T/N: Thank you so much for the ko-fi, Nonesh! I’ll be updating another chapter tomorrow~

“Qianyi Pavilion… Qianyi Pavilion…” 

“Affection is shallow and thoughts turned indifferent1T/N: She is referring to the name of this palace. The characters for Qianyi (浅意) mean ‘shallow’ and ‘thoughts/ideas’ respectively. It basically implies ‘I don’t like [you] because I don’t think [of you] enough’. From the sounds of it, I think this Qianyi Pavilion is the cold palace. I’m so sorry, I butchered this beautiful line thoroughly (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ). His Majesty treated me so heartlessly.” Zheng Meiren looked at the single table and chair in the Qianyi Pavilion in despair. This place had been uninhabited for a long time. So even if it was cleaned, a moldy smell pervaded the air. 

“Niangniang.” Bai Shao reached out to support her.

“Shut up!” Zheng Meiren slapped her across the face, her eyes bloodshot as she stared at her maid. “How can a meiren be called niangniang? Are you trying to get me killed? All of you just want to harm me!”

“You all want to kill me, yes, you all want to kill me…” Zheng Meiren trembled as she sat down on the chair. “Ever since I was young, all of you people have wanted to kill me.”

She bit her nails. Recalling all those things from her younger days, her restless heart calmed down a little.

Must not panic, must not panic. Things haven’t reached the worst yet.

She still had Yanze.

Yes, she still had Yanze.

Qi Junwang and his mother were successively demoted, leaving the court officials in shock. Before they could plead for him, the Emperor issued another decree, stripping his maternal family of their title and imprisoning all the adult men and women.

“Your Majesty.” Sun Yichun, the head of the Sun family, stepped out: “May weichen ask what crime the Zheng family has committed?”

“Plotting against the imperial descendants.” Emperor Longfeng looked at Sun Yichun. “Official Sun, do you wish to plead on behalf of the Zheng family?”

Plotting against the imperial descendants?

The officials were inwardly alarmed. How much had the Emperor actually discovered during the time he confined the princes in the Palace?

Many of the officials did not believe Emperor Longfeng’s words. The fourth prince had been wise and virtuous since childhood. How could he possibly conspire with the Zheng family against the other princes?

This must be the other princes scheming against him, or rather… His Majesty intends to suppress the fourth prince.

Some people secretly glanced at Ming Jingzhou. In the past few months, the Emperor had been favoring the Ming family in everything, clearly paving the way for the fifth prince.

“Your Majesty.” Ming Jingzhou seemed unaware of the gazes of the crowd as he stepped forward. “Your Majesty, please allow weichen to present a memorial.”

“Do speak, Beloved Official Ming.” Emperor Longfeng nodded at Ming Jingzhou.

“Although the Zheng family has committed a grave mistake, they are the maternal family of the fourth prince. Since this matter involves the imperial bloodline, it is not a trifle. Weichen believes that the case should be handled jointly by officials from the six ministries to determine the rights and wrongs of the Zheng family.” Ming Jingzhou clasped his hands. “This way, the fourth prince’s innocence can be restored, and he will not be implicated by his maternal family.”

Emperor Longfeng nodded slowly. “Beloved Official Ming’s words are reasonable. The officials from the six ministries will cooperate with Dali Temple to handle this case jointly.”

The less experienced officials were moved by Ming Jingzhou’s words. The Ming family was just too upright. As the future in-law of the fifth prince, he was unexpectedly defending the innocence of the fourth prince even at a time like this.

A few old foxes who had already guessed some of the inside story, had complicated expressions.

Ming Jingzhou was not at all pleading for the fourth prince. Clearly, he had figured out what the others were thinking and was standing up to uphold the Emperor’s fair and just image.

However, no one believed he was helping the fifth prince because news of the latter’s bitter. experience at the Ministry of Rites had already reached the ears of all the officials of the six ministries.

The privilege of working for the monarch was not the same. If it were someone else, they would have long angered the Emperor.

On the day after Ning Fei’s demotion to the rank of meiren, all the imperial concubines above the fourth rank in the harem gathered early in the morning at the gate of the Mingyue Palace, waiting to pay their respects to Su Guifei.

Jiuzhu, who had just woken up and come out in the courtyard, was startled to see them dressed up according to their ranks. These women, who did not seem too young, stood there with lowered eyes without making a sound.

One of the concubines noticed Jiuzhu and intentionally squeezed out a friendly smile at her before continuing to wait with her head bowed.

