Chapter 841 - Spoil the Gathering
Chapter 841 Spoil the Gathering
Such an obvious act of showing off one’s intimate relationship with her beloved had been disagreeable since ancient times.
“Oh, okay,” Madame Jingrou, who returned to herself, said, realizing she had behaved inappropriately just now.
She blushed slightly. In recent days, she somehow felt that she and the Emperor seemed to have returned to their youth.
Lin Mengya’s words reminded her that they were among other Mesdames at the moment.
Then, she regulated her emotions while Lin Mengya stood in front of her.
By the time Lin Mengya left with the teacup, Madame Jingrou had returned to normal.
“This must be the lovely palace maid the Ninth Prince brought into the imperial palace to serve you. Look at her, she’s really something. The other imperial concubines aren’t half as good as her. How old are you, lass?” As Madame Xian said, Madame Xian pulled Lin Mengya, who was holding the teacup, aside and looked her up and down as if she were a commodity.
At the thought that she was not a commodity that could be selected at will, Lin Mengya took a step back and answered respectfully, “Madame Xian, I’m 18 years old.”
She did not mean to claim to be younger than her actual age, but according to her new identity faked by Xiaoyu, she was 18 years old.
Although those people close to her all knew that she was Lin Mengya, she was known as Helan, a girl from outside the imperial palace, to the outsiders.
“18 years old? I don’t think so. You look more like a 15-year-old girl. I remember when Madame Jingrou first met His Majesty, she was only 18 years old and in her prime! Her graceful bearing has been deeply rooted in my mind. Back then, I, who did not see much of the world, thought there might be no lady of an eminent family comparable to her in all the tribes and counties, let alone in the inner and outer capital cities.” Madame Xian fawned on Madame Jingrou frankly.
However, Lin Mengya found it a little strange.
As the chosen witch of the Xin Family, Madame Jingrou had been trained as a princess since her childhood. How could Lin Mengya, just a palace maid, compare with her?
Seeing that Madame Xian let her go, Lin Mengya immediately found an opportunity to change Madame Jingrou’s tea.
Noticing that someone cast another undisguised glance at her, Lin Mengya inadvertently looked around, only to see the palace maid pull Madame Xian’s sleeve.
She immediately realized what was going on. It seemed that Xiaoyu caused her trouble again.
Alas, an outstanding brother could be a burden to her.
That explained why Madame Xian seemed to be and was actually trying to please Madame Jingrou.
It turned out that Madame Xian did that for such a reason.
“You’re right. I saw sister Jingrou’s graceful bearing back then. She was the best among us indeed. No wonder she has been the apple of His Majesty’s eye over the years. I know I will never be as lucky as her, although I envy her,” Madame Qinghua said gently with a smile.
“Of course, we can’t compare with her, who comes from the eminent Xin Family, let alone those imperial concubines from humble families,” seeing that Madame Xian and Madame Qinghua talked one after the other to please Madame Jingrou, Madame Min said.
Her words immediately spoiled the atmosphere.
However, as soon as Madame Min finished speaking, she felt regret.
Obviously, she was keenly aware that coming from the Xin Family was a pain rather than a thing worth boasting about for Madame Jingrou.
Lin Mengya, who could see through the situation, thought that Madame Min was so proud and aloof that she hadn’t even thought that coming from an aristocratic family could be meaningless.
Although Yao Lu came from an aristocratic family, she was still hated and rejected by the Emperor. If Madame Min pissed off Madame Jingrou, she would have no chance to be the Empress.
Now Lin Mengya had seen through what today’s gathering was held for.
Madame Min presumably organized this gathering to build a good relationship with Madame Jingrou, so she invited Madame Qinghua, who had always been gentle and kind, to join the gathering.
Nevertheless, she definitely could not tell Madame Qinghua about her intention bluntly.
Therefore, Madame Qinghua pretended that she didn’t understand what Madame Min meant, and even invited Madame Xian, who was on bad terms with Madame Min, to join them.
Madame Xian probably turned down Madame Qinghua’s invitation at the beginning at the thought that she would make herself unwelcome at the gathering organized by Madame Min.
Unexpectedly, the girl next to her might have fallen for the Ninth Prince.
Now that the Mesdames were here, the good show began.
Lin Mengya cast an imperceptible glance at Madame Qinghua. Although each of the Mesdames had her own plan, the biggest winner today would probably be Madame Qinghua.
Madame Min probably would find it impossible to question Madame Qinghua who appeared to be honest but was actually hypocritical.
It was better to keep it to herself although she had seen through Madame Qinghua’s trick.
Madame Xian tried to spoil the gathering, while Madame Min failed to restrain herself time and again. Then Madame Qinghua pretended to be generous and mediated between them.
Lin Mengya could tell that sometimes Madame Qinghua obviously tried to stir up enmity between them rather than mediate between them.
It was a pity that the gathering organized by Madame Min was totally messed up.
Madame Min would presumably be beside herself with rage after returning.
When the sun finally set, Madame Jingrou rose to her feet to leave.
The face of the arrogant Madame Min had turned deep red with rage.
Although Madame Xian was smiling, there was murderous intent behind her smile.
The enmity between them was probably not as simple as it seemed.
“Did you see through the situation?” On the way back, Madame Jingrou asked in a low voice.
