Chapter 190 Su’er of the Ma Family
The Seneschal, Tian Shen, who was always with the Emperor announced the imperial edict loudly.
“By the grace of Heavenly Emperor, it is the Emperor’s decree.
Ma Su’er, the daughter of the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, is virtuous and generous, cordial and honest, elegant and beautiful. His Majesty is fond of her. The Emperor should choose the right girl to marry. Now, Ma Su’er is unmarried and a perfect match for His Majesty. For the sake of fulfilling a good deed, all the ceremonies are jointly arranged by the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Astronomer. An auspicious day should be selected to accomplish it.
Notify it home and abroad and declare it publicly.
That’s all.”
When the imperial edict was read in the mansion, Ma Su’er was relieved. It was a risky but brilliant move, which was killing two birds with one stone.
Ma Wencai couldn’t understand how his baby daughter had been chosen to be an imperial concubine. He felt reluctant, but as an assistant minister of the Ministry of War, he could not escape the whirlpool of political struggle.
When Ma Su’er showed her true face, the real Ma Su’er was shocked.
“Your Majesty?” Ma Su’er had attended court banquets, so she knew You Qingcheng. But she had no idea that the Queen ended up like that.
“I’m such a loser,” You Qingcheng laughed at herself. Ma Su’er was speechless. No one had expected the Queen to become a refugee. If she hadn’t burned incense sticks in the temple half a month ago, the Queen might have been defiled. Fortunately, Ma Su’er saved the Queen in time. She didn’t realize it was You Qingcheng’s trick. In order to enter the palace in a dignified way, You Qingcheng took such an unwise decision. It just so happened that Miss Ma had got a man of her heart. You Qingcheng would enter the palace in her place, and Lin Feiyang pretended to be her servant, protecting her secretly.
Ou Jingyu often had nightmares. You Qingcheng’s death was a sore point within her. She didn’t plan to kill You Qingcheng herself. She wanted to have Ning’s woman poison You Qingcheng. To her surprise, Qingcheng, suffering from hysteria, was pregnant with the Emperor’s child. Ou Jingyu certainly could not keep her in the world. Prosperity was Ou Jingyu’s lifelong goal. If her power was taken away, how could she get her mother back? What was worse was that Yan Shen rebelled. You never know what will happen next.
Although Xu Yin avenged his brother, the Western Palace did not get any benefits. Ou Jingyu became the Queen. The lady in the Western Palace got furious. After dinner, Xu Yin went to the Eastern Palace. He jumped onto the roof. He had been watching Ou Jingyu every night for half a month. Once this woman made a mistake, he would attract Di Qing here. In this way, without a soldier, Ou Jingyu would never turn over. The Eastern Palace was terribly quiet this night. The maid-in-waiting who kept a vigil on weekdays was not in the bedchamber. Xu Yin came down from the beam and walked quietly to the inner room. He was about to open the door when he was startled by the scream in the room. Xu Yin kicked the door open, and a dark figure darted past him. Xu Yin felt that something was wrong. He ran to the bed at once. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back. The woman drew out a sharp knife, a cruel smile on her face. Xu Yin felt a chill in his limbs.
“I expected you to come.” Xu Yin was very calm. He had long cared not whether he lived or died, but he had not thought that he would be plotted by this woman. He came to the palace for revenge. However, he didn’t kill Di Qing, and his younger brother died. If he could not be reconciled, what could he do? The blood wetted his back. Xu Yin felt the blood thick. The woman’s face was more ferocious. If she broke the Western Palace’s hand, how could they get in trouble with her?
