The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 40: The Vicious Dog
The Story of Yanxi
Palace《延禧攻略》Yanxi Gonglue
The Story of Yanxi
Palace, Chapter 40: The Vicious Dog
The dispute
between the Emperor and the Empress comes to an end for the time being.
Wei Yingluo had expected the Empress to be born to cross examine her but after waiting for several days, she did not wait.
That phrase “use
people with suspicion” turned out to be really not a pretext.
Wei Yingluo has
been serving Wei Yingluo more and more since then.
The Empress likes
her to be clever, so she always has her with her. This day she invited Noble Lady
Yu to join her in the garden and instead of Erqing Mingyu, she brought her with
her.
The garden was
beautiful but only slightly cold and the two Her Highnesses, both with thick
cloaks on their shoulders and incense burners in their sleeves, paced slowly
across the winding wooden bridge, under which several koi swam like colored
silks.
“Don’t be bored in
the Yonghe Palace, come to the Changchun Palace more often, you can see the
gardens too but you have to tell your men to be more careful and keep people
around at all times.” the Empress said
softly.
Noble Lady Yu,
pale and thin, said with a forced smile: “I have been favored by Her Highness
more than I could ever repay.”
The Empress
laughed and said: “I am the Empress and am supposed to look after the Sixth
Court and am not worthy of your repayment.”
Noble Lady Yu said
with a smile and a sigh: “If everyone in the palace were as generous as the Empress,
there wouldn’t be so much trouble.”
The Empress knew
who she was talking about but she didn’t know how to comfort her and she was
worried that she was thinking too much, which would hinder the birth, so she
gave Wei Yingluo a wink and told her to find something happy to amuse her, so
that she wouldn’t get depressed.
Wei Yingluo
couldn’t find anything interesting to talk about for a while but Noble Lady Yu
herself, looking to her left and right for a moment, suddenly stopped in her tracks
and said with a gasp: “What a cute puppy.”
Only a snowdrop
rolled a short distance ahead.
On closer
inspection, it turned out to be a small dog with snow-white fur and no hint of
miscellaneous colors and several small eunuchs were chasing after it, one
holding a painted food bowl full of exquisite hot food in his arms, while the
other ran and shouted: “Ouch my little Zhuzi, wait for the servant, wait for
the servant.”
Wei Yingluo is
amused to hear that a dog, too, has become Zhuzi.
“What Zhuzi’s servant,
what a disgrace.” the Empress, however, being a most disciplined person, said
with a displeased face, “I wonder which of the Concubines and Consorts of the
palace has raised ...”
The little dog shrugged
its nose in the air and then ran, unerringly, in the direction of Wei Yingluo
and the others.
Noble Lady Yu was
pleased with its young and cute nature, a smile surfaced on her face and she
bent slightly as if to tease it, the smile on her face diminishing as the dog
ran closer and closer.
In the end, only
horror remained.
“Woof woof!” The
puppy, with teeth bared, rushed madly towards Noble Lady Yu, tearing and biting
at her amidst a chorus of shrieks from the Palace people.
“Ah, don’t come
any closer!” Fangcao, the Grand palace maid who was supposed to guard Noble Lady
Yu, seemed to be scared out of her wits by it and instead of protecting Noble Lady
Yu from it, she backed her up, bringing her even closer to the dog.
Noble Lady Yu, her
face already as white as snow, had forgotten to call for help because she was
so terrified that she was frozen in place like a log.
“Woof!”
A cry of anguish.
A parabola flew
through the air and fell to the ground, rolling several times, its fur almost
melting with the snow, the dog whimpered a few times and did not get up but
only stared at Wei Yingluo from afar, with awe struck eyes.
“Bold!”
A hand smeared
with large red kohl reached out from behind it and lifted it into its arms.
“What are you, how
dare you hurt my beloved dog!” Noble Consort Hui said coldly, “Take her down!”
Wei Yingluo was
taken aback.
She should have
thought, no, she should have thought, that the only person in the palace who
was so arrogant and domineering as to promote her own dog to Zhuzi was the
Noble Consort Hui before her.
“Her Highness Noble
Consort!” Seeing several eunuchs coming towards her at her behest, Wei Yingluo
preempted them, shouting, “But you have set your dog on someone with the
intention of killing the dragon child in Noble Lady Yu’s belly?”
Even if Noble Consort
Hui had the heart to do so, she must not admit it at this moment, let alone
dispose of Wei Yingluo at once, or she would be suspected of killing and
silencing her.
