Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 21: Lotus-Root-Flour Dumplings

   Whether someone is pretending to be stupid cannot be seen in front of others—only when no one is watching can the truth be revealed.

Zhilan left Chuxiu Palace carrying a six-sided palace lantern.

She deliberately kept the wick turned very low, so that it only illuminated a few inches ahead of her feet. This way she wouldn’t startle anyone.

Taking a familiar shortcut, Zhilan managed to leave Chuxiu Palace ahead of Wei Yingluo and then hid herself on the path the girl must take back to the embroidery workshop.

The moment she heard footsteps approaching, she blew out the lantern.

Darkness immediately enveloped her. Zhilan pressed herself behind a large tree. The tree’s shadow fell over her like a shroud of black clouds and mist, wrapping her tightly in darkness so that no eye could discern her.

Soon the footsteps drew nearer, accompanied by a series of little burps.

“Oh no!” The footsteps suddenly stopped.

Zhilan held her breath at once, straining to hear what she would say.

“If I just take these dumplings back like this, what if everyone asks me to share them?” Wei Yingluo muttered in distress. “They’re so delicious—I really don’t want to share them with anyone. Maybe… maybe I should just eat them all right now!”

Under Zhilan’s stunned gaze, she lifted the bowl and began gulping them down. Halfway through, she suddenly went “waaah” and vomited everything—along with what she had already eaten back in Chuxiu Palace—onto the ground.

As she retched, she suddenly squatted down and began to cry. Zhilan thought at first that she was crying over some grievance, but then she heard her sigh mournfully: “How did it all come back up… ah, what a waste, what a waste…”

This person—this person really is an idiot!!

Zhilan couldn’t bear to watch any longer. Afraid that continuing would only dirty her eyes and ears further, she spat softly in disgust and turned to leave to report back.

Behind her, the sound of vomiting continued in fits and starts.

Wei Yingluo forcefully dug at her own throat. She knew that the louder and more violent her retching sounded, the faster Zhilan would hurry away.

“Cough, cough cough…” After finally emptying her stomach, Wei Yingluo slowly raised her head. The violent vomiting had caused glistening tears to well up at the corners of her eyes, yet two flames still burned fiercely within them.

Play dumb.

Noble Consort Hui’s sudden attack had come too abruptly. In her panic, this was the only tactic she could think of to cope.

Anyone can pretend to be stupid, but precisely because it’s something anyone can do, it becomes all the more difficult. The hardest part was how to quickly extinguish Noble Consort Hui’s killing intent.

One must remember that this mistress had the heart of a snake and scorpion—she could casually strike even at the consorts and concubines of the rear palace, to say nothing of a lowly little palace maid like her.

That was why she had eaten those seven bowls of lotus-root-flour dumplings just right—enough to look convincing, but not enough to truly harm herself.

Presumably, that self-proclaimed clever woman Noble Consort Hui would, for a considerable length of time to come, no longer waste her attention on a “fool” like her.

“Noble Consort Hui would not target me without reason.” Wei Yingluo wiped the residue from the corner of her mouth and sneered coldly. “So who was the one who informed her?”

That person was surely hiding not far from her side.

Her first suspicion fell on Jinxiu—after all, she was in the know, and it had been she who led Zhilan to the embroidery workshop to find her. But for the moment she had no proof. And besides Jinxiu, there were three others who had never gotten along with her and never stopped badmouthing her behind her back—for example, right now.

Three days had passed since her return from Noble Consort Hui’s palace. On this day, the palace maids from the embroidery workshop and the gold-and-jade workshop were suddenly summoned to one place. They were told that a senior eunuch would soon arrive to give them instructions.

When many people gather, mouths multiply.

The three of them huddled together, whispering in voices neither too loud nor too soft—just loud enough for those nearby to hear clearly. One of them said:

“Wei Yingluo came back very late last night, you know—”

“Wasn’t she summoned to Chuxiu Palace by Sister Zhilan?”

“After Sister Zhilan finished giving her instructions, do you think she’d keep her for dinner? You’re so naive. After she left Chuxiu Palace, she went straight to a secret rendezvous! Her sweetheart is one of the guards in the Forbidden City!”

They spoke with such vivid detail, as if they had witnessed it with their own eyes. Half the people believed it outright; the other half didn’t quite believe it, yet still listened with relish. After all, the love of gossip is universal—even if one doesn’t believe the story, it can still be entertaining.

Everyone turned to look. Wei Yingluo couldn’t help clenching her fists tightly.

“Eunuch Li has arrived!”

The sharp announcement from a young eunuch temporarily silenced the chatter.

Wei Yingluo only glanced up once before quickly lowering her head again.

Truly, good news never travels, while bad news arrives in droves. She recognized the Eunuch Li approaching from the opposite side—he was none other than the senior eunuch who had been attending the Emperor the last time.

Fortunately, Eunuch Li did not recognize her. The weather was rather hot today; there was no need even to speak—merely standing in the sun for a little while was enough to soak one’s back in sweat. Several attentive young eunuchs hurriedly carried over a chair into the shade, presented tea and a fruit platter. Eunuch Li took two sips of water, then instructed:

“Who has come?”

“The newly arrived palace maids from the embroidery workshop and the gold-and-jade workshop,” a young eunuch replied while fanning him.

Eunuch Li nodded. “Same as the past few days—begin.”

He folded his hands in front of his abdomen, leaned back in the chair, and closed his eyes as if dozing. Yet he was not truly asleep; instead, he kept both ears pricked high.

“Come, line up one by one and speak,” the young eunuch ordered. “Just say: This humble servant is tickling the sacred tree!”

