The abandoned concubine who transmigrated woke up shouting "Long live the widow!"

Fu Lai followed Cheng An into the main hall of Yiqiu Palace, where, as expected, Consort Li and Princess Duan were talking.

Cheng An entered and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, this servant met Fu Lai in the main kitchen. He used to be a little eunuch in the Crown Princess's courtyard in the Eastern Palace. He's a sensible person and said he came to pay his respects to you!"

Consort Li put down her teacup and said, "Fu Lai! I remember you, come in quickly!"

Fu Lai quickly took a few steps, lifted his robe, and knelt on the ground. "This servant greets Consort Li and Princess Duan. May both of you be blessed with good health and eternal youth!"

"Oh! This little eunuch has such a sweet tongue!" Princess Duan praised.

Consort Li smiled and said, "Yes! This child is clever and sensible. Get up quickly! Cheng'an, get two silver ingots for Fulai. This child is so thoughtful! Of all the servants left behind in the Eastern Palace, only Fulai has come to pay his respects to me. I am truly gratified!"

Cheng An immediately took out two ten-tael silver ingots from his purse and stuffed them into Fu Lai's hand.

Fu Lai bowed deeply and said, "Thank you for your generous gifts, Your Highnesses!"

"Fu Lai! How have you been in the Eastern Palace these past two years? Are you working in the Yichun Palace?" Consort Li asked.

"Your Majesty, this servant is on duty at Yichun Palace, and I am doing well!" Fu Lai said respectfully.

Princess Duan took a sip of tea and said, "Yichun Palace? Princess Zhan lives there. You'd better be careful in serving her. Princess Zhan is not someone to be trifled with."

“Reporting to Princess Duan, Princess Zhan doesn’t need us to serve her anything; she uses all the people she brought herself.” Fu Lai felt that he was telling the truth.

After hearing Fu Lai's words, Consort Li exchanged a glance with Princess Duan and said, "Isn't that even better? You'll both be more relaxed. I heard that Princess Zhan brought several children! Is that true? Where did they come from?"

"Your Highness, it is true. Princess Zhan brought four children with her. One is her younger brother, and there is another girl who seems to be her personal maid. I don't know about the others."

"Ah! I was just curious and asking casually!"

"This servant must return to his duty and will not disturb Your Highnesses any longer!" Fu Lai said, bowing.

"Alright! If you need anything, come to me. I'll help you if I can. Go back now! Cheng'an, go and see Fu Lai off." Consort Li winked at Cheng'an.

"This servant takes his leave!" Fu Lai bowed again.

Cheng An also said, "Let's go! I'll see you off!"

Consort Li watched the two people leave, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Cousin, do you have any thoughts?" Princess Duan asked.

“Cousin, didn’t you hear what that little eunuch said? Princess Zhan is very vigilant and doesn’t even let them serve her. This Fu Lai, don’t underestimate him just because he’s a little eunuch, this servant has quite a high opinion of himself!”

Princess Duan said disdainfully, "Tch! How high can a servant's ego be?"

"This little servant had not been in the palace long before he became acquainted with Fu Shun, the godson of Eunuch Fu Hai. Originally, he was not working in the East Palace, but later Fu Shun not only transferred him to the East Palace, but also arranged for him to work in the Empress's palace. Later, for some reason, when the Emperor ascended the throne, the Empress did not take him to the Phoenix Palace, but left him here."

"From this, we can see that this lackey is very opportunistic and has high standards. He's probably resentful of working here. If you don't believe me, we'll ask Cheng'an later. I only remembered this person during lunch, so I sent Cheng'an out to see if we could run into him, and we actually did."

After Consort Li finished speaking, Cheng An returned just then, so Consort Li asked Cheng An to tell her what they had talked about.

Sure enough, when Cheng An finished recounting their conversation, both Consort Li and Princess Duan could sense the frustration in Fu Lai's heart.

"You may all leave!" Consort Li ordered.

The palace maids and eunuchs all withdrew, and Consort Li said, "I think we can use Fu Lai. Even if the truth comes out, we can pin the blame on him."

Princess Duan nodded. "Yes! But how should we do it? I think we should either not do it at all, or do it ruthlessly, so that she can never recover for the rest of her life."

She remembered how heartbroken her mother was when her family home was robbed, and how she herself had given five thousand taels of silver to help. Afterwards, her mother came to the house again, saying she wanted to give her the silver, but how could she take back money that had been given away? She simply said that it was a token of her filial piety to her mother.

However, it was money I had painstakingly saved up, and my mother had kept it all for my younger siblings in the household.

“My cousin is right, so we need to plan carefully. Besides this servant, there is another person we can use, namely Princess Kangping. But we can only approach Princess Kangping indirectly, or hand her a knife, and then we must make a clean getaway.”

Princess Duan placed her left hand on her chin, pondering what kind of opportunity to seize.

"The prince said that when this training ends, there will be a rehearsal modeled after the delegation's visit, to see where there are any problems and to correct them in time. I think the emperor and empress dowager will be there, so it should be an opportunity."

Consort Li rolled her eyes. "That would take many more days. Besides, it's the last chance. What if it doesn't work out? Wouldn't that be a waste of a great opportunity? Let's think about it again!"

“Alright!” said Princess Duan.

After Jingxue had her measurements taken by the tailor of the Imperial Clothing Department, she rested for a while. After having lunch, Ye Muchen followed Qin Jing and the other two to their residence, Jingyang Palace.

When it was about time, Jingxue led Runyue and Jingze out of Yichun Palace, with Ying Si following behind to help carry two boxes.

One box contained several canned nuts, and the other contained a set of cosmetics for girls.

She planned to visit Li Qianqian at Yongping Palace. Actually, the guests were all children from prominent families, and the rules and benefits were quite good. However, since they were receiving a foreign delegation, they had to be more particular and select some talented people to perform for them. This was what Lu Zijing and the others had told her during lunch.

When they arrived at the gate of the East Palace, they happened to meet the leader of the Imperial Guards giving a speech.

The leader was the same person who had made things difficult for them during the visit. When Kan Hu met Jing Xue's gaze, his expression immediately turned ugly.

But he still stepped forward and bowed to her, saying, "Greetings to the Princess Consort of War!"

Jingxue sneered, "This princess consort would never dare to have this unknown general pay his respects!"

Kan Hu was slightly taken aback. When he looked up again, Jing Xue had already left with her entourage.

Arriving at Yongping Palace, where Li Qianqian and the other women were staying, he found that they had just finished their etiquette instruction and were about to have dinner. Ying Si was not allowed to enter, so he had to hand the things over to Runyue.

Yongping Palace also has several courtyards, and Li Qianqian lives in the west wing of one of them.

Seeing Jingxue arrive, Li Qianqian was very happy and hurriedly bowed, saying, "Cousin, Xiaoze, you're here! Please come in and sit down!"

Jingxue looked around the room; it was a suite.

"This is some food I brought for you, and a set of rouge and face powder for girls," Jingxue said, and Runyue presented the gifts.