The Job of an Imperial Concubine

Chapter 109

The first rain of the year finally fell. Noble Consort Shu traveled on the green stone path with an umbrella, ignoring court eunuchs and palace maids, as well as those imperial concubines who clearly thought themselves magnanimous yet saluted her with much unwillingness. Step by step, she made her way toward the distant procession of the emperor.

There was no longer an endless stream of palace maids and court eunuchs following behind her. There was only Lingsha, who had served her ever since she had entered the imperial palace. Noble Consort Shu had traversed this path countless times. Back then, she had been the emperor’s most favored woman, always accompanying him as they went anywhere. And behind them would stand a crowd of jealous women staring at them.

The rain grew ever more heavy. Noble Consort Shu raised her head. She noticed that the decorative picture on her umbrella, that of a beauty playing with butterflies, had grown duller in color. All of a sudden, she asked, “Lingsha, when did the emperor bestow this umbrella?”

“Your Highness has forgotten? His Majesty personally handed you this umbrella two years ago, when you were leaving Qianzheng Palace.” Lingsha watched as the emperor’s procession grew closer and closer. She said in a low voice, “Afterward, you could not find it in yourself to use it, and have stored it away until now.”

The corners of Noble Consort Shu’s lips tilted upward. She lifted her leg to slip between two rock gardens. Here, the emperor must pass through.

When Gao Dezhong noticed her standing there, there was no way to avoid her. He had no choice at the moment but to halt the procession. Then he said to Feng Jin, who sat within the imperial sedan, “Your Majesty, Noble Consort Shu is asking for an audience.”

Feng Jin lightly pulled open the yellow curtain blocking his sight of the outside. His expressionless face came into view. He looked at the woman in green standing within the curtain of rain, not a word escaping his lips.

The hand Noble Consort Shu used to grasp her umbrella trembled. With care, she placed the umbrella down on the side, allowing the rain to soak her delicate countenance. She lifted her head and gazed at that aloof man, slowly dropping to a kneel.

The entire path was silent. No one uttered a sound or moved. Expressionless, the servants looked at the woman who used to be the most favored in the harem as if she were someone unimportant.

“It’s pouring. Return to your residence.” The tips of Feng Jin’s brows twitched. He sighed. “Our decree has already been sent. It will not be changed.” 

“Does Your Majesty remember what you said to me in the past? That you would always treat me the same?” Noble Consort Shu raised her chin. Smiled at Feng Jin. “Are Your Majesty’s words promises that can be kept?”

Silent, Feng Jin looked at her. A good while later, he said, “We have always treated you the same.”

Hearing these words, Noble Consort Shu smiled with tears flowing down her cheeks. She covered her eyes with her hand and rose. For the first time, she looked at Feng Jin as equals. “‘Though she is still young of age, she is favored no longer.’ Your Majesty indeed has not changed. It is this concubine who asked for too much, and has grown unhappy due to not receiving what this concubine wants.” At that moment, she shouted, “Your Majesty! It’s this concubine’s fault!”

Her shout frightened Gao Dezhong. He rushed to look up and toward Noble Consort Shu. And he caught sight of a flash of green, before a bang rang out. After that, everything was once again deathly still.

Scarlet blood flowed across the green stone tiles along with the rain, turning into a light red stream, winding toward the imperial sedan.

In a flash, Gao Dezhong widened his eyes. He whipped around to look at the emperor. Yet, all he saw were his calm eyes that resembled two pools of ink.

A moment in a daze, and Gao Dezhong had people arrange to summon an imperial physician. Not to mention, to have people lift and send Noble Consort Shu back to Anqing Palace. As his ears caught the sobbing of her palace maids, Gao Dezhong ordered the servants to be more nimble with their actions.

A moment later, the road grew peaceful once more. Apart from the bloodstains that the rain had already washed clean, there was only the oiled-paper umbrella that Noble Consort Shu had set aside. Just a while ago, the eunuchs and palace maids had knocked it to the side, the top soaked with muddy water and covered in leaves and grass. It created a battered and sorry sight.

