The flickering flame caught the crowd off guard, burning for about seven or eight seconds. Eventually, it was the red-clad palace maid who reacted first, grabbing a nearby vase and pulling out the flowers inside, pouring all the water onto the clothes.
With a sizzling sound, a wisp of smoke rose gently. The flames were extinguished, but this meticulously crafted cloud-sleeve golden silk smoke skirt was also burned with several uneven-sized charred holes, some as small as a copper coin, others large enough to pass through the entire palm, and conveniently located on the gold-thread embroidery.
Seeing this mess of clothes, the red-clad palace maid’s face turned extremely ugly, while Xiao Yue began to cry softly, covering her mouth.
Bai Lu was somewhat puzzled. “Why are you crying? Did it burn you just now?”
Xiao Yue kept shaking her head, choking out, “Master, this servant ruined Mei Fei’s clothes out of fear and couldn’t help but cry…”
Bai Lu was a little embarrassed. “Oh, what’s there to cry about? You didn’t do it on purpose. Mei Fei… is that the noble concubine?”
Xiao Yue nodded and cried intermittently, “Mei Fei said she would come to pick up the clothes today, but it turned out like this. I, I…”
Just as Bai Lu was about to say something, he suddenly heard the commotion of footsteps outside the door. He turned to look and saw a group of people slowly approaching.
Leading the group was a very beautiful woman, with thick, shiny black hair adorned with exquisite and gorgeous hairpins, a pair of silver-inlaid white jade beads hanging from her ears, and wearing a peacock-blue brocade skirt. It was probably slightly chilly on this early spring morning, so she also wore a golden gauze jacket.
In short, she was a splendid and glamorous young lady, captivating everyone’s eyes.
Bai Lu noticed that her skin was very good, even he, a straight guy not particularly concerned about appearance, could see that her skin was much fairer and smoother than others’.
Beside the woman was a young girl, obviously the one he had just encountered and argued with, Bi Tao. Behind them were four ordinary palace maids and four accompanying eunuchs.
Bi Tao gently supported the woman’s arm, stepped over the threshold of the Shangyi Pavilion, and respectfully said, “Your Ladyship, watch your step.”
Bai Lu estimated that this was the legendary Mei Fei.
Mei Fei entered the Shangyi Pavilion, and the surrounding palace maids all knelt down to pay their respects. Bai Lu didn’t move, and neither did Ling Feng behind him. They just nodded slightly as a gesture of respect.
Ling Feng was a bodyguard directly under His Majesty, although he carried the title of a bodyguard, he actually held the third-rank official position and didn’t need to kneel to the palace concubines.
But…
Mei Fei raised her eyebrows, her gaze sharp and disdainful as she fell on Bai Lu. Where did this person come from, daring to stand indifferent in front of the noble concubine? In the absence of an empress in the harem, the noble concubine was the highest rank of concubine.
Bi Tao scolded loudly, “Who are you? You see Lady Noble Concubine and don’t kneel down to pay respects!”
Bai Lu shrugged, unabashedly saying, “Sorry, I have a knee injury and can’t bend down.”
Bi Tao was so angry that her face turned red, “So rude, are you looking for death? This is Lady Noble Concubine!”
Bai Lu: “I know, you’ve said it twice.”
Mei Fei frowned, just about to call two eunuchs to drag this ignorant boy out and beat him, suddenly her eyes glanced at the clothes on the table, and her face darkened instantly, anger billowing.
“What’s wrong with this skirt?! How did it become like this?!”
The red-clad palace maid raised her head nervously and said, “To your Ladyship’s question, this… a cat suddenly rushed in during ironing, bumped into someone, and the charcoal fell on the clothes, so…”
Mei Fei narrowed her eyes, her piercing gaze sweeping over the palace maids kneeling on the ground one by one, scolding sharply, “Which damned servant, can’t even hold an iron, dares to ruin my clothes? Come out!”
Several palace maids were frightened, trembling all over. Mei Fei coldly snorted, “Don’t come out, huh? Then drag all these servants out and cut off the useless ones’ two hands.”
