Chapter 14 Moving House and Serving the Emperor Cheng Qianyue moved house, from the backyard to...
Cheng Qianyue moved from the backyard to the west wing of the front yard.
The story begins around noon.
After lunch, for reasons unknown, Yinreng suddenly took her to the West Annex Hall. It had been empty before, but it seemed to have been cleaned up in the last few days.
Cheng Qianyue thought at the time that perhaps this gentleman had suddenly decided to inspect the layout of the new side hall? So she dutifully acted as a complimenter.
Yinreng asked her, "What do you think of the decorations?"
Cheng Qianyue looked at her with admiration and said sincerely, "Great!"
Honestly, the west wing was really nicely furnished. The west wing in the front yard was more spacious than the east wing in the back yard, and it was filled with all sorts of tables, chairs, and cabinets, all made of rosewood.
Cheng Qianyue didn't know what sandalwood was before, but after entering the palace and serving the Second Prince, she saw a lot of good things. The furniture in this side hall looked exactly the same as the furniture used in Yinreng's room.
The south room is the bedroom. The first thing you see is a large, carved black lacquered rosewood bed, next to several cabinets and a shelf with a combination of tall and short tables, displaying white glazed bottles, jade ornaments, and other decorative items. Opposite is a dressing table, with a polished, smooth brass mirror in the center, so clear it reflects one's image.
Yinreng glanced at the soft gauze curtain embroidered with sprawling melon vines, then looked at Cheng Qianyue with a teasing expression and asked, "How is it? Does it look good?"
"Beautiful, beautiful," Cheng Qianyue said hurriedly, adding a compliment to him, "This servant thinks the furnishings here are just as exquisite as your room."
"Nonsense, these are all things that were used in the original Yuqing Palace, and the layout was designed by him personally. Aren't they just as exquisite?" Yinreng then said, "Since you think it looks good, then I'll grant you the place to live."
Huh? Cheng Qianyue was completely dumbfounded.
She knew that the West Annex Palace was being tidied up, but she didn't know what it was for. She had asked the young eunuch who was moving things earlier, but he couldn't give her a clear answer. She wondered if they were setting up a room for receiving guests or something similar to a study. But today, when she followed Yinreng in to inspect the room and saw the large bed in the south room, she wondered if a new concubine was about to enter Xian'an Palace.
Oh dear, who's so unlucky? There's nowhere to stay in the backyard, so they have to stay in the front yard. Isn't that just right under the Second Prince's nose?
But now Yinreng has told her that this house is for her to clean.
Cheng Qianyue: ......
Yinreng frowned when he saw her looking dazed. "What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"
Cheng Qianyue snapped out of her daze and hurriedly said, "This servant, this servant is not unhappy, it's just... it's just..." She racked her brains for an excuse, and then a flash of inspiration struck her: "This servant just feels that I am not worthy of living in such a nice house, and not worthy of using the same things as you."
Yinreng's displeasure immediately dissipated, and he said comfortingly, "Don't underestimate yourself. You are my princess, and you deserve it."
Cheng Qianyue thought to herself, "Things are inanimate, but people are alive. Of course I feel I deserve it. But honestly, I don't want to move in. I'm already on edge serving you, and I can only relax a bit when I go back to the backyard at night. Now you want me to live next to you? How am I supposed to sleep at night?"
But Yinreng had already spoken, what could she do? She could only kneel down and thank him, saying, "This servant thanks Your Majesty for your grace!" (crying emoji)
Yinreng then led her to the north room, where there was a kang (heated brick bed) under the window, with a cabinet, a table, and a soft cushion on it. He pulled her to sit on it, sighed, and said, "It's my fault."
This was the first time he had ever spoken out and reflected on himself! Cheng Qianyue immediately perked up her ears, and then she heard him say, "You are a princess, you shouldn't be doing the work of a palace maid or eunuch."
Oh, so you knew it yourself. Cheng Qianyue silently rolled her eyes in her mind.
Yinreng said, "From now on, you will live here. You can forget about serving tea, water, and cleaning for me." He thought that it was probably because he hadn't given her any respect and had always made her do servant's work that she looked down on him like this. Anyway, they were living nearby now, and he could just come over often or summon her to the main hall to serve him.
Cheng Qianyue couldn't tell whether this arrangement was good or bad. Moving to the front yard meant she was now under his surveillance, but he also said he didn't want her to serve him closely anymore, which meant she would have less to worry about.
Emmm
In the end, she only had one question to answer: her personal service to Emperor Kangxi was an imperial decree, and if she listened to Yinreng in this way, would it be considered disobeying the imperial decree?
Cheng Qianyue cautiously raised her eyes and asked, "But if I stay here, I won't be able to serve you anymore. His Majesty said that I should serve you well."
Yinreng temporarily ignored the second half of her sentence. He looked at her with eyes so tender they seemed to melt with tears, and raised his hand to stroke her soft hair. "Do you really enjoy serving me that much? You think living next door is too far?"
“Aren’t you worried about not having someone to serve you while you live here?” he said.
Cheng Qianyue: Fine, you're the boss here, you call the shots.
After visiting the West Annex Hall at noon, Yinreng left, while Cheng Qianyue was left behind to familiarize herself with her new home. Ruoyun, who had just been away, hurried in from outside, her face beaming with joy, and said, "Princess, have you packed all your things? Are you going to move in?"
Cheng Qianyue suddenly realized where Ruoyun had gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then let's move in."
