The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 17: The First Look

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

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 17: The First Look

   “I don't understand...” When she returned, Wei Yingluo was puzzled and found the only person who could give her an answer and said, “Zhang Momo, Concubine Yi… Why did she die?”

   “A Concubine who has her mouth slapped in public, can she still stand in the palace in the future?” Zhang Momo, while embroidering a peony flower, said indifferently, “If it were anyone else, she would be able to tolerate it but she is notoriously arrogant ...”

   In other words, Noble Consort Hui knew full well that she was of such a nature that she used this humiliating method on her, forcing her to suffer humiliation and kill herself.

   “... How silly.” Wei Yingluo's face was gloomy and she didn't know whether to say to her or to herself, “One can only turn over a new leaf if one lives. If it were me, even if someone spat in my face, not to mention being slapped in the mouth, I would still be able to endure it until the day I get my revenge!”

   A cold, biting hatred came out of her bones, making Zhang Momo's skin tingle and she couldn't help but drop her embroidery bandage and look at her in shock and say: “You ...”

   “Nothing.” The hatred came and went quickly and just looking at Wei Yingluo's smiling face, it was as if the chill and hatred just now were all Zhang Momo's fault, saying, “Momo, I've finished the embroidery.

   Zhang Momo took the embroidery bandage she handed her, a white peony on it, along with the large red peony she had left unfinished at hand, both for Noble Consort Hui.

   This Her Highness was never one to be outdone, for if Noble Lady Yu had to make two new dresses, she had to make twenty and in addition to that she had to make matching embroidered handkerchiefs and new shoes, all with peony designs, one color not to be repeated and one flower not to be repeated, which was tiring for the Embroidery Workshop. The court ladies of the Embroidery Workshop were exhausted.

   In the end, even Zhang Momo had to do the work herself before she could barely finish the patterns within the time limit.

   “Well, that's good.” Zhang Momo nodded and looked outside again at the sky and said, “It's this time of the day, you haven't had lunch yet, go and eat.”

   “Yes.” Wei Yingluo said good naturedly, “I'll eat quickly and try to be back early to finish the work before this evening.”

   She was always so understanding and pleasant, Zhang Momo nodded, thinking to herself that it was really just her own illusion before ...

   But Yingluo came out of the Embroidery Workshop and didn't go to dinner.

   She couldn't eat a single bite.

   When you close your eyes, it's a pair of feet hanging in the air.

   Snapping his eyes open, Yingluo kicked the tree opposite.

   There are too many bastards in this harem and they are even in high positions of power, she can't afford to mess with any of them, so she can only treat the trees in front of her as if they were them, kicking them up one by one to vent her inner anger.

   “Audacious servant!”

   Wei Yingluo's heart snapped back with a start.

   She was so preoccupied with venting her inner frustration that she didn't even notice that someone was coming behind her.

   Looking at his clothes and the fine duster he had across his elbow, it was a eunuch of very high rank and he was heard to shout sternly, “The Holy Emperor is here, don't kneel down!”

   ... The Holy Emperor?”

   Wei Yingluo froze, then flew to her knees, pressed her face firmly into her hands and said, “I Greets His Majesty.”

   Footsteps came slowly towards her.

   A pair of bright yellow boots stopped in front of her and a careless male voice rang out above her head saying, “Who gave you permission to hurt Lingbai?”

   Lingbai? [1” Lingbai Ling=Spirit Bai= Cypress tree

   Yingluo said, “I don't think it's a good idea, because when something is called a spirit, it usually has a value and is no longer an ordinary thing.

   “Bastard! This tree is the Lingbai!” Pointing to the tree she had kicked earlier, the Grand Eunuch reprimanded, “The word Lingbai is inscribed in the imperial hand and look, there's a bronze plaque hanging on the back! How dare you hurt it like that!”

   He had the patience to explain with Yingluo, the other one didn't have that patience, or the interest to waste his time on a silly little court maid.

   “Pull down.” The bright yellow boots slowly left her and said, “Cane thirty.”

   A cane of thirty?”

   Yingluo couldn't help but blush.

   Thirty strokes would take half her life if she didn't die and after that she would have to spend a lot of time recuperating from her injuries, how could she have that much time to waste?

   What's more, being punished is a stain.

   How is someone who has been personally ordered to be chastised by the Emperor to gain a foothold in the harem in the future?

