A gentle moon hanging in the sky, the backyard garden of the Prince's Palace is bustling. The woman sitting on the master seat is surrounded by other concubines, just like the moon is surrounded by stars. She is well-dressed, wearing a golden dangling hair stick in her hair, and looks pretty gentle and elegant. She is Chu Jiao, the Attendant Consort and Chu Qiao's younger sister whose mother is a concubine.
Chu Jiao raises her glass and smiles: "I'm glad that all my sisters get together here today. Next month comes the Prince's birthday banquet. I wonder if you have any new or great ideas? "
The pretty woman sitting on the right seat next to Chu Jiao says: "'The Peach Blossom Fan' is the specialty opera of the northern theatre. Why don't we invite the troupe here to perform? Surely it will be better than the previous songs and dances."
Zheng Ruir is sitting on the left seat next to Chu Jiao. She sniffs, "Li Chenxiang, what kind of new idea is this? Someone has already mentioned this to the Princess two years ago, and she dismissed the idea because she thought the opera actors were vulgar and unrefined and should not be in an event like the Prince's birthday banquet. "
Li Chenxiang is always at odds with Zheng Ruir, so she rolls her eyes with scorn and snorts, "It's in the past, but now things have changed. The Princess is almost dying. Our dear sister Jiao is the one who is in charge of the Prince Palace, isn't she?" Then she looks at Chu Jiao, fawning, "Sister Jiao, please say yes!"
Several rubberneck concubines sitting further away from Chu Jiao quickly echo: "Yes, she's right. We also want to watch an opera. Attendant Consort, please say yes."
Hearing this, Chu Jiao feels pleased, but she doesn't show it on her face and even gives a mild reprimand pretentiously: "Chenxiang, stop talking nonsense. Our sister Princess is blessed and has great fortune. She only needs a good rest. As the Attendant Consort, I should do my best to help the Prince with his burden. Since you all say so, I will... "
"Ah", a sneer interrupts Chu Jiao.
Wearing a long red dress and a phoenix-shaped hairpin, Chu Qiao walks in slowly, with Qing Luo on the side to help her walk. The three-foot-long dress spreads on the ground, with an indistinct phoenix embroidered on the dress with gold thread. Chu Qiao gives a subtle smile and speaks up sarcastically, "My good sister, you surely did your best."
The smile freezes on Chu Jiao's face. She gets up in a hurry to greet Chu Qiao, pretending to be caring and saying: "I wish you good health, my dear sister. How come you came here? It's cold in the night and you have not recovered yet."
The concubines also greet Chu Qiao, following Chu Jiao, but most perfunctorily.
Chu Qiao glimpses at Li Chenxiang and says deliberately: "It's nice that you all get together today. Even if I had only one breath left, I should come to have a look before I could close my eyes."
Hearing this, the concubines thinks Chu Qiao is as timid and coward as before, so they snigger. Li Chenxiang also puts on a smug smile. She slightly raises her chin and says, "Now that your highness has had a look, you can close..."
Chu Qiao gives a cold look, and suddenly people hear a sharp slap. Her move is so fast that Li Chenxiang has been slapped in the face before she can see how Chu Qiao did it.
Li Chenxiang touches the side of her red and swollen cheek, with her eyes wide open, shocked. Her hand trembles, pointing at Chu Qiao: "You... How dare you slap me?" She has always been domineering and can't bear to be in an unfavorable situation. She immediately raises her hand to slap Chu Qiao in vengeance.
Seeing their master being humiliated, the two servant girls behind Li Chenxiang hurriedly step forward to protect her, but Chu Qiao knocks them down one by one. She then grabs Li Chenxiang's arm with one hand and slaps Li Chenxiang in the face three times with the other hand. Because of this slap, Li Chenxiang tumbles to the ground.
Chu Qiao carefully wipes her palm with her handkerchief. She looks down at the three people sitting on the ground and says calmly as if they are having a small talk: "You, as an inferior, dare to curse me. So even if I killed you today, I'm well justified."
