TJAIP Chapter 22

After Su Xiuyi entered and paid her respects, she obediently sat down, hardly drawing attention. At times, she would chime in when the Empress Dowager spoke, which made it hard to believe she was a cousin of the Empress Dowager.

Zhuang Luoyan carefully observed the Empress Dowager, and this woman gave her a feeling of being harmless and pitiable. However, such women are often a contradiction; some are truly pitiful, like Lin Daiyu, while others, like the Empress Dowager, can be ruthless at heart. The Empress Dowager’s rise to power and her stability in position certainly wouldn’t be due to the former.

The more seemingly harmless a woman is, the more terrifying she can be when she turns ruthless.

“I thought Zhaochongyi would not come today,” the Empress Dowager smiled as she looked at Zhuang Luoyan, and then cast a meaningful glance at Yan Guiyi. “I remember last year during Yan Guiyi’s birthday, she was too weak to come to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager.”

From this, it seemed that Empress Dowager harbored no good intentions towards Yan Guiyi. Any woman would be displeased to see someone using her methods to climb the ranks. Zhuang Luoyan smiled at the Empress Dowager but didn’t respond.

All the concubines present looked at each other but no one spoke.

“Sister, how could you forget, Yan Guiyi has always been delicate, and the Empress Dowager, out of compassion, excused her from paying respects,” Su Xiuyi interjected.

This wasn’t exactly a flattering statement, and anyone who didn’t know better might think Empress Dowager was showing favoritism towards Zhuang Luoyan, treating her differently than Yan Guiyi.

Zhuang Luoyan chose to speak at this moment. “Sister, you arrived late, so you may not know that the Empress Dowager excused me from paying respects as well. However, I am in good health and could not sleep, so I thought I might come here to speak with the sisters.”

“Indeed, you are well-behaved,” the Empress Dowager picked up on the implication of Su Xiuyi’s words and cut her off. It seemed that she highly praised Zhuang Luoyan, adding, “No wonder the Empress Dowager likes you.”

Zhuang Luoyan sneered inwardly. The Empress Dowager had struck two birds with one stone—disparaging Yan Guiyi while making Zhuang Luoyan look bad and invoking the Empress Dowager to stir up resentment from the other concubines.

“Zhaochongyi is not the only one,” the Empress Dowager continued as if she hadn’t noticed the subtle conflict among the concubines. “Anyone who is well-behaved, whether it’s the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, or myself, we all like them. Why, are you suggesting that I don’t treat you well?”

“Of course, the Empress Dowager treats me well,” Su Xiuyi said, using an affectionate tone, “But I’m a little short-sighted. Seeing you treat others well, I couldn’t help but make a few jokes. Zhaochongyi, please don’t mind.”

“The Empress Dowager is forthright, and I am not one to hold grudges,” Zhuang Luoyan only smiled in response.

The Empress Dowager raised her teacup. “Enough. You all enjoy these little jests, but it’s getting late. Once the sun becomes too hot, none of you will be comfortable. Let’s call it a day.”

Once the Empress Dowager spoke, no one dared to continue talking. Everyone stood up, paid their respects, and exited.

After leaving Jingyang Palace, Zhuang Luoyan noticed that Yan Guiyi looked a bit upset. The maids supporting her kept their heads down, no longer exuding the same imposing presence they had when they handled the case of Lady Ma. The Empress Dowager still had quite an effect on Yan Guiyi.

“Zhaochongyi, why don’t we walk together?” Jiang Xianyi, who had been following behind her, suddenly called out.

“Jiang Jie,” Zhuang Luoyan smiled and turned around when she saw that Jiang Xianyi had called out to her, halting her steps.

Jiang Xianyi walked up to her side and looked up at the cloudless sky, sighing, “It’s getting hotter by the day.”

“It’s almost June, so naturally, the heat will only increase,” Zhuang Luoyan took the fan from Yunxi’s hand and lightly fanned herself as she walked alongside Jiang Xianyi. “Why haven’t I seen Wang Pin lately?”

“She hasn’t been well these past few days, and despite the imperial physician’s visits, there’s been little improvement,” Jiang Xianyi’s voice grew somber. “With the heat today, who knows when she will be better.”

“She’s a fortunate one. Don’t worry about her,” Zhuang Luoyan replied, remembering that she hadn’t seen Wang Pin recently. Wang Pin wasn’t favored much and rarely spoke, so Zhuang Luoyan hadn’t paid much attention.

Jiang Xianyi smiled faintly, but there was a touch of bitterness in her expression. She lived in a place near Taoyu Hall, but it was farther from the Emperor’s quarters. Ever since entering the palace, she hadn’t been particularly favored. She had only risen to her position through her status and years of perseverance. Unable to resist, she glanced at the currently favored Zhaochongyi. How had this woman risen so fast?

Though she was beautiful, she wasn’t the most stunning, and her skills in music and painting were average. She wasn’t as skilled in dancing as the Empress Dowager, nor was she as proficient in music as Ruo Fei. What was it that had captured the Emperor’s favor?

“It’s just like that,” Jiang Xianyi murmured to herself. Others must have their ways of being favored. If she could have figured it out, she wouldn’t have spent so many years in the palace without making much progress.

The two of them walked a little further when unexpectedly, they ran into someone who rarely walked through the Imperial Garden.

“I pay my respects to the Emperor,” Jiang Xianyi didn’t expect to encounter the Emperor in the garden, and her voice trembled as she greeted him.

“Did you both come from the Empress Dowager?” Feng Jin’s gaze swept over the two women, eventually landing on Zhuang Luoyan. He stepped forward to help her up. “How come you’re here too?” he asked, and as soon as he spoke, he noticed her face had turned red, and she couldn’t meet his eyes.

“After you left, I woke up…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but her face turned even redder. “The Empress Dowager has worked so hard for the harem, so I thought it appropriate to come and pay my respects.”

Jiang Xianyi, with her head lowered, happened to glance at the delicate hand that the Emperor had taken in his, and for a moment, she was stunned, unable to hear what Zhuang Luoyan had said.