“Eunuch Fang, what exactly is the nature of Noble Concubine Rou’s illness?”
Staring at the warm, exquisite pearl-flower hairpin in her hand, Fu Lingxi grew curious. she looked directly at Fang Quanzu and inquired, “How is it that even the custody of the First Princess was transferred to Noble Consort Qi?”
[Looking at Noble Concubine Rou’s behavior, she truly has the capital to be a treacherous consort. She clearly came to send a gift to repay a debt, yet she insisted on creating a hierarchy out of it, trying to belittle me at every turn. What could she possibly gain from that?!]
[Mmm… it makes no sense for someone with her level of scheming and rank to just hand over her only child, the First Princess, to someone else.]
[Could this Noble Concubine Rou be the ‘Consort De’ who, in the future, battles the female lead, Consort Mi, until the harem is turned upside down?!]
[Living in this man-eating harem is truly too difficult…]
[The hardest part is that I have no cultivation!]
Fu Lingxi narrowed her glistening fox-like eyes, her mind swirling with frustrated thoughts. I must plan my future carefully; first and foremost, I need the power to protect myself!
“In response to Master: back when she was in the Princely Manor, Noble Concubine Rou lost a pregnancy. Less than two months after she resumed attending the Emperor, she became pregnant with the First Princess. Her body was weak during the pregnancy, yet she was over-supplemented with medicine, which led to a difficult labor during childbirth.”
“Hmph. Those words might fool a fool. As the Eldest Imperial Princess, how could she lack people to serve her? Besides, Noble Concubine Rou’s background isn’t low; why would she be unable to raise even the First Princess? Eunuch Fang, tell me the situation in detail…”
[She is a Noble Concubine, after all; she is perfectly qualified to raise an imperial princess. Why give her to Noble Consort Qi?]
[Too strange!]
[To put it bluntly, while the biological mother is still breathing, no matter how well the adoptive mother raises the child, she’ll be criticized by everyone and get no thanks for her trouble!]
[Moreover, from what I’ve seen, Noble Consort Qi is merely doing her duty in looking after the girl. If anyone said she was raising the First Princess with her whole heart, then forgive my poor eyesight, but I certainly didn’t see it!]
Though she had only been in the palace for a few days, Fu Lingxi’s five senses had always been sharp. Since she didn’t sense any malice from the three head maids or the head eunuch serving her, she was willing to use them for now. Until her strength was restored, if she didn’t have these servants running errands and gathering information, she would be as good as blind!
To this end, she smiled and instructed Xiuxia, “Quickly, bring a small stool for your Grandpa Fang to sit on while he speaks.”
“Thank you for the reward, Master.”
Fang Quanzu accepted with a smile, though his body remained bowed and his head lowered, demonstrating the cautiousness and duty of a head eunuch to the fullest.
“Huichun, go to the small kitchen. If there is still green bean soup, distribute it among the servants in the hall to help everyone dispel the summer heat.”
Fu Lingxi narrowed her eyes with an amused glance at Eunuch Fang. She gave the order to the second-class maid first before turning back to him. “Then I shall trouble Eunuch Fang to tell me everything you know.”
This weather was truly hot enough to claim half a person’s life. Fu Lingxi had always hated the heat, yet this body currently possessed not a shred of cultivation! Fortunately, the spiritual core crystal in her palm was still there, gradually strengthening her constitution as time passed.
“Yes, your servant will go at once.” Huichun’s eyes lit up as she took the order, leaving in a hurry with a smile.
Upon hearing his master’s words, Fang Quanzu’s eyes brightened. He bowed respectfully and said, “Understood. Your servant shall tell you everything he knows, without holding back a single word!”
After Xiuxia curtsied, she immediately brought a small stool and placed it before Eunuch Fang in a proper manner. She then quietly retreated to the veranda, keeping her ears open for any movement.
“Reporting to Master, your servant once heard…”
Seeing that his master had assumed a lazy and comfortable sitting position, her glistening eyes staring straight at him, Fang Quanzu bowed with cupped hands and began slowly:
“Back in the Princely Manor, Noble Concubine Rou’s first miscarriage was the result of a wicked plot by a person of ill intent. She was five months pregnant when she was collided into by a maidservant, causing the miscarriage. I heard the damage was extremely severe; it took three days and two nights of labor to deliver the stillborn. Afterward, Noble Concubine Rou was bedridden for a full month before she could even set foot on the ground.”
