Chapter 14 Is this her? The imperial harem, the imperial court, and the common people. But…
The imperial harem, the imperial court, the common people—they're all just grains of sand on his fingertips. When he's in a good mood, he might offer some leftovers, and they'd all wag their tails like dogs.
Looking down at their carnage, one can see how they gradually tear away the so-called refinement cultivated with gold, silver, silk, brocade, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Whether commoner or noble, beautiful or ugly, beneath the mask lies only bone, upon which clings flesh and blood, containing excrement, urine, snot, tears, saliva, and sweat, nourishing all manner of desires.
Even if she cleverly pointed it out, so what?
The boy's smile was inexplicably kind and approachable.
His reaction made Qingqing feel uneasy.
This statement is offensive, especially when directed at someone like Yan Dibai who is lonely and isolated at the top.
He will probably retaliate.
On the contrary, she felt a sense of relief, as if she had finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The girl's gaze merely darted away slightly before she looked frankly back at the boy. She said nothing more, yet it seemed as if she had said everything.
Yan Dibai met her gaze. Amidst the fluctuating atmosphere, his usual arrogance and unrestrained demeanor in front of the world faded away, just like the gradually slowing sound of dripping water.
Gone is that unpredictable madness, and the heavy makeup is ignored. He stands there casually and lazily, looking exactly like a young emperor straight out of various novels.
Unpredictable and ever-changing, profound and difficult to fathom.
For a moment, Yan Dibai lowered his dark eyes, his face expressionless.
“You’re not only cunning, you’re also quite intelligent.” Before Yang Liuqing could grasp the deeper meaning of his words, the young man’s expression suddenly turned disdainful:
"You think you can win my favor by taking a different approach?"
Her eyes narrowed, and the young man had already summoned the imperial carriage. Her flowing robes swayed as he shouted, "Get off!"
Yang Liuqing took a breath, and before the eunuch could push her, she jumped back into the Taiye Pond with a "plop."
It got dark.
The torrential rain soaked my clothes, which had finally started to dry a bit.
Dai Yun was carrying the last stack of books into the hall to avoid the rain when he saw a girl covered in waterlogged clothes walking towards him. He frowned and stepped forward:
"What's wrong with you, girl? It's autumn, it's cold—sigh!"
Before Yang Liuqing could even get under the eaves, her body swayed, and suddenly everything went black.
*
The female official in the Wende Hall is ill.
Some speculate that he couldn't sleep well because he was constantly following the emperor, and he also caught a chill from being dragged into the water by the concubines, which is why he couldn't take it.
It just so happened that it was September, just after the sweltering heat had subsided, and the nights were cool. Dai Yun's condition worsened, and she had no choice but to go and explain the situation to Eunuch Wang. Eunuch Wang sent someone to check on her, and they smelled the strong odor of medicine throughout the room.
There was also a dull, hoarse cough.
The room was cold and dark. To avoid catching a chill, the windows were closed.
The visitor frowned.
"My lord, that girl is delirious from her illness, and I'm afraid she might be in some danger."
As the Grand Eunuch Wang was taking stock of the newly recruited palace servants, he casually remarked, "A completely redundant position. Let her stay; once she's in office, she can take the position and if she dies, she can be taken away."
It was all just His Majesty's whim. A maid with no status or family background has already achieved enough to reach her current position.
Every day, several cartloads of unidentified corpses were dumped outside the palace, but who cared?
"yes."
It was rare for her to show kindness, so Dai Yun helped Qingqing get medicine a few times. However, the Imperial Pharmacy became exceptionally strict afterward, even medicines the size of a fingernail had to be recorded. Then came more bad news.
A noble person has given special instructions that not a single packet of medicine should be given to the Wende Hall.
Dai Yun sighed as she looked at the dying man on the bed. After hesitating for a long time, she informed Dai Xian.
Upon hearing this, Dai Xian secretly went to the Imperial Household Department and told them. Deng Mengnu was astonished. She never expected that after waiting for so long, the little girl who had promised to help her was about to die of illness.
