Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 122: Neither Approaching Nor Departing

   The mountain rain is about to fall, the wind fills the tower—this was already the third consecutive day Hongli had spent the night in Yanxi Palace.

Hongli had always been quite restrained when it came to women. Even when favoring the harem, he had never stayed with the same person night after night like this. Naturally, it made others restless and uneasy.

“Empress!” In Chengqian Palace, Naran Chuxue was the first to speak up. “That Wei Yingluo has served in the bedchamber for three consecutive days now, and her eyes have already grown on top of her head. What time is it already, and she still hasn’t come to pay her respects to you!”

The other concubines chimed in one after another, each adding their own criticisms of Wei Yingluo.

Only Lu Wanwan spoke softly: “Perhaps Noble Lady Wei was delayed by something!”

Naran Chuxue scoffed with icy disdain. “Delayed by what? It’s clearly arrogance born of favor! She’s just a former palace maid at heart—no sense of propriety at all. In this concubine’s opinion, Your Ladyship should send a senior nanny over to properly discipline her, so she doesn’t cause trouble later.”

How could the Step Empress let herself be used as a tool? She immediately smiled and said: “Concubine Shu, whom His Majesty chooses to favor is entirely His Majesty’s will. We concubines have no choice but to obey. If you were favored today and tomorrow I sent someone to reprimand you, what kind of person would that make me?”

Consort Ying: “Empress, that’s not how it should be said. When it comes to virtue, speech, appearance, and accomplishments, virtue ranks first. A woman who disregards rules and ignores propriety, lingering by His Majesty’s side, will sooner or later bring disaster. Your Ladyship manages the Six Palaces—you cannot be soft-hearted.”

Concubine Xiaojia: “The Empress is benevolent and naturally wouldn’t stoop to argue with a mere little Noble Lady. But if she takes an inch and wants a mile, using the opportunity to stir up trouble, that would no longer be a good thing. Your Ladyship should take precautions in advance!”

The discussion continued until noon before everyone finally fell silent and took their leave one by one.

“Empress, just listen to the nonsense they were spouting earlier—truly unbecoming!” Zhener came in carrying a plate of freshly washed grapes.

“Indeed.” The Step Empress picked up a deep-purple grape and glanced in the direction the others had left. “His Majesty merely summoned her a couple more times, and they all turned into black-eyed chickens, revealing their ugly sides.”

“But then again, His Majesty has never consecutively summoned the same concubine to serve him before, so it’s no wonder they’re all restless. This Wei Yingluo really is formidable.” Zhener peeled a grape for her. “Empress, should we…?”

The Step Empress shook her head: “Even the most beautiful flower will eventually grow tiresome. His Majesty has seen countless women—how long can Wei Yingluo possibly hold his attention, no matter how special she is? Only these shallow women jump three feet high at the slightest thing.”

“True.” Zhener smiled. “No matter how they fight among themselves, Your Ladyship sits firmly on the fish platform. Let them fight—the fiercer the better!”

The Step Empress ate the grape she offered, lazily saying: “Since there’s nothing else to do, why don’t we make a guess: who will make the first move—Noble Consort Chun, or Concubine Xiaojia…?”

Noble Consort Chun had long harbored a grudge against Wei Yingluo and was, among all the concubines, the one who most wished her dead.

As for Concubine Xiaojia, she and Wei Yingluo were both newly favored concubines. One mountain cannot hold two tigers—especially when both relied on their beauty to serve the Emperor. Naturally, neither could tolerate the other.

Zhener thought for a moment: “This servant guesses it will be Noble Consort Chun.”

“Then I’ll bet on Concubine Xiaojia.” The Step Empress gave a meaningful smile.

The older the ginger, the spicier it is. In the end, it was the newcomer Concubine Xiaojia who couldn’t hold her temper. After smashing a jade pendant in the palace, she said to the maid beside her: “Lan’er, go to Yangxin Hall and tell Chief Steward Li that I am ill—very seriously ill. If I don’t see His Majesty soon, I’m going to die!”

Lan’er was shocked: “Mistress, I’m afraid that wouldn’t be proper!”

Concubine Xiaojia waved her hand impatiently: “What’s improper about it? Didn’t that lowly woman trick His Majesty the same way? If she can do it, why can’t I? Go quickly, or I’ll whip you!”

The message soon reached Yangxin Hall. Upon hearing that Concubine Xiaojia was also “ill,” Hongli laughed.

“Why are they all imitating her now?” Hongli shook his head, looking as though he saw right through it, and chuckled. “What is there to learn from someone as mischievous as her?”

Li Yu watched coldly from the side, thinking to himself: It’s only because Your Majesty likes it. The King of Chu loved slender waists, and so the palace filled with starving women.

After finishing the day’s affairs of state, Hongli set down his brush: “Let’s go.”

Li Yu knowingly asked: “Where to?”

