The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 8: Cheating

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

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 8: Cheating

   While the Draft Selection is coming to an end, the Embroidery Workshop is just getting started on the cheating.

   “I saw it with my own eyes.” A palace maid pointed at Wei Yingluo and said, “Jixiang's handkerchief fell with a bloodstain and it was Wei Yingluo who exchanged the embroidery bandage and finished it for her! There is a rule in the palace that if someone cheats, both of them will be thrown out together!

   “Oh?” Wu Shulai said with a glance, “Is that so?”

   Wei Yingluo looked at the smug palace maid and only felt ridiculous.

   She thought Jinxiu would be the one to tell on her but the last person to jump out was someone else.

   Jinxiu could be justified in doing so, she would be one of the best in the Embroidery Workshop with one less competitor but what is this maid? Even if Wei Yingluo were to be expelled, she would not be a worthy success and no one would like a backstabber and all the court ladies would be wary of her. Or is jealousy that powerful? It's enough to make her do harm to others and harm to herself.

   With a thud, Jixiang fell to her knees and said with a sobbing voice: “I, I ...”

   “What you ah I ah, stammering, not knowing any rules.” Zhang Momo reprimanded with a cold face, “Why don't you answer when the Chief Steward asks you!”

   “It's me!” Jixiang gritted her teeth and tried to take all the blame on herself saying, “It's all because of me ...”

   “Pfft.”

   A soft laugh interrupted her and the crowd looked in unison to see who was so bold as to dare to laugh at this time.

   ... It's Wei Yingluo.

   Wu Shulai, who had thought her to be an old-fashioned person and had some good feelings towards her, now saw her so unaware of the importance of the matter, his face faded and he asked, “What are you laughing at.”

   “Laugh at the ridiculous man.” Wei Yingluo walked up to Jixiang's embroidery bandage and said, “Who said we cheated, look.”

   She leans the picture of a brocade chicken in her hand next to Jixiang's picture of a peony and then a village comes to light in the dark.

   “This is ...” Wu Shulai's eyes widened in shock.

   In contrast, Wei Yingluo's vivid painting of a brocade rooster is, if there is any drawback, a single color, except for a splash of red at the crown. The colors are a little too monotonous.

   Now the two go together and it's actually a perfect match.

   The peony magnifies the colors of the two embroideries with its national colors, while the brocade hen enhances them with its pride, no, where are the two embroideries ...

   “It was supposed to be an embroidery called--Peony with a brocade chicken.” Wei Yingluo laughs, “It took too long, so I worked with Jixiang on it.”

   “That's not true!” The maid who denounced her said hastily, “You, you ...”

   “Dare I ask a question.” Wei Yingluo smiled and said to her, “When I handed the embroidery bandage to Jixiang, were the peonies not all finished?”

   The maid opened her mouth but could not say anything irreverent.

   Although the group was working in the same the Embroidery Workshop, they were sitting at a distance from each other and the only people who knew what had happened were the three people next to Wei Yingluo, namely Jixiang, Jinxiu and Linglong. Linglong. The palace maid probably overheard them but she may not have known the whole story, so she could not have known that Jixiang's first embroidery was not a golden chicken but a golden carp.

   So, Wei Yingluo tested the depths of her and seeing that she looked like she had nothing to say, Wei Yingluo immediately had an idea in her mind, so she boldly went on to say: “Similarly, when Jixiang handed me the brocade chicken figure, there were only a few stitches, weren't there? And? What's the point of cheating if it's all unfinished?”

   The crowd was dumbfounded, then looked together at Zhang Momo.

   “This ...” Zhang Momo said with some difficulty, “There is no precedent for this in the palace, Manager Wu ... What do you think?”

   Manager Wu glanced at her and thought, “No wonder this old woman has been confined to the Embroidery Workshop all her life, she can't even see through such a trivial matter.

   Unlike Zhang Momo, Manager Wu had been in the palace for decades and had seen all sorts of nasty things, so after just a few words, he had already guessed the whole story and knew that it was indeed Wei Yingluo who was cheating.

   But what does it matter?

   “Good!” Wu Shulai suddenly laughed and said to Wei Yingluo with a special meaning, “Good thinking indeed!”

   Wei Yingluo's eyes twitched and she hung her head and said, “Thank you Manager Wu for the compliment.”

   She knew in her heart that she could not hide what she had done from the Grand Eunuch in front of her but she wondered what he would do to her?

   Wu Shulai looked at her with admiration, what was cheating? What he valued was that the child was clear headed and had already prepared a backhand first while cheating, so that if someone told on her, she could immediately turn the tables on her.

   At least she won't be like Zhang Momo, who spent her life in a small the Embroidery Workshop with embroidery and needlework.

   “Those who are useful in the palace have to talk less and do more.” Wu Shulai decided to give her a little face before the other side got mad, by way of dealing with certain stupid things saying, “... and ... The Zhuzi hates stupid things that move the truth ...” [1” a Zhuzi is a master or mistress

   His gaze glanced towards the informant palace maid and his voice trailed off as he said, “Pull down and remove her name.”