What kind of words were these?

The palace maids looked at one another, completely baffled by the meaning.

“Hurry up—don’t waste Eunuch Li’s time!” the young eunuch urged impatiently.

At last, one palace maid stepped forward with gritted teeth:

“This humble servant is tickling the sacred tree…”

Before she could finish speaking, Eunuch Li, reclining in his chair, slowly shook his head. The young eunuch attendant had been watching his every move from the corner of his eye and immediately called out:

“Next.”

“This humble servant is tickling the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

“This humble servant is tickling the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

“This humble servant is tickling the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

The line in front of her grew shorter and shorter, while the sweat on Wei Yingluo’s face grew more and more abundant.

“Sister Yingluo, are you very hot?” Jixiang handed her a handkerchief, asking worriedly, “Here, use this to wipe your sweat.”

Wei Yingluo accepted the handkerchief without a word, raised her hand to dab at the perspiration, then suddenly swayed and collapsed to the ground.

Jixiang was startled and hurriedly threw herself over her. “Sister Yingluo! Sister Yingluo, what’s wrong?”

The commotion was loud enough that Eunuch Li slowly opened his eyes.

“What’s happening?”

The young eunuch went over to check, then returned and reported:

“Eunuch, it’s a little palace maid who fainted from the heat.”

Eunuch Li glanced up at the sky. Even though layers of dense tree canopy shaded them overhead, a few threads of sunlight still slipped through the gaps between leaves and struck the skin like scalding water.

“This weather really is hard to endure.” Eunuch Li raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and gave the order: “Take the one who fainted back first. Everyone else, move into the shade and continue.”

“This humble servant will scratch the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

“This humble servant will scratch the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

“This humble servant will scratch the sacred tree’s itch.”

“Next.”

The voices of the exchanges gradually faded into the distance.

Wei Yingluo, half-carried and half-supported by Jixiang as they walked back, opened her eyes for a moment—then quickly closed them again, letting out a quiet sigh of relief in her heart.

She still didn’t know why Eunuch Li was looking for her, but fortunately she hadn’t shown her face that day. She had been wearing ordinary palace maid attire; neither the collar nor the cuffs bore any special embroidery—such privileges belonged only to senior palace maids and the older aunties and mammies.

Eunuch Li could only search among the low-ranking maids, and he could only identify her by voice.

The leather workshop, the embroidery workshop, the gold-and-jade workshop, the Ruyi Pavilion… he still had thousands of voices left to listen to. Most likely, after hearing so many, he would gradually forget what her voice sounded like.

“This matter isn’t urgent for the time being,” Wei Yingluo thought to herself. “The priority right now is to deal with the gossip and rumors swirling around me. Hah—though they say rumors stop with the wise, in this world the fools far outnumber the wise. There are hardly any truly clever people…”

Even Momo Zhang was thinking the very same thing.

After the embroidery workshop’s tasks were finished, she kept Wei Yingluo behind alone. She closed the doors and windows, shutting out any curious ears, then asked gravely:

“Everyone is saying that you are involved with a certain guard. Is there any truth to it?”

Wei Yingluo smiled. “Momo, the rumors have even reached you?”

“They are everywhere in the embroidery workshop,” Momo Zhang said earnestly. “I don’t believe them myself, but when three people repeat a story, it becomes a tiger. Rumors can do great harm. You must be especially careful.”

The two of them looked at each other in silence. After a moment, Wei Yingluo finally asked softly, “What’s the worst-case scenario?”

“The worst case,” Momo Zhang replied, “is if the rumor reaches Chief Steward Wu’s ears.”

Although she had met him before and even earned his favor, knowing a person’s face does not mean knowing their heart. Wei Yingluo freely admitted that her understanding of Chief Steward Wu was far less than that of the mammy before her, who had crawled and rolled through the harem for more than a decade. So she asked earnestly, “Momo, in your opinion—if the rumor really does reach Chief Steward Wu’s ears in the worst-case scenario—would he punish me without distinguishing right from wrong?”

“That he would not do.” Momo Zhang thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Chief Steward Wu is a man who gets things done properly. If something falls into his hands, he will almost certainly investigate it thoroughly—unlike some of the other eunuchs, who would casually dispose of people just to quiet things down quickly.”

“I understand…” Wei Yingluo said thoughtfully.

She believed in settling grudges without letting them fester overnight. If there was an enemy, deal with them early—never leave them lurking in the shadows, where they could strike at any moment. As she left the embroidery workshop, a plan was gradually taking shape in Wei Yingluo’s mind. She was only missing one thing… a prop.

Her footsteps suddenly halted. She turned her gaze toward the corridor opposite.

Several craftsmen were pushing a cart past.

One of the younger craftsmen sensed something and turned his head—only to meet Wei Yingluo’s gentle smile. His entire face instantly flushed crimson. He froze in place, stammering speechlessly, as if an immortal maiden had pointed at him and turned him to stone. It wasn’t until one of his companions smacked him on the back of the head and scolded him—” What are you staring at? You want to lose your eyes? That’s a palace woman. She looks that beautiful—who knows if she’s actually one of the ladies…”—that he snapped out of it.

The group hurriedly lowered their heads and pushed the cart away in a fluster.

Because of their hasty movements, a scattering of white powdery soil spilled onto the ground where the wheels had passed.

A pair of white embroidered shoes slowly approached. Then a slender, beautiful hand reached down and scooped up a handful of the scattered dust.

Looking down at the white powder in her palm, a breathtakingly beautiful smile slowly bloomed across Wei Yingluo’s face.

STORY OF YANXI PALACE CHAPTERS HOME