Ruoyun agreed and personally brought in all the utensils from her dressing table. Meanwhile, Xiaoyingzi, a maidservant, directed several people to bring in two boxes of clothes.
Ruoyun said, "There are still some unused fabrics, the original tea stove and porcelain. Princess, do you think we should clean out the side room?"
Since the west wing was given to her, the surrounding rooms built against the wall on both sides were probably also her territory. Cheng Qianyue said, "Clean up the north room and use it as a tea room and storeroom. The south side room is warmer than the north one, so you can clean it up and live there yourself."
Ruoyun happily replied, "Yes, this servant understands."
To make tipping easier, Cheng Qianyue now carries loose silver with her at all times. She gave Ruoyun two one-tael silver coins, explaining that one coin was for her and the other was for the eunuch who was helping out outside.
Ruoyun smiled and thanked the reward, then went out of the house and asked Xiaoyingzi to help her pack up and move her things over.
Xiao Yingzi said with a smile, "Sister, this servant congratulates you and the princess on your promotion. But from now on, you'll be living in the front courtyard, so don't forget about us."
Ruoyun thought about it for a moment. Currently, she was the only one serving the princess, and she couldn't really manage when things got busy. Before, Xiaoyingzi and a few others helped carry things and meals, but it was a bit inconvenient after moving to the front courtyard. She dared not ask the people around the Second Prince for help.
She said to Xiao Yingzi, "Here's what we'll do: if I'm ever too busy, I'll call you." As she spoke, she gave him the one or two taels of silver, saying, "This is a reward from our princess."
Xiao Yingzi hurriedly accepted it with a smile and said, "Thank you, Princess, and thank you, Sister too."
In the evening, someone brought a bathtub and hot water, saying it was to congratulate her on moving and to welcome the new home. Cheng Qianyue hadn't taken a bath for two days, so she immediately took off her clothes and went inside to have a good wash.
Ruoyun took off the hairpins, silk flowers, and other items from her hair, carefully put them away on the dressing table, and soon after, she heard Ruoyun cry out in surprise.
Cheng Qianyue quickly turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Ruoyun stammered, "Princess, there's something in the drawer of this dressing table!" After a while, she came over excitedly carrying a box. Inside the box were many pieces of jewelry: green jade bracelets, gemstone rings, pearl pendants, and so on, filling the drawer to the brim.
Cheng Qianyue's eyes widened at this moment.
Ruoyun exclaimed excitedly, "There are also boxes on both sides of the dressing table in the drawer, there are many!" She was completely immersed in the joy of her master's boundless grace and the good fortune that had come her way!
Cheng Qianyue was initially pleased to see these things, but her joy quickly faded. She couldn't accept such good things without having done anything in return!
Thinking about it, he lost interest in taking a bath and said to Ruoyun, "Alright, put away your joy. Go outside and get a towel, I'm done washing."
Ruoyun nodded heavily and said, "Yes, Princess."
After Cheng Qianyue lifted the gauze curtain and went out, she leaned against the bathtub and let out a long sigh of relief.
After a while, the curtain of the gauze tent was lifted again. Cheng Qianyue thought it was Ruoyun returning, so she stood up from the bathtub and said, "Quick, dry me off."
A long white cotton handkerchief quickly fell onto her back. Cheng Qianyue said, "You're so slow, do it yourself." But no one answered. She turned around abruptly and found that standing behind her was not Ruoyun, but Yinreng!
Cheng Qianyue: !!!
She wanted to scream, but when she saw it was him shouting, the sound stuck in her throat.
Before Cheng Qianyue could react, Yinreng had already walked up to her and lifted her horizontally from the bathtub. When Cheng Qianyue came to her senses, she was incredibly embarrassed, her face burning red.
Yinreng held her and laid her across the bed. The sight of a slender, fair-skinned person lying on the red quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks playing in the water was undoubtedly a huge shock.
Cheng Qianyue felt that Yinreng's eyes were gleaming with lust as he looked at her, like a wolf about to devour her. His gaze was so aggressive that she was a little scared! But her mind quickly wandered elsewhere, because it was just too shameful; Yinreng was fully clothed, while she was completely naked.
Cheng Qianyue covered her upper body with one hand and tried to pull the blanket over herself with the other, but failed because Yinreng pressed down on her.
He wanted her to sleep with him. Cheng Qianyue's mind was filled with this thought.
For a moment, her thoughts were in complete disarray. She only considered herself his therapist; what doctor would take care of a patient to bed? That was utterly unethical. But then she thought, this was ancient times, she was his princess, and although they weren't husband and wife, she was nominally his concubine. Serving him in bed should be perfectly normal, right?
But none of these thoughts could stop her body from showing a resistant posture.
Seeing her hands covering her chest and her frightened expression, Yinreng stopped what he was doing.
"You don't want to?" he asked. As he spoke, he moved away from her, staring intently at her, his brows furrowed, as if he were about to explode in anger.
Cheng Qianyue gritted her teeth, forced herself to shrink back, reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed him on the lips, closed her eyes and said, "Master, this servant is willing, but, but this servant is afraid."
Yinreng's expression softened quickly, and he pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don't be afraid, I'll be gentle."
Cheng Qianyue had no recollection of how it began, nor could she remember how it ended. She only knew that she seemed to have risen to the clouds, while simultaneously falling into hell.
A note from the author:
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There was supposed to be a delicious, flavorful meat broth, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, it was all deleted.
Waaaaa o(╥﹏╥)o
But I have good news! Including today, I'll be updating for five consecutive days! [doge head with rose in hand] Hahahaha
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