The blistering heat of the summer eventually gave way to the sweet breeze of autumn. Red leaves littered the labyrinthine alleyways of the palace, and it drizzled frequently, which made it even colder.
After conducting Empress Xiaochengren's final rites, the pace of the court picked up again. The Emperor tended to his ministers day and night, and even the entire harem was swept up in this solemn mood.
During the last few weeks of summer, the Emperor rarely visited the harem unless it was to pay the Grand Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager a visit.
Neither did he have much time to spend with his ladies. On the rare occasion when he remembered them, he often called upon Noble Lady Rong or Noble Lady Hui to spend the night with him. Although he had bestowed on Consort Zhao the power to manage the harem, he rarely shared her bed. As for those unfavored ones like Second-Class Female Attendant Bu, they had no chance to see him at all.
Aunt Wang became even more contemptuous of her unfavored mistress. She pushed all her responsibilities onto the palace maids. As though she were Aunt Wang's daughter, Jingyan coaxed and cajoled her daily, which meant she was able to evade most of her duties too. Second-Class Female Attendant Bu had three maids—Lanqi and Panxia were thus forced to attend to the chores most of the time.
Panxia was furious about this. Sometimes, she threw a tantrum and stalked off in the middle of her chores. However, Lanqi managed to hold it in and finish Jingyan's portion of the chores without complaint. Second-Class Female Attendant Bu saw all of this, and often apologized to her in private. "I'm sorry. My lowly status in the palace has disadvantaged all of you."
However, Lanqi had no complaints. Nobody beat her or scolded her here. As long as she stayed out of Aunt Wang's way, her days were relatively calm and peaceful. As the days got busier, they seemed to fly by even more quickly, too.
However, Second-Class Female Attendant Bu's illness got even worse in autumn. Due to the cold, her cough took on a new level of severity. Lanqi begged Aunt Wang to get Consort Zhao to send a doctor over, but Aunt Wang only said coldly, "Consort Zhao is so busy that I daren't ask her for a favor as trifle as this! Second-Class Female Attendant Bu just needs to rest more. She's still so young—how could a cough kill her?"
However, when the night came, her cough got even worse. Sweat soaked through her shirt, and her face was scarlet with fever. Gradually, Second-Class Female Attendant Bu's vision became more blurry, and a bout of vomiting accompanied every violent cough she had. As she watched Second-Class Female Attendant Bu's body shake with tremors, Panxia was so worried that she nearly cried.
"I'll go and beg Noble Lady Rong," Lanqi said, gritting her teeth. "Aunt Wang is no use. We'll have to rely on ourselves, or our mistress's life will be in grave danger."
Panxia barely registered what she was saying. Crying, she blubbered, "Alright then, be careful!"
Of course she had to be careful. Maids like Lanqi were prohibited from walking around the palace without a reason. Frequently, maids were beaten to death by the guards for being caught where they shouldn't be at a suspicious hour.
Lanqi summoned up her courage and left the Palace of Accumulated Purity. She held up the palace's lantern in front of her as she walked—if a patrolling guard spotted her, she would simply tell him the truth. That way, she would at least have a chance of survival. If she snuck around and got caught, there was a possibility that she might get beaten to death.
When she finally arrived at Noble Lady Rong's palace, however, she found nobody there. Thankfully, after hearing that Lanqi had come quietly, the guard was kind enough to explain the situation to her—Noble Lady Rong had been summoned by the Emperor to his bedchamber. The guard then told her that the eunuchs at the Imperial Academy of Medicine knew a little about illness cures as well. If she took care to go quietly there, the eunuchs could give her some fever medicine.
As she thought of how Second-Class Female Attendant Bu was coughing her lungs up, Lanqi decided to risk it. She asked the guard to point the way, and stumbled the rest of the way to the Imperial Academy of Medicine by herself.
It was as though the stars had finally aligned for her. She usually got hopelessly lost in the palace's alleyways, but she found her way to the Imperial Academy of Medicine without a hitch that night. Besides, when she happened to bump into a bunch of patrolling guards, none of them seemed to notice her. Feeling a little light-headed, Lanqi continued on to her destination.
She found an eunuch guarding the entrance, and she gave him all the jewelry she had on her to bribe her way in. Lanqi had to plead with him for a while more before he finally let her inside. The guard led her into the pharmacy, where a few doctors-on-duty were snoring loudly. It wouldn't be difficult for her to get her hands on some medicine.
"Is your mistress just coughing? What other symptoms are she exhibiting?" the eunuch asked. "I daren't give her anything else but milder forms of medicine—those will help alleviate her symptoms a little. If we accidentally kill her by giving her the wrong type of remedy, it's off with both our heads immediately. Tomorrow morning, make sure to get Consort Zhao's permission and get a doctor to take a look at your mistress."
"Thank you, sir. I had no choice but to come here. My mistress and I will remember your kindness for the rest of our lives, and she'll come over and thank you when she gets better." Seeing how Lanqi was humbling herself in front of her, the eunuch's heart softened. He pushed two bags of cold medicine into her arms before sneaking her another bag of mint. "Give this to your mistress and have her sniff it from time to time. Clears up her airways like magic."
"Thank you..." Just as Lanqi was going to accept it from him, the door of the pharmacy swung open, and two people who were talking loudly entered the room. Lanqi and the eunuch were so frightened that they accidentally dropped the bags of medicine onto the floor. The resulting noise alarmed the person, who roared, "You useless punk! What are you doing here?"