The food had barely been touched. Naturally, it wouldn't be thrown out. Instead, it was to be divided between the first- and second-rank maids. A third-rank maid like Fang Shu couldn't even eat the leftovers.　

Of course, it's not like she needed the leftovers. If she wanted to eat well, she could. And no one would be competing with her for the dishes either. So while everyone's attention had been on the food, Fang Shu had focused on the empress's behaviour instead.　　

Since she didn't get along with the other maids yet, she didn't dare to ask, but someone else did.

The first-rank maid Jin Yu muttered as she ate, "What's the matter with the empress? She doesn't seem happy."

Jin Xiu took a hurried look inside. She frowned and then shook her head, indicating her embarra.s.sment. 

“How can I say… The empress dowager reprimanded the empress again.”

Everyone here understood that this matter didn't need to be kept a secret from Fang Shu. After all, they'd seen her working in the imperial garden. The empress dowager would reprimand the empress publically, blaming her for being useless and not appealing to the emperor's heart. After years in the palace, there was no heir, and it made people laugh their heads off.

Truth be told, she wasn't to blame, but the emperor was. He had never favored any woman, and that included the empress.

It was said the emperor was highly ambitious and had planned to rule the kingdom before delving into his personal affairs. But some old ministers were unwilling and insisted him to take a wife and some imperial concubines.

Even the empress dowager had pressured him. The emperor had recently ascended to the throne at that time, and his seat wasn't secure. He couldn't be willful. So, he was more or less forced to marry the empress. He had also taken a concubine. However, he had turned out not so easy to deal with. Since he'd been enthroned at the age of sixteen, no woman had touched him, and he'd maintained a tacit dispute with the dowager and the old ministers.

Now that his position was secure no one could pressure him like before. All the ministers who'd come to advise him about extending his bloodline, along with all the concubines who'd tried to flatter him, had been demoted and punished. Ultimately, no one dared to intervene in this matter. Even the dowager was powerless but to reprimand the empress.

This had nothing to do with Fang Shu, but could the empress bear it?

The empress was a pitiful person. She was from the empress dowager's lineage and had been happy when she'd heard that she would be marrying the emperor. Who could've thought she'd find this situation upon arriving. The emperor had left her in the bedroom on the wedding night and went off to a war.

He hadn't returned for more than a decade. When he had, his objective had turned to unifying the kingdom. The harem had been long forgotten.

For the empress to conceive his child was as difficult as climbing the heavens.

Fang Shu lowered her eyes and didn't interrupt the conversation. She didn't want to meddle. After the gathering was done, she went back and moved her flowers to the corridor. Only when she was convinced that there was no problem, did she go to her room to sleep.

As it so happened, her bed was right under the window. She'd heard this position could easily catch evil through the wind, and the superst.i.tious ancestors would never sleep like this. But she wasn't afraid. Asleep under the open window at night, at least she could breathe freely.　　

Fang Shu leaned out her head and looked out of the window. At this time, that man should have also gone to bed. He always went to bed on time.

Fang Shu laid back on the bed and covered herself with the quilt. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. But she woke up right afterwards, bright yellow curtains hanging overhead, and a bright yellow quilt on  her body. Everything around here was bright yellow.

This wasn't the sideroom she'd went to sleep in. It was the Mental Cultivation Hall the 95th Emperor lived in.

End of Chapter