Like Pearl and Jade

Chapter 84

The name of Yunfang Palace was beautiful, but after seeing the palace, Gu Ru Jiu did not feel the name reflected the reality. This was a worn-out palace, a courtyard that was not taken care of, and windows with holes in them. When she stepped in, she felt inexplicably cold.

There were so many weeds in the courtyard, the palace attendants went in first to find a path.

"This is Yunfang Palace?" Gu Ru Jiu stood on the stone stairs of the gate, and looked around the palace. She saw it was filled with weeds, and did not know where to place her feet.

She feared that there would be vermin coming out of the grass, and so she did not know where to put her feet down.

"Your Majesty is very surprised?" Dowager Consort Qian stood on the stone stairs as well. She smiled with disdain at the dilapidated courtyard. "Do you feel it is strange that a palace where no one has lived in for five to six years looks as bad as this?"

Gu Ru Jiu listened and did not speak. She did not understand the days that the consorts and concubines had lived when the previous emperor was alive, so she did not qualify to comment.

"Sun shi was not favored back then, and the people from the Department of Household Affairs flattered those higher up and stepped on those lower down. This Yunfang Palace was always cold. The palace attendants responsible for the repair of the palace did not like to come. So even during the time of the previous emperor, this place was not very good." When Dowager Consort Qian mentioned the previous emperor, her tone had a thread of hate and disdain. "The previous emperor did not care about us consorts who were out of favor. It was not important if we were alive or dead. So even a whore like Wei shi could dare to bully us."

Gu Ru Jiu remembered that when she entered the palace to see the empress dowager a few years ago, Wei shi had been in a sorry state and begging for mercy from the empress dowager. The reason was that she could not endure the bullying of Dowager Consort Qian, Dowager Consort Sun and the others.

There was a cause for any result. No wonder Dowager Consort Qian and Dowager Consort Sun treated her like that. If she had been one of them, she would not have been nice to Wei shi either.

"Your Majesty, you are loved by His Majesty, and there are no other consorts in the palace. You do not know how hard the days of unfavored consorts in the palace can be." Dowager Consort Qian laughed at herself. "After coming into a place like this, women are not people—just playthings for the emperor."

Gu Ru Jiu had not thought that Dowager Consort Qian would say such things freely in front of her. She looked at Dowager Consort Qian. The other wore a gray-indigo outer robe, and did not wear any other ornaments. Her hair accessories were made from plain silver, and there was nothing bright. She thought, was Dowager Consort Qian mourning Dowager Consort Sun?

Seeing Gu Ru Jiu silent, Dowager Consort Qian said with a smile, "Your Majesty, you are frightened by my words?"

Gu Ru Jiu shook her head. "No, I feel that you are right." She had not experienced it, but living in this environment, women were just sacrifices in the face of patriarchy.

"Ha." Dowager Consort Qian smiled. "Your Majesty is more clear-minded than I imagined." She had seen many women favored by an emperor. Most of them were arrogant and forgot themselves. This present empress was the subject of the emperor's lone favor, and lived with him in Purple Imperial Hall. Yet she did not show any arrogance. No wonder the emperor was so taken with her.

If she was Gu Ru Jiu, she could not do so well.

The two stood at the gates for a while. The palace attendants came back from finding a path, and Dowager Consort Qian was the first to walk in.