If she was Panxia, Lanqi would have screamed right back at the old hag. However, Lanqi managed to hold back her anger.
If she threw a noisy fit, it would only make Aunt Wang even happier—she was incredibly twisted that way. However, if she bore with it and went along with Aunt Wang, Lanqi would get her revenge by throwing a wrench in Aunt Wang's plans.
Anyway, Second-Class Female Attendant Bu would be back from the Palace of Earthly Honor very soon to stick up for Lanqi.
Lanqi finally managed to dress herself after a great deal of effort. Feeling like a ball of cotton that had been thrown into a pail of water, she wobbled and stumbled her way to the Imperial Household Department. Although Second-Class Female Attendant Bu was a rather low-ranked concubine and didn't receive much charcoal, there was still enough charcoal that Lanqi couldn't carry all of it back by herself.
Last winter, it had taken the combined efforts of Little Zhao, Panxia and Lanqi to drag all the charcoal back to the Palace of Accumulated Purity.
Because Second-Class Female Attendant Bu had received much attention lately, the Imperial Household Department was treating her much better than they had before. Trying to suck up her, they gave Lanqi more charcoal than the Palace of Accumulated Purity had previously been accustomed to.
To their dismay, the Palace of Accumulated Purity had sent only their weakest maid to collect all of it. She seemed rather ill, too. The people at the Imperial Household Department complained loudly. "Go back and fetch someone else to do this. You won't be able to carry all of this back by yourself."
If she went back empty-handed, Aunt Wang was probably going to give her an earful again. To save herself the trouble, Lanqi gritted her teeth and begged the Imperial Household Department to let her carry the charcoal back by herself. Thankfully, the eunuch there was a kind man, and he found a large burlap sack for her. He reminded her warily, "Don't you drag this all over the place, now. You'll ruin the charcoal inside. Worse still, you could get executed for dirtying the palace grounds."
Lanqi knew how strict the palace rules were. She would never dare to drag the sack of charcoal after her. Before she left, she pilfered a thick piece of cloth wrap and tacked it securely to the bottom of the sack so she wouldn't dirty the palace floors. She dragged it back to the palace, stopping every few steps she took. After a while of stumbling, she was dismayed to find out that she had barely traveled the length of an alleyway.
The alleyway was extremely long. As Lanqi struggled with her sack of charcoal, the imperial chariot approached from the other end of the alleyway. As a horde of maids and eunuchs followed behind, Xuanye sat on the chariot, swaying with every bump. The imperial court had broken up a little late tonight, and he was hurrying to pay his respects to the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager at the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
Xuanye's brows were still furrowed in thought as he considered the court official Mingzhu's (Bright Pearl) suggestion to recall the empire's troops. The maids and eunuchs that followed him walked in silence, too afraid to make a sound to distract him. Suddenly, there was a loud bang in the distance, and Xuanye lost his train of thought. He looked up and saw a maid keeled over on the ground—there was a sack of charcoal in front of her that seemed large enough for two to three people to carry.
Seeing the displeased expression on Xuanye's face, Head Eunuch Li looked rather panicked. Just as he was going to order an eunuch to give the maid a good beating, Xuanye held up a hand to stop him. "Get someone to help her move that sack of charcoal. There's no need to investigate the matter further."
Head Eunuch Li let out a sigh of relief. Immediately, he sent two eunuchs ahead to help her, while the rest of the Emperor's entourage continued to head towards the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
Lanqi was so tired that her ears were buzzing loudly—she couldn't even hear the commotion behind her. Just as she was panting loudly on the ground, two eunuchs appeared in front of her and picked up her sack of charcoal. Looking at her kindly, they asked, "Miss, which palace do you come from?"
"Sirs...you..." Lanqi looked rather dazed. Where had these Good Samaritans come from? When she heard their reply, she turned to look behind her in shock. The last of the Emperor's entourage was just disappearing from her sight—the Emperor himself was nowhere in sight.
Bowing deeply in the direction of the Emperor, Lanqi supported herself using the wall and got up shakily. Trying to catch her breath, she said, "Thank you, good sirs. I come from the Palace of Accumulated Purity."
Meanwhile, the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager were listening to the Emperor as he gave them an overview of what happened in the political court today. Although it was forbidden for concubines to involve themselves in state affairs, Xuanye deeply respected his grandmother for having lived through the reigns of three emperors now. Hence, he frequently sought her opinion on state affairs.
The Grand Empress Dowager knew the rules of the court, so she only gave him a few pointers here and there in the past. Seeing how influential a ruler the Kangxi Emperor was becoming, and how he was slowly gaining the respect of the common people, the Grand Empress Dowager knew it was time for her to release her grip on the political court completely.
Outside, Head Eunuch Li spotted his two disciples returning after helping Lanqi out. He called them onto a quiet corridor and asked, "Where did the both of you go? You took a very long time."
One of the eunuchs said, "We followed the maid to the Palace of Accumulated Purity—she's one of Second-Class Female Attendant Bu's maids. I don't know why they only sent her to fetch the charcoal, though. She looked rather sickly to me."
The other eunuch added, "We took her all the way back to the Palace of Accumulated Purity. There was an old Aunt there who mistook us as eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department! She gave the poor maid a good scolding right in front of us—just as we were going to stand up for her, Second-Class Female Attendant Bu returned and gave us a few copper coins for our service. She ignored the Aunt completely, but seemed very protective of the maid!"
Seeing that his two disciples were offering him the coins they got as a sign of respect, Head Eunuch Li waved a hand dismissively and said, "Keep them for yourselves. Make sure you keep your mouths shut about everything you saw or heard." When he returned to stand guard outside the door, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "The Palace of Accumulated Purity has truly been in the limelight lately..."