"Get up, where is the Empress?" Rongpin looked towards the entrance of Chao Yang Palace and asked.
"..." Noble Lady Qing was silent for a moment, then said, "The Empress has not woken up yet. Sister Kong Hou said she shouldn’t be disturbed and should be allowed to wake up naturally."
Huh? Rongpin’s mind was filled with questions. The Empress is still not up?!
This is something that absolutely never happened before. And she should wake up naturally?
"Alright, then we wait. Have you had breakfast, Noble Lady Qing?" Rongpin asked casually.
"I have," Noble Lady Qing replied cautiously, feeling a bit apprehensive around Rongpin.
The cautious look immediately killed Rongpin’s interest in talking to her, so she turned and went to sit under the grape arbor with her attendants. Looking at the grapes hanging from the vine, Rongpin was amazed. The Empress’s courtyard never had a grape arbor before, which means this was just recently set up. Did they transplant the vine as well? And it survived? That’s incredible!
After Rongpin had two cups of tea and a plate of pastries, Tianmiao finally came out.
Noble Lady Qing and Rongpin stood up to greet Tianmiao.
After making the two rise, Tianmiao also sat under the grape arbor. Seeing Rongpin continuously eyeing the grape arbor, she asked, "Would you like some? I’ll have some washed for you."
"Empress, how was this grapevine transplanted?" Rongpin couldn’t help but ask curiously.
"My Chief Palace Maid is skilled at this," Tianmiao used Kong Hou as a pretext, after all, Kong Hou was a versatile Chief Palace Maid.
"Empress, today I brought people with me. And plenty of silver too," Rongpin, having received an answer, dropped her curiosity and spoke enthusiastically about it.
How cute. Tianmiao wanted to laugh. Plenty of silver, huh?
Then Tianmiao sent her Palace Maid and eunuch to compete with Rongpin’s people in a tug-of-war, leaving Rongpin’s purse empty. Of course, it couldn’t happen!
How could they "eliminate" them right from the start?
Of course, it’s about letting Rongpin enjoy the experience, with wins and losses, where winning slightly outweighs losing, for the game to continue. Otherwise, it would be pointless.
Tianmiao and Rongpin sat under the grape arbor, watching the two teams compete in a best of five format. Rongpin excitedly commanded in person, "Put some muscle into it! Didn’t you have breakfast? Didn’t I say to eat well this morning?"
The originally shy Noble Lady Qing sat quietly watching the match but gradually got so excited her face turned red, clenching her fists and cheering softly. Her voice grew louder and louder, completely disregarding her image. The surrounding eunuchs and Palace Maids also gathered to watch, seeing that the Empress had no intention of reprimanding them, they boldly cheered as well. Some even eagerly thought of asking the Empress if they could participate next time.
Of course, the best of five was won by the Empress’s Palace. Tianmiao rewarded some of the won silver to the participating Palace Maids and eunuchs, encouraging them to strive again next time. Rongpin didn’t blame her attendants, instead gave them a few words of encouragement and a small reward, telling them they must win next time.
Rongpin is someone who doesn’t accept defeat easily; the saying "constant defeat with constant attempts" describes her perfectly. After that, she would come to Chao Yang Palace every day to compete with the Empress, not just in tug-of-war but in other games as well. Initially, only the lower-ranked concubine, Noble Lady Qing, came to watch, but as word spread that the Empress and Rongpin were playing these amusing games daily and didn’t mind their attendance, many lower-ranked concubines began to flock over as well.
This was something that was nearly impossible in the past because some lower-ranked concubines didn’t even have the qualifications to pay respects to the Empress.