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So pairain is there any guy that you like right now?

because I heard a rumor at the rear place when visiting our Maomao.

that one of the officers in our military has a thing for you that he might be interested in buying you out after all you are going to be 40 soon  .
Really joka you heard someone is interested in buying me out thank goodness the hag is not around or I would not hear the end of it .

you are lucky you just turned 28 she hasn’t been trying to push for me or meimei to choose someone to buy us out.

but lets put it a pin in this conversation about marriage how is our Maomao doing especially with big sister being back to being in full health and wanting to build an actual relationship with her .  
Our maomao is still giving our big sister a hard time with her moving into her work place and world from what I have seen big sister has been really pushy about her methods to getting our maomao to even speak to her .

other than that I saw how some of lady gyokyou ladies in waiting trying to block big sister from interacting with maomao unless it is necessary for her to be near her .

I wouldn’t call it bullying because they are letting big sister help out with their daily responsibilities but they are definitely protective of maomao.

I think the head lady in charge of the jade palace has been even more  dict about her feelings with maomao biological mother being around like she barely lets Maomao out of her sight if she is busy one of the other ladies who have been “ friends with our girl “ is always has her with  her.

Can you blame them joka even if they weren’t around when maomao was a young girl they obviously developed a family bond before the crown prince was born.

let’s face it the few times the hag let her daughter near maomao were not pleasant she cut off one of her fingers it’s no wonder why maomao does not want anything to do with her biological mother other than her being a fellow lady in waiting.

 Paririn I don’t remember seeing big sister being cruel to maomao as she was growing up until she first got to the rare palace am I missing something ? 

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Lady gyokuyou I am sure you are wondering why me and my head lady in waiting request to meet you for tea in your palace instead of outside court yard?
have to admit lady lihua I am a little curious given that I have given most of my ladies time off to spend time with their familles.

i really hope this is not about lady lishu again being bullied by her staff because I have the mind of going straight to the empress with our  worry about her.
 I can assure you gyokuyou while lishu being bullied is one of the reasons why I want to talk to you about I believe lady ah duo or should I say empress ah duo is currently working on something about the situation .
given that she has all but adopt her as her own Child .

The main reason why fengxian is here with me is because she has a question about how much do you know about her daughter Maomao who if I remember right was the one who saved both of our lives and our babies last year.  
You are not wrong lihua I did hire maomao last year after she nursed you back to health darling now why don’t you let her ask me her question if you are wondering maomao is not here at the moment she said that she was visiting her grandmother who lives in the  pleasure district .

 Not to be rude gyokyou but are you sure it’s safe for maomao to be in the pleasure district given that was where she was kidnapped from originally according to what lishu and the empress had told me about maomao.

Relax lihua if I didn’t know you any better I would think you had gotten attached to her in a  maternal sense.

because while you can be soft at times when it is just us and ah duo.

I would be worried if you were trying to steal maomao from me after  everything you really seem to think so little of me.

I hope you are not doubting my ability to care for my ladies in waiting are you?  My lady please don’t fall for lady gyokyou bait.

the  main reason why I seek your audience lady gypkyou I was wondering has Maomao ever expressed wanting a relationship with me.

because one of the reasons why I agreed to be lady lihua head lady in waiting was to hopefully get in my daughter good graces and try to build a proper relationship with  her .

I'm am going to be very blunt with you about Maomao she has been very vocal to me and my head lady in waiting about your history with each other and with the  military strategist .

she sees me and lihua more as maternal figures than she does you she has referred to you as a slut someone who didn’t even want her in the first place something about you only sleeping with someone just to escape your former life in the red light district.

I don’t know about you gyokyou it seems a little bit strange that Maomao sees us as maternal figures given how close Maomao was to everyone before you gave birth to the second crown princess.

I would think hongiang is more of the maternal figure given how much she dotes on Maomao and the other ladies in waiting.

 I am not going to lie lihua it is strange that Maomao sees us in that light you more so than myself .

I am more worried that her grand mother is going to try to marry her off to some noble man in order to get more money for her business .

and Homgiang is probably going to have my head for telling you this but  quick question lihua how much do you remember from the time Maomao nursed you back to health?  

