The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 22: Rumors

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

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 22: Rumors

   Rumors are not only circulating among the court ladies but also among the Royal Guards.

   It even reached Fucha Fuheng's ears.

   “Qingxi with the court maid?” Fucha Fuheng frowned, thinking there must be something fishy about this.

   When the Royal Guards were not on duty, it was not uncommon for them to spend a lot of time drinking and sometimes Fucha Fuheng had to accompany his subordinates to have a drink but among them, he had never seen Qingxi's Fucha Fuheng sometimes had to accompany his subordinates to drink but he never saw Qingxi's figure among them.

   Saying that such a man had actually hooked up with a palace maid, Fucha Fuheng couldn't help but shake his head and say: “Who did Qingxi mess with to spread such rumors to harm him.”

   The Royal Guard, who had come to denounce him, said hastily: “But no one harmed him, I saw it with my own eyes.”

   Fucha Fuheng frowned and asked, “What did you see?”

   “The other day we were on patrol at the Royal Gardens and a small, extremely proper looking maid passed by and quietly slipped something to Qingxi.” Royal Guard said with a heated smile, “I wasn't the only one who saw it, a few others did.”

   Since there were eyewitnesses, I'm just afraid it's not something that's just made up.

   But partial hearing is dark and Fucha Fuheng, not intending to listen to just one family, questioned the other carefully, especially the little court maid's dress and looks and finally got up and said: “All right, I'll go and ask Qingxi.”

   When he arrived at the Royal Guardhouse, Qingxi was resting and some of his colleagues were teasing him about the palace maid and Fucha Fuheng was so moved that he withdrew his foot and hid behind the door to listen to them.

   “Hey, Qingxi, you're good, you've picked up a pretty court maid without saying anything!” One of the Royal Guards said with a scowl as he grabbed Qingxi's shoulder.

   “How do you know if you look good with your head down all the time!” The other one begs to differ and said, “Maybe when you look up, the scruff is even thicker than yours.”

   “Go, go, don't talk about sour grapes there.” The Royal Guard said, “How many of the girls chosen for the palace are not good looking? Besides, there is nothing unattractive about a young girl who has been picked up. Don't you think so, Qingxi?”

   Qingxi was squeezed between them and looked embarrassed but could only say stiffly: “The rules of our ancestors forbid us to associate with a maid and I am with her ...”

   “Hey, I thought you were going to say something!” Royal Guard laughed loudly and patted him on the shoulder and said, “This kind of thing, people don't report it, officials don't investigate it, sooner or later the palace maid will be released, if you like it, you can use it in the future! If you like it, you can use it in the future. This is a marriage of a concubine, not a wife.

   Fucha Fuheng, unable to listen any longer, came out from behind the door and said in a stern voice: “Qingxi!”

   The laughter in the room ceased and everyone, including Qingxi, hurriedly rose to their feet and said, “Lord Fucha ...”

   Fucha Fuheng walked up to Qingxi, looked at the man in front of him with some pain and said slowly: “Palace maids and Royal Guards are not allowed to have sex with each other, this is the rule of the palace, you should have known it from the first day you entered the palace!”

   Qingxi hung his head at his words.

   Fucha Fuheng took a deep breath, reached out and said, “Hand over the item.”

   Seeing that Qingxi did not move for a long time, he again increased his tone and said: “Hand over what that maid gave you, hand it over!”

   Qingxi looked at him with a complicated expression for a moment and finally sighed slightly, fished out something from his arms and placed it in the palm he handed out.

   The crowd had expected it to be a scented handkerchief embroidered with a boudoir name, or a sword spike stained with a lipstick, or even a precious strand of hair cut from the temples to represent “Being married to you, never to part from each other in this life.”

   Yet the eyes were cast and all the people saw was a stone.

   A stone found everywhere in the Royal Gardens, off white and without any special features.

   Royal Guard, who knew Qingxi well, had the intention to help him out and laughed at this and said: “Giving a stone means that the concubine's heart is like a stone, ah, ah, ah, you are being rejected? Hahahaha!”

