Zhen Huan felt utterly exhausted.
She had transmigrated into the role of Empress Dowager—shouldn’t her life resemble that of the Empress Dowager in Empresses in the Palace, spending her days enjoying peace and comfort?
Why did one problem keep following another?
The emperor was a lunatic. His true love, Concubine Xian, was equally unhinged. And the empress’s intelligence seemed to go offline every now and then.
Zhen Huan felt like a firefighter, constantly racing from one blaze to another while fires big and small erupted throughout the harem.
Heavens, please grant me a capable and clever assistant!
Before she could finish lamenting her fate, she saw Fuga walk into the room wearing that familiar expression of utter disbelief.
“What is it this time?” Zhen Huan asked. “Another piece of gossip?”
Fuga chuckled.
“Exactly. Care to guess who’s involved this time?”
“Ninety percent of the harem’s troubles seem to involve Concubine Xian. By my reckoning, enough time has passed since the opera incident. Have those two gotten back together again?”
Whenever those two were together, nothing good ever happened.
“The Empress Dowager is truly all-knowing,” Fuga said with a grin. “This time, it’s quite the spectacle.”
It didn’t sound like the sort of trouble that required her intervention, so Zhen Huan relaxed. Picking up a handful of melon seeds from the table, she smiled.
“What kind of spectacle?”
“His Majesty spent the evening writing eleven calligraphy plaques in one sitting. He had them sent overnight to the Imperial Household Department, ordering that they be made into plaques and hung in the various palaces—together with the one he had previously written for Concubine Xian.”
“Twelve plaques?” Zhen Huan raised an eyebrow. “Why is the emperor suddenly in such a leisurely mood?”
“This is where things get interesting,” Fuga said. “At first, His Majesty had written only one plaque for Concubine Xian. The inscription read: Shèn Zàn Huī Yīn—’Through prudence comes virtuous renown.’ It was to be hung in Yanxi Palace.”
Now Zhen Huan was intrigued.
“This is the first time the emperor has visited Concubine Xian in quite a while, isn’t it? And he brought her nothing but a calligraphy plaque?”
Fuga hesitated.
“There were no grand gifts made publicly known. Of course, His Majesty may have given her something in private. But a few days later, the maid by Concubine Xian’s side—the one called A’ruo—made a huge scene at the Imperial Household Department. From her complaints, it didn’t sound as though there had been any other gifts.”
Surely not.
The emperor hadn’t seen his supposed true love for so long, and all he gave her was a piece of his own calligraphy?
Giving someone your handwriting as a gift was… difficult to evaluate.
And Shèn Zàn Huī Yīn—”Through prudence comes virtuous renown”—wasn’t exactly a glowing compliment.
If anything, it sounded suspiciously like Hongli was telling Ruyi to be more careful in the future.
“And what was Concubine Xian’s reaction?”
“Naturally, she was overjoyed. A’ruo even used the opportunity to berate Qin Li, accusing him of looking down on Concubine Xian after her fall from favor and deliberately supplying her with inferior white leadwort sachets.”
Zhen Huan looked surprised.
“Qin Li is that bold? Concubine Xian’s people only complained a little, and he’s still comfortably serving as head of the Imperial Household Department?”
“That’s what puzzles me as well,” Fuga replied. “Isn’t everyone always saying that Concubine Xian and His Majesty share an extraordinary bond? Then why is Qin Li still perfectly fine after making things so difficult for her?”
“Who knows?” Zhen Huan said lightly. “Either Concubine Xian never said anything and the emperor genuinely noticed nothing. Or he noticed and simply didn’t care.”
Back when the late emperor was alive, there had been a period when Zhen Huan had fallen from favor.
After she regained his affection, even a single pot of withered flowers had been enough to expose the Imperial Household Department’s mistreatment.
Were white leadwort sachets really such precious items?
If Qin Li dared provide inferior ones, would anything else he sent be of good quality?
Did Hongli truly fail to notice?
Either he was blind and deaf, or he simply wasn’t paying attention.
“And then? Why did the emperor suddenly write so many plaques? Weren’t they supposed to be only for Concubine Xian?”
“Because A’ruo caused such a commotion at the Imperial Household Department, Noble Consort Hui somehow heard about it. So she went to His Majesty and asked for a plaque as well.
“His Majesty simply wrote eleven more in one go and had them distributed to all the palaces. Even Jingren Palace, which stands empty and hasn’t been renovated, received one.”
Zhen Huan burst out laughing.
A gift intended solely for his true love had become a mass-produced item the moment Noble Consort Hui asked for one.
Even the unoccupied palaces got one.
A unique token of affection had turned into wholesale merchandise.
And A’ruo had previously used this supposedly “one-of-a-kind” gift as an excuse to cause trouble for Qin Li.
Had Hongli considered how humiliating this would be for Ruyi?
“This truly is entertaining,” Zhen Huan said. “But Noble Consort Hui is hardly thinking clearly either.
“She is the highest-ranking woman beneath the empress. She lives in the finest palace and enjoys the finest luxuries.
“Concubine Xian is beneath her in every respect.
“And yet the emperor gives Concubine Xian a single plaque, and she immediately demands one for herself. What exactly is she trying to prove?”
Fuga nodded in agreement.
“Exactly. Besides, the plaques for both the eastern and western chambers of Xianfu Palace were written personally by His Majesty long ago.
“She received them much earlier than Concubine Xian did.”
“Oh?” Zhen Huan laughed even harder.
That made the emperor’s gift seem even less special, while Noble Consort Hui’s behavior became even more baffling.
But what did any of this have to do with her?
All she needed to do was enjoy the show.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the gossip, Zhen Huan went to bed in excellent spirits.
The next morning, however, the emperor—who hadn’t visited in quite some time—suddenly came to pay his respects.
The moment she heard the news, alarm bells began ringing in her mind.
Sure enough, after exchanging the usual greetings, Hongli informed her that he had taken a musician from the Southern Music Bureau as an Attendant.
For a moment, Zhen Huan couldn’t process his words.
What had he just said?
Was he telling her that he had taken a new concubine—
during the mourning period?
Had Hongli’s brain been eaten by zombies?
Hadn’t she only recently spoken to him about his inappropriate behavior during mourning?
How many days had it been?
How many days had he managed to behave himself?
And now he’d gone and created an even bigger disaster.