“Yo, yo, yo~ A beauty has arrived, a beauty has arrived!”
Hearing a high-pitched, loud voice, Fu Lingxi squinted in surprise. She looked up, and her lips twitched.
[Oh ho~ On my first day of rebirth, This Seat is actually being teased by a little beast?!]
Indeed, the masculine voice mocking her while flapping its wings belonged to the brilliantly colored macaw before her.
“Hehe, I found him! So, Brother Parrot flew over here!”
A sharp, clear voice of a young girl rang out from behind a tree.
Fu Lingxi paused.
Soon, she saw a little girl in an exquisite pink dress round the large tree and run out from a cluster of flowers. Behind her followed several young palace maids aged thirteen or fourteen. Trailing at the very back was a wet nurse who was chasing her anxiously, her voice hushed as she called out:
“Your Highness, Your Highness! Be careful, don’t fall!”
Seeing the toddler run toward her without a care—
“Master, please step aside carefully,” Su Ran whispered, tightening her hold on Concubine Yi. “It is the Second Princess, Her Highness Tongyi. The one attending her is one of her wet nurses, Madam Liu.”
According to the ancestral laws of the Shangyi Kingdom, children of the imperial family could only be granted formal titles like “Prince” or “Princess” after reaching the age of thirteen. Until then, imperial heirs were generally addressed as “His/Her Highness [Name].”
“Eh? Who are you? Why are you blocking my way?”
Her Highness Tongyi was caught just in time by the two palace maids chasing her. Standing a meter away from Fu Lingxi, she glared at her and scolded her unhappily.
“Your Highness, please mind your words.”
Finally, the winded Madam Liu arrived. Hearing her little master’s soft but arrogant scolding, she immediately curtsied deeply to Concubine Yi before whispering a persuasion to the Second Princess:
“This is the newly inducted Concubine Yi. Your Highness must pay your respects to your Imperial Concubine Mother Yi.”
Madam Liu’s voice was neither too high nor too low, just enough for both parties to hear.
Fu Lingxi happened to hold the rank of Concubine, the lowest of the upper ranks, so she was indeed entitled to be called “Imperial Concubine Mother” by the Second Princess.
Hearing this, the little girl let out an “Oh.” She blinked, fixing her gaze on Fu Lingxi’s face, and gave a somewhat informal greeting:
“Tongyi greets Imperial Concubine Mother Yi. May you have fortune and auspicious peace.”
“Her Highness Tongyi is most polite.”
Fu Lingxi nodded in return according to etiquette, then withdrew her smile and looked at the palace servants behind the princess to offer a reminder:
“Madam Liu, the Second Princess is of imperial blood. You lead many servants and must guard Her Highness’s safety closely. There must never be another accident. Do you understand?”
This area was in front of Chuxiu Palace, and there was a sizable Yilian Lake nearby. How could they let a child only a few years old run around?
The original owner had died in this very lake. Moreover, the First Princess had also fallen into this lake and had yet to regain consciousness!
“Yes, your servant acknowledges her fault.”
Realizing that the Second Princess had almost crashed into Concubine Yi just now, and with Her Highness Tonghuan still in a coma, Madam Liu broke into a cold sweat.
She hurriedly knelt to beg for mercy: “Your servant is guilty—”
“Enough, all of you may rise!”
Fu Lingxi waved her hand and continued coldly, “It is not for This Concubine to overstep my bounds. If you have made a mistake, return to the quarters of Noble Concubine Zhen and beg for forgiveness there.”
Seeing that Concubine Yi did not intend to pursue the matter further, Madam Liu hurriedly led the servants in another bow: “Yes, we obey your command.”
Fu Lingxi didn’t care what they thought. Having fulfilled her duty to advise, she gave the Second Princess a faint, distant smile:
“Your Highness Tongyi, This Concubine is currently moving palaces, so I shall not disturb Your Highness’s play.”
“Oh~”
The Second Princess, who was usually pampered, stood stunned, her small face dazed by the immediate departure.
As she spoke, Fu Lingxi gave a polite nod, stepped aside gracefully, and began walking away with increasingly large, rapid strides.
Was this a joke? There were only two princesses in the palace! The First Princess had fallen into the water and was still unconscious. Now, the Second Princess had run right into her, and at Yilian Lake of all places!
Fu Lingxi wanted to keep her life; she had no desire to get involved in any scandals involving the imperial heirs.
“Respectfully seeing off Concubine Yi.”
“Nurse Liu, is Imperial Concubine Mother Yi in a hurry to go to the toilet?” Xie Tongyi tilted her head, watching Concubine Yi walk several paces away before coming back to her senses. She asked her nurse in confusion, “I saw her walking so fast~”
…
Hearing the Second Princess’s words from a distance, Fu Lingxi almost stumbled. Fortunately, Su Ran held her steady, so she didn’t lose face.
