The room was left with only Lady Dou facing a table of leftover, cold food.
It was said to be a table, but it was actually a small, broken table about the size of a basket.
The dishes were cold, with a layer of congealed oil floating on top, and everything imaginable in the ingredients, like the leftovers pieced together.
The soup was also insipid, yet a film of oil still floated on its surface.
Calling it soup was a stretch; it was more like dishwater.
Is this drinkable? Is this meal edible?
Even for ordinary people, it could be consumed.
But for Lady Dou, accustomed to a luxurious life, it was entirely unswallowable.
"That wretched Lan Xiang, she ran away after just a slap."
"Lan Rui is nowhere to be seen either."
She’s left all by herself, who could she order around?
The more Lady Dou thought about it, the more wronged she felt and burst into tears, lying on the table.
At that moment, Consort Zheng Pin and Consort Yun Pin walked in, hand in hand.
"Oh my!"
"Isn’t this Honored Lady Dou? Why are you crying?"
Consort Yun Pin entered with malice.
Consort Zheng Pin followed, looking around and sighing.
"This place isn’t so bad for Honored Lady Dou, is it?"
At least, much better than she imagined!
"Why are you crying? I think this place... doesn’t wrong you at all!"
Honored Lady Dou, seeing people coming, immediately stifled her sobs, wiped her tears, and looked up, stunned.
"It’s you?"
Just as she finished speaking.
Instantly, a palace maid jumped out from the side.
"How dare you! Meeting two madams and not paying respect by kneeling!"
"You..." Honored Lady Dou instinctively rebuked.
"You, a mere palace maid, how dare you confront me!"
"Oh, my! Still considering yourself as ’me’? It’s laughable!" Consort Yun Pin ridiculed with a smile from the side.
Consort Zheng Pin also covered her mouth, laughing.
"Indeed... Too used to being a consort to remember how to be an honored lady!"
"Which honored lady would refer to herself as ’me’? It’s simply a joke!"
Honored Lady Dou came to her senses and reluctantly knelt down.
"Greetings to the two madams!"
Consort Zheng Pin and Consort Yun Pin found a place to sit nearby and waved their hands.
"Rise!"
"Thank you, madams!"
Seeing the former Consort Ning, now Honored Lady Dou.
Kneeling before them, wagging her tail like a pitiful dog.
Their hearts were filled with immense satisfaction.
After Honored Lady Dou rose, she stood to the side, trembling, not daring to speak or sit.
The cold, leftover dishes on the table continued to emit an unpleasant odor.
Consort Yun Pin frowned, covering her nose and mouth.
"Oh my, what are these things? Quickly take them away, or do you want to suffocate ’me’?"
"Yes!"
The palace maid Cai Die, beside Consort Yun Pin, quickly responded and ordered the meals to be removed.
Honored Lady Dou looked reluctant.
After all, without eating this, she’d have to go hungry.
The dishes and soup were inedible, but the plain rice was surely edible, even if a bit mushy and cold.
Still, it could fill the stomach.
But now...
"Rest assured, we’ve been sisters for so many years, we just came to visit you today!"
"Look, what have we brought you?" Consort Zheng Pin said with a smile.
Then she instructed the palace maid beside her to bring a large food box.
The palace maid stepped forward and opened the food box.
She took things out one by one.
Roast chicken and duck, fish and shrimp ribs, everything was there.
There were also soups, trotters soup, crucian carp soup, ginseng chicken soup, as well as longan and white fungus soup, snow pear soup, red dates and glutinous rice soup, and so on.
Even the bottommost layer of the box contained several plates of durable snacks.
The hot aroma quickly filled the entire room.
"How about it?" Consort Zheng Pin said.
"These were all your favorites in the past, which we both remembered!"
"Early this morning, I instructed the Imperial Kitchen to prepare these dishes to bring them to you at noon!"
Consort Yun Pin, on the side, also smiled brightly.
"Isn’t that right!"
"Honored Lady Dou, do you still like them!"
Honored Lady Dou looked at the dazzling array laid out on the table.
Somewhat in disbelief.
"You..."
She couldn’t believe they would treat her so kindly.
She had been harsh to them in every way before, so would they really be so kind now?
Consort Yun Pin, seeing she hadn’t reacted for a long time, snorted coldly.
"What? Worry we’ve poisoned the food?"
"Should I try each dish for you now?"
Finishing her words, she genuinely moved to get the chopsticks.
Seeing this, Honored Lady Dou hurriedly knelt down.
"No... no need!"
"I’m grateful for the kind intentions of the two madams!"
Consort Yun Pin laughed.
"That’s more like it, haven’t had lunch yet, right? Hurry and eat!"
"Otherwise, when the dishes get cold, they won’t taste good anymore!"
Honored Lady Dou’s back stiffened sharply.
Although it now seemed there was no poison, she still didn’t quite trust their kindness.
There must be some scheme hidden within.