Chapter 96:

Layue didn’t really care much about what was happening with Consort An. It was easy to imagine—within the palace, countless incidents had occurred where someone was simply chosen to take the blame. The real mastermind behind it all might still be walking free and unscathed. In this deep, secluded palace, if you let such matters get to you, you had already lost.

As for Consort An, though she had lost her child this time, the Emperor hadn’t treated her poorly—her rank had been elevated twice, and she was now Shuyi of the second junior rank.

Layue sipped her mung bean soup and felt a sweetness in her heart. All the palace’s gossip and conflicts no longer disturbed her. Regardless of what others did, she focused daily on carefully sewing clothes for the Emperor. His birthday was approaching soon, and Layue knew there would be many events happening recently—his mood might not be very good.

Though Layue didn’t go out of her way to comfort him, she ensured that Qiaoning made mung bean soup every day during these hot summer days to send to both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Such a thing wasn’t rare, and they certainly weren’t lacking it, but Layue knew that it was the thought behind it that made it special.

Qiaoning made things rather sweet, but Layue knew the Emperor didn’t like overly sweet flavors. So every day she prepared two different versions. Watching her run back and forth between them daily, the Emperor couldn’t help but smile slightly, finding it somewhat pleasing.

Time passed quickly like this. As for the matter of the gravel path, it seemed to have never happened. But every now and then, when Layue saw Shuyi, she felt something was off.

In truth, Layue didn’t know how much Shuyi longed for a child. How could she not desire one? She had hoped for it for so long. Finally, she had become pregnant, only to lose the child before even realizing it, all due to someone else’s doing. How could she possibly accept that calmly?

People always said she couldn’t conceive, otherwise how could she never have gotten pregnant before? Over time, she herself had even come to believe it, no longer paying much attention. But now, it had been proven that she could indeed conceive. Yet this child had been taken away because of others.

If it hadn’t been for Debi pulling her that day, she wouldn’t have fallen. If it hadn’t been for the plan against Bai Youran, there wouldn’t have been talcum powder on the gravel path. Now, Bai Youran was perfectly fine, but her child was dead. Thus, whether the real culprit or Debi or Bai Youran, they were all her enemies.

Therefore, the current Shuyi appeared much more gloomy, her glances toward Debi and Bai Youran filled with resentment. This was exactly what Layue found unsettling. The current Shuyi looked unusually gloomy—there was no telling what incomprehensible actions she might take at any moment.

Ta’er lifted the curtain and entered the room, seeing her mistress in a daze and laughed, “My lady is daydreaming again. The kitchen has already prepared the mung bean soup. Qiaoning has packed it up. Shall we go deliver it now?”

Layue stood up and nodded, “Go fetch the food tray.”

Looking outside at the blazing sun, Layue thought for a moment before changing into a pale yellow palace dress made of delicate, smooth sheer silk. She considered it a fine garment, a rare fabric gifted by the Emperor a few days ago.

Layue wasn’t inexperienced—she naturally knew this was an imperial tribute item, and outside the palace, such a thing would certainly be unavailable. The Emperor had even had a palace dress made from this rare material for her, and people outside remarked that Noble Consort Chun was truly the Emperor’s favorite.

Since she was wearing a pale yellow dress, Layue also knew she couldn’t wear golden accessories.

Apricot laid out the jewelry for Layue to choose from. Looking through them, Layue thought the sapphire plum blossom hairpin was nice. She didn’t know why the plum blossom hairpin was made in sapphire blue. As Layue kept looking at it, Apricot understood and quickly pinned it into Layue’s hair, giving her a unique charm.

With the hot weather, Layue disliked letting her hair down, even though it looked graceful. Unable to bear the heat, she usually wore one or two buns. When wearing two buns, unless dressed elaborately, she would look somewhat like a young maid from afar.

But Layue didn’t mind at all. Considering her youth among the palace women, if she didn’t act a bit freely now, in the future when new faces entered the palace, her current style might seem laughable.