[…Is that little brat accusing This Seat of fleeing due to a full bladder? Sigh~]
But this encounter served as a reminder: even a three-year-old girl in this palace had her own schemes. It felt like walking on thin ice. Fu Lingxi felt even more uneasy. Ignoring her still-weak physical state, she forced herself to walk faster, murmuring:
“Go, let’s go a bit faster. Let’s get back to Yikun Palace quickly.”
On this first day in the palace, she didn’t want to give anyone else a reason to gossip about her.
By the time they reached the West Six Palaces area, Fu Lingxi noticed something was wrong with her body. Her temples throbbed with pain, and she felt an increasingly unbearable bloating in her abdomen. Suddenly, a surge of warmth rushed down.
Dammit, her period had arrived!
Fortunately, halfway there, the Chief Eunuch assigned to her name arrived with several young attendants carrying the sedan chair they had just received.
Thus, the first thing Fu Lingxi did upon returning to her palace was prepare hot water for a bath.
She bathed for over half an hour, scrubbing her skin until it was red before she finally felt satisfied enough to return to the sleeping chambers. Following that, she suffered from unbearable abdominal pain and developed a fever. Su Ran hurriedly summoned a physician and a medical lady to examine her.
For a moment, the servants of Yikun Palace were busy as bees.
It wasn’t until the lady-official arrived and determined the cause of the illness—causing Concubine Yi’s name tag in the Palace of Respectful Affairs to be marked with a “red head,” thereby canceling her chance to serve the Emperor—that she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Before dinner was even served, news arrived that among the new consorts, the first one to have her green tag flipped was Jing Jieyu.
“Jing Jieyu~ Pure and elegant, with a beauty that could shame the moon and put flowers to blush. She is indeed a great beauty.”
Fu Lingxi praised the Emperor’s good taste. With a faint smile, she squinted, rinsed her mouth, and put down her silver chopsticks. Without a hint of anger or jealousy, she changed the subject and asked Xu Duo:
“Xu Duo, has the First Princess woken up?”
Jing Jieyu, or Zhou Jingshu, was the legitimate granddaughter of the Vassal King of Andong. Her grandfather held the power of two hundred thousand elite troops. Naturally, her status was noble, putting her on par with Jin Jieyu, Li Jinyun.
Jin Jieyu was the Emperor’s proper cousin!
Both women were seventeen years old, the oldest among the newcomers.
Fu Lingxi had assumed the Emperor might favor Jin Jieyu first, considering she was Empress Dowager Yi’s niece. Who would have thought Jing Jieyu would take the lead!
She wondered how many precious items Jin Jieyu was secretly smashing in her quarters…
Of course, none of that was as important to Fu Lingxi as the First Princess. After all, the original owner had died trying to save her. She had to at least ensure that the merit of such a virtuous deed was preserved.
“Yes, Little Ye-zi just came back to report. The First Princess’s fever broke around 4:00 PM.”
4:00 PM? If the original owner’s memory was correct, she had fallen into the water around 9:45 AM! That was a gap of more than six hours!
“Have all the attending physicians left Zhongcui Palace?” Fu Lingxi instinctively sat up straight and asked.
Because Noble Concubine Rou had been physically weak and ill lately, the First Princess was temporarily being raised by Noble Consort Qi and had moved to Zhongcui Palace for the time being.
“This… in response to Master, your servant is incompetent and has not yet obtained precise news,” Xu Duo reported with a conflicted face. “I could only find out that Physician Xu and Physician Li have both left Zhongcui Palace.”
Although she had been promoted to first-class palace maid two months ago, her seniority was still shallow, and she couldn’t yet get inside information from Zhongcui Palace. This was mainly because after the princess fell into a critical coma, Zhongcui Palace was heavily guarded, and Little Ye-zi didn’t dare get too close.
Su Ran, who had been quiet, suddenly curtsied and spoke softly: “Master, your servant has something to report.”
“Oh? Su Ran, speak freely.”
“In response to Master, Physician Xu and Physician Li are the only two pediatric experts in the palace. Their skills are no less than those of the Imperial Physicians!” Su Ran added in a low voice, fearing her mistress wasn’t fully aware of palace affairs. “If the First Princess were truly out of danger, the two physicians should not have both left Zhongcui Palace at the same time…”
Her Highness Tonghuan was one of only two princesses. Even if her condition had temporarily stabilized, it was impossible for both pediatric giants to withdraw!
Fu Lingxi frowned and glanced at Su Ran. Seeing Zi Luan beside her nodding solemnly, she immediately ordered the expectant Xu Duo:
“Xu Duo, go quickly and see if Eunuch Fang has returned. If not, go and find out if anything else urgent has happened in the palace.”
Eunuch Fang was the Chief Eunuch of Yikun Palace assigned to Concubine Yi by the Internal Affairs Bureau. He was the most suitable person to go out and gather news.
“Yes, your servant will go now.” Xu Duo understood that to survive well in the palace, one had to be sharp-eared and keen-eyed.
Fu Lingxi nodded, signaling her to proceed. She then allowed Su Ran and Zi Luan to help her up as she began a leisurely patrol of the main hall of Yikun Palace.
“Master! Something is wrong—”