Chapter 14 Chapter 14 - Official Uniforms
How Wang Funiang entered and left the palace.
I looked at her desolate and miserable back and sighed with regret. Such a beautiful girl was called into the palace by Li Siyan and humiliated like this. If she were a more fierce-willed girl, she might have had her hair cut off and become a nun.
We in Zichen Palace all thought that Li Siyan would bid farewell to his virginity tonight, but we didn't expect that he would remain calm in the face of Fu Niang, the ultimate dream of a man, and guard his chastity magnificently.
So, our quick-thinking workers in the Purple Palace began to wonder whether His Majesty had no interest in women?
This bold guess made many people feel that an opportunity had come, resulting in the young eunuchs in the Purple Palace behaving very exceptionally in the past few days. They secretly put on makeup, drew eyebrows and painted eyes, and dressed up more boldly and charmingly than the maids.
She would also occasionally approach Li Siyan and flirt with him on his way, using old-fashioned methods but novel gestures.
However, all their flirtatious glances were cast to the blind man. Li Siyan was an out-and-out heterosexual and did not understand what they meant at all. Of course, he turned a blind eye to them. Occasionally, when he was annoyed, he would just scold them.
Li Siyan was unaware that Qingfu was the champion of the last Eunuch Palace Fighting Competition. The monsters and demons he had seen could fill the entire Xuan Zheng Hall. He was courting death by trying to perform tricks under his hands.
So, on a sunny afternoon... Grandpa Qingfu showed his power and punished a few particularly coquettish eunuchs, successfully stopping the evil trends in the Purple Palace. The eunuchs returned to their plain clothes and behaved themselves.
Because a few restless goblins were driven out, Qingfu transferred a few new people from Yanying Palace to fill the vacancies in Zichen Palace, including the cute little Yide who had poured night incense with me before.
At the beginning, Yide was spotted by Xia Fugui because of his outstanding work performance, and he found a way to get him into Yanying Palace. This time, he was lucky enough to be transferred to Zichen Palace. The amazing speed of promotion in three months made Yide a rising new generation of koi in the circle of eunuchs in the Ye Ting, and everyone wanted to pay him a visit.
He told me very proudly that he was now working as a cleaning boy in the Purple Palace. His monthly salary had not changed, but if he did a good job, he would definitely be promoted to become a glorious eunuch in the inner hall of the Purple Palace.
He also happily emphasized to me that he was personally appointed by Qingfu to come to the Zichen Hall, which shows that Grandpa Qingfu also recognizes his abilities!
I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Actually, Qingfu was a fan of beautiful boys and only chose people based on their looks.
"I must do my job well," Yide said happily. "It's wonderful here. My sisters are all very kind and gentle. I'm also lucky enough to see the Emperor. If my parents were still alive, they would be very pleased to know that I have seen so much of the world."
Seeing his delighted face, I couldn't help but think of my parents...
They would probably feel sorry for me and at the same time be very disappointed with me, wondering why they gave birth to such a spineless and useless daughter like me.
My inner maternal love suddenly overflowed. I stroked Yide's soft hair and said softly, "Yes, your parents must be proud of you."
Suddenly, he remembered something and said, "Since you're new to Zichen Palace, I should take care of you. There are some daily necessities that I don't need, so why not give them to you?"
Yide quickly refused: "How can I have the nerve to ask for Sister Shen's things?"
I said, "Wait a minute, don't move," and went back to the house. I picked out a bunch of small things from the cage, including stored dried meat and preserved fruits, various bottles and jars, and a jar of facial cream, and stuffed them all into Yide's hands.
The latter was holding a bunch of rare things, and his tongue was swollen: "This... I..."
I pointed at my mountain of snacks and said, "I'm quite favored. These are gifts from the imperial kitchen servants. It would be a waste to just keep them piled up, so I'd rather give them to you. And this facial cream. Let me tell you, Qingfu prioritizes clean and handsome appearance when selecting his eunuchs. You should take better care of yourself..."