Anxious, she glanced around the dilapidated Yeting Palace, her gaze finally settling on Sister Wu, who was about to leave. Sister Wu, having just put down her laundry tub, turned her head as if sensing something. Suddenly, Deng Mengnu lunged forward and grabbed her hand:
"Sister, please help me."
Sister Wu frowned, and Deng Mengnu quickly stopped her again. She pursed her lips impatiently: "You and she aren't even related, why risk your life?"
Deng Mengnu sniffed, all her words condensing into just one sentence: "Qingqing is a good girl."
"No one has ever sung for me. Sister Zhi, you were fourteen or fifteen when you entered the palace, and every step you took was fraught with difficulty. Someone helped you when you were on the verge of death, allowing you to stay away from the Empress. If Qingqing truly has a future, how could she forget us?"
Sister Wu's lips tightened. "So you knew?"
Deng Mengnu didn't answer, but squeezed her hand: "Please help her, she's dying."
Yellowed leaves drifted down between the two of them. One after another, after a long while, Sister Wu said coldly:
"Tell her to remember my kindness."
In the evening, Deng Mengnu stood guard outside a palace gate. After Wu Yuzhi finished dressing and came out, she silently went forward to help her.
The next day, Wang Dajian, having composed himself, found an excuse to report the matter to Woxue.
Wo Xue didn't care at first, but after Wang weighed the pros and cons with a humble and submissive expression, he casually mentioned it when Yan Dibai played the pipa.
The young man was happily strumming the strings at lightning speed, leading the other performers in a Hu Xuan dance, ignoring him.
Wo Xue touched his nose and tactfully withdrew. He said to Eunuch Wang, "Just take some medicine. If His Majesty wants to play with him again someday, but the person is dead, it will be really troublesome."
Supervisor Wang smiled and said, "You're right."
Autumn and winter in Beijing are cold. On the day of the first snow, Qingqing barely managed to open her tired eyelids and wake up from a heavy dream.
Before her eyes was Deng Mengnu, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, her large, smiling face filling her eyes: "Qingqing, little sister, are you feeling any better?!"
Dai Yun coughed from behind: "Keep your voice down, don't attract attention."
She quickly covered her mouth and whispered many words in Yang Liuqing's ear. Still dazed, Yang Liuqing was stunned when she heard that the usually aloof Sister Wu had helped her in such a way. She suddenly understood why Deng Mengnu had spoken ill of her backer.
Sister Wu didn't come.
Deng Mengnu lowered her head and touched her slender fingers: "When I entered the palace, I was bullied, and she secretly helped me, even though I didn't know it at the time. Qingqing, you are much smarter than me. Don't forget her."
Yang Liuqing slowly closed her eyes, "I will repay you with a spring of gratitude."
After everyone left, Dai Yun helped her get a hot water bottle and added an extra quilt. Yang Liuqing struggled to eat some cold pancakes and then went back to sleep.
She awoke in late autumn, the snow already thick. No news of her had spread through the palace. The newly arrived beauty, Lady Liu, was the center of everyone's gossip. Dai Yun said that His Majesty had spent the day with her at the Plum Pavilion, drinking wine, appreciating the snow, and listening to music, clearly deeply infatuated with her.
Yang Liuqing nodded, without any particular thought. Despite her recent recovery, she used a bag of colorful beans she had saved to cook a pot of porridge. She then solemnly sent invitations to those who had helped her.
The girl was afraid of the cold, so she didn't comb her hair and used her loose black hair as a scarf, breathing on it to thank them one by one.
Dai Xian and Dai Yun, having come to slack off, couldn't stay too long. Only Deng Mengnu and Sister Wu remained in the courtyard.
Deng Mengnu asked, "Why are you cooking porridge? You said Sister Wu would get you some meat. Look at your face, it's whiter than snow, and you're so thin it's sunken in!"
