TPITWOHEF

Chapter 5

Donghua Palace main hall.

The interior design and furnishings, such as pear wood furniture and embroidered silk door curtains from Jiangnan, were much more exquisite and luxurious compared to the side palace where Lower Concubine Liu lived.

Xiao Chuchu, who was being carried in Lower Concubine Liu's arms after eating her fill and sleeping soundly, opened her big, wet eyes wide to look around.

Eventually, she focused her curious gaze on the woman in the seat of honor, Consort Min.

Consort Min, the mistress of this palace, did not have outstanding features, but she had a ruddy complexion.

At the moment, she was holding a string of prayer beads, turning them as she read Buddhist scriptures.

"Consort Min, are you also reading the Lotus Sutra?"

Lower Concubine Liu was carrying Xiao Chuchu as she waited in Consort Min's palace for the empress dowager's edict regarding the handling of the wet nurse affair.

She couldn't just sit there waiting, so she had no choice but to awkwardly make small talk with Consort Min.

She lived in a side building of Donghua Palace which was under Consort Min's jurisdiction.

In a way, Consort Min was her superior.

But usually, Consort Min loved Buddhism and did not like talking with her and Concubine Chen. Lower Concubine Liu had lived in Donghua Palace for six years but was not very close with Consort Min.

Today, Lower Concubine Liu had to ask Consort Min to uphold justice for her beloved young mistress, so she had no choice but to deal with Consort Min.

She complained bitterly to herself, but for the sake of her adorable little mistress, she had to steel herself.

"I happened to have a copy of scriptures beautifully transcribed by a monk. I'll have Autumn Pear bring them over..."

In her swaddling clothes, Xiao Chuchu stretched out her little legs anxiously, [Oh no, Mother has it wrong! Consort Min can't stand Buddhist scriptures!]

Lower Concubine Liu was startled. She looked at the Lotus Sutra scroll in one of Consort Min's hands and the nine nine eighty-one sandalwood prayer beads she was fingering in her other hand.

[Although Consort Min comes from the scholarly Xie family, she has loved dancing with blades and weapons since she was little!]

Lower Concubine Liu was shocked.

Xiao Chuchu pressed her little hands against the side of her swaddling clothes, struggling to wave them around.

As she looked at Consort Min pretend to piously turn her prayer beads in front of her, she recalled,

[Before entering the palace, the Xie family elders had forbidden her from touching blades and ordered her to transcribe scriptures to tame her unruly nature, so that she could have an advantageous marriage! ]

[Who would have thought her reputation for loving Buddhist rituals would spread! ]

[After she entered the palace, even the Empress Dowager had heard about it. She awarded Consort Min twelve volumes of scriptures and praised her gentle and tranquil personality. When Consort Min's father heard about this, he immediately sent her mother into the palace in the middle of the night, ordering his daughter to keep up the act no matter what! Otherwise she would be guilty of deceiving the Empress Dowager and the imperial family!]

Lower Concubine Liu was flabbergasted. Was there really such a thing?

[So whenever there were people around, Consort Min would pretend to hold her prayer beads and read scriptures. But whenever she was behind closed doors, she would dance with blades and weapons. There wasn't a single intact porcelain object in the Donghua Palace main hall because she might have smashed them!]