   I must say that Qingxi is well liked and when he laughed, the others laughed with him and there was a lot of laughter in the Royal Guard as the crowd seemed to want to pass the incident off as a joke.

   “Shut up!” Fucha Fuheng said coldly.

   The laughter immediately stopped and the crowd carefully sized up Fucha Fuheng's expression, which made Fucha Fuheng feel funny in his heart, did they think he was the kind of person who would come up and slap people around indiscriminately?

   ... Yes, he is!

   “All recite the Guard Regulations a hundred times!” Fucha Fuheng stood with his hands in the air and commanded, “If you can't recite it, don't take your evening meal!”

   “Huh? Lord Fucha!”

   “Don't it ...”

   “Spare our life!”

   The Royal Guard battalion was in mourning but Fucha Fuheng was unmoved.

   It's all for their own good. If we really let this matter slip away, it's inevitable that they'll get lucky and do something ugly in the future.

   Recite it a hundred times, no less a chastisement and by the way a warning to all.

   “And then, who exactly is that court maid?” On the way out of the Royal Wealth, Fucha Fuheng could not help but open his palm again, look at the small stone in his palm and murmur, “And this thing, what does it really mean? Is it really a concubine's heart like a stone?”

   The commotion in the Royal Guard, no matter how big or small, without deliberate concealment, cannot escape the eyes of those who have a mind to see it.

   “Gugu, Gugu!” Jinxiu knocked on Fang Gugu's door and said with a happy face, “I found out who that Royal Guard is!”

   “Oh?” Fang Gugu sat up from her bed and said, “Who is it?”

   “The name is Qijia Qingxi and I heard that the two not only had an illicit affair but also exchanged tokens of affection ...” Jinxiu added to the story by describing what happened in Royal Guard and then said, “I also found out that he takes a shift every five day to guard the Qianqing Gate, so this must be the day when the two of them secretly dated!”

   “Even the people in Royal Guard know about these two, it's considered a nail in the coffin.” Fang Gugu sneered and said, “Keep a good eye on her, I reckon it won't take more than a few days for these two to make a big deal out of it!”

   Jinxiu will keep an eye on Wei Yingluo without Fang Gugu telling her to do so.

   But with such a close watch, she hadn't caught Wei Yingluo having an affair with a man once and Fang Gugu had repeatedly urged her to report back but she could only report a few traces.

   But aren't these clues enough to tell the story?”

   “Woo!” In the dining hall of the palace house, the food had just been served when Wei Yingluo rushed to the door, covering her mouth and dry heaving.

   Jixiang was quick to holding the dish to her nose, sniffing it like a small animal for half a day and then said suspiciously, "It's not broken, Sister Yingluo, are you not a fan of eating fish?”

   The food today was very good, with fish and meat, especially the fish soup that came in a bowl for each person, the soup was simmering snow-white, the fish meat almost melted inside the soup, even the thorns were softened, you could drink it in one gulp, it was so fresh and delicious that it left a taste on your lips.

   The palace maids could occasionally eat meat but there really weren't many opportunities to eat fish, not because it was more expensive than other meats but because they were afraid that eating too much fish would leave a fishy taste in their mouths and upset the Zhuzi.

   Everyone is cherishing this rare opportunity, except Wei Yingluo.

   “... Well, I don't really like fish.” Wei Yingluo turned back to Jixiang with a reluctant smile and said, “You can eat it for me.”

   Jixiang was pleased with herself and said, “Yes, yes, then I'll share my bean curd with you.”

   Just as she was exchanging their plates of food, a voice came from next to her coldly and said, “Is it a bad stomach, my sister in law was like this when she was pregnant, she wanted to throw up on everything she ate.”

   Wei Yingluo's face froze, then she looked at the other side and said, “Last time, Noble Consort Hui rewarded me with a lot of lotus root pellets and I accidentally ate too many of them, so I've been having intestinal disorders ever since.

   Jinxiu smiled and didn't say anything but in her heart, she pooh poohed

   Lotus root powder pills? That's all three months old, even if it's hard to kefir, it's not so hard to kefir up to now!”

   Hardly, really ...

   Jinxiu's gaze swept over Wei Yingluo's stomach intentionally or unintentionally.

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS