Chapter 2: Another Encounter

After a while, a few senior palace maids surrounded and escorted a noblewoman outside.

She was dressed in a phoenix robe, exuding the air of a legitimate main wife. Even her entrance was grand—accompanied by four palace maids and supported by an elderly matron.

Shen Qing thought of her own pitiful situation—only two servant girls at her command—and sighed inwardly. Damn class hierarchy.

The Empress had arrived.

Everyone naturally knelt to pay respects.

“You may all rise. From now on, we are sisters within the palace,” the Empress said with a smile.

The other consorts didn’t make things difficult either. They simply spoke a few words about how to properly serve the Emperor in the future and what rules should be followed in the palace.

None of the new ladies dared cause a scene on such an occasion. All obediently listened to the instructions. Just then, however, there was some commotion outside.

Consort Yu, arriving late, entered gracefully with the help of her maid. The moment she stepped in, everyone’s eyes lit up.

This woman had an air of heroism about her. Her features were bold and striking, and she stood there exuding confidence and beauty.

Upon entering, she addressed the Empress, “Please don’t fault me for being late, Your Majesty. It’s just that His Majesty took a day off from morning court today and lingered a bit longer. This humble consort naturally stayed by his side a little longer as well.”

Shen Qing found the scene very familiar.

Back when the female lead first entered the palace, Consort Yu had pulled the same stunt, making quite the impression. So this was her usual move with every new batch of palace ladies?

What a model palace-drama antagonist—constantly striving for attention and digging her own grave.

She was always the standout, and in the end, died at the hands of the heroine due to her own jealousy. Honestly, she didn’t die unjustly.

The Empress seemed completely unfazed by Consort Yu’s flaunting tone. She kept a composed smile. “You’ve worked hard serving His Majesty. Please, have a seat.”

“Many thanks, Your Majesty,” Consort Yu replied and sat down.

She didn’t even bow.

That was likely the confidence of a favored consort who had already given birth to royal children.

Compared to the Empress, who had no children, Consort Yu was in her prime—having borne a pair of twins, a prince and a princess. At this time, there were only a few royal children in the palace. The Empress didn’t even have a legitimate heir yet.

After this little episode, things returned to normal. The Empress said what she needed to say, and the rest involved distributing rewards and receiving thanks.

Once everyone left Fengyi Hall, they all went their separate ways.

As the saying goes: people gather in like-minded groups. Shen Qing, though stunning, held a rank too low and lived too far away. Those who lived closer had already formed connections. She alone watched the others walk off in pairs to their respective palaces. She followed her maid toward Zhaohua Palace.

Halfway there, she unexpectedly saw the same group she’d encountered earlier.

Talk about bad luck—it was the Emperor again!

Two encounters in one day.

When Xuanyuan Ling saw Shen Qing a second time, he surprisingly had the same thought as she did: What a coincidence.

He’d caught a glimpse of her earlier and had remembered her from the selection. Now he recalled that today was the fifteenth. She must’ve gone to greet the Empress, and starting today, she was eligible for imperial bed service.

After the imperial sedan passed, Shen Qing stood up, and Chunhua patted the dust off her skirt. The two resumed walking.

Chunhua was a little excited. “Liangren, you’re clearly blessed. To have encountered His Majesty both coming and going.”

If kneeling every time you met the Emperor counted as a blessing…

Shen Qing didn’t comment. After returning to Zhaohua Palace, she had a simple lunch. Chunhua and Qiulu were her only two maids. Qiulu had to fetch the food, while the routine cleaning was done by other eunuchs and maids. Qiulu handled the errands directly related to Shen Qing. Otherwise, just the two of them wouldn’t be enough.

Thus, a few uneventful days passed. But news from outside the palace began trickling in.

After paying respects to the Empress, the new consorts were eligible for bed service. Chunhua often mentioned who was chosen each day. Today it was Noble Lady Chang, tomorrow it would be Beauty Li. Chunhua seemed quite anxious, probably wondering why, with such beauty, her mistress hadn’t been summoned yet.

Shen Qing, however, remained calm.

Knowing the male lead’s temperament, he’d probably sleep with everyone else before it was her turn.

That was fine by her. She really didn’t want to be the center of attention. The male lead’s disinterest in beauty suited her just fine.

There was just one issue.

Shen Qing was starting to feel incredibly restless.

Every day in Zhaohua Palace, she either stood around collecting dust or lay around collecting dust. At this rate, she’d rot away long before she could survive two years.

She had to get out for a walk. The only permissible place to stroll was the Imperial Garden. She couldn’t exactly take laps around the palace corridors.

So she decided to head to the Imperial Garden.

There wasn’t much to see there, but it was still better than staring at the same scenery every day. A change of view helped.

She found a pavilion and sat down to watch the fish in the pond below. She lazily tossed some pastries into the water as feed. Drowsy, she leaned against the railing and yawned.

The third time Xuanyuan Ling saw her, he caught her mid-yawn.

It reminded him of the white cat kept in the Empress Dowager’s palace—always lazy, lounging on glazed tiles in summer, yawning in the sun.

Chunhua spotted the Emperor first. She gasped and immediately knelt. “Greetings to Your Majesty.”

Shen Qing was startled awake. She turned to look and, for a moment, seemed too frightened to even remember to salute. Then she snapped out of it and quickly knelt down. “This humble consort greets Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor.”

Xuanyuan Ling studied her expression for a moment, then walked over and sat where she’d just been feeding the fish.

He didn’t tell her to rise, so she could only keep kneeling.

Her mind was screaming, WTF, but she dared not show it on her face. After a while, she cautiously lifted her head, only to see that Xuanyuan Ling hadn’t even looked at her.

She lowered her head again, silently screaming. Ten WTFs floated through her mind, but she reminded herself of his moody nature from the original story and gave up trying to guess what he was thinking.

If he didn’t tell her to rise, she’d just keep kneeling.

What else could she do? Playing it safe was the right move.

So she knelt there while Xuanyuan Ling grabbed the leftover pastry crumbs and began feeding the fish himself.

He fed them for a full quarter of an hour.

Shen Qing shifted slightly and silently cursed again—her legs were going numb from kneeling.

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