The Treacherous Concubine’s Guide To Whitewashing

Chapter 3, Pt 1 - Sending Propositions

It had been two days since she had crossed over and Yuan Luo had already adapted to the corrupt life of an imperial concubine.

When she woke up in the morning, more than a dozen maids would display many varieties of clothing and jewelry from which she could choose.  If she was not satisfied with their selection, she could visit the cloakroom and choose something else. Well, calling it a cloakroom is too understated.  The imperial consort stored her clothing and jewelry in a palace side hall which was really more like a warehouse. The jewelry, jade, and precious stones of so many colors, shapes, and sizes were displayed in small boxes and could blind both people and dogs.

The living quarters, Zichen Palace, was even more luxurious. The past few days, Yuan Luo slept comfortably in her warm bed. She felt very relaxed. Thinking that there was a charcoal oven under the bed, she lifted the quilt to look under the bed curiously. She was surprised to discover that instead there was a woven cushion of flaming red jade. According to Si Xi, it was a kind of psychic warm jade where every piece was invaluable, yet it was being used as an electric blanket.

So in winter there are electric blankets and naturally in summer there are ice beads and jade cushions, whose brilliance have faded, but are always cold.

Probably due to a lack of confidence caused by her impoverished background, all of Yuan Luo’s basic needs were carefully selected for ultimate quality, which were even better than the harem’s second rank boss-level figure, the Dowager Empress. Every day her makeup had to be gorgeous; heavy makeup, rounds of pearls...

Yuan Luo originally wanted to reject this glamorous style, but thought that the gap with the original owner was too large and might lead to suspicion, so she obediently let the dressing woman play around.

Regardless of the various crises that may break out at any time, the days of the ruling class are really cool, except for the lack of cell phones.

After dressing, she would finally go to the side hall where palace maids would serve all kinds of culinary delicacies. A large table would be closely packed with one hundred six of the imperial concubine’s favorite vegetable and meat dishes.

After breakfast, Yuan Luo went to the imperial garden to relax.

The sky was clear, snow was piled up on the branches of the plum blossoms, and a few bright red plum petals poked out from under the thin layer of white snow. There was a subtle floating fragrance and the landscape was boundless.

With such beautiful scenery, it really was heartbreaking not being able to take a selfie and post it to her circle of friends.

This face especially was an exceptional beauty, therefore, it needed no retouching.
After crossing over, Yuan Luo had discovered that there was nothing more satisfying than the face she was using now. The daughter of the hunter’s family was a natural-born beauty. Perhaps the original author had imposed a golden finger, in order to rationalize the spoiled concubine’s story line.

While Yuan Luo was allowing her imagination to run wild, she suddenly heard a small voice up ahead. She stopped immediately.

A gentle, moving voice said: "It’s really a disaster for a thousand years. Originally, you would think that if you fell into a pool in this kind of weather, you would definitely die."

Another voice chuckled. "Older sister, you can’t know, those untouchable’s lives are full of hardship. On any given day, they have to go up the mountains or down into the fields, whether the day is hot or cold."

"Yes, I heard that the person who used to go up the mountain to hunt in a heavy snowy  weather is definitely not afraid of this little bit of ice and snow."

After listening to the two of them, Yuan Luo had a clear understanding that they were talking about her. Was this the legend of the protagonist’s constitution that as long as you drill through the bushes, you will inevitably hear gossip about yourself?

But what was this tone of contempt for the working people?

Yuan Luo pushed aside the branches and saw the two girls in front of her, standing on the side of the road talking. One wore a yellow cloak and the other wore a pink cloak. Their clothes were luxurious and their heads were full of pearls. They were obviously concubines.

The conversation on the other side of the bushes continued.

"I heard that Young Master Shen is still being held in the prison of the Department of Punishment. Alas, pitiful."

"Yes, Young Master Shen is gentle and elegant and he is quite learned. Because he is unwilling to submit to that poisonous woman, now his life is in danger."

"Although she was born in a poor family, she is such a lofty person..." The girl on the left in the goose-yellow cloak turned her head, and immediately found a pair of bright, star-like eyes behind the bushes.

When she recognized who the owner of the pair of eyes was, she immediately turned into a stiff sculpture.

It’s not surprising that these two people were negligent. Everyone in the palace knew that the imperial concubine cared most about style. Whenever she went out, there was always a throng of people both in front and behind that traveled with her. Dozens of palace maids and court eunuchs relied on various  utensils. How can they only carry two or three in front of them?

The strangeness of her companion’s behavior finally attracted the attention of the girl opposite and so she turned her gaze.

Behind the bushes, Yuan Luo smiled kindly, thinking that she should say hello.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she raised her hand, the two concubines screamed and turned to run.

Was this the response of bad students to the dean? Yuan Luo’s hand froze in the air.

Si Xi’s reaction, compared to her master’s, was faster.  She quickly took large strides forward, and like an eagle catching a chick, she grabbed the two imperial concubines.

They were escorted to stand before Yuan Luo.

Si Xi asked murderously, "Empress, how would you deal with these two lowly servants?"

Yuan Luo looked at the two people who knelt and shivered in front of her held hostage by Si Xi and a few maids.

What should she say?

Come, drag down these two lowly servants and bestow on them a length of fabric![1]

*cough* Forget it. She’d already decided to whitewash herself, so might as well start right now.

The two concubines shrank like two chicks when facing the imperial concubine. Yuan Luo forced a smile and started her first step towards whitewashing.

"What's your name?"

She asked them using a tone of voice that was as soft as possible and used an expression that was kind enough, but she was stunned by the result she received.

Before her words had even finished, the concubine on the left screamed and fainted to the ground.  While the other did not faint directly, she was still shaking like a leaf.

Yuan Luo couldn't help but wonder if she was somehow dressed like a giant, prehistoric, man-eating ugly creature?

Next to them, Si Xi was still adding fuel to the fire: "Empress, these two cheap maids are so rude. These maids will slap their mouths."

Yuan Luo sighed, "Forget it."

Si Xi immediately said in a smooth manner: "The lady has just recovered from an illness, so she can't listen to this din. This maid will send her to the Department of Punishment. I promise that you will never see these two eye-catching dogs again."

There was a lowly servant on the left and a dog on the right. Si Xi was just a female officer next to her. Was it appropriate to insult and abuse the concubine like this?

Furthermore, there was this violent beating,  the legendary Gongdou drama of hiding a knife in a smile, being openly insincere, fanning the flames, tit-for-tat...

Yuan Luo felt that all the Gongdou's common sense seemed to be entirely gone.

In the end, she looked at the two concubines on the ground, "Forget it, let them go." Seeing that they were only fourteen or fifteen years old, they would have only been two junior high school students in her previous life.

Si Xi was surprised by the magnanimity of the Empress, however, she recalled how the Empress had called for leniency with her servants recently and didn’t feel quite as surprised.

The concubine who was still awake, trembled and said words of thanks.  She ordered a maid to lift up her companion and swiftly got lost.

Yuan Luo looked at their distant figures with mixed feelings.

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TN:
[1] This is a tongue in cheek reference to the ancient practice of giving a length a fabric to someone to encourage them to commit suicide by hanging.