The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 12: Serving on the Bed

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》Yanxi Gonglue

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 12: Serving on the Bed

   A young eunuch crossed into the Hall of Yanxi and came up to Noble Consort Hui, whispering to her in her ear.

   “His Majesty laughed.”

   Noble Consort Hui nodded and nodded to the personal palace maid beside her, who led the young eunuch down to collect her reward.

   Liyu is not the only one with eyes and ears, Noble Consort Hui also has eyes and ears at the Emperor's side and if she can bring her valuable information, she will reward her.

   This time, for example, although the other side brought only four words, every word was golden.

   “His Majesty must be in a good mood this evening, since he is smiling.” Noble Consort Hui thought to herself, “Maybe ...”

   “Her Highness but what's the happy news?” Concubine Jia asked with a smile.

   Noble Consort Hui glanced at her impassively and said with a smile, “Nothing.”

   The Concubines and Consorts were seated in their respective chairs, not for a nightly family chat but to wait for the Emperor's summons.

   And so, it was this night and so it was every night, that the green head-tags with the names of the Consort were delivered to the Yangxin Hall and everyone looked forward to His Majesty taking up her own.

   “It has been some days since His Majesty has summoned someone to his bed.” Concubine Jia, seeing her reluctance to answer, knowingly changed the subject and sighed, “I don't suppose His Majesty will be resting alone this night, too?”

   These words made everyone worried and even Noble Consort Hui was a bit heavy hearted.

   Even though she is a powerful woman who is one or two in the harem and even the Empress sometimes has to look at her, she actually has a problem--she has no children.

   Beauty grows old like a flower and she will grow old one day and there is no shortage of beautiful, young the Draft women in the palace and will His Majesty take up her green head-tag then? No.

   “I wish I had a child ...” Noble Consort Hui couldn't help but think to herself.

   The only thing left to rely on when one's face grows old is one's son. Even if the child is foolish, he is still a First Rank Prince, a sufficient support for his elderly mother and if he is lucky enough to be born with intelligence, talent and virtue and to please His Majesty, then he will ... Even the position of the Empress Dowager is open for grabs.

   Noble Consort Hui stroked her unhappy belly, even more reluctant to share the news she had received earlier. She stroked her fake tortoiseshell nails and asked absently: “By the way, why is there no Consort Chun?

   “Her Highness, Consort Chun has had a wind chill and is not yet well enough to come tonight.” Concubine Jia returned, she always seems to know a lot.

   Noble Consort Hui looked at her one more time and said lazily: “Half of the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year are spent in sickness, what a sick beauty.

   “Her Highness said yes.” Noble Lady Ying was quick to finding an excuse to get closer to her and said, “Consort Chun Sister's health is a bit weak, she's been sick for three days and yesterday some of us were talking about visiting her.”

   “Go to do what?” Noble Consort Hui said with a smirk, “Consort Chun is sick and has her own the Empress to care for, so what do you and I care?”

   Noble Lady Ying was choked up by her words and was at a loss for words, before she gave a weak reply, “Yes.”

   The rest of the court, Consort, has become even more silent at the sight of her and everyone wants a backer, everyone wants to climb up to Noble Consort Hui but she is so unpredictable that it is difficult to guess her preferences and if she is not careful, it will be difficult for her in the harem.

   Noble Consort Hui played with her fingernails for a while and then said, “Where is Noble Lady Yu?”

   The house was silent and no one answered for half a day.

   Noble Consort Hui lifted her gaze to a green clad beauty and said, “Concubine Yi, ask you, where is your good sister Noble Lady Yu?”?

   Not everyone in the harem is against each other but occasionally there are those like Noble Lady Yu and Concubine Yi, who are not sisters but are like sisters, always supporting and comforting each other.

   Concubine Yi settled down, got up and said back to her, “Back to Her Highness Noble Consort, Noble Lady Yu is not feeling well and has taken time off ...”

   “Oh?” Noble Consort Hui said with one hand on her temple, “Another unwell ...”

   She had asked it casually to pass the time but a hint of nervousness passed over Concubine Yi's face.

   Before Noble Consort Hui could grasp the meaning, Concubine Jia laughed and said: “I don't know what kind of evil wind has been blowing in the Forbidden City recently but everyone has fallen ill, so it seems to be necessary to ask the Royal Physician to prescribe some medicine for everyone to prevent it before it happens.”

