Free Web NovelChapter 156: Chapter 69: The Dog Emperor Never Suffers a Loss
’No wonder Zhang Maoquan has been running over here so frequently. He must have realized His Majesty has taken a liking to someone.’ Meng Jiuchang’s mind began to churn.
In Taiji Palace, the Emperor was holding court.
Meanwhile, in Wangyou Palace, Song Yunzhao slept in until she was fully rested before slowly getting up. She didn’t want to move an inch. ’Now I truly believe the Emperor is inexperienced. Whatever the books say about marital bliss, I certainly didn’t feel any of the bliss—just exhaustion and pain.’
Hearing the movement, Xiangxue and the other maids came in to serve her, all smiles. When Nanny Yu brought people in to tidy the bed, Song Yunzhao’s face turned red again.
’Even though I’m a modern person who’s lived in this ancient era for so many years, I’m still not used to others seeing my private affairs. But I also know I can’t refuse. It’s not like I can just grab the sheets and go wash them myself, right?’
All she could do was brazenly pretend not to notice the overjoyed Nanny Yu carefully folding her virginity cloth and placing it into a box for safekeeping.
At this thought, she suddenly recalled a bug in the book.
’In the book, the Emperor never actually slept with his concubines. So how did they hand over the virginity cloth after the first night?’
’And another thing. Take last night, for example. After finishing, one has to bathe. Anshun had to bring people to prepare the hot water, and Xiangxue and the others had to be on duty to have a change of clothes ready.’
’Consort Shu and the others might have been able to fool everyone else, but could they really have fooled the palace attendants in their own residences?’
’Of course not.’
’So, the three concubines must have had every single palace attendant in their residences, from top to bottom, under their complete control. That’s the only way not a single whisper could have gotten out.’
’Then I remembered how in the book, to keep up appearances, the Emperor made it a habit to always bathe whenever he "spent the night" at the Three Concubine Palaces. He didn’t do the deed, but he really committed to the performance.’
However, Song Yunzhao felt the author probably hadn’t thought it through very carefully when they wrote the book. ’With so many eyes watching from every corner of the palace, how could they possibly keep up the charade for two whole years? And in all that time, not a single one of the concubines got pregnant. Weren’t the courtiers the least bit suspicious?’
’I need to think about this carefully.’ As the thought crossed her mind, she subconsciously glanced down at her stomach.
The Emperor hadn’t ordered anyone to give her a contraceptive. Her heart skipped a beat. ’I don’t want to have a child so soon. My position is unstable; I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to protect them.’
’But if a child really is on the way, then I’ll just have to work even harder to get promoted.’
After breakfast, Song Yunzhao leaned against the daybed by the window, idly flipping through a book. She still felt sore and had no desire to move. ’This is nice, just leaning here.’
"My Lady, Chief Steward Zhang is here."
Song Yunzhao froze. ’What’s Zhang Maoquan doing here now?’
"Show him in." Song Yunzhao sat up straight and adjusted her appearance.
Zhang Maoquan entered shortly after. "This servant greets you, High-ranking Consort. I have come by order to deliver a reward to you."
’A reward?’
’Ooh, I like the sound of that.’
Zhang Maoquan relayed the Emperor’s verbal decree and then had people bring in the rewards, which filled an entire table.
Song Yunzhao’s eyes lit up. ’Oh, right! I completely forgot there are rewards after the first night with the Emperor.’
After offering her thanks to the Emperor, Song Yunzhao also tipped Zhang Maoquan and had Nanny Yu see him out.
Xiangxue and the other maids gathered around their lady, chattering endlessly with auspicious phrases. Song Yunzhao ran her hand over the shimmering silks, eyed the two caskets of jewelry perfect for her, and noted another casket filled with silver. ’The Emperor really gets it,’ she thought, feeling quite satisfied.
Shizhu led people to register the items and move the rewards into Wangyou Palace’s storerooms.
Nanny Yu returned after seeing Chief Steward Zhang out, her face beaming with joy. She said to her lady, "With no Empress in the palace and the Imperial Consort having passed away from illness, you won’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to pay respects. However, the other palaces will likely send gifts soon to congratulate you on serving the Emperor."
Song Yunzhao nodded slightly. "I’ll leave these matters to you, Nanny."
’The ones delivering gifts from the other palaces are just the housekeepers or palace maids of the other consorts. I don’t have to greet them personally, so I’ll just let Nanny Yu deal with it.’
’To be honest, sometimes I don’t get these formalities. They just make everyone uncomfortable. Why bother?’
Sure enough, the three concubines were the first to send their congratulatory gifts, followed by the other palaces. The three concubines all sent jewelry; the gifts from the lower-ranking palaces varied. Everything was recorded in the ledger, as Song Yunzhao would have to return the favor in the future.
Flipping through the gift registry, the corner of Song Yunzhao’s mouth twitched when she saw that Lu Zhixue’s gift was a bolt of plain, silver-white silk. ’Of all the nerve. On what should be a joyous day for me, she sends something silver-white. What terrible luck.’
Seeing that Song Yunzhao was displeased, Nanny Yu spoke up, "My Lady, don’t take it to heart. So many people are watching you right now. If you make a fuss over this, you’ll risk losing your composure and giving others something to criticize."
