Chapter Twelve Everything Was So Unexpected

  "What did you say? The Empress Dowager summoned her?"

  "That's right."

  "Slap"

  Her jade-like hand slapped heavily on the tree trunk, startling a few leaves to fall slowly, and continued to ask "Is the news accurate?"

  "If the princess does not believe it, just ask Prince Long."

  The woman slowly turned around and looked at the man in his forties with a pair of fox-like eyes, he was Cheng Ren, the great priest of Fenghuang Country.

  And this woman was Bu Yao.

  Bù Yáo was with him because ten days ago, Bù Yáo passed through the city streets, a paper ball suddenly flew into the carriage, she opened it and saw that it was written "What is being contested must be obtained."

  After several twists and turns, she met Cheng Ren. She didn't believe these high priests, but when Cheng Ren said "The step shake is the thing of the imperial concubine, belonging to the noble queen, Qilin, is the master of all things, the most spiritual beast. Therefore, those who get the step shake must be above all people, and those who get Qilin will dominate the world." she was shaken.

  Cheng Ren said that he knew Qi Lin and Bu Yao had different time flows, but could only explain it as a strange woman. He left one sentence for Bu Yao, which was simply two sentences:

  "Bu Yao belongs to the palace, if she wants to fight for something, she will get what she wants, but at the cost of losing something else. Qi Lin belongs to nature, what she fights for is not what she thinks, so she is destined to not get what she fights for, but gets what she wants."

  So she and Cheng Ren became allies, Cheng Ren promised to help her get what she wanted, and she vowed to make him rich and powerful in the future.

  "Now that the Empress Dowager has summoned her, it seems that the day of emergence is imminent. Princess Wang, what do you plan to do next?" Cheng Ren shook off the dust and looked at Bu Yao's figure.

  Bù Yáo turned around and smiled at him, saying softly "Isn't this something that the Grand Priest already knows?"

  Cheng Ren smiled slightly, adjusted his mustache and gazed into the distance.

  "Ah Chu." Qilin rubbed her nose and suddenly realized her rudeness, hastily saying "Your servant was rude."

  "It doesn't matter." The empress dowager didn't mind, lifted her teacup and took a sip of hot tea.

  The fragrance of tea wafted through the air, and the familiar taste made Qilin frown slightly. If she wasn't mistaken, this was the bamboo leaf tea that Yu Mu had researched himself, with a light bamboo fragrance that refreshed the mind and spirit. The tea fruit was soaked in chrysanthemum flowers for several days, then added to Yu Mu's special medicinal herbs, giving it the effect of refreshing the mind and spirit.

  But unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager also had this tea.

  The empress's appearance had already shocked her, now she should be suspicious, shouldn't she?

  "I know that in two months, it will be my birthday. The Emperor wants me to leave the Chang Le Palace." Putting down her tea cup, the Empress Dowager continued, "It has been this way for years."

  "The emperor has a heart of filial piety." Qilin said politely, but in her mind she was wondering how old this empress dowager should be.

  Judging from his appearance, he is about thirty years old. However, Feng Changqing should be approaching twenty years old. From this logic, it doesn't seem right.

  "Filial piety?" Upon hearing the two words "filial piety", a hint of hatred flashed in the empress's eyes, and she coldly said, "If he had been filial, things wouldn't have turned out this way today."

  Only after finishing speaking did she realize that in a fit of anger, she had said some impulsive words. Seeing Qi Lin's slightly surprised expression, if it weren't for the fact that she was entrusted with a mission to assist someone, she would have dragged her out and shut her up long ago.

  "But now there is still one thing outside the Chang Le Palace that makes me worried." He paused and continued, "If you can handle this matter well, I will follow the Emperor's intention."

  "Please instruct the Empress Dowager clearly."

  The empress's change left Qi Lin somewhat at a loss for words. It is said that women can turn their faces faster than they can turn the pages of a book, and this was not false.

