teach

Guo Shu was puzzled and surprised when he heard Qingya ask to go to the Cold Palace, but he agreed because of the earrings and jade pendant that Qingya put in his hand.

After all, the Cold Palace is no pleasant place; it's easy to get in but hard to get out. Few fools would offer him money, so he had no reason to refuse.

It wasn't until three years later, when Guo Shu saw Qingya carrying Ping An, who was only 'two years old' and whose body was noticeably smaller than that of an ordinary baby, that he suddenly realized what had happened.

No wonder, no wonder Qingya insisted on coming to the Cold Palace. It turns out she caught a rich husband in the palace and thought she could be taken out to live a good life because of her son. But judging from the current situation, she probably made a mistake. It's just a pity for this newborn baby, who will probably stay in the Cold Palace until he dies.

But what does it have to do with him? The child isn't his.

Guo Shu smiled and shook his head, glanced at Qingya and left, not taking Ping An's matter to heart at all, nor did he inform Shen Meiwu. After all, he was currently in charge of the Cold Palace. If Shen Meiwu knew that someone in the Cold Palace had an affair and even had a child under his management, he would probably be in deep trouble.

Seeing that Guo Shu didn't say anything, the others in the Cold Palace were even less likely to say anything. Ping An's existence thus became an open secret in the Cold Palace.

*****

After resolving the issue of Ping An's existence, Qingya began to think about what to do next.

She wasn't thinking about taking Ping An out of the palace. After all, if she had that ability, she wouldn't have brought Ping An to the Cold Palace in the first place. What she was thinking about was whether or not to teach Ping An to read and write.

It wasn't that she couldn't teach Ping An; after all, she had been by Fu Yunjin's side for over ten years, and Fu Yunjin had always treated her like a younger sister, teaching her everything. Therefore, her literary skills were no less than those of many noble ladies from ordinary families. However, she was unsure whether she should teach Ping An.

If Ping An were literate, she would clearly understand the desperate situation they were in: no hope, no way forward, no future, and they would likely spend their entire lives in the cold palace, never leaving until their death.

Not to mention Fu Yunjin's ordeal and the Fu family's affairs.

Qingya was caught in a dilemma, and the matter of teaching Ping'an was thus delayed. Little did she know that Ping'an had met her 'teacher' on the other side and was undergoing a different kind of 'teaching'.

*****

The Cold Palace is a place without masters and with no future prospects, so the palace servants assigned here either try their best to leave for a better future, or they stay here disheartened and become walking corpses.

Therefore, Qingya usually doesn't restrain Ping An. After all, the palace servants who want to leave won't take Ping An seriously and have no interest in bullying a child like her. The palace servants who don't want to leave also won't take Ping An seriously because they don't even care about themselves, so no one will hurt Ping An.

Therefore, Ping An could often be seen jumping around in the Cold Palace.

That day, as Ping An was trying to climb up the abandoned palace with a hole in the roof, a deposed concubine gracefully walked over.

"What is your name?" the deposed concubine asked softly.

“My name is Ping An,” Ping An said, looking curiously at the deposed concubine. “And you? What’s your name?”

"My name is Shen Meiwu, and I am His Majesty's favorite concubine. Would you like to know how I won His Majesty's favor?"

Ping An scratched his head: "'His Majesty'? Why do you want to please him? Is it because he'll cook delicious food for you?"

The deposed concubine was surprised to receive such an answer and was stunned for a while before she spoke: "His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, so of course he won't cook delicious food for me. But His Majesty will have people cook delicious food for me. Not only that, His Majesty will also have people bring me silks, satins, jewelry and jade, and let me choose whatever I want. He will also use all kinds of jewelry to please me. Even if I want the moon in the sky, His Majesty will find a way to pluck it down for me."

Ping An had never seen silk and satin or jewelry, but she had seen the moon, so her eyes lit up when she heard this, and she exclaimed "Wow!"

"So, do you want to know?"

Ping An replied firmly, "Yes!"

"Then let me tell you, the most important thing is to pretend."

"Pretending? What do you mean?"

"It means never let anyone know your true self, but rather pretend to be the way they like you. Like me, even though I grew up in the slums, and my language is crude and my behavior frivolous, I still pretend to be a clueless little girl in front of the Emperor, weak and innocent, just because the Emperor likes me."

"Oh, okay, I know, then I..."

"I haven't finished yet, don't interrupt me." The deposed concubine interrupted Ping An and continued, "Secondly, it's hypocrisy."

"Insincere?"

“It’s about never telling the truth,” the deposed concubine chuckled a few times. “Like how I don’t like the Emperor at all, but I pretend to love him to death, to the point that I can’t live without him, to the point that I can only depend on him for survival. In this way, even if the Emperor is a heartless person, I can warm him up and he can’t help but hold me in the palm of his hand and cherish me in every way.”

"Oh..." Ping An nodded, seemingly understanding but not quite.

"Then we'll resort to any means necessary."

"play hard?"

“Yes, by any means necessary,” the deposed concubine said, turning around inexplicably. “Do you see these wounds on my body?”

Ping An nodded.

