Published at 29th of October 2020 04:41:49 AM
Chapter 110: Chapter 110 - A Traitorous Servant Girl
Chapter 110 A Traitorous Servant Girl
Compared with herself in the imperial dressing, Imperial Concubine Jing in normal clothing, who remained elegant and gentle, was no less gorgeous . Instead, today’s plain outfit highlighted her delicacy and temperament .
Noticing Infanta Shuhua’s anger on her face, Imperial Concubine Jing covered her mouth with a handkerchief and smiled . Her voice was as clear as the sound of pearls that dropped on the jade plate, “Look at our Infanta Shuhua . What has upset you early in the morning?”
Infanta Shuhua glared at Qin Yunuan mercilessly and softened her voice, “Never mind . I just came across a mad dog . ”
She meant that Qin Yunuan was just a mad dog .
Qin Yunuan also smiled at Imperial Concubine Jing, “Good morning, Your Highness . ”
Imperial Concubine Jing nodded with a smile and said, “It’s time to go . They already have everything prepared in the Great Buddhist’s Hall . Now that everyone has bathed and incensed, we have to go there to transcribe sutras and fast for blessing . ”
This meant in the following 49 days, Qin Yunuan had to spend almost all daytime staying with Infanta Shuhua and Imperial Concubine Jing after about 7 in the morning . One of them hated her in a direct way while the other stealthily, so she needed to watch out for both of them .
On the way to the Great Buddhist’s Hall, Infanta Shuhua held Imperial Concubine Jing’s hands and talked to her all the time . Finally in an interval, the latter apologized to Qin Yunuan, “Shuhua is still young so inevitably reckless . Please don’t be mad at her, Third Miss . ”
Qin Yunuan curtsied and smiled, “Infanta Shuhua is outgoing and lively while I’m dull . She’s much more eye-catching . ” She didn’t blame Infanta Shuhua or complain, leaving no opportunity for Imperial Concubine Jing to take advantage of her .
Imperial Concubine Jing just smiled and noticed that Qin Yunuan only had two servant girls, Maner and Tong . She asked, “Are two servant girls enough for you? If not, you can order about mine . We both come here to pray for Queen Mother . We must be destined to be close . ”
Looking back at silent Maner and Tong who lowered their heads, Qin Yunuan said, “They two have attended on me for a long time and I’m used to their care . Your Highness, your servant girls are so skilled that I’d rather save them for you . ”
Imperial Concubine Jing nodded and put on a smile, “Third Miss, you really have a silver tongue . Servants and maids should be loyal to their masters . Otherwise, they might easily betray their masters one day . Am I right, Third Miss?”
Qin Yunuan raised her eyebrows and had a look at Imperial Concubine Jing . She replied with a smile, “I can guarantee these two are loyal to me . ” Noticing one of her servant girls was shaking, she kept her chin up and said with confidence, “I’m sincere to them and I believe they will treat me sincerely in return . ”
Imperial Concubine Jing said, “That’s great . ”
Conical incenses in the Great Buddhist’s Hall were burning . Monks who got up so early had already cleaned the Hall up . Before the Shakyamuni Buddha were three rush cushions . After sorting out everything for their mistresses, servant girls were ready to leave .
Tong had put in order the writing brush, ink stick, paper and inkstone Qin Yunuan needed while Maner carried Qin Yunuan to sit down on the rush cushion . Suddenly, Qin Yunuan tripped and seemed to fall down . Maner caught her in time . When leaning on Maner, Qin Yunuan said in a lower voice suddenly, “Keep an eye on her . ”
Then she had a glance at Tong as if she had been unintentional . Maner got shocked, but she knew what Qin Yunuan meant at once . She nodded .
“Are you alright, Third Miss?” Imperial Concubine Jing saw that Qin Yunuan tripped and asked with concern .
“I’m fine . I don’t know why, but these days, I’m weak and dizzy sometimes . ” Qin Yunuan stroked her chest and her quick pant sounded like she lost all strength .
“Maybe it’s because the weather is getting hotter . ” Imperial Concubine Jing wore a tender smile, “After we go back, I send you some mint leaves and broadleaf holly leaves that are grown up in West Xia . They smell good and can effectively cool you down . ”
Hearing this, Infanta Shuhua was unhappy, “Your Highness, I have no such good items, either . Why do you give them to an insignificant person?”
Sponsored Content
She referred to Qin Yunuan as an insignificant person .
Imperial Concubine Jing wasn’t annoyed and teased her, “Look at you, Shuhua . What a jealous girl! Alright . If you like those leaves, just come to my palace to get some . I have stored so many . I’m sure you can fully enjoy yourself . ”
Shuhua smiled back, “The emperor loves you so much . Every time he gets something wonderful, he shares with you first . ”
Imperial Concubine Jing just smiled, saying nothing . She lowered her head and peeked at Qin Yunuan who precisely caught the cruelness in her eyes .
