Chapter 46: It Seems Like She Won

“You dare hit me…” Xue Jinyan was stunned for a moment. She had never been hit before, no one dared to disrespect her.

“You are of lower rank, yet you address your superior by name, disregarding the hierarchy. What’s wrong with this Jieyu hitting you?” Ning Wanyin looked at Xue Jinyan coldly, “Xue… Gui… Ren.”

Xue Jinyan reacted, covering her face and glaring at Ning Wanyin with hatred. She was so humiliated that she wanted to kill Ning Wanyin on the spot.

“Noble Lady Xue is the Empress Dowager’s niece, you dare to disregard the Empress Dowager’s face…” A concubine from the Xue faction angrily looked at Ning Wanyin.

Ning Wanyin calmly said, “The Empress Dowager is the mother of the country, she is virtuous and noble, how could she tolerate such a thing that disregards the hierarchy.”

“That’s right, Noble Lady Xue doesn’t know etiquette, what’s wrong with Jieyu Ning teaching her some manners?” Jieyu Cen suddenly chimed in, looking at Xue Jinyan with a smile.

Xue Jinyan coldly glanced at Jieyu Cen, then glared fiercely at Ning Wanyin. She was just momentarily angry, she didn’t actually not know the palace rules, she barely suppressed her anger, bowed to Ning Wanyin, “Thank you, Jieyu Ning, for your guidance, this concubine takes her leave.”

Her demeanor was impeccable, but her words were gritted out, everyone could hear the deep hatred in them.

Xue Jinyan left angrily.

The concubines from the Xue faction looked at each other and quickly followed her.

Wei Yingya saw this scene and couldn’t help but sigh in her heart, this Jieyu Ning is really good at making enemies.

She won’t live past three chapters, she definitely won’t live past three chapters!

The concubines left with different expressions.

Jieyu Cen smiled at Ning Wanyin, “Jieyu Ning, you really surprised me today.”

Whether it was the final reversal…

Or daring to slap Xue Jinyan.

The former showed wisdom, the latter showed courage to fight the Xue family to the death.

It’s hard to find someone with either of these qualities, let alone someone who possesses both, it’s one in a million.

“Would Jieyu Ning be so kind as to have tea at my palace?” Jieyu Cen looked at Ning Wanyin with a bright smile.

“It’s getting late, I won’t bother you.” Ning Wanyin declined.

Jieyu Cen raised her eyebrows slightly, “You’ve already offended the Xue family. With Xue Jinyan’s temperament, she won’t rest until she puts you to death. Without me helping you, how long do you think you can live?”

With you helping me, the Emperor could kill me right now.

“That’s my own business, I don’t need outsiders to worry about it.” Ning Wanyin drew a line.

Jieyu Cen’s eyes narrowed, what a ungrateful thing.

…

Ning Wanyin and her group returned to Lingsxue Pavilion.

Little Guizi’s legs were weak, he thought his mistress was going to be finished several times today…

“Mistress, you… why did you hit Noble Lady Xue, she definitely won’t let you off…” Little Guizi reminded her timidly.

Ning Wanyin said calmly, “She wanted my life, what’s wrong with me hitting her?”

Little Guizi suddenly realized. Indeed, they had already fought openly, whether she hit her or not, it was clear that it was a matter of life and death…

It was terrifying. Maybe he should find another place to work?

Back in the bedroom.

Ning Wanyin dismissed everyone, only Lianrui stayed to serve her with a bath.

“Mistress, it was so close today. Fortunately, you had a backup plan.” Lianrui was still afraid.

“Without a backup plan, I wouldn’t have let Caiye leave.” Ning Wanyin said calmly.

Caiye was a palace maid from Lingsxue Pavilion.

If she didn’t confirm that she was bribed, how could Ning Wanyin dare…

Let her lure the snake out of its hole?

That morning, Ning Wanyin called Lianrui alone.

“Every morning, palace maids from each palace will send their waste to the Sinful Servants’ Quarters. Counting the time, it should be arriving soon.” Ning Wanyin looked at Lianrui and instructed, “Go get some incense ash from Qionghua Garden.”

Every morning, each palace would send the previous day’s incense ash, leftover food, fruit peels, night soil, and other waste to the Sinful Servants’ Quarters. There were people specifically assigned to deal with it, either to fertilize the fields or to send it out of the palace.

“Yes.” Lianrui accepted the order. This wasn’t difficult, she just needed to find an excuse to go to the Sinful Servants’ Quarters and take some incense ash.

“But Mistress, what do you need this incense ash for?”

“To smoke the silver notes.”

…

That night, many people couldn’t sleep.

Ning Wanyin, however, slept soundly.

The next morning, Wang Degui brought the rewards for the promotion to Jieyu, they were spread out all over the courtyard, and according to her rank, two more palace maids were added.

Ning Wanyin rewarded everyone as usual, then went to Qianxin Palace to thank the Emperor.

The Emperor was discussing state affairs with his ministers and didn’t see her, he told her to go back directly.

