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Published at 21st of February 2020 12:03:14 PM


Chapter 16

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Translated by: RandomAlex Edited by: Cazhe

At noon, the imperial carriage stopped outside Luoyun Palace. Qing Ru was shocked to find that Luo Ran was so good at guessing the Emperor’s mind. She was now determined in following her and no longer had second thoughts.

Lu Chen’s face was cold, his furrowed brows showed that he was in a bad mood. With a trace of anger hidden in his brow, he lifted his foot into Luoyun palace.

Luo Ran went to meet him, and naturally noticed his face. She bit her lips, approached him with care, and bowed timidly to him.

Lu Chen had some unpleasant thoughts but he relaxed his look, pulled her up, and asked her as softly as possible: “Have you had lunch?”

Luo ran nodded: “Yes.”

The palace people backed out. Luo Ran glanced at him, to make sure that his anger was not against her. Then, she gently and tentatively put her head on his shoulder. Seeing Lu Chen did not stop her, she still wasn’t relieved, so she asked:

“Your Majesty, are you still angry?”

Lu Chen remembered that Luo Ran was in charge of the harem; so she naturally knew what happened today. She was so careful and afraid that he would be angry with her. After all, she did the same thing as Zi Fu at the beginning.

Lu Chen denied it: “No.”

Luo Ran did not believe him, and bowed her head in frustration: “Does Your Majesty… Hate it…?”

She didn’t say every word but Lu Chen knew what she was trying to say. His fingers gently sealed her lips, then his fingers went down, pulling up her chin, he made her look at him and him into her watery eyes.

“I don’t like this behavior, but I like you.”

Lu Chen had never said he liked her so openly before. Luo Ran’s face was dyed red instantly. She seemed a little lost. She looked shyly at Lu Chen with joy in her eyes.

Lu Chen’s heart felt warm, and his big palm caressed her waist and drew her closer to him. If there was no comparison, he wouldn’t know, but when Zi Fu took advantage of his inattention to stick close to him, he found that this charming girl in front of him right now was more to his taste. 

Under his heated eyes, she shivered. Her whole person wanted to curl up in his arms, while shyly blushing, it spread all over her body. Lu Chen’s eyes hooked onto her and gradually deepened.

Lu Chen pressed onto her and felt his discomfort disappear. He raised his hand and wiped the sweat off her forehead. He narrowed his eyes slightly and thought she looked lazy, like a pampered cat lying contentedly in the sun.

Lu Chen gently caressed her and looked at her shivering body. Her watery eyes looked at him. The corners of her eyes showed the charm in her bones, but she was a little silly. Lu Chen only felt the heat in his heart and bowed down to listen to her tender voice.

 

Afterwards, Luo Ran lay in his arms feebly. Her jade hand in the quilt was placed on his waist and gently brushing him. Lu Chen closed his eyes and pitied her for her weakness, but liked her little affectations after the deed.

The dark sky was floating down, so thick that it could not be dissolved. However, Liuli palace was still lit this late at night.

Zhou Xi sat in her seat, her fingernails deep in the palm of her hand, looking at Zi Fu kneeling at the end of her steps. She had been kneeling all afternoon. Her face was wet with tears. Some were because of fear and some regret, while others from shame.

Zhou Xi could not pity her. She only understood that she had betrayed herself. She gritted her teeth and said, “How does Bengong treat you?”

Zi Fu seemed to be awakened by her voice and did not dare to look at her. With her head down, she was starting to really begin to regret it now: “Imperial Concubine is naturally kind to this handmaiden.”

“And you still try to cheat your master!” Her words really provoked Zhou Xi. She was brought into the palace by Zhou Xi. She thought she was close to her and the person she could trust the most. However, she unexpectedly betrayed her.

Zhou Xi’s eyes were red. Now, there were two incidents of people trying to climb the bed in the harem, and they were all people from her palace. She did not need to go out of the palace to imagine how the women in the harem laughed at her.

And Luo Ran! That lowly maid, this time, she was probably also laughing at you! At the thought of her face being ruined, Zhou Xi wished there was no Zi Fu in this world.

“Since you know how good Bengong is to you, why did you do such a thing! Putting Bengong’s face on the ground, letting people trample on it and letting people laugh!”