She applied powder, painted her lips, and outlined her eyebrows.

Even Apricot was stunned, thinking how beautiful her mistress looked.

Seeing Apricot’s expression, Layue laughed, “What? Are you surprised by how you’ve dressed me?”

Apricot replied without hesitation, “My lady has naturally grown more beautiful. It has nothing to do with my skills—it’s just adding to something already beautiful.”

“You flatter me. Come on, I think the Emperor is probably waiting for me.”

Layue stood up.

Normally, she wouldn’t deliver things herself, but during these past few hot days, she had been coming daily, and the Emperor had already grown accustomed to it. Yesterday, she had been half an hour late, and his expression had already turned sour.

Layue couldn’t help but smile inwardly.

She muttered to herself, “You’re already upset because I was late? As if I enjoy serving you? It’s only to gain your favor. If not for you, I wouldn’t even look at you twice. In my past life, I had already seen enough of you.”

Although she felt annoyed inside, she didn’t show it on her face. Instead, she wore a cheerful smile that dazzled those who saw it.

After all, this was the Emperor’s favor toward her.

It seemed that when others saw her delivering the mung bean porridge and the Emperor accepted it, they tried to imitate her the next day but were instead scolded.

Look at that—the Emperor treated her specially.

Since that was the case, she naturally continued delivering it daily. Not only that, after attending to the Emperor, she would also go to the Empress Dowager’s palace.

Thus, her day became quite busy.

Lai Xi saw her dressed like this and smiled knowingly, “Noble Consort Chun, please come in quickly—the Emperor has been waiting for you.”

When her father was first granted a title, Layue hadn’t shown any special reaction, and naturally, the Emperor hadn’t mentioned it either.

But starting from the third day, Layue had been bringing a small food tray every day to deliver mung bean soup, saying it was hot weather and drinking this could cool one down. However, with all the precious things in the palace, how could the Emperor possibly lack a bowl of mung bean soup? Yet seeing her flushed face from the heat, the Emperor inexplicably felt pleased.

Even if she was a little late, he would feel displeased.

Sure enough, she arrived earlier than yesterday but not as early as the day before. He didn’t say anything and just sat at his desk handling official matters, not even glancing at her.

Layue gracefully bowed.

“Your humble concubine greets the Emperor.”

The Emperor still didn’t look up but didn’t let her remain half-bowed either.

“Rise.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Seeing that the Emperor still showed no intention of speaking to her further, Layue didn’t mind. She quietly walked to the small table inside the room and took out the items from her basket.

Lunch had already been served, so the mung bean soup was made thin, just to relieve the summer heat. No one would actually eat it as a meal.

After serving the Emperor his porridge, Layue stood respectfully to one side, watching Jingdi silently.

Jingdi naturally knew she was there, but since she remained quiet, he also said nothing, continuing to work for a while before sighing and setting down his brush.

When he looked at her again, she was smiling faintly, and unknowingly, there was a faint dimple at the corner of her mouth.

Jingdi was momentarily stunned and instinctively reached out, standing up.

Seeing his hand carelessly approaching her lips, Layue felt puzzled but still spoke, “Your Majesty, you’ve finished your work. Please have some mung bean soup. It’s the hottest time of the year, and you must take care of your health.”

Seeing her speak so seriously, Jingdi accepted the bowl from her hand.

Layue quickly called for Lai Xi.

Since it was the Emperor’s food, Lai Xi had to test it with silver needles.

Layue wasn’t being pretentious—she naturally understood this. She didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. As the ruler of the country, the Emperor acting this way was normal. If he had been careless and trusting, he wouldn’t have reached his current position.

Moreover, testing with silver needles was good for both the Emperor and herself.

At the very least, if anything happened, she would not be implicated.

Jingdi likely shared this thought and never refused it.

Following the formalities, Lai Xi entered the room, performed the necessary checks, and then the Emperor consumed the mung bean soup.

