In the front courtyard of Jin Wang Manor, inside the study, Jin Wang finally finished organizing all the materials for the Jiang Zhou corruption case that had broken out before the new year. He only needed to present the case’s processing information to the Emperor tomorrow, and those involved would receive the punishment they deserved.
The corruption this time was severe and the case was extensive, especially since it implicated his third imperial brother. Other officials didn’t dare to investigate too deeply, so his imperial father had sent him to handle the case.
The investigation had faced too many obstacles. It had taken nearly half a year since the case broke to gather all the evidence. The month Jin Wang had spent away was to investigate the Jiang Zhou corruption case in Jiang Zhou.
He had encountered multiple assassination attempts along the way. Fortunately, his martial arts skills were high, and he had also dispatched several groups of people to create diversions, so he had not sustained any major injuries.
To prevent any further mishaps, he had to organize the information he had found and present it to the Emperor as quickly as possible. That was why, upon returning from Jiang Zhou, he had only spent the first night in the Wangfei’s courtyard and had no time to visit the rear courtyard. After working nonstop for four or five days, he had finally sorted everything out.
Jin Wang stretched his neck. “Has anything happened in the rear courtyard?”
Jiang Shun stepped forward to massage the Prince’s shoulders. “Nothing major has happened. It’s just that while Your Highness was away, the three new mistresses entered the manor.”
“Oh, is that so? I’d forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it. Imperial Father and Imperial Mother-Consort did speak to me about it before. Since this assignment is done and I have three days of rest, I might as well go have a look.”
Jin Wang pondered for a moment. “For now, I’ll go see the Consort first. Tonight, I’ll go to Zhang Shufei’s place,” he said, rising to his feet and walking out.
After so many days, the Prince, so eagerly awaited, had finally come to the rear courtyard again. He went to Consort Dong’s courtyard, had lunch with her, and then returned to the front courtyard.
In the evening, the Prince went to Zhang Shufei’s courtyard to stay the night.
When Consort Dong heard this news, she swept an entire set of glazed teacups off the table and onto the floor. “Hussies! They’re all hussies! A mere concubine dares to compete with me for the Prince.”
The young maid reporting to her was so frightened she trembled.
Looking at the quivering maid before her, Consort Dong slapped her across the face.
The maid was knocked onto the shards of glazed porcelain on the floor. Ignoring the pain, she quickly knelt properly on the ground.
Seeing that her mistress had vented most of her anger, Li Momo, who was standing by, dismissed the maid and ordered someone to clean up the fragments on the floor.
Li Momo stepped forward to massage Consort Dong’s temples. “Your Ladyship, don’t be too angry. The Prince still cares for you a great deal. He even came specifically to have lunch with you. Even though Concubine Yu gave birth to the Prince’s eldest son, the Prince didn’t go to see her. It’s been over a month since the new women entered the manor. If the Prince doesn’t favor them with his attention, the palace will surely question him when they find out. Besides, the Imperial Physicians also said that you cannot have major emotional fluctuations. You must relax. You can’t rush getting pregnant.”
Hearing her momo say that the Prince cared for her, Consort Dong’s mood improved considerably, but she was still angry. “How can I not be anxious? I’ve been in the manor for four years and haven’t gotten pregnant. I drink so much medicine every day just to conceive. I thought the Prince would stay the night here today, so I even drank the fertility medicine my mother found for me. If the Prince doesn’t come, didn’t I drink that medicine for nothing?”
Seeing her mistress in this state, the momo also felt distressed. In the rear courtyard, a woman without a child had no one to rely on.
Nan Shiqie was also angry, but she was more pleased. The Prince had gone to Zhang Shufei’s place, which meant he was starting to favor the newcomers. She would surely be next. Her family’s official rank was higher than Bai Fei Wan’s, so the Prince would definitely come to her first.
Just as Nan Shiqie had thought, the next day, the Prince went to her courtyard.
Today, Bai Fei Wan finally felt a sense of nervousness. Oh my god, if nothing unexpected happens, it should be my turn tomorrow. Heavens, I’m still a child! The Prince is such a beast.
The key was that she only had theoretical knowledge; in her past life, she hadn’t put it into practice even by the age of twenty-six. And this body was not even sixteen years old yet.
She had heard that the first time would be very painful. No, I have to study up and reduce the pain a little.
So she took out the Fire Prevention Diagram that Mother Bai had given her and began to study it.
Looking at the contents of the Fire Prevention Diagram, Bai Fei Wan felt that these ancient people weren’t so conservative after all. So many variations, it was simply… she felt a little blush creep onto her face.
After studying the Fire Prevention Diagram for a day, Bai Fei Wan, the top student, declared that she had learned and memorized everything. It was just that some of the positions were twisted like maggots, the difficulty was too high, and she didn’t think she could manage them.
But having learned most of them, Bai Fei Wan felt that tomorrow’s “exam” should be no problem.
As a top student, highlighting key points was her forte. Considering she was a novice, the Prince probably wouldn’t test her on overly difficult positions. She circled the more common and simple positions in the book, reviewed them carefully a few more times, placed the book in a corner of the bed, and went to sleep full of confidence.
The next day, Bai Fei Wan was no longer nervous and began her daily routine.
In the afternoon, a young eunuch from the front courtyard arrived.
Xiaoqin greeted him enthusiastically. “Yuanbao Gonggong is here! Quick, please come in.”
