Baihua Pavilion.
An Shutong was arranging flowers. The traveling palace might be short on other things, but it was never short on flowers. She had few pastimes these days, so she could only find things to do for herself.
Because she was the Empress Dowager's niece, the other concubines in the harem put on a show of getting along with her, but no one would ever truly be her friend.
She was a person without friends.
When she first entered the palace, she hadn't cared. The Emperor's concubines were all rivals. Who could genuinely be friends with whom?
But now, seeing how close the three concubines were, and watching how well Noble Consort Feng and her two friends got along, she slowly began to feel a sense of envy.
This envy wasn't obvious at first. She had merely thought their good relationship was just an act, a pretense meant to fool the Imperial Concubine.
But over the past few years, she had come to feel, with genuine certainty, that their friendship was real.
