Ning Shu felt dead. It was seriously rough to have been assigned a task like this, and the worst part was that she had to go.

  She started heading towards the primary consort’s courtyard. She entered the main hall under the guidance of a maid. As soon as she stepped into the hall, she saw that several beautiful women were sitting in the room.

  Lady Ula Nara was sitting at the seat of honor, looking very graceful and poised. Ning Shu walked into the room quickly and curtsied respectfully to Lady Ula Nara, “This servant pays her respects to the primary consort.”


  Before the primary consort even said anything, a woman sitting at the side took the initiative to ask, “Why hasn’t your lady come to pay her respects to the madame yet?”


  Ning Shu looked towards the concubine who was speaking. It was Lady Geng. She curtsied and said, “Lady Geng, my lady felt weak as she was getting up this morning and was very uneasy, so she had this servant come to apologize to the madame.”


  As Ning Shu spoke, she nearly half squatted in her curtsy. Her attitude was very humble and respectful.

  Lady Ula Nara said with a faint smile, “It’s fine. Since Lady Song isn’t feeling well, have you gone to find a doctor?”


  Ning Shu hastily said, “The lady said that she can just endure it and that there was no need to make such a big deal out of it. She said that she couldn’t do things that overstepped her status.”


  Lady Ula Nara had a smile on her face this entire time, so Ning Shu couldn’t really tell whether she was angry or not. Lady Ula Nara exhorted Ning Shu, “Take good care of your lady and let this consort know if you need anything.”


  “Thank you, Madame,” said Ning Shu respectfully.

  Lady Ula Nara had Ning Shu withdraw.

  After leaving the courtyard, Ning Shu exhaled hard. Heavens, that was seriously scary. She had been really worried that she would have been punished as an example.

  It felt like she had just made a trip to the border of life or death.

  She had taken a moment to scrutinize the women in the room earlier. Yinzhen’s primary consort, Lady Ula Nara, was noble and majestic. The secondary consort, Nian Shilan, Lady Nian, was beautiful and delicate, with a gentle temperament that was characteristic of Han women.

  Lady Nian had given birth to three sons and one daughter, but they had all died in childhood.

  Then there was Lady Niohuru, who was still just a lady right now, and a Young Lady Niohuru.

  Speaking of which, Yinzhen really didn’t have many children that managed to live to adulthood. Compared with his father, Master Kang, he seriously had few children.

  Ning Shu returned to Lady Song’s courtyard and found that Lady Song was already sitting at the table having breakfast. The table was full of food. She had ordered such an abundant feast so early in the morning.

  Ning Shu felt pretty helpless. She walked in and curtsied. Lady Song took a sip of the rice congee, wiped the corners of her lips with a handkerchief, then asked Ning Shu, “What did the madame say?”


  Ning Shu said, “The madame didn’t say anything. She said that you should make sure to look after your health.”


  A smile appeared on Lady Song’s face and she looked very satisfied. She said to Hong Mei, “Bestow her my hairpin.”


  Hong Mei looked unwilling, but she still went into the bedroom to get the hairpin for Ning Shu,

  This hairpin was made of jade. It had some black spots and blemishes, so it wasn’t worth much. But as a reward for her, this maid with no status, it was a very valuable gift.

  Ning Shu hastily waved her hands and said, “This is too valuable for this servant to accept.”


  “Take it,” said Lady Song. She was very satisfied when she saw Ning Shu’s flustered appearance.

  Hong Mei shoved the hairpin into Ning Shu’s hand. Her back was facing Lady Song, so she said between gritted teeth, “The lady is bestowing this to you, so just take it.”


  Ning Shu finally accepted the hairpin. When she saw that Hong Mei’s eyes remained fixed on the hairpin in her hand, she inwardly sighed.

  Afterwards, she gave the hairpin to Hong Mei. It really wasn’t worth it to have someone hold a grudge against her due to this kind of hairpin that wasn’t worth much in the first place.

  At first, Hong Mei had politely pushed it off, but later she had accepted the hairpin with her chin lifted.

  As expected, like master, like servant. Hong Mei, like Lady Song, always became very smug and conceited whenever she got her way.

  Ning Shu felt that it was still better to be a low-key servant.

  Lady Song’s pregnancy wasn’t very carefree. She always had an ailment here or felt uncomfortable there.

  In any case, she caused endless issues.

  It was uncomfortable for a woman to be pregnant, but it wasn’t to the level that Lady Song made it out to be.

  “Miao Ling, go ask the prince to come here. The lady isn’t feeling well,” said Hong Mei to Ning Shu.