Noble Lady Hui laughed lightly. "My crimson time happens to fall during those few days. How would I have the opportunity to serve the Emperor in his bedchamber?" As she spoke, Noble Lady An looked behind her and spotted First-Class Female Attendant Bu and Lanqi.
Feeling rather sour, she stopped in her tracks. Noble Lady Hui waited for them to walk closer before she said to First-Class Female Attendant Bu, "You look healthy again. You must have recovered fully."
Noble Lady An sighed exaggeratedly and said, "Yes, her skin is practically glowing with health. With her around, how could the Emperor notice us?" She leaned closer to her and said, "My dear sister, the Emperor is conducting the sealing ceremony on the nineteenth. He'll be very free after that, so I suppose he'll be dropping by the harem quite often. Isn't it very sunny in the Palace of Accumulated Purity? Make sure to serve the Emperor the most fragrant tea you have. He's very picky when it comes to his tea, you know. If you don't serve him well, he might ignore you from then on."
First-Class Female Attendant Bu flushed scarlet. Stumbling backwards, she bumped into Lanqi and wobbled unsteadily on her flowerpot-sole shoes. Thankfully, Lanqi managed to stop her from falling, but it made First-Class Female Attendant Bu look very silly anyway.
Noble Lady Hui felt a little uncomfortable, but she knew Noble Lady An would whine if she tried to stop her. Instead, she said, "I have medicine waiting for me back in my palace. I'll take my leave first, then." Without her around, Noble Lady An felt that it was meaningless to continue teasing First-Class Female Attendant Bu. She shot a cold look towards them and returned to her palace with her maid.
First-Class Female Attendant Bu collapsed into Lanqi's arms and started sobbing. "Why did she feel the need to scare me like that?" "Mistress, let's return to our palace first. Even if you have any grievances to air, you must remember that we're at the Palace of Earthly Honor," Lanqi said, trying to comfort her. With that, she steadied First-Class Female Attendant Bu and practically dragged her back, afraid that someone might have noticed the altercation.
However, the eunuch who was standing guard at the gates had seen them anyway. Before they returned to their palace, news had gotten back to Consort Zhao.
Her maid, Dongyun (Winter Cloud), helped her to remove the tin hair sticks on her head. When the eunuch finished speaking, she said, smiling, "Mistress, Noble Lady An must have remembered your scolding from last time and taken out her anger on First-Class Female Attendant Bu."
As her hair was gently loosened from its stiff updo, Consort Zhao rubbed her temples and sighed. She gazed at Dongyun in the mirror and said, "She's all bark and no bite—completely incapable of carrying out any schemes of her own. If First-Class Female Attendant Bu is smart enough to let go of any grudges she holds, she won't go down the same road First-Class Female Attendant Dong did." Dongyun brought her a cup of tea. As Consort Zhao took the teacup cover and used it to swirl around the tea leaves on the surface, she laughed darkly and said, "Let them be. If they destroy each other while doing so, it'll only mean good news for me. That's a few less people I'll have to worry about."
Dongyun leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "The Dowager Empress's maid, Aunt Sun, came and told me that she has already made arrangements with Head Eunuch Li. After the sealing ceremony, he'll find a way to lead the Emperor here. Mistress, you must take especially good care of your appearance these few days."
Something flickered in Consort Zhao's eyes. As she gazed at herself in the mirror, she felt very melancholy all of a sudden. She was a daughter of the powerful Niohuru clan—a clan that was no less powerful than Empress Xiaochengren's Heseri clan. She had lost to Empress Xiaochengren during the selection for empress, but now that she was dead, Consort Zhao was certain that victory was hers at last.
First-Class Female Attendant Bu got sick the moment she returned to the Palace of Accumulated Purity. Aunt Wang castigated Lanqi for being neglectful and causing their mistress to catch a cold. Lanqi held it in and didn't bring up the altercation they had with Noble Lady An outside the Palace of Earthly Honor. She didn't want her mistress to appear too weak, or Aunt Wang might take the opportunity to bully her again.
First-Class Female Attendant Bu herself refused to speak of the matter too. After drinking her medicine everyday, she lay back down in bed and fell into a coma. It wasn't until the sealing ceremony on the nineteenth day of the Lunar New Year that she perked up a little. She said to Lanqi, "This is pretty good news. If I'm sick, the Emperor won't come and visit me. This means Noble Lady An and the rest won't be able to bully me for it. I can't beat them in a fight, so I can only hope to live out my days in peace. Besides, if my luck is too strong, it might decrease the princess's blessings..."
Lanqi felt very sorry for her. Other than thinking up ways to coax her mistress into drinking the medicine, she tried thinking of other ways to make her happier. First-Class Female Attendant Bu relied on Lanqi more than ever, which made Aunt Wang and the rest even more annoyed.
A day before the Mid-autumn Festival, the sky was cloudy with impending rain. After lunch, Noble Lady Rong invited the other concubines to have tea in her palace. However, just as everyone was about to leave their palaces, huge gusts of wind swept through the palace, carrying small grains of snow that their way past umbrellas and coats.
First-Class Female Attendant Bu had just recovered, and going out now meant she might catch a cold again. Aunt Wang refused to let her go. Instead, she sent Lanqi over to deliver greetings on their mistress's behalf.
Usually, for such trivial matters, Little Zhao could have gone in her place. However, Aunt Wang felt like tormenting Lanqi again, and made her leave the palace amidst a huge snowstorm. Afraid that arguing with her would cause more trouble for their mistress, Lanqi wrapped a coat around herself and left for Noble Lady Rong's residence with an umbrella.
As she walked towards the palace, wind whistled in her ears, and the huge umbrella blocked the road from view completely. She didn't realize what was coming towards her until it was too late. Someone shot over and pushed her against the wall, shouting, "Which palace are you from, you stupid girl? Don't you know how to move aside when you see the Emperor coming?"