“It was… it was the last time His Majesty came to Qifeng Pavilion…” Jiang Lingye seemed extremely frightened. Stuttering and crying, she detailed how she had seduced the Emperor.
Consort Xian’s face turned green with anger: “You slut! It’s true that one can guard against outside thieves day and night, but not against those within! Tell me, when did you lose your chastity?”
“It was on the day of the Double Ninth Festival…” Jiang Lingye described the events of that day in detail.
Consort Xian, enraged, whipped her several more times: “Debased slave! Are you a prostitute? No, you’re even more debased than a prostitute!”
She lashed Jiang Lingye again: “And yesterday, what did you do with His Majesty?”
“Yesterday… nothing much… only, His Majesty said this slave’s eyes were exceptionally beautiful…”
Consort Xian froze.
Overwhelming jealousy surged within her: “His Majesty said your eyes were exceptionally beautiful?”
Consort Xian suddenly laughed maniacally: “Good! I’ll gouge out your eyes and send them to His Majesty!”
A sharp knife was handed to Consort Xian. Gripping it, she approached Jiang Lingye, grabbed her chin, and gradually positioned the knife tip toward her eye: “Let’s see if your eyes are still so beautiful once they’re gouged out!”
Just as the knife tip was about to touch Jiang Lingye’s eye, Consort Xian suddenly heard an angry shout: “Stop!”
Consort Xian froze. Outside the inner chamber stood the Emperor.
The Emperor had already strode forward. He looked up and down at Jiang Lingye, whose clothes had been torn apart by the whip, his lips pressed together. In her daze, Jiang Lingye thought she saw anger in his eyes.
Perhaps he was angry about almost losing someone who could earn him a fortune, she thought. It couldn’t be that he cared about her life.
Consort Xian stammered: “Your… Your Majesty!”
The Emperor ignored Consort Xian and pushed her aside. He took off his bright yellow dragon robe and wrapped it around Jiang Lingye, then untied the ropes binding her wrists. Jiang Lingye’s body immediately went limp, and she fell into his arms.
Knowing she had lost her composure before the Emperor, Jiang Lingye tried to support herself. The Emperor asked her in a deep voice: “Can you walk?”
Jiang Lingye nodded weakly: “Yes…”
“We won’t let you walk.” The Emperor lifted her in his arms and strode out of the inner chamber. “We’ll take you to be treated.”
From behind came Consort Xian’s voice: “Your Majesty! This slave…”
Before she could finish, the Emperor turned his head and said, “Consort Xian, she is no longer a slave. From this moment on, she is the Imperial Concubine of the Third Rank.”
Only after the Emperor had left did Consort Xian come to her senses. The initial adamant denial, followed by the detailed confession—it was all this servant’s ploy to buy time until the Emperor came to rescue her.
After realizing this and recalling the servant’s previous tolerance of beatings and scoldings, along with her cautious demeanor, a chill ran from Consort Xian’s spine throughout her body.
Such scheming was truly terrifying to the extreme.
None of the consorts in the palace, including Empress Zheng, would be a match for this slave.
And everything that happened afterward confirmed her thoughts.