Chapter 12: The Old and the New, the Initial Days at the Palace

Time flies; before one knows it, the day of entering the palace has arrived.

The Shen family made thorough arrangements for Shen Layue. This time, there were almost no objections to her entering the palace. Shen Layue had already decided that only Jinxin would accompany her into the palace. Jinling, who had previously served her, went to Shen Yiyi’s side instead.

It was said that decades ago, palace maids could be brought into the palace at will. Naturally, the senior palace maids were also the most loyal servants from each family. However, after several incidents displeased the emperor, the quota for palace maids entering the palace became limited and competitive.

Luckily for her, she had at least been conferred the title of Changzai. Otherwise, like in her previous life, she would have entered the palace completely alone.

If the people assigned to you aren’t competent, it could become a major problem.

Shen Layue bid farewell to her family, watching the Shen estate’s grand signboard recede into the distance as the carriage slowly moved away. Her eyes brimmed with tears, yet she smiled radiantly.

Twenty-one selected young ladies entered the palace on the same day, and their accommodations were arranged according to their ranks.

The supervising eunuch walked slightly ahead and explained along the way.

“Miss Shen holds the seventh junior rank. His Majesty has assigned you a side palace in Chaolu Palace. The head occupant of Chaolu Palace is Concubine An. Besides your senior maid Jinxin, the palace’s internal affairs department will assign a group of palace maids to you. The quota for senior palace maids in your quarters is four, and two senior eunuchs.

The quota for second-tier palace maids is also four, and four second-tier eunuchs.”

“Thank you for your instructions, Master Eunuch,” Jinxin, following Shen Layue’s cue, smoothly handed a small brocade pouch to the supervising eunuch.

The eunuch discreetly weighed the pouch in his hand, seemingly very satisfied.

He continued, offering more advice: “Now that you’ve entered Chaolu Palace, you shouldn’t rush back to your side palace first. It’s always appropriate to first greet Concubine An.”

“Thank you very much, Master Eunuch,” Layue said gratefully.

In her previous life, she had also given a pouch, but she had been somewhat proud and arrogant. Probably because of that, the eunuch hadn’t offered her any advice. Although she had eventually thought of paying respects to the palace’s head occupant herself, the supervising eunuch had repeatedly slighted her afterward. Perhaps it was because she had been somewhat naive. Since she had already spent the money, why not maximize its effect?

After entering Chaolu Palace, Layue waited politely at the entrance.

Perhaps because it was her first day entering the palace, Concubine An did not make things difficult for her and summoned her in quickly.

Upon entering, Layue quickly scanned Concubine An. As before, An had been a senior concubine close to the emperor for many years. She was twenty years old, seven years older than Layue.

Her face was not particularly delicate, but she wore a seductive peach blossom makeup. Dressed in a pale blue cloud-water gown, she sat lazily on the main seat, her waist tightly bound, appearing fragile enough to be held in one hand.

Seeing Shen Layue bow slightly to greet her, she scrutinized Layue carefully.

Compared to herself, Shen Layue was truly deserving of the word “seductive.”

During the previous selection, she hadn’t had the chance to watch, but she had heard that the three most famous candidates were Fu Jinyao, Zhu Yuning, and Lian Xiuyun. Yet now, looking at Shen Layue, she was also extremely beautiful, young, and possessed a pair of alluring eyes.

Considering that such beauty hadn’t particularly appealed to the emperor, those three must have been truly stunning.

Concubine An did not tell her to rise, so Layue obediently remained in a bowing position, neither showing anger nor overstepping her bounds.

“Rise. Sister is indeed very beautiful; it almost dazzled your older sister,” she said, stroking her teacup, her smile as artificial as a mask.

“Thank you for Concubine An’s compliment,” Shen Layue replied, causing Concubine An to be slightly taken aback, but she quickly regained her composure.

It seemed this Changzai Shen was no ordinary person.

Previously, only eight of them had been competing in the palace. Now, it seemed things were about to change.

After a few polite exchanges, Concubine An did not detain Shen Layue, and the eunuch led her to her sleeping quarters.

Two rows of palace maids and eunuchs stood there, waiting for Shen Layue’s arrival.

The supervising eunuch introduced them.

Everyone knelt to greet her.

“From left to right, the first is Tao’er, Xing’er, Li’er, Ping’er, Mei’er, Xiang’er, and Guo’er.”

Looking at them, Layue remained calm. She felt relieved that although her status had changed, the people around her had not. Well, not entirely, but most of them remained the same.

Sitting on the main seat, Shen Layue looked at the palace maids and eunuchs without saying anything, gently rubbing her jade thumb ring as if in deep thought.

The kneeling group dared not raise their heads, knowing their mistress was asserting her authority.

After a long while, Layue finally looked up at them: “I have four senior palace maids. Jinxin is naturally one of them, and the other three…” She looked at the kneeling group, seemingly observing their expressions.

She casually pointed: “Tao’er, Xing’er, and Guo’er will do.”

“Yes,” they replied, bowing.

