BERW - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

That night, no one in the palace got a peaceful night's sleep.

The consorts and palace attendants of the Inner Palace had no idea what was going on. They only saw the Imperial Guard suddenly surround the Eastern Palace in the dead of night, and then all manner of terrifying rumors spread in the blink of an eye. As for Shen Yuyao, who had put on a great show at the palace gate and been in a runaway-horse accident, in those rumors she had already died several times over.

Fortunately, in the latter half of the night, the Empress came out from Ziwei Palace with enough energy to spare to calm the Inner Palace. She made it known that no one need be nervous, that no one had come to harm, and that Shen Yuyao was still very much alive and kicking, asleep in the side hall of Ziwei Palace.

As for the rest, explanations would come at dawn; everyone should go about their business.

Zheng Wanwan had been Empress for many years and commanded no small prestige. With her saying so, the people of the Inner Palace naturally obeyed meekly. A storm that had arisen in the evening was all but entirely quelled by the latter half of the night.

But Shen Yuyao could not sleep.

In the Modern World, she had loved watching those domestic dramas full of family squabbles; there was always a certain joy in spectating drama and watching the show. In real life, every New Year, she would sidle up among her aunts and assorted relatives to listen to this family's gossip and that family's chatter.

This was how she relieved her own stress. Though she listened, she never gossiped carelessly, nor did she deliberately embellish or demonize how things actually were.

This was her moral bottom line as a spectator of drama.

Tonight's drama did not even rank in the top ten for intensity among all the drama she had spectated. If not for the bonus of the imperial family, Shen Yuyao actually would not have been all that eager to watch.

Yet this drama had a powerful aftereffect.

It was probably because she was now inside the Imperial Palace, and because, frankly, this drama had a hand of hers in it as well.

"Mother Consort, are you asleep?"

Shen Yuyao tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and simply spoke up, asking Qu Yanyue, who was sharing her bed, in a low, plaintive voice.

The roads were slippery late at night, and Shen Chong also worried that Shen Yuyao might catch a chill if she went out, so he had simply had mother and daughter rest for the night in the East Side Hall and make do.

Qu Yanyue naturally had no objection. Not just any consort could stay in Ziwei Palace; this was the Emperor's bedchamber, and also the first great gate of the Inner Palace within the Palace City. Beyond it lay the area where the pillar ministers conducted their daily business.

That Qu Yanyue could stay here showed that her standing in Shen Chong's heart was very high.

So long as it was something that could display her imperial favor, Qu Yanyue would agree to it.

But agree though she might, whether she could fall asleep was another matter.

Qu Yanyue was a little particular about unfamiliar beds. Fortunately, having been worn out all day, she was already drowsily close to sleep.

Then she was called awake by her great filial daughter beside her.

Yes, when Shen Yuyao's question got no response, she deliberately propped herself up and leaned close to Qu Yanyue's ear to ask two more times.

"Shut up." Qu Yanyue, unable to bear it, peevishly told her daughter to stop shouting.

Getting a reply, Shen Yuyao's eyes brightened, more dazzling in the dark night than the stars.

"I knew it, Mother Consort, you weren't asleep yet. Since Mother Consort isn't asleep either, why don't we chat?"

Who says I wasn't asleep? I was woken up by you again!

Qu Yanyue took two deep breaths and silently warned herself that this annoying little creature before her was her own daughter; she could not hit her, could not hit her, for if she broke her, it was she who would be heartbroken.

"No chatting. Sleep."

In the darkness, her own mother's voice sounded taut. Shen Yuyao recalled Qu Yanyue's earlier expression and guessed that her mother's mood was not very good either.