"Sister Chenxiang, are you okay?" Chu Jiao is the first one who reacts from the shock and helps Li Chenxiang up, looking worried. She frowns her cute eyebrows and looks at Chu Qiao pitiably: "Sister, even if sister Chenxiang was wrong, it's not necessary to punish her so heavily."
The same trick again huh? Chu Qiao sneers silently. The former "Chu Qiao" was fooled by the weak and pitiful look of Chu Jiao that she gave Chu Jiao everything she had, including her husband! Although Chu Jiao has been pretentiously nice to her in front of other people but secretly Chu Jiao tries to ruin her reputation so that she can replace Chu Qiao.
Now that Chu Jiao wants to play as a protective friend, very well then, Chu Qiao doesn't mind getting rid of her too!
Chu Qiao ignores the two, goes straight to the throne and sits down. She looks at Zheng Ruir and asks, "Zheng Ruir, answer my question, what does the third rule of the Family Rules say?"
Zheng Ruir hasn't swung back from the shock. Hearing Chu Qiao's unexpected question, she subconsciously replies, "Do not get involved in cliques, do not harbor thieves or create favorable circumstances for robbery. Violators will be hit by clubs 20 times as punishment." As soon as she finishes that, she immediately regrets it. Chu Jiao's face turns livid as expected. After offending the Princess and then the Attendant Consort over one night, thinking about the consequences, Zheng Ruir loses all her strength and collapses on the ground.
Chu Qiao smiles contentedly and says, "You heard it, Jiao. Why are you still in the way?"
Chu Jiao takes in a deep breath to suppress her anger. She steps aside and bows to Chu Qiao, hiding the look on her face: "It's my fault. I got emotional. Sister, I apologize."
Different from Zheng Ruir, Li Chenxiang comes from a noble family, but now she is defeated by Chu Qiao, who has always been the bullied, and even Chu Jiao doesn't help her. She feels all her blood gushing to her face and faints.
Chu Qiao calls in two little servant girls and says, "Help Madam Li back and call a doctor for her to have a look."
Somebody lets out a soft laugh first, which makes Chu Jiao even more embarrassed. So she says: "Sorry I suddenly feel sick. I don't want to ruin your moods with my sickness, so I'll leave now."
Chu Qiao has a glimmer of grin on her face, "Are you ok? Do you also need a doctor to pay you a visit by the way after he finishes with Li?"
Chu Jiao gets choked in her throat and squeezes a few words out of her teeth: "No thanks." She gives a bow and walks away. Two concubines who are close friends with Chu Jiao hurriedly make excuses and leave with her too.
Chu Qiao glances at the crowd and says, "Is there anyone else who wants to go too?" Today, she will see how influential Chu Jiao is!
Leaving means Chu Qiao will be offended. Not leaving means Chu Jiao will be offended. If it was before, the girls would have chosen the former, but now Chu Qiao seems to have changed into a completely different person. All of a sudden, she becomes so tough, and she is still, after all, a Princess. As for Chu Jiao, although she is the Prince's favorite girl at the moment, she is merely an Attendant Consort.
"It's a great joy for Your Highness to recover from illness. But it is chilly outside during the night, so Your Highness should care for your health. Why don't we choose another sunny day to get together again?"
These words not only give enough respect to Chu Qiao, but also take off the edge. The concubines quickly agree: "Exactly, please take care of your health."
Chu Qiao looks at the person who just spoke up. She is simply dressed, plain-looking and the most inconspicuous - Zhong Jinchun. As the saying goes, "A watched pot never boils," Chu Qiao certainly knows that.
Now that she has established her prestige, she doesn't need to be too harsh. She nods slightly and says, "I see that you are all tired, let's just dismiss the party."
Chu Qiao has just got up before Zhong Jinchun hurriedly takes two steps forward to help her up, speaking with her head hanging low: "I'll see Your Highness off."
Chu Qiao is surprised at first, but then she smiles playfully. There's something interesting about Zhong Jinchun.