This man had been watching Ou Jingyu for half a month. Ou Jingyu came up with a way to deal with him, but unfortunately, the man was so arrogant that he wanted to find out her fault. What a joke! The killer trained by Yan Shen was not an outwardly attractive but worthless person. In the pool of blood, the man convulsed, feeling unreconciled, because he had not yet avenged his family or fulfilled his father’s will. His hands raised and then fell down slowly. No one could belittle a pretty woman’s ruthlessness. After Xu Yin snuffed, the woman came to him from the bed. Her little hands combed her black hair. When she got herself well, she took out a little bottle from a brocade box. In the candlelight, the bottle glinted with blue light. The woman, with bare feet, walked to the corpse. Ning’s woman outside covered her mouth with fear and did not believe her eyes. The false Queen was no good either. Ning’s woman’s legs shivered. Through the thin window, Ning’s woman watched with fright. The corpse was resolved by the Bone-melting Liquid, and the burning and bloody odor filled the air. Ning’s woman covered her mouth and ran back. In the room, the woman’s face grew colder. She could finally rest easy. No one could imagine that the demon who just slaughtered a person without batting an eyelid was so weak now. When Fan’er broke into the inner hall, she saw a trembling Queen and found the room with a strange smell. Fan’er wrinkled her nose, looked around, and found nothing strange.
“Leave it open. Take more air in the room...” Fan’er covered her nose and did not take a breath until the nigh wind blew in. A place near the Queen’s bed was left with charred traces. Fan’er squatted down, trying to touch it. Ou Jingyu on the bed screamed. Fan’er ran to the bed instantly. What was wrong with her master today? Fan’er touched her master’s forehead and could feel the burning skin under her fingers. Her master had a fever. Fan’er had someone to bring the ice hurriedly, and she wrapped it with a brocade handkerchief. When the ice melted, she changed another new. Again and again, her master’s forehead was cooled down. Fan’er found clean underclothes and changed it for her master and did not leave the bedchamber until the Queen fell asleep.
Ning’s woman cowered into the quilt with a scare, and her body kept quivering, out of her control. After she had helped to harm the last Queen, she thought this Queen was a good person. Unexpectedly, this woman was more vicious. That man was from the Western Palace. After this matter, Ning’s woman made up her mind to leave the terrible Eastern Palace. She was afraid of being killed if she continued to stay there any longer. She hoped to find a place to retire, but it was hard to come true, because the imperial harem was a ruthless and greedy place, and it was a blessing to be here alive. When getting up in the morning, Ning’s woman came to greet Fan’er. Fan’er could not believe her eyes. The old woman used to be rude and unreasonable. Because the Queen took her to the palace, the old woman did not take Fan’er seriously. However, did the sun rise from the west today? Why did Ning’s woman work diligently? She wiped the ground of the bedchamber again to make sure what she had witnessed last night. She had a careful look at the place where the corpse had been resolved. If she had not seen it with her own eyes, she would have thought that she just had a dream.
Now Ning’s woman thought she was stupid to take the palace as a place to play. She packed up things and walked out of the door, heading for the Western Palace, but she soon got lost. The Imperial Palace was not like the common yard. Although she had been living in the palace for some months, she was still unfamiliar with the roads here. She had planned to go to the Western Palace, but unexpectedly, she went the wrong way. In the end, she was taken to the Changding Palace by a maidservant named Juluo. Ning’s woman had never seen Juluo before. As she saw Juluo live in a magnificent place, she thought Juluo was the master of the Western Palace. She immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Juluo. Juluo was from a wealthy family, but she got no favor from the Emperor and was jealous of the Queen, because she had no chance to sleep with the Emperor, but You Qingcheng was the Emperor’s most favored woman. Therefore, seldom people had seen her in the palace. Even the people in the Eastern Palace could hardly find her. Ning’s woman did not know her of course, but Juluo knew her. “Isn’t the old woman the new female cook in the Eastern Palace? Why did she come here?” she thought. Ning’s woman felt guilty by the stare. Juluo was jealous of the Eastern Palace, so she could not let go of the chance. The old woman came from the Eastern Palace, and she must know many secrets. Juluo helped the old woman up and gave a soft seat to her. Ning’s woman had never sat on a soft seat made of mink velvet. She touched the soft mink velvet back and forth. The little maid giggled at the old woman’s funny behavior. Juluo gave a signal with her eyes, and then the little maid brought some desserts. The things to eat and use were transported by ship from Suzhou and Hangzhou. Now the war began between the south and the north, so food became increasingly insufficient. Ning’s woman had never seen such exquisite food before. It was already an enjoyable thing to look at the food. Crystal cherry puddings were pink and delicate. When she used a small spoon to split it, it swayed gently. Ning’s woman drooled, eager to eat it. Juluo’s kindness to the old woman was conditional, because the old woman was useful to her. Ning’s woman rubbed her hands and stared at the desserts because she had not seen such delicious food in the Eastern Palace. The little maid served more food. Looking at the exquisite food, Ning’s woman did not move anymore. That was what Juluo wanted. The things were the genuine fruits that Juluo’s father transported to her secretly from Suzhou and Hangzhou. So it was impossible to be seen in the palace. Juluo granted the woman to have a taste of it. Seeing the delicious and colorful food, Ning’s woman gobbled up at one gulp, which made the little maid laugh.