Hearing the voice, Bai Fei Wan came toward the door.
Yuan Bao saw Bai Shiqie coming to the door and said to Xiaoqin with a smile, “Thank you, young lady, but I won’t go in.”
Then, he bowed to Bai Fei Wan, who had arrived at the door behind Xiaoqin. “This servant greets Bai Zhuzi. Eunuch Jiang asked this servant to inform you that the Prince was called away on urgent business and will not be coming to rest here tonight. There is no need to wait for His Highness.”
Hearing Yuan Bao’s words, Bai Fei Wan breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she felt a little worried. Before, there were two others with her. Now, she was the only one in the manor who hadn’t served the Prince in bed. The servants in the manor would probably start shorting their courtyard’s supplies again. However, she showed none of this on her face. “Alright, I understand. Thank you for making a special trip, Gonggong.” After speaking, she gave Zi Zhu a look.
Zi Zhu immediately took out a few silver ingots from her purse and handed them to Yuan Bao. “This is a little something for you to have some tea. I hope Yuanbao Gonggong will accept it.”
Yuan Bao accepted the silver with a smile, bowed to Bai Fei Wan, and then turned to leave.
Back in the courtyard, Zi Zhu looked at her young mistress with some concern and carefully comforted her, “Zhuzi, the Prince has business to attend to. He will surely come to see you when he is done.”
Ziyu was already at her side, her face full of concern.
Seeing their worried expressions was a little amusing. “I’m fine, don’t worry. Go on with your work.”
In truth, she was happy about not having to serve him. Her body was still young, and it wasn’t good to serve him in bed too early. She didn’t tell them her thoughts; they wouldn’t understand anyway.
When the other women in the rear courtyard heard that the Prince was not going to Bai Shiqie’s place, every one of them gloated and mocked Bai Fei Wan for not being favored by the Prince.
Nan Shiqie, in particular, was so pleased to hear that the Prince was not going to Bai Shiqie’s place that she gave every servant in her courtyard an extra half-month’s wages.
Nan Cai had seen Bai Fei Wan during the Imperial Harem Draft. Just because she had a foxy, bewitching face, Noble Consort Chen had found her beautiful and assigned her to the Prince. The Nan family’s official rank was much higher than the Bai family’s minor county magistrate, yet they had entered the Prince’s mansion with the same status. She was resentful.
She had seen Jin Wang at a flower appreciation banquet at the princess’s residence last year and had been smitten with him at first sight. She was willing to become Jin Wang’s servant concubine just to enter Jin Wang Manor. For this reason, she detested Bai Fei Wan.
How could Nan Cai miss such a good opportunity to ridicule Bai Fei Wan? “Shuang Xue, let’s go. We’ll go ‘comfort’ Bai Shiqie.”
The two of them walked for nearly a quarter of an hour before arriving at Bai Fei Wan’s Qingya Courtyard.
Seeing that the gate was not closed, she didn’t wait to be announced and walked directly into the courtyard. Looking at Bai Fei Wan’s foxy face, she felt even more indignant and said in a cloying voice, “My, my, Sister Bai is still in the mood for embroidery.”
Seeing the newcomer’s hostile demeanor, Bai Fei Wan was bewildered. She had been in the Prince’s mansion for over a month and had hardly left her courtyard, at most visiting the small garden behind it. She shouldn’t have offended anyone.
Zi Zhu, however, had a clear grasp of the people in the manor. She leaned in and whispered in her young mistress’s ear, “This is Nan Shiqie, who entered the manor at the same time as you.”
Bai Fei Wan handed the embroidery in her hands to Zi Zhu and stood up. “Sister Nan, what brings you to my courtyard? Please, have a seat.”
She turned to Ziyu. “Quick, go serve Sister Nan some tea.”
Nan Shiqie said haughtily, “There’s no need for tea. I’m not used to drinking such cheap tea. I just heard that the Prince has yet to visit Sister Bai’s place. Since we entered the manor together, I came especially to show my concern. Sister Bai shouldn’t be too sad. The Prince will come when he has time.”
Bai Fei Wan didn’t mind her sarcasm at all and said softly, “Thank you for your concern, Sister.”
Nan Cai continued her mockery, “Although Sister is beautiful, our Prince is not one who is fond of beautiful women. It’s a pity that Sister will have to wither away in loneliness in this Prince’s mansion.”
Hearing Nan Shiqie mock her young mistress like this, Zi Zhu was about to step forward and argue, but was stopped by a look from Bai Fei Wan.
Bai Fei Wan still said softly, “Thank you for the compliment, Sister.”
Seeing Bai Fei Wan’s reaction, Nan Cai felt as if she had punched a ball of cotton. She snorted, and left in a rage.
Watching Nan Shiqie leave, Zi Zhu stepped forward to support her young mistress. “This Nan Shiqie is too much! Zhuzi hasn’t even offended her, yet she came all this way just to mock you with such nasty words.”
Ziyu chimed in from the side, “Exactly, she’s gone too far.”
“It’s fine. She’s just jealous that I’m more beautiful than her. Her flimsy words can’t hurt me. It’s nothing, you two can go back to your work.” After speaking, she glanced at Xiaoqin, who was watching the scene with an air of detachment, and at Xiaqiu, who was pretending not to notice in the corner. Bai Fei Wan said nothing more and continued her embroidery.
In the following days, Bai Fei Wan returned to her previous state of life.