Sister Wu held the bowl of porridge without saying a word, while Yang Liuqing buried her face in her hair and gently curved her eyebrows: "Today is my birthday."
Sister Wu paused, glancing sideways.
Deng Mengnu slapped her thigh: "Why didn't you say so earlier!"
Qingqing smiled and said, "I originally wanted to knead the dough, but I really didn't have the strength. I'll just have to make do with a bowl of porridge. Please don't mind."
With a sigh, Sister Wu finished her drink: "I'm leaving soon, it'll be hard to explain if there are too few people."
The girl smiled and nodded. Sister Wu had just stood up, but then inexplicably felt a pang of pity. She sat back down and said:
"Since it's your birthday, make a wish. What if it comes true?"
Deng Mengnu chimed in, "Yes, yes! Make a wish! We'll leave after you've made your wish."
Yang Liuqing hesitated. Seeing this, Deng Mengnu said earnestly, "Sister, don't be afraid. There are only a few of us. The rest of us went to peek at the new beauty. Nobody heard us!"
She chuckled. Having had an intermittent fever for so long, many things were hazy in her memory. "If I had to say," Yang Liuqing thought carefully for a moment, then said earnestly, "I really need to."
"I hope for peace and tranquility throughout the land, with calm seas and clear rivers. May the people live in peace and contentment, with every household having surplus grain, and no starving corpses to be seen on the roads."
She can finish her task sooner and go home to see her grandmother.
Both of them were stunned. Wu Yuzhi's eyes were filled with complicated emotions: "Qingniang, is this it?"
Qingqing hugged her knees and nodded: "Isn't it good?"
She was silent for a moment, then smiled and shook her head: "It's very good, better than I ever imagined."
Deng Mengnu looked at Yang Liuqing without speaking, but her eyes inexplicably stung with tears. "If only my family were still alive back then..."
A moment of tranquility.
The weather, for some reason, was no longer cold. Perhaps it was because of the hot porridge.
Yang Liuqing finally cleared her confused mind. Only then did she sigh.
Unfortunately, this task was too difficult. With no experience or ability, she was to help a deliberately unruly madman.
One wrong move and you could die.
She slowly stretched her legs, hid under the eaves, wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, and squinted, thinking that she had to change her strategy for the nth time.
Unable to resist the drowsiness, she, with her disheveled hair, gradually drifted off to sleep again.
"Sizzle," something heavy weighed down the snow. Several times in a row, then suddenly, in a daze, I felt a coolness on my forehead.
What fell on my head?
Yang Liuqing, still half-asleep, reached out and touched something in her daze—snow?
Did it fall from the eaves?
She backed away, wondering if she should go back inside. Suddenly, another snowflake fell on her head with a thud, scattering into her hair. Yang Liuqing shrank back at the chill, then belatedly looked up, her pupils gradually widening.
A person who should be enjoying the snow and drinking wine is sitting casually on the wall.
Yan…Di Bai.
It was very cold, yet he was still wearing only a thin shirt. The collar was loose, a thin layer of white had settled on his shoulders, and a string of snowflakes clung to his eyelashes. He was looking down at himself with a strange expression.
Yang Liuqing was bewildered. What was he doing here?
Too sleepy, Yang Liuqing closed her eyes again.
I think I misread it.
Yan Di raised a white eyebrow on the wall, then suddenly rested his chin on his hand and carefully examined the girl under the eaves.
Wrapped in a blanket, her black hair was disheveled, and her cheeks were still flushed. Perhaps because she had been ill for so long, her skin was fair and her face was small.
When she opened her eyes wide just now, she looked naive and innocent, just like Xu Yuan. After seeing him, she paused for a moment, then calmly closed her eyes, looking rather dazed.
Suddenly, the boy fiddled with the tassel on his waist. After the usual dismissive scoff, a strange feeling crept into my mind.
A note from the author:
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Thank you for reading this far, everyone! I'll continue updating on Thursday!
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