Hongli glared at him, reluctantly spitting out three words through gritted teeth: “Yanxi Palace.”

He felt he had already given Wei Yingluo plenty of face. When other consorts fell ill, he had never gone to visit them personally—yet here he was, coming especially for her. Who could have known he would arrive to find her absent? Zhenzhu approached with a face full of trepidation: “Your Majesty, Noble Lady Wei is not in the hall.”

Hongli was stunned. “Where did she go?”

Zhenzhu found it extremely difficult to say: “Noble Lady Wei said the weather was too hot, so she went out for a stroll.”

Hongli was practically speechless. Was she some seventy- or eighty-year-old grandmother? Finishing a meal and then going out for a walk to “preserve her health”? Behind him, Li Yu was struggling to hold back his laughter: “Your Majesty, where to now?”

Hongli shot him a glare, then gritted his teeth and said, “Go inside and sit.”

And so he sat—until nightfall.

Zhenzhu was already sweating profusely; the handkerchief in her hand was wiped and wiped again, but the sweat only increased, never lessened.

Hongli’s face had grown as black as the bottom of a pot. Li Yu, watching his expression closely, couldn’t resist scolding Zhenzhu for what felt like the umpteenth time: “Where is she? Why hasn’t she returned yet? It’s always others who wait upon the Emperor—yet your mistress has the nerve to turn everything upside down. Does she have any sense of propriety at all!”

Just as Zhenzhu was on the verge of tears from anxiety, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. The door opened, and Ming Yu walked in. She respectfully kowtowed to Hongli: “Your Majesty, please forgive us. Today Noble Lady Wei personally prepared an ice bowl and sent it to Shoukang Palace. She is currently accompanying the Empress Dowager and chatting with her.”

Hongli: “All the way until now?”

Ming Yu: “The Empress Dowager is in an exceptionally good mood today. She began talking about the time she accompanied the late Emperor on his private inspection tour of Jiangnan, which left Noble Lady Wei full of admiration and envy. I’m afraid she won’t be able to return anytime soon!”

Hongli gave a snort. “So she’s just leaving me here to wait?”

Ming Yu offered an apologetic smile: “Your Majesty, Noble Lady is keeping the Empress Dowager company out of pure filial devotion. Otherwise… perhaps Your Majesty could go elsewhere.”

Li Yu snapped furiously: “You’ve lost your mind! How dare you speak like that!”

Ming Yu immediately kowtowed again, sounding aggrieved: “Your Majesty, you cannot blame Noble Lady Wei for this. It is the Empress Dowager who is keeping her—the mistress truly cannot leave. Filial piety is greater than Heaven itself; how could she possibly abandon the Empress Dowager?”

Hongli let out a cold humph, stood up, and strode out.

Li Yu pointed at Ming Yu: “Fine, fine—just you wait. Everyone’s learning from your mistress now. One day we’ll deal with you too!”

Hongli stormed off in a rage. Little did he know that the moment he left, Wei Yingluo walked back into the palace.

“What happened?” Wei Yingluo took the hot towel Ming Yu handed her and wiped the sweat from her face and neck.

Ming Yu hesitated for a long while before finally blurting out: “Yingluo, why did you deliberately avoid the Emperor?”

“Even the most delicious thing in the world, if you eat it three or four days in a row, will start to feel cloying.” Wei Yingluo winked her right eye at her with an extremely cunning smile. “Do you believe me when I say he’ll come back tonight?”

What is the most delicious thing in the world?

   The thing you can’t have.

   What kind of woman makes a man most restless and unable to let go?

   The woman he cannot see.

   Ming Yu blew out the candle. Wei Yingluo climbed into bed. Half-asleep and half-awake, she suddenly felt a weight settle over her body. She opened her eyes, feigning surprise: “Your Majesty… didn’t you leave?”

Hongli had indeed returned. He straddled her—not so much like a man coming to see his lover as like one coming to confront an enemy. His hands clamped around her throat as he ground out through clenched teeth: “What? You don’t want to see me?”

“Your Majesty…” Wei Yingluo smiled. In a sudden movement she flipped over, pinning Hongli beneath her instead. Her long, cascading hair poured over him like a waterfall. She lowered her head and smiled down at him—a smile that carried an aggressiveness unlike that of any other consort. “You’re hurting your concubine.”

With that, her own hands closed around his throat. The moment a look of offense flashed across Hongli’s face, she leaned down and gently bit his lip.

Compared to the soft, yielding kisses of other beauties, her wild, untamed way of kissing brought Hongli a completely different kind of stimulation.

Hongli was kissed by her like this for a while, and the anger on his face gradually melted away. Suddenly he laughed, pinned her down onto the bed in one motion, then pressed himself against her back. While undoing his own belt, he suppressed a low gasp and said, “A wild, untamed woman like you—I’m going to punish you.”

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