Chapter 87 From then on, the king no longer held court early

For the next ten days, Xi Helan went to Changle Palace on time after lunch every day, making shaved ice under the scorching sun, and did not go back until dinner time with stiff hands and feet and soaking wet.

I don't know if it was because he wanted to torture her on purpose, but the ice was frozen hard and the tool she was given was just a small shovel. In addition, the ice melted very quickly under the sun, so she had to keep moving. If she slacked off or the ice turned into icy water, she would be slapped by Xiangtan.

However, Xiangtan became impatient after only two days of guarding her. After all, standing outside in the hot summer was not as comfortable as standing in the cool palace, even though she could not get any sunlight where she was standing. So she handed the matter over to Liuyun, the second-class palace maid whom she had always disliked.

Liuyun is an embroiderer who has just entered the palace this year. She was noticed by Gao Baoxi for her outstanding embroidery skills and delicate mind, and came to Changle Palace to be an exclusive embroiderer. But it didn't take long before her kindness, enthusiasm, intelligence and quickness won the hearts of all the palace people. Even Xiangyun, who had very high standards, liked her very much. Finally, in less than two months, she became a second-class palace maid.

But Liuyun and Xiangtan did not get along very well. The reason was that Xiangtan was a mean and ungrateful person who loved to take advantage of others. She was harsh and mean to all the palace maids in Changle Palace, and would beat or scold them at any time. Liuyun could not stand it and argued with her endlessly. Xiangtan was furious and would play tricks on Liuyun whenever she found an opportunity. However, her mind was not flexible enough, so she was always found out and fought back. This made her even more angry, and she wanted to kill Liuyun. Liuyun fought back without giving in. Gradually, the two became mortal enemies.

On this day, Xi Helan returned to her bedroom from Changle Palace as usual. After eating something quickly, she washed up and went to bed. She fell asleep as soon as she touched the pillow.

[bite! The host has not made any progress on the mission for 60 days, and is executing the first stage of punishment: 5 lightning strikes, which will begin after a five-breath countdown. ]

In the middle of the night, Xi Helan, who was sleeping in a daze, suddenly heard a familiar voice in her ear, but she was too tired to open her eyes. She snorted in dissatisfaction and turned over to continue sleeping.

Unexpectedly, the next moment she felt an electric current suddenly spread throughout her body, directly hitting her limbs and bones. She couldn't help but tremble and curled up in pain.

She wanted to open her mouth and scream in pain, but her throat went numb, and then she felt a chill with a thorn-like pain rushing up to her head. Her scalp was numb, as if someone was pricking her acupuncture points with a silver needle. Her facial features were twisted in pain. Her hands were tightly clenched, and her sharp nails dug into her palms. There were drops of bright red blood slowly flowing out, but she seemed not to feel the pain and squeezed even tighter...

[Second lightning strike preparation, 3, 2...]

Xi Helan's heart suddenly began to beat fast as she listened to the countdown. Her remaining sanity told her that she must not let anyone find out about this. When the lightning struck, she became ruthless, closed her eyes, and bit the quilt hard.

A sharp pain spread throughout her body, and the pain felt like a silver needle piercing into her bone marrow. Her body kept twitching under the quilt. It felt as if a fire was boiling in her body, and her throat felt burning as if boiling water was poured down. With a splitting headache, Xi Helan clenched her hands and banged her head hard. If she hadn't been so weak all over, she would have wanted to bang her head against the wall.

Wenqing and Zhen'er, who were guarding outside the house, heard the sound and ran in quickly. They were frightened to see their master doing such crazy things. They quickly stepped forward, lifted the veil, and called her anxiously.

Xi Helan was enduring the last lightning strike and was already in extreme pain. The voices of the two men were like devilish sounds that made her roll over in agony on the bed, and a muffled groan like an animal on the verge of death came from her throat.

Wenqing and Zhen'er were so anxious that they didn't know what to do. Just when they were about to cry and go find the imperial physician, the punishment was finally carried out. Xi Helan panted and grabbed Zhen'er, trembling with her lips and making a broken voice: "No, you are not allowed to go... Otherwise, I will never let you go."

When she said this, her eyes were red and her face was pale. Her fierce eyes were like those of a demon. Wen Qing and the others felt infinite fear in their hearts and knelt down trembling.

Although the punishment was over, Xi Helan was still trembling with pain all over her body. Beads of sweat the size of beans kept falling from her forehead, soaking her clothes and quilt. Waves of icy cold air penetrated her stiff skin and entered her body, making her involuntarily think of the cold light of the lightning strike just now.

After a short rest, she endured the discomfort and let Wenqing and the others bring in hot water for her to wash and change clothes. She lay back on the bed. Her mood had calmed down and her whole body was left with only a deep feeling of fatigue. Only her head seemed to still ache slightly.

Xi Helan waved her hand to let the two go down, and frowned as she called out the system. Because she had lost consciousness due to the pain, she couldn't hear what it said at all. She only vaguely remembered that a pop-up box seemed to pop up after the punishment was over.

[The first stage of punishment ends. If there is still no progress in the task within the next 30 days, the second stage of punishment will begin: 8 lightning strikes. ]

Xi Helan sighed deeply, stared at the ceiling of the bed with bloodshot eyes, and began to think in his mind.

