“This servant knows her mistake…”
“This servant has made a grave mistake, an unforgivable offense, and deserves to die a thousand times over. Please, Your Majesty, punish me as you see fit…”
Inside the side hall of Chong’an Palace, the dragon incense on the imperial desk sent wisps of white smoke into the air, creating a hazy veil over Fang He, who had just entered and immediately knelt on the ground.
Tears streamed down her face, yet no sound of crying could be heard.
The sight made Kangxi, after a long day of work, feel momentarily dazed.
Why did he summon this little ground rat?
It had already been half a month.
If not for his decree to return to the palace ten days early to prepare for the Mid-Autumn banquet, this girl would have probably continued hiding in the small side room for a while longer.
Since she had been able to endure that long, why was he now listening to her prattle on about how she was willing to accept the punishment of living in hardship in the palace before being expelled?
Did she think he, the Emperor, was a fool?
Kangxi massaged his slightly aching temples and interrupted Fang He’s incessant, though not unpleasant, pleading.
“I spent so much silver to have the Imperial Household Department train you all, not just to decorate the palace!”
“Tell me, what exactly was your mistake?”
Fang He had rehearsed her answer at least a hundred times over the past few days.
Upon hearing this, she immediately kowtowed.
“Your Majesty, this servant is like a frog just climbing out of a well, like a young deer just stepping out of the mountains. My mistakes are too many to count…”
Kangxi: “…You—” Get out!
Fang He hurriedly sped up her speech while keeping her tone gentle.
“My first mistake: This servant, fearing she would offend her masters and implicate her family and others, only knew how to hide in the tea room instead of performing her duties properly!”
Since she was now stepping forward, she had to distance herself from the blame of her predecessor.
Kangxi slightly raised an eyebrow.
Was she trying to implicate Liang Jiugong?
“My second mistake: This servant, being dull-witted, only focused on survival when I was sent to Zhaoren Hall. I listened too much to the older maids and others around me and failed to share my master’s burdens!”
The fact that she had managed to leave Zhaoren Hall unscathed—she had to shift that blame too.
A flicker of amusement passed through Kangxi’s eyes.
Hmm, so she was trying to throw Liang Jiugong under the bus.
“My third mistake: When Wei Zhu made a mistake, I lost my sense of judgment. Since punishing a servant means looking at their master, I thought that to seek forgiveness from my lord, I first needed to please… Chief Steward Liang.
So I revealed imperial matters to the palace maids in the tea room, hoping they would serve well enough for me to use that as leverage to plead for leniency from both my master and Chief Steward Liang.”
Anyway, she had already taught Wei Zhu everything he needed to know, so she wasn’t afraid of being exposed.
No way was she taking responsibility for this mess.
“Ahem…”
Kangxi lightly coughed, picking up his tea cup to hide the smirk tugging at his lips.
That dog—no, that servant Liang Jiugong—had he somehow offended this girl’s ancestors?
“My fourth mistake: This servant should not have taken credit for Wei Zhu’s abilities. I dare not lie—Wei Zhu boasted in front of others about a so-called ancestral massage technique, but a few days later, he broke an inkstone.
This servant feared he had gotten in someone’s way, so I dared not serve at the Emperor’s side too often…”
My younger brother is competent, got it?
I was just trying to avoid the same fate, got it?
Kangxi pressed his tongue against his upper palate, neither confirming nor denying her words.
“Wei Zhu… is he the young eunuch that Eunuch Gu once praised to me? At least he still remembers his ancestors.”
Any eunuch serving directly in the Emperor’s presence would have had their background thoroughly investigated.
Wei Disheng was a refugee who had been castrated and entered the palace out of desperation.
His family had been farmers for three generations—where would he have learned any ancestral massage techniques?
What, farming wasn’t exhausting enough, and they had extra energy to study muscle relaxation techniques?
Fang He sat up, her expression filled with guilty sincerity.
“This servant does not know and dares not make baseless claims.”
She had already given Wei Zhu the full story.
It wasn’t her place to speak further.
“This servant understands that revealing matters of the Imperial Court is a grave crime. To have caused the Emperor to personally intervene only makes my sin even worse. I am too ashamed to continue serving Your Majesty…”
She gritted her teeth and kowtowed again, as if she were paying respects at an ancestor’s grave.
One more bow wouldn’t hurt.
“Perhaps Your Majesty should just kill this servant. A brainless, reckless palace maid like me is nothing but a waste of the court’s silver and rations!”
Kangxi: “…”
Should he commend this little ground rat for her self-awareness?
Out of her sight, his phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, turning cold and sharp with scrutiny.
No one was unafraid of death.
Those who dared to plead for it usually knew they were too valuable to be killed.
Indeed, as the Emperor, if he was suddenly entertaining verbal jousts with an otherwise insignificant palace maid, he had already given her the chance to use retreat as an advance—allowing her to twist the narrative as she pleased.
