The sly flower and the bored butterfly

A blushing surprise

The first day in the palace was definitely boring. Except for the morning where I met with the consorts and empress dowager, everything was dull. The palace was beautiful but nothing really caught my interest. I suddenly realized that perhaps it is boredom which makes people plot against others. Thinking about it, it fits well. In this huge palace with little to do, the consorts must have many unnecessary thoughts.

　　They probably over interpret everything and spend their lives eating vinegar. It is quite scary to think that boredom can cause viciousness. I shuddered thinking about these unpleasant things. Right now only information can take my mind off these things. Information about everything happening in this place.

　　A' xi entered my chambers. I dismissed other maids with the excuse of wanting to rest. I told them that I was a very light sleeper. And that faint noise can wake me up. But I can't be alone at any cost, so I had to keep my dowry maid A' xi by my side.
I could see A'xi trying her best to not snicker. Those maids and nannies are really clingy. I appreciate their hard work but they should really try slacking off once in a while. After others left, A' xi quickly came to my side.

　　She lowered her head and whispered, ' Do you really want to know what I found? These are just rumors after all.' I sighed, ' We don't have real power here. We should treasure what we have. Rumors are still information. There is no smoke without a fire.' A'xi took a deep breath.

　　' Okay so after gossiping for a while, Nubi found out that consort Mei fan is the most favored consort at present. Her father is the chivalrous general Mei and mother the second daughter of Su family. Su family and Mei family both made important contributions in the past wars. The empress dowager doesn't like her very much.'

　　That surprised me. I said, ' But the Su and Mei families are from the left side. Consort Mei is from the same side as the empress dowager, shouldn't the empress dowager hate me and like consort Mei fen.'

　　A'xi tilted her head, ' Well nubi doesn't know about that. It seems like this hatred towards consort Mei starts outside of the palace.' I motioned her to continue.
' Consort Jia yi is the concubines daughter from the Jia mansion. She was given the title of Noble consort because of her maternal grandfather's contribution in suppressing the epidemic during the late emperors regime. She was raised in her mothers home. I heard that she was doted on by her mothers maternal family. She is also new to the palace. She came here one day before niangniang's marriage.'

　　A' xi continued, ' All the other concubines are from Noble families. They all have been visited by the emperor at least once. Up until today, the empress dowager hasn't shown any special favors to anyone of them.' That's good. But the empress dowager still confuses me. It is nice that she likes me but why does she like me? I saw A' xi go silent. She looked uncomfortable.

　　I asked her if there was any news about the emperor. She went pale and told me that she didn't have any news. She was obviously lying.

I pressed her further and she sighed.' Niangniang already knows that emperor was fond of playing around before his coronation. During the time he was in the southern borders he was frequently accompanied by the third miss of liu family, liu xi xi. Miss liu xi xi is the granddaughter of second in command grand general liu and madame Yi. She like her grandfather has excellent Kung fu and is one of the few female generals. Rumors has it that she and the emperor are childhood sweethearts.'

　　' But it looks like his majesty is interested in ahem.......'

　　She came closer and whispered in my ears. ' Both men and women.' I nearly passed out when I heard what A'xi said. She patted my back and expressed her remorse. I asked her why she thought that. ' His majesty is very close to the Lieutenant General of the imperial army. The Lieutenant General and him were close since childhood. The Lieutenant General is also his unofficial right hand man.'