Chapter Ninety-Seven: She Cannot Lose

Looking at her freshly painted crimson nails, Consort Shu was in fairly good spirits. “I now hold the power over the six palaces. It looks as though I am only a step away from soaring to the heavens. It is a pity that Crescent Moon Palace is like a thorn in my side.”

“This concubine is willing to relieve Your Ladyship’s worries and solve her troubles!” Jiang Cairen dropped to her knees, murder flashing across her eyes before she said, “Only, it would be inconvenient for this concubine to act alone. I hope Your Ladyship can lend me some assistance.”

“Very well. Then I shall give you such an opportunity.”

Seeing that she was resolved, Consort Shu agreed to the matter. “In a little over ten days it will be the Mid-Autumn Festival. By then, Virtuous Consort’s month of confinement will probably have come to nothing. That will be a perfect opening.”

“This concubine understands.” Jiang Cairen nodded.

After sending Jiang Cairen away, Consort Shu was not especially pleased either. Jiang Cairen was a fair-weather climber, the kind of woman who could not be truly used by her. Still, if she could make use of that woman’s hand to ruin Virtuous Consort, or at least lose the child in Shen Fuyu’s belly...

At the thought of Shen Fuyu, Consort Shu burned with jealousy. She would never forget the humiliation of that day, and not just once, but twice over. Once when Shen Fuyu had publicly disgraced her, and again when the emperor first summoned her to his bed, only for Shen Fuyu to steal away what should have been her favor.

So long as Shen Fuyu remained, she would never know peace.

As evening deepened and the sun slid westward, the air turned cold the moment autumn began to set in. Shen Tangyu had already been kneeling on the stone pavement of Crescent Moon Palace for nearly two hours. There was still another half hour before she was allowed to rise. Shen Tangyu, who had never suffered such hardship before, was already swaying on the verge of collapse, nearly too weak to keep herself from toppling to the ground.

But whenever this happened, Shen Fuyu would come before her and mercilessly humiliate her, even making a point of enjoying a sumptuous dinner before the starving Shen Tangyu’s eyes.

In a daze, it seemed as though a figure had come to stand before her. Shen Tangyu clenched her teeth, raised her head, and gave a cold laugh. “You’ve come to see my joke too? Truly, I have raised nothing but a pack of ingrates!”

“Elder Sister, those words are truly unfair to me. The Shen family raised me, and both I and Fourth Sister have never done anything ungrateful. Why must Elder Sister insist on fighting Fourth Sister for supremacy?”

Shen Liyu stood before Shen Tangyu and gently shook her head. “Why must Elder Sister always contend with Fourth Sister?”

Shen Liyu felt both pity and frustration. Outside the family, Shen Tangyu was gifted in both talent and beauty, with countless exceptional young men flocking to her side. She could never understand why Eldest Sister, who by every outward measure surpassed Fourth Sister by so much, was always locked in struggle with her.

“Save your sour remarks. I am the Shen family’s legitimate daughter. That wretched woman, Shen Fuyu, has no right to trample over my head!” Shen Tangyu was already weak, and every word she forced out came through clenched teeth. “I am the Shen family’s legitimate daughter. I am better than that wretch. The emperor is the Son of Heaven. How could someone as despicable as her stand at his side? If the Shen family must produce a noble consort, then it should be me!”

“And yet when it came time for the marriage meant to bring good fortune, wasn’t it also Elder Sister who feared death?” Shen Liyu said. “Elder Sister did not want to be buried alive, which is why Fourth Sister took your place then. And now, how can Elder Sister have the face to say such things?”

“Without Fourth Sister, the Shen family would never have prospered these past few months. We are both daughters of the Shen family. If Fourth Sister is a wretch, then what does that make Elder Sister?”

“Shut up!” Shen Tangyu gritted her teeth. “If I were the one doing it, I would surely do better than Shen Fuyu! And you, Shen Liyu, are no better. Do you really think that by clinging to Shen Fuyu’s leg, you can rest easy forever? Dream on!”

“At the very least, it is better than being merely a palace maid, as Elder Sister is now.” Seeing that Shen Tangyu could not be persuaded, Shen Liyu simply fell silent and said no more. “Fourth Sister did what Elder Sister dared not do. Fourth Sister also achieved what Elder Sister was able to achieve. Elder Sister, you are far too arrogant.”

Shen Tangyu lay helplessly on the ground, her knees so swollen and purple that she could no longer feel them. Shen Liyu’s words echoed again and again in her mind. No... no!

She ought to be better than Shen Fuyu! Her family said so, the outside world said so, everyone said she was the best! She was a woman of talent and the most beautiful of beauties. How could she possibly lose to a mere secondary-born daughter born of a concubine?

Just as her mother had finally trampled that wretch from the side chamber, Madam Wen, beneath her feet, she was the legitimate daughter, the Shen family’s legitimate daughter! She should be trampling everyone beneath her feet! She would see that wretched Shen Fuyu came to a miserable end!

What Shen Liyu said was wrong. Completely wrong! Shen Fuyu had never cared for the Shen family. She had not, she had not! Her chest rose and fell violently. When the two hours were finally over, Shen Tangyu was left sprawled on the ground, and in the end two little eunuchs carried her back. Laid out on the hard narrow bed used by the palace servants, Shen Tangyu wept tears of shame and humiliation. She had long felt that something was wrong, and now she understood.

Shen Tangyu had set a trap that drew the entire Shen family into it. First, by relying on her own position, she had caused the Shen family to rise with the tide. Then, by continuously making herself notorious, she had cut off the support around the Shen family. Her father and mother were not unaware of this; the very proof was that the several families they had originally hoped to befriend had severed contact one after another. Yet at such a moment, the advantages accruing to the Shen family only grew and grew, and everyone believed the Shen family had won the emperor’s approval and become intimate courtiers of the Son of Heaven.

But the more Shen Tangyu thought about it, the less she understood. She did not understand affairs of court. She did not know what would happen if the Shen family became a lonely faction. She did not know what consequences that would bring the family.

But she knew one thing: that wretched Shen Fuyu had never once wanted her to live well.

Her knees were bruised blue and purple, utterly unable to move. The other palace maids all turned a blind eye to her. Back in the manor, she had never suffered such treatment.

It was all Shen Fuyu’s fault! It was all because that wretch targeted her that she had deliberately been sent into the palace as a maid! Just thinking that in a few days, once her leg had healed, she would have to bow and scrape before Shen Fuyu like a servant made her gnash her teeth in hatred. She wanted nothing more than to tear Shen Fuyu apart on the spot before her anger could be eased!

“You seem to be in a rather good mood. What happened?”

After supper, Shen Fuyu had fruit half an hour later. Seeing Silver Bell return from outside with a bright, satisfied look on her face, she could not help asking, “Could it be that you’ve found someone you like?”

“My lady! This servant would never dare to speak of improper affairs!” Silver Bell immediately reined in her smile. What sort of teasing was this, asking whether she had found someone right off the bat? “This servant isn’t exactly thrilled, only pleased to see that no one is helping Tang’er. Those second-rank maidservants were quite ruthless with her hands, as though they did not even leave her any supper!”

“So that’s how it is...” Shen Fuyu nodded.

Very well, that truly was worth being happy about.

No wonder the rage value had suddenly started rising again out of nowhere. So it was Shen Tangyu once more.

Not bad at all.