Chapter 251

Chapter 251: Chapter 204

The news that the always-imposing Lady had lost face spectacularly at Qiankun Palace, even kneeling before palace maids and eunuchs to beg for an audience with the Emperor, spread through the entire harem in the blink of an eye, as if on wings.

Noble Princess Consort Rong, however, had long been prepared for this.

Between her pride and her family, she chose the latter.

The Six Palace Concubines barely had time to gloat before they discovered the downside of Noble Princess Consort Rong’s downfall—the Emperor was in a foul mood and stopped visiting the harem altogether. Before, they could at least get a few scraps from the Noble Consort’s table, but now, not even dregs were left.

Since no one could see the Emperor, everyone peacefully resigned themselves to doing nothing.

There was, however, one exception: Lady Shufei, who was frequently summoned to attend to the Emperor in Qiankun Palace and Qingliu Hall.

Such an exception naturally provoked jealousy and sour remarks from many.

Guo Xiao Yi said hatefully, “The Pure Consort has the Emperor all to herself. The rest of us can’t even get a day or two of his favor.”

“You have the Second Prince, sister. The Emperor visits you at Zhongcui Palace every month. I’m the one who hasn’t seen His Majesty’s face in over half a year,” He Guiren said enviously, her hand unconsciously drifting to her abdomen. The Emperor had few children, so anyone with a son or daughter had no trouble getting an audience with him; it was like having a basic safety net.

Guo Xiao Yi fell silent, her expression devoid of any joy.

Although the Emperor did come to Zhongcui Palace, it was only to spend time with Sheng’er. He was always curt with her, and their conversations revolved solely around the Second Prince. He would instruct her to raise Sheng’er well and not to stir up trouble in the harem. Moreover, he almost never stayed the night in her palace, dashing her hopes of having a second child.

Many people envied Guo Xiao Yi for having a healthy, surviving prince. But when one has something, one always wants more. In her heart, Guo Xiao Yi was actually dissatisfied with Sheng’er. Her ideal prince was the Eldest Prince, Xie Zhao—exceptionally intelligent, favored by the Emperor, and with a physique so strong that even the archery masters rarely found reason not to praise him. Not only could he easily put Sheng’er in his place, but he also didn’t need anyone to supervise his studies and would strive on his own.

The older Xie Sheng got, the less motivated he became.

The negative effects of his mother pushing him too hard in his youth were finally showing. The moment he had a shred of freedom, he wanted to use it for fun. His mother’s reach didn’t extend to the Upper Study Room, so he would slack off just to the edge of what Mr. He would tolerate, content to be a layabout and get along with his older and younger brothers.

Guo Xiao Yi felt that her son had become a lackey for the Pure Consort’s son, and she was furious.

But that wasn’t the case at all.

Xie Sheng had his own ideas.

‘The position of Crown Prince… my big brother can have it, my little brother can have it. I don’t care who takes the throne.’

‘As long as I can be a wealthy, idle prince, spending my days in the Capital City fooling around, eating, and drinking, life couldn’t be better.’

“When it comes to Holy Favor, how could Sheng’er possibly compare to the Eldest Prince?” Guo Xiao Yi sneered, beginning to vent her frustrations. “We’re all human, but I don’t know how others raise their children to be so motivated and sensible. With Sheng’er, the moment I take my eyes off him, he starts slacking off. It used to work when I punished the palace maids close to him, but now he’s not close to anyone. He even knows how to threaten me back!”

Palace maids were also girls from good families; you couldn’t just grab any young woman off the street and bring her into the palace. While it was common for Concubines to scold or strike their attendants, the rules forbade them from going too far.

Meanwhile, after his lessons ended for the day, Xie Sheng went straight to Bihua Palace with his older brother to scrounge for snacks, only sending someone to inform his mother at Zhongcui Palace.

“Aren’t you afraid your mother will be upset?” Xie Zhao wondered.

“Doesn’t matter. She’ll be upset even if I do nothing,” Xie Sheng said nonchalantly. “She used to physically punish the palace attendants I was close with to scare me. After she beat and dismissed a batch of them, I just stopped talking to any of them. Now, she has no way to control me.” When he mentioned the attendants, his voice was devoid of its former concern, filled only with the cold indifference one would have for an object.

