Rebirth of the Treacherous Official’s Madam

The chaos this time was just even bigger. Throughout history, whenever an incident occurred in the palace due to animals, the most likely to get used was precisely the cat. On one hand, it was because there were many bored imperial consorts that raised cats, and more importantly, cats were more agile and vigorous, able to run, jump, climb trees, etc. And after using some means, it wasn’t easy to catch immediately.

Just like this white cat right now. It was already very difficult to catch when mad, and now that it has caught on fire, it truly was like a mad tiger. After leaping down from the table, it rolled on the ground, pressing the flames on it, yet it wasn’t able to completely extinguish. In the next moment, it leaped onto another table, very quickly jumping back and forth several times between the crowd and tables.

The entire banquet up until now can be said as utter chaos. Even some of the titled madams were unable to sit still. De Consort was both frightened to the point of losing her soul, while also heartaching for the white cat. Amidst the panic, she didn’t even know whether or not she should go forward. However, she immediately got pressed down by Imperial Concubine Nie, “Your Highness, it’s better for you to not go near it!”

Li Consort and the other imperial consorts all appeared as if out of their wits. The empress was already anxious to the point of ascending to heaven, just short of jumping up and yelling to quickly catch the pheasants and cat.

As for the young ladies waiting on the selection, at this time, they really were undergoing an enormous test, unprecedented for the candidates of the imperial selection throughout history. Aside from a few that were born from military families and also practiced martial arts themselves that were still considered a bit composed, the rest already didn’t have any color on their face. Some shrieked in panic, while some trembled in fear. There were also some that stood up wanting to run, but didn’t know which direction to run in, because the cat catching on fire and randomly darting around didn’t just cause the cups and dishes to be in a mess. The flying sparks also caused some of the young ladies that had loose silk and tassels on their clothes to catch on fire too!

The palace maids and eunuchs that were originally serving outside naturally rushed over to help, but for it to be chaotic to this degree, the pheasants fluttering, the cat leaping about, no one was able to make the situation quickly calm down. And right at this time, that white cat just started darting towards Ming Jinrou and Qi Pei’s table!

“Jinrou save me!” Qi Pei at this time was already in a panic, scared to the point where her legs went limp, completely not knowing what to do, practically instinctively going to grab Ming Jinrou.

“Useless!” However, it wasn’t good for Ming Jinrou to push aside Qi Pei. Although scolding, she still supported her.

And in that moment, that cat actually turned and pounced towards the two of them!

“Ah!” Qi Pei closed her eyes in fright, her entire body hiding behind Ming Jinrou.

Ming Jinrou actually was also a bit scared, wanting to turn her body to dodge, yet got tightly held onto by the shaking Qi Pei, her movements getting restricted, so she could only forcibly pull Qi Pei along, lowering her body to dodge.

“Jinrou!” At this time, they heard another loud cry. Qin Wang had already rushed to their side, waving his hand to brush aside that ‘flaming cat’ that pounced over.

“Ah! Ah! Ahh ahh ahh ahh!” Getting brushed aside by Qin Wang, that cat rolled onto the ground, and afterwards, randomly darted away again. But, during this process, the flames on it burned onto Qi Pei’s silk muslin dress. This kind of silk muslin that has been popular these recent years was extremely light and soft, the color and luster also moving and bright, the most suitable for summer clothes. Practically all the official young ladies of the capital all loved very much. However, no one thought that this silk muslin would catch fire this easily!

Qi Pei’s soul nearly flew beyond the clouds, her hands and feet waving and dancing, while also screaming and jumping around, not knowing how to shake off the fire on her, only knowing to scream, “Help! Help!”

At the same time, several other young ladies’ clothes also caught on fire, the scene already chaotic to the point where it was uncontrollable. Ming Jinrou, while dumbstruck, didn’t even know what to use to put out the fire for Qi Pei. However, at this time, Qin Wang was rather resolute, “There’s water in the lake!”

Wu Wang and Wei Wang also rushed over, ordering the eunuch and palace maids by their side to quickly go fetch water. But, at this kind of banquet, the biggest vessel was just the soup bowl, how can it be enough to the put out the fire that has already spread to several people and several tables?