“It’s not to say these positions are fixed. The people I choose today are merely based on first impressions. However, if I find out you have any issues, I won’t show mercy. Even though I’m new to the palace and lack influence, no one will question my authority over a few palace maids and eunuchs. Once you enter my quarters, you should know who you’re serving. If any of you have secret masters, you’d better be cautious. After all, there’s no such thing as a secret that won’t eventually come out.”

Seeing the kneeling servants’ cautious expressions, Layue remained unfazed and continued: “As for the two senior eunuchs, let it be Xiaowenzi and Xiaodengzi.”

Although Shen Layue’s choices seemed casual, they were actually made after careful consideration.

After dismissing the servants, Shen Layue entered the inner chamber, followed by the four senior palace maids.

“Although you are all senior palace maids, there will be a division of labor. Jinxin and Xing’er will be responsible for the inner chamber, while Tao’er and Guo’er will be in charge of the outer room.”

After arranging everything, Shen Layue washed up and lay on the bed, quietly reflecting on the day’s events.

Bai Xiaodie had also entered the palace. She had just learned through inquiries that Bai’s rank was lower than hers. That was good. Shen Layue hadn’t planned to oppress Bai Xiaodie or anything like that.

She had entered the palace, competing for the same man. She didn’t care about that, as long as Bai didn’t harm her older brother outside the palace.

Inside the palace, she believed in the principle of “if others don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke others.” However, if Bai Xiaodie proved to be troublesome, she wouldn’t be lenient.

Among the selected young ladies entering the palace this time, Fu Jinyao held the highest rank, being appointed as Chongyi with the fourth junior rank, and was the only one allowed to bring two maids into the palace. Zhu Yuning, the most beautiful woman of the current court, was conferred the title of concubine with the sixth senior rank. Although she was only a concubine, the emperor had bestowed her with the honorific “Li,” meaning her beauty was delicate and moving. The talented Lian Xiuyun was appointed as a Guiren. Bai Youyou, the eldest daughter of the Bai family, was conferred the title of Cairen.

Thinking about these familiar people, Shen Layue felt slightly emotional. It seemed that apart from herself and Bai Xiaodie, the others hadn’t changed much.

She wondered whether Bai Xiaodie had already started her affair with Lian Yushu.

Bai Xiaodie was a concubine-born daughter of the Bai family, but she had set her eyes on her stepmother’s brother-in-law, Lian Yushu, the second young master of the Lian family. They had an illicit relationship. Lian Yushu was actually the second uncle of Lian Xiuyun.

At that time, when Lian Xiuyun lost in the palace intrigues, the Lian family blamed those who had been close to Lian Xiuyun, believing that one of them had framed her, and often did things to target them.

Later, after that incident, although the Lian family didn’t have much influence at court, when a powerful house falls, everyone tries to push it down further. Eventually, the Shen family was sentenced to execution of the entire clan. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of Li Zhaoyi at that time, the Shen family would have faced an even worse fate—the extermination of nine generations.

Li Zhaoyi was none other than the current Li Concubine, Zhu Yuning.

Sometimes it’s hard to clarify exactly how things happened, but when many events intertwine, they lead to such outcomes.

After musing for a while, Shen Layue got up and put on her robe.

Zhu Yuning had been willing to incur the emperor’s displeasure just to plead for her family. She had never considered herself particularly close to Zhu Yuning.

Before her death, she had once met Zhu Yuning and asked why she had helped. Zhu Yuning said something like, “I just wanted to do something for the Shen family. Unfortunately, I couldn’t save them. What I did has nothing to do with you as a person.”

This incident still puzzled her to this day.

As for Lian Xiuyun, whom she initially considered a good friend, she sneered. She was probably one of the harbingers of the Shen family’s doom.

Lian Xiuyun wasn’t innocent. She thought by framing herself, she could gain the emperor’s sympathy, but she didn’t realize that the emperor, who only cared about his empire, couldn’t tolerate a useless and troublesome woman.

Even a talented woman was nothing special.

As for the palace maids she had selected this time, Shen Layue naturally knew them well.

Originally, before Jinxin entered the palace, there were several palace maids around her. Finally, at the moment of her death, they refused to leave her and died with her in the fire—Xing’er was one of them.

Therefore, she trusted her.

As for Tao’er and Guo’er, they had been loyal during the past ten years.

In theory, these four people were all extremely trustworthy. However, after being reborn, she was still worried about other variables. After all, even Bai Xiaodie had entered the palace. Therefore, she remained cautious.

After all, they were different from Jinxin.

As for the senior eunuchs, Xiaowenzi and Xiaodengzi had previously been senior eunuchs serving her. Xiaowenzi was loyal, but Xiaodengzi wasn’t; he was actually an agent of the empress dowager. Regardless, she needed to keep both of them close, even though Xiaodengzi was the empress dowager’s man.

It was better than having two unknown individuals.

Knowing them made it easier to guard against them.

She knew that not only her quarters but also every other palace had people from both the empress dowager and the emperor. That was the nature of the imperial family.

Even as concubines, they were not completely trusted.