Xie Sheng had no talent for acting. No matter how well he pretended in front of his mother, her sharp eyes could always pick out the one palace attendant her son cared about most, on whom she would inflict cruel punishment. Over time, he truly came to care for no one at all.

“Enough of this depressing talk. Did the Pure Consort reward you with any new toys? Let me play with them! I’m so jealous you have a great mother like the Pure Consort. I bet if you begged her for a dog, she’d even agree to that.”

Xie Sheng had seen a beautiful dog at Princess Consort Zhang’s place last time and had been coveting it ever since.

Unfortunately, Guo Xiao Yi would never agree to let him keep a dog.

When they arrived at Bihua Palace, however, Lady Shufei wasn’t there.

Nanny Mu had long since prepared meals and snacks. Unsurprised to see the Second Prince, she magically produced enough food to sate the two little boys, who could eat more than oxen. “Her Ladyship was summoned by the Emperor to attend him. She likely won’t be back for a while.”

“Lady Shufei’s favor is truly one-of-a-kind in the harem,” Xie Sheng sighed with admiration.

At that very moment, Jiang Xian, the recipient of that one-of-a-kind favor in the harem, was grinding ink for the Emperor.

Next, she used the Yongchun Buddha’s Hand citrons sent by Liang Yuyin to brew tea.

The Emperor had his own dedicated tea room, where every palace maid was an expert at brewing tea. But after years in the harem, Jiang Xian had learned all sorts of miscellaneous skills from the System Mall, making her an all-around master who brewed even better tea than they did. The aroma was sharp but not overwhelming, with a long, full-bodied aftertaste, and the liquid itself was a glossy, translucent dark-brown.

Xie Che took the cup and drained it in one gulp.

This was clearly not the proper way to appreciate tea; it was no better than chugging water.

“Isn’t it hot?”

Jiang Xian glanced at him sideways.

Xie Che shook his head slightly. “Just a little thirsty.”

When he had too much work, he tended to drink a lot of tea.

An Emperor’s rule was like a multitasking game. Daily affairs within the empire wouldn’t grind to a halt just because he was dealing with the Rong Family, so he could only work constant overtime. Others guessed he was heartbroken and thus avoided the harem, but they were overthinking it. He was simply busy. After finishing his work, all he wanted to do was fall into bed. He didn’t want another living person next to him when he slept, let alone dote on a Beauty.

Working overtime had a way of bringing forward the ‘blessings’ of middle age for men, and no one was exempt.

Xie Che wasn’t worried about that, though. He still had a normal physiological response every morning when he woke up; he just didn’t have time to deal with it. So he held it in. The biggest difference between a mature man and a boy was the ability to think with his brain and sever ties with his cerebellum.

Glaze was a rarity in Yan Chi, but not in Jiang Xian’s palace.

Xie Che said in surprise, “It’s rare for you to be in the mood for such things.”

When he had free time, he could fuss over the choice of serving dishes for half a day, but Jiang Xian couldn’t be bothered with such things, whether she was busy or idle. But speaking of the Glazed Cup, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness. ‘Colorful clouds disperse easily, and glaze is fragile…’

Xie Che was lost in his sorrow for a moment, only to look up and see Liang Yuyin returning with a cylindrical Glazed Cup larger than his head.

Xie Che’s eyes widened. “You had glaze crafted into such a crude and clumsy shape?”

“This way, you can fill it once and keep drinking. It saves trouble.”

“A palace maid can just be on hand to refill it. Or are the attendants at Bihua Palace not serving you diligently?”

“A tiny teacup is hardly enough for the Emperor.”

As a man of refined tastes, Xie Che truly despised this cup.

So what did this glass cup look like?

You could find it by opening up an online shopping site and searching for ‘large capacity cup’ or ‘belly cup.’ It had no ornamentation whatsoever, a material as romantic as glaze forged into something plain and foolish. Still, it was ultimately a token of Xian’er’s affection, so Xie Che used it anyway.

And as he used it…

…he discovered it was actually quite practical, perfectly suited for his habit of chugging down drinks whenever he got annoyed.