After listening for a while, Huo Baichuan glanced at Zhao Shu and asked, "Is this your idea?"
Zhao Shu nodded, looking in the direction of the solitary lamp, and murmured to herself, "What a woman wants is nothing more than to find a devoted lover to grow old with. Consort Zhang is also a woman. No matter how cunning or virtuous she is, under the solitary lamp, listening to the song 'Changmen Lament,' she will secretly shed tears for her life. A daughter of a first-class noble family, yet she becomes a concubine. No matter how favored or proud she is, no matter how much the principal wife is left alone in her empty room, she still suffers in her heart. She is still not the wife of the man she loves, and after death, she cannot be buried with the man she spent her life with. Her memorial tablet cannot be placed with her husband's, nor can it be offered to her descendants. Her own children will have to call another woman their mother. Moreover, this man is a womanizer; she is just one of his many women, nothing special."
She spoke softly, her tone neither sympathetic nor sarcastic, simply stating the truth: the tragedy of women in this era is that they can only be parasitic vines.
Zhao Shu's voice was very soft. Huo Baichuan heard part of it, but not the rest. By the moonlight, his gaze fell on Zhao Shu's blank profile. He chuckled and shook his head, gently nudging her. "Princess, look at you. You're the Princess now, not the Little Princess. Shouldn't you be happy? The way you're acting makes me easily misunderstand. You're like a bean sprout, yet you're pretending to be even more resentful than Consort Zhang. You'll never get married like that. Oh, right, you're still young. If I say this, I might corrupt you, making you like your older cousins, so young and shameless..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Shu pinched him. "Ouch!" He gasped in pain. "What are you doing?"
"What right do you have to judge people from the Zhao family? Your cousin is shameless! Who was it that sneaked into someone else's room in the middle of the night? Where is your family upbringing? Where is your gentlemanly demeanor? You lecher!" People are always so strange. They can curse someone a thousand times, no matter how despicable they think she is, but if someone else says something, they feel insulted as well, and they can't help but want to help her. Of course, in their hearts, they still feel that those people are not worth protecting. After all, they are just from the same clan.
Zhao Shu's sharp retort did not anger Huo Baichuan; instead, he smiled. His already stunningly beautiful face became even more breathtaking with his smile. His face was clearly bathed in moonlight, yet it gave off a sunny vibe.
"Look, how cute it is when she's angry." He ruffled Zhao Shu's hair, took off the hairpin, and didn't tie her hair up with a rope. Her hair just fell loosely over her shoulders, so he didn't mess it up too much, since it was already quite messy.
Zhao Shu glared at him fiercely, and the anger in her chest dissipated.
"Little Fatty, put on a grand show for our Princess." He said, then climbed onto the wall, allowing Little Fatty to stand up.
The chubby boy, now free, stretched his limbs and quickly moved away from Huo Baichuan. "Yes, Princess, please keep a close eye on things and don't frighten him."
Little Fatty pulled a red cloth from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and then put it down. Zhao Shu immediately understood what Little Fatty was going to do: pretend to be a ghost!
She chuckled, "Little Fatty, are you going to dress up as a ghost? To scare Consort Zhang?"
Little Fatty's face fell immediately. He removed the red tongue, looking extremely dejected. "I'm not playing anymore. Even the princess can see through it. I can't fool Consort Zhang."
Zhao Shu wanted to laugh out loud, but after glancing around, she realized it wasn't the right time to laugh. So she smiled and said to him, "No, go and get some cinnabar. I'll dress you up. Oh, and by the way, get some rouge and face powder too. Your clothes should also be made of light, flowing gauze. Go quickly."
Little Fatty looked to Huo Baichuan for help. Why couldn't pretending to be a ghost scare the princess away? The princess is truly extraordinary.
Huo Baichuan then decided to send Xiao Pang back to chop 30,000 catties of firewood. "Why aren't you going yet?"
Helpless, Xiao Pang went to retrieve what Zhao Shu wanted, leaving Huo Baichuan and Zhao Shu sitting on the wall. Zhao Shu looked at the sky and asked, "Why hasn't Prince Duan returned yet?"
"Perhaps she has returned, but not to Xiaoxiang Courtyard." Huo Baichuan rubbed salt into Zhao Shu's wounds without any pressure. Not satisfied with that, he wanted to add another twist: "To die under a beautiful woman is to be a romantic ghost."
"Mr. Huo, please be mindful of my age!" Zhao Shu reached out to shove him away, but the occasion was inappropriate, and she forcibly suppressed the urge to strike.
Huo Baichuan pretended to have just remembered and gave Zhao Shu a few fake smiles, "Ah, I'm sorry, I forgot, there's a pretentious child who's still too young."
Zhao Shu: ...Was my uncle old and senile back then, which is why he appointed Huo Baichuan as Minister of the Imperial Secretariat!
Fortunately, Little Fatty arrived in time, saving Zhao Shu from her temper from exploding. She climbed down from the wall, rummaged through the things Little Fatty had brought, and found that everything was quite complete. Regardless of where he had taken them from, she said, "Squat down, let me do your makeup. I guarantee you'll be shocked when you see yourself."
In modern times, when she's not working part-time or attending classes and is quite bored, Zhao Shu often goes to the movies with Ajiu. She actually likes to watch science fiction blockbusters, the kind with big scenes and big productions, while Ajiu likes to watch supernatural horror movies, but she's terrified of them. Every time a new movie comes out, she has to go see it, and she always drags Zhao Shu along. Whenever a scary scene appears on the screen, she covers her ears and buries her eyes on Ajiu's shoulder.
He picked out the most memorable terrifying face and smeared it on the chubby boy's face. In no time, he finished drawing it and took off his hair-binding scarf, revealing a thick head of long hair. "Cover your face with your hair, don't let Consort Zhang see your face. Then stand by her window. When the light flickers and you are half-hidden, she will see you. You should quickly disappear. When she thinks she has seen wrong and rubs her eyes, you should reappear. She will definitely scream in terror. Then slowly reveal half of your face and hysterically say to her, 'Give me back my life!' You should say this three times, but don't say it too quickly. It should be ethereal, as if it comes from hell."
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