After entering the Shenwu Gate, both Xiaozhuang and the Empress Dowager changed to more convenient sedan chairs.
The Empress Dowager, getting off the phoenix carriage, kept glancing at Fang He, seemingly with the intention of coming over.
Fang He’s heart stirred slightly.
Her trump card had to be applied to the right situation; the better she understood Kangxi, the more effectively she could act.
Perhaps there were things she couldn’t find out from Su Mo’er that the Empress Dowager might tell her?
This was a wealthy woman who was generous enough to offer a minimum of fifty taels!
Xiaozhuang, feeling weak, gave Su Mo’er a look and weakly instructed,
“Fang He will follow me back to the Cining Palace first.”
If Fang He were really sent to the Shoukang Palace, with Qi Qi Ge’s temperament, she might be pampered like Yin Qi.
Xiaozhuang didn’t want another consort in the palace who, like Xuan Pin, would end up being confined to the Xianfu Palace due to her arrogance.
With no other choice, the Empress Dowager had to get on the sedan chair, casting a lingering glance every few steps, heading towards the Shoukang Palace under Fang He’s equally reluctant gaze.
Su Mo’er teased, “What, miss, you don’t want to serve the master and would rather serve the Empress Dowager?”
Fang He nodded vigorously inside but sternly replied,
“How could I! The matriarch is a paragon for all women in the world. To serve her, our Xu Jia family’s ancestral graves would not only emit smoke but might be burning fiercely right now. How could I dare to be so ungrateful!”
Su Mo’er: “…………” She felt that the Xu Jia ancestors might not particularly want such a disobedient descendant.
Upon arriving at the Cining Palace, Su Mo’er did not assign Fang He any duties but still had her stay in the side hall next to hers.
This was the treatment reserved for distinguished guests visiting the palace.
However, Fang He felt even more distressed inside.
It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the kindness, but the side hall had a desk and an embroidery basket.
Life was really unbearable!
Fortunately, although Su Mo’er had ways to manage her, with envoys from Khorchin both Xiaozhuang and the Empress Dowager had to receive guests, and the main hall was bustling for most of the day.
Su Mo’er, concerned about the master’s health, mostly served in the main hall, which made Fang He’s days slightly easier than in the temporary palace.
During this time, Kangxi, worried that his grandmother’s health might not hold up, would come to serve Xiaozhuang with medicine every day after the morning court, but he never mentioned.
Tsk, tsk, this is a man.
If you trust him, just wait to get entangled with a well!
Fang He was not paying attention and complained inwardly, seizing any opportunity to slack off, working diligently at the slightest noise, and muddled through until the day of the Emperor’s birthday.
Earlier, it wasn’t that no one had mentioned Fang He.
It was hard to find out much from the front of the throne.
Not many people knew about the changes in the Qianqing Palace, only the consorts who occasionally went to sleep with the emperor could sense a bit.
But the changes in the Cining Palace were noticeable to the noblewomen who came to pay respects and accompany the Khalkha and Kokonor ladies.
It was not unusual to see palace attendants who were always extra proper when coming and going.
But the Cining Palace, which always exuded a refreshing fragrance, the main hall that was spotless, and the changed official rooms and toiletries all made people feel comfortable and extremely curious.
Upon inquiry, it turned out that Fang He’s existence was no secret in either the Qianqing Palace or the Cining Palace.
Thus, the news of a capable palace maid in the front of the throne even spread to the front court.
The men from Northern Mongolia were rough in speech and didn’t know how to flatter.
They seized any opportunity to praise Fang He when they saw Kangxi.
“Only His Majesty, the Son of Heaven, has palace attendants around you who are different from elsewhere!”
“It must be that the Eternal Blue Sky thinks the Heavenly Khan is wise and brave, and it is His gift to you!”
“Yes, yes, yes. If our wives could even learn a bit from the palace attendants in front of the throne, our lives would be much better!”
Kangxi: “…………” This kind of flattery made him feel embarrassed to listen.
Those who knew understood that he had a useful palace maid, but those who didn’t might think he had added a new auspicious presence.
He didn’t respond, and those who were smart enough to sense that His Majesty might not be so proud of having a capable little palace maid gradually stopped mentioning it.
But on the day of the Emperor’s birthday, Kangxi went to pay respects to his grandmother early in the morning.
As he approached the main hall, he heard another round of praise for Fang He inside.
It never ends!
He frowned slightly and even felt the urge to turn around and leave.
His grandmother kept someone around, and as her grandson, he couldn’t possibly ask for her back.
He already thought that the front of the throne had been nothing but noisy lately, with not a single thing to be happy about.
Wherever he went, he could hear good things about that little troublemaker, making him increasingly impatient.
Before he could move, he heard someone inside the hall laugh and say,
“Why isn’t Miss Fang He here?”
“I heard from Yin Ti that she was learning to read with Yin Qi. She seems to be quite proper, but she is not young and looks quite dark. She might be laughed at in front of the throne. I am really curious,” said Hui Fei.
Kangxi unconsciously frowned slightly, thinking that the remark was not pleasant to hear, and that the little troublemaker should have stopped using powder earlier.
But there was more than one person agreeing.
“I have seen Miss Fang He. She didn’t seem very dark at first, but she looked a bit gloomy. At first glance, she seemed like she had seen a ghost, which startled me,” said Xi Pin.
