A pretty and tall little palace maid put a cloak on her.
"My queen, it's late, you should go to bed early." Hongyue advised considerately.
"It's okay. I'll rest after I finish writing these." She chuckled and shook her head. The smile made her face softer, and in this gentle atmosphere, it seemed to carry a bit of divine glow.
The young palace maid asked curiously, "Your Majesty, may I ask, what is this?"
Hongyue clenched her palms tightly, and her voice trembled unconsciously. She was very nervous at the moment. The Queen said that she wanted to perform a play with her and perform it for the master of the harem.
She knew that the most honorable person in the harem was His Majesty.
She was just a little palace maid, and she was performing a play for His Majesty. Doing so was a clear crime of deceiving the emperor.
She had been timid and afraid, but she had never thought of retreating.
The Queen has been very kind to her, she cannot be so ungrateful. As for the crime of deceiving the emperor, wouldn't it be fine as long as she doesn't let His Majesty know about it?
Heaven knows about this, earth knows about it, she knows about it, and the empress knows about it.
No third person will know.
Tang Wan seemed to notice her nervousness and held her cold and frostbitten hands.
"This is the letter paper I made using ancient methods."
"What's the use of this, my queen?" Hongyue felt a little relieved when her hand was held by her.
"I heard that this is the letter paper scattered by the gods in the human world. As long as you write the name of the deceased on it, you will meet the deceased in your dreams."
"Empress, are you...thinking of..." Hongyue's voice was trembling, and her shoulders moved up and down slightly.
Shen Xiaohan became more curious and couldn't help but move his head closer.
"Yes, I miss my mother a little. She is a poor person."
"Hongyue, do you know?" Tears welled in her eyes. "When she died, she held me tightly, calling me 'little one' over and over again."
"I know she died because of me."
She choked with sobs and covered her face with her hands in sorrow.
"Back then, she accidentally caught the eye of my father, the emperor. Even though she had saved enough money to redeem herself, she still couldn't disobey the emperor's order and entered the palace as a concubine."
"My father likes her looks, but he doesn't like her status. Although she is a singer, she has her own backbone. She has suffered a lot over the years, but she still sells her art instead of her body."
"There is no shortage of beautiful concubines in the harem. My mother is like a tiny grain of sand in the dust. She will soon be lost in the crowd."
She stared blankly at one spot. "I don't know whether she was lucky or unlucky. On a bright sunny day, she was found to be pregnant with me."
"I later heard from people who served my mother that she was extremely happy at the time. She thought she would never be able to have children in her lifetime."
"But who would have thought that it would come true."
Her tears flowed down like beads from a broken string.
She held Hongyue's hands, and her beautiful face was full of sadness at this moment.
"She was poisoned when she gave birth to me. Although she gave birth to me safely, her body has been damaged ever since."
"She didn't last a few years before she passed away and left me."
She lowered her eyes to hide the emotions in them, but her voice couldn't help but change its tone: "Hongyue, don't you think it's funny? My mother loves me so much, but over the years, I've long forgotten what she looks like."
Hongyue patted her back distressedly: "My Lady, she won't blame you. Parents who love their children will have long-term plans for them. She must love you and feel sorry for you."
She wasn't called by a title, not because Hongyue didn't know how to respect others, but because she was not yet born when Tang Wan's mother died. After she became an official, she was rarely mentioned in the harem, so she didn't know how to address her.
"Hongyue, I can't deceive myself. In all these years, she has never appeared in my dream once, not even once." Her shoulders trembled and her voice became lower and lower.
"Maybe she regretted choosing me as her daughter, causing her to suffer so much and pass away at such a young age."
Shen Xiaohan was lying on the roof, and he felt quite uncomfortable after hearing these words.
Is her life... so miserable?
He grew up in the royal family and had seen how difficult it was for a person to live in the harem without the protection of his mother and maternal family. Even having enough to eat became a luxury.
We must walk on thin ice and work very carefully, not daring to take a wrong step, as that would mean we would fall into an abyss from which we could never recover.
She must have suffered a lot to get to where she is today.
His heart felt like it was scratched by a kitten's claws.
It doesn't hurt, but it feels sour and astringent, which makes it impossible to ignore.
He wanted to leave and had already moved his feet away, but he just came back and continued to look at her.
"My Lady, please don't be sad anymore. Now that you have this letter paper, you can see me in your dreams."
Tang Wan curled her lips, and her smile seemed a little forced.
“These are not made for myself.”
"Ah? Then... who is that for?" Hongyue was stunned.
When the Queen spoke to her just now, she didn't mention that this would happen!
"This is my gift to Your Majesty."
Hong Yue suddenly had a sudden realization: "Your Majesty, you've been treated like this, are you still thinking about His Majesty? Don't forget how you got all these injuries!"
Tang Wan shook her head. "It's nothing. I was the least favored child in the Northern Qi imperial palace since I was little, but at least I'm used to being beaten. Coming here, I get beaten less often."
"I know that my mother is not of high rank and has a humble background, so no one in the harem looks up to me."
Tang Wan sniffed and smiled happily: "You know what? Your Majesty, you are the only one in this world who has given me love, except for my mother."
"I heard that His Majesty also lost a loved one. I can understand his pain. His Majesty's birthday is coming in a few days. I want to make something for him. I don't want him to continue to be immersed in pain."
"He is the only important person to me in this world, and he is a good monarch." Her voice was not loud, but it was firm and inexplicably convincing.
Shen Xiaohan's pupils dilated and his eyelashes trembled uncontrollably.
Recalling those days, her gentle comfort, those affectionate and sad eyes, and those lively and intelligent smiles.
It turns out that she had no ulterior motives, she really regarded herself as her only family, so...
What about him? What did he do?
Because he felt bad for a moment, he even demoted her rank by two levels. Was she... being ridiculed in this harem?
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