Lady Kelpi Translations

Chapter Twenty-Three:
Entering the Palace

Those beautiful eyes were really blind!

After saying those words, Jiang Xuening didn’t care about her sister’s reaction, turned around and left.

There were many times she could not distinguish what kind of emotions she had toward Wanniang.

All of the tragedies from her previous life were ultimately related to Wanniang.

In theory, she should hate her.

But as long as she thought of her daughter, whom she longed for but never asked about, Jiang Xuening felt that Wanniang was detestable and pitiful.

In her previous life, Jiang Xuening had seized the opportunity of Jiang Xuehui and her marriage, competing to squeeze into the palace to accompany Shen Zhiyi in her studies. She actively tried to avoid the palace in this life, but everyone rushed to her like they were chasing after her. Even the incident of going into the palace fell onto her head without her name being mentioned, ultimately pushing her into the palace from behind.

Things were similar to how they were in her previous life.

This made her question everything: could she really change anything by being reborn in this life? Or perhaps this would just be a repeat of the mistakes of the previous life.

。。。

The next morning, before dawn, Jiang Xuening was woken up by her maids. After grooming and getting dressed, she bid farewell to her parents, packed her luggage, and then got onto the carriage.

Court officials entered and exited the palace through the Meridian Gate.

Women in the palace, or those who entered to accompany them in studying, entered through the Zhenshun Gate in the northeast corner of the palace.

Most of the selected study companions were between seventeen and twenty years old, making them the best age for young ladies.

Some people had already arrived by the time Jiang Xuening got there.

She rarely appeared at aristocratic women’s gatherings and was unfamiliar with them. However, they were familiar with each other and whispered while standing near the palace gate.

All discussion stopped as soon as the Jiang family’s carriage arrived.

Everyone turned to look at her.

There was more or less curiosity or fear in their eyes: the name the Jiang mansion had submitted was Jiang Xuehui, but the name selected suddenly became Jiang Xuening.     This matter was not just known within the Jiang mansion; it had also spread outside a long time ago. Who would ignore girls from prestigious families like theirs?

Others couldn’t understand how this happened.

Jiang Xuening was so good that she didn’t have to do anything. She just sat at home, and the pie fell from the sky and hit her on the head.

It was tough to calm people’s hearts.

Jiang Xuening glanced over as she got out of the carriage. She saw a few familiar faces; they all had accompanied her in her previous life.

Count Qingyuan’s mansion’s You Yue.

At the Double Ninth Festival banquet that day, Jiang Xuening didn’t give her any face. That could be considered as forming a grudge.

At this moment, she was dressed in beautiful palace attire and had a dignified, virtuous expression on her face. However, the look in her eyes was full of undisguised hostility, even a hint of malice.

Jiang Xuening thought to herself that she should never come to seek death in front of her. Otherwise, her situation in the palace would have been much better than in her previous life. It wouldn’t be very pleasant to hear if someone accidentally pinched her in a temper.

Next to You Yue was Fan Yilan, the daughter of Fan Shang, a minister from the Ministry of Rites. She ranked first in the poetry competition during the Double Ninth Festival’s banquet. She was the cleanest-dressed among them all, not even wearing earrings, and she had a faint and ethereal aura between her eyes.

She didn’t seem to be excited to be entering the palace.

The others looked at Jiang Xuening with somewhat strange eyes, but Fan Yilan only looked at her casually, with no jealousy or curiosity.

Jiang Xuening knew this was the only one among the twelve study companions who had no aspirations for glory, wealth, and status during their stay in the palace. She ultimately did not stay to accompany the princess.

People stood in front of the palace gate, looking around with any fear at all.

White and tender hands were still holding a small oil paper packet, constantly taking out candied fruits to eat. Her cheeks moved like a little hamster as she blinked at Jiang Xuening.

This was a girl who was easily motivated by food.

There was also one thing that wasn’t good…

Whoever gave her snacks could motivate her. It was probably because she was still young, not sensible, and without principles.

The remaining ladies were Yao Rong Rong, Fang Miao, and three others.

The other three were unfamiliar to Jiang Xuening, and she had no impression of them.

In the previous life, they were all dismissed by the female officials in the palace during the first couple of days they were there due to poor etiquette and academic qualifications.

She still remembered the first two.

Yao Rong Rong was the lowest-born among the ladies entering the palace this time. She was the daughter of Yao Du Ping, an attendant of Hanlin Academy. Her appearance and attire were somewhat shabby compared to those of the other girls from different backgrounds.

She looked at people with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes.

When she looked over and met Jiang Xuening’s gaze, she immediately looked away and didn’t dare to look at her again.

Jiang Xuening remembered Yao Rong Rong because she was the dumbest and slowest learner among all of her companions in her previous life.

The other was Fang Miao.

She had a delicate face, clean and tidy, and agile eyes that were too vivid. A small red mole above the tip of her eyebrow made her look delicate. She was wearing a water-blue shirt today. Because September belonged to the element of gold in the Five Elements, the temperature of Shaoyin moistened and flowed with water.

Fang Miao was the only daughter of the Imperial Censorate.

Having been exposed to it since childhood, she learned from her father’s observation of celestial phenomena and the calculation of solar terms. She also immersed herself in studying the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams and taught people how to divine.

Whether it was accurate or not, Jiang Xuening didn’t know.

Fang Miao was very popular with others in her previous life due to her hobby. At night, she could easily gather together and calculate some kind of marriage fortune or misfortune, making a living like a fish in water.

Jiang Xuening didn’t care how they looked at her since her plan for this life was very clear…

Learn etiquette?

A person could not wake up a person pretending to sleep. So, even an excellent female official could not teach someone determined to stay away from the court.

