Pampered Consort's Acting Awards - Chapter 22

Did not understand the worth of feelings in your youth.

Qin Ling looked at his back that was facing her with utmost attention while holding her breath, and forced herself not to think about the outrageous dream last night.

What should she do?

She’s Meiren Qin. She should get up and assist him to change clothes.

As soon as Qin Ling sat up, before her feet even touched the embroidered shoes, Xiao Yu grabbed her wrist.

The man only used 10% of his strength, but she felt pain.

The four eyes met, and after a long time, he asked in a deep voice: “Are you hiding something from Us?”

Qin Ling’s delicate eyebrows knitted, and she bit her lower lip.

Her eyes were frightened and filled with panic.

Xiao Yu’s Adam apple vibrated and he steadily spoke: “We will only give you one chance. Speak.”

“This concubine is scared.” She took a breath and slowly said, “Since entering the palace, this concubine has been very careful and afraid of making any mistakes, how could I dare to hide something from Your Majesty?”

Xiao Yu was still holding her wrist.

Qin Ling continued to say in tears: “This concubine is slow-witted and does not dare to guess His Holiness’ thoughts. 

If this concubine did something wrong, may Your Majesty please tell me clearly.”

He was looking at her expression when she was saying these words… and suddenly thought that he had been muddle-headed.

Even if he was absurd and believed in reincarnation, the person before him was 16 years old. Her household register, father, eldest brother, had been personally checked by him. And if it was truly reincarnation, the time was too coincidental.

What is he thinking about?

Think she will come back?

But the funeral affairs were personally arranged by him.

Xiao Yu immediately relaxed and loosened his hand.

Once again, he left Jinlan Courtyard with a calm face.

The cold wind blew on his face. The flowers, grass, and trees in this deep palace seemed to be laughing and asking him: Xiao Yu, do you regret it?

Regret that you did not understand the worth of feelings in your youth.

After Gonggong Sheng left, Chang Ge and Ling Que hurriedly lifted the curtains and entered the inner room.

They saw Meiren Qin on the couch, completely dazed, and on her wrist was a terrifying red mark.

“Meiren, is everything alright?” Chang Ge asked while leaning over.

Qin Ling looked down and answered: “Everything’s alright.”

Chang Ge looked at Meiren Qin’s eyes that were pretending to be strong, and her thoughts wandered.

In the end, there’s still no good fortune.

After Chang Ge served Qin Ling to bathe, she immediately went to Xianfu Palace to pass the news.

Consort Xue rubbed her shoulders and frowned: “His Majesty is truly angry? It’s not just rumors?”

Chang Ge nodded and said: “This servant was also surprised when she saw it, but the injury on Meiren Qin’s wrist is really there. This cannot be faked.”

Consort Xue murmured: “What the hell is going on with this Meiren Qin… She can’t even serve others, why did she enter the palace?”

Qing Yue noticed that Consort Xue’s eyes were filled with doubts, and followed her thoughts: “Does Your Highness think that this matter is strange?”

“Not really. It’s just that when I first thought that His Majesty might ask her to raise the eldest prince, it seems that I’ve truly overestimated her.” Consort Xue leaned over and said to Chang Ge: “Anyway… Keep your eyes on Shou’an Palace.”

Chang Ge: “Your Highness may feel at ease. If any wind blows in Shou’an Palace, this servant will immediately come over.”

“No need, just pass the words to Qing Yue, so as not to make people gossip.” Consort Xue tapped the edge of the table with her finger and continued: “When the consort dowager calls her to Shouan Palace again, you guys can return.”

Chang Ge bowed: “This servant understands.”

After the events of last night, the rumors in the palace were like water that was boiling once again.

The Shangshi Bureau was full of whispers.

According to Great Zhou’s palace rules, the Shangshi Bureau was not only responsible for cooking meals, providing good wine, and firewood, but also in charge of the concubines’ medicine decoctions.

At this moment, the Shangshi Bureau was preparing medicine for blood circulation and blood stasis removal. A young female official came over and said, “Gugu, is this medicine for that Meiren Qin?” 

The pharmacist nodded and replied: “Yes, this is what the maid of Jinlan Courtyard asked for.”

After hearing this, the young official took a breath of cold air: “The riches and honor in this palace truly cannot be achieved by just anyone.”

The pharmacist smiled and replied: “Yes, that’s right. Are you going to send firewood to the concubines? Let’s go together.”