   “What about Noble Lady Yu?” Noble Consort Hui stared at Concubine Yi's face and said, “Has the Royal Physician seen her yet?”

   Perhaps knowing that her earlier nervousness had caught her attention, Concubine Yi said with a sense of calm: “I would have asked the Royal Physician to look at it but Rong has been afraid of medicine since she was a child and it's only a slight cough, so I think it's nothing serious.”

   As she spoke back, Noble Consort Hui kept staring at her face, her gaze like a saw, cold and harsh, as if she was about to slice open her brain the next moment to see what thoughts were hidden inside.

   But at that moment the door of the room opened and Liyu, the Grand Eunuch, came in from outside.

   Noble Consort Hui's attention was instantly drawn to him, joining the crowd of Consort present in turning eager eyes to Liyu.

   Liyu, dressed in green, with a duster on his elbow, saluted the Consort and then, to the eager eyes of the Consort, said the two words they least wanted to hear: “Calling off!”

   These two words shattered the thirst in the consort's eyes and it is said that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

   Liyu said with a smile: “Her Highness Noble Consort, the pages are piling up and His Majesty has to correct them overnight, so I won't keep Her Highness waiting today.”

   With a cold smile, Noble Consort Hui got up and walked towards the door, a rude act that was not uncommon for her. Consorts shouted respectfully to her back: “I send Her Highness Noble Consort off!”

   As the night drew on, a heavy ruler suddenly fell on the palace as one by one the Consort went back to bed.

   “Ah!”

   “It hurts!”

   “Who is it?”

   They were about to attack each other but when they saw Fang Gugu's cold, frosty face, their anger melted away like snow and they crawled out of bed like quails, shouting respectfully: “Gugu.”

   Fang Gugu held a ruler in her right hand, which was thick and long, like the leg of a chair and she slowly tapped it against her left palm, sweeping her gaze across the faces of the court maids and finally landing on Jixiang's face, saying coldly: “How do you sleep?”

   Jixiang was confused, raised her hand to wipe the saliva left on the side of her mouth and said with a smile: “How else can I sleep, just lying down.”

   “Who gave you permission to sleep lying down?” Fang Gugu said with a cold rebuke, “Sleeping on your back is to curse the gods and be condemned by the heavens. All of you go to bed and sleep again!”

   The crowd looked at each other until Fang Gugu's ruler was jerked at Jixiang and said, “Don't hurry up yet!”

   The court ladies scurried back to the bed and with Fang Gugu's words in mind, they dared not lie down again but slept on their sides or on their stomachs, only to be beaten by Fang Gu.

   “Watch your legs, you're going to stretch to the Divine Constabulary!”

   “And you, left hand sideways at your waist!”

   “You can't even sleep properly, you should be beaten!”

   The heavy ruler rained down, striking this hand and that leg and some of the younger ones were struck with tears in their eyes but they dared not cry out in pain and could only bite their lower lip and do as she say.

   It was not until everyone was lying on their sides on the bed and at first glance they looked as if they were figurines burnt from the same mould, that Fang Gu withdrew the ruler from her hand and said coldly: “Remember this position and don't forget it even when you fall asleep! Go!”

   With that, Fang Gugu led the two the Grand palace maids beside her away.

   It was only after she had gone that the house resounded with low sobs, muffled for fear of being heard by Fang Gu, one of which seemed to leak out through the fingers.

   “Yingluo...” Jixiang pulled her sleeves up and said to Wei Yingluo with tears in her eyes, “Gugu is smacking me so much, can you help me see if the back of my hand is purple?”

   There was no light in the room and with the thin moonlight coming through the window, Wei Yingluo couldn't see if the back of her hand was blue or purple and even if it was purple, what could she do? Even if it was purple, what could be done about it? In the palace, the Grand palace maids beat up little palace maids like them and it was only natural to do so.

   “Yingluo...” Jixiang quietly moved her bedding towards Wei Yingluo, like a child who had been beaten outside and sought comfort and warmth from her family saying, “Can you hold me to sleep?”

   Wei Yingluo stroked her cheek, smiled tenderly at her and said, “No.”

   When she saw her smile, Jixiang thought she would definitely say yes but she didn't know that she would get the exact opposite answer, so she flinched and asked, “Why?”

   Wei Yingluo's gaze was cool and bright as she spoke with certainty to Jixiang: “Because Gugu will come again.”

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS