Chapter 539 - At the Banquet of Qixi Festival, Mo Xuetong Entered the Palace (1/2)

Chapter 539 At the Banquet of Qixi Festival, Mo Xuetong Entered the Palace

In the Consort Zhao’s Mingyue Palace, there was no one else but Consort Zhao. It was too s.p.a.cious and empty. Shadow twisted in the candlelight. Then, the light leaped with a slight sound, which made Consort Zhao’s charming face look weird. Suddenly, the palace door creaked open. It was Caichun, her close maidservant in a common dress who came in from outside.

Looking at Caichun’s pale and nervous face, Consort Zhao asked, “How was it? Is there anything wrong?”

“There was nothing wrong with it. But I came across the maidservant of Consort Yu on the way back and was almost discovered. If I had not pretended to be from the Empress’ palace, they would have almost discovered me.” Thinking about what had happened just now, Caichun still wanted to tremble nervously.

Just now, on the way to the Mingyue Palace, Caichun happened to meet two Consort Yu’s maidservants to get the food from the imperial kitchen. The Emperor was said to rest in Consort Yu’s palace today again. Caichun went there secretly. So when she met the two maidservants at this time, she almost couldn’t avoid them and exposed herself.

Consort Zhao’s eyes fell on Caichun’s face and stared at her thoughtfully for a few seconds. Then, she nodded in consolation and said to Caichun, “It’s alright. Even if they saw you, they might not recognize you.”

There were few people available for Consort Zhao. Although Caichun was useful, she was a little old. Besides, she did know too much. If she was caught someday, some things could not be hidden any longer. So Consort Zhao thought she had to cultivate another trusted servant.

Caichun did not know that Consort Zhao had thought about killing her, but thought that Consort Zhao was comforting her. So Caichun immediately expressed her loyalty and said, “Yes, I am not afraid. Even if I am exposed, I will take all the responsibilities and won’t get Your Highness into trouble.”

She thought her words would make Consort Zhao have more trust in her, but did not realize that this would only make Consort Zhao warier of her. Consort Zhao had not made up her mind in the beginning, but now, she was confirmed that since Caichun knew too much, if Caichun was caught by others, the secret of Consort Zhao herself would be the weak points.

Smiling, Consort Zhao patted Caichun on the shoulder, nodded with satisfaction, and asked, “How is the preparation going on His Excellency side?”

“His Excellency said everything was ready for Your Highness’ order,” said Caichun.

“Okay, then go to prepare it. Don’t get exposed.”

“Yes, I know.” Caichun bowed to Consort Zhao hurriedly in a proper manner and left.

The seventh day of the seventh month was also known as the Qixi Festival. It was usually a women’s festival. At this time of the year, the Empress would be the main star in the palace, who would feast ladies in the palace. To show support for the Empress, the Emperor would also invite n.o.ble young masters to attend the banquet together. Some n.o.ble families would take this opportunity to choose the right person for their young master or lady of the right age. If the two took a fancy to each other, the man would send people to propose marriage for the woman. Therefore, there was more than one case of successful marriages achieved simply in the banquet.

With the auspicious implication of the Qixi Festival, it was easy to do such things. The Empress was also happy to see new matches made in the banquet she held. In the last life, although Mo Xuetong had not attended such a banquet, rumors had it that Sima Heyan fell in love with a young handsome master on such an occasion, and the two seemed to pledge to marry privately. However, Sima Lingyun finally flung his sister to another man’s bed for his own bright future.

Then, in order to change her brother’s mind, Sima Heyan tried to resist with death and elopement, and even threatened Sima Lingyun to change his mind by holding a knife to Mo Xuetong’s throat crazily. At that time, Mo Xuetong was pregnant but was dragged out by the frenzied Sima Heyan from the room. What was worse was that in front of the stiff Sima Lingyun, Mo Xuetong was almost killed by Sima Heyan with a stab.

Although Sima Lingyun kept apologizing to Mo Xuetong after the incident, claiming that he would not leave her in the lurch but just wanted to scare Sima Heyan. And in order to help Mo Xuetong get over the shock, he even gave Mo Xuetong a hairpin especially. It was the first time Sima Lingyun had given Mo Xuetong a gift since she entered the manor. So she was so excited that she completely took her mind off the fact that how heartless Sima Lingyun had been and believed his words.

Now when Mo Xuetong recalled the past, she realized that she was indeed the stupidest of them all.

Mo Xuetong thought, If Sima Lingyun had really cared about her, he would not have stood to see Sima Heyan held a knife to Mo Xuetong’s throat and refused to make a compromise even at the sight that Mo Xuetong was dragged out desperately in her pregnancy.

Mo Xuetong closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and she seemed to smell the scent of blood welling up inside. She clenched her fists and said to herself repeatedly that the banquet this time was not that in her last life with Sima Heyan, and that the Duke Zhenguo’s manor had been reduced to ashes. Then, she could calm herself down gradually.

A maidservant led Mo Xuetong into the Empress’s Tianfeng Palace, curtsied respectfully, and said, “My Lady, the Tianfeng Palace is here. I will go to inform for you now.”

When hearing that Feng Yuran entered the palace, Emperor Zongwen sent people to get him to his palace at the gate. But led by the Empress’s maidservant, Mo Xuetong went to Empress’s Tianfeng Palace.

Mo Xuetong smiled and nodded.

The maidservant held her long skirts and was about to ascend the steps when she was knocked by a force, failed to stand steadily, and fell to Mo Xuetong. Fortunately, Mo Ye pulled Mo Xuetong aside swiftly. Then, the maidservant was tilted to Mo Xuetong’s side and fell to the ground heavily.

“I was wondering who it was. Well, it is Consort Xuan. I heard that there was a wild scene in Consort Xuan’s courtyard several days ago. If I had known it, I would have come to have a look that day as well.” Of course, it was Ling Rui’er who had a bitterly sarcastic smile on her face. She looked like a fairy in her gorgeous formal suit. Standing on the high steps with an arrogant look, She immediately mentioned what had happened on Mo Xuetong’s birthday banquet and mocked Mo Xuetong unsparingly.