Not much besides learning that shin tryed to poison me and the empress baby if it wasn’t for Maomao I wouldn’t still be alive now what does that have to do with your head lady in waiting?    While she would definitely deny this but the day after Maomao returned to the jade palace Maomao fell under the weather with a cold she was by her side I caught her making soup for Maomao and bringing medicine for her and everything you can imagine a proper mother would do if their child was sick.  Hell Maomao even called her mom while she had a fever and sometimes when homging thinks I am already asleep she would go to Maomao room to make sure she is in her bed and tucks her in on the late nights that Maomao is working. 

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Good morning my lady it looks like lady lishu wants to have tea with you as we just got this letter two minutes ago how would you like to proceed.

Good morning Sasha I think we should accept  lady lishu invitation for tea does it say where she wants to meet because that poor girl needs as much guidance as she can get from one of the other high consorts .

despite her being a high consort during the past emperor reign she was only around nine years old when she was gifted to him by her slime ball of a father if you can imagine someone being forced into my position that young.  
Yes my lady she request that you meet her in the garden she will be meeting you there at eleven am you still have plenty of time to decline the invitation .

if you wanted to it’s only eight am and no my lady I couldn’t imagine being forced into the  rare palace that young she hasn’t entered the blooming stage yet has she I hope that basterd never had the chance to deflower her please forgive me for my use of corse language.
 Honestly Sasha I don’t really care about you using corse language that those who are deem to be commoners around me when it is just us you are my head lady in waiting on top of that you are my best friend  .

the only thing I will ask you is to refrain from using that type of language in front of the empress and the other high consorts like lady lishu and lady gyokyou .

one of them is only twelve years old and the other one is like a younger sibling despite her being 23 years old while I am already in my early 30s  you and the other ladies in waiting really seem to think I’m unaware of what you ladies  speak about when I am not around don’t you.
Lihua I don’t speak about you behind your back nor do my fellow ladies in waiting as for the  rumors that have been circulating around me and my fellow head ladies in waiting is that there will be a new high consort joining us .

she is supposedly around lishu age but  old  enough  to be of marrying age and our empress taste we sadly don’t have much more information since I last spoke to my fellow head ladies in waiting.

 Well that is interesting news to hear how long have you known about this  new consort hopefully she and lishu can become friends considering that they are around the same  age .

I wonder if that stray from the jade palace knows anything about this from what gyokyou told me the last time we spoke the stray seemed to be more worried about lishu situation more so than both of us combined. My lady we should be leaving for your tea meeting with lady lishu it just turned ten am

 I on’t want the other consort’s thinking that you can’t manage to keep an appointment for being tardy or make the others think that you are being unfair to lady lishu by making her think that you are subbing her or ignoring her.

You are right Sasha we don’t need any rumors starting up about  me being rude or subbing another consort as a power play or something else we can finish this conversation tonight when we come back because it is almost time to get ready for the spring garden festival soon so it is best not to rock the boat. 

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Good morning lady lishu thank you for the invitation for tea today I hope that you were not waiting too long were you?

 Good morning lady lihua it is my pleasure to have you here for tea I just got here myself what type of tea would you like to drink lady lihua I have selected green tea and jasmine tea and ginger tea as well I have arranged for some sweets if you want to have something to eat as well as something salty if you prefer that of course.
 Slow down lady Lishu there’s no need to be nervous around me you know that me and the empress were good friends with each other when we were still forced to serve a male emperor.

the last one thankfully only saw you as a daughter unlike his awful father who you were unfortunately forced to be with .

as for what type of tea I would like to drink is green tea if that is okay as for snacks I would like to have something sweet if you don’t mind now what is on your mind?

 I wanted to ask you if you have heard any rumors about the empress selection for a fourth consort to join our ranks even though I am only a high consort in name only  .

Because I am afraid that wil be the one the empress is going to be forced into letting go of  me because she doesn’t visit me in the same way she does lady gyokyou and you .

and I have very little influence here in court and I have this strange feeling that lady gyokyou has one of her ladies secretly looking after me when my own ladies in waiting are so hyper focused on bullying me anyway possible am I going crazy.

First thing I want to let you know lady lishu you are not going crazy because the rumors about a fourth high ranking consort joining our ranks is true I have heard about this from the empress dowager  herself .

that her daughter in law is looking for another high ranking consort to join us as the pure consort  yes the same title our empress once held when we were still serving an emperor since empress ah duo was the first one to give brith to a male heir before the plague happened that caused all the men in the world to mysteriously disappear .
now as much as I would love to assure you that the possibility of you getting pushed out of the rare palace is unlikely to happen I can’t because there are always power games being played in the background that.

