Chapter 22: Disfigured Palace Maid vs. Cold-blooded Emperor
The news that Concubine Rou came back crying from the Cining Palace spread throughout the palaces in an instant.

Fengyi Palace!
The queen sat upright on a soft chair in the inner room and looked at the account book.

Ruonan walked in, looked at the queen, and put the tea in her hand aside, "Your Majesty, I heard that Concubine Rou came back from the Cining Palace crying. I don't know what happened. I heard that she cried quite violently!"

She looked gloating, and said disdainfully: "This Concubine Rou doesn't care about her image at all. She could have cried in private, but she actually cried so loudly in the palace. Isn't she afraid of being laughed at by the servants below?"

The queen smiled, but her eyes did not leave the account book in her hand. "Rou Fei likes to cry, but if she cries when she leaves the Cining Palace, I'm afraid she will offend the queen mother."

At the same time, he was also curious about what Concubine Rou had experienced in the Cining Palace.

Ruonan also laughed, "Your Majesty is right. Concubine Rou started crying when she left the Cining Palace. If you didn't know, you would think the Queen Mother did something to her!"

At this point, she paused, then smiled and said, "No matter how wronged most people are, they will endure it, but Concubine Rou has no scruples at all!"

The queen also laughed when she heard Ruonan's words: "Crying is also a science. Crying well can make people pity you, but if you cry regardless of the occasion, it will only annoy people!"

After the queen finished reading, she turned to the next page and continued reading: "Go and find out what happened, and report back to me when you come back."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ruonan responded respectfully and quickly left the inner room.

The room became quiet again, with only the sound of the queen flipping through the account books.

Yaohua Palace!
"Your Majesty, I heard that Concubine Rou cried loudly on the way back to Yongfu Palace from Cining Palace. Many servants saw her crying so sadly!"

Concubine Zhao laughed sarcastically, "What's so strange about that bitch crying? It's just that the Queen Mother gave that bitch a beating."

Jinse pursed her lips and smiled: "I don't know if Concubine Rou is arrogant or stupid for crying so recklessly. I'm afraid the Queen Mother will hate her even more."

"It would be great if that bitch offended the Queen Mother. It's so unlucky to see her. I really don't know why the Emperor likes her."

Concubine Zhao looked at him with disdain. Suddenly, she thought of something and asked, "Have you found out anything about that bitch Yu Yao in the Hall of Supreme Harmony?"

The emperor did not enter the harem for several days. Although he was angry with Concubine Rou, she always felt that there must be other reasons.

Concubine Rou had locked the emperor up outside Yongfu Palace before, but the emperor couldn't help but go to see him after a day.

How long has it been? I guess it's been five or six days.

Jinse was not able to react for a moment when she saw that the queen suddenly changed the subject, but she soon understood what the queen was asking, so she said, "I have already found out what the queen said. I heard that she is in charge of the emperor's daily life!"

"I see!"

Concubine Zhao put down the golden conch in her hand and crushed it fiercely, "That bitch Yu Yao should have climbed onto the dragon bed."

Serving the daily life is the most personal job.

The emperor is young and energetic. There is no reason why he could resist not touching a woman for so many days.

If it wasn't Yu Yao, it must have been the palace maid in the Hall of Supreme Harmony who slept with her.

In short, the emperor will not hold back.

Jinse also reacted, "Your Majesty, what you mean is that the emperor hasn't entered the harem recently. In addition to being angry with Concubine Rou, is it also because of Yu Yao?"

Is that slutty maid Yu Yao worthy of it?

"I'm just guessing." Concubine Zhao frowned, looking unhappy.

She originally wanted to let Jinse deal with Yu Yao, but thinking that Yu Yao was now in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, she had to give up.

……

When the Empress Dowager heard that Concubine Rou started crying as soon as she left the Cining Palace, her face immediately fell and looked very ugly.

"This Concubine Rou started crying as soon as she left the Cining Palace. She wanted to let everyone in the palace know that I bullied her so that the emperor would love her and even ruin my reputation, right?"

As soon as she finished speaking, the Buddhist beads in her hand slammed heavily on the table with a "snap".

The angry look on his face clearly showed that he was extremely pissed off.

"Your Highness, please calm down and don't get yourself angry. If you are unhappy, just call Concubine Rou over and give her a good beating!"

Qiu Yun, who was standing by, stepped forward and said.

The Queen Mother waved her hand and said, "She just left not long ago. If you continue to call her over, I'm afraid the Emperor will be angry with me again."

It is not worth destroying the mother-son relationship for the sake of a concubine Rou.

When Qiuyun heard the Queen Mother say this, she didn't say anything else.

……

Royal study room!
When Yu Yao heard the system say that Concubine Rou had returned to Yongfu Palace, she stopped flirting with Ye Beichen and pretended that she couldn't bear it anymore, and fainted at the right time.

Half of it was pretending, and half of it was because I was really going to faint.

Ye Beichen stopped and stroked Yu Yao's sweaty forehead, with a hint of tenderness and doting in his eyes.