Listening to my rambling voice, her eyes slowly turned red. She wiped away her tears and said, "Thank you, sister. No one has ever been so kind to me before."
I thought to myself, the world is so unfair. My brother has been spoiled since he was a child, but at the same age, no one cares whether he is hungry or not. A few small things make him so happy, which makes me feel guilty.
I put my arm around his shoulders and said, "...If anyone bullies you in the future, tell me and I'll have Hu Yue'er take care of him."
He nodded seriously with satisfaction.
I was about to continue rummaging through the boxes to find something useful for him when I suddenly heard footsteps behind me.
Yide reacted faster than I did, kneeling swiftly and saying respectfully, "Your Majesty."
There was a tall shadow standing at the door against the light, looking at us with his head tilted. I recognized him by the golden crown on his head. It was Li Siyan.
His casual gaze fell on the pile of things in Yide's arms, and Li Siyan asked calmly, "What are you doing? Collecting junk?"
I shoved Yide behind me to prevent the Dog Emperor from getting into trouble with him, and said, "It's just some useless belongings given to someone I know. Why put it in such a harsh way?"
The Dog Emperor has always been very vicious. Perhaps he was in a bad mood today, so he spoke in a very sarcastic tone.
I quietly told Yi De to go back, lowered my eyes and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you want to see me about?"
He didn't answer me directly, but just said lightly: "Come and take a look."
After looking around my simple and tidy little house, he walked to the table and flipped through the poems, essays and paintings I had written when I was bored with great interest.
"What is this?" Li Siyan picked up a picture and looked at it over and over again: "An old man riding a turtle?"
I snatched my calligraphy from me and angrily said, "You're the idiot! This is a painting of a divine tortoise offering a birthday present!"
Until Li Siyan left, I still didn't understand what he was here for. Maybe he was just passing by.
Or maybe, he just saw me pulling Yide into the house and wanted to find a way to get him out.
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye it is Li Siyan's birthday, the eighth day of March.
This was his first birthday since taking office, and gifts from officials came in carts one after another. Su Xing led Su Xi and Hui Yue to work for several days before they finally filed all the things away and put them into the warehouse.
Li Siyan half-jokingly asked me for a birthday gift, and I thought he was talking nonsense, but I didn't expect he was serious. On his birthday, when he heard that I didn't prepare any gift for him, his face was ugly all night. The imperial chef who was making birthday noodles was so scared that he thought his cooking skills were not to the emperor's taste. The middle-aged man in his forties almost cried in front of the emperor.
I was completely baffled. Did Li Siyan even understand his place? He was my sworn enemy. Writing his daily notes was the limit. And he expected me to prepare a gift for him? This was like playing against Nuwa—just a wild idea.
Later, because he was in a hurry, I had to paste a picture of a magpie on a branch overnight to fool him.
Fortunately, the dog emperor was not well educated and could not see the obvious perfunctory intention in my painting. He was very happy to receive the painting. He framed the magpie climbing the branch painting solemnly and put it in a drawer. I vaguely remembered that the biography of Empress Dowager Yu that I wrote last time seemed to be kept here.
I suspect that the dog emperor would quietly open this drawer in the dead of night and admire the fruits of his forced labor.
What a dog emperor who forces people to work overtime!
I angrily recorded this in my diary.
Some people’s birthdays are celebrated by everyone, while some people’s birthdays are ignored by everyone. My birthday is in April, but I didn’t tell anyone and didn’t even have a bowl of noodles.
In the past, I would actively organize my own birthday party and invite my friends. We would enjoy the food and drinks, laugh and play games all night long. But this year is different. I subconsciously feel that I should have died last year, and it was only because Li Siyan threatened me not to commit suicide that I was still alive in this world. So I stubbornly did not want to celebrate this birthday.
Spring is a sentimental season. On my birthday, I finished my work, moved a small stool and sat in a daze at the door of the room.