Sticking to the wall, Jiuzhu and rushed toward the main hall of the Palace.

At this time, Su Guifei was having her breakfast. When she saw Jiuzhu come in, she greeted her with a gentle smile and beckoned: “Jiuzhu is here? Come, sit down and have some breakfast with me.”

Xiangjuan scooped up some porridge for Jiuzhu. “Guniang, try this porridge and see if it suits your taste.”

“Thank you, gugu.” Jiuzhu took a spoonful and tasted it. “It’s delicious.”

“Have another bowl since you like it.” Xiangjuan smiled and picked up some side dishes for her. “If Xianzhu wants to eat or drink anything else, just tell this slave.”

Jiuzhu nodded. After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke up: “Niangniang, outside…”

“They are all here to pay their respects to niangniang.” Xiangjuan explained with a smile. “Ming guniang doesn’t need to worry about these things. There are many rules that the imperial concubines have to follow. You will get a headache if you listen to them. After you finish breakfast, this slave will have the palace maids accompany you to the Zhangliu Palace to have fun with His Highness.”

Jiuzhu looked up at Su Guifei, who rubbed her temples and sighed. “If you’re curious, you can stay here and listen…”

“Then I’ll go and play with His Highness.” Jiuzhu felt a chill down her back and ate the food faster.

Seeing that she was quite scared, Su Guifei suppressed her laughter and put her chopsticks down before calling a palace maid to accompany her out.

“You ah, why did you scare her like that?” Su Guifei scolded Xiangjuan with a smile. “Look, she ate less than usual for breakfast.”

“Niangniang cannot blame this slave for this matter. You are also an accomplice.” Xiangjuan helped Su Guifei wash her hands. “You clearly couldn’t bear to let those imperial concubines bother Ming guniang, so this slave willingly took up the role of the villain and ended up getting blamed. This slave is so pitiful, no one loves this slave.”

“It’s my fault, my fault.” Su Guifei laughed loudly. “Come, two of you. Give Xiangjuan gugu a leg massage to cool her temper.”

Upon seeing this, the other palace maids giggled and rushed forward, making the atmosphere lively.

The laughter reached outside the hall, but the imperial concubines waiting outside didn’t even have the courage to lift their heads.

They were afraid, afraid of following Zheng-shi’s footsteps.

The top-ranking and favored Guifei niangniang never paid much attention to them. She wasn’t interested in what they did or said; not even about them coming to pay their respects to her was not something she cared about.

Gradually, they stopped coming to the Mingyue Palace, at most only visiting on the first and fifteenth of each month because everyone knew that she didn’t care about these meaningless formalities.

But two days ago, she made Zheng-shi kneel at Mingyue Palace to beg forgiveness. The next day, Zheng-shi was stripped of her title and sent to the rumored ‘cold palace’. It wasn’t until then that they suddenly realized they had lived such easy lives all these years precisely because Su Guifei didn’t care.

If she wanted to create difficulties them, it would only take a word and a nod from her.

After a while, the doors of the main hall finally opened again, and Xiangjuan, Su Guifei’s personal maid, walked out and greeted them. “This slave greets all the niangniangs. Please enter the hall.”

Su Guifei sat at the top, watching the imperial concubines enter in neat rows with a smile that did not reach her eyes. “You are all old acquaintances. There’s no need to be so formal with greetings, sit.”

“Niangniang is gracious. But we concubines cannot continue to rely on your benevolence and forget the rules.” Min Fei respectfully bowed to Su Guifei. “This concubine and my sisters would like to pay our respects to Guifei niangniang.”

“You may dispense with curtseying.” Su Guifei raised her hand, indicating for them to take their seats. She glanced at the person behind Min Fei. “Xu Fei is here as well? Is your health better?”

“Niangniang need not be concerned. This concubine has been doing well recently.” Xu Fei, who was not yet fifty years old, already had white hair at her temples. She spoke with little energy.

“It’s rare to see everyone so well put together as today.” Su Guifei’s gaze swept over the crowd of concubnes. “In terms of age, I should be the one calling most of you jiejie.”

The concubines didn’t dare to respond.

“Those who can sit here today all have children.” She looked at the sparse number of women sitting below. Ever since His Majesty’s ascension to the throne, the number of women who had entered the harem had not exceeded this few. “We are all women so we know how difficult it can be for women. Over the years, I also wasn’t too fond of learning those means to torment women.”

The concubines held their breath, not daring to speak. 