“What a servant,
not only did you injure my beloved dog but now you dare to slander me.” Noble Consort
Hui sneered and said, “Her Highness Empress, what do you think should be done
with such a person?”
“Deal with your
dog before you do with the man.” the Empress, who would let her ride over her
head and bully her beloved in public, immediately said indifferently, “A dog
doesn’t make a fuss for no reason, look what’s in its food bowl!”
The crowd
immediately pounced on the little eunuch who was carrying the food bowl, only
to find that the food that had been in it had disappeared.
A load of
nonsense, yet there was nothing to be done with him for a while.
One of the court
maids offered the Empress a suggestion: “Her Highness, there is nothing in the food
bowl and now the only way to find out what the dog has eaten is to cut open its
belly...”
“Outrageous!”
Before he could finish, Noble Consort Hui shouted shrilly, “I’ll tear her apart
if anyone touches a hair on her head!”
How dare the court
man offend Noble Consort Hui, he immediately fell silent and even regretted his
talk.
Without evidence,
things are at a standstill and the offender is a dog that doesn’t understand
human speech, so we can’t call for the arraignment of this dog, can we?
In the end it was
just a case of giving up.
As the two sides
parted and passed each other, the Empress suddenly turned around and said: “Noble
Consort, Yingluo has done you a favor by doing this, if your dog had really
hurt Noble Lady Yu just now, it would have caused an uproar. If your dog had
hurt Noble Lady Yu just now, it would have been a big deal and in my opinion,
you need to discipline the people around you! If they are so incompetent that
they can’t even keep an eye on a dog and let it get into trouble, I won’t
tolerate it next time!
Noble Consort Hui’s
hand petting the puppy suddenly tightened, causing the dog to raise its head
and whimper pitifully.
Not only was she
pondering the Empress’s words but Wei Yingluo was also pondering the Empress’s
words on the way back.
“Well?” the Empress
smiled and asked, “See anything fishy?”
“... Noble Consort
Hui Is she being used as a gun?” Wei Yingluo
asked cautiously.
The Empress nodded
slowly and said with a somewhat grave look on her face: “If things really go
wrong this time, we can’t take it out on the dog in the end, we must find the
owner of the dog. There must be someone else behind this ...”
For a moment, it
was impossible to determine who this person was.
But one thing is
certain.
That’s ... Someone
is going to have a go at Noble Lady Yu.
Wei Yingluo
thought over the day’s situation and a figure gradually emerged in her mind,
smiled coldly and said to the Empress: “Her Highness, I would like to ask you
for an errand...”
She has asked the Empress
for a visit to the Yonghe Palace.
Not only to visit
the sick but also to send jade powder.
Because Noble Lady
Yu is frightened and has nightmares every day, she needs to take the pills
regularly in order to sleep but they are not good for the dragon’s baby and
should not be taken too often. The Empress, having heard of it, had some of it
sent to her from her own treasury.
Noble Lady Yu is
not a big shot and no one likes to take on a job like this but Wei Yingluo is
relieved that the others are willing to take it on.
Today, as usual,
she came to visit with jade powder and because she had been moving around so
much, everyone at the Yonghe Palace knew her and she easily entered the
bedchamber. She said with a forced smile: “Yingluo, you are here.”
Wei Yingluo looked
around and asked with a smile: “Where’s Fangcao?”
“She’s gone to
make up jade pills for me.” Noble Lady Yu sighed, “You don’t have to be in such
a hurry to deliver the last one, ahem, sit down, I’ll have her pour you some
tea, Fangcao, Fangcao!”
“I am, I am.” The Grand
court maid beside Noble Lady Yu pushed her way in to bring Wei Yingluo a nice
cup of tea, only to have her hand clasped by Wei Yingluo as soon as the tea was
set down.
“Fangcao.” Wei Yingluo
smiled at her and said, “What’s wrong with your hand?”
Fangcao had only
washed her hands in a hurry, apparently because she was in a hurry.
“I, was making jade
pills earlier and I didn’t wash my hands, I’ll go wash them now.” Fangcao tried to pull her hand back but found
Wei Yingluo’s fingers were like iron pincers, clasping her tightly and she
couldn’t help but blush.
Noble Lady Yu
looked at her, then at Wei Yingluo, puzzled: “Yingluo, what’s wrong?”
“Noble Lady.” Wei Yingluo
slowly turned her head to look at her and said, “Beside you, there is a
traitor.”
The Story
of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS
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