While cutting paper money, I was thinking about some very tangled questions. Was what I did right? In order to save my aunt and Xiaochuan's lives, I endured humiliation and worked for the enemy...
Every time I think of this problem, I can't help but sigh and feel ashamed to face my ancestors.
Our Shen family has been serving as historians for more than a dozen generations. What we value most is integrity. The moral requirements within the family are extremely high. Every generation has a role model who is willing to die to preserve loyalty. I have been instilled with this set of values that put life and death above everything else since I was a child, so I dared to scold the emperor in front of the Xuanzheng Hall.
I originally planned to commit suicide after cursing, but I was unlucky and didn’t die.
As we all know, if you succeed in dying, it's called martyrdom, but if you fail, it's called living a life of shameless debauchery...
Out of fear of being judged by my ancestors, I cut the paper money with even greater concentration, hoping that my repentance would move them and allow me to go easy.
Just as I was working hard to print money, I heard a loud noise.
I looked up and saw that it was Li Siyan, dressed neatly, coming out to appreciate the peonies.
Seeing him coming towards me, I immediately put away the paper money basket, picked up the small stool and went back to the house.
From a distance, he lazily said, "Why are you running? Come here."
When I heard my leader's call, I kicked the stool back into the house, grabbed the attendant's hat and put it on my head, then went back to work overtime with a hopeless look on my face.
Why did my daily attire change from palace attire to court dress? This story begins in the past.
One day when I was on duty, Wei Xizi told me that when I went to court with Li Siyan, the new Censor Zhang in the Censorate kept stealing glances at me. Although he was very secretive, he was still discovered by his colleague and my good friend, Censor Jiang Duanxiu.
I scratched my head in confusion: "Why is he looking at me? I don't know him."
Wei Xizi said, "Imperial Censor Jiang asked me to tell you that Imperial Censor Zhang is...about you..."
He racked his brains and finally used his own unrequited love as an analogy: "Just like what I did to Lady Wang."
I was silent for a moment: "...Oh my god, he's so heavy."
I consider myself to be of average appearance, with a flat figure, a bad temper and a bad reputation. I never expected that someone would secretly flirt with me. Oh my god, is it possible that I am destined to have a romantic encounter this year?
But I don’t even know him!
It was originally a private conversation between Wei Xizi and me, but somehow it got through to Li Siyan. He called me over and asked me, "Do you know Zhang Tuyu?"
Me: "What happened?"
"Zhang Tuyu."
"What's the picture?"
Li Siyan gave me a cold look and said, "Zhang Tuyu from the Censorate."
At this time, I had completely forgotten the casual conversation with Wei Xizi and racked my brains to search for this person.
Li Siyan said impatiently: "He always looks at you during court!"
When he said that, I remembered and suddenly realized: "Oh, it's that guy, what happened to him?"
Li Siyan didn't say anything. He looked me up and down for several times. I felt a chill in my heart and couldn't help but grab the collar of my clothes: "You...what are you looking at me for?"
He still didn't say anything, and the look in his eyes when he looked at me became more and more unfriendly and explicit.
I took a step back cautiously, determined that if he tried to cause trouble for me over this or that incident, I would immediately overturn the table and run away.
Unexpectedly, Li Siyan didn't do anything to me. He just said with a gloomy look on his face, "Ordinary women might look pretty when dressed like this, but you don't look pretty at all when you dress like this."
Not pretty at all?
The word "fuck you" was on the tip of my tongue, but seeing Li Siyan's grim expression and staring at me, I forced myself to hold it back.
This is really interesting. Wasn't he the one who forced me to wear the palace dress back then? Wasn't he the one who pinched my chin and looked me over after I put it on? Why is he so crazy today that he's even criticizing my appearance?
I gritted my teeth and said, "Your Majesty, do you think I'm an eyesore?"
Li Siyan said coldly, "Chen Ying, I asked you to be my recorder so that you can record my words and deeds, not to flirt with the emperor and seduce the ministers."
