Hustle Queen in the Harem: My Consort Won't Stop Grinding

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: Remembering an Old Acquaintance

After watching Jiang Xian’s dance, Chen Daying immediately wanted to feign illness and never get up.

Chen Daying covered her face. "No way. This is too humiliating. Everyone in the Six Palaces knows we started learning as beginners at the same time, yet you’re so far ahead of me. How am I supposed to go on?"

If nothing else, Jiang Xian really did need her help as a cover.

Jiang Xian placated her for a moment, and Chen Daying peeked through her fingers. "It’ll cost you extra."

He Xiang, standing to the side, was taken aback.

’Her own mistress has finally learned something from next door! Even if it’s a bit skewed. Given time, perhaps she might even receive a sliver of Holy Favor.’

"Don’t worry, I never shortchange my own people."

Jiang Xian understood the principle: you had to be willing to invest if you wanted subordinates who would risk their necks for you. Silver alone wasn’t enough in the palace. She promised that whenever Chen Daying had a craving or was short on clothes, she could come to her main hall to share a meal. If Jiang Xian got her own small kitchen in the future, Chen Daying could order whatever she wanted. This series of grand promises made Chen Daying beam. "If you ever end up in charge of the Imperial Household," she said, "you can’t be like them and skimp on my rations."

Jiang Xian: "..."

’She’d offered her subordinate a pie-in-the-sky promise about employee benefits, and in return, her subordinate was joking about the company going public and joining the Fortune 500. Bright futures for everyone.’

"My lady, please don’t say such things."

’He Xiang felt it might be better if her mistress didn’t get promoted after all.’

In the harem, a concubine of such a low rank didn’t get many opportunities to speak, making it harder to stir up trouble.

After getting Chen Daying on her side, Jiang Xian felt much more at ease.

"Actually, you don’t need to worry so much about others staring at you. There’s a banquet in the palace for the Longevity Festival, and they’re all hoping to see their families. Their minds aren’t entirely focused on giving gifts," Chen Daying said as she cracked open a melon seed. The roasted seeds were especially fragrant, a treat she couldn’t usually get in the palace. "I don’t have that worry. My father’s rank is too low; he isn’t qualified to enter the palace to celebrate."

Jiang Xian said, "What a coincidence. My dad doesn’t even have the right to enter the capital."

The two exchanged a smile.

’Their parents were local officials. They probably wouldn’t see them more than a few times for the rest of their lives.’

’However, there was an old acquaintance of the body’s original owner whom she would probably see at the Longevity Festival banquet.’

Jiang Xian’s thoughts drifted far, far away.

※

After the Noble Consort was placed under house arrest, the atmosphere in the palace livened up. One could now see beautifully dressed concubines in the Imperial Garden, hoping for a "chance" encounter with the Emperor.

At the same time, news of a new favored concubine in the harem, Shu Changzai, finally reached Jiang Xian’s hometown in this life: Meize County. News traveled much slower in ancient times than in the modern era. If this were the present day, the news of Jiang Xian being promoted to Shu Changzai would have hit the top three trending topics.

’Jiang Xian had even come up with the headlines.’

[On Her First Night With the Emperor, Shu Changzai Actually Did THIS]

[SHOCKING! Dark Horse Upends Concubine Selection, Crushes The Official Favorite]

[Consort Guo’s Failed Push, Shu Changzai Swoops In and Steals Center Stage]

[Han Country Expert Claims: Shu Changzai is 1/4 Goryeo]

But in this era of slow horses and carriages, by the time the news reached Meize County, the Jiang family was already preparing their daughter’s memorial tablet.

It wasn’t that they were hoping for Jiang Xian’s death.

"How can you do something so inauspicious? Can’t you wish your daughter well for once?"

Ms. Zhang said angrily, snatching the memorial tablet from Jiang Ke’s hands.

Although she was Jiang Ke’s second wife and not Jiang Xian’s birth mother, she pitied the girl’s lonely and helpless state and treated her like her own daughter.

"It’s not that I don’t wish her well," Jiang Ke sighed. "You know Xian’er’s temperament. She’s so naive and melancholic. If it weren’t for that incident, would she have entered the concubine selection in the capital out of spite?"

At Jiang Ke’s mention of the past, Ms. Zhang’s expression darkened as well.

As a County Magistrate, Jiang Ke had frequent dealings on official business with the civil servant He Jiaoyu. Consequently, the original owner of the body had known He Jiaoyu’s son, He Siyuan, since childhood. They were childhood sweethearts who knew everything about each other. The two families were on good terms, and He Siyuan had privately made many promises to her, saying he would return to ask for her hand as soon as he achieved success in the imperial examinations.

And as it turned out, He Siyuan actually passed.

