The Rebel

Princess Consort Xi v. Imperial Noble Consort Du

"It seems like Princess Consort Xi truly dislikes this concubine... Your Majesty... I feel so aggrieved by this."

Imperial Noble Consort Du immediately stands up and kneels before Emperor Li. Xi Yinghua smiles as she looks at the wretched imperial concubine. She then closes her eyes for a moment, changes her expression so that she will appear to look being unjustly treated before she opens up her now slightly misty pair of eyes. She stands up and kneels before the Empress Dowager while giving a full bow before her.

"Imperial mother-in-law, Yinghua has acted unruly towards Her Highness. Yinghua is at fault at this. Please do not blame His Royal Highness for the humble one's mistake."

To the shock of others, once she lifts her head up and straightens her back as she continues to kneel on the floor, she appears to be crying. Her beautiful yet expressive eyes are shedding tears down her fair yet smooth cheeks.

Jing Ruyi who is still sitting silently on her seat seems to be crying as well. She gracefully wipes off her tears using her silk handkerchief.

Empress Yan notices this and cannot help not to be amazed at the closeness in between her third imperial brother-in-law's princess consort and concubine. Seems like both women are indeed in a harmonious relationship unlike Imperial Noble Consort Du and herself. Once, Du Miren is like her own sister. Even after she has decided to enter the harem, both of them are still close as ever. Still, everything good must comes to an end...

And that 'end' happened 5 years ago, 3 years after Du Miren has entered the imperial palace and, in the shortest amount of time, became the second rank mistress in the 6 palaces of the imperial harem. With Du Miren being elevated as the Imperial Noble Consort, both of them can no longer view each other in a positive way. And, the way how Du Miren acted these past few years has not helped much in closing in the gap in between them as well. When she gave birth to the First Princess, they are still being cordial with each other. But, when she gave birth to the Fourth Prince but, at the same time, Du Miren had a tragic miscarriage that had caused her to no longer able to be pregnant.

That is the turning point where Du Miren has turned vicious towards the other women in the imperial harem. Some even lost their lives because of her pettiness, jealousy and raging temper. As an Empress and the first rank mistress, she had tried her best to shield the other imperial concubines from Du Miren's wrath but, if the Emperor himself turns a blind eye towards Du Miren's ways, there is only so much that she can do. Du Miren is the most pampered woman in the imperial harem, a pampered woman with no ability to have her own children.

With that knowledge, she uses all her powers to protect the imperial offsprings when she built a place where the princes and princesses will stay as soon after they reached 3-month old with around the clock nannies and maidservants to cater their needs. The large and secured Bifenggang¹ Courtyard is even fully guarded with the imperial guards of the first rank. The birth mothers of the princes and princesses are allowed to visit them on a weekly basis with the respective nanny keeping a close watch.

The First Princess and the Fourth Prince are the legitimate imperial children so they are not required to live at Bifenggang Courtyard but, they have to go there to join in the lessons on a daily basis. This daily interaction between them make the imperial siblings be quite close to each other. Empress Yan treats every princes and princesses fairly by rewarding and punishing them accordingly including her own children. And that has made the other imperial concubines feel happy even though they are not allowed to raise their respective child. Which is good anyway? because someone is not able to hurt any imperial offsprings.

Empress Yan softly says, "Imperial mother-in-law, both Imperial Noble Consort Du and Princess Consort Xi are in the wrong but Princess Consort Xi is still using with the imperial rules yet as she just has been married into the imperial family not too long ago. Please, not blame her. As for Imperial Consort Du..."