“Let’s make for Xihe Palace.” Feng Jin closed his eyes, before saying, “Nevermind. Let’s return to the resting palace to bathe and change clothes first.”

“Understood,” said Gao Dezhong, lowering his head again as he followed the imperial sedan.

The wind blew at the oiled-paper umbrella. It flipped over and rolled. The handle, which boasted auspicious symbols carved onto it, faced the sky. Whereas dirty water soaked the umbrella’s canopy.

In a corner behind the rock gardens, Xiuyi Su stared at the green stone path that was already empty of people. Her face was pale. Her hand, which held a handkerchief, trembled. She held the hand of a palace maid for support, and quite a while passed before she could find her voice. “R-return to our residence.”

“Your Highness, His Majesty said that in a few days, Mistress Zhuang will be summoned to the palace. If there’s anything you want Mistress to bring, just let Fu Bao know and he’ll pass on the message.” Yunxi softly massaged Zhuang Laoyan’s ankles. “Do not wrong yourself.”

“Everything I need is in the palace already. Even if I do lack something, His Majesty would arrange for people to send it here. There’s no need for my mother to bring in anything for me.” Zhuang Laoyan smiled. Nowadays, things were not peaceful in the imperial palace. She did not want someone to use the items Mistress Zhuang brought as part of their schemes.

Although she had never truly met Mistress Zhuang face-to-face, Zhuang Laoyan did not especially look forward to their meeting. After all, she wasn’t her real mother. Zhuang Laoyan would be satisfied if this elderly lady lived out the rest of her life safe and sound.

“Your Highness, Your Highness.” Fu Bao rushed into the room, face drenched in rain water. “J-just now, some news arrived. Noble Consort Shu slammed her head in front of the emperor to commit suicide!”

“What?” Zhuang Laoyan sat upright. Stared at Fu Bao in shock. “Noble Consort Shu?! Commit suicide?”

Wiping away the water on his face, Fu Bao gasped as he said, “Right now, this news has spread like wildfire throughout the palace. Her Majesty the empress has already rushed to Anqing Palace. The Imperial Academy Of Medicine has dispatched many imperial physicians, but it’s unknown how things are over there.” 

For a moment, Zhuang Laoyan was caught in a daze. The image she had of Noble Consort Shu had always been that of a graceful woman, whose every smile and frown gave off an elegant air. If such a woman suddenly committed suicide in front of the emperor, how much despair and courage had it taken? Zhuang Laoyan unconsciously furrowed her brows. “Go find some first-rate tonics and personally deliver it to Anqing Palace. Wait until Noble Consort Shu is in stable condition before returning.”

Perhaps the truly noble and virtuous woman in the harem was neither Zhaorong Xu nor Wanyi Qian, but rather Noble Consort Shu, this calamitous beauty.

Everyone in the room dared not believe this news. Once Fu Bao had left, Yunxi asked in disbelief, “How could things have fallen to this point?” The fact that Noble Consort Shu tried committing suicide in the emperor’s presence stood as a significant affair. If he grew angry, let’s not talk about saving her father and elder brother; one would fear even her mother and younger brother would be implicated.

Zhuang Laoyan leaned against the back of her seat without a word. After hearing what Yunxi had said, she sighed. In this imperial harem, people who fell in love with the emperor could not survive. The person Noble Consort Shu loved wanted to kill her father and elder brother. How could she continue on living? It was impossible for her to hate the emperor. But it was also impossible for her to continue serving the emperor and forget about her father and elder brother’s deaths. It would be better to kill herself in a loud and grand manner. This way, she could shut up the gossipers’ mouths.

Living happily together with an enemy who killed both one’s father and elder brother only existed in the realm of fiction. Otherwise, such a person was a thankless wretch. A woman like Noble Consort Shu, Su Ruizi, seemed sweet-tempered yet carried an air of arrogance. To sever all ties in this fashion stood as her last option.

“His Majesty has arrived!”

