Chapter 01 [1]
[1] First release
"Master, lunch is here."
At Liuxiaxuan, the most secluded of the six western palaces in the imperial city, the palace maid Xia He walked to the table carrying a double-layered red lacquer food box and took out the food one by one. "The dishes in the kitchen today are quite good, and the steamed buns are especially soft. You should eat more."
On the couch not far from the table, lay a sickly beauty in a light-colored dress.
The carved wooden window happened to be half open, and the April sunlight slanted into the room, sprinkling on the beauty with her slightly loose hair. Even though she lived in a humble room and had no makeup on, it did not diminish her beautiful and charming face in the slightest. The pure light made her snow-white skin even clearer and radiant, making her unforgettable at first sight.
Hearing Xia He's words, the beauty on the couch slowly opened her eyes and glanced at the two dishes and one soup on the table -
A dish of charred salted fish, a plate of mush-cooked vegetables, and an egg drop soup so light it could feed fish.
"Alas..." I knew I shouldn't have any expectations of those people in the imperial kitchen who flatter others and look down on the powerful.
Lu Zhiwan's already gloomy face became even more depressed, and he tilted his head back: "I have no appetite, you eat it."
"Master, please don't be like this." Xia He walked to the bedside and advised earnestly: "You have just recovered from a serious illness, you should eat something, otherwise your body will not be able to bear it."
Lu Zhiwan lay straight, eyes closed, thinking to himself, "How can this be eaten by humans? Even the lunch boxes on the set have more oil than this. The stray cats downstairs would roll their eyes in disgust at that plate of salted fish..."
A gentleman does not eat food given out of pity. Even if Lu Zhiwan starves to death here today, she will never eat these!
Half an hour later.
"Don't mention it, even though this salted fish doesn't look very good, it tastes pretty good with steamed bread."
After showing off four steamed buns, Lu Zhiwan wiped his mouth and looked at Xia He with bright eyes: "Anything else?"
I feel like I could have four more.
Xia He was stunned and swallowed her saliva: "No, no more... If the master is still hungry, I will think of a way..."
"That's not necessary."
Lu Zhiwan also understood the current situation. It was already difficult for Xia He to get some fresh food. Since she came here three days ago, this little girl was the only one who showed kindness to her. She didn't want to cause trouble for her: "Let's wait for dinner."
Hearing this, Xia He's eyes reddened slightly as she choked out, "Master was pushed into the water by Concubine Hu, and with great difficulty she managed to escape with her life. She should have taken good care of herself. If we were still at the mansion, I would have made chicken soup and sweet soup for Master every day."
Although the master lived under the rule of his stepmother in the mansion before and his life was not smooth, he never suffered from food and drink.
But once she entered the palace, she was suppressed and excluded by the concubines because of her beautiful face. Her life was miserable and she was even worse than the decent palace maids.
Xia He was filled with emotion. She caught a glimpse of her master, who was still distracted. She sighed softly, "Master, please go back to the couch and rest for a while. I'll boil some medicine and bring it to you."
After saying that, she cleared the dishes and left.
Lu Zhiwan sat alone in the room thinking about life.
It's the third day.
This is her third day here.
God knows she was hanging on a wire one second ago, filming a fight scene on the water, and the next second the wire broke, she fell into the water and struggled to float, but her head was pressed down hard by a hand.
After finally raising her head from the water, she was dizzy and saw a group of women dressed in jewels surrounding her, talking to each other and saying some strange things.
"Your Highness, it's clear that we didn't push Lady Lu into the water. It was her hairpin that fell into the water, and she jumped in on her own."
"Yes, all the sisters can testify that we helped her up out of kindness."
"I don't need to pursue this matter, but I want to remind you that while you can have fun, don't get anyone killed or cause me trouble."
After the noble woman in the crimson and purple palace gown finished speaking, she was supported by the palace servants and left, surrounded by the crowd.
When Lu Zhiwan fainted, she was still thinking, she was supposed to be taking on a fantasy drama this time, so why did she end up on the palace fighting film set next door?
If I play two supporting roles, I should get two paychecks, right?
However, there was no reward, but there was a revenge waiting for her -
The real daughter of the Qingyuan County Magistrate, Lu Zhiwan, died in a palace fight. As a time traveler who came back to life through a corpse, Lu Zhiwan: “…”
How to say it.
The possibility of Miss Lu turning into a ghost to seek revenge is greater than the possibility of her, a useless worker, punching Hu Jieyu and kicking the six palaces in the east and west, and turning the tide.
Now she just wanted to go back to her warm little home, order some fried chicken and some fat otaku happy water, and curl up on the sofa playing with her phone, instead of staying in this remote and deserted corner of the palace, eating salted fish and steamed bread, with no parents or friends, and a group of bullies from the harem watching her closely.
"Alas, what a sin this is—"
Lu Zhiwan raised his head and asked the heavens for the one hundred and fifty-sixth time: "Doing this to a law-abiding beauty, doesn't your conscience hurt?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a loud "boom" of thunder outside the window.
Her long eyelashes trembled, and Lu Zhiwan pulled the quilt to cover her face. Forget it, forget it, as long as she is alive.
However, it is not easy to survive in this harem - in the three months since the original owner entered the palace, she showed weakness, kept a low profile, and behaved humbly, but she was still bullied and eventually lost her life.
If it was useless to swallow my anger, how about a high-profile counterattack? But how could a concubine like me, with no status, no family background, and no connections, fight back?
If the emperor was a lustful person, she could still rely on her looks to win, but the problem was that there were a lot of beauties in the harem, both plump and thin, but the emperor rarely set foot on them - I don't know if it was because his standards were too high and he looked down on the beauties in the harem, or if he liked men, or if there was something wrong with him?
