After leaving the main residence, Kan’er went straight back to the tea room.
In the short time she’d been away, everyone assigned to the tea room that day had arrived. They were busy with their own tasks, occasionally exchanging a few quiet words.
They were in the middle of chatting when Kan’er entered.
The room fell abruptly silent.
Everyone seemed to have swallowed a mute pill, their expressions varied.
The Crown Princess had been married into the Eastern Palace for over a year without conceiving. Now she had transferred a young palace maid to the front courtyard.
Everyone knew what she was planning.
But what wife in this world could truly be willing to send another woman to her husband’s bedside?
So although Kan’er seemed to have had an easy time in the tea room over the past month, the others had already been deliberately isolating her, whether openly or subtly.
Just like now.
Not a single person spoke to her first.
Kan’er was happy to have the peace and quiet. Ignoring the complicated looks in their eyes, she returned to her place and used the fire tongs to stir the charcoal in the brazier.
A quarter of an hour later, the Crown Princess led her attendants to Kunhe Palace.
The tea room staff had nothing to do for the time being.
Kan’er took some scraps from a nearby shelf, brewed herself a cup of tea, and did a little needlework to pass the time.
After sitting for a while, she got up to stretch her limbs.
Unless necessary, she rarely spoke.
In that respect, she seemed much the same as before.
But everyone could still see that Kan’er had changed.
She used to sit with her shoulders hunched and her head bowed, looking as though she wished she could crawl into a crack in the floor.
She had seemed small-minded and servile.
Not anymore.
Her back was straight, and she carried herself with an unforced poise and grace. Even with her head bent over her needlework, she looked serene and gentle.
And every so often, a hint of calm showed in her eyes.
All in all, she no longer looked like a servant.
She even resembled the noble ladies of the palace.
“She hasn’t even gotten anywhere yet, and she already thinks she’s a mistress.”
Sitting on the kang by the window, Xiahe sipped her tea and exchanged a look with Qiuju across from her, speaking in a lowered voice.
Qiuju followed her gaze.
The young woman was stretching by the rear window.
As she extended her arms, her clothes shifted with her movements, lifting and falling, tightening and loosening, outlining the curves of her waist, hips, and chest for all to see.
The sight was startling.
Qiuju’s face warmed, and she looked away. She couldn’t help wondering how the girl had been made: she was only fifteen, yet already had a figure like that.
“Hey, tell me…”
Xiahe tugged at her sleeve, then held both hands in front of her chest and mimed a jiggling motion.
“Do you think His Highness would like that?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Qiuju went deathly pale.
She clapped a hand over Xiahe’s mouth, her voice trembling.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
How could they gossip about His Highness’s preferences?
How many heads did they have to lose?!
Xiahe realized she’d said the wrong thing, too.
She broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly looked out the window.
Seeing no one outside, she let out a breath of relief and didn’t dare say another word.
But she couldn’t stop wondering to herself.
Why had the Crown Princess taken a liking to Kan’er?
Their Crown Prince was a figure out of a fairy tale. Even if he took a concubine, surely he deserved a woman who was refined and elegant.
Not someone like…
Xiahe glanced at Kan’er and curled her lip in disdain.
Half an hour later, the Crown Princess returned.
Qingrong, a second-rank palace maid, came to ask for tea and refreshments. She said Liangyuan Cao, Chenghui Jin, and Zhaoxun Qin had come to pay their respects to the Crown Princess.
Kan’er was busy tending the fire, and Qingrong turned to her.
“Kan’er, go serve the tea as well.”
Before Kan’er could answer, Xiahe raised her voice. “What? You want her to serve tea? She’s the one who tends the fire!”
Qingrong frowned.
“That’s the Crown Princess’s order. Are you dissatisfied with the Crown Princess?”
The accusation was serious.
Xiahe immediately dropped to her knees. “This servant wouldn’t dare!”
Qingrong ignored her and looked at the others in the tea room.
“I’m here to pass on an order, which means it came from our mistress. None of you are new to palace service. Remember what may and may not be questioned. I don’t want to hear anything like that again.”
The young palace maids in the room answered in unison.
Qingrong said to Xiahe, “You won’t be serving tea today.”
Then, after telling them to be quick about their work, she left.
Kan’er came out from behind the brazier and went to fetch the refreshments.
Xiahe stood up and glared at her viciously.
