Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 8: Cheating

The selection of palace ladies was nearing its end, yet in the embroidery workshop, the investigation into the matter of cheating had only just begun.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” one palace maid said, pointing at Wei Yingluo. “Jixiang’s handkerchief was stained with blood. It was Wei Yingluo who swapped the embroidery frame and finished stitching it for her! The palace has long had rules: if anyone cheats, both parties will be expelled together!”

“Oh?” Wu Shulai cast a glance over. “Is that so?”

Wei Yingluo looked at the smug palace maid and found it rather laughable.

She had originally thought the one who would report her would be Jinxiu. Who would have imagined that the person who jumped out in the end was someone completely unrelated.

How ridiculous. If Jinxiu did such a thing, it would still be understandable—fewer competitors meant she would become one of the top figures in the embroidery workshop. But what was this palace maid? Her appearance and embroidery skills were both mediocre. Even if Wei Yingluo were driven out, she herself would never rise to prominence. Moreover, no one likes a backstabber; all the other palace maids would now be wary of her. What benefit could she possibly gain from this? Or was jealousy truly such a powerful force that it could drive someone to harm others without gaining anything for herself?

Thump.

Jixiang dropped to her knees on the ground, her voice trembling with sobs: “I… I…”

“What’s with all this ‘I… I…’? Stammering like that—you have no sense of propriety at all,” Momo Zhang scolded coldly. “The chief steward is asking you a question—why aren’t you answering?”

“It was me!” Jixiang gritted her teeth, preparing to shoulder all the blame herself. “It’s all because of me…”

“Pfft.”

A light chuckle interrupted her words. Everyone turned to look, wanting to see who was so bold as to laugh out loud at a moment like this.

…It was Wei Yingluo.

Wu Shulai had originally thought her to be steady and mature, and he had held some favorable impression of her. But now, seeing her act so heedless of the situation, his expression cooled. He asked, “What are you laughing at?”

“Laughter at those who are ridiculous.” Wei Yingluo walked over to Jixiang’s embroidery frame. “Who said we were cheating? Look.”

She placed the brocade rooster embroidery she was holding next to Jixiang’s peony embroidery—and suddenly everything became clear, as if one had passed through dark willows and bright flowers to reach yet another village.

“This is…” Wu Shulai’s eyes widened in astonishment.

Jixiang’s peony embroidery was magnificent and splendid. If one had to point out a flaw, it would be that it lacked a bit of vitality. In contrast, Wei Yingluo’s brocade rooster was lifelike. If one had to name a flaw, it would be that—aside from the single touch of red on the rooster’s comb—everything else was of a single color. At first glance it looked fine, but the longer one looked, the more monotonous the colors seemed.

Yet when the two were placed side by side, they fit together perfectly.

The peony lent its regal beauty to enrich the colors of both pieces; the brocade rooster lent its proud bearing to elevate the spirit of both works. No—it wasn’t two separate embroideries at all…

“This was originally one single piece,” Wei Yingluo said with a smile, “called the Peony and Brocade Rooster Diagram. Because it took too long to complete, Jixiang and I worked on it together.”

“That’s not true at all!” the accusing palace maid hurriedly protested. “You two… you…”

“Allow me to ask one question,” Wei Yingluo said with a smile to her. “When I handed the embroidery frame to Jixiang, had the peony portion been fully embroidered yet?”

The palace maid opened her mouth, but no words of rebuttal came out.

Although everyone worked in the same embroidery workshop, they sat at some distance from one another. The only people who truly knew the full sequence of events were the three seated closest to Wei Yingluo: Jixiang, Jinxiu, and Linglong. This palace maid had probably overheard parts of their conversation but didn’t know the whole story. She almost certainly didn’t know that what Jixiang had originally started embroidering was not a golden rooster, but a golden carp.