But seeing that she fainted, I had no choice but to suppress the desire to continue.

Eunuch Fu, who had been guarding the door of the imperial study for a long time, heard the noise inside stop and couldn't help but shout, "Your Majesty..."

Ye Beichen frowned, then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the person curled up in his arms was not woken up.

Afterwards, he quietly carried Yu Yao to the small room in the imperial study to wash.

I washed myself and also washed her.

He kissed her forehead gently, and then put her on the soft couch where he usually took a nap. He covered her with a blanket, put on his clothes, and left the imperial study.

"what's up?"

Ye Beichen looked at Eunuch Fu at the door and said coldly.

There was no warmth and tenderness at all as he showed towards Yu Yao.

When Eunuch Fu saw the emperor coming out, he remembered that Yongfu Palace had come to invite someone, and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, the eunuch from Yongfu Palace came to report that Concubine Rou was summoned to Cining Palace by the Empress Dowager..."

"What? Rou'er was summoned to the Cining Palace by the Queen Mother? Why didn't you tell me earlier, you little slave?"

Ye Beichen was shocked. Although he didn't know what was going on, he guessed it was related to the fact that he hadn't entered the harem for several days.

He must have blamed Rouer and was angry.

No one knew his mother's methods better than him. Rou'er was so fragile. What if his mother did something to her...

Ye Beichen didn’t dare to think further and almost ran towards the Cining Palace.

The speed was so fast that even Eunuch Fu couldn’t catch up.

Eunuch Fu knew at a glance that the Emperor was still very worried about Concubine Rou, and inwardly he regretted not reminding her earlier.

But thinking that Concubine Rou had already returned to Yongfu Palace, he hurriedly chased after her and shouted at Ye Beichen's back, "Your Majesty, wait a minute, Concubine Rou has already returned and is not in Cining Palace..."

Ye Beichen paused, turned around instantly, and headed towards Yongfu Palace.

Eunuch Fu's mouth twitched, and he quickly chased after him.

……

On this side, Yu Yao also woke up not long after Ye Beichen left.

She frowned slightly and pinched her robe in silence. The buttons on it had been torn off, and many threads were hooked on it. It was obviously unwearable.

There were bellybands and trousers thrown here and there. Fortunately, there was no one in the imperial study at the moment, so Yu Yao just picked them up and put them on.

I can't go back naked.

After getting dressed, I went back quickly.

But halfway through the journey, I heard the voice of the system.

"Host, I have two pieces of news for you, one good news and one bad news. Which one do you want to hear?"

Yu Yao paused and raised her eyebrows, "Of course I want to hear the good news first."

The system chuckled and said without keeping anyone in suspense: "The good news is that the host's favorability in Ye Beichen's heart has increased and is now 70 points."

70 points? Not bad, up 10 points from last time.

Yu Yao curled her lips, it was worth it for her to serve Ye Beichen so hard.

A favorability level of 70 points meant that Ye Beichen already cared about her a little.

But then he thought of something and asked, "What's the bad news?"

"The bad news is that Concubine Rou's favorability in Ye Beichen's heart has also increased to 75 points, 5 points more than you!"

The system said gloatingly.

"What's going on? Why did Concubine Rou's favorability increase for no reason? Isn't that woman the best at making trouble?"

Yu Yao was unhappy now. She had worked so hard to serve Ye Beichen, but only managed to get 70 points.

But Concubine Rou's mood also rose, and her good mood disappeared in an instant.

Although he didn't know how Concubine Rou's favorability increased, it was simply because of the events in the Cining Palace that aroused Ye Beichen's sympathy.

Sure enough, the system then said: "Rou Fei saw Ye Beichen and cried and begged him to let her out of the palace, saying that since he didn't love her, he should let her go, and that this palace was a place of cannibalism and that if she stayed here, she would die sooner or later..."

The corner of Yu Yao's mouth twitched. She was indeed a super white lotus. She didn't believe that Concubine Rou would really want to leave the palace and would really be willing to give up the wealth and glory here?

Before entering the palace, Concubine Rou had no background and her status was very low. It was said that she was just a singing girl in Jiangnan and even her parents were dead.

Originally, someone with Concubine Rou's status was not qualified to enter the palace.

But fate is so wonderful. When Ye Beichen went to the south of the Yangtze River for the first time, he met the singing Roufei in a restaurant.

When he saw someone bullying Concubine Rou, he couldn't help but help her. This move brought two unlikely people together.

One is handsome, noble and powerful, the other is beautiful and weak, which makes Ye Beichen fall in love with her.

In the end, naturally, Concubine Rou was brought into the palace by Ye Beichen.

As soon as she entered the palace, she was appointed as a concubine and given the title Rou.

I heard that the Queen Mother was very opposed to it at that time, and had a big fight with Ye Beichen about it.

Unfortunately, the Queen Mother was ultimately unable to persuade her son and could only accept it with a wry smile.

So when Concubine Rou asked Ye Beichen to let her go, Yu Yao didn't believe a word of it.

After all, it was just Concubine Rou's tactic of playing hard to get.

(End of this chapter)