards, the main hall was also under strict watch.

When Lu Song thought of Consort De, he couldn’t help but curl his lips slightly.

Consort De must hate him enough to want to peel his skin off, but so what?
She couldn’t even protect herself now; she couldn’t leave the doors of the main hall. What could she possibly do to him?

The stabbing pain in his back kept him from sleeping.

He hated Consort De, but he couldn’t be bothered to waste any effort on her. From the day she allowed him into her inner chambers, she should have anticipated this day’s outcome.

Lu Song couldn’t help but think of Yun Si, and in the darkness of his tightly shut eyes, a flicker of regret passed through.

He had truly wanted to use this opportunity to get rid of Yun Si.

When he first entered the palace, Lu Song never expected to encounter Yun Si there. He hadn’t lied to her, after his family sold her, a disaster relief minister had soon arrived in Yuzhou City, and the calamity was quickly brought under control.

He had always regretted making that trip to the county seat.

After years spent together day and night, how could he and Yun Si not have had some feelings for each other?

They had.

Especially later, when he realized that silver wasn’t that hard to earn, but a well-behaved and obedient Yun Si was impossible to find again.

Later, when Yuzhou City suffered another calamity, his parents died tragically. The so-called Li Family Village could barely fend for itself, no one there would have paid him any mind. He gathered the family’s meager possessions and left Yuzhou City.

He remembered his mother once saying that the people who bought Yun Si had traveled all the way north.

So Lu Song followed that path.

He hadn’t lied to Yun Si, he really had searched for her for a long time.

After his parents’ deaths, Yun Si was the only family he had left. They were meant to be together by birth, weren’t they?

He was literate and could write letters home; along the way, he could earn silver. With his good looks, telling people he was heading to the capital for the imperial examinations made it easy to raise a considerable sum.

The year after Yun Si was sold, he had indeed taken the silver from her sale and participated in the examinations.

So, he had official documents and a teacher’s recommendation letter.

No one doubted his words, so all along the way, his journey had been smooth, without much hindrance.

Unfortunately, fate is unpredictable.

Lu Song had never imagined that a man traveling alone with silver on him would attract covetous eyes, not only women would be targeted, but men too.

By the time he fell into the palace, silver no longer meant anything important to him.

He would never forget lying on the castration platform, the searing pain as the blade cut down, so sharp it nearly made him lose consciousness. When he awoke, he was already in the Central Province Hall.

He didn’t show any indignation, on the contrary, he conducted himself well. As a result, he quickly gained the favor of Eunuch Liu.

When Lu Cairen’s palace needed attendants, Eunuch Liu took him to Heyi Hall. Lu Song had never expected that in the palace he would encounter Yun Si—

The Yun Si he had searched for in vain.

She was dressed in a blue ruqun. Though merely a palace maid, she outshone even Lu Cairen who walked ahead of her.

She had always been like that. Back in Li Family Village, no one could rival her in beauty.

If her parents hadn’t died early, perhaps he would never have been able to approach her. But there were no “ifs.” She had fallen into his household, bound to him by circumstance.

When Lu Song learned that Yun Si was the head palace maid of Heyi Hall, he immediately knew that Lu Cairen was nothing but a fool.

Winning Lu Cairen’s trust was no difficult task.

And the moment he saw Yun Si, Lu Song knew exactly how he ought to treat her.

Women are often softhearted; even the hardest of hearts, over time, can be worn down, like stone by dripping water.

But Yun Si was not an ordinary woman with a hard heart. No matter how much guilt and unease he displayed, she seemed to despise him utterly.

So Lu Song could only move slowly. Later, when he noticed Yun Si had a close relationship with Xiao Rongzi, he began making every effort to treat Yun Si differently in every possible way.

People always grant some special regard to those who admire them.

Everything changed the day Lu Song realized there was something unusual between Yun Si and the Emperor.

The moment the Emperor laid eyes on Yun Si, Lu Song had no doubt she could catch his attention. He was a man himself, he understood all too well the base desires ingrained in a man’s bones.

Once power and status were attained, beauty would always be treasured.

And Yun Si was the finest among them, unmatched. There was no reason the Emperor wouldn’t favor her.

Lu Song had known since their days in Li Family Village that Yun Si was a clever woman.

She had always known exactly what posture to assume in whatever environment she found herself in.

Yun Si would rise to power.

When Lu Song saw that look in the Emperor’s eyes, he had already foreseen it.

While showing Yun Si guilt and affection on the surface, inside he was consumed by jealous rage. Why?

Why was it that he had fallen to such a state, once the pride of the village, full of promise, now reduced to a eunuch, not even a man anymore, while Yun Si could enjoy splendor and wealth?

They were family.
He had searched for her for years, yet she had long since chosen to forget him.

Later, after Lu Pin died, Lu Song couldn’t find anything amiss in Yun Si’s behavior, but there was still Xiao Rongzi and Qiu Ling in the palace. He could sense that Lu Pin’s death was connected to Yun Si.

Moreover, he knew that Yun Si could swim.

But he wasn’t certain why Yun Si would want to kill Lu Pin.

He had long said that women were prone to softheartedness, no matter how clever Yun Si was, she was no exception. Even after she had decided what she wanted to do, she could still hesitate because of Lu Pin.

That was why Lu Song’s attitude toward Yun Si had never changed.