   She stood frozen in place for a moment until two eunuchs clasped her arms, then she came to her senses, fell to her knees and cried: “Manager Wu, I know I'm wrong! I will never speak nonsense again, Manager Wu!

   Wu Shulai smiled and shook his head.

   Stupid is as stupid does, can't even figure out why he's being punished.

   Was she punished for talking nonsense? No, she was punished more because she didn't do her job properly--if you want to set someone up, you have to have a good plan, even if you can't kill them, you can't get yourself get caught up in it, don't you know that and still want to stay in the palace?

   It's rather for her own good to let her out of the palace early. With a brain like that, if she continues to stay in the palace, she'll either waste away as a white-headed palace maid or be swallowed up in one bite.

   She was dragged out by two eunuchs and this farewell was feared to be a permanent one.

   It's getting late, I should go now. As Wu Shulai was leaving, he looked at Wei Yingluo again and said with a smile, “There are four girls who are very good at embroidery today, so they should stay at the Embroidery Workshop from now on.”

   “Yes.” Zhang Momo followed him respectfully and said, “Manager Wu, I'll see you off.”

   When their backs disappeared, Jixiang lost all her strength and slumped over Wei Yingluo: “It's over at last ...”

   Sweeping the different eyes around her, Wei Yingluo said carelessly, “Yeah, it's over for now.”

   The sun was setting in the west, the afterglow was spreading all over the place and the sun was staining the Qianqing Gate red.

   The slow, heavy slam of the door sounded as it gradually closed, shutting out the last vestiges of sunlight.

   Wei Yingluo was the last one to come out of the door of the Embroidery Workshop, a little pale from the day's events and the fact that she had worked on two embroideries almost all by herself.

   “Are you alright.” Jixiang asked with some concern as she leaned over her, “If you feel tired, just lean on me and walk.”

   Wei Yingluo pursed her lips and did not refuse her kindness, gently resting her shoulder on the others, like the picture of a brocade chicken and peony they had embroidered earlier, nestling against each other and relying on each other.

   The two of them walk at the end, a long string of green clothes, like tired birds returning to their nests, following the lead of Fang Gugu. This Fang Gugu, a longtime member of the palace, was in charge of teaching the newcomers to the palace and she led them through the dimly lit tunnel, which was flanked by trees, the shadows of which fell in clumps, staining the polished stone floor with a pale ink color.

   Fang Gu suddenly stopped in her tracks and said with some urgency in her voice, “Quickly, all turn your backs!”

   Finished, himself first one facing the wall.

   The palace maids were uncertain but one by one they followed her example and turned their backs and stood facing the wall.

   But there were always one or two disobedient palace maids, whose hearts stirred and whose eyes followed, like Jinxiu. She turned her head quietly to look, only to see at the end of the tunnel, two red lanterns floating out, followed by four, six ...

   Two rows of palace maids came out, carrying exquisite red lanterns in their hands, the red candlelight fell on the ground through the lantern paper, just like a gorgeous red floor stall and a magnificent cortege passed on the red carpet, carrying a beautiful woman, who seemed to be a bit tired and was half leaning on the cortege with her eyes closed, the jasper string of beads wrapped around her wrist swayed gently as the cortege moved. The strings of jasper beads wrapped around her wrist swayed gently with the movement of the regalia and when they struck one another, they made a pleasant sound, like large pearls falling into a jade dish.

   Jinxiu's eyes followed the string of beads and refused to leave it, until Gugu Zhang slapped her across the face and she realized the regalia had left.

   “What are you looking at?” Fang Gugu said with a cold face, “Don't you want to die?”

   Jinxiu raised her hand and touched her face, not knowing whether the burning was due to pain or to the heat in her heart, as she looked in fascination at the direction where the ceremonies had disappeared and said: “That's a consort...”

   Fang Gugu spat: “Unseen thing, only the Empress can use a ceremonial drive, the one who just passed was Noble Consort Hui, that's called a ceremonial guard.”

   Linglong came over and asked, somewhat curiously, “What about the other Consorts and Concubines?”

   Fang Gu gave her a sidelong glance and said, “That's called a “Battle”! But even if it is, only the First Palace Master (Emperor) can use it, no one else, no one else!

   Fang Gugu was impatient but occasionally answered a few questions to show how knowledgeable she was as the Grand maid.

   Wei Yingluo listened without moving a muscle, memorizing every question the palace maids asked, every answer Fang Gu gave, she believed they were all clues and if she gathered enough clues, she would be able to ... Find out who murdered her sister!

   “Gugu.” The Jixiang beside her was not as heavy hearted as she was, she was no different from the rest of the young court maids and asked the same question of little caliber, “So, where is Noble Consort Hui going?”

   Fang Gugu snorted and said, “Zhuzi Where to go, don't worry about it! Don't look, your eyes fall out of the frame, you don't have that life either, let's go!”

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS