Consort Shu

CH 17: Punished to Kneel

　　"The emperor brought back a commoner girl from Huaiyang and even bestowed the title of Liyi on her?" The Empress Dowager sat upright in her chair, casually moving her prayer beads while asking her personal attendant, Lu Momo.

"Yes. Her Majesty has already arranged for her to reside in the West Side Hall of the Jingfu Palace," Lu Momo said cautiously, a bit worried that the Empress Dowager might get angry.

The Empress Dowager merely nodded casually. "The empress has arranged it well. Do you know the identity of that woman?"

"I inquired. Jiang Liyi is the daughter of a Xiangshen in Huaiyang Prefecture. Her family has a few acres of land, and their background is relatively clean."

Regarding feminine charm, her son had always been quite prudent. After hearing Lu Momo's words, Empress Dowager Xiao commented, "Since she is from a clean family and the emperor likes her, let it be."

Just an ordinary commoner, she couldn't create much turmoil. The empress wasn't someone to be trifled with; handling a low-ranking concubine without any influential background was no more difficult than squashing an ant.

Lu Momo, however, was a bit concerned. "Empress Dowager, what if His Majesty had Jiang Liyi..."

"Hmph!" The Empress Dowager gave a rare sneer. She knew what Lu Momo was worried about. "I understand my son. If he had a fraction of the late emperor's soft heartedness for women, he wouldn't be sitting on this throne."

　　People often say that the Xiao family is extraordinarily splendid with three empresses. However, who has ever considered whether she willingly entered the gate of this palace? When she married into the royal family at the age of fifteen, the late emperor was already over forty. More agonizingly, this man was the husband of her own aunt. While it's not uncommon in history for emperors to marry two sisters or aunts and nieces as consorts, she never imagined this fate would befall her. The late emperor took her as a wife merely to fulfill his promise to her aunt, to look after the Xiao family. For this reason, she had no chance to resist, and a sedan chair carried her through the palace gates.

"But..."

"Rest assured, I'm not dead yet. Aijia won't allow another Moral Consort Wei to emerge in the harem, disturbing the palace atmosphere," the Empress Dowager said coldly, her eyes so icy they could almost freeze someone.

Lu Momo also knew about those past events and dared not speak further. Moral Consort Wei was the most favored consort before the late emperor's death, wielding considerable influence in the harem. Even her own master, who was then the empress, had to step back and suffered a lot of covert losses during that time. It was indeed difficult to endure.

Jiang Liyi's arrival made many consorts and concubines uneasy, especially the newly-entered palace women who were even more upset. They were the daughters of prestigious families who had been selected through the draft for the palace, with higher social status than Jiang Liyi, the daughter of a local landlord. However, when they entered the palace, most were granted the rank of sixth grade, and Jiang Liyi was also given the sixth rank. It was hard for them not to harbor resentment.

　　The summer heat gradually subsided, and there was a slight coolness in the morning and evening. The weather was pleasant, and Shen Moyun was also quite willing to take a stroll in the Imperial Garden, both for exercising and relaxing.

However, the garden seemed a bit too lively. Shen Moyun looked at the group of people ahead and sighed in her heart. With such a large Imperial Garden, why did she choose this path?

"Master, it's Noble Consort Niangniang, Ruan Meiren, and Jiang Liyi. They seem to be arguing about something," Hong Xi squinted her eyes and observed for a while. "Master, Noble Consort Niangniang seems to have noticed us."