Schemes of All Sides (Part 1)

The feast ended amid drunken revelry.

You Erjie and Xiang Ling left the main hall chatting and laughing, then went their separate ways before the west wing.

After walking a few steps, she looked back and saw no one behind her. The smile on her face immediately collapsed.

Ruan Rong was one thing. After all, she had been with Sun Shaozong the longest and had borne his Eldest Illegitimate Son. Unless the principal wife entered the household, no one else could possibly surpass her.

But Xiang Ling had merely risen from the station of a lowly concubine. Yet, with a daughter to rely on, she had somehow risen above her as well. That was something You Erjie found hard to accept.

Alas~

Why had she not been the one to conceive on Qixia Mountain that day?

She caressed her lower belly and sighed soundlessly before pushing open the door and entering the room. As she walked toward the Arhat bed beneath the western wall, she called out, "Cai Xia, go check the Small Kitchen. Has that nourishing medicinal soup finished brewing?"

Before her words had even faded, Cai Xia emerged from the inner room, lifting the curtain. But once You Erjie clearly saw what she was wearing, the plump buttocks that had only just settled onto the bed immediately sprang back up.

"You are..."

"In reply to Madam, this servant has come around."

Cai Xia gave a graceful curtsy. Her tassels trembled wildly, as though clouds had parted to reveal a verdant mountain.

"You... you've really come around?!"

You Erjie had been trying all along to change Cai Xia's mind, so that she would not always have to fight alone against Xiang Ling and Qingwen next door.

But Cai Xia's change had come so suddenly, and so completely, that she