  The empress dowager first looked at Qi Lin with suspicion, but recalling that dream, she could only try her luck and spoke out her thoughts.

  As soon as she walked out of the Chang Le Palace, Qi Lin was informed to leave the palace. In the eyes of those people in the imperial kitchen, Qi Lin had offended the Empress Dowager and was dragged away to be punished elsewhere. Qi Lin didn't bother to care about it either, this way she could also avoid running around and could rest for a while first.

  However, she did not return to Xuan Quan first, but instead came to the largest lake in the imperial palace after careful inquiry.

  Looking at the lake as clean as a bright moon, it gives her a feeling of being carefree and relaxed. The lakeshore is planted with a large number of Hostas, which are well-trimmed by people. In the center of the lake, there is a pavilion that can only hold four or five people. Around the pavilion, you can vaguely see some remaining leaves of lotus flowers in the water and occasionally fish swimming to the surface.

  The Empress Dowager said that this place is called Qianli Chi, it was built by the Second Prince Bai Qianyan for her when the previous Emperor was still in power, and it was her favorite gift.

  Qianli Pond is located in a superior region, from which the entire Fenghuang Country can be seen at a glance, and it is also the place with the most abundant sunlight. However, it is separated from the water source by a stream, and its location is higher than the stream, making it impossible to dig a canal to divert water. The Fenghuang Palace was built on a mountain, with an abundance of water sources, but this particular place had no solution.

  To keep the Thousand Carp Pool clean, it is necessary to change the water every five days. The amount of work involved in changing the water is twice that of building a imperial concubine's palace.

  So, what Qilin needs to do is to be able to change the water of Qi Li Pool at any time without using so many engineering quantities.

  First, it is necessary to examine the geographical environment. Walking to the place where the waterfall pours down, it turns out that it's not easy to operate. Picking up a branch and drawing a flat map on the ground, I also drew out my own plan for digging canals and diverting water, but they were all blocked by various conditions.

  It seems I still need to go back and think about it some more.

  Qingquan Xuan is the second-best palace, next only to the Cold Palace. Not only is it located in a remote area, but sometimes there are also some mice passing by. However, Qilin still likes it here because of its special geographical location, basically no other concubines will come to disturb her, making her feel extremely free and leisurely.

  But today was different from usual, as soon as I stepped into Quanxuan Hall, I was suffocated by the depressing atmosphere.

  Only after walking inside did she see that all her palace maids were kneeling on the ground with their heads bowed, and several younger palace girls were shivering with fear.

  Qilin was just about to ask what was going on when she saw Xiao Ran sitting in the main seat, along with several concubines accompanying her. They were all unfamiliar faces, but judging by their attire, they should be at the rank of Zhaoyi.

  Is the sun rising from the west? Qilin quietly raised her eyes to look at the sky, but unfortunately, today's sky had only a few thick clouds and nothing else, it looked like it was going to rain heavily.

  "How dare you! See the Princess of Western Palace and still don't kneel down quickly." One of the women in green luxurious clothes scolded.

  Zhilin was taken aback, the voice was enough to compare with the ear-piercing sound of fingernails scratching an iron pot, making her skin crawl. However, she still walked up to the palace maid and performed a curtsy with the etiquette that a good person should show to Princess Xigong.

  According to the etiquette taught by Professor Jin Yu, among the imperial consorts, except for meeting the Empress, the Dowager Empress and the Emperor, where they need to kneel down, others only need to make a curtsy to those of higher rank. The degree of bowing one's head also naturally varies with the other person's rank. When facing Xi Gong Zhuang, it is enough to just kneel on one knee.

  "Your servant Hongxue pays respects to the Western Palace's Princess, may the Princess be safe and sound." However, after waiting for a very long time, there was still no order to rise, and Qilin wasn't anxious either.

  "Every single one of the imperial consorts here ranks higher than you, a mere little wife. How could you forget your sisters?" The woman from just now spoke in a shrill and harsh tone, her words laced with anger.