As soon as Wei Yingluo probed, she immediately figured out the other party’s depth. Seeing her speechless appearance, Wei Yingluo instantly understood the situation in her heart and boldly continued:

“By the same logic, when Jixiang handed me the brocade pheasant embroidery, it also only had a few sparse stitches, right? Since both are unfinished embroidery pieces, how can this be called cheating?”

Everyone was stunned into silence, then all turned to look at Momo Zhang together.

“This…” Momo Zhang said somewhat awkwardly, “There has never been such a precedent in the palace. Chief Steward Wu… what do you think?”

Chief Steward Wu glanced at her and thought to himself: No wonder this old woman has spent her whole life stuck in the embroidery workshop—she can’t even see through such a small matter.

Unlike Momo Zhang, Chief Steward Wu had crawled and rolled in the palace for decades and had seen every kind of sordid thing. After hearing just a few sentences, he had already guessed the whole cause and effect of the incident and clearly understood that Wei Yingluo had indeed been cheating.

But so what?

“Good!” Wu Shulai suddenly burst into laughter and said to Wei Yingluo with meaningful intent, “Truly clever thinking!”

Wei Yingluo’s eyes flickered. She lowered her head and said, “Thank you for the compliment, Chief Steward Wu.”

She knew in her heart that her actions probably couldn’t be hidden from this powerful chief eunuch, but she had no idea how he would deal with her.

Wu Shulai looked at her with considerable appreciation. Cheating? That was nothing. What he valued was that this girl had a clear mind—while cheating, she had already prepared a countermeasure in advance. If someone reported her, she could immediately turn the tables.

A child this intelligent had limitless prospects. At the very least, she would not end up like Momo Zhang, wasting her entire life in a tiny embroidery workshop, accompanied only by embroidery frames, needles, and threads.

“People the palace can use must talk less and do more,” Wu Shulai decided to give her a small bit of face before she rose to prominence, and at the same time deal with certain idiots. “Also… the master hates nothing more than foolish people who stir up trouble and gossip…”

His gaze flicked toward the palace maid who had reported the matter, and he said in a calm voice:

“Drag her away. Remove her name.”

The informing palace maid never imagined things would develop this way. She stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Only when two young eunuchs grabbed her arms did she snap back to reality. Her knees buckled and she knelt on the ground, crying:

“Chief Steward Wu, I know I was wrong! I won’t speak carelessly again, Chief Steward Wu!”

Wu Shulai smiled and shook his head.

A fool is a fool—she didn’t even understand why she was being punished.

   Was she being punished for speaking carelessly? No. The real reason she was punished was that she hadn’t done the job properly—if you want to frame someone, you must prepare thoroughly. Even if you can’t completely ruin the person, you absolutely cannot get yourself dragged down in the process. If she didn’t even understand this basic principle, how could she hope to survive in the palace?

   Letting her leave the palace early was actually doing her a favor. With that kind of mind, if she stayed, she would either waste away into an old white-haired palace maid or be swallowed whole by someone else.

   The crying of the informing palace maid quickly faded away. She was dragged out by the two young eunuchs. This parting was likely forever—henceforth, palace and outside world would never meet again.

“It’s getting late. I should go,” Wu Shulai said. Before leaving, he glanced at Wei Yingluo once more and smiled. “Today four of the girls did outstanding embroidery work. From now on, they may stay in the embroidery workshop.”

“Yes.” Momo Zhang respectfully followed behind him. “Chief Steward Wu, allow me to see you out.”

After their figures disappeared, Jixiang finally lost all strength. Her whole body collapsed against Wei Yingluo:

“It’s finally over…”

With a casual sweep of her peripheral vision across the varied gazes around them, Wei Yingluo said indifferently:

“Yes… temporarily over.”

After seeing Wu Shulai off, it was already close to evening. The sun was setting in the west, the afterglow spreading everywhere. The setting sun dyed Qianqing Gate red. The gate-guarding eunuch stood at the entrance and shouted loudly:

“Lock up the money and grain!” (meaning: lock the gates / secure the premises)

The slow, heavy sound of the gate closing rang out. The gradually shutting doors sealed the last ray of afterglow outside.

