Shi Sheng only woke up after she’d finished going through the plot. She laid on a large bed with flowers carved into its posts. She could vaguely make out the figure of the palace maid waiting outside the draperies that separated the bed from her room.

Shi Sheng stared at the ceiling of the bed. ‘I don’t think I’ve arrived late in the novel…’

This should be after the FL had already transmigrated and spent some time at the cold palace. She should currently be planning to attract the ML’s attention.

This novel wasn’t one with pure leads. The ML had slept with quite a number of women, and the FL had been screwed by other people too.

To those readers who wanted a novel with pure leads, this type of novel was simply anathema.

“My Lady, are you awake?” A figure walked over to the draperies, her head lowered as she asked respectfully.

“En.” Shi Sheng answered.

“Shu Fei-niangniang has sent someone to invite you over to Snowfall Garden to admire the plum blossoms. My Lady, what do you think?”

‘Shu Fei? Admire plum blossoms?’

Shi Sheng swiftly went over the plot and soon got the answer she was looking for.

Shu Fei had always opposed Zhuang Qiong, and the invitation this time was no different. However, she didn’t benefit from this in the end either. Instead, she had unwittingly helped the FL by getting the ML to notice the latter.

“Sure, why not?” ‘How could I be absent from the leads’ meeting? I’m a professional spectator.’

Perhaps it was because the main battlefield of this novel was in the palace, hence it had been described very in-depth by the author, the surroundings looked very luxurious, simply comparable to that of those ones with special effects you’d see in televisions.

Shi Sheng only found out that it was snowing when she left her palace.

‘It always snows when admiring plum blossoms…’

Shi Sheng tightened the red fox fur coat around her as someone helped her onto the sedan.

Snowfall Garden was filled with red plum blossoms. It was currently coated in a layer of pure white snow. All the trees were in bloom, creating a fresh fragrance with a hint of coolness.

Every Emperor was certain to have a deceased Empress who was special to him.

The red plum blossoms in Snowfall Garden had been planted for the deceased Empress.

“Gui Fei-niangniang has arrived—”

As the high-pitched cry sounded out, concubines dressed in all manner of styles came flooding out from the pavilion in the distance. They curtsied slightly, hands placed to one side of their hips, heads lowered as they waited for Shi Sheng to approach.

Zhuang Qiong was quite reputable for being overbearing in the palace. Though she’d never killed anyone, Zhuang Qiong had learned quite thoroughly about all the necessary skills to torment these harem women.

Which was why these concubines were rather afraid of her.

Shi Sheng got off the sedan and walked over to them.

“Greetings and well wishes to you, Gui Fei-niangniang.”

“Rise.” Shi Sheng walked past them and into the pavilion. Most of these people were just background characters, so there was no need to pay too much attention to them.

Shu Fei looked stunning—giving one a very strong and lasting first impression.

She was the most favoured concubine of the Emperor after Zhuang Qiong.

“Jiejie doesn’t look too well today. Is it the cold?” Shu Fei smiled as she stepped forward to talk to Shi Sheng.

“It is quite chilly. Shu Fei, you wouldn’t mind giving that fox fur coat of yours to me(bg) so I(bg) can stay warm, do you?” Shi Sheng lifted her head to look at Shu Fei. Her gaze was calm, but contained a hint of frost.

There was a saying that went: Why must women trouble other women?

But if they didn’t, did you expect them to trouble men instead?

Apart from hoping that they’d catch the Emperor’s eye, the women in the palace didn’t have much else in the form of entertainment besides scheming against one another.

Shu Fei’s smile froze for a second before she laughed and spoke, “This one has already been used by me; how could I make Jiejie wear it? I’ll just get someone to fetch a new one.”

“I(bg) don’t mind.”

Shu Fei clutched the hem of her coat, a querying look in her eyes. ‘What’s up with this woman today?’

After a brief hesitation, Shu Fei still took her fox fur coat off. Without anything to ward off the cold, Shu Fei immediately shivered from the freezing temperature.