Seeing her face flushed, he asked, “Did you drink wine before coming here?”

Layue quickly shook her head—she dared not.

“Your face is quite flushed,” Jingdi glanced at her.

Layue explained, “It’s quite hot today. Although I had an umbrella, I couldn’t withstand the heat completely. But it’s fine. I applied little makeup, so it looks quite natural, don’t you think?”

This made Jingdi chuckle, and he couldn’t resist pinching her cheek.

“You’re quite a clever one.”

Layue didn’t care about his tone and simply took it as praise.

“I just noticed earlier that you have a small dimple. I hadn’t noticed it before.”

Jingdi chatted with her casually.

Layue smiled, “Yes, I’m not sure either. Sometimes it’s there, sometimes it isn’t. It’s quite strange.”

Actually, there was nothing strange about it. Her dimple was shallow, so it wasn’t usually noticeable. Only when she smiled subtly could one see it faintly. Every time she was with Jingdi, she smiled brightly, so naturally, the dimple wasn’t visible.

Today was just a coincidence.

“What’s strange about it? But you look quite pretty when you smile like that.”

In fact, even Layue herself had noticed that since that day at the hot spring, he had become even more affectionate toward her. Although she wasn’t sure how much of it was genuine, Layue always tried to think positively.

Precisely because of this, she became even more attentive.

She couldn’t do big things, but small things were always possible.

She smiled faintly, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Jingdi seemed to have noticed this as well—that only when she smiled subtly would the dimple appear.

In one motion, he scooped her into his arms and carried her toward the inner chamber.

Layue gasped in surprise, puzzled—why had he suddenly become so passionate?

“Your Majesty, you…”

The rest of her words were swallowed by his kiss. As he kissed her intensely, Layue had no choice but to wrap her arms around his neck, trying to make herself more comfortable.

This man!

Jingdi seemed deeply aroused. As soon as they entered the inner chamber, regardless of whether she could endure it, he pressed her against the wall, quickly pulling down her pants and entering her urgently, followed by a fierce embrace.

Layue bit her lip and endured.

When he finally found satisfaction, Layue was like a pear blossom drenched in rain—delicate and pitiful.

Jingdi kissed her gently.

The weather was already hot, and now he had made it worse. Both of them were drenched in sweat.

Feeling resentful, she lightly punched him, lying on the bed with a slight pout.

“You hurt my back. You just pressed me against the wall without any care. How could you be so rough?”

Jingdi didn’t care about her small complaints, “Come, let me carry you inside to bathe.”

In Layue’s opinion, this was somewhat considerate of him. Otherwise, on such a hot day, after he had exhausted her, if he had let her go back to clean up by herself, it wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience.

The hot spring was much more comfortable than the bath tub. Layue was stripped of her clothes by him and lay tiredly in the water. Jingdi did the same, and though the water was warm, the temperature wasn’t too high, unlike that day.

Layue suspected Jingdi had ordered someone to adjust the water temperature beforehand.

But as long as it was comfortable, it was fine.

At this moment, Layue thought to herself that, for the sake of this pleasant hot spring, she would serve the Emperor well—it was just too comfortable.

Seeing her satisfied expression, Jingdi turned over to observe her.

Layue was puzzled and asked, “Why are you looking at this humble concubine like that, Your Majesty?”

Jingdi chuckled lowly, “I’ve noticed—you’ve become livelier these days. And bolder too.”

That was the truth.

Layue hadn’t realized it herself. Thinking about it carefully, she felt a bit embarrassed and smiled shyly.

“Not really.”

That “not really” was filled with coquettishness, making Jingdi’s heart tingle. Before long, soft breathing sounds filled the room again.

…

After leaving Xuanning Hall, even though her legs were sore, Layue still returned to her quarters to prepare another bowl of mung bean soup to deliver to the Empress Dowager. Fortunately, the Emperor was busy with official matters, otherwise, in the evening, she wouldn’t have time to deliver anything.