“But there are some things that, even if Ben Gong doesn’t say them, you may have already guessed.” Her gaze turned sharp: “Ben Gong doesn’t care who started it. But from today onwards…”

She paused for a moment and looked at the women who dared not make eye contact with her: “Live your lives well. Don’t learn from Zheng-shi, got it?”

“We will solemnly follow niangniang’s teachings!” The concubines responded in unison. 

“You may leave now.” Su Guifei picked up her teacup coldly: “If anyone dares to bring up anything unseemly before Ben Gong again, you can continue transcribing sutras, cultivating your mind and body, and accumulating virtues.”

The concubines nervously left the Mingyue Palace. Imperial Concubine Zhang leaned close to Min Fei: “Min Fei niangniang, what does Guifei niangniang’s words mean?”

“How would I know?” Min Fei replied impatiently: “Instead of asking these questions to Ben Gong, why don’t you go back and ask your good daughter about what’s going on with her husband’s family?”

If it wasn’t for the subordinate of Princess Roude’s husband’s family suddenly going crazy and trying to assassinate Yun Yanze, how could such trouble have arose? 

Thinking of this, she sneered at Imperial Concubine Zhang. This idiot still had the mind to worry about these things. 

Imperial Concubine Zhang’s face immediately turned deathly pale. She was both anxious and angry, but she didn’t dare to show it in front of Min Fei. Just which madman caused all these troubles? 

No one benefited from this. Instead, it provoked Su Meidai’s ire. 

“Everyone, please stop speaking.” Xu Fei coughed lightly and whispered: “Guifei niangniang is not one to unjustly blame others. As long as you don’t violate the palace rules, how could she make things difficult for you?”

“Before the incident at the imperial horse farm, did niangniang ever make things difficult for us?” Saying these few words made Xu Fei start coughing incessantly, her face turned much paler. 

“That’s right.” Min Fei smirked: “Xu jiejie is truly deserves to be our senior despite being only a few years older. Since that’s the case, why did jiejie need to accompany us today to pay respects to Guifei niangniang?”

“If you want to flatter the Guifei, go say it in front of her. It’s useless to tell us.” Min Fei chuckled: “Who are you pretending for?”

After speaking, she got onto her sedan chair and left without looking back.

Looking on, Xu Fei sighed softly. She wearily sat on the sedan chair, wrapping herself tightly in a thick cloak to feel a bit warmer.

“Is His Highness studying?” Jiuzhu quietly walked to the inner courtyard of the Zhangliu Palace and saw Chen Wang sitting under a tree, reading. She gestured to the two court ladies behind her and whispered: “Jiejie, let’s go sit in the outer courtyard for a while. We should not disturb His Highness.”

She bent down and tiptoed out till she was sure that the prince couldn’t see or hear her. Then she asked the court ladies: “Has His Highness always been this diligent? It must be quite tiring.”

“Yes.” One of the court ladies nodded without blushing. “His Highness has always been diligent. He strives for improvement. Sometimes, he even forgets to eat because he’s too engrossed in his books.”

Buying the best fighting cocks, the most powerful crickets, and striving to be the number one was also a form of striving for improvement.

Huabens2Huaben [话本] – I think I explained it before but since I can’t remember, I’ll do it again! Huaben is a short or medium-length story or novella in Chinese. It was usually based on folk stories. So basically, story books. I can relate, Chen Wang, I love story books too! So much so I used to put them inside textbooks when the story got too exciting to put down xD could also be considered books.

The people from the Mingyue Palace never told a lie3T/N: I swear, Chen Wang’s underlings are the most promising bootlickers hahahaha.

Jiuzhu was about to say something when she suddenly heard a cat’s cry coming from somewhere.

The cry was terribly mournful, much like a baby crying. Jiuzhu couldn’t help but look around: “Where is the cat?”

The two court ladies, who had been in the Palace for a long time, knew something was wrong when they heard the cat’s cry. They smiled and said to Jiuzhu: “Xianzhu, please sit for a moment. Us slaves will try to look for it.”

As soon as the two court ladies left, Jiuzhu saw Huai Wang walking out of the courtyard, carrying a lihua cat4T/N: Lihua cat or Dragon Li (貍花貓 or líhuā māo. Literally, a ‘fox flower cat’) is a rare purebred from China which is believed to have evolved from the Chinese mountain cat. Honestly, I feel it looks like a tabby cat (don’t scold me! I love fur babies, just not an expert) but here’s a picture of the floofball: with wounded legs.

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