“Since you’ve come here, show me your sincerity...” Having been living in the palace for months, Ning’s woman knew that there was no free thing in the world. Since she had come here, she decided not to return to the Eastern Palace. Last night, Ou Jingyu’s viciousness let the old woman make up her mind.
“Your Lady, since I’ve come here, I won’t go back. Besides, the master of the Eastern Palace is not a good person. I won’t have a good future to serve that kind of person.”
Ning’s woman belittled her previous master to show her sincerity to the new noblewoman. But that was not what Juluo really wanted. The sincerity she said was the Eastern Palace’s weak point. Would the old woman pretend not to know it?
“Is there any weak point in the Eastern Palace...” Juluo reminded her. The old woman looked silly but had her own calculation. If Juluo did not make it clear, she would not get anything out of the old woman. Ning’s woman knew it of course. But she had to hold back one trick for the sake of her own life.
“Qiuyue, see her off...” Juluo had to play some tricks on the old woman. “The old woman is not so foolish as I expected. She dared to play tricks on me. Well, I should take the initiative and have everything under control,” she thought. Ning’s woman got flustered and knelt on the ground to beg the noblewoman to keep her. Juluo began putting on airs. She just sipped the fragrant tea and totally ignored her. Ning’s woman crawled up to her little by little.
“I’ve known the master of the Eastern Palace before.”
“Really? Go on.” Juluo set her mind on the old woman. It turned out that the old woman had known You Qingcheng before. Since You Qingcheng took her into the palace, the relationship between her and You Qingcheng was not common. Ning’s woman was not stupid. She certainly wouldn’t reveal that the Queen was a fake.
“The story?”
“The master of the Eastern Palace has been defiled before...” What an earth-shattering secret! Juluo was extremely excited. If Di Qing knew it, the Queen should be deposed. Who could expect that the Qi Kingdom’s Queen had been impure? In the place where the chastity was more important than life, losing chastity meant nothing but a road to death. Ning’s woman’s information came in time. Juluo thought she was in a favorable position to take place of the Queen. Living in the weeds, she always wanted to fight against her fate. Juluo was a pawn and always controlled by others. Leng Cang knew her weak point. She had no way but to climb up to get rid of the constraint and remove all the stumbling blocks. However, the Eastern Palace always hindered her way. To destroyed a woman completely was to ruin her reputation. Ning’s woman did not know the importance of it but just wanted to win the noblewoman’s trust. Juluo burned with the ambition to get rid of You Qingcheng.
“Qiuyue, take some gold bullion...” The maid named Qiuyue came back to the inner hall and came out with a tray gleaming with gold. Ning’s woman fixed her eyes on the tray. She did not have it in her whole life before, so she hurried to take the tray and held it in her arms. Juluo narrowed her eyes, thinking that the old woman was quite greedy and was much easier to deal with.
“Please keep a close eye on the Eastern Palace.”
Ning’s woman felt worried to hear that. She had come to the Western Palace, but the woman told her to go back. It was as good as killing her. She refused to go back. Juluo wanted the money back, but the old woman held it tight. In the end, she succumbed to the lust for money. On the way back, Ning’s woman was still nervous. Afraid of being discovered by the Eastern Palace, she went in through the side door. Shui’er had been busy. The Queen had her bedroom rearranged. Fan’er doubled up with fatigue. At the sight of the furtive Ning’s woman, Fan’er got angry because she had been out of work all morning. Worried that what she had done was exposed, Ning’s woman quickly closed the door and window.
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