The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 16: The New Leaves are Poisonous

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

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 16: The New Leaves are Poisonous

   The three waited a long time for Noble Lady Yu to be summoned.

   They say that pregnant women are the most happy and beautiful but she looked blank, Zhang Momo lifted her hand when she was told to and turned around when she was told to, as if she were a marionette that wouldn't move on its own without a string.

   “There...” Zhang Momo finished taking Noble Lady Yu's measurements and asked in a soft voice, “What kind of fancy does Noble Lady like? Pomegranate with many children? The auspicious clouds and cranes?”

   Noble Lady Yu looked in a trance, her lips opening and closing up and down, muttering something very, very low.

   “Noble Lady, what did you say?” Zhang Momo had to put her ear to the ground to barely hear her.

   “Loquat cream, loquat cream, loquat cream ...” Noble Lady Yu keep repeating those three words?”

   Zhang Momo flinched and said, “Loquat paste?”

   These three words seemed to irritate Noble Lady Yu, who suddenly shouted, “There must be something wrong with that loquat paste!”

   Zhang Momo was taken aback by her and reflexively looked back at the door, the punishment of Concubine Yi was still continuing and Noble Consort Hui's dog minions were all still out there, who knew if there were any with particularly good ears in there?

   “Noble Lady...” Zhang Momo was quick to turning back and carefully advised, “Zhang Yuanpan is highly skilled in medicine, how could he misjudge it ...”

   “No, no, no! There must be something wrong, there must be something wrong!” Noble Lady Yu interrupted her, then her eyes stared at her for half a day, then suddenly her eyes lit up and she grabbed her shoulders with both hands and said, “I recognize you, you were there that day and you, with you ...”

   Her gaze slid past Jinxiu and finally landed on Wei Yingluo's face, her gaze hollow and dark as she smiled and said: “You were all there, you all saw it, Noble Consort Hui wanted to harm me, the loquat paste must be poisoned but ... But why can't the test come out, why? Why?!”

   Noble Lady Yu's voice grew louder and louder, eventually becoming almost hysterical in its questioning.

   Zhang Momo's nose was sweating and she wanted to put her hand over her mouth but she had to look back at the door and plead: “Noble Lady, I beg you, don't say anything...”

   “The new leaves are poisonous.”

   Zhang Momo and Noble Lady Yu stared in unison, then followed the sound.

   Wei Yingluo hung her head and whispered: “The old loquat leaves are not poisonous; the new ones are ...”

   Zhang Momo felt a chill on her back and said urgently, “Shut up!”

   “Stop it!” Noble Lady Yu screamed at her, then walked quickly up to Wei Yingluo and said, with a slight tremor in her voice, “Speak on.”

   Wei Yingluo, still with her head bowed and looking at the light gold cinnamon patterned skirt in front of her, whispered: “I loved eating loquats when I was young and as a result, I once accidentally ingested the kernels and had difficulty breathing and vomited and later the wandering doctor said that the doctors followed the pharmacopoeia to make medicine, which used aged loquat leaves to make loquat paste but most people did not know why. He also discovered by chance that it was because old loquat leaves are non-toxic, while new leaves and kernels are poisonous and taking more than one can be life threatening ...”

   “So, it is, so it is, the new leaves are poisonous, the new leaves are poisonous.” Noble Lady Yu murmured repeating these four words, “The loquat paste sent by Noble Consort Hui must have been made from the new leaves, the toxicity was minimal, no wonder Zhang Yuanpan hadn't noticed it, even if it had been discovered, it could be assumed that the Imperial Pharmacy had made a mistake ...”

   Noble Lady Yu suddenly grabbed Wei Yingluo's arm and said with a frenzied expression: “Go! Come with me to see the Empress!”

   “Never!” Zhang Momo stopped them and said: “Noble Lady, how can you take the words of a little maid seriously, is she more accurate than Zhang Yuanpan? Yingluo, what will happen to you if you talk nonsense in the palace?”

   Wei Yingluo knelt down from goodness.

   “Noble Lady.” She bowed her head and said, “I am in a lowly position and it was only in your kindness that you gave your slave the opportunity to speak but in Her Highness Empress I may not even have the opportunity to speak.”

   In short, the Empress wouldn't necessarily believe a word from a little person like her.

   “... I see.” Noble Lady Yu looked back at the Wei Yingluo in front of her with a complicated expression and slowly let go of the hand that was tugging at her arm and said, “I'll go find the Empress by myself to report, you ...”

   There was a pause before she asked in a soothing tone, “What's your name?”

   “I, Yingluo.” Wei Yingluo returned respectfully.

   Noble Lady Yu nodded towards her and darted away from the door.

   As soon as she left, Zhang Momo glared at Wei Yingluo and said, “Why did you say that to Noble Lady Yu?”

   Why?”

   Wei Yingluo looked at the back of Noble Lady Yu.

   “I can ignore most things but only them, only their sisterhood ...” Wei Yingluo said silently, “I can't leave them alone, when I see them, it's like I see my sister and me ...”