She was too lazy to bother with these people.

After getting out of the carriage, she didn’t talk to them and stopped by the palace entrance. She wasn’t close or far from them.

The eunuch guarding the gate glanced at her and pinched his fingers as he counted. “There are nine people here… we are still waiting on three. Please wait a moment, young ladies. I’ll bring you into the palace once everyone is gathered.”

Yao Rong Rong timidly asked, “Who hasn’t arrived yet?”

Zhou Baoying lowered her head, tugged at the candied fruit in her paper bag, pursed her lips, and casually replied, “It must be Sister Xiao. Sister Chen and Sister Yao are also with her, so they will definitely all come together.”

For a moment, there was a slight shift on the faces of the others.

Zhou Baoying was the legitimate daughter of the Marquis’s mansion and had always been close to Xiao Shu and the others. She had a simple mind and didn’t feel anything wrong when she said such things. It wasn’t easy to compare her social status with others.

Most of the group was waiting by the palace gate, but those three had yet to arrive.

Who wouldn’t feel that those who hadn’t arrived yet had too much of an attitude?

However, as she spoke, an extremely luxurious-looking carriage drove towards the Zhenshun Gate from a distance and stopped in front of everyone.

The coachman took a footstool from the carriage and set it down.

The eunuch who had previously spoken to Jiang Xuening and the others quickly stepped forward to the carriage, piled up a smile on his face, and bowed to the side of the carriage. “Eldest Miss, you have arrived.”

Xiao Shu was indeed inside the carriage.

Today, she wore an apricot-yellow wide-sleeved fairy skirt with a jingling belt around her waist. She took the hand proffered by the eunuch and exited the carriage. She smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Eunuch Huang to come out and greet us. Princess Leyang didn’t even tell me.”

Huang Renli smiled. “Her Highness is thrilled to know that she’ll have companions. I specially came here to greet you so we can look around and report back to Her Highness.”

Everyone recognized Huang Renli as the trusted eunuch serving Princess Leyang

Such a eunuch also stepped forward to help Xiao Shu off of the carriage.
[Eunuchs (especially personal attendants to royalty) held a lot of power in the palace. The fact that a favored princess of the emperor’s personal eunuch came to greet Xiao Shu personally says a lot about her status.]

The prominence of the Xiao family and the good relationship between Xiao Shu and Princess Leyang was evident.

Xiao Shu was not the only one in that carriage.

Two more people got off the carriage after her.

Jiang Xuening glanced over, her eyebrows raising marginally.

Miss Chen Shuyi, the daughter of Grand Secretary of the Cabinet Chen Yunjin, was not as close to Princess Leyang and seldom entered the palace. However, she did have a close relationship with Xiao Shu.

Their close relationship was because they came from similar backgrounds in the Capital.

Although her appearance might not be as bright as Xiao Shu’s, she was a person with a refined aura, as her name suggested. There was always a faint smile on her lips, but she looked around with intention and a hint of calculation. Chen Shuyi was a person with an introverted and cautious temperament.
[Shuyi literally means gentle appearance.]

The last girl was interesting.

She had almond-shaped eyes and willow eyebrows, with her hair styled in a simple bun. Hanging from her ears were a pair of crescent-shaped white jade earrings, and around her neck, she wore an exquisite jade pendant. She looked beautiful, and her attire suggested she came from a distinguished background. However, as she got off the carriage, this young lady from an official family frowned slightly, showing signs of annoyance and even a hint of gloominess, as if she had encountered something difficult to resolve and unpleasant.

Jiang Xuening has a very deep impression of her.

She was Yao Xi, the daughter of the Minister of Personnel, Imperial Preceptor Yao.

She had almost married Zhang Zhe in her previous life, but halfway through the marriage negotiations, she didn’t want to go through with it and spread rumors of Zhang Zhe’s ‘suppression of his wife’ throughout the Capital. This made her father suppress him in court, which made Zhang Feng, Zheng Zhe’s elderly mother, fall seriously ill.

After many choices, she married Zhou Yinzhi.

From then on, her family helped Zhou Yinzhi rise through the ranks. Unexpectedly, just three years later, she died in Zhou Yinzhi’s mansion due to a difficult childbirth.

The marriage negotiations between Yao Xi and Zhang Zhe should be happening now.

Zhang Zhe fought with the Imperial Embroidered Guards, after all.

No matter how she looked at it, it didn’t seem like she had a promising future.

Jiang Xuening also didn’t know why. Although she knew she wasn’t a good person in her previous life, her methods were not as low as Yao Xi’s. She looked up and down, left and right, but she just didn’t feel good about the young woman.

She abandoned Zhang Zhe and chose Zhou Yinzhi…

Those beautiful eyes were really blind!

She stared at Yao Xi, her gaze calm and profound.

Yao Xi got off the carriage and looked at the others.

She accidentally met Jiang Xuening’s gaze and paused, momentarily stunned.

Jiang Xuening, however, suddenly parted her lips and stood beside the crowd, showing a brilliant smile. She concealed her sharp and sarcastic remarks just now as if she had a good impression of her and was very friendly. She even nodded in greeting.

Yao Xi became completely confused.

But if someone as good-looking as Jiang Xuening smiled at someone, even a woman could not resist it. Although she didn’t understand why, she couldn’t help but instinctively smile back.

Jiang Xuening appeared pure and kind on the surface. In her heart, however, she leisurely thought about it. In her previous life, she didn’t even know Zhang Zhe at this time and didn’t pay any attention to Yao Xi. In this life, she would not allow this girl to be a demon under her own nose. Otherwise, she might not be able to hold back and stand idly by…

…

Next Chapter: Discrimination