After a long while, the pharmacist and young official finally headed towards Jinlan Courtyard.

The pharmacist looked at the allocated share in the official’s hand and asked: “Isn’t the share for Jinlan Courtyard too little?”

“Gugu, we’ve made a mistake last time, Shanggong Bureau had already sent some stuff to Jinlan Courtyard.” The official sighed: “It is not that we want to hold onto that bit of firewood, but we really can’t give anymore ah…”

The pharmacist looked at the high red wall and sighed.

She suddenly remembered the era of the late emperor.

At that time, the 3 Palaces and 6 Courtyards were full with people. Altogether, there were 108 Imperial wives and concubines. And this was only what was written in the Imperial roster.

The state treasury was empty, every department in the palace was lacking funds, not to mention the back palace. There were many women in the palace who had only accepted the favor once and never saw the emperor again.

Freezing to death, starving to death, going crazy, hanging oneself, and poisoning were everywhere.

The Ministry of Rites and the 6 Bureaus and 1 Division were often too busy to pay attention.

To be flexible and take advantage of the situation. Holding the high and stepping on the low became the rule in the palace.

The young official grasped the firewood in her hand and said: “Gugu, do you know how Meiren Qin offended His Majesty?”

“You still dare to speak about this? Have you already forgotten about the two people that were taken away by the supervisor a while ago?” The pharmacist tapped at her nose: “You only have one life ah. In the future, talk less about the matter in the harem.”

The young female official said: “One last thing, just this one. Gugu, will Meiren Qin earn His Majesty’s favor again?”

“Earn favor again?” The pharmacist bent the corners of her mouth and replied: “Where did the favor come from in the first place? Her identity compared to the other Imperial concubines is so different, and right now she’s merely depending on the consort dowager’s protection. But the consort dowager… how long can she last?”

The young female official then thought of the gossip from Shou’an Palace and said in a low voice: “I understand.”

The pharmacist: “Don’t pass these words outside.”

The young female official: “I know, Gugu.”

Shou’an Palace.

Qin Ling’s wrist was slender and white, and under Xiao Yu’s power this morning, there was already a purplish line forming on it.

At a first glance, it seemed like some kind of punishment.

Qin Ling was worried that it’d frighten the child, so she wrapped a kerchief around her wrist.

When entering the room, Consort Dowager Sun was sleeping, leaning against the chair, while Xiao Yun sat quietly on the side.

Consort Dowager Sun slept lightly. When there was the sound of the door opening, she opened her eyes.

The bottom of the consort dowager’s eyes were bluish, her gaze was blurry, her condition was clearly worse than the previous day.

Qin Ling felt a thump in her heart.

Qin Ling knew the reason why the consort dowager’s body was so bad.

Consort Dowager Sun was not born high. She was originally just a female official in the palace, but because she was good-looking and was assigned to guard in front of the Imperial court, the late emperor quickly took her in.

Consort Dowager Sun was cautious. She did not fight for favor, was not shrewd, and did not give birth to a child. She had originally lived in harmony, unfortunately, she soon received the emperor’s favor and gave birth to Changning.

With pregnancy, came rewards. The late emperor immediately promoted her from a 7th-ranked cairen to a 5th-ranked shuyi.

Later, due to the merits of giving birth to a princess, she was promoted from a 5th-ranked shuyi to a 3rd-ranked zhaoyi.

Princess Changning was fair like snow and adorable, moreover, she was the only princess in the palace— because of the princess, the late emperor was oftentimes partial to the mother and child. With preference, came jealousy.

Afterwards, the consort dowager was pregnant with 3 more children, but none managed to be born.

After that, she almost lost her life.

In fact, since three years ago, the consort dowager had already been counting on medicine to live. That’s why at first she didn’t expect Yun’er to be raised by the consort dowager’s side.

Consort Dowager Sun straightened her body upon seeing Qin Ling and said lightly: “You’re here.”

Qin Ling approached her at once and paid respect: “This concubine pays respect to the consort dowager.”

The consort dowager patted the back of Qin Ling’s hand and said weakly: “Quickly get up, no need to be so courteous.”

Seeing that the consort dowager had awoken, Momo Yuan hurriedly brought the hot decoction over. Qin Ling stretched her hand to take it, saying: “Momo, let me do it.”

Momo Yuan nodded her head and handed the bowl over.

