Scum Consort Guide (BL)

Ch.4

(Meihui is in the image above)

After the meeting of the harem, Yaozu was mentally exhausted.
He doesn't understand how he could stand this in his past life, the concubines are annoying and stupid, to put it mildly.

Perhaps he was like them before. Well,if that was the case, he couldn't blame the emperor for not liking him.
But of course, Yaozu still blames the emperor for his pitiful fate.

"Your Highness, are you heading towards Hejia Pond?"
A sonorous voice, from behind Yaozu said, with a hint of excitement.

Yaozu surprised, looked at the lower-ranked concubine for a moment. Doing so,he couldn't help but notice that she was young as well. Perhaps a little older than him, but that's it.

"Yes, would you like to come as well? I heard there's a beautiful pavilion at the pond, perhaps we could drink some fresh tea and chat a little to pass the time."
Consort Xiao smiled softly at the concubine, beside him now.

"I would love to spend with Your Highness."
Beauty Yan smiled gently at the new consort, seemingly pleased.

But, Meihui wasn't pleased at all, she didn't like any concubine of the harem. None of them seemed decent. Well it's true Beauty Yan didn't seem as bad, but it's probably just a facade. It's not something unusual in the palace, after all

After walking for a while in silence until the lower concubine decided to break it.
As she couldn't help but speak her mind in front of the male consort.

"I know this may sound haphazard, but I must say, your Highness is the most decent person of the harem, even more so than Royal Consort Hui."
Beauty Yan spoke nonchalantly, uncaring of the ears that could hear her words.

Yaozu was startled by the lower-ranked concubine's sudden words.
Meihui, behind consort Xiao, wasn't startled at all, she was more irritated than anything.

"..Why are you speaking such words in the middle of daylight?"
Yaozu looked curiously at the shorter female beside him.

The lower-ranked concubine only chuckled after seeing Yaozu's curious eyes.

"Even if your highness would turn out to be just like everyone else, there's nothing your highness can do to me and no reason to."
Beauty Yan sneered, avoiding consort Xiao's gaze.

"I'm an unfavored lower-rank concubine and your highness is a male consort."
The royal lady giggled, finally meeting her superior's eyes.

Yaozu was quite surprised by the royal lady's unexpected behavior, however, she isn't wrong at all, and perhaps 'befriending' her wouldn't be a bad thing.

"If anything, wouldn't it be best to be allies? Or even better, friends."

Yaozu looked intensely at the young lady beside him before entering the pavilion with Meihui right behind him.

"...Well, that would be ideal, wouldn't it?"

Beauty Yan followed consort Xiao and sat beside him, with both maids standing next to their masters.

"Beauty Yan has been living in the palace more than this consort, Therefore she must know more...Can I bother Beauty Yan to enlighten me about the harem?"

Yaozu looked intensely at the royal lady beside him searching her face carefully. however, she didn't seem to show any negative emotions.

"There's no bother, your highness.This royal lady will be happy to explain some things to Your Highness."
Beauty Yan smiled wide at the male consort, satisfied with the new connection she made.

*****
Consort Xiao sat elegantly on a chair while drinking fresh tea, analyzing the maids that brought some grass jelly for him, then addressed his dowry maid after the two strangers left the room.

"What do you think about the royal women of the harem?"
Yaozu looked at Meihui curiously, only to meet dark brown eyes filled with disgust.

"All the concubines are the same. All of them are power-hungry women that spend their time insulting each other."
Meihui sneered thinking about the harem meeting that happened a few hours ago.

"Hm.." Yaozu affirmed his maid's statement "But, what about Beauty Yan?"Yaozu questioned, this time without meeting Meihui's eyes.

"..I can't tell what kind of person she is, but she definitely isn't an ordinary royal lady." Meihui squinted her eyes slightly before continuing

"And not a kind-hearted one, your Highness should only use her for information."
Yaozu smiled, pleased by the dowry maid's answer.

He was delighted to have such an intelligent maid beside him.
She even knew that he was getting information from the lower-rank concubine.

"Yes, I'm aware she isn't to be trusted.." Yaozu paused for a second looking towards the closed doors, "Speaking of people not to be trusted.."
Yaozu looked at the maid in front of him once again.

"I have collected information about them Your Highness asked. There is nothing unusual or bad about any of them..", Meihui paused for a moment before whispering to her master, "I've seen a momo speak with one of the eternal harmony palace's maids and I discovered that she works for his majesty."

"...Is that so? Hm,curious."
Yaozu was quite confused about the emperor's reason to follow his every move.

"..Does his majesty think that this male consort would plot against other concubines for the throne?
Yaozu chuckled at the silly thing that crosses his mind, even Meihui giggled at his statement.

However, unknown to the two, someone listened to their conversation.
Outside the chambers, besides the closed doors, two maids were guarding.
The two maids used to serve the emperor before being sent to spy on the new consort.

The two looked at each other, worried about how they would tell Momo Liu what happened.
"...It's your time to give information.Good luck,Souxin jiejie."
The younger maid spoke in a hushed voice, barely audible.

****
"....That's what he said?."
A nobleman dressed in golden attire questioned, taken aback by the conversions between the master and handmaid of eternal harmony palace.

"Yes, your majesty..That's what his highness said."
The emperor looked blankly at the head eunuch. he was baffled by what he just heard, the master-servant duo was...unexpected, to say the least.

"Hm...He isn't after the empress throne, after all,huh?"
The emperor looked at the concubines' tags in front of him. There were only three, one of them was missing.

"..Have the Department of Affairs make Consort Xiao's tag."
The emperor rose from his seat and walked out of his study room leaving the servant behind.