  Qilin smiled slightly and said, "Sister is worrying too much. I just don't want to disrupt the rules. Without the permission of the Western Palace's princess, I dare not take the liberty to get up. If I were to greet everyone like this, it would be against etiquette."

  YOU!!!!!

  She was rendered speechless by Zilin's words, and except for Xiao Ran, everyone else was indignant but didn't know how to refute her. Seeing the situation, Xiao Ran also got angry, but his anger was masked by a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.

  "We are all serving the emperor, why bother with so many petty things?" Due to her weak body, her words were already lacking in vigor, and the wind blowing outside made her face pale and bloodless, but she didn't mind, continuing to say "Just now, my sister mentioned the palace etiquette, I suppose it's because you have a good grasp of the palace etiquette, if we sisters were to be petty, wouldn't that be somewhat impolite?"

  Qilin secretly called out "not good", looking at the situation today, it's likely that they came to demand an explanation for their wrongdoing. However, she couldn't think of where she had offended them. She then thought again, could it be because of Feng Changqing staying here a few days ago?

  Looking at the jealousy on the faces of those concubines, it seems to be true, but what about Xiao Ran??? Although I don't understand her, but according to Zi Yun, Xiao Ran is Xiao Zhi Rou's younger sister, gentle and virtuous, a talented woman. She doesn't seem like the kind of person who is prone to jealousy either.

  What's wrong today?

  "Sister has a question, I don't know if little sister can answer truthfully."

  Xiao Ran spoke again after a moment of thought. Qi Lin instantly activated all her thinking brain cells and carefully said, "Please enlighten me, Your Highness."

  "There was an early rule in the palace that the concubines were not allowed to return late, and after dinner, they could not step out of the palace gate. Does your sister still remember?"

  It seems she was caught off guard, only because she left home too early today. It's still before dawn and now that she's back, it's bound to be suspicious. But how could anyone have noticed this? She's always been careful and cautious, and did Xiao Ran really need to make such a big fuss about it?

  Those concubines must be here to gloat over our misfortune.

  He glanced at Li Ping and saw him shrink his neck, apparently he had betrayed himself.

  "I remember." They say that offending one's own servants is like burying a bomb at one's feet, which may explode and harm oneself at any time.

  "Where did that sister go last night?" Xiao Ran carefully observed Qi Lin, but Qi Lin's expression was very calm, as if what she said had no effect on her. Suppressing the anger in her heart, she continued to say "Sister heard that younger sister is slightly unwell, specially came to take a look, but when arriving here, younger sister is not in the palace, why is this?"

  As expected... Even if she was caught off guard, Qilin remained calm and composed, having been in such situations many times before.

  She was also very clear that she couldn't say it was Feng Changqing, otherwise she feared she would die even faster.

  "Reporting to Your Majesty, I recently heard that the Emperor is busy with state affairs and has a multitude of tasks to attend to every day." Qi Lin hoped that Xiao Ran would let the matter slide in consideration of Feng Changqing's face, so she continued, "I heard that the morning dew tea made from the early morning dew can relieve fatigue and benefit one's physical and mental health. Therefore, I got up early to collect the morning dew, hoping to share some of the Emperor's worries."

  This sentence is a double-edged sword. Even if Qilin goes out at midnight, as long as it's for the emperor, wrong becomes right. If she gets punished because of this matter, it would be equivalent to the emperor's fault.

  Fortunately, today's weather is bad, and a fine drizzle has already begun to float in the air. It's normal not to have dew either.

  "It turns out that younger sister is considerate of the emperor, and as an older sister, I seem to be careless instead." Xiao Ran couldn't help but admire Qi Lin's attitude, and there was no sign of lying on her face.

  If it were in the past, she might have turned a blind eye to Feng Changqing, but now, she wants revenge for her dead child.

  With a difficult smile, she hid the hatred in her eyes and said, "Sister is so considerate of the Emperor, it's naturally a good thing, only..."

  Is that all?

  "Your personal butler didn't say it that way."