Zhuang Laoyan raised her head. And she caught sight of Feng Jin leading Gao Dezhong through the doorway. Such a thing distracted her a hint. Today, the emperor allowed the court eunuchs to announce his arrival. It was thus clear that his mood was different from usual.

“It’s raining so heavily. Why has Your Majesty come?” Using Yunxi’s hand for support, Zhuang Laoyan stood. Before she could take a few steps forward, Feng Jin went over to support her as well. She deliberately examined the emperor’s expression a few times, before saying, “Just a moment ago, the kitchen made some pigeon soup. This concubine will have someone present a bowl to Your Majesty for a taste.”

“No need. We don’t have an appetite.” Feng Jin reached out and caressed her abdomen. “Has Our child been well-behaved today?”

Zhuang Laoyan covered his hand with her own, then slowly squeezed it. “Your Majesty, this concubine and our child have been well.”

The warmth on the back of his hand caused a sliver of a smile to appear on his face. Feng Jin waved, dismissing the servants in the room. Afterward, he softly pulled Zhuang Laoyan into his arms. “In the future, you and our child need to live good lives too. We will always treat you two well.”

Feng Jin’s clothes were somewhat cold. When Zhuang Laoyan touched them, her face felt chilly for a moment before returning to normal. Feng Jin’s words had put her in a daze for a short period. Following which, she said, “Your Majesty…”

Lightly patting her back, Feng Jin said, “We suddenly remembered that your birthday is during the end of August, correct?”

Zhuang Laoyan didn’t understand why he had asked this out of the blue. She could only say, “Mm. This concubine remembers that back then, Your Majesty had asked when my birthday was, and then specially held a feast and promoted me. Such things seem like they happened just yesterday.”

“Let’s host a grand birthday celebration for you this year. At that time, our child would have been older than one month for a while.” Feng Jin stroked her cheek. “When the moment comes, We will give you another present.”

At once, Zhuang Laoyan burst into a smile. “This concubine will remember this. If you break your promise, then this concubine and our child will tease you together!”

Light laughter spilled from Feng Jin’s mouth. Slowly, he released her. “What story should We tell our child today? How about the one about an old ox licking its calf?”

As Zhuang Laoyan listened to Feng Jin tell the story with a gentle tone, she suddenly thought, Just now, was the emperor in a fragile mood? What a pity it disappeared so quickly that she couldn’t be sure.

Perhaps in order to become an emperor, one must become apathetic early on.

So I’ve recently seen re-posts of my translations for The Job of an Imperial Concubine  and Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine on fucking Wattpad. What did I expect? In case this wasn’t clear before, I do NOT give you permission to re-post my work.

People I’ve caught so far on Wattpad:

@Mixx_Cy9 -> Those Years in Quest of Honor Mine

@kimbarlyy -> The Job of An Imperial Concubine

@MoumitaMouly  -> The Job of an Imperial Concubine

+ probably more!

Just because you say “for offline-purposes only” or “credit to original author and translator” or “got this from novel updates” doesn’t make it any better. I even saw one of them say in the “novel summary” on Wattpad to not vote up the novel. Probably because they didn’t want me to see it!

The disrespect.

Next release is Saturday, July 24, 2021.

Edited to say thank you to all of you who congratulated me last week. Sorry, I was too heated to add that earlier ;_;

For those of you interested in advanced chapters, there are only two chapters remaining this month! If you pledge a tier that gives three+ chapters now, you’re basically my suga daddi. Click this post for more information!

If you like this novel, please rate/review/add this novel to your reading list on NU!

Thirty-third chapter of The Times Spent in Pretense is out! You can read it here. It’s weekly now!

By the way, I have a new BL novel project, with my own summary below:

By the emperor’s decree, Fu Ming is to marry Jin Yi and become his male wife. The initial reception is cold. Can the two sort things out between them, the winter departing and the snow thawing?

If you’re interested, you can find it here.

Also, plugging me and my friends’ website focused on BL! Click here if you’re interested.