The Job of an Imperial Concubine

Chapter 40: To Eat One’s Bitter Fruit (自食恶果)

The Ronghua Sun who had been escorted over no longer seemed as dazzling as in the past. Although her clothes, hair arrangement, and jewelry were neat and tidy, the people in the room could feel a defeated aura from her.

“Greetings to the emperor and empress.” Ronghua Sun knelt in a ruined manner. Although it was summer, the cold floor tiles of Xihe Palace made her shiver. She lifted her head slightly to check the emperor’s expression. Before she could see it clearly, a teacup with hot tea shattered on the ground next to her. The hot water splashed on the back of her hands. Painful. She trembled just a hint. She didn’t know why her original numbness suddenly disappeared, replaced by fear.

This teacup was the one Feng Jin had just received from a palace maid. The cup wasn’t a piece of precious chinaware. However, the workmanship was extremely fine. To have it shattered on the floor scared everyone in the room for a while.

The empress’s heart trembled as well. She was clear on the fact that the emperor had not liked such a thing happening in the harem. While the women in the harem all had schemes, they were courteous to each other on the surface. Even if someone died, their faces would still appear amiable. As sudden as this event was, the scheme itself was stupid. Even so, Chongyi Zhao was still unconscious. This showed how serious the situation was.

“The reason why We favored you a bit more was because you are related to the empress. Never had We expected that you are an ugly and poisonous woman.” Feng Jin received a handkerchief from Gao Dezhong. Lightly wiped his hands. He did not even glance at the kneeling Ronghua Sun. “Easily jealous and vicious. The imperial harem cannot use such a woman. The Sun family certainly have taught a good daughter. Originally, you should be receiving three feet of white silk, but in light of the fact that Chongyi Zhao is alive, you will merely be stripped of your rank and thrown into the Cold Palace.”

The hearts of the imperial concubines chilled. Wasn’t becoming a servant of the harem worse than death? And the emperor also mentioned the Sun family. Even if Ronghua Sun wanted to commit suicide, she wouldn’t be able to.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” Ronghua Sun knelt with urgency. “She jumped in there herself. I didn’t push her! She’s framing me!”

As soon as Ronghua Sun said these words, the imperial concubines in the room each held a different expression.

Noble Consort Shu lightly smiled. As if she were taking pity on and ridiculing Ronghua Sun at the same time. At this juncture, it didn’t matter who was in the right or wrong. The most important thing: who was more favored and who was still unconscious. Let alone, that Ronghua Sun wasn’t completely innocent in the first place.

“Are you implying that Chongyi Zhao pushed you into the pond first? Then jumped into the pond herself?” Feng Jin sneered. “You, who had entered the water first, did not drown. Rather, it was Chongyi Zhao that lost consciousness. Truly amusing.”

Ronghua Sun gaped. Hesitated for a long time. In the end, when she was about to reveal the truth, she suddenly heard a palace maid rush outside from the inner chamber, yelling “master has awoken.” She recognized this palace maid. She was one of the first-ranked palace maids of Chongyi Zhao.

Watching as the emperor’s full attention shifted to the person lying on the bed, Ronghua Sun collapsed on the ground, face pale. As if she could see her future. Her entire body shook. Such an appearance in others’ eyes smelled of a guilty conscience.

This was the so-called “if you can’t bear using your child as bait, then you can’t catch a wolf¹.” This time, Zhuang Laoyan had suffered. By the time Ronghua Sun had been escorted over, she had already been awake. But if she still did not open her eyes at this moment, some things would not fare well for herself.

“Why has Your Majesty come?” Zhuang Laoyan’s voice was hoarse. After speaking this one phrase, she coughed relentlessly. Her face reflected confusion.

Feng Jin reached out and patted the blanket covering her. “Beloved concubine is awake? After We heard you fell into the water, We came to check on you.”

“This concubine did not fall into the water.” Zhuang Laoyan seemed to be in pain as she spoke. After she leaned toward Tingzhu, using her arm as support as she sipped some honey water, she continued to say, “Back then, this concubine encountered Ronghua Sun on the road, and didn’t know why she suddenly pushed me aside before leaping into the pond. At that time, this concubine was frightened and thought Ronghua Sun was suicidal and muddleheadly jumped in after her. Who would have known that once in the water, something pulled at this concubine’s legs. How is Ronghua Sun?”

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“She’s fine. The one that fell in trouble was you.” Feng Jin’s expression grew gentle by many bounds. He glanced at Gao Dezhong. And Gao Dezhong immediately retreated from the chamber.