   I'm afraid that even Noble Lady Yu and Zhang Momo will have to draw a line under the surface, lest they upset His Majesty.

   From now on, it will be difficult for her to move an inch in the harem.

   She would never allow herself to be tainted like that!

   “I have not been in the palace long and I do not know the spirit cypress but there is a reason why the slave did what he did!” Yingluo, sweating at her temples, desperately racked her brains.

   Said the bright yellow boots with a pause, “Oh?”

   Wei Yingluo, with a twinkle in her eye, gritted her teeth and said, “I really don't know if this is a spirit cypress but last night an old tree told my servant in a dream that it had been here for a long time and that it was itching, so I asked my servant to come to the garden to look for it and scratch its back! I was just scratching it!”

   The Grand Eunuch sneered and said: “The more you talk, the more you are an asshole, how can a tree give you a dream!”

   Wei Yingluo was waiting for his words, so she threw her head back and said loudly: “Since the cypress tree has a spirit and can shade His Majesty, it can naturally give me a dream! What I said is true, I dare not lie!”

   The Grand Eunuch was dumbfounded by her words and finally had to turn his attention to the only person here who could make the decision.

   “Just.” But she heard the man say carelessly, “Go on.”

   Out of the corner of his eye, a pair of bright yellow boots stepped past him, followed by a pair of black boots, a pair of white embroidered shoes, a sabre buckled to his waist and a vast array of swords until he was far away, when Wei Yingluo only let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground, sore and weak.

   Got away with it.

   “SMACK!”

   A popping chestnut hit her on the back of the head.

   “Ouch...” Wei Yingluo turned back and said, “Momo, what brings you here?”

   “You little bastard!” Zhang Momo said with sweat on her face too, “You almost got into a big trouble when I didn't watch you for a moment!”

   Being scolded by her like this, Wei Yingluo's heart softened instead.

   “This is a spirit wood knighted by His Majesty himself.” While helping Wei Yingluo up from the ground, Zhang Momo explained that “When His Majesty was on a private visit, in the heat of the day, all the ministers were sweating but His Majesty was the only one who didn't sweat, so everyone thought it was strange. When His Majesty talked about it, it was as if a giant cypress had followed him all the way from the Forbidden City to shade him. Everyone said that the cypress knew that His Majesty was travelling, so it came along to protect him!”

   She rambled on so much to make Wei Yingluo more cautious in her actions.

   In the palace, people are not to be messed with, sometimes not even the trees.

   “I see.” Wei Yingluo sighed, looked steadily at the delicate tree beside her and murmured, “In the Forbidden City, even a tree favored by His Majesty is better than an unpopular person.”

   On the other side, the bright yellow boots suddenly came to a halt.

   All the boots behind him stopped together.

   “His Majesty?” The Grand Eunuch looked at him suspiciously.

   “I was just thinking about the court ...” Hongli said slowly.

   The Grand Eunuch made a show of listening with respect.

   “So, I didn't react for a moment...” Hongli slowly turned his head, the shadows of the trees swayed, drops of light fell through the gaps in the leaves like golden rain on his body and face, he suddenly laughed and said, “Now think carefully--a mere court maid, why should Lingbai have given her a dream?”

   Jesus Emperor, you've only just figured that one out?

   The eunuch thought this in his heart but on the surface, he made the same face and looked as if he had just reacted, gritting his teeth and saying: “Yes, I have just reacted too, that little girl opened her mouth and told a lie, she should be arrested, caught and killed!”

   “Do you remember what she looks like?” Hongli asked lightly with his hands behind his back.

   The Grand Eunuch flinched, then racked his brain to remember ...

   “Can't remember, I suppose.” Hongli said faintly, “The palace maids were all dressed exactly alike and she immediately knelt on the floor again, her whole face on the back of her hand, without lifting it.”

   The Grand Eunuch said, dumbfounded, “This, this, she did it on purpose ...”

   The women of the harem are all after a “show of face.”

   Who would have thought that there would be people desperately trying to hide their faces?

   “Now that the water is in the sea and the leaves are in the jungle, the only way to find her again is by the sound of her voice.” Hongli looked at the swaying woods in the Royal Gardens and said slowly, “Liyu, go and find the person for me while you still remember her voice now.”

   “Yes...” After a moment's thought, he added, with a wry smile, “When you find it, don't get it killed yet, send it to me.”

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS