Divine Doctor: Daughter of the First Wife (Yang Shi Liu) 801

963

Noble Lady Yuan heard this but began to laugh, “There’s no grief. Doesn’t she want for things to be lively. Then I’ll give her a hand. I need to have her understand that even if she moved into Zhang Ning Palace, even if she has the position of imperial concubine, things will not go as she wants in the Imperial Palace. Moreover, I need to have the Empress, that old thing, understand that someone might have climbed up; however, they might not be of the same mind as her.”

While Yue Xiu did not understand what Noble Lady Yuan meant, the Empress, who was watching the play in Zhang Ning Palace in the afternoon, understood it. From the moment that the Empress was seated, a new play began on the stage, and it was a play about a concubine fighting for the head wife’s position. The head wife was not favored, and the husband favored a concubine. The virtues of the concubine were extolled to the heavens. The head wife felt unreconciled and wanted to do everything possible to bring ruin to that concubine. In the end, she failed and made the husband even more irritated.

There were quite a few other people who had come to watch this play. The members of the imperial harem all spent their days in extreme boredom. It might be that Imperial Concubine Li’s small banquet would not arouse their interest; however, having a play to watch did attract their attention. Thus with an invitation, many of the masters of various palaces came riding sedans.

At this time, the current play was making many of the guests feel awkward. Aside from Imperial Concubine Li, who was foolishly watching this play with great interest, the others snuck glances in the Empress’ direction. There, they saw that the Empress had an extremely poor complexion. Staring at the stage, it was as though her eyes were about to shoot fire. Her hands, which had been resting on the armrests, were now clamping down tightly. Even her palace maid, Fang Yi, who was standing behind her became sullen. She even glared in Imperial Concubine Li’s direction.

Head wife and concubine, when this setting was applied to the imperial palace, was it not just the Empress and the other members of the imperial harem. Had Imperial Concubine Li gone crazy?

One palace maid quietly reminded her own master: “Let’s go back. That will allow us to avoid suffering if the Empress gets angry.”

These words acted as a reminder for many people. In front of the Empress, they were all concubines. Regardless of their status, they were not as powerful as the Empress. If they continued to remain here, that would mean supporting Imperial Concubine Li. In this case, supporting Imperial Concubine Li would clearly mean offending the Empress.

Although Imperial Concubine Li had been brought back to the position of imperial concubine and given Zhang Ning Palace, they did not believe that Imperial Concubine Li would be getting any favor given the improving relationship between the Emperor and Imperial Concubine Yun. None of them were fools. They all understood that this was a battle that the Emperor had wanted to instigate. Regardless of who was fighting whom, it was unrelated to them. They would just obediently remain in the inner palace, and there was no need for them to lay in these murky waters.

Thus someone stood up and had their servant quietly go and speak with the palace servants of Zhang Ning Palace, using some excuse to leave. With one leaving, a second followed. As this happened, most of the people watching the play had left. At this time, Imperial Concubine Li was completely oblivious to this and continued to be completely taken in by the play.

But the palace maid standing behind her, Zuo’er, had become alerted. At first, she was not paying attention to the play. After all, as a servant, she needed to pay attention to any requests that her master might have. She could not neglect her master’s needs because she herself had become enraptured by the play. That would be a horrible mistake. That was why she did not understand what the play had been about.