 I have no idea if some mid ranking consort is not trying to plotting a way to rise above her status or station.

 I am sure  pretty sure that is unlikely to happen considering our empress may have or may not have figured out way to protect you like before when she was engaged and married to the crown prince at the time of your meeting .

as for lady gyokyou she has always been kind and caring and sometimes ambitious about being empress she is the daughter of a high ranking official and the lady of the western capital who controls our trading system with other nations as such she has the tendency to act more business  like .

she of course has feelings for the empress like all of the consorts but I can’t tell you exactly how she feels about role as a consort why do you feel like she or myself have our ladies in waiting watching you secretly without letting you know?

Probably because whenever I am with my ladies in waiting in public one of her ladies just so happens to be in the area when my ladies in waiting are trying to get me to do something.

it feels like someone is always shielding me from my ladies pettiness when they want to start a argument against your ladies in waiting or our empress ladies in waiting.

well I can’t say that I haven’t been trying to protect you as much as I can from politics of the rare palace or from other offices who are constantly trying to poison us or other consorts making power plays .

i will be lying about that especially considering my previous head lady in waiting before Sasha who you have met before at the crystal palace   When I send invites for meetings such as this one  . But shin my previous head lady in waiting is the reason why I almost lost my life last year if it wasn’t for lady gyokyou at the request of the empress I wouldn’t be here.

my point of me bringing this up is because I too felt how much genuine generosity that comes from gyokyou and her ladies so at best the advice.

I can give you is it to ask gyokyou to let you handle some things on your own but you must also be accepting of her and her ladies protection because you are still going to be a little sister to us do you understand lishu?

I understand  lady lihua that you both care about me enough that I can come to either of you for advice or just listen to what I am saying but also take care of me when you see fit .

it doesn’t take away my independence or make seem  weak can you please tell about this rumor that I have been hearing about  a certain person was kidnapped by the shi clan and is it true that you are with child.

 You are correct about your being able to come to either of us for advice or listen to you as for me being with child I don’t know where you heard that from.

but yes it is true I haven’t heard anything about anybody being abducted or kidnapped let alone from the shi clan as much as I would love to take up the rest of your day we still have responsibilities lady lishu so I must bid you adiu. 

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So Maomao out of curiosity is there someone who caught your eye in a way that you would see it as not a  friendly thing but more of a romantic thing ? 

Yinghua why are you disturbing Maomao while she is cleaning and helping hongniang with the cooking you know that she can be a bit of a perfectionist when she is working with hongniang. thank you seki- u for saying something because I was wondering why my quiet time with Maomao was being interrupted now unless you want me to lose my temper!!!

  I suggest we all get back to work especially because our mistress is expecting an guest to arrive soon and you know what that means we will have to play nice with the visiting guest staff . 

so yinghua I expect you to be on your best behavior  because I don’t even know who is visiting if it is lady lishu or lady lihua I don’t want any proxy wars being started unlike when we are going to garden parties where that is expected does everyone understand.  

Yes we understand hongniang don’t we girls?  After the guest leaves hongniang do you think it would be okay if we took a break?

I think we will be fine after the guest leaves for now allian can you and haku- u get our mistress ready for this meeting while me and Maomao finish getting the food ready .

and seki- u and yinghua please finish the cleaning while koku-u and guiyuan take care of the crown princess? 

ladies you can stop what you are doing now  there aren’t going to be any here besides the empress you know she doesn’t travel with anyone so everyone besides hongniang and Maomao can relax for the rest of the day.

My lady why wouldn’t we need the other ladies in waiting as empress wouldn’t she need her food taster with her  regardless of who is making the meal?  
Ah Maomao I don’t know why the empress doesn’t want the other ladies in waiting here while she is visiting I just got a text message from her saying that she needs me Maomao and hongniang at  the main palace where she is staying.

I  guess while we are there you ladies can put the decorations away because we don’t need them so hongniang I don’t need to tell you this but please get yourself and Maomao ready for the main palace.  
Yes my lady come now Maomao we need to get ready it will be easier if we use my room to get ready together. 

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Good morning lady gyokyou I see you brought your ladies that my mistress and our empress asked you to bring with you please fellow me lady gyokyou and your beautiful ladies in waiting our empress is waiting for you in the garden with tea .