   So, for the sake of this rare and precious sisterhood, she was willing to take a risk.

   “Not to mention the fact that it wasn't for nothing.” She thought to herself, “The two biggest factions in the harem are the Empress and Noble Consort Hui and if I really offend Noble Consort Hui, I'll naturally be in the Empress' faction... I guess it's better than joining the Empress directly, after all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

   Wei Yingluo thought she had it all covered.

   But soon she realized she had still underestimated this harem and underestimated the others.

   “Yingluo!” After returning to the Embroidery Workshop, Zhang Momo dismissed everyone but Wei Yingluo and then, with a ruler in her hand, shouted in a stern voice, “Kneel down!”

   Unlike Fang Gugu, she had always had a heart of gold and a heart of bean curd and the ruler in her hand had never really fallen on any of the little court maids but now it was clear that she was really angry.

   “Momo.” She called softly, as a little granddaughter calls to her most loving grandmother and said, “Don't be angry, I know I was wrong.”

   Zhang Momo's heart softened but her expression became sterner and she said, “Do you know what you did wrong?”

   “I shouldn't have told Noble Lady Yu to her face that the new leaves were poisoned...” Wei Yingluo thought about it and said, “I should have written the matter on paper and slipped it secretly into the new clothes cut for her, it would have been safer to drop the note on the floor by mistake when delivering the clothes and if Noble Lady picked it up and asked me about it, I would have lied and said I didn't know who had slipped it on me ...”

   “All right!” Zhang Momo interrupted her with a sullen tone and said, “As a result, no matter how many ways you changed, you still had to tell Noble Lady Yu about New Leaf's poison?”

   Wei Yingluo was silent for a long time but finally did not lie to her and whispered back: “Yes.”

   She thought she would be punished, beaten or scolded by Zhang Momo but instead, she waited and waited, only to receive a snort from Zhang Momo.

   “Heh...” The laugh seemed like mockery and pity saying, “Then see with your own eyes, Yingluo and see for yourself, what happens when you do that.”

   In the latter days, the wind was calm.

   Yingluo has been preoccupied by Zhang Momo's comments.

   She cut the clothes and embroidered the flowers and finally made two new dresses, one with pomegranates and cranes and sent them to Noble Lady Yu on the appointed day.

   “I'll keep this one.” Noble Lady Yu ordered the pomegranate stitch and then the other auspicious cloud and wild crane and said, “This one you send to Concubine Yi for me.”

   Yingluo carefully surveyed her expression. Unlike the trepidation she had felt when we first met, today she was lightly swept in rouge, her belly was slightly protruding and a rare glow of happiness passed over her face.

   “Take a message to Concubine Yi for me, by the way.” Noble Lady Yu rewarded Yingluo with a hairpin and said, “Let her endure for a few more days, in a few days Her Highness Empress will definitely do it for her.”

   Yingluo excuses herself but is unable to resist, so she has no choice but to accept the hairpin, which has a pair of red and white lilies twisted around each other, like a pair of the most intimate sisters in the world.

   “I am Wei Yingluo, maid of the Embroidery Workshop, sent by Noble Lady Yu to bring Concubine Yi a newly cut garment.” Yingluo, having been told to be faithful, came to Concubine Yi's bedchamber with the garment in her hand and announced herself to the court maid guarding the chamber.

   It seems that because Concubine Yi had been punished, the ladies of her palace were also in a state of fear, their eyes fluttering like birds about to be scattered when the tree was about to fall.

   Hearing Yingluo's intention, one of the court maids smiled reluctantly and said, “It's a shame Noble Lady Yu still thinks of our Xiaozhu, give me the stuff.” [1” Xiaozhu is like a Zhuzi but lower rank

   “Noble Lady Yu has one more message for Concubine Yi.” Yingluo pursed her lips in embarrassment and said, “... I was specifically instructed to say it to her myself.”

   The court maid eyed her suspiciously and warily for a moment.

   “Or would you first ask Concubine Yi?” Yingluo kindly said, “If she is willing to see me, I will go there but if not, I will report back to Noble Lady Yu, so as not to delay matters or embarrass you.”

   “... All right.” The palace maid then nodded reluctantly and said, “You wait here.”

   She turned to leave and it wasn't long before there was a wailing scream.

   The people in the room looked at me, I looked at you and suddenly they all took their feet together, big feet and small feet, eunuchs and palace maids, in a flurry and rushed together into the door.

   Wei Yingluo's feet were also mixed in and then suddenly settled in front of the bedchamber door.

   Through the door in front of them and into view, were two feet hanging in the air.

   That must have been a lonely woman who was very fond of cranes, so even the embroidered shoes that swayed from side to side were embroidered with cranes spreading their wings and flying.

   Slowly follow those shoes upwards ...

   “Concubine Yi ...” Wei Yingluo murmured.

   A white silk wrapped around Concubine Yi's neck and hung her straight up under the roof beam.

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS