Seize the Throne: Beloved Consort System [11]

On that evening, the moon was as cool as water.

Qin Manman knelt in the courtyard like a wooden stake, facing these unfair attitudes and the rivalry among the other court ladies. She clenched her teeth and touched her cheek where she had been slapped, trembling with anger. She silently lamented, “These ignorant people from ancient times actually dare to bully me! Especially that elderly, dim-eyed matron who used to serve dishes so well. Today, she slapped me for the sake of Wang Qiang! And she specifically slapped my face! How can I not be furious? A woman’s most important asset is her appearance. If her face is accidentally damaged, won’t her future be ruined? After all, there were no facial reconstruction or cosmetic surgeries in ancient times. Once your face is ruined, it stays ruined for a lifetime.”

The system naturally understood her thoughts, but it wanted to say, “Host, whether your ordinary face is damaged or not really doesn’t make a difference. Besides, it’s not even to that extent, a little bit of skincare will do.” However, Qin Manman didn’t think that way. She was very protective of her appearance. She might criticize herself for being ugly on ordinary days, but others absolutely couldn’t! Let alone physically assaulting her, which crossed her bottom line!

In the modern era, if someone accidentally bumped into her on the street, she would post a furious rant on social media, let alone the offense of a face-slapping encounter.

In today’s events, she observed and remembered every person’s attitudes and expressions, swearing that one day, when she had her chance, she would repay this humiliation tenfold! And that matron without discernment, who underestimated her potential just because she wasn’t as beautiful as Wang Qiang, did she not realize that she was the future favored concubine? In the future, she would be a hundred times more beautiful than Wang Qiang! These servants who looked down on her were completely ignorant of the sayings “thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west bank” and “do not underestimate a poor maiden.” When she made it big, even those servants would find her attractive!

If they wanted to punish her with kneeling, so be it; she would kneel! But even when kneeling as a punishment, she would kneel proudly, right in front of the emperor! Yes, she wouldn’t forget how to hit two birds with one stone even when being punished.

She knelt on the path that the emperor’s carriage passed every day on his way to the morning court, in front of the majestic palace gates.

The Imperial Guards, wearing impressive armor and standing tall with unwavering gazes, were accustomed to their daily patrols. However, today, they couldn’t help but take a few more glances at a woman in a light green gown who had a determined expression and seemed to be kneeling as if being punished in front of the palace gates. They wondered which palace she belonged to and why she had been punished by her master.

An older guard scolded them not to stare with a disapproving look and said, “Don’t be impudent; that’s the attire of a palace maiden.” In reality, whether it was a palace maiden or a court lady, they were all the emperor’s women, and it wasn’t their place to stare so casually.

Some of the younger guards couldn’t help but counter, “How is that possible? If she were a court lady, she should be in the Chu Xiu Palace. Chu Xiu Palace is a world away from here!” Of course, there wasn’t really a “world away,” but it was quite a distance from one side of the palace to the other. So, this young guard dismissed the judgment of the older one.

Indeed, this was something that the older guard couldn’t quite understand. Why would a court lady be here, of all places?

The system was genuinely impressed by the host’s meticulous planning.

Since the crack of dawn, the host had been kneeling here. Whenever there was no one around, she would stand up and rub her knees lazily. But as soon as she heard footsteps, she would immediately kneel properly. Her complexion was pale, her lips slightly bitten, and her hair adorned with glistening morning dew. Though her appearance was ordinary, the hint of stubborn determination on her gentle face added to her charm.

A three out of ten in terms of beauty turned into a five.

Even though people were constantly passing by, from courtiers wearing various grades of court attire and holding court fans to successive patrols of Imperial Guards, everyone stared at the host and chatted among themselves. However, the host didn’t care. She kept her head held high as if she wanted to demonstrate her strength even while being punished!

It wasn’t until the emperor’s carriage and a large procession of attendants came into view and drew closer and closer that the young girl suddenly seemed as if she couldn’t hold on any longer from kneeling for so long. Her slender figure leaned forward, and her unconscious face was now facing the crowd, radiating a pitiful, pale appearance that evoked sympathy.

According to her plan, any man who saw a vulnerable woman collapse before them, unconscious and in need of help, would naturally feel compassion. They would pick her up and summon the royal physician to treat her. When she woke up, they would inquire about her identity as a palace maiden. When she timidly revealed herself as a court lady, the emperor’s gaze would surely become passionate.

Her script seemed foolproof, so she closed her eyes and indulged herself by pretending to faint by the roadside.

However, to her surprise, the emperor in the carriage merely cast a cold and indifferent glance at her “lifeless body” and ordered the procession to continue without stopping. The emperor’s attitude set the tone for the accompanying courtiers, who also walked past Qin Manman as if they hadn’t seen her.

The steps carrying the carriage were slow and deliberate, and one of the men walking behind accidentally stepped on her hand a few times.

A man’s foot was broad and exerted considerable force, causing Qin Manman, who was feigning unconsciousness, to wince in pain. She immediately held her swollen hand, in real pain, and her pretense was shattered. She couldn’t help but complain in her mind, wondering why the emperor never followed her script. Last time, she wasted three hundred points, and this time, she had knelt for so long, but he still didn’t react. Would it hurt him to glance at her for a moment in the crowd?

Wang Gonggong, a high-ranking eunuch, glanced at her with disdain, thinking, “Where did this palace maiden come from? Seducing His Majesty is one thing, but her methods are so crude. Even if she’s not blessed with looks, she should at least take a look in the mirror to see what she looks like. She lacks in both chest and buttocks, and her face is just average. Where does she get the confidence to seduce His Majesty? Nowadays, mirrors are quite clear, and there’s no excuse for not knowing one’s true appearance.”

In the original storyline, Qin Manman possessed an extraordinarily stunning appearance that left eunuchs and palace maids swooning over her. Without her needing to give orders, most of the harem willingly served her, following her every command. Guards would experience a surge in adrenaline upon seeing her, and even the elderly ones felt rejuvenated. When she pretended to faint, the entire royal physician’s office would spring into action.

Even Emperor Xie Yan, despite his lack of interest in her due to his inherent orientation, couldn’t deny that she was extremely beautiful and enchanting, the most precious and lovely flower in the harem. What was even more astonishing was that she became more beautiful with each passing day.

However, the current Qin Manman had not unlocked even the basic level of beauty, let alone possessed such an extraordinary appearance. So, all the tactics she used, even those with a bit of intelligence among the palace attendants found them crude and distasteful. They thought, “Ugly people can be quite strange.” Was she pretending to collapse in the middle of the road to attract the emperor’s favor, or was she hoping that the emperor would sympathize with her pitiful state?

Therefore, Emperor Xie Yan didn’t even furrow his brow. He walked straight past her with the same indifferent expression as always, as if the person lying by the roadside was a piece of pork, not a human being. No, if it was a pig, he might have been slightly curious and taken a few more glances. But for a person, he couldn’t care less.

It was Wang Gonggong who reprimanded the eunuch in charge of this area afterward, accusing him of negligence and ordering him to ensure that such incidents never occurred again. Could a palace attendant just kneel down in front of the palace gates at will? What if one day it upset His Majesty, and an investigation was launched? Heads would roll sooner or later!

The eunuch was scolded so severely that he nodded apologetically and promised to strengthen management to prevent such occurrences in the future.

When he saw that Qin Manman was still unwilling to give up and continue kneeling until the emperor arrived for morning court, he became furious and ordered someone to drag her away and throw her back into the Chu Xiu Palace. He even vented his anger at the matron in charge of the Chu Xiu Palace, the one who had slapped her earlier. He commanded her to manage the palace attendants properly. When he saw her go from being shocked to obedient, he felt a sense of relief and walked away feeling refreshed.

The anger from higher-ups was often passed down in this simple manner, with each layer passing it on to the next.

When the matron in charge first heard about this incident, she was genuinely shocked and couldn’t believe it. She never expected that her relatively light punishment, making Qin Manman the palace maiden kneel all night without sleeping, would lead to such audacity. Qin Manman had actually knelt directly in front of the emperor. She wondered why she hadn’t found her earlier in the morning. Did Qin Manman intend to seduce the emperor to gain his sympathy, or was she dissatisfied with her and wanted the emperor to vent his anger for her? Thankfully, the emperor was too busy with state affairs to pay attention to an unknown woman on the roadside. Otherwise, if Qin had succeeded and gained prominence, her position as the matron would be at risk!

Considering these possibilities, the matron shivered involuntarily, and she accidentally knocked over the teacup she had brought for the eunuch. This earned her a disdainful look from the eunuch, but he held back from saying anything too harsh. He only instructed her to manage the palace maidens well in the future, emphasizing that such incidents could not happen again. Otherwise, she would be the one held accountable.

His words were not polite at all, but the matron had no choice but to accept them.

Once the officials left, she couldn’t contain her anger and stormed into the room to drag Qin Manman out. She scolded her fiercely, saying, “Oh, so Lady Qin hasn’t even been formally selected by His Majesty, and she’s already daydreaming about being a little mistress! It seems I was too lenient last night.” If she wanted to seduce the emperor and gain his favor in front of him, she would make sure Qin couldn’t show her face for the rest of her life!

Qin Manman had been in her room, using pain-relief medicine from the marketplace to treat her sore knees and swollen hand from being on her knees and getting stepped on. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her morning kneeling had become widely known so quickly when she was suddenly carried away by the furious matron. Before she knew it, she was kneeling in the middle of the courtyard for all to see.

“I was kneeling there this morning, but I never had any intention of stirring up trouble in front of His Majesty. You’re slandering me!” Qin Manman protested firmly.

The matron let out a cold laugh and said, “I believed your nonsense! You better kneel here obediently!” Now she understood why those palace maidens had been targeting this girl so fiercely last night. It was truly maddening!

Qin Manman clenched her fists in humiliation, thinking that once everyone left, she would go to the palace gate and kneel again. This time, she wouldn’t pretend to faint. If the emperor passed by, she would make sure to catch his attention and lift herself out of this lowly situation. But she didn’t anticipate that the matron seemed to read her thoughts. When she knelt, there were people assigned to watch her. Not even a fly could escape, and she could only kneel in the Chu Xiu Palace until the end of time. If she pretended to faint, ice-cold water would be poured on her immediately to wake her up.

So she dared not faint again.

After the palace maidens had finished their embroidery, they couldn’t help but express their surprise upon hearing about Qin Manman’s impressive deeds during the day. They all had a similar thought: What kind of mind did Lady Qin have? Her actions were so bold and impulsive, yet she seemed to have a certain plan in mind that was different from what ordinary people would think, constantly leaving people astonished.

Kneeling until late at night without food or water, Qin Manman finally couldn’t bear it any longer, and her body went limp on the ground.

The system felt sorry for her and said, “Host, you should try a different approach. Your TV drama-style tactics are useless. The emperor has no interest in you whatsoever. I’ll give you some points on credit, and you can redeem some gift packages at the mall.”

At the mention of points and gift packages, Qin Manman finally summoned some energy and opened her eyes.

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The author has something to say: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me as the top supporter or irrigated with nutrient solution~

 

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