After a brief silence, Kangxi dismissed her with a warm yet indifferent tone.
“Since you know you’ve wasted the court’s silver and rations, let me remind you—the fate of the servants in Qianqing Palace is mine to decide. When it is time for you to die, I will not forget you. For now, go back and serve well.”
Fang He muttered internally, “As if that’s supposed to scare me.”
Outwardly, however, she was all gratitude, her voice raised slightly for effect—
“Many thanks to Your Majesty for your mercy! Your Majesty is as magnanimous as the heavens! You are the most powerful eagle of the grasslands, the most divine being sent by the heavens to—”
Kangxi pointed to the door.
“Out!”
He could not listen to another second of this flattery.
Fang He quickly acknowledged the order, carefully rising to her feet and retreating in a proper manner.
She stepped out of Chong’an Palace with the same graceful, measured steps that always put people at ease.
***
When Gu Wenxing entered, he saw Kangxi standing with one hand on his waist and the other pressed against his forehead, chuckling softly.
He had never seen anyone act dumb in front of him so convincingly that it actually made his head hurt from listening.
Gu Wenxing rarely saw His Majesty show such an exasperated yet genuinely relaxed expression.
Smiling, he asked—
“This servant just saw a little palace maid leaving. She looked like she was from the imperial tea room. If she managed to make Your Majesty laugh, should she be rewarded?”
Kangxi turned around, half-amused, half-irritated.
“She just had the audacity to call Liang Jiugong a dog right in front of me. Not punishing her is already a reward.”
She had praised him as a mighty eagle—so by extension, wasn’t Liang Jiugong, who served him, just an eagle hound?
And wasn’t that still a dog?
At first, Kangxi had assumed Liang Jiugong had simply gotten a bit arrogant due to the shifts in power within the imperial court and harem.
But judging from that little ground rat’s words, it seemed Liang Jiugong wasn’t exactly well-liked in Qianqing Palace either.
Leaning back against the Luohan couch, Kangxi’s smile faded slightly.
“Liang Jiugong struts around the palace as if he’s more powerful than even me, the Emperor.”
Gu Wenxing tactfully avoided commenting.
He was well-read and a Han Chinese, meaning palace regulations prevented him from serving directly at the Emperor’s side.
That was why he had taken up a position in the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs instead.
Rather than replacing Liang Jiugong with someone smarter, it was better to keep him where he was.
Still smiling, Gu Wenxing spoke up in Liang Jiugong’s defense.
“To have served Your Majesty for so many years, Chief Steward Liang must have his strengths. No one is perfect, after all. As long as he doesn’t interfere with Your Majesty’s greater affairs, then all is well.”
Kangxi agreed.
Ever since he ascended the throne, many servants had come and gone, but none could match Liang Jiugong’s skill in attending to him.
As long as he was kept in check, that dog—that servant—wouldn’t stray too far to become completely useless.
As for Fang He, she seemed timid but was bold enough to push boundaries based on her own speculations.
If given real power, she might outdo even Liang Jiugong in her ambition.
That said, she wasn’t yet qualified to compete with Liang Jiugong.
Later, he would have someone remind Liang Jiugong about what that little ground rat had done.
Matters between subordinates were not his concern—after all, even the best knife needed to know its place before it could be used properly.
Yet Kangxi had no idea that while he was discussing preparations for the southern tour with Gu Wenxing, Fang He was already pushing the limits far beyond what he had imagined.
As soon as she left the palace hall, she rushed straight to Liang Jiugong.
“Chief Steward Liang, His Majesty has ordered that Wei Zhu be well cared for so he can return to serve as soon as possible.”
Ever since the wounds on Liang Jiugong’s face had healed, he had lost much of his previous overbearing demeanor and had instead focused more diligently on his duties.
At that moment, he was supervising the eunuchs as they carefully packed the Emperor’s belongings for the return to the palace.
Hearing Fang He’s words, he stiffened, his eyes locking onto her.
“His Majesty said this himself?”
Was the Emperor favoring Wei Zhu, or was this yet another warning directed at him?
But he had been lying low these past days, keeping to himself so much that he didn’t even dare accept silver from the ministers.
Could it be that Gu Wenxing, who had just returned from outside the palace, had said something?
Liang Jiugong was so furious his nose nearly twisted out of shape.
He knew that old bastard Gu Wenxing was up to no good!
First, he took up external affairs, and now he was meddling in imperial household matters too.
Was he trying to become the next great eunuch of a past dynasty?!
Fortunately, Fang He was not foolish enough to blame Gu Wenxing outright.
Eunuchs—especially high-ranking ones—were ruthless.
She only stammered, “His Majesty merely said that the servants of Qianqing Palace should not waste the court’s silver and food. He ordered that everything be prepared quickly and that they return to their duties in the palace.”
After all, when she had pleaded for mercy earlier, she had intentionally added “and others” to her words.
Given how sharp Kangxi’s ears were, he must have heard it.