“…!”
[Good heavens, the fetus was already fully formed!]
Fu Lingxi felt a chill in her heart. She didn’t interrupt Fang Quanzu, letting him continue.
“When Noble Concubine Rou regained favor, less than two months had passed before she became pregnant for the second time. Before His Majesty went on a military campaign that year, he issued a strict order to protect this pregnancy. He even had Noble Consort Qi personally look after Noble Concubine Rou from her pregnancy until childbirth. Later, because Noble Concubine Rou suffered from postnatal illness and her body was frail, the First Princess remained under the care and education of Noble Consort Qi.”
“…Wait. The First Princess is five years old now. Has Noble Concubine Rou been sick for five years?”
Hearing this, Fu Lingxi felt a wave of disgust, as if she had swallowed a fly.
[My god… Noble Consort Qi was originally the Princess Consort of Li!]
A dignified primary wife, the legal spouse carried through the main gates in an eight-bearer palanquin, was actually ordered by her husband to personally look after a concubine giving birth! And then the Emperor followed up with more disgust—he actually had her raise the concubine’s daughter?!
What kind of miraculous “dog Emperor” is this?! Simply unbelievable.
Truly, when a man turns heartless, women have no part in it. Look, the Princess Consort of Li is now merely a Noble Consort; it seems the Emperor truly dislikes Qi Yanyao.
Ho ho. The women surnamed Qi in this book are indeed quite annoying.
From Fang Quanzu’s report, Fu Lingxi understood that in this era, men were absolute, and imperial power was supreme! Qi Yanyao was from the direct line of the Duke of Jingxuan’s manor, yet because the Emperor disliked her, she had fallen from the rank of legal wife to that of a concubine. Of course, there was also the matter of the imperial decree issued by the late Emperor before his passing…
“In response to Master, there is a reason for all of this.”
“What reason?”
Just from the tone of his words, Fu Lingxi could imagine that when Noble Concubine Rou was pregnant with the First Princess, the state of the pregnancy must have been poor. In the end, she even gave birth prematurely at seven months. After risking her life to give birth to her precious child, she just let someone take over the custody? Was Dantai Huairou a fool?!
“Your servant heard that because Noble Consort Qi took care of Noble Concubine Rou, she personally tested her medicines. She didn’t even know she was pregnant herself. After Noble Concubine Rou’s pregnancy stabilized, Noble Consort Qi suffered a miscarriage.”
“Wait. Are you sure you aren’t joking with me?” Fu Lingxi’s eyes widened in shock as she questioned him.
“Your servant would not dare.” Fang Quanzu bowed again with cupped hands. “Every word I say is the truth, exactly as told by the old servants of the Princely Manor. As for how much of it is the actual truth, your servant has no way to verify it.”
“How complicated.” Fu Lingxi massaged her temples. She naturally didn’t believe these ghost stories; no matter how she looked at her, Noble Consort Qi’s face didn’t seem that pure and kind.
“Then do you know who harmed Noble Concubine Rou’s first child?”
“In response to Master, your servant only knows that the maidservant who collided with Noble Concubine Rou immediately committed suicide to atone for her crime.”
Fang Quanzu’s shoulders slumped slightly. He lowered his head further, looking as though he wanted to say more but hesitated, not daring to speak further.
“Mhm… true. The Emperor is a wise ruler of his generation; the sinners who deserved death have surely paid for their crimes and received their due punishment.”
[Given the Emperor’s petty and vengeful nature, the most likely truth is… the dog Emperor knew all along that Noble Consort Qi was the one who destroyed Noble Concubine Rou’s first pregnancy. Then, Noble Concubine Rou plotted her own revenge, an eye for an eye, to destroy Noble Consort Qi’s child!]
[Seeing that Noble Concubine Rou has been ‘sickly’ for five years and even her biological daughter was snatched away by Noble Consort Qi, the final winner is clearly not Noble Concubine Rou.]
[Of course, Noble Consort Qi isn’t the winner either; she hasn’t even reached the rank of Imperial Noble Consort, let alone the position of Empress!]
Furthermore, with Fu Lingxi’s powerful cultivator’s soul and consciousness, while she couldn’t say she could cover the entire palace, she could sense most things within the range of Yukun Palace’s main hall. Because of this, she had already secretly overheard quite a bit of gossip from the servants while they worked.
Tsk tsk. These imperial secrets were quite numerous!