“First you took Bailuo’s job, and now you’re taking mine. Song Kan’er, you really are something!”
Bailuo was the one who had tended the brazier before.
Kan’er glanced at Xiahe, too busy to bother with her.
The Crown Prince was cold by nature, and there were currently only three concubines in the Eastern Palace: Liangyuan Cao, Chenghui Jin, and Zhaoxun Qin.
Zheng Mingzhi was clearly making her serve Liangyuan Cao and the others on purpose, so that even if Kan’er received a title in the future, she wouldn’t be able to hold her head up in front of them.
It had been the same in her previous life.
Even after she had been favored, Zheng Mingzhi had found all sorts of ways to remind her that a servant was a servant for life.
And because Kan’er feared Zheng Mingzhi, she had behaved exactly as Zheng had wanted, feeling ashamed of her birth every time.
As a result, for a long time afterward, she had never felt confident around Liangyuan Cao and the others.
But looking back now, with the benefit of age, she could see how thoroughly the word “birth” had blinded her.
It was true that she had been born a servant.
That could not be changed.
But the moment she gave birth and became a Fengyi of the Crown Prince, there was only one thing that set her apart from Liangyuan Cao and the others:
They were all concubines of the Crown Prince.
Whenever Zheng Mingzhi used Kan’er’s birth to keep her in her place, wasn’t she also reminding the Crown Prince that one of his women had once been a servant?
Besides, Kan’er belonged to Jiarong Hall.
Zheng Mingzhi had sent her to serve Liangyuan Cao and the others to humiliate her. But in the end, who was truly being humiliated?
Kan’er had been too young then, and had been ground down so badly in the rear courtyard that she hadn’t had the time or energy to think about it.
As she was reflecting, the refreshments were ready.
Kan’er and the others carried them into the main residence.
In the hall, Liangyuan Cao and the other two had just finished paying their respects.
Zheng Mingzhi invited them to sit. At the signal of the two second-rank palace maids stationed by the door, Kan’er and the others entered to serve tea.
“Oh, they say Jiarong Hall is blessed with outstanding people for a reason. Just look at the beauty serving tea here—she’s absolutely stunning.”
As soon as they entered, a clear, bright woman’s voice rang out.
It was Liangyuan Cao.
She sat in the first seat on the lower left. With her oval face and downturned eyes, she was elegant and pretty, and carried herself with easy confidence.
She looked frank and openhearted.
Kan’er set the teacup on the side table beside Liangyuan Cao and, pretending not to realize the woman was talking about her, lowered her head dutifully.
“I’m talking about you.”
Liangyuan Cao tapped the table twice.
Kan’er lifted her eyes as if startled, then curtsied to her.
“Greetings, Mistress Liangyuan.”
If Liangyuan Cao’s earlier remark had been meant to needle Zheng Mingzhi after noticing Kan’er’s figure, then now, having seen Kan’er’s face, she truly faltered for a moment.
Even as a woman herself, she couldn’t help admiring her: “Her beauty is rich yet delicate, her nature gentle and true; her skin is fine, and her figure perfectly formed.”
She was truly a rare beauty.
Almost at first sight, Liangyuan Cao understood what the Crown Princess was planning. Her hand clenched tight.
So, Zheng really did intend to put someone in front of His Highness!
Liangyuan Cao gritted her teeth, then quickly composed herself. Her eyes shifted as she touched her ear and looked at Zheng Mingzhi.
“My, even her voice is lovely.”
“Since when has the Crown Princess had such a charming person here? We were here yesterday, and didn’t see her.”
Across from them, Chenghui Jin said, “Turn around and let us have a look, too.”
Chenghui Jin was pretty, with a fair, round face, a delicate nose, red lips, and limpid, sparkling peach-blossom eyes. She was very slender.
Kan’er turned and curtsied to her and Zhaoxun Qin.
The other two reacted just as Liangyuan Cao had.
Zhaoxun Qin was the first to recover.
“She truly is charming.”
Zhaoxun Qin was the daughter of Qin Zhe, a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy[1]An elite imperial scholarly institution whose members could draft court documents, compile histories, and serve as advisers. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3735912_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3735912_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Raised in a scholarly family, she had an air of learning about her. Her dignified brows and eyes held a gentle, refined warmth.
She was an elegant beauty, untainted by the world.
“The Crown Princess really isn’t fair.”