"Sigh. Actually, I know a lot of things. Eldest Imperial Brother doesn't like the Senior Consort. When Mother asked him whether he had ever touched the Senior Consort, he didn't directly deny it, which shows that for these three years, he and the Senior Consort may well have been sharing a quilt and doing nothing but chatting. Poor Consort Qin, three years of living widowhood, and she still has to be discussed by everyone. And Eldest Imperial Brother even told the Senior Consort that he did this because he wanted a legitimate son. Consort Qin was deceived by him quite badly. If she learns that after today, that palace maid will be brought back into the palace and granted the position of Crown Prince's Junior Consort, she will surely be heartbroken. It just goes to show that men really are no good. Trust a man's words, and you're bound to meet with great misfortune."

Shen Yuyao rambled on and on; once she finished, she actually felt a little better.

It just went to show that people were creatures who could not hold their words in, brimming with the urge to confide.

Now that she felt better, drowsiness came over her, and Shen Yuyao fell asleep mid-sentence.

Hearing her daughter's little snores, Qu Yanyue instead found it hard to sleep.

She stared wide-eyed at the bed of the sleeping chamber, recalling some old memories.

In her youth, she had not had her daughter's insight; she had not known that trusting a man's words was bound to bring great misfortune.

As Qu Yanyue thought, she slowly closed her eyes, and suddenly, unbidden, her daughter's words came back to her.

The more she thought, the more something seemed off. She suddenly opened her eyes and turned her head to look at her daughter beside her, disbelief written across her face.

That wasn't right! Her daughter had not yet awakened to matters of the heart. She had, just recently, admired another for their good looks and clamored about wanting a Sixth Rank official, but that did not mean that in such a short time she would know such detailed matters between husband and wife.

Just who had corrupted her daughter!

Now Qu Yanyue truly could not sleep. In contrast, the Shen Yuyao who had kept her awake was sleeping soundly beside her, her little snores quite rhythmic.

The next day, the moment Shen Yuyao opened her eyes, she heard a woman's voice full of resentment ask her, "You're awake?"

For that instant, Shen Yuyao thought she had transmigrated again, this time into some supernatural world.

Looking closely, it was Qu Yanyue, faint dark circles beneath her eyes, already neatly washed and dressed.

Shen Yuyao nodded. She thought that from these past few days of interaction, Qu Yanyue had seemed so carefree and easygoing that she had taken her for a person who took nothing to heart.

She had not expected that a single bite of drama yesterday would keep her mother awake all night.

The Crown Prince and the others really were to blame.

Completely unaware that she herself was the one who had started it all, Shen Yuyao cast her mother a somewhat sympathetic glance.

Qu Yanyue did indeed deserve sympathy, but she did not want to be pitied by her great filial daughter. With a dark expression, she slapped a palm onto Shen Yuyao's blanket, not with much force.

"Then get up quickly. We must return to Yongkang Hall before His Majesty comes back from court. Meixiang, come and attend to your princess's washing up."

Once court was dismissed, the Emperor might summon a few trusted ministers back to Ziwei Palace to discuss important matters. If the two of them were still here, meeting them would be awkward.

Shen Yuyao obediently got up. She had a whole pile of bad habits, but the one skill worth praising was that she never dawdled in bed.

What was the point of lying in bed? Get up and have fun! The drama field needs more spectators!

By the time mother and daughter returned to Yongkang Hall, the party that had set out from the palace to fetch people from outside the palace had also returned.

They were all overworked wage slaves of the rat race, and even the Emperor was one. Shen Yuyao looked up at the sun, which had just risen partway, and guessed it was probably around eight or nine o'clock.

They must have started working before dawn to finish this quickly.

The palace maid who had been driven out of the palace had, in the blink of an eye, become the Crown Prince's Junior Consort and been invited back into the palace by the Emperor's men. This was truly a rare occurrence, so even though the Eastern Palace was currently surrounded by the Imperial Guard, quite a few busybodies were walking back and forth nearby.

Don't ask how Shen Yuyao knew.

It was probably because she was one of those busybodies herself.

But the one advantage she had over the other busybodies was that Shen Yuyao could enter the Eastern Palace directly; this was one of her privileges as Shen Chong's most beloved daughter.

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