Seeing her arrive a bit later than yesterday, Madam Gui smiled knowingly.

The Empress Dowager did too.

Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sat together chatting casually.

“These past few days, you’ve been running back and forth—you must be exhausted. Actually, my palace kitchen is quite good too. Tomorrow, you don’t need to come anymore,” the Empress Dowager said.

Layue carefully observed the Empress Dowager and didn’t see any displeasure on her face. Instead, she looked relaxed and genuinely concerned.

Layue smiled and shook her head, “This humble concubine usually has nothing to do. Qiaoning’s cooking skills are even praised by the Emperor.”

The Empress Dowager laughed, recalling her previous conversation with the Emperor—Qiaoning’s dishes were sweet, and although Jingdi didn’t particularly like overly sweet flavors, he understood women’s preferences and had mentioned this to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager smiled, “You little girl, don’t you think—when the Emperor praises it, is he praising the mung bean soup or praising you? How come such a clever girl gets confused about this? Listen to me, you don’t need to come tomorrow. You should rest more.”

Layue smiled and agreed. If she insisted at this point, she would seem overly affected. Since the Empress Dowager had spoken thus, she would simply comply without further comment.

The two chatted casually, and somehow the conversation turned to the Emperor’s upcoming birthday.

Curious, the Empress Dowager asked, “Layue, have you prepared something for the Emperor?”

Layue bit her lip, hesitating.

The Empress Dowager naturally understood her reluctance, thinking it was out of fear of revealing secrets. She assumed that even Xiaodengzi, who was stationed at Tingyu Pavilion, didn’t know, so Layue must have kept it quite secret.

She dismissed the maids present.

Only Gu Mama and Xing’er remained inside the room.

Seeing the Empress Dowager’s determination to find out, Layue silently sighed, thinking to herself that the Empress Dowager was indeed like a child at heart.

“I’ve sewn a set of clothes for the Emperor myself,” she replied shyly.

The Empress Dowager was momentarily taken aback upon hearing this.

In the palace, it was probably rare for someone to give such a gift.

The Empress Dowager couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you think of giving clothes to the Emperor?”

Pure curiosity.

Layue looked up at the Empress Dowager, but kept twisting the handkerchief in her hands.

“I just wanted the Emperor to wear something I made myself. I didn’t think much beyond that,” she replied, sounding very much like a young girl.

Indeed, this was exactly Layue’s nature. The Shen family was generally known for lacking ambition, whether in court or the harem.

In the previous emperor’s reign, there had been a Shen Consort, a distant relative of the Shen family. She had also lacked ambition, living a very plain life without competing for attention. She had later passed away from illness.

“You’re quite thoughtful, my dear,” the Empress Dowager said.

Layue lowered her head, a slight smile on her lips.

Seeing her expression, the Empress Dowager laughed again, “No wonder you were so confident and didn’t bother inquiring about others’ gifts. Yours is truly one of a kind.”

Layue shook her head, “Not really. I was worried the Emperor might not like it, but I really wanted him to wear something I made. That’s why I decided on this gift. My sewing skills are quite ordinary, so I was afraid other concubines might find out. If they did, they could easily outshine me. I don’t inquire about others’ gifts, and I won’t allow others to imitate mine.”

Seeing Layue’s girlish demeanor, the Empress Dowager smiled.

“No wonder the Emperor favors you so much. Even I feel delighted watching you act this way.”

Layue felt embarrassed and continued twisting her handkerchief.

Seeing her like this, the Empress Dowager said, “Alright, alright. Look at you, I was just teasing a little. If I continue, you might tear that handkerchief apart.”

Layue’s face turned even redder.

The atmosphere was warm and harmonious.

A maid dressed in plain clothes requested an audience.

Layue recognized her as the personal maid of the Eldest Prince.

This time, the Empress Dowager did not hide anything from Layue and frowned as she asked, “What’s the matter?”