Chenghui Jin came to herself and pouted.
“A little beauty like this ought to have been shown to us sooner, so we could feast our eyes. Instead, she kept her all to herself.”
“Isn’t that the truth?” Liangyuan Cao chimed in.
“Jiarong Hall certainly has strict rules. The servants here know how to keep their mouths shut. If someone like this were in my courtyard, I’m sure everyone would have been talking about her already.”
To get along in a household, a woman first had to know how to speak—and how to understand what others were really saying.
Liangyuan Cao’s few seemingly intimate, flattering remarks made it sound as though she and the Crown Princess were close.
In truth, she had both insinuated that Jiarong Hall was hiding something shameful and elevated herself by presenting herself as open and aboveboard.
Unlike the Crown Princess, who liked to keep things hidden.
No wonder Nanny Pang always said Liangyuan Cao was fond of barbed remarks. In just a few sentences, she had already traded several pointed jabs.
By rule, palace servants were supposed to leave after serving tea.
But the conversation was about Kan’er now.
In this situation, she couldn’t leave.
So Kan’er simply stood there, pretending to be shy and not understand what they were saying.
Zheng Mingzhi acted as though she hadn’t heard the sarcasm in Chenghui Jin’s and Liangyuan Cao’s remarks.
She smiled at Zhaoxun Qin. “Look at this. I merely have a new tea server, and the two of them are already making a fuss.”
Zhaoxun Qin replied, “The palace maids here are as beautiful as jade and fine as pearls. It’s only natural that my two elder sisters should be eager to admire them.”
“And you? Do you want to admire her, too?”
Zheng Mingzhi asked pointedly.
Zhaoxun Qin covered her lips, her expression faintly amused.
“Your Highness jests. It doesn’t matter whether I want to admire her. What matters is whom the Crown Princess wants to admire her.”
The atmosphere in the room visibly tightened.
Zhaoxun Qin’s chief maid noticed the smile fade from the Crown Princess’s eyes and nearly buckled at the knees.
Kan’er lowered her head at just the right moment.
Zheng Mingzhi set down her teacup and smiled faintly.
“Zhaoxun Qin, that’s an interesting thing to say. She’s just a servant who serves tea. What do you mean, whom I want to admire her and whom I don’t? Weren’t you the ones who brought her up in the first place? And now you’re putting the words in my mouth. I’d like to know—who do you think I want to admire this maid?”
Liangyuan Cao and Chenghui Jin were happy to watch the show.
Zhaoxun Qin was at a loss for words.
“This concubine is foolish and spoke without thinking. Please forgive me, Your Highness.”
Zheng Mingzhi knew they had guessed why Kan’er had appeared here, but so what?
This concerned the Crown Prince. No matter what Liangyuan Cao and the others suspected, they wouldn’t dare say it aloud.
As for Kan’er, Zheng Mingzhi would neither make this public nor grant that wretched maid a title before the child was born.
With that in mind,
Zheng Mingzhi didn’t spare Kan’er a glance.
She only looked at Zhaoxun Qin. “Listen to yourself. When did I ever say anything against you? And now you’re asking forgiveness. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I, the Crown Princess, was narrow-minded.”
“Your Highness!”
Xiao Dongzi, the eunuch responsible for errands at Jiarong Hall, ran into the courtyard. He called out loudly before he had even reached the door.
Zheng Mingzhi frowned.
But before she could reprimand him, Xiao Dongzi said, “Your Highness, Eunuch Hai has come to deliver His Highness’s oral decree!”
Zheng Mingzhi no longer had any attention to spare for Kan’er.
She immediately led Liangyuan Cao and the other two outside to greet him.
When the Crown Prince issued an order, the palace servants had to hear it alongside their mistresses, so Kan’er and the others followed the household into the courtyard as well.
Before long, Hai Shun arrived.
He got straight to the point.
After greeting Zheng Mingzhi, he quickly looked around the courtyard.
He saw the young palace maid kneeling there, seeming to possess a graceful charm even in the way she knelt. Hai Shun cleared his throat.
“I hereby convey His Highness’s oral decree: Song Kan’er of Jiarong Hall is refined, intelligent, virtuous, and gentle, and has greatly pleased me. Effective immediately, she is appointed Seventh-Rank Zhaoxun and granted the eastern side hall of Yongxu Court as her residence—”
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