Seeing Zhong Jinchun's anxiety, Chu Qiao rubbed her shoulder and comforted, "Don’t worry. I’m standing in front of you unharmed, see? Why don’t we go inside and talk about the whole event over a cup of tea?"
"Sure, sounds great." Zhong Jinchun was overjoyed.
Chu Qiao invited Zhong Jinchun inside, and asked the maids to entertain Zhong to a high standard, making sure she felt at ease.
"Your Highness, I have been feeling nervous, fearing that something bad might have happened, because I haven’t seen you and the Prince ever since the banquet", said Zhong Jinchun.
Chu Qiao shook her head and said: "Are you afraid that the Prince will blame me? There is no need for that since I haven’t done anything wrong. It's sweet but I think you are being paranoid."
"You are right, but we both know Chu Jiao will never give up though her scheme to frame you failed this time. Your Highness, we can't await passively for the impending doom, otherwise we would regret not doing anything when something bad happens."
Having understood what Zhong Jinchun was implying, Chu Qiao glanced at her and said, "So you’re asking me to make a move."
Zhong Jinchun nodded: "That’s exactly what I meant. We will get into bigger troubles when the situation escalates later if we let she get away with what she did today."
Chu Qiao knew it’s not time to do what Zhong Jinchun suggested yet, although she thought the suggestion was very reasonable and had hit the spot. So she just looked up at Zhong Jinchun and said, "Don't worry, I already have a plan. Chu Jiao must be waiting for me to step in her trap at the moment." With a subtle smile, Chu Qiao picked up her teacup and blew gently to cool it down, which caused small ripples in the teacup.
Zhong Jinchun understood what she meant, and smiled without a word. After a long time, Zhong Jinchun said causually, "It seems that the weather is going to change. I won't stay here and keep bothering Your Highness anymore. Now if you’ll excuse me."
Chu Qiao nodded, “Take care, Attendant Consort”
The servant girl took away her teacup from the table and asked, "Your Highness, do you trust her?"
Chu Qiao handed over her teacup to the girl and said, "Why not? Zhong Jinchun wasn’t harboring evil intentions. For if she was, there would be thousands of opportunities to do that but she didn't, which means she disdains to do so, and I trust her."
Hearing Chu Qiao's explanation, the servant girl gently sighed and turned around to clean up the table. Then she looked back at Chu Qiao and said: "Your Highness, in fact I agree that it's time for a little revenge."
Chu Qiao pondered for a while and smiled to herself, "It's about time."
Back at Chu Jiao's palace, she was so angry that she vented her temper on the items in her palace. A maid came over quietly and said, "Master, don't be angry. It would only hurt your precious body."
Chu Jiao became more infuriated hearing the servant's dissuasion, "Why is Chu Qiao so blessed as to survive such a well-developed plan? It seems that I am too soft on her."
"Master..."
Chu Jiao smiled, as if she had come up with some genius new plan, as she said: "Let’s see what Chu Qiao is capable of. Go and invite all the women in the Prince Palace here. I’m going to host a tea ceremony."
"Yes..."
On her second thought, Chu Jiao added, "Hold on! Everyone except Zhong Jinchun."
She just had an intuition that there was something wrong with Zhong.
Actually, some of the women sitting here didn't always agree with whatever Chu Jiao decided, but she still invited whoever was in the Prince Palace in order to provoke all of them against Chu Qiao. When all the concubines were there in front of her, she began to give a speech with a piercing stare, “Dear sisters, please kindly forgive me for my abruptness of inviting you here for tea today at such short notice.”
Someone of the concubines began to flatter Chu Jiao. "Oh, You are being too kind to us. We all know that you are the most powerful lady here in the Prince Palace." Although very proud at hearing this, Chu Jiao sat up straight and said calmly, "You’re over praising me. Nowadays, the most powerful woman in this Palace is the Princess, not me."
Apparently, Chu Jiao was indicating something. She put the teacup in her palm and added, "After all, I am only an Attendant Consort and can never match the Prince’s legal wife who has both a legitimate title and great power. I can’t sit next to the Prince on formal occasions no matter how much he loves me, for I am merely a concubine."
Convinced by Chu Jiao’s words, the other women reflected upon themselves and found that as concubines they were also powerless. So they just looked at one another and remained silent.
"But someone is different. After all, she is the Princess, the Prince’s legal wife rather than one of his concubines like us. I’m afraid that it will be harder for us to live in this Palace once she wins the Prince’s favor. We will be even more pathetic than those moths drawn to the flame, because we won't even know why we still try to please the Prince in vain."
Chu Jiao was implying that every one of them would certainly suffer if Chu Qiao, who already had the legitimate title and great power in her hand, climbed to the top of the social ladder.
Someone responded, "I couldn’t agree more. As concubines, how can we live without the Prince’s grace which is the only thing that we depend on?"
Some of the concubines became more convinced after hearing these words and even began to badmouth the Princess directly.
"You’re right. The Princess is going too far. Sister Chu, what do you think we should do?"
Chu Jiao pretended to wipe her tears and said: "I definitely will share the Prince’s favor with you dear sisters if I gain it, for I sympathize with you. However, the Princess snatched his grace from us with the help of Zhong Jinchun. Why don’t we start with Zhong, so that she will no longer play the jackal to the tiger? That is one step towards our goal."
"It's a good idea to give the Princess a warning."
Jealousy grew with the help of mutual flattery. Looking at the approving expression on the concubines’ faces, Chu Jiao smiled as she said to herself, "Chu Qiao, you will pay me back for everything you’ve taken from me."
Chu Qiao sneezed and rubbed her nose, "I guess someone is talking about me now. Is the room getting stuffy? I could use some fresh air."
Chu Qiao said with a smile. The maid beside her said softly, "I guess the Prince is missing you."
Dumbfounded, Chu Qiao stared at the glib little girl, "You’ve became bolder, haven't you? Now you even dare to make fun of me. Let me show you what I’m capable of!"
The servant girl giggled when she heard it. Chu Qiao pretended to chase after her for fun.
"What are you doing?"