The maid respectfully replied, “Your Majesty, the Eldest Prince is feeling feverish and unwell again.”

Sighing, the Empress Dowager stood up and said to Layue, “Come with me and see how the child is doing.”

Layue quickly helped the Empress Dowager out the door.

The Huici Palace was quite large, and the Empress Dowager had arranged for the Eldest Prince, Yan Yu, to reside in the back courtyard.

This was Layue’s first time visiting the back courtyard, and even in her previous life, she had never come here.

She took a careful look around, finding nothing particularly special. The area was shaded by lush trees, making it a good place to escape the summer heat.

At that moment, Yan Yu was lying on a rocking chair under a tree, his little face flushed red.

Layue observed him closely and felt that he indeed greatly resembled Emperor Jing.

When the Empress Dowager arrived, everyone hurriedly bowed in greeting. Hearing the commotion, Yan Yu slowly opened his big eyes.

His voice was soft and tender, just like a sick child.

“Grandmother…”

It was an affectionate, family-like term.

The Empress Dowager quickly sat beside Yan Yu’s rocking chair and gently touched his little face, asking, “What’s wrong? Where are you uncomfortable?”

The little boy nodded, “I have a headache.”

Layue stood aside, noticing the anxiety on the Empress Dowager’s face.

This was completely different from how the Empress Dowager usually acted around them.

Without turning around, the Empress Dowager asked, “Have you summoned the physician?”

The plain-dressed maid replied, “Yes, he should be arriving shortly.”

Only then did the Empress Dowager nod in approval, continuing to gently stroke Yan Yu’s little face, “Be a good boy, Yu’er. The physician will be here soon, and you’ll be fine.”

Yan Yu pouted, then looked aside and was surprised to see Shen Layue there. He frowned slightly and asked, “Grandmother, why is she here?”

His tone was not very friendly.

Layue understood this well, as Yan Yu was generally unfriendly to everyone.

Even Fu Jinyao, his maternal aunt, didn’t receive much kindness from him, so how could she expect to be an exception?

Layue smiled and curtsied politely, “Your Highness.”

“Hmph,” the little boy made a sound and turned his gaze back to the Empress Dowager.

The Empress Dowager quickly comforted him, “Be good, Yu’er. This is Consort Chun. She came to visit me and heard you were unwell, so she came along.”

Yan Yu looked at Layue again and then turned his eyes away.

Softly, he said, “My throat hurts, and I have a headache.”

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager’s face showed even greater concern.

Just then, the physician arrived. It seemed he was already familiar with Yan Yu’s condition and quickly stepped forward to take his pulse. Soon after, he spoke, “Your Majesty, the Eldest Prince’s pulse is unstable. With the current intense summer heat and his naturally weak constitution, it seems he has caught a heat-induced illness.”

Layue listened carefully and understood it was basically a heat-related condition. However, she had only read a few medical books and remained quietly at one side.

“The physician will return to prepare the medicine now. Take it three times a day, and with proper care, the illness will surely recover. Unlike cold-induced illnesses, this heat-induced condition doesn’t require sweating. The Eldest Prince should stay in a well-ventilated area,” the physician reminded.

The palace maids and eunuchs responsible for taking care of the Eldest Prince all nodded in agreement.

Yan Yu just looked at the physician. Upon hearing him say that taking the medicine regularly would ensure a full recovery, Layue subtly noticed him relax his expression and let out a soft sigh.

It seemed the little boy was indeed afraid.

After the physician left, the Empress Dowager glanced at the servants and said in a calm tone, “You must take good care of the Eldest Prince. If his health is poor and you fail in your duties, you will be properly disciplined at the punishment bureau.”

Everyone immediately knelt down and pleaded guilty.

Yan Yu frowned again and pouted, “Grandmother, please don’t blame them. The weather is so hot, and my body is weak. It’s not their fault.”

He seemed to be a considerate child indeed.