"well……"
Lu Zhiwan closed her eyes and fell onto the bed. In this harem where martial ethics were not observed, she really couldn't see any future at all.
***
After sighing for three days in Liuxiaxuan, Lu Zhiwan exuded a strong sense of dejection.
Xia He was so depressed by her that she suggested tactfully, "The weather is nice today, why don't you go out for a walk and get some fresh air?"
Lu Zhiwan: "I don't want to move."
Xia He: "But you've been lying in bed for three days."
Lu Zhiwan: "I'll turn over when I'm tired, don't worry."
Xia He: “…” Who worries about this!
She didn't dare to say much about her master. She sighed and walked out.
Not long after she left, Xia He suddenly turned back and said, "Master!"
Lu Zhiwan hugged the quilt and said, "Don't try to persuade me. Let me continue lying down."
"No, no." Xia He quickly shook her head: "It's Concubine Hu and Concubine Zhao who are coming this way!"
Lu Zhiwan was stunned for a moment, then realized that Concubine Hu and Lady Zhao were the leaders of the harem bullying group, and her brows furrowed. It had only been a few days since the original owner fell into the water, and they couldn't wait to come and find trouble?
"Just say I went out to enjoy the flowers and wasn't home."
"Ah? But—eh?"
Before Xia He could finish saying "Aren't you in the room?", she saw the slender figure on the bed suddenly jump up from the bed, then took two steps at a time and ran to the window, and flipped out neatly.
The entire set of movements was so smooth and seamless that Xia He stared at it in amazement: "!!!"
When he came to his senses, his master was no longer in the room. Instead, he heard the puzzled voices of Hu Jieyu and others outside the room: "It seemed like something flashed past just now?"
"Is there? Maybe a wild cat?"
"Tsk, in a cold and poor place like Liuxiaxuan, even mice would pack up and find other ways to live overnight, so why would a cat come here to suffer?"
This remark caused a burst of laughter. After the laughter, the group of gorgeous young beauties walked in. They raised their chins and looked around the room. Seeing no one, they frowned and looked at Xia He with a bad tone: "Where is your master?"
Xia He withdrew her gaze from the window, lowered her head and replied awkwardly, "My ladies, you have come at an inopportune time. My master is out admiring the flowers."
"She still has the energy to appreciate the flowers?"
Concubine Hu, the most senior official present, acted as if she had heard something funny: "It seems she wasn't seriously injured this time. She's pretending to be so serious. Is she trying to attract His Majesty's attention?"
Xia He wanted to argue, but when she thought about it, her master had run away, and there was no point in arguing, so she lowered her head and pretended to be dumb.
Hu Jieyu and others came back empty-handed, but they were not in a hurry. After all, they didn't have much time around them and had plenty of free time.
A few people murmured for a while, thinking that with Lu Zhiwan's frail body, he should be back soon after taking a walk outside, so they sat around the stone table outside the yard and waited for him to come back.
*
"I think they're just bored out of their minds. In modern times, they'd have endless papers to do and endless work to do. They'd be so tired every day studying that they'd just want to fall asleep. How could they have the time to torture others?"
In the alleyway lined with crape myrtles, Lu Zhiwan kicked stones on the ground to vent his anger: "This emperor has a problem too. If he doesn't have the diamonds, why did he choose so many concubines? He's just raising poison."
Although it was a nice day with bright sunshine and gentle breeze, Lu Zhiwan was in a bad mood.
She really didn't know how a modern person like herself could survive in this feudal harem, but she didn't have the courage to die now.
"Swish——" Another stone was kicked away and hit the old locust tree in front.
The branches and leaves of the locust tree trembled imperceptibly, and then there was a dull sound as if something heavy had fallen.
Lu Zhiwan walked with his head down and didn't notice it at first until he heard a buzzing sound and looked up.
She was shocked when she saw a huge hornet's nest lying under the tree. The hornets that were suddenly hit by the earthquake were like an angry black cloud, flying towards her with great momentum.
"Fuck!"
Lu Zhiwan's face turned pale. Who could tell her where such a huge hornet's nest came from in the palace?
Her body moved faster than her brain, and before she could think, her legs instinctively ran out.
The wasps probably thought she had disturbed their nest, and they kept buzzing after her.
Lu Zhiwan was stunned and ran all the way at the speed of an 800-meter runner.
But she was new here and unfamiliar with the place. She ran without knowing where she was going and suddenly the road ahead was cut off. Fortunately, there is always a way out. Although the road ahead was blocked, there was a river at the bottom left of the slope.
No matter how powerful these hornets are, they can't dive into the water and sting her, right?
Thinking of this, Lu Zhiwan took a deep breath, lifted her skirt and rushed to the river.
Unexpectedly, when they were halfway across, a tall black figure suddenly walked out from behind the willows on the shore.
His dark eyes suddenly widened, and Lu Zhiwan shouted in dismay: "The one in front, please get out of the way——"
The tall figure on the shore was startled and slowly turned around.
Lu Zhiwan didn't even bother to look at the man's appearance. He quickly braked to slow down, but the hillside was too steep and he couldn't stop in time, and instead tripped over a rock.
The next moment, she turned into a ball and rushed straight towards the man on the shore.
"Aa ...
“Plop!”
A huge splash of water erupted, and the hornets stopped chasing them. They buzzed and hovered on the shore, watching the two people struggling in the river.
"Hey hey hey stop pulling my skirt, it's going to rip it off!"
"Ahem...you crazy woman..."
"Who's crazy? Swear again!"
"I can't swim, you must rescue me, otherwise I will kill your entire clan!"
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