Qin Ling knelt at the side and assisted the consort dowager to drink the medicine. The liquid was somewhat hot and there was white smoke. Upon seeing this, Xiao Yun quickly leaned forward and blew at the decoction. But the child could not control his strength properly, after a blow, the decoction was spattered everywhere.

Xiao Yun realized that he had been unhelpful and immediately took a step back.

Consort Dowager Sun looked at him with a knowing smile, then turned to Qin Ling and said: “This child always makes me feel distressed. Aside from that daughter of mine, only this child can’t make me feel at ease.”

Qin Ling felt sour in her throat and said, “Your Highness must not say such a thing. Here, let this concubine help you with the medicine.”

The decoction was quickly drunk. Consort Dowager Sun pulled Qin Ling’s hand and slowly said: “I’m very glad you entered the palace.”

Qin Ling respectfully replied: “Your Highness has been protecting me in all aspects, this is this concubine’s fortune.”

Consort Dowager Sun looked her in the eye and said word by word: “What’s the use of serving me ah? Qin shi, in the end, only if you’re favored can you raise him.”

Qin Ling stiffened. She didn’t expect that the consort dowager would say this directly.

“This concubine understands.”

The consort dowager gestured towards Xiao Yun to come over, and stroked his back: “Yun’er this child. Don’t underestimate him for speaking late, he’s an intelligent child. He knows who treats him sincerely in his heart. That’s why ah, if you treat him well, he will treat you well in the future.”

Consort Dowager Sun said again: “In fact, he really admires his Imperial father. He always hopes for his father to come, but as long as he sees people, he will retreat back. In the future if you raise him, remember to push him from the back. A prince, the eldest prince, must be brave.”

Xiao Yun clenched his fists at the side.

Qin Ling’s eyes reddened, “This concubine… will remember.”

“I’m not done yet, remember this too.” Consort Dowager Sun sat taller and said with a gasp, “Yun’er is like his mother, likes to eat meat. But if you pick the bones for him, he will also eat fish…”

Before she finished speaking, Consort Dowager Sun started to cough again.

Momo Yuan said from the side: “Your Highness, don’t speak anymore and have more rest. Here, this servant will help you.”

The consort dowager felt a fishy smell in her throat, and quickly took out her veil and turned back. She wiped her mouth, looking like nothing happened, and said to Qin Ling: “Accompany him for a while. I will go back first to rest.”

Qin Ling knew it wasn’t that the consort dowager wanted to rest earlier, but she was afraid of frightening Xiao Yun.

After Consort Dowager Sun left, Xiao Yun sat down on the chair with his head lowered speechlessly.

Qin Ling pinched his face with her fingers and said softly, “What’s the matter?”

Xiao Yun’s dark eyes were covered with tears, he raised his two arms and leaned towards Qin Ling. Qin Ling quickly hugged him, “Don’t cry. I’m here.”

In her embrace, Xiao Yun said with a small voice in her ear, “The consort dowager is sick.”

“Will she… recover?”

“Will illness be cured, if you eat medicine properly?”

Qin Ling stroked his back while repeating the single sentence “it will be cured” over and over again. The other words were stuck in her throat and couldn’t be said.

Yangxin Hall.

The memorials at Yangxin Hall were always piling up. Even if corrections were made day and night, the numbers taken away would be the numbers delivered.

The curtain of the yellow door opened, and Gonggong Sheng entered with the medicinal food. He was about to persuade the Emperor to rest his eyes, but unexpectedly discovered that the Emperor was not correcting the memorials today.

Instead, he was looking at a wooden box.

Xiao Yu’s hair was a little messy. One did not know for how long he looked before he saw Gonggong Sheng. He then put the peach wooden box in the drawer again.

Gonggong Sheng recognized it. It was the late empress’s thing.

That’s why he deliberately stepped forward to interrupt by mentioning the interesting happenings in the palace lately.

Although Xiao Yu did not interrupt him, it was obvious that he was not listening either.

The man’s eyebrows were frowning with a noticeable anxiety, the corners of his mouth were not smiling, and he stopped rubbing his fingertips.

When Gonggong Sheng saw the low atmosphere, he knew that tonight he wouldn’t be turning any nameplate over, so he turned his head to tell the young eunuch to clean up the room, and was prepared to help the emperor to lie down. He really did not expect that after washing, the candles were not extinguished, the curtain did not fall, while Xiao Yu himself set forth…

…to Jinlan Courtyard again.