Chapter 36: Chapter 36
It is noisy when we enter Royal Concubine Langlan's living quarters. An older maid ushers me and Shie into complete chaos.
We stand watching as maids run left and right, their hands full of fabrics of all shades, patterns and colours. At the centre of this mess, sits Concubine Langlan, her body stretched out lazily on the bed.
She notices us awkwardly standing at the doorway and I eye her as she calls a maid over and whispers something to her. The maid scuttles over to us and smiles.
"Ladies," she begins sweetly, "Her ladyship wants you to help her choose an outfit"
Pointing a finger towards a large pile of colourful stacks of clothes, she beckons us to go towards it. I am so suspicious but what can I do? I steer Shie towards the stacks and we begin to look through them. After picking out the most beautiful dresses we can find, we present them to the concubine.
Her maids show her each of the dresses and she scoffs at each dress presented to her.
"This is the best the daughters of a high class can do?" Concubine Langlan says smiling, a hint of poison in her words.
I can feel the rage radiating off Shie, so I quickly say, "Apologies, Royal Concubine. We'll do better."
Royal Concubine Langlan only raises her eyebrows and waves us off.
We continue to look through the piles while Shie does her work more forcefully, intentionally flinging clothes aside.
"That rude little…" she grumbles under her breath, while I try my best not to burst out laughing. I know that it wouldn't end well if the concubine heard us cursing her.
"Come on now Shie," I say stacking some silk dresses onto my arms, "We don't want to get beheaded this early in life, do we?"
"Hmph," she sniffs, "It's not my fault she is a big b-"
"Alright, Alright" I laugh, cutting her off.
As we walk back to the Royal Concubine, clothes stacked high in our arms, I catch her giving one of her maids a glance.
The maid picks up a basket full of clothes and walks towards us. I narrow my eyes as she approaches us. The maid avoids my gaze as she pushes into Shie.
I don't have enough time to shout out to her, and before I know it, the stack of expensive, silk dresses tumble out of Shie's arms and onto the ground.
The maid gasps in (fake) surprise and stands there while Shie gets herself together and hurries to pick up the clothes before they get soiled.
"Are you alright, Shie?" I ask peering over at her, but I see Royal Concubine Langlan's personal maid pointing at Shie with a sinister expression.
"How dare you soil her ladyship's clothes!" she shouts, for the whole courtyard to hear.
Everyone's attention and focus are now trained on the two of us and Concubine Langlan struts over towards us with her personal staff scurrying behind her.
"Well?" the maid next to her shouts, "Are you not going to beg for her forgiveness?"
Seeing the concubine getting increasingly aggravated, I pull Shie down onto the ground and kneel at the Royal Concubine's feet. I quickly nudge Shie, "Just apologize…" I whisper quietly.
"But it wasn't my fault…" she whispers back,
"Shie…"
"Alright…" she says and kowtows at Royal Concubine Langlan's feet.
"Forgive me, my lady, for having soiled your clothes," Shie says through her teeth, "But that maid pushed me"
Everyone looks towards that maid and an expression of pure fury rages on Royal Concubine Langlan's face. She quickly recovers and looks back at Shie unconcerned, and says, "But you still dropped my precious clothes. Do you know they were gifted to me by the Emperor?"
Everyone collectively gasps and I can see Shie shaking. This is bad. If they were really from the Emperor, then Shie is about to be punished heavily.
Tears suddenly spring from that venomous woman's eyes, but I've watched enough movies to see through the terrible acting.
That pretty (evil) looking girl from yesterday suddenly walks in through the gates, hurries over to the Royal Concubine and embraces her, who at this point is fake crying her eyes out.
"Who dare make my Aunty cry?" she asks furiously, and I notice that she is not even looking at me, but entirely at Shie as if she knew she would be guilty. And the fact that she and the Royal Concubine are related confirms that they definitely have something against Shie.
"How dare you…" says that girl, "You should be punished severely!"
Shie is too shaken up to say anything, so I quickly kowtow to the evil pair, "Please forgive Shie, my lady, she has done wrong, so please let her go this time…"
"Hmmph," Langlan huffs, "She soiled the Emperor's gift to me. I'll have you punished till you can't walk anymore!"
From outside the gates, I hear a large commotion and even the Concubine stops her fake crying for a moment to see what is going on.
I hear a male voice call out, "Make way for the Emperor, Son of the Heavens!"
An evil smirk cuts across Langlan's face as she suddenly begins to cry at the top of her lungs. I look at Shie who looks like she is about to burst out in tears as her hand trembles in terror.
"Don't worry Shie," I say quietly, trying to comfort my cousin, "You are innocent, I won't let anything happen to you…"
The smiles of the evil duo grow wider, as the gates of the courtyard are opened and the Emperor and his entourage march in.
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