Her face was almost stiff after she kept smiling for the whole day.
But it was a common thing in the imperial palace.
Lin Mengya nodded and held Madame Jingrou towards the resting palace of the Emperor.
Of course she had seen through the situation today.
Madame Xian and Madame Min seemed to have quarreled at the gathering, but the real wire-puller was Madame Qinghua.
When they returned to the Emperor’s resting palace, the others had long left and the Emperor had gone to the study in the front yard.
Madame Jingrou took Lin Mengya to the inner room in the west of the resting palace where the Emperor and Madame Jingrou slept every day.
After they entered the inner room, Madame Jingrou dismissed all the palace maids other than Lin Mengya.
Lin Mengya gave Madame Jingrou a body massage gently. She had vigorous hands and was familiar with acupuncture points.
As Lin Mengya began the massage, Madame Jingrou soon felt pain and numbness, which relieved her fatigue.
Madame Jingrou enjoyed the massage which made her much more relaxed.
“Since you’ve seen through the situation, who do you think should we help compete for the position of the Empress?” Madame Jingrou asked.
Madame Jingrou’s plan wasn’t complicated. She intended to deal with them in a way of training Tibetan Mastiffs.
Although the final winner who defeated all the other Mesdames was a hard nut to crack, it was better than having all of them against her.
Furthermore, the enemy of her enemy was her friend.
When the time came, there would definitely be someone offering to help Madame Jingrou.
At present, their mission was to select the person as the target for all.
Lin Mengya thought for a moment and said, “It’s the simplest to support Madame Qinghua and the most difficult to support Madame Xian. But in my opinion, neither of them is the best choice.”
Madame Qinghua was quite cunning and had long coveted the position of the Empress.
Nevertheless, she did a great job in hiding her wild ambition. If it weren’t for Madame Jingrou, she was very likely to be the Empress.
Besides, she was quite tactical and capable of making plenty of Mesdames deeply grateful for her kindness.
Although it was easy to help such a person to be the Empress, it would be extremely difficult to deal with her in the future.
Meanwhile, a person like Madame Xian had great flaws in her character.
It was indeed the most difficult to support Madame Xian, but it would be the easiest to deal with her.
Hearing Lin Mengya’s words, Madame Jingrou nodded slowly and said, “You are right. Neither of them is a good choice. Well, who do you think we should select?”
In fact, Madame Jingrou had made her choice. After Lin Mengya exchanged glances with her, they reached a tacit understanding.
Lin Mengya said, “This person is indeed the best choice. However, Madame, if you take action personally, you will probably attract attention. Why don’t you ask Madame Jing’an to come back?”
Although Madame Jing’an was Madame Jingrou’s substitute, Madame Jing’an, who had an eminent position and enjoyed a high status, could not be underestimated.
Moreover, she was also one of the candidates for the Empress.
It was reasonable for her to return to the imperial palace now.
“Madame, you don’t have to worry about your unmentionable illness. Since I have a way to cure it, I’m capable of controlling it. I will bring you the pills to control it three days later. You will be fine as long as you take a pill on time,” Lin Mengya said.
Compared with neutralizing poisons, she had much more ways to control poisons.
Actually, she discovered the so-called venomous insect was a kind of poison that could be controlled rather than merely a kind of living creature or plant.
As long as it was a kind of poison, it was under her control.
It was a piece of cake for her to control Madame Jingrou’s unmentionable illness.
Madame Jingrou’s tense face softened, as she trusted Miss Helan a lot.
She said, “It’s not that I don’t want to get rid of the venomous insect in my body, but I want to keep it for Yu’er to use in the Pool of Various Venomous Insects. The venomous insect the Xin Family used to control me, the chosen witch, is much more powerful than ordinary ones. As long as Yu’er keeps it, he can hold on in the Pool of Various Venomous Insects for longer.”
Lin Mengya was stunned for a moment. So that was how it was.
As Xiaoyu’s mother, Madame Jingrou tried to help Xiaoyu in every possible way. Lin Mengya just didn’t expect that Madame Jingrou would endure so much for Xiaoyu.
Lin Mengya wanted to make it clear to Madame Jingrou that her blood was the sharpest weapon.
But she was afraid of hurting Madame Jingrou’s feelings and preventing Xiaoyu from learning about Madame Jingrou’s maternal love for him.
In the end, she could only nod her head heavily without mentioning it.
It was okay to tell the truth at any time, but she couldn’t stop a mother from expressing her love for her son.
“It’s good to ask Jing’an to come back. In fact, she and Hui’er used to be my maids. Unfortunately, Hui’er… Oh, yes, did the people you sent take good care of her?” Madame Jingrou said.
Lin Mengya was keenly aware that Madame Jingrou valued companionships.
Although Madame Hui had done plenty of things to hurt Madame Jingrou, Madame Jingrou still spared her life.
But how could such a paranoid person understand Madame Jingrou’s care for her?
The people sent by Lin Mengya heard Madame Hui curse Madame Jingrou crazily in the yard all day long.
Her words were so malicious that even they, as outsiders, felt suffocated on hearing that.
It could be seen that Madame Hui really hated Madame Jingrou to the very marrow of her bones.
However, who could Madame Hui blame for what had happened to her?