That night, the Department of Palace Etiquette brought the concubines’ jade tablets.

Ning Wanyin had just been promoted to Jieyu, the Department of Palace Etiquette rushed to make her new jade tablet.

They were afraid of delaying the Emperor’s selection.

But Helian Qi’s gaze lingered slightly on “Jieyu Ning,” then he said, “Go to Linlang Palace.”

Wang Degui was stunned, to Linlang Palace again?

The princess in Linlang Palace was frightened, it was understandable for the Emperor to take care of her a little more.

But in the following days, the Emperor successively selected other concubines, he didn’t go to Lingsxue Pavilion again.

This confused the concubines in the palace.

Didn’t the Emperor just promote Ning Wanyin? Why did he suddenly stop favoring her?

Although everyone knew that the Emperor was unpredictable, this was too unpredictable!

Deep into the night, inside Lingsxue Pavilion.

Ning Wanyin sat on the bamboo couch by the window, quietly setting up a game of chess.

Lianrui was serving her, her face was filled with worry, “Mistress, the Emperor hasn’t seen you for quite some time…”

She also noticed something was wrong when Helian Qi stopped coming to Lingsxue Pavilion.

Ning Wanyin picked up a white chess piece from the chessboard and said calmly, “The Emperor is suspicious by nature, he must have guessed that I planted those five hundred taels of silver notes.”

“How did the Emperor guess?” Lianrui was very shocked.

Ning Wanyin said, “There are always people from both sides in the palace. Noble Lady Xue is plotting something big, of course, she would use a dead man who would never betray her, she also has the ability to place someone in Lingsxue Pavilion, she wouldn’t temporarily spend money to bribe an outsider, the risk is too great.”

“So, logically, there shouldn’t be any silver notes in Caiye’s room. Even if she wanted to reward her, the Xue family’s people outside the palace could send it to her home, wouldn’t that be more covert and safe?”

“Of course, because Noble Lady Xue can’t say that Caiye is her person, she doesn’t need to spend money to bribe her. So, I won this round.”

“But the Emperor is deep and suspicious, he naturally understands that the appearance of this silver note is out of place.”

Lianrui was confused, she finally understood, “So what? Although the silver note was planted by the Mistress, Caiye is indeed Noble Lady Xue’s person!”

“Wrong, since there’s no physical evidence, then she could be a Xue family member, or she could be my person.” Ning Wanyin looked at the chessboard in front of her, quietly stroking the white chess piece in her palm.

Yinzhu came out to confess, it was…

Because of the planted evidence.

In other words, there was no concrete evidence to prove that Ning Wanyin didn’t instruct Caiye.

“The Emperor believes you…” Lianrui quickly argued, “When the silver notes hadn’t appeared yet, the Emperor specifically ordered people to investigate carefully… The Emperor trusts you.”

Indeed.

When all the evidence pointed to her, Helian Qi believed that she was innocent.

But when everything settled down, he discovered that Ning Wanyin was the winner of this game, and a hint of doubt arose in his heart.

The human heart is unpredictable, only the beneficiary is obvious.

The Emperor always valued results, it was no surprise that he would doubt the ultimate beneficiary.

Of course, the Emperor was less likely to believe Xue Jinyan than Ning Wanyin.

In this matter, he was nine out of ten still trusting Ning Wanyin, it was just a slight doubt.

But, in the end, the rift between her and the Emperor wasn’t about the authenticity of those five hundred taels of silver notes.

It was that the Emperor had noticed her sharpness.

She could not only deal with enemies, but she could also hurt her own people.

Even if this time it wasn’t Ning Wanyin, would she put those he cared about in danger for her own benefit next time?

Ning Wanyin wasn’t a confidante cultivated by the Emperor since childhood, they didn’t have a deep friendship, nor did they have a foundation of trust.

Ning Wanyin wouldn’t trust the palace maids from Lingsxue Pavilion, how could the Emperor trust a concubine he had only known for a short time?

This was just a knife he picked up along the way.

It was very useful, but also very dangerous.

The more useful Ning Wanyin was, the more he would pay attention to her danger.

As long as Ning Wanyin continued to move forward, this situation was inevitable.

For the Emperor, there were no irreplaceable pawns. It would be a pity to throw away a good knife, but it was also unsettling to use it, it was better to put it aside for now.

And things that were put aside gradually became less important.

Sometimes, it seems like you’ve won.

But in reality, you’re already on the verge of losing.

She still needs to remind the Emperor of a small matter to truly win this game.

Ning Wanyin placed the chess piece in her palm on the board.

One piece on the board, a small loss, but it revitalized the entire game:

“Don’t worry, the Emperor will see me.”

Lianrui quickly said, “Mistress, what do you need to do? Just give this servant your orders!”

“You don’t need to do anything, someone will help me.” Ning Wanyin’s lips curled slightly, her eyes were deep as she looked at the chessboard.

Lianrui was very curious: Who would help the Mistress? The Mistress doesn’t have any friends in the palace.