As a consort, Kangxi couldn’t possibly give no face at all.
He might not want to sleep with her, but having a meal together was still possible.
That was why he didn’t like Xi Pin.
She was so talkative, even describing Fang He’s features in detail and comparing her with others in front of the throne, as if to let everyone know how favored she was, being able to know so much about the people in front of the throne.
Before Hui Fei could speak, Rong Fei laughed and said,
“Come to think of it, I saw her once from a distance. She looked like an ordinary person outside. When Yin Zhi came back, he sighed for a long time, saying that his father didn’t know how to care for people.”
A young eunuch who had followed the southern tour said,
“It’s not the Son of Heaven’s fault!”
“Since she is a palace attendant, she is bound to be exposed to wind and sun. Others haven’t become as dark as a monkey, but she has. Maybe she just doesn’t have good fortune.”
The more Kangxi listened at the door, the more his expression darkened.
The eunuchs guarding the door, who were not allowed to let him pay respects, were so scared that they knelt down.
Both eunuchs wished they could bury their heads in the ground rather than endure the increasingly cold and stern aura of the emperor.
After listening for a while, Kangxi gave a silent cold laugh and stepped inside.
When did it become the turn of the women in the harem to gossip about his people in the Qianqing Palace?
But as soon as he took a step forward, there was a loud clatter of a tea cup being put down inside.
Then, the Empress Dowager’s impatient scolding came out——
“You think Fang He is not beautiful. She is not you. As a consort in the harem, instead of thinking about how to serve the emperor well, you are learning from the common women in the market to gossip. Have you put all the rules in the dog’s stomach?”
“Miss Fang He can train the palace maids well, making the emperor worry-free and the empress dowager comfortable. If you have the time to gossip, you should compare your merits with her.”
Everyone in the hall who had spoken was stunned, especially Hui Fei and Rong Fei, whose faces turned from green to red, quite a sight.
It was just that De Fei was worried about the sixth prince’s health, and Yi Fei made an excuse that her body was heavy and not feeling well, so she didn’t come.
Otherwise, the two of them could have been embarrassed to death.
In fact, they also knew that with Fang He’s looks, she wouldn’t compete for the emperor’s favor with them.
If she was capable, let her be capable.
It had nothing to do with them.
But the palace and outside had been buzzing with the news lately.
When Yin Ti and Yin Zhi went to the Changchun Palace and the Zhongcui Palace, they always brought it up, saying that the palace maids in the Changchun Palace and the Zhongcui Palace were not as good as Fang He.
The two consorts were not feeling well, or rather, the consorts whose wind had been stolen by Fang He recently were all in a bad mood.
Even though the Empress Dowager scolded them severely, they were not convinced.
An old maid without beauty or talent, and just a lowly palace attendant, why should she be favored?
The Khalkha and Kokonor ladies, as well as the accompanying noblewomen, dared not speak and lowered their heads as if they hadn’t heard anything.
Xiaozhuang took in the stiff and disdainful expressions of everyone, and with a light laugh, she patted the Empress Dowager’s hand.
“Empress.”
“Why are you, an elder, getting angry with these children who don’t know any better?”
“They are not wrong in saying that. The girl is a bit dark, but she has a good foundation. I also like her and am taking good care of her.”
“Wait until she is well taken care of and comes out again. I will make her a chief female officer in the Cining Palace and let them all have a good look. It is I who knows how to care for people.”
The moment the Grand Empress Dowager spoke, the originally delicate atmosphere in the hall changed again.
Hui Fei, Rong Fei, Xi Pin, and even the small attendant from the Zhongcui Palace who had spoken to please Rong Fei, all had their faces turning pale.
Regret was inevitable, and their hearts were in turmoil.
Whoever the old ancestor wanted to train and favored, once trained well, would be favored by whom?
Regardless of whether it was given to His Majesty or bestowed in marriage, once Fang He’s status changed and she was favored by the master… wouldn’t they have offended someone for no reason?
Just as they were filled with regret, Kangxi’s clear and cheerful voice came from outside the door.
“Your Majesty, you are joking with me. I won’t agree!”
He entered with a smile, bowed, and sat affectionately next to Xiaozhuang.
“I had instructed the Office of Imperial Affairs a while ago that, considering Fang He’s meritorious service in attending to illness, once we return to the Qianqing Palace, she will be made a female officer of the Imperial Court.”
“You can’t do something that you won’t return. It will make me lose face in front of my subordinates. I will find another clever one for you later.”
Hui Fei and the others felt a chill in their hearts. His Majesty, do you care about your face but not ours?
Xiaozhuang lightly patted Kangxi on the shoulder, smiling mischievously.
“You are competing with me for people here. If this spreads, it might make that girl a laughingstock. Where would that leave her with any face?”
Kangxi glanced indifferently at Hui Fei and the others, not committing to anything.
“The people in front of the throne are under my say-so. Whether they have face or not depends on how they think about it.”
Xi Pin and the small attendant hadn’t reacted yet, but Hui Fei and Rong Fei felt a jolt in their hearts and heard the warning in the emperor’s words.
At this moment, their regret reached its peak.
They realized that it didn’t matter how Fang He was, but gossiping about the front of the throne in the palace like children had offended the emperor’s taboos.
No one dared to show the slightest discomfort on their faces anymore and forced themselves to smile and agree with Kangxi.
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