The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 282 Stranger

The more Consort Xian looked at them, the more annoyed she became; she felt that none of them were attractive.

Xia Mei and Xia Fuchuan stood behind her, exchanged a glance, and Xia Mei spoke up, "Your Majesty, this servant thinks this gold-inlaid jade set is very beautiful."

"This?" Consort Xian glanced down at it, holding the gold hairpin up her head. "Doesn't this look a bit old-fashioned?"

“It looks beautiful.” Xia Mei said confidently, “Your Highness, now that you are a Noble Consort, you should dress more elegantly and luxuriously to match your rank.”

These words struck a chord with her, making her feel exceptionally comfortable. When she held the hairpin up to her head again, she suddenly no longer felt old-fashioned; instead, she felt remarkably dignified and elegant.

Consort Xian gazed at herself in the mirror for a long while, her eyes gradually dimming. She removed the hairpin from her hair, her eyes welling up with tears. "This hairpin was specially made for me by my father on my birthday. Now, my father is also..."

"Your Majesty, please don't be sad. Although General Pang is gone, His Majesty still cares for you. He has restored your honor as a Noble Consort. As long as Your Majesty can secure your position in the harem, you will definitely have the opportunity to clear General Pang's name."

Consort Xian took a deep breath, forcing back her tears. "Alright, go to the Imperial Kitchen and tell Gao Da to prepare a few of His Majesty's favorite dishes and send them over. Make sure you put your heart into it."

"Yes." Xia Mei bowed and withdrew.

Since General Pang's incident, Gao Da had been living in constant fear, worried that Emperor Yuanwu's anger would implicate him. Now that he heard that Consort Xian had regained favor, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He prepared dinner carefully and sent it over on time, and even prepared a few extra dishes to show his filial piety.

Just as the dishes on the food platter in the main hall of Jingyang Palace were filled, Emperor Yuanwu arrived.

Consort Xian was also waiting outside the palace early in the morning. "This concubine greets Your Majesty. May Your Majesty be blessed."

"Although it is already autumn, it is still chilly outside. You don't need to wait for me outside next time."

next time!

When Consort Xian heard those two words, her eyes trembled involuntarily, and tears welled up in her eyes instantly. In that moment of panic, she saw Emperor Yuanwu extend a hand towards her.

Is Emperor Yuanwu trying to help her up?

Consort Xian looked up at him, somewhat flattered. She hadn't received such an honor in a long time. Feeling a little flustered, she placed her hand in Emperor Yuanwu's palm, and following the force of his wrist, she stood up, lowered her eyes shyly, and called out, "Your Majesty."

Emperor Yuanwu laughed heartily, his laughter echoing throughout the Jingyang Palace. No one noticed that not far away, Consort Wen had taken in everything the two of them had done, a sharp glint in her eyes.

"Your Majesty, I have asked the Imperial Kitchen to prepare all of Your Majesty's favorite dishes. I have also specially asked the Small Kitchen to stew a pot of duck soup to nourish Your Majesty's body. It contains the finest Solomon's Seal."

As Consort Xian spoke, she pulled Emperor Yuanwu to sit down in front of the food tray.

Emperor Yuanwu had eaten quite a lot at lunchtime in Kunning Palace, and didn't feel particularly like eating anything else. However, looking at the table full of dishes, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

In the inner palace, the portion sizes of meals in each palace were determined according to the rank of the concubines. When he went to Kunning Palace at noon today, the Empress, unaware of his visit, only ordered four dishes. Later, knowing he was coming, she had the imperial kitchen add some more dishes, so the entire table only had twelve dishes in total.

At this moment, he stared at Consort Xian's table, which had at least eighteen dishes. Even when he dined in the Empress Dowager's palace, he would not have such a grand display.

Having just been reinstated, Consort Xian is already acting arrogantly again.

The Empress racked her brains every day to reduce the expenses of the harem, but there were always some people who were fearless and did not care about other people's hard work.

General Pang had just died, yet she, as the legitimate daughter of the general's mansion, showed no grief whatsoever. Instead, she went to great lengths to have so many dishes prepared, demonstrating that she had absolutely no filial piety towards her beloved father.

At this moment, Emperor Yuanwu felt that Consort Xian's cold-bloodedness was even worse than that of the little palace maid in Kunning Palace who resigned to go out and see her mother one last time. When he looked up, he saw her head full of gold hairpins, which were particularly dazzling in the candlelight.

There was no trace of sadness in her eyes.

If he remembered correctly, the jade on the gold hairpin in Consort Xian's hair was bright and dazzling, with a pure and bright color that was pleasing to the eye and evenly distributed. It was clearly a rare and exquisite piece. If this item did not come from the palace, then the only possibility was that it came from the General's Mansion.

General Pang really dotes on this daughter, sending her all sorts of good and expensive things to her palace.

This gold-inlaid jade hairpin, given its quality, is worth more than ten thousand gold pieces, not to mention that she is wearing a complete set.

Consort Xian is so cold-blooded even towards her father who loves her so much. How could he possibly expect her to have any genuine affection for him?
Emperor Yuanwu couldn't help but scoff inwardly, "I remember the head of the imperial kitchen seems to be related to you?"

Consort Xian was taken aback, and her hand, which had just picked up her chopsticks, paused for a moment. "Your Majesty has a really good memory. Lord Gao's mother was my distant aunt. When I was young, my father was away fighting on the front lines for many years, and I was very fortunate to have my aunt take care of me."

"So it seems you're quite close to Gao Da."

Emperor Yuanwu's tone was calm, and there was nothing wrong with it, but these indifferent words made Consort Xian feel a chill run down her spine. She couldn't understand why Emperor Yuanwu would suddenly bring this up.

Consort Xian glanced down at the food on the plate, not noticing anything wrong with it. Her smile froze for a moment. "We're not that close. We've had very little contact since I entered the palace."

"Oh?" Emperor Yuanwu drawled, his tone ambiguous. "However, I seem to recall that before the New Year, when family members of the mother's family were allowed to visit, it was one of your concubines who came to the palace to reunite with you. Could it be that this concubine was not Gao Da's mother, and that you had other concubines?"

Consort Xian's stiff smile was almost impossible to maintain; she didn't know why the Emperor was fixated on this matter all day.

Although Emperor Yuanwu had restored her title and come to her palace, he even reached out to help her up when she knelt down to pay her respects, as if everything had returned to normal, yet it seemed not. She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but she felt that the feeling between her and Emperor Yuanwu was gone, and she even felt that they had become as distant as strangers.

“Your Majesty, the one who entered the palace last time was indeed Gao Da’s mother, my aunt.”

Consort Xian felt a surge of turmoil. After she finished speaking, she cautiously raised her eyes and glanced at Emperor Yuanwu.

(End of this chapter)