These women, clad in their finery and at the prime of their beauty, stood before her with slender figures and distinctively attractive faces. Wearing variously colored palace garments, Yuan Yuan felt no jealousy towards them; instead, she found them enjoyable to watch—far better than admiring mere flowers and plants.
As an old demon who had lived through four lifetimes, their ages would allow them to pass as her granddaughters. So, rather than being envious, she found them amusing, especially when they clustered around her, engaging in pedantic debates, which was all the more laughable.
They mostly assumed she was illiterate, so even if they cursed her in various ways, she supposedly wouldn’t understand. Unfortunately for them, not only did she understand, but she also heard them quite clearly.
But she didn’t take their bait. After all, they were pitiful souls—longing for the Emperor, unable to show their best selves; they could only flaunt and compete among these women to satisfy their vanity. She understood this age of desiring beauty, as she had been through it herself. Understanding, very understanding.
Particularly in her previous life, when she was in the guise of a man, she didn’t feel there was anything wrong with blending in with these beauties.
Therefore, she sat there, full of interest, listening to them sourly envy one another, competing relentlessly, refusing to yield even in argument.
The beauties talked on and on, while Empress simply drank her tea on the sidelines, smiling and watching them with an easy-going demeanor. Even when they indirectly insulted her, not a flicker of emotion crossed her face. The palace maids by her side had all understood; how could she not? Was she possibly a fool?
Just when they thought the Empress truly was an illiterate and exceptionally uninteresting person, she suddenly spoke up with renewed interest.
"Go on, continue," she said. "It just so happens that I was feeling bored. Never expected to stumble upon a gathering right after stepping out—it saves me the trouble of finding someone to perform a grand play!"
Did this Fat Queen think of them as mere performers?
One particularly attractive Ma Changzai felt the comment was offensive and blushed, her eyes brimming with grievance.
"Lady, are you equating us sisters to vulgar performers?"
Yuan Yuan widened her eyes. "Ma Changzai, is it? What do you mean by that? Even if you look down on yourself, you can’t degrade yourself to a performer, can you? If you’re a performer, then what does that make the rest of us? What does that make the Emperor who brought you into the palace?"
"It was you, Empress, who said it just now," she countered.
"I was merely planning to find someone to entertain me with a play, to relieve my boredom. However, what does that have to do with you?"
"You, Lady, you clearly implied we were like grand play performers," she protested. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel⸺fire.net
"No, no, no," the Empress clarified. "I merely said that I happened upon your gathering and found your conversations interesting, hence there was no need to seek entertainers to alleviate my boredom for the time being. One might eat aimlessly, but one must not speak carelessly."
Ma Changzai trembled with rage at Yuan Yuan’s twisting of words, while Yuan Yuan carried on, looking completely harmless as she said,
"If you’re all going to argue that way, then we need to sort this out properly. If I remember correctly a moment ago, Ma Changzai said, ’Your skin is so thick that probably not even the most poisonous mosquito could bite through.’ Although you were addressing Bai Daying at the time, when I look around and consider who here has the thickest skin, could I assume that you were in fact indirectly criticizing my skin for being rough and tough?"