Not only that, but the only daughter of the Left Deputy Imperial Censor, one of the chief examiners, had fallen in love with He Siyuan at first sight. When he returned home in glory, his marriage was already arranged. He brushed aside their shared past, and Madam He even said dismissively, "I have always regarded Jiang Xian as a daughter. Siyuan’s feelings for her are just like those for a sister."

A Jiaoyu was responsible for county-level education, a civil servant with no real power. Compared to the Jiang family, the He Family was dirt poor. Because of their relationship, Jiang Ke had often helped the He Family—but now, their only son had become a scholar-official and married the legitimate daughter of a third-rank official. Their family’s fortunes had truly changed.

A classic tale of social climbing and shamelessly turning one’s back on old friends played out.

The crucial point was that the Jiang family couldn’t make this public. Speaking out would, at most, splash some mud on the scoundrel, but their own daughter’s reputation would be utterly ruined, and she would never be able to marry.

Father Jiang was furious and full of regret. The stepmother, Ms. Zhang, visited the He Mansion on some pretext, intending to seek justice for her stepdaughter. There, she overheard the newly returned and glorious He Siyuan tell his mother:

"Once I marry Rongzhi, I’ll have the status to attend banquets in the Imperial Palace."

"These are things the daughter of a poor County Magistrate could never give me."

"In the past, I’ve had to put up with more than enough from their family."

Those three sentences made Ms. Zhang so furious she grew dizzy. She went home and was sick in bed for half a month.

The original owner of the body fell ill from depression, failed to survive the winter, and passed away. From then on, her core was replaced, and she became Jiang Xian, a modern-day wage earner.

’Jiang Xian, on the other hand, found it all very understandable.’

’Isn’t this just a classic case of someone passing the civil service exam and then dumping their partner? It happens all the time.’

Jiang Xian’s temperament was completely different from the original owner’s. Ms. Zhang had wanted to find another good family for her to marry into, but Jiang Xian thought of her own anxiety. She knew she wouldn’t be able to rest easy in the countryside, so the palace came to mind. The selection for new concubines was imminent, so she went to the capital as the daughter of an official family.

The original owner was a traditional maiden from a sheltered upbringing, educated with the principle of being faithful to one man for life. She truly believed He Siyuan would be completely devoted to her.

’After transmigrating, Jiang Xian looked back on the things Young Master He had said to the original owner and couldn’t blame her for being foolishly duped. If Young Master He had failed his exams, the original owner would have been the best and most suitable high branch he could cling to. The He Family had been quite satisfied with her, too. The original owner thought she would marry into a life of marital bliss with a harmonious mother-in-law. She treated Young Master He as her first-choice university, while he treated her as his safety school. While she was wholeheartedly hoping for him to succeed, he was already half-heartedly plotting how to get rid of her.’

’But in this world, it’s often the heartless and unfaithful who get ahead.’

’Get promoted, get rich, get a new wife—from another perspective, his story was a power fantasy novel about a male protagonist acing the imperial exams.’

’With the original owner’s tendency to fall deathly ill from the sorrow of betrayal, entering the palace would indeed have been a death sentence. But Jiang Xian never once looked down on her. In that patriarchal era, a woman’s fidelity was conditioned by her entire environment. The one conditioning her was the patriarchy, and the one who betrayed her was a man. Every injustice has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. Jiang Xian only blamed Young Master He.’

And this Xia Rongzhi, the woman Young Master He had latched onto, was the legitimate daughter of a third-rank official.

According to the dynasty’s court regulations, they would be assigned a seat in the absolute farthest corner of the Longevity Festival banquet. They were basically just part of the "ambiance crew," background characters whose faces the Emperor wouldn’t even see when he raised his cup to the hall. Still, just being able to enter the palace was a great honor and brought the family immense prestige.

Back in their hometown of Meize County, it was something truly worth bragging about.

It was the kind of joy that made Madam He grin from ear to ear. It was the glory that, in He Siyuan’s own words, Jiang Xian could never have given him in a lifetime. If anyone was to blame, he’d say, it was her father for not being ambitious enough.

’An unaccomplished father makes for a grieving child, after all.’

Jiang Ke was stung by this incident but remained helpless. He was an excellent and incorruptible local official, deeply loved by the residents of Meize County, but he was not skilled at navigating the officialdom and had no hope of promotion in his lifetime.

Before leaving for the capital, Jiang Xian had grasped the hand of the original owner’s father and told him:

"A child doesn’t despise their family for being poor. You and Mother have given me so much love and never looked down on me for being a girl. For that, I am already deeply grateful. From now on, I will walk my own path. Just you wait, Father. One day, you will gain honor through your daughter’s success."

Jiang Xian’s words were rather blunt, which only made her rustic parents worry more.

Unexpectedly, the news that Jiang Xian had received a title and been promoted to Changzai traveled all the way back to her hometown.

And by the time the Jiang family learned of this, the Longevity Festival had already arrived.