Later, when the rumors in the palace about Yun Si harming Lu Pjn began to spread wildly, Lu Song, though he was in the Central Province Hall, would, when someone came to probe for information, subtly reveal that he and Yun Si were old acquaintances.

Not long after, Lu Song was chosen to serve in Yihe Palace.

When Consort De questioned him about Yun Si, Lu Song only appeared hesitant and evasive, as if it was hard for him to speak and he knew nothing.

People always favored those who valued loyalty and affection.

Until that Mid-Autumn night, he was on night watch, and when Consort De woke in fright during the night, he softly consoled her a few times. His original intention was merely to win her favor, but who would have thought that from that day onward, everything would go wrong.

Things slipped out of his control.

Yun Si entered the Yangxin Hall and was valued by the Emperor more and more with each passing day, while he, in Yihe Palace, suffered constant humiliation.

When he heard that the Yangxin Hall’s mistress could swim, Lu Song often wondered, did Yun Si still remember that she had once solemnly said she would marry him?

They had a marriage agreement.

How could Yun Si abandon him?

Until that day when Yun Si came to him, Lu Song knew perfectly well that Yun Si’s purpose was merely to deal with Consort De.

Truthfully, that suited Lu Song just fine. On his way to Panju Hall, he had already decided to help Yun Si.

Yes, Lu Song had his own motives, but to him, compared to Yun Si, no one else mattered, that much was true.

But the moment he saw Yun Si, Lu Song suddenly changed his mind.

Yun Si had changed too much.

She was now a stranger, utterly different from the woman in his memories.

How docile she used to be, knowing her place as someone living under another’s roof, she always behaved in the way he liked best.

Lu Song didn’t care whether Yun Si’s obedience back then was real or feigned, nor whether her feelings for him had ever been genuine.

As long as she acted like she liked him, and showed him the manner he preferred, that was enough.

But now?

Even when she needed him, she refused to feign cordiality with him.

From that moment, Lu Song knew, the Yun Si of the past would never return.

He had no need to keep entangling himself with the Yun Si of today.

Otherwise, in the end, the one abandoned would surely be him.

The decision to change his mind came in an instant, yet Lu Song still decided to use Yun Si’s hand to get rid of Consort De, and if he could drag Yun Si down with her, so much the better.

She shouldn’t be standing so high above him, nor looking down on him from that lofty position.

She should be as she once was, obediently following behind him, with her whole heart and eyes filled only with him.

What he saw as humiliation, others regarded as a shortcut. They were nothing but lowly servants, while Consort De was a honorable consort. Day after day of kneeling and bowing would eventually twist a person’s heart.

It didn’t take much for Lu Song to find a scapegoat.

Consort De was someone who liked to indulge herself. She didn’t care for anyone, only for power, and she also enjoyed toying with others.

She loved to burn hehuan incense in the hall, savoring the sight of others serving her while she was restless and unable to endure.

She allowed palace attendants to serve her, yet detested seeing the physical flaws that came with being a servant. Eunuchs could not engage in intimacy, so in such moments, they could only forcibly endure the heat surging through their bodies, with no way to relieve it.

It was enough to drive a person mad.

Day after day of Lu Song’s deferential obedience gradually lowered Consort De’s guard toward him, and she no longer took precautions against him when it came to matters of service in the palace.

On that day, all Lu Song did was light both hehuan incense and calming incense.

When Consort De’s mind was on the verge of clouding over, he dismissed Qiu Yuan and allowed the scapegoat to slip quietly into the hall, carrying out the swap without anyone noticing. Consort De couldn’t even tell who was in front of her.

Lu Song waited in the side chamber for news from outside.

Sure enough, Yun Si didn’t disappoint him. Since she wanted to get rid of Consort De, she would never let go of any opportunity.

But when Lu Song stepped out, he found that the one arriving with the Emperor was not Yun Si.

Lu Song couldn’t quite describe his feelings at that moment, there was some regret, yet it also felt within expectations. Since their reunion, Yun Si had been on guard against him, so it was only natural that she wouldn’t fall for the trap.

Still, Lu Song felt it was a pity.

A once-in-a-lifetime chance, yet he hadn’t managed to drag Yun Si into the mire.

Closing his eyes, Lu Song thought about the road ahead. The Eldest Prince was going to move into the Princes’ Quarters, and he would certainly have to follow him there. Otherwise, if he remained in Yihe Palace, the final outcome would only be to share in its burial.

Consort De was destined to die of illness.

Yesterday, the Emperor had shown some leniency only for the Eldest Prince’s sake. But once the Eldest Prince had been away from Yihe Palace for a while, and was no longer connected to it, none of the remaining servants there would be allowed to live.

He had to leave.

Even after punishment, no one would grant a mere servant much recovery time. In just three days, Lu Song got up from his bed; the wounds on his back still throbbed, and each step left his face pale.

It was at this time that Yun Si’s message came.

When Lu Song received it, he was genuinely a little surprised, Yun Si was still willing to see him?

Was it because she felt deceived and couldn’t help but come to question him?

Realizing this, Lu Song relaxed a little instead. He wasn’t afraid of Yun Si being angry at him, anger meant Yun Si still had some feelings toward him.

And having feelings meant she was easier to control.

However—

Lu Song lowered his head slightly. Before meeting Yun Si, he had to come up with a good excuse for his actions this time.