Zi Fu looked up at Zhou Xi with a slightly ferocious look but finally realized the seriousness of the matter. She knelt and hugged Zhou Xi’s legs: “Madam, this handmaiden knows her mistakes! This handmaiden was only possessed for a while! Please forgive this handmaiden once, I absolutely wouldn’t dare anymore! Madam!”

“Forgive you?” Zhou Xi held Zi Fu’s chin in one hand and raised her face. Her fingernails sank into the cheeks of her face, scratching her skin and spilling a trace of blood. Fear flashed into Zi Fu’s eyes.

However, Zhou Xi stared at her as if she did not feel it, and mocked: “If Bengong forgave you, wouldn’t they laugh at Bengong?”

Zi Fu’s tears fell in horror. The Imperial Concubine had never treated her like this before. She spoke with difficulty: “Please, Madam, forgive this handmaiden once for her many years of devotion.”

Zhou Xi sneered: “Devotion?” The words were cold and sarcastic. Her eyes turned red and she shed a few tears: “You were devoted to Bengong?!”

Zhou Xi shook her head, stepped forward, looked down at her, smiled angrily and reprimanded, “You go to deliver food to the Emperor and try to climb the Emperor’s bed in Bengong’s name, and only now think about the affections between us master and servant after so many years!”

At this point, Zhou Xi seemed to see the sarcastic faces of countless people in her mind, especially Luo Ran’s face. Zhou Xi suddenly broke down and knocked over all the tea sets on the table.

“Ah!”

Zhou Xi suddenly came forward and slapped Zi Fu in the face and stared at her closely: “Is it because you noticed that Bengong was out of favour, saw the appearance of that cheap maid Luo Ran now, did you think of abandoning your old master, Bengong, to enjoy splendour and wealth?”

“This maidservant… maidservant…” Zi Fu, with her face in one hand, dodged and hesitated to answer her question. She told herself that it was because her mistress had gone too far that she even thought of it.

But she knew that without Luo Ran as an example, no matter how the Imperial Concubine was, she would not have dared to think of it. It was all because of Luo Ran and the gentle treatment to her from the Emperor, and the attentive service from the palace —  Who would be willing to serve their whole life to if they could become superior.

No need for her to say it, Zhou Xi understood her thoughts from the look on her face. Zhou Xi sneered, patted her cheek lightly with one hand, and looked compassionate, but her next words were full of sarcasm:

“You want to follow Luo Ran’s example, that cheap maid, but did you not look at yourself in the mirror first? Why do you think Bengong allowed you to wait in front and hide Luo Ran in the back? It was because your face was no threat!”

Watching Zi Fu turn pale because of her words, Zhou Xi felt a burst of happiness in his heart, but there was also a numbing pain. She ignored it: “Oh, don’t you see? Which concubines in this harem are not as beautiful as you? They have not won any favours, what made you think you would?”

Zhou Xi gathered all her emotions and spoke with cold pride: “Remember, Bengong once told you there was a bird in this world that did not land unless it was on a sycamore tree and did not drink water unless it was from a mountain stream. In the end, it died. Why?”

Zi Fu rose from the ground with a pale face and trembling: “I remember, it was because it had seen the lifestyle of a phoenix.”

Zhou Xi leered at her: “Bengong warned you a long time ago, but it seems like you didn’t understand my meaning. Then Bengong will tell you again, just because you’ve seen a Phoenix doesn’t you can think of yourself as a Phoenix!”

Zi Fu turned pale in an instant. She remembered the meaningful look on Zhou Xi’s face when she said this to her. Did she know what she was thinking and warned her at that time?!

“Somebody! Drag her down and beat to death!”

Zhou Xi looked at her and said the words one by one without blinking as if it was not the Zi Fu who grew up with her, but a grasshopper that could be easily trampled on to death.

“Madam!”

Zi Fu stared at Zhou Xi, who had always considered her ideas. What she got, in the end, was not the wealth and prosperity she imagined, but the loss of her own life.

Zi Fu was dragged. The night was dark and seemed to have the ability to swallow someone. Zhou Xi looked at it for a long time, pinched her handkerchief, and kneaded it to bits.





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