Chapter 122: Chapter 60: Taking Revenge on the Spot
After the incident with Beauty Zhen, the palace fell quiet, waiting only for the official imperial edict of conferment.
According to palace regulations, only concubines with the rank of Consort or higher were granted a conferment ceremony. Those below this rank received only an imperial edict and an official seal.
Although Song Yunzhao had no intention of being the Emperor’s spearhead for now, she had spent the past two days having Nanny Yu give her a detailed breakdown of the situation in the palace.
The summary was as follows:
Consort Chu had passed away from illness, leaving three women at the rank of Consort: Princess Consort Wan, Consort Shu, and Princess Consort Zhuang.
Below them were An Fangyi and Ning Ji. Further down were Zhao Liangren, Xi Xuan Shi, and Lady-in-Waiting Qin.
These were the veterans from the previous intake of concubines. Judging by their ranks, the hierarchy was extremely polarized, a clear sign of how brutal the infighting had been back then.
Her own cohort was even worse off. The highest rank among them was merely a Noble Consort, still three full ranks away from the "modest" goal of becoming a Consort.
Nanny Yu tiptoed in and saw Song Yunzhao frowning at her desk. "My Lady," she began softly.
Her train of thought broken, Song Yunzhao looked up at Nanny Yu. "You’re back, Nanny. What’s the news?"
"There has been no attempt to appease Beauty Zhen, and it seems there won’t be any."
Song Yunzhao had expected as much. Yesterday, His Majesty had rewarded only Consort Shu; even Princess Consort Zhuang had been snubbed. How could someone like Beauty Zhen, who was clearly just cannon fodder, possibly get through unscathed? She was lucky she hadn’t been punished out of his displaced anger.
"What about the others?" Song Yunzhao asked.
"Lady Wanfei went to visit Lady Shufei, and Consort Qin went to see Beauty Zhen."
Song Yunzhao frowned. ’Qin Xiyue went to see Beauty Zhen?’
She was finally starting to see it. Viewing their great heroine from her own "cannon fodder" perspective was completely different from seeing her through the lens of the novel. The two were polar opposites.
The signs had been there all along, really; she just hadn’t thought too deeply about them at the time.
’Thinking back on her few encounters with Qin Xiyue outside the palace, at the time she’d only thought the heroine was remarkably unlucky, and that she herself had been dragged into that misfortune. But on closer analysis, if the heroine truly had any self-respect, why would she have relentlessly pursued Ji Yunting?’
’She knew perfectly well that He Lan Yun and Ji Yunting were childhood sweethearts, yet she still insisted on meddling. She called it "pursuing true love," but it was hardly an honorable thing to do.’
’Of course, from the perspective of the novel, Ji Yunting didn’t actually like He Lan Yun. Plus, He Lan Yun’s domineering behavior cost her a lot of goodwill with readers, which in turn scored the heroine a lot of points.’
’But what if you looked past the surface to her true nature?’
’Take the incident with Beauty Zhen. If Qin Xiyue were a truly kind person, she would have fought for Beauty Zhen to the very end. But she didn’t. Instead, she assessed the situation and kept her mouth shut.’
The heroine’s image from the book had completely shattered in her mind. It was a huge wake-up call, and she mentally raised her defense level against Qin Xiyue by another notch.
’The heroine is the chosen one, blessed with a protagonist’s halo. For a "villainous supporting character" like her to carve out a path to survival, she has to be cautious with every step. If Qin Xiyue tries to plot against her, well, she’ll just have to walk the heroine’s path and leave the heroine with no path to walk.’
’Sigh. Having thoughts like these really proves I’m the villainous supporting character. But it can’t be helped. It’s all for the sake of survival. If I have to be vicious, so be it. It’s better than dying. Who would choose death when they could live?’
’Fortunately, she was off to a good start. She had her own plans and a luck bonus to boot.’
Once the conferment edicts were issued, the next contest would be over who would be the first to attend the Emperor for the night.
The corner of Song Yunzhao’s mouth twitched at the thought of attending the Emperor. ’There’s really nothing to fight over. All that scrambling, just to lie under a blanket and chat.’
’But, for the sake of her status in the palace, she had no choice but to fight for it.’
’And not only did she have to fight for it, she had to make it a true consummation.’
’The Emperor had dragged her into this mess, and he thought they were just going to chat? He could dream on.’
’With that thought, everything suddenly became clear to Song Yunzhao. So what if the Emperor was fiercely guarding his chastity? It was her first time too! They were evenly matched; neither of them was at a disadvantage.’
With a clear goal in mind, Song Yunzhao was filled with fighting spirit. She needed to plan her next move carefully.
Nanny Yu watched her lady’s expression shift from stormy to radiant and couldn’t quite understand the change. Still, if her mistress was in a good mood, life was naturally easier for the servants.
"My Lady, what should we do next?" Nanny Yu asked cautiously.
Song Yunzhao looked up and smiled. "We wait for the edict of conferment."
Only after the official conferment would her position be truly legitimate. There was no rushing that.
Nanny Yu nodded. Seeing her mistress turn back to her book, she quietly withdrew.
Outside, Xiangxue and Shizhu were busy sorting through their belongings. The rank of Noble Consort came with many new provisions that had to be collected, and they’d been running back and forth to the Six Departments all day. The people there were incredibly arrogant; if you didn’t go to them, they certainly wouldn’t come to you. In the end, it was just because their mistress’s position in the palace was still tenuous, and they looked down on her.