The empress and the others had not expected Zhuang Laoyan to say such things. Such words did not imply that Ronghua Sun framed her at all. Contrary to what one might expect, it all seemed to be an accident. However, there weren’t that many accidents in the imperial harem. Not to mention, if Ronghua Sun truly had something that made her suicidal, she was unlikely to have run to Xihe Palace and jump into a pond.

Zhuang Laoyan had said these words in such a beautiful manner. Beautiful to the point that the emperor’s original suspicions against her transformed to exclamations of admiration.

“Why is Ronghua Sun here?” It were as if Zhuang Laoyan had just noticed the other people present in the room. She attempted to stand and perform a full ceremony of paying respects, but the emperor stopped her. After he glanced at Ronghua Sun, he said, “Ronghua Sun lured you to a dangerous place. Naturally, she should be punished.”

Zhuang Laoyan froze. Then it seemed as though she had thought of something. A bit of understanding and then fear. She looked at Ronghua Sun, her gaze no longer holding its original amiableness. She even swallowed her original words of asking for forgiveness for Ronghua Sun.

She did not pretend to be kindhearted nor did she feign ignorance. Her expression was genuine.

At the start, others thought Zhuang Laoyan’s schemes were profound, unexpectedly beating Ronghua Sun by her own game. But now, seeing Zhuang Laoyan’s appearance, they were uncertain whether she had been schemed on or if she were merely pretending.

The imperial concubines that had originally come to enjoy the excitement felt somewhat disappointed in an instant. Such a huge farce. There should have been something interesting to look at. So why did it open in such a boring way?

After thirty minutes, Zhuang Laoyan’s complexion recovered. In that period, she had said a few things. She watched as Gao Dezhong entered the room. Behind him were a few eunuchs. However, their expressions didn’t look good.

Once the empress, whose expression had started to relax, saw clearly what lay on top of the tray the eunuch held, she stilled. All of a sudden, her complexion changed.

Lying on the tray wasn’t just anything. Rather, it was some tangled water grass and rope made with said water grass. And they were still wet. One didn’t have to think too hard to realize they had just been fetched from the pond.

“Reporting to Your Majesty and the empress, this slave salvaged this junk from the lotus pond.”

 There existed a set schedule in place for taking care of the lotus ponds in the palace. It was to avoid the ponds becoming sources of still water and carrying an odor. Or perhaps it was because if the water grew dirty, it would kill the interest of the masters admiring the ponds. Such water-grass rope should not exist there So why did the servants find some? 

After Chongyi Zhao’s previous words, that she had jumped in herself and then felt something coiling around her feet, the expressions of the imperial concubines changed. And they looked at Ronghua Sun with different eyes.

It’s been said the imperial harem did not have stupid methods of framing others. So Ronghua Sun had actually wanted to kill two birds with one stone. If only she fell into the water, then Chongyi Zhao would be known as pushing her in. If Zhuang Laoyan followed her into the water, she could have died. Then that would be one less competitor for Ronghua Sun. After all, only she would know the position of the water grass and the rope made of water grass. Chongyi Zhao would not have been aware.

“How interesting. When did the lotus pond have such things?” Feng Jin sneered as he glanced at the kneeling Ronghua Sun. He slowly said, “Why are you still standing there? Drag this cheap servant away.”

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty! This concubine is innocent. It’s—” A few old female servants muffled her. Dragged her away. In no way did she still seem to have a master’s dignity.

Upon seeing this, the empress left her seat and knelt before the emperor. “Your Majesty, this concubine did not manage the harem well. May Your Majesty bestow punishment.” She did not ask for forgiveness for Ronghua Sun at all. And naturally, did not mention their relationship as cousins.

Feng Jin looked at her serenely. Took his time saying, “This has nothing to do with the empress. There’s no need to blame yourself.”

A faint sigh of relief escaped her lips. However, the standing Noble Consort Shu could see vividly that the emperor’s gaze was much colder than it had been in the past.

As for the person involved, Zhuang Laoyan had already gone back to sleep.

So the raws kept saying that the other imperial concubines and the emperor could see the “unconscious” Zhuang Laoyan, while also saying that the servants left the “room” to give the message that Zhuang Laoyan awoke. Last chapter also stated that the imperial concubines and the emperor entered ZL’s inner chamber to see her. What I’m guessing is that there these people were all in the same room but a divider screen separated Zhuang Luayan’s from the rest of them. That’s the only way I can think of that makes sense.

The title of the chapter “To eat one’s bitter fruit” (自食恶果) means to suffer the consequences of your own actions. I kept the Chinese idiom because I think it’s easy to understand and also sounds a lot better.

Anyway, it was so satisfying to see Ronghua Sun’s end. But those ropes made from water grass… I wonder who placed those there?

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