At the same time, the doors of the embroidery workshop were also closing. Wei Yingluo was the last one to leave. So many things had happened in one day, and on top of that she had almost single-handedly embroidered two pieces. Her mind and body were utterly exhausted, her face slightly pale.

“Are you okay?” Jixiang leaned close to her, asking with some concern. “If you’re tired, just lean on me while we walk.”

Wei Yingluo pursed her lips into a small smile, did not refuse the kindness, and gently rested her shoulder against the other’s, just like the brocade pheasant and peony embroidery they had worked on together earlier—supporting and leaning on each other, mutually dependent.

She walked at the very back of the long line of green-clad palace maids, like a flock of weary birds returning to their nests, following behind the leader, Aunt Fang. This Aunt Fang was a senior palace maid who had served in the palace for many years and was responsible for training this group of newly arrived young maids. She led the group through a gradually darkening corridor. On both sides of the passage, the shadows of trees swayed, and the clusters of fallen tree shadows dyed the smooth stone slabs a faint inky color.

Suddenly, Aunt Fang stopped in her tracks, her voice somewhat urgent: “Quick, all of you, turn your backs!”

With that, she herself was the first to face the wall.

The young maids didn’t understand why, but they followed her example one by one, turning around to face the wall and standing still.

However, there were always one or two disobedient ones whose curiosity stirred and whose eyes wandered—like Jinxiu. She secretly turned her head to look and saw, at the far end of the corridor, two red lanterns floating into view, then four, then six…

A procession of palace maids filed out in two neat lines, each holding an exquisite large crimson lantern. The red candlelight shining through the lantern paper fell onto the ground, spreading out like a magnificent crimson carpet. A splendid palanquin passed over this red carpet, carrying a stunningly beautiful woman. She seemed a little tired and was resting with her eyes closed, half-reclining on the palanquin. The string of jade beads wrapped around her wrist swayed gently with the movement of the palanquin, clinking softly against one another—clear and melodious, like large and small pearls falling onto a jade plate.

Jinxiu’s eyes followed that string of beads, unable to tear herself away, until Aunt Zhang slapped her across the face. Only then did she startle back to reality and realize the procession had already passed.

“What are you staring at?” Aunt Fang said coldly. “Do you not want to live anymore?”

Jinxiu raised her hand to touch her now burning cheek, unable to tell whether the heat came from the pain or from the fire in her heart. She gazed dazedly in the direction where the procession had disappeared: “So that’s a consort’s ceremonial escort…”

Aunt Fang spat. “Ignorant thing. Only the Empress is entitled to a full ceremonial escort. What just passed was Noble Consort Hui—that’s called a ‘processional honor guard.’”

Linglong leaned over curiously and asked, “What about the other consorts?”

Aunt Fang gave her a sideways glance. “Those are called ‘inspection escorts.’ But even then, only the principal consort of a palace is allowed to use one. The rest of them? Don’t even dream of it!”

The newly arrived palace maids were full of curiosity. For a moment, questions flew back and forth in a chatter. Though Aunt Fang wore an impatient expression, she occasionally answered a few, showing off her knowledge and experience as a senior palace maid.

Wei Yingluo listened quietly without drawing attention, committing every question the maids asked and every answer Aunt Fang gave to memory. She believed these were all clues—and as long as she gathered enough of them, she would be able to… find the person who murdered her sister!

“Auntie,” Jixiang beside her, however, had no such heavy thoughts. Like the other young maids, her questions were equally ordinary. “Where was Noble Consort Hui going just now?”

Aunt Fang sneered. “Where the mistress goes is none of your concern! Stop staring—your eyes are about to fall out of their sockets. You don’t have that kind of fate anyway. Let’s go.”

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