There was a concubine who tried to suck up to Shu Fei by taking off her own coat and offering it to the latter, but was gently rejected.

Shi Sheng gave her a look accompanied by a knowing smile.

Shu Fei’s heart started thumping wildly at that. ‘Could it be that she’s discovered something?’

“Jiejie, don’t be angry that His Majesty has been staying at my(cq) palace these past few days. Sigh, really now. I already told him I(cq) was fine, but His Majesty insisted on staying…” Shu Fei suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, as she began to flaunt the fact that the Emperor had been staying at her place yet again.

Because Zhuang Qiong and the ML had gotten into a bit of a tiff, the ML stayed at Shu Fei’s palace these past few days.

Every time they met, Shu Fei would use this to get under Zhuang Qiong’s skin.

Shu Fei spoke for a long time, but didn’t get any reaction from Shi Sheng. She frowned ever so slightly. ‘Could it be that she knows His Majesty is going to be here today?’

“Jiejie, are you feeling unwell?” Shu Fei tentatively asked.

“I(bg) suppose you’d hope for that, eh?” Shi Sheng raised a brow slightly.

A hint of panic appeared on Shu Fei’s face. “Of course not, Jiejie! I(cq) was just expressing concern.”

“I(bg) think you are! Go stand outside.” Shi Sheng’s voice suddenly raised in pitch. ‘Didn’t you want the ML’s pity? I’ll(bbb) help you out! No need to thank me(bbb) too much!’

“Jiejie…”

“You’re not listening to me(bg) anymore? Shu Fei, are you planning on disobeying your betters?”

Shu Fei lowered her head in a panic. A hint of loathing flashed in the depths of her eyes, as she grit her teeth and spoke, “I(cq) wouldn’t dare.”

“Then why aren’t you leaving? Do you need me(bg) to ‘bestow’ you twenty strikes of the paddle before you do?”

“But I(cq) didn’t do anything wrong. Jiejie has to have a reason to punish me(cq), otherwise you won’t be able to answer to His Majesty.” ‘It’s so cold outside—wouldn’t asking me to stand outside be like asking for my life?!’

Shu Fei had bribed one of the Emperor’s eunuchs, so she knew he was coming here today, which was the reason why she had invited Shi Sheng here.

Shu Fei had originally planned on agitating Shi Sheng to incite the latter to punish her. Since the Emperor and Zhuang Qiong were giving each other the cold shoulder right now, if the latter’s unruly manner were to be seen by him, it’d increase the likelihood of her losing favour.

But Shu Fei hadn’t expected Shi Sheng to demand for her fox coat the moment she arrived, and even tell her to go stand outside…

“Is being disrespectful to me(bg) not a reason?”

“I(cq) was just being worried about Jiejie. How can you be unreasonable?”

“I(bg) just am unreasonable! What’re you going to do about it? If you have the ability, why don’t you climb higher than me huh?” Shi Sheng spoke arrogantly.

Everyone in the surroundings didn’t dare to breathe too loudly. They knew that these two would often get into disagreements the moment they met, and were pretty evenly matched.

From the looks of things, Gui Fei was the winner today.

‘But the Gui Fei seems even more arrogant than before… Could it be that she made up with His Majesty and we just don’t know about it?’

Shu Fei’s face was flushed red from anger and frustration.

What was above the position of Gui Fei? The titles of Huang Gui Fei and Empress!

They had all been striving for the position of Empress, but the Emperor didn’t seem to have any plans of installing a new Empress, so it was no use.

As for Huang Gui Fei… That position wasn’t easy to get either.

“Shu Fei.” ‘If you still don’t leave, I’m(lz) going to draw my sword!’

Shu Fei could only swallow her frustration. After all, who told her position to be lower than Gui Fei?

Shu Fei hugged herself as she walked out. ‘I’m telling His Majesty when he gets here! See how she’ll keep her arrogance then!’

It was snowing quite heavily outside. In the short while Shu Fei had been standing there, quite a good amount of snow had fallen on her, causing her to feel stiff from the cold.

‘Why isn’t His Majesty here yet?!’