“Your Highness, save me!”

TN: All translations outside of are stolen and reposted without permission!

“Your Highness, I’m so scared!”

The current scene, never mind the young ladies, even the imperial consorts and titled madams have never encountered before. Aside from those like Qi Pei that were unlucky to have caught on fire, there were also young ladies that although didn’t catch on fire, still were frightened to the point of not knowing what to do, instinctively going towards the closest person they were familiar with for help. For instance, the two Zhu family young ladies, as well as the Gu family young lady, Liang family young lady, and such young ladies that have alway been close with the Zhu family.

“Jump into the lake!” Ming Jinrou also reacted, “The water won’t come, but could it be that you can’t go down? Jump!”

‘Putong!’

At this time, some of the more resolute and decisive young ladies immediately jumped down, but there were also some young ladies that just had flames at the hem of their dress, and although also scared and alarmed, they still had the thought of retaining a trace of dignity. Of course, there were also those that were scared of the fire, but at the same time, also scared of falling into the water, thus still just cried and screamed, not daring to jump.

Qi Pei was just one of them. The hem of her dress had caught on fire, yet she just spun in circles, not daring to jump, just tearfully crying and calling for help.

But, no matter how scared, the flames won’t wait for anyone. Seeing Qi Pei like this, Ming Jinrou just felt that she truly failed to live up to expectations. However, when she saw that Qi Pei actually wanted to go pull her again for help, Ming Jinrou instead laughed, taking the opportunity to have Qi Pei pushed towards Qin Wang. “Here, your Highness, why don’t you help her.”

On Qin Wang’s side, he’d just taken a step forward, preparing to go over to order the eunuch and palace maids to help put out the fire, catch the cat, and so on, so as to take care of this situation, when he saw Ming Jinrou push Qi Pei before him. The makeup on her face was like a branch of pear blossom in the spring rain, the fire on the hem of her dress still burning. Actually, she was more or less like that white cat that had pounced over just now.

However, he didn’t have any intention of dealing with Qi Pei, “Stop messing around! Go down and extinguish the fire on your own!” It was practically just like how he dealt with that cat, swinging his sleeve and pushing away Qi Pei.

However, at this time, the entire banquet was already in a mess. Because of the chaos and confusion, more than half of the dishes and drinks were overturned on the ground, with oil and food all over the ground. Qi Pei was already in a panic to begin with. To then get pushed by Ming Jinrou and Qin Wang respectively, her foot just stepped onto the oily vegetable, her entire body rolling and tumbling.

Yet, as luck would have it, that direction was where the Zhu family young ladies were currently tugging Wu Wang and Wei Wang, tearfully crying out of fear. Moreover, because of avoiding the randomly darting pheasants and the cat on fire, they even retreated a few steps closer towards the waterside, and as always, by the waterside, there was a bit of a slope.

Thus, next, under numerous eyes, or rather, should say, under everyone’s dumbstruck gaze, either willing or unwilling, either getting dragged, or getting shoved, either slipping or falling, either wanting to pull someone, or getting pulled by someone, they just heard the various screams of the young ladies, followed by Wei Wang angrily roaring, “Who pushed me!”

Afterwards, it was just ‘putong’, ‘putong’, ‘putong’, ‘putong’………

Including the eunuch that in the end, hardened his head and closed his eyes, pouncing onto that flaming white cat, and while holding the cat, also fell in with a ‘putong’.

The fire at the banquet finally all got extinguished.

At this point, the Empress, De Consort, Li Consort, Imperial Concubine Nie, as well as the great majority of the titled madams, all have already stood up.

However, aside from those that were hurriedly using the long bamboo pole to save people, as well as the completely unscathed Qin Wang who was directing the rescue, for a moment, at the banquet site, no one spoke another word.

Of the forty-eight refined and delicate young ladies in heavy makeup and fancy dresses that were waiting on the selection, at this time, the ones that completely didn’t get splashed by the sparks, didn’t fall down amidst the chaos, didn’t scream and lose their bearing, didn’t get tugged by others and lost their appearance, including Ming Jinrou, already didn’t exceed ten people.