Frankly speaking, Qin Yunuan only met Imperial Concubine Jing, the original Imperial Concubine Lu, twice . Although she hid her feeling well, Qin Yunuan still managed to find her hatred which shocked her greatly . Qin Yunuan met so many people in her two lives and she knew Imperial Concubine Jing’s hatred must come from the strong dissatisfaction inside . But Imperial Concubine Jing and she… .
What connection did they have?
The three quietly transcribed sutras in the hall . Perhaps, they really hoped that Queen Mother could recover soon . The usually noisy Infanta Shuhua quieted down for the first time, and wholeheartedly transcribed every sutra . Also, Imperial Concubine Jing focused on transcribing . Time flew and it was at dusk . After having some plain vegetarian food, they came back to their own room to rest .
Right after Qin Yunuan came into her room, she called Maner and tied up her long hair . She said to Maner, “Pull it out . ”
A several-centimeter-long silver needle as thin as the cowhair was stuck in a nape acupoint which Leng Wu told her yesterday . By doing so, Qin Yunuan’s nose could become much more sensitive . However, the needle shouldn’t stay in her body for more than 12 hours . Otherwise, it would do harm to her smell . Originally, Qin Yunuan had a more sensitive nose than others and the reason why she took risks doing so was to check one thing .
The incense used in the Great Buddhist’s Hall seemed to have a much stronger fragrance than any other incenses . Under such circumstances, Qin Yunuan could not smell anything different simply through her nose .
Sponsored Content
With the fragrance and unnatural expression of Imperial Concubine Jing yesterday and what she found out after having a more sensitive nose, Qin Yunuan figured out one thing .
Maner quickly pulled out the silver needle on Qin Yunuan’s neck and wrapped it to throw away .
“What have you found out, Third Miss?”
“Imperial Concubine Jing wears a mask made of human skin . ” Qin Yunuan was completely sure about this, “The assassin in the hunting field also wore a mask of the same kind . Leng Changxi once told me that the facial masks made by people in West Xia looked extremely like real faces . But people cannot wear it for a long time unless they match it with a spice, which prevents the wearers’ skin from rotting and discoloring because of the blockage . I once smelled the fragrance of such spice and it was exactly the same as the fragrance on Imperial Concubine Jing . She had made some changes to the fragrance which therefore became lighter . But I knew it was the same fragrance . ”
“So Imperial Concubine Jing’s beautiful face was…” Maner covered her mouth and stopped saying .
“No,” Qin Yunuan concluded calmly, “Her face is real; otherwise, a great transformation in the appearance of an imperial concubine would have drawn much attention . Leng Changxi has said that once stopping using the spice, people will face a faster skin aging process for lack of the spice nourishment, even though they take off masks . Thus, it is possible that a 20-year-old person looks like 80 overnight . Imperial Concubine Jing may not change her face . There is only one explanation . She was disfigured . Simply on her own power, she could not reach the human-skin mask and the spice . It can be inferred that someone has controlled her with these two things . ”
“Who did this?”
Qin Yunuan frowned and said nothing . There were diverse factions in the palace so she couldn’t casually jump into a conclusion . What she was sure about was that someone had already plotted against her and this person was in a high position . In addition to taking precautions and starting investigation meticulously, she had nothing else to do .
“What did she do today?” Qin Yunuan changed a topic and asked Maner .
Seeing Maner’s pale face, Qin Yunuan roughly knew what happened .
Sponsored Content
“Third Miss, Tong…” Maner didn’t finish her sentence and they heard the voice of that cute young monk who came here yesterday . Holding a white porcelain bottle, he was led by Tong to wait outside . He bowed to Qin Yunuan, “Benefactress, my master asks me to send you some tranquilizing incenses he made . The incense can calm your mind and we hope it can help you sleep well . ”
The young monk called Qin Yunuan loudly and he sounded really cute .
It was Xuan Zhi again . Qin Yunuan took the incenses over and expressed her thanks . She knew Leng Changxi must have entrusted Xuan Zhi to take good care of her . They two must be very close so that an unworldly eminent monk willingly spent a lot of effort caring a humble girl whose mother was just a concubine .
“Xuan Zhi is so considerate, but I think he must want to fawn on us given that Third Miss and General Leng are engaged . ” Tong commented as if Xuan Zhi really wanted to flatter Qin Yunuan .
“Why are you long-tongued?” Maner scolded her in a low voice .
Qin Yunuan said in a cold voice, “Xuan Zhi is the most respectful monk in Qi and he needs no backer . Moreover, Tong, have you ever thought of the consequences if other people hear what you say? Or, do you say it on purpose?”
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc . . ), Please let us know so we can fix it as soon as possible .
Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters .
Please download our sponsor's game to support us!