Chapter 238 Twelve Concubines

Consort Li was startled, but her eyes narrowed slightly. She forced a smile and said, "The scenery in the back garden of the Eastern Palace is delightful. I prefer to take this path."

She felt that the maid's reaction was a bit excessive.

Her gut feeling told her that there must be something in the back garden.

Otherwise, given her status, how could Luo Jingshen's maid dare to stop her?

Consort Li's beautiful eyes flickered. The more the little maid tried to prevent her from taking this path, the more she wanted to go investigate.

"Jian Lan, let's go."

Unexpectedly, after just two steps, the little maid again gathered her courage to stop her, this time with a sob in her voice.

"Consort Li, the sun in the back garden is too harsh. To protect your delicate skin, please follow me to a shady place to wait for the Crown Prince."

Jian Lan strode over and slapped the maid directly. "How dare you! Consort Li has said she wants to go this way. You insolent wench, move aside!"

Consort Li ignored the little maid's gaze and continued forward with Jian Lan.

Seeing she could not stop her, the panic-stricken maid could only silently trail behind Consort Li and her group.

When they reached a corner, Consort Li suddenly heard the sounds of women laughing and bantering.

At first, she thought she had misheard.

As she drew closer, the laughter grew louder, and Consort Li realized she had not misheard.

She followed the sound and was surprised to find twelve beautiful young women sitting in a pavilion by the lake in the back garden.

They were all beautiful, some cute and charming, others bright and glamorous, with varying figures—some voluptuous, some slender—each with her own charm.

At that moment, the women were gathered together, chatting and laughing as they played a card game.

Even so, Consort Li found something very off-putting about these women—the unmistakable aura of courtesans.

She turned and asked the maid following behind, "Who are they? Why are they in the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace?"

The little maid was from the Eastern Palace and naturally knew the origins of these women.

After hesitating for a long moment, she said respectfully, "In reply to Consort Li, they are all from Flourishing Pavilion and Drunken Red Mansion. These twelve ladies were redeemed by the Crown Prince. They had nowhere to go and were grateful to the Crown Prince for his kindness, so they later took up residence in the Eastern Palace and willingly serve the Crown Prince."

Consort Li's face instantly turned cold, exuding a chill.

"Oh, 'willingly serve the Crown Prince,' is it? Hasn't the Crown Prince granted them any official status?"

The little maid bit her lip and stammered, "Most... most of them are concubines, but... but there are also four young ladies who are the Crown Prince's secondary consorts."

This was why she had desperately tried to stop Consort Li from coming.

After all, these women were, frankly, not fit to be seen in public.

They were like canaries raised in a cage by Luo Jingshen, confined to the Eastern Palace, not even daring to step outside.

Luo Jingshen would also not allow them to meet outsiders privately.

Hearing the maid's words, Consort Li became instantly furious. Her expression shattered, and her voice rose sharply.

"With such lowly origins, they think they deserve to be the Crown Prince's secondary consorts?"

The thing she hated most in life was men with many women in their courtyards.

Therefore, Prince Nanxiao never married and had no other women in his residence, which is why Consort Li had been willingly devoted to him over the years.

But unexpectedly, in Luo Jingshen's courtyard, there were four secondary consorts and as many as eight concubines.

Moreover, these women all came from very lowly backgrounds; any one of them was looked down upon, and mentioning them brought shame.

Yet the facts were right before her eyes, which made it hard for Consort Li to accept.

In her view, only those who could help his status or career had the right to be his women.

What right did these prostitutes from brothels have?

Consort Li's appearance happened to attract the attention of the twelve women in the pavilion.

They stopped what they were doing and turned in unison to look at Consort Li.

One young woman in pink, about fifteen or sixteen, said with surprise, "No way! Has the Crown Prince added another sister to our group?"

Another woman in a green dress, tall and slender, said with disdain, "Since when did the Crown Prince's taste become so poor? This woman looks way too old. Although her face is well-preserved, it's clear she can't compare with us."

The woman in yellow nearby picked a red flower and pinned it in her hair, covering her red lips with a handkerchief as she giggled.

"Yes, she looks at least over forty. Even the madam of Drunken Red Mansion wouldn't want her. She can't bear children and can't raise them. Why would His Highness buy such a woman to be a concubine?"

It wasn't that they were overthinking; it was that almost no outsiders ever came into Luo Jingshen's courtyard.

If a maid brought someone in, it must be a new woman that Luo Jingshen had brought from outside.

Thus, Consort Li was naturally mistaken for a woman newly purchased by Luo Jingshen from outside.

The women's words, one after another, all fell into Consort Li's ears, making her anger rise and her fury uncontrollable.

Her status was so noble; when had it become the turn of a group of brothel women to criticize her?

"How dare you! You seductresses dare to slander me like this!"

"Jian Lan, go slap their mouths and teach them the palace rules."

Jian Lan acknowledged and rolled up her sleeves, ready to teach those women who had insulted Consort Li a lesson.

Unexpectedly, those women didn't take her seriously at all, thinking she was just trying to intimidate them.

Although these concubines of Luo Jingshen came from lowly origins, they were mostly from the same place, so the bond between sisters was naturally deep.

For this reason, they had long been united against outsiders.

Jian Lan rushed over and raised her hand to slap the yellow-dressed woman who had just spoken, but her face was slapped back by a secondary consort named Yuyan.

"Slap!"

"Do you think you can bully my sister, you servant?"

Yuyan's figure was alluring, with a delicate oval face and exquisite makeup. She wore a cool Sichuan brocade dress, and her fox-like eyes were slightly upturned, looking exceptionally seductive.

She glanced contemptuously at Consort Li, and pointed her delicate finger at Jian Lan, saying, "Sisters, hold her down. Today, on behalf of the Crown Prince, I will teach this newcomer some proper manners."

Beside her, Haitang, wearing a flowing red dress, graceful and elegant, was the first to rush over and twist Jian Lan's arm behind her back.

"Exactly! How dare a newcomer bully us? She's got a death wish!"

With a flattering smile on her face, she looked up at Yuyan.

"Sister Yuyan, the Crown Prince dotes on you the most. Today, you must properly avenge your sisters and let this old woman know that the Crown Prince's inner court is run by you, Sister Yuyan, and not by this old fox who came out of nowhere."

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