Of course, it wasn’t that the remaining thirty-eight people all fell into the water. Around six or seven had fallen onto the ground. There were around ten that had lost their souls, squatting to the side crying, while another ten were completely at a loss, yet their clothes and appearance were already in a sorry state, their image damaged.

But, the most devastating were naturally still those that were struggling in the imperial lake right now, afterwards getting saved up one by one.

Some of them, before even reaching the shore, just started crying, because in the dozen or so people that fell into the water, only half had fire on them. The ones that actually jumped down on their own to save themselves were just two to three. As for the rest, some had fell in, some got bumped down, while some got pulled down or even pushed down by someone next to them.

Of course, the unluckiest were probably still Wu Wang and Wei Wang. These two completely just got shoved down amidst the chaos.

At this time, if one were to still go by the usual rules of looking over daughter-in-laws in upper class families, then in this chaos, the great majority of the young ladies all didn’t qualify. But, there was no point talking about rules at this time, because the incident occurred that suddenly and was also that serious. Whether it’s the imperial consorts, or the titled madams, in all honesty, there truly weren’t many that could deal with it appropriately.

To be able to get through it completely unscathed at this time, it really was one, relying on luck, two, relying on luck, and three, still relying on luck. Even if a young lady knew a bit of martial arts, one still can’t stand against the people nearby randomly running about and bumping into one another in a panic. Even if not tripping or catching on fire, with just a dish directly splashing onto oneself, what appearance was there to speak of?

That’s why, in this situation, the most embarrassed was still Empress Wen who had organized this banquet. At this time, just standing there, she just felt waves of dizziness wash over her. She didn’t even need to wait until after the fact to know that she will certainly get blamed as incompetent by Xuan Emperor because of this matter.

Moreover, there was another serious problem, and that was just regarding the problem of ‘falling into the water’ and ‘getting engaged’.

Since the beginning of time, in the back manor, if there’s some method to forcibly facilitate a marriage, then the most commonly seen was just falling into the water and getting saved, or two people falling into the water at the same time and coming in contact in the water. This was just an enormous threat and excuse for marriage.

If during this chaos, Wu Wang and Wei Wang didn’t fall into the water, then the outcome of the selection, for the most part, can be easily decided on. These ten young ladies that had the best luck, that didn’t get affected in the chaos just now, regardless whether it was their talent, appearance, character, or favor from heaven, all can become a candidate for the wangfei position.

But, Wu Wang and Wei Wang both fell into the water.

Wei Wang’s personality, to put it a bit pleasantly, was just having tender feelings for beauties, but realistically speaking, it was just being frivolous and lustful. In the imperial selection this time, there were indeed a few young ladies that had relatively outstanding appearances. And with blood rushing to his head, Wei Wang just voluntarily went over to ‘check on’ the situation, directing the eunuchs and helping out in passing.

That’s why, getting shoved down amidst the chaos was actually quite normal. As for Wu Wang, it was just instinctively wanting to help pull him. This pull was rather steady, but the eunuch that rushed over to help behind them also stepped on the oily vegetables and slipped, going from wanting to pull to pushing. The outcome was just as what everyone saw.

Wu Wang, Wei Wang, and a dozen or so official young ladies simultaneously fell into the water.

If they were to not select all these young ladies, then their family certainly will cry for their injustice, or even make an imperial complaint. Afraid, they will even have the resolution to spill blood before the palace gates.

After all, their family’s young lady had obediently entered the palace waiting for the selection and didn’t do anything at all, neither framing one another, nor causing trouble. It was the golden pheasants and white cat that caused trouble out of nowhere, causing them to be frightened, or even possibly getting burned, and afterwards, even fall into the water together with two males. If the imperial family doesn’t give an explanation, can they accept?

But, if to select them all, on one hand, the usual custom for the princes was normally just one main consort, and two side consorts. Although there were lower ranks below, but it wasn’t necessary to select all at once for the main wedding.

But, this dozen or so official young ladies added together, the amount was truly too many. Even if separately conferring and entering the two wang manors, that was still quite a lot.

Besides, in the back manor schemes normally, it was just whoever falls into the water, whoever gets married. But, Wu Wang and Wei Wang had fallen into the water with this many young ladies, so how should it be divided between the two brothers?