Chapter Five: You Are Truly Ugly

"Achoo!" On the way back, Shen Fuyu suddenly sneezed. Someone must be speaking ill of her behind her back!

"Your Highness, please take care of yourself," Bai Lian said cautiously.

"Then why didn't you bring me a cloak?" Shen Fuyu retorted. "Do you truly care about me at all?"

Bai Lian lowered her head, as if she were crying, and refused to say another word.

"Your Highness, please don't be angry with Sister Bai Lian," the eunuch assigned to Shen Fuyu said with a forced smile. "It's not worth harming your health. I'll go fetch a cloak for you right away!"

"When I was cold, you said nothing, and now when Bai Lian has made a mistake, you plead for her?" Shen Fuyu crossed her arms. "Who do you think is your master?"

"Your Highness! I would never dare!"

The palanquin stopped. The young eunuch knelt on the ground. He had served many masters before, but never one as difficult as Shen Fuyu. Normally, masters showed favoritism toward the maids brought from their families, but with Shen Fuyu, Bai Lian and Green Tea, her two senior maids, had no dignity at all!

"I think you do," Shen Fuyu said, looking at him. "Stay kneeling until night falls."

She couldn't understand it. What was the point for a young eunuch to fawn over a Bai Lian like her? As if a proud, aloof girl like her would ever share a meal with him. Shen Fuyu shook her head in the palanquin. Having lived for who knows how many years, she had witnessed too many such things. Youth never learns—each one impatient and far too self-important.

For the sake of her anger value, Shen Fuyu felt it best to let such matters take their course. She was not about to waste energy enlightening these young people.

As for Bai Lian, she would never plead for the young eunuch. As Bai Lian's mistress, Shen Fuyu knew the girl better than anyone.

She would never do anything that wasn't in her own interest.

Bantering with Bai Lian along the way kept Shen Fuyu in a faintly cheerful mood. Unfortunately, with the maids' humble status, no matter how angry she got, unless they dared to do something truly outrageous, the anger value she could gain was limited. Bai Lian and Green Tea were but appetizers in her daily routine.

From all her years of struggling for anger value, Shen Fuyu knew that in this world, the higher the status of the person she challenged, the greater the value she gained. It made sense—feudal society, after all; rank crushes all. If you dared to defy your superiors, how could they not be furious?

At Crescent Moon Palace, Green Tea had somehow ended up kneeling outside, tears streaming down her face.

"How ugly," Shen Fuyu said with disdain. "If you know your makeup isn’t waterproof, why cry? You look just like a toad now, do you realize?"

Green Tea: "..."

All the words she had prepared were shattered by Shen Fuyu's unpredictable responses.

"This servant greets the Wise Consort."

Shen Fuyu, who hadn’t even wondered why Green Tea was kneeling outside the hall, frowned at the sudden appearance of a eunuch. "Who are you?"

"Your Highness, with so many important matters, it’s no wonder you forget people. I am Chang Fu, chief steward of the Golden Throne Hall," he replied with a smile. "You’ve only met me twice, so it's natural you don’t remember me."

"Oh," Shen Fuyu nodded. "Alright, got it. You’re the head eunuch serving the Emperor."

Chang Fu: "..."

That was accurate enough.

"Also, there’s something I’m not sure I should mention," Chang Fu glanced at Green Tea kneeling on the ground, making it clear that what he was about to say concerned this reckless maid.

"If you shouldn’t say it, why say it? Is being chief eunuch so leisurely?" Shen Fuyu said.

"No... not at all, Your Highness. You are truly amusing," Chang Fu replied with some awkwardness. Among so many concubines in the harem, even the Empress treated him with a degree of respect. This Wise Consort was truly unique. "But this matter isn’t suited for public discussion. If Your Highness doesn’t mind, I’ll speak plainly."

He was indeed a seasoned leader of eunuchs, much more patient than ordinary palace staff.

"The young lady you brought into the palace may have to be sent out," Chang Fu said, phrasing it tactfully. To seduce the Emperor—only she would have dared. If an ordinary maid angered the Emperor, she would have been beaten to death long ago. If not for the fact that she was brought by the Wise Consort from the Shen family, and for the sake of giving her some face, the girl wouldn’t have survived until the Consort’s return. "Now that the Emperor has just recovered from serious illness and is still weak, he was thinking of Your Highness and came to Crescent Moon Palace to visit you. Yet this reckless maid tried to climb into the Emperor’s bed. Your Highness, since she is your maid, what do you wish to do?"

"Ah... just handle it as you see fit," Shen Fuyu said carelessly. "It’s not the first time. She’s always liked doing this at home, though she’s never succeeded."

Chang Fu: "?"

"Yes, she often tried to climb into my father’s bed, or my brothers’ beds. It’s a common occurrence. She’s too foolish—she’s never succeeded," Shen Fuyu shrugged. She was used to it. She guessed that her family kept such a maid beside her just to annoy her, so whenever Green Tea failed, she would be sent back unchanged.

It wasn’t uncommon for maids in great households to try to climb into their masters’ beds. Those who survived either succeeded or had some other use.

Green Tea was the latter.

Shen Fuyu truly thought her stupid beyond measure. She couldn’t even accomplish such a petty scheme, yet dreamed of becoming a phoenix.

"Your Highness... well..." Chang Fu wiped sweat from his brow. "I just wanted to ask your advice—what should be done with this girl?"

"Why must I make the decision? Don’t you have a brain?" Shen Fuyu found him annoying. She didn’t care whether Green Tea lived or died. Why ask her? Just follow the palace rules. Why ask? "I don’t want to deal with this."

"Your Highness!"

She had already entered the hall.

Chang Fu, for some reason, suddenly felt sympathy for Green Tea. The girl was truly shameless, but to be a servant and be treated so by her mistress... truly pitiful.

"Your Highness, the Emperor is still inside!" Chang Fu remembered something more important and, leaving Green Tea behind, hurried after Shen Fuyu!

Since the poison in Qin Zhiyi’s body had been expelled by Shen Fuyu’s anger, his health was almost restored. Though he had been bedridden for a long time and was still weak, he could walk without difficulty. He had been thinking about the woman who had spoken rudely to him yesterday, and as soon as he awoke, he came to Crescent Moon Palace.

"My beloved, you’ve returned? Did the Empress trouble you?" Qin Zhiyi cleared his throat gently, awkwardly expressing his concern. He rarely interacted with his consorts, and had never spoken such tender words before.