The next day, Xi Helan did not get up until near noon. After eating a little, she went to Changle Palace. However, she was very exhausted last night and felt dizzy after making about a hundred servings. Liu Yun saw that her face was really ugly, so he secretly asked someone to give her a bowl of sugar water. He also remembered that the imperial concubine and a group of concubines had accompanied the empress dowager to the Wanfo Temple in the suburbs to worship Buddha yesterday, and would not be back for six days at the earliest. So he told her to make about two hundred servings and then go back to rest.

Xi Helan smiled gratefully, but in her heart she was planning to use her as a breakthrough point, not only to earn points for the next arrangements, but also to take revenge on Xiangtan.

When she returned that night, she made a detailed plan, and then subconsciously began to look for simple people in Changle Palace to talk to, often telling interesting stories. At the same time, she also actively built a good relationship with Liuyun, and soon won the favor of everyone.

Even when Xiangtan continued to cause trouble for Gao Baoxi after she came back with her, she still managed to create a strong yet weak and pitiful character of a little white lotus, which not only made everyone more sympathetic to her but also deepened their hatred for Xiangtan. Moreover, Liuyun also protected her very much and seemed to be treating her as a close friend.

Two days later, Xi Helan was making shaved ice in the yard. She looked up and saw Liu Yun coming out of the house with a bitter face and frowned. She could guess without asking that Xiang Tan must have assigned Liu Yun another thankless task. She rolled her eyes and smiled imperceptibly, then immediately returned to normal. She pulled Liu Yun over and asked in confusion, "Sister Liu Yun, why are you so sad? What difficulties have you encountered?"

Liu Yun lowered his eyes to glance at the food box in his hand, and said in annoyance, "Her Majesty asked Xiangtan to deliver this farewell meal to the maids on duty in the cold palace, saying that Her Majesty had obtained the tokens for them to leave the palace, and this could be considered their last meal in the palace. Only a complete beginning and an end would make it perfect, but Xiangtan pushed this matter to me."

"This isn't a difficult thing to do." Xi Helan said blankly. Seeing Liu Yun's shocked expression, she asked in confusion, "Sister Liu Yun, what's with that expression on your face? Is there some inside story that I don't know?"

"That's the cold palace, where the wronged souls of past dynasties gather. Now it's almost sunset, and the yin energy is gathering. I heard that there are wandering souls there at night, gusts of cold wind, and shrill cries that sound like crying and laughing..." Speaking of this, Liu Yun couldn't help but shiver, frowned and said in panic, "It's very scary."

"Really?" Xi Helan murmured, but her mind flashed back to what the maids said when they clamped her that day. They seemed to be the people from the cold palace. Thinking of this, she smiled silently, raised her head and said with a smile, "I'll help you, Sister Liuyun. I have never been afraid of these things since I was a child."

In comparison, human hearts are more sinister and unpredictable.

"And I've always been curious about what the cold palace looks like. You know I like these weird things the most."

What I am more curious about and interested in is how to return to them the punishment they inflicted on me a hundred times.

Xi Helan smiled even more happily. She reached out and took the food box from Liu Yun's hand, and said with a smile: "Sister, just consider it as fulfilling my sister's wish, okay?"

"Is this okay?" Liu Yun said with some intention, "Are you really not afraid? You are not doing this on purpose to help me, are you?"

"No, I'm really not afraid." Xi Helan patted her shoulder, "Don't worry, I will definitely appear in front of you tomorrow."

"Well, I'll leave this to you." Liu Yun breathed a sigh of relief and finally smiled, leaning close to her and whispering, "I'll prepare sour plum juice for you tomorrow."

…

Xi Helan slowly pushed open the door of the cold palace and walked in. Several maids whom she would never forget were sitting around a small wooden table in front of the hall, eating and chatting. When they saw the visitor wearing a simple maid's uniform, they shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Don't you know that this is a forbidden area in the cold palace?"

"Hello, aunts. I'm Jinghui, and I'm here on the orders of the Imperial Concubine to deliver the tokens to leave the palace and a farewell meal to you. The Empress said that this is to thank you for your previous help, and she specially ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare it." Xi Helan bowed her head and saluted obediently, placing the tokens and food box on the table.

"It's Miss Jinghui. Please take a seat." When they saw the token, they were overjoyed. They quickly stood up to greet her, poured her a cup of tea, and stuffed two silver bills into her arms, saying with a smile, "Thank you Miss Jinghui for making this trip. There's nothing good to treat you in the cold palace. This is not a small token of respect. Please thank the queen on behalf of the maids."

Xi Helan took the banknote with a smile and said, "Aunts, you are welcome. Let's eat first. I can go back and reply."

"Yes, yes, yes." Several people opened the lunch boxes diligently, brought out the dishes and put them on the table, and started eating while praising the food. Xi Helan looked at them with a faint smile, and soon, they fainted one after another.

The author has something to say: ?? Estimation failed~~ I thought I could let the male and female protagonists appear today, but it turned out to be another chapter about the female supporting role. I thought about it seriously for a long time, and the content of this chapter is really indispensable, so I still wrote it like this. If you are disappointed if you don’t see the male and female protagonists, please forgive me~~

I know that many people watch this drama just to see the interaction between the male and female protagonists, but supporting roles are also indispensable. Most importantly, in this world that I have set, it is not the male and female protagonists who drive the changes in the supporting female characters, but Concubine Gao and her maids. Therefore, the male and female protagonists have no roles. I promise that the male and female protagonists will come out to show their sweetness tomorrow, so please don’t give up on me! ! !