"I did it all myself."

"You did this yourself?!" Ping An asked, puzzled and shocked. "Why? Doesn't it hurt?"

"Of course it hurt, but do you know what I got? I got the Phoenix Seal!" The deposed concubine said with shining eyes, "His Majesty values ​​the Empress, but I was unwilling to be subordinate to anyone. So I used our past friendship to invite the Empress to walk alone in the Imperial Garden. Then I came back covered in injuries and pretended to have a reason to tell His Majesty that my obviously strange injuries were from an 'accidental fall' and had nothing to do with the Empress. After His Majesty found out, he stripped the Empress of her right to manage the harem and took back the Phoenix Seal, giving it to me to play with."

Ping An pursed her lips, feeling a bit bored, because she had never heard of what a Phoenix Seal was, but no matter how bored she felt, she couldn't leave.

The deposed concubine noticed that she didn't really want to listen, so she grabbed the hem of her dress. She tried to pull it off several times but couldn't. However, this dress was the only one of all her clothes without any patches, and she couldn't bear to tear it. So she could only listen to the deposed concubine continue.

"Finally, it's about being heartless."

After speaking, the deposed concubine looked expectantly at Ping An, but did not hear a response from Ping An, so she reached out and nudged Ping An.

Ping An rolled her eyes and said in a flat voice, "Oh, what does 'heart of stone' mean?"

"Being heartless means never caring about the life or death of others, only caring about oneself. So no matter how good His Majesty is to me, I will resolutely try every means to get what I want from him, without considering the consequences of doing so, or what kind of harm it will cause to His Majesty. Life is short, like grass and trees in autumn. Getting what I want is the most important thing, don't you think?"

Ping An nodded heavily when he saw the deposed concubine looking at him.

"So, did you understand everything?"

"I understand, I understand. I'll go find the 'Emperor' right now and put on a show of feigned affection, using any means necessary, and being heartless towards him."

"You're going to find the Emperor?" The deposed concubine's voice suddenly turned shrill: "You're going to find the Emperor! The Emperor is mine! He belongs to me, Chen Meiwu! All you lowly people who are fighting with me for the Emperor, die! Die!"

Ping An was startled by the sudden change in the deposed concubine's expression. She didn't even flinch when the concubine loosened her grip on her clothes until the concubine's fingernails were about to hit her face. Only then did she realize what was happening and flee in panic.

*****

Qingya ultimately decided to teach Ping'an. Although Ping'an might feel pain after learning to read and write, Ping'an was Fu Yunjin's only daughter, and she couldn't bear to watch Fu Yunjin's daughter grow up to be illiterate. However, she didn't plan to tell Ping'an about Fu Yunjin's situation.

Perhaps because he inherited Fu Yunjin's bloodline, Ping An learns things extremely quickly, almost instantly grasping them. It took Qingya four months to learn the Thousand Character Classic, but Ping An finished it in less than a month. A piece that Qingya couldn't learn no matter what, Ping An was able to play after only listening to it three times.

Seeing Ping An like this, Qingya's heart was filled with bitterness. It was because Fu Yunjin had passed away before she could see Ping An show her talents, and it was also because no matter how intelligent Ping An was, it was all in vain. After all, people in the Cold Palace could not leave unless something unexpected happened.

*****

Because Ping An learned too quickly, Qing Ya's knowledge was completely exhausted by Ping An within a few years, and she could only return to her previous state, leaving Ping An to wander around the Cold Palace.

While strolling around, Ping An bumped into an acquaintance.

That deposed concubine who scared her half to death.

However, she did not go there, not only because she still couldn't forget the shadow left by the deposed concubine, but also because the deposed concubine's current situation did not allow her to go there.

The deposed concubine is being beaten by Guo Shu.

"You dare spout nonsense! You dare utter such blatant lies! You dare tarnish the Imperial Concubine's reputation! Do you still dare to do this?!"

"I dare not, I dare not, Meiwu will never dare again, Your Majesty, please don't hit me anymore, Meiwu knows she was wrong, Meiwu truly knows she was wrong..."

Upon hearing this, Guo Shugang raised the whip he had just put down again.

"Are you never going to stop?! Still pretending to be crazy, do you want to die?!"

The deposed concubine rolled around on the ground trying to avoid Guo Shu's whip, while muttering things like "Mei Wu wouldn't dare to do it again." Even when Guo Shu got tired of whipping her, he didn't change his words.

Guo Shu then casually handed the whip to a young eunuch beside him, panting heavily, and said, "You, whip her, whip her to death, keep whipping her until she changes her mind."

Then Guo Shu went to the side and sat down to rest, drinking tea and eating snacks, leisurely watching the deposed concubine being beaten. Several eunuchs were busy around him, either shielding him from the sun or fanning him, making him very comfortable.

Seeing this scene, a thought suddenly arose in Ping An's mind.

She wanted to be like Guo Shu.

Or rather, she wanted to become someone like Guo Shu.

She wanted to be the one with the right to whip people, the one with the right to decide the life and death of others, and the one with the right to enjoy everything.

She wanted to be someone who had power.