Flirting?
Seducing the minister?
I should have been angry, but the accusation was so outrageous that at that moment I felt more confused than angry.
"Your Majesty, have you ever seen what true coquettishness is?" I pointed outside and said, "Go west from here and you'll reach the Jiaofangsi at the end. There are plenty of ready-made examples there."
Li Siyan's voice grew colder. "Do you still want to be like them, welcoming and sending people off, using your beauty to please others? If that's the case, why don't I grant you your wish?"
"Okay," I said indifferently, "I've wanted to learn the Huxuan dance for a long time."
"Chen Ying!" He called my name fiercely.
I stiffened my neck and glared at him, my eyes equally fierce. "It's obvious that you chose a minister who lacked self-control and couldn't control himself. What does that have to do with me? Don't put all the blame on a woman. I won't admit it!"
Li Siyan was so angry with me that he pinched his knuckles on the table again and again, as if he was pinching my head.
I raised my chin fearlessly, waiting for him to find a way to punish me. It would either be forced labor or making me face the wall with a bell on my head. Apart from that, he didn't know any other tricks.
After a moment of silence, Li Siyan said to Qingfu, who was standing outside, "Find her an official uniform, plus a hat and leather belt. Go now!"
Qingfu was stunned, and so was I.
"Madam Shen is small, and I'm afraid she won't be able to wear ordinary official uniforms." Qingfu said, "Let me send a message to the seamstresses and ask them to make a set quickly."
Li Siyan nodded irritably in agreement.
I hadn't reacted yet and asked, confused, "Why are you giving me official uniform? Will I no longer have to wear palace clothes?"
Li Siyan sneered, "Why? I remember you used to make a fuss about not wanting to wear palace clothes, but now that you've found success wearing them, you're not willing to change?"
"With pleasure!" I shouted.
"Your Majesty has misunderstood. I am absolutely willing!"
When I heard that I didn’t have to wear this restrictive outfit, I felt refreshed. Official uniforms are great, loose and cool, and I don’t have to comb my hair!
"From today on, you must wear official uniform when attending court."
After saying that, he kicked me out.
I got off work early for some unknown reason and had the good fortune of not having to wear palace attire. I was so happy all day long. A few days later, the news reached me: Censor Wang was reported by Censor Jiang for his untidy appearance when attending court, and was given twenty lashes with the board.
After changing into my cool official uniform, I sighed to Wei Xizi, "The world is treacherous. It seems the relationships between colleagues at the Censorate are also made of paper."
Wei Xizi's eyebrows curled up in worry. "Hearing you say that, I suddenly feel that Zuo Shiyi has been looking at me in a strange way lately. Is he trying to replace me?"
"...You're overthinking it. There's ink stains on your official uniform. Zuo Shiyi is a mysophobe, so he probably wants to help you wash your clothes."
"Oh..." Wei Xizi lowered his head shyly.
Back to the present, Li Siyan suddenly decided to go out to appreciate the peonies. As soon as he stepped out of the palace gate, he saw me at first sight, so he naturally asked me to accompany him.
The spring breeze in the inner courtyard is blowing for ten miles, and all things are flourishing. The gardeners have planted clusters of delicate peonies on the slopes. When the flowers bloom, their beauty is beyond description in human words.
It’s a pity that the person who appreciated the flowers with me was the dog emperor. Showing flowers to such a rough person is like pouring peonies into a cow feed basin.
He saw a large pink peony in full bloom, and without saying a word, he walked over and plucked it. The flower had suffered an unexpected disaster, and dewdrops were still trembling on the stamens, which made me feel sad.
Qingfu was the most perceptive and immediately presented a large vase for the emperor to pick as many flowers as he wanted.
However, Li Siyan ignored Qingfu and pinned the flower, which was bigger than a human face, on my bun.
"Not bad, it looks good."... He was quite proud of his masterpiece.
I was forced to carry a huge peony on my head, with a gloomy face.
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