But Hauge was a blind man, still staring at Hailanzhu with lecherous eyes. If Yunxian hadn't pulled him away, who knows how long he would have kept staring.
Watching the group of people leave, Hailanzhu breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that no one was around, she hurriedly burned the palace maid's clothes that she had just thrown away, fearing that Yunxian might return and discover something.
When she returned to Guanju Palace, it was already noon. Qingluan was no longer so anxious when she saw her return.
"Your Highness, where have you been? I was so worried about you!" Qingluan said, still shaken. She was afraid that Hailanzhu would fall into the water again.
Hailanzhu smiled and said, "Just take a walk, there's no need to make a fuss."
"How can I not worry?" Qingluan wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Next time, please don't go out alone. You must call me along."
"Very well, I will do as you say," Hailanzhu said gently.
She glanced at the dishes on the table, and only dared to pick up her chopsticks after seeing Qingluan nod.
After the meal, she fed the white mouse again. This time, although the white mouse was still lively and active, it was not as energetic as before.
She remained silent, lowered the cloth covering the rat cage, and headed towards her bedchamber.
Lying in bed, she kept thinking about how to arrange for Yan Zha Qingcheng to meet Hauge three days later, but she couldn't come up with a better way.
She was supposed to deliver a letter to Hauge today, informing him that Yan Zha Qingcheng was pregnant and asking him to prepare abortion pills and go to the Cold Palace in three days. Who knew this would happen?
After all, Hauge doesn't pay his respects to Yunxian every day; he usually does it every three to five days.
Helpless, she could only deceive herself, thinking that she hadn't rested enough and that's why she couldn't think of a solution. So she closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and then fell into a deep sleep.
But while things were dark in the east, they were bright in the west. Unexpectedly, Hauge was so bold that he quietly broke into the Guanju Palace after 9 PM.
Hauge wasn't very bright, but he was highly skilled in martial arts, and with his status as the eldest prince, entering and leaving the palace wasn't difficult for him.
Fortunately, Hailanzhu had slept long enough in the afternoon and was not sleepy at the moment. If she had gone to sleep early, she might have been taken advantage of by Hauge.
"How did you get in?" Hailanzhu sternly rebuked Hauge, who was dressed as a guard.
Haug shushed him and pointed to the window, indicating that they should sneak in from there.
Hailanzhu initially wanted to tell him to get out, but then she thought of something and decided to hold back for the time being.
"What brings you to Guanju Palace dressed like this, First Prince?" Hailanzhu glanced at him.
Hauge, however, changed the subject, asking, "Why hasn't Your Majesty gone to sleep yet?"
Hailanzhu could easily see through his little scheme; he came here now simply to see her in her undergarments.
Hailanzhu sneered, "When I go to sleep is none of your business."
Hauge remained calm. "Your subject has no right to interfere, but I felt sorry for Consort Chen being alone in her room, so I came to relieve her boredom."
"To relieve boredom?" Hailanzhu raised an eyebrow. "Have you forgotten that I am the Emperor's concubine?"
"How could I forget? It was because I felt a sense of closeness to Your Majesty that I couldn't help but come to visit you." After saying this, he took two steps forward, trying to get closer to Hailanzhu.
Hailanzhu instinctively took two steps back. "Now that you've seen it, why don't you hurry up and leave?"
Hauge's shamelessness was unmatched. Even though Hailanzhu had made it clear, he still refused to leave and threatened, "What if I were to walk out of your palace openly now and be seen by others?"
What do you want?
"I don't want anything, I just want to have a proper conversation with Consort Chen," Hauge said, licking his lips.
He gazed greedily at Hailanzhu, saying, "It's such a pity that you, so beautiful, are wasting your life, living alone in an empty room."
Hailanzhu feigned sadness and said, "So what? It's human nature to be fickle and easily bored."
Seeing that Hailanzhu's tone wasn't so harsh, Hauge assumed she had accepted him and immediately began to speak ill of Huang Taiji.
How many things could Huang Taiji have done wrong? It was simply that he couldn't manage his harem well and couldn't distribute his favors evenly.
But Hauge magnified this small matter several times over, portraying Huang Taiji as as ruthless as possible.
Fortunately, Huang Taiji didn't hear it, otherwise he would have been so angry that he vomited blood.
Hailanzhu did not agree with his words. She wanted to yawn, but forced herself to hold it back, which caused tears to fall uncontrollably from her eyes.
"Your Highness, please don't cry." Hauge reached out to wipe away Hailanzhu's tears.
Hailanzhu was agile and quickly dodged. If she were to be touched by someone like that, she would lose all face.
Hauge blankly withdrew his hand, saying, "It was my rudeness." But he was secretly delighted, feeling that his words had been well received.
For the sake of her goal, Hailanzhu could only go along with him. "What can we do? He is the emperor after all. He can like whoever he wants. Who can control that?"
"Since Father Emperor is so heartless and ungrateful, why should Consort Chen wait for him in vain?"
Hailanzhu shook her head. "I am already his concubine. I can only wait for him day and night. What else can I do?"
“No…” Haug raised his voice, “You can also go and find what you love.”
Hailanzhu gave a bitter smile, "The one I love? Who dares to love me?"
“I, I dare,” Haug said firmly.
"You?" Hailanzhu frowned.
“Yes.” Hauge nodded vigorously. “From the first moment I saw Consort Chen, I fell in love with her. If you weren’t already Father’s concubine, I would have begged Mother to make you my Fujin right then and there.”
"Can…"
Before Hailanzhu could answer, he gazed tenderly into her eyes and asked, "Does Your Highness have no affection for me at all?"
Hailanzhu admitted her feelings for him against her will, saying, "When I saw how generously you let Peiran go, I thought you were a good person." As she said this, she almost threw up her dinner that night.
"Really?" Hauge was overjoyed. "Then, Your Highness, would you be willing to let me accompany you from now on? Don't worry, I won't do anything to you. As long as I can talk to you, I will be content."
She listened, first nodding, then shaking her head, leaving Haug completely confused.
So she explained, “A long night can pass quickly with someone to keep you company, but this is Guanju Palace, and there are quite a few people coming and going.”
"So what do you want?"
After all that buildup, it's finally time to get to the point.
Hailanzhu rolled her clear black and white eyes and said, "How about we meet at the place where we first met every three days at 9 PM? There are few people there, so no one will notice us."
Driven by lust, Hauge didn't think of anything else. Upon hearing that Hailanzhu was willing to take the initiative to ask him out, he smiled so wide that his lips stretched to his ears and immediately agreed.
"Alright, it's getting late. Let's talk again in three days." Having achieved her goal, Hailanzhu was too lazy to waste any more words with him.
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