At these words, the palace maids were in a panic, crying and begging for mercy one after another. Xiao Yue bit her lip, tears streaming down her face as she crawled over, pleading, “Your Ladyship, it’s this servant’s fault, this servant didn’t do it on purpose, begging Your Ladyship for mercy…”
Mei Fei cast a disdainful glance at her, “You despicable thing? I can’t even afford to sell this dress to you! Guards, catch her!”
Two eunuchs immediately stepped forward, one on each side, grabbing Xiao Yue’s arms and pulling her up from the ground.
Mei Fei picked up the iron on the table, her slender, white jade hand with jade and gold armor like a demon’s claw, grabbing Xiao Yue’s face fiercely, and said viciously, “Useless servant, can’t do any work, always stirring up trouble, slandering others!”
It’s unclear who she was reflecting on, probably what Min Si said in the Imperial Household Department at that time, was learned by the mistress from Bi Tao’s embellishment and told to the mistress.
“You worthless slave, I’ll see if I can shut your mouth, so you’ll know what it means to behave!”
After Mei Fei finished speaking, she actually tried to pour the hot charcoal from the iron into Xiao Yue’s mouth.
Xiao Yue was extremely frightened, trembling all over like a sieve, tears streaming down her face, and a vague pleading for mercy.
If this really went in, even if she wasn’t scalded to death, her face would be ruined, let alone her throat.
Seeing the red-hot branding iron getting closer and closer, at a critical moment, Bai Lu reached out and grabbed Mei Fei’s arm, frowning, “I think that’s about enough. How can you take a life for a piece of clothing? I’ll compensate you for her.”
But Bai Lu unexpectedly just grabbed her arm like this, still grabbing through the clothes. This noble Mei Fei was so shocked that she looked like she had encountered something dirty, sternly rebuking, “Who are you, a servant from which palace, have you eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall to dare touch me?”
“…”
Bai Lu was a little at a loss and let go of her fingers. In terms of his profession, whether in the boxing ring or in the audience, he was basically dealing with big men. He didn’t know how to deal with women, let alone such an arrogant and overbearing one. For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.
Mei Fei, furious, threw down the iron and instructed the eunuchs behind her, “Come, someone, beat this ignorant dog slave to death for me!”
One of the eunuchs rushed over, reaching out to grab Bai Lu’s arm.
Ling Feng’s eyes flashed with a hint of fierceness. He took a step forward, just about to draw his sword to kill, when he suddenly saw Bai Lu raise his hand and accurately grasp the eunuch’s wrist. With his other hand on the eunuch’s shoulder, he used leverage to execute a standard shoulder throw, tossing the eunuch out, who was half a head taller than him, cleanly and skillfully.
The eunuch crashed heavily to the ground, groaning and unable to get up. The orange cat that had caused the trouble earlier was scared and meowed, twisting its fat body and jumping onto a nearby low cabinet.
Bai Lu clapped his hands and said inexplicably, “Can’t we talk it out? Why resort to violence?”
Ling Feng looked at him slightly puzzled, then stepped back behind him.
Bai Lu gestured for Xiao Yue to come to his side, then looked at Mei Fei. “Alright, calm down. I’m not quite clear on how important a piece of clothing is to a lady, but I’ll compensate you for it, no need to take someone’s life over it.”
Mei Fei sneered, “You compensate? Can you afford it? This Yun sleeve skirt was meticulously crafted by seven embroideresses over thirty days, worth three hundred taels of silver. What can you use to compensate?!”
Three hundred taels… Sister, is your thirty-thousand-tael dress really that light?
Bai Lu thought that three hundred taels was indeed affordable for him, but it was a bit painful to take out half of his salary all at once.
He thought for a moment, turned his head to quietly discuss with Ling Feng, “Do you think I should ask Chu Ya to help compensate? Is that feasible?”
Ling Feng seemed somewhat speechless, struggling for a while before finally saying, “Under the heavens, is there any land not ruled by the Emperor.”
Bai Lu made an OK gesture, “Got it, I’ll ask him to compensate.”
Ling Feng: “…”
Dewy on BLPSG Chapter 86: The Emperor’s old illness: “I want QingCi to give this little wolf a big slap after healing him -__-” Oct 23, 13:18
