Shoutout to Tachibanaswife for the commission!
Because today was the Lantern Festival, I already knew that all around the Taiye Pool were lanterns contributed from various regions hanging in a full circle. Now, hearing the little beauty softly plead, I carefully weighed the gains and losses between staying here to look at many beauties and accompanying one little beauty to watch lanterns, and so I decisively stood up from my seat, took the little beauty’s hand, and quietly withdrew from the hall.
Around the Taiye Pool, colorful silk had been tied into decorative branches, and lanterns of all shapes surrounded the lake in a full circle; from a distance, it looked extremely beautiful. The little beauty pulled me along, avoiding palace maids and attendants all the way to the lakeside. Yet after arriving at the lanterns she did not look at them, but instead pulled me toward the dimly lit area beyond the lights. This filled me with excitement for quite a while, I almost thought I really was the lover the little beauty had brought along.
Perhaps I was too excited; for a moment I didn’t watch my step and stepped on a stone, staggering several steps before regaining my balance. When I looked down and saw the overly developed “chest muscles” on my chest, it was like a basin of cold water had been poured over my head. What lover of hers was I? Right now I was only the Crown Princess Lady Zhang.
As soon as my mind cleared, I also began to feel cold. Looking up, I realized we had already moved deep into the trees by the lake. The little beauty beside me had long disappeared. My heart tightened, and only then did I realize something was wrong. Just now I had been bewitched by that little beauty’s looks and only followed her along. Thinking about it now, she clearly had other intentions. Otherwise, with so many lanterns outside, why had she insisted on bringing me to such a dark place? What lantern was there to see?
Just as I was feeling suspicious, a low conversation suddenly came from the woods not far away. I listened carefully, and instantly understood. D*mn, it turned out the little beauty hadn’t brought me here to watch lanterns at all; she brought me here to catch adultery!
Ah! Beauty truly misleads people!
The voices drew closer, and I had nowhere to hide, so I hurriedly found a tree thick enough for two people to encircle and ran behind it, only thinking to hide for a moment. But after lifting my skirt and running over, I discovered someone was already hiding behind the tree. It was obviously too late to change places, and I didn’t have time to worry about anything else, so I squeezed that person’s shoulder and whispered, “Hey! Make some room first!”
That person was quite easygoing. Without even asking anything, they quickly shifted aside. Not only did they make space for me, they also kindly pulled me a bit. I was extremely grateful and hurriedly whispered, “Thanks, brother!” Then I quickly turned around to gather in my pheasant-tail-like skirt train. I had just pulled the skirt into my arms when the voices behind us arrived.
“…You should treat her well. This is too unfair to her.”
“Fair to her, who’s been fair to me?”
“…”
“Yingyue, leave Old Five.”
“…He treats me very well.”
“I can treat you even better!”
“You can’t! He can give me one lifetime, one partner, can you?”
“…Yingyue, you can’t be so harsh! …Wait for me for a while, alright?”
“Sigh, Qi Sheng, let’s let each other go, alright? You live your life surrounded by wives and concubines, and I’ll guard my own heart and live my ordinary life. In our spare time we can occasionally miss each other, wouldn’t that be good?”
Ah! What an emotional performance! The two people actually stopped nearby instead of leaving. Because I was standing downwind, their voices carried very clearly without missing a single word. I listened with surging excitement, and the person beside me was also absorbed. When the name “Qi Sheng” was mentioned, he lightly nudged me and whispered, “Hey! It’s the Crown Prince!”
I nodded. “That’s right!”
He muttered again, “Old Five? The woman is Old Five’s wife? Zhao Wangfei.”
I thought to myself, this guy’s brain works pretty fast.
Over there, Qi Sheng and Lady Jiang continued dragging on about the same topic, probably with a long stretch of dialogue still to go. The person beside me clearly realized this as well and lightly nudged me with his shoulder. “Hey? Got any melon seeds?”
I shook my head.
He whispered regretfully, “What a pity.”
After saying that, he rummaged in his robe for a while and handed me a paper packet. “I’ve got osmanthus cake. Want some?”
I waved my hand. “No, I don’t like sweets.”
“Oh…” Seeing that I wouldn’t eat, he simply ate it himself. While chewing, he mumbled indistinctly, “You know, this Crown Prince too, so many women to choose from, yet he has to go after his own brother’s wife. That’s really bad private morality.”
I nodded in agreement. There were already countless beauties in the Eastern Palace, each with large chests, slender waists, and pretty faces. Qi Sheng’s brain really wasn’t working well, how did he end up fancying this Jiang woman of only average looks!
The person whispered again, “I heard that the Crown Princess is also a rare beauty, yet she happened to marry such a man, quite unlucky!”
On this point I also completely agreed, so I quickly said, “It’s not just her who’s unlucky. You don’t know, there are tons of beauties in the Eastern Palace, all accompanying her in living like widows. Sigh! What a waste!”
He said, “If I were that Crown Princess, I’d climb the wall and become a ‘red apricot’ too!”
I continued, “Actually, she’d rather climb the wall waiting for a red apricot.”
He concluded, “No matter what, that Crown Princess is quite pitiful.”
Huh? I admit unlucky but how am I pitiful?
I was just about to refute when I heard Lady Jiang say from the other side of the tree, “Actually… she’s only a pitiful person. She even lost her child.”
Qi Sheng gave a low cold snort. “Wasn’t it because she wanted to frame you!”
Lady Jiang sighed softly. “How can there be such a cruel person in this world, even using her own child?”
Qi Sheng paused, then said coldly, “Whether that child even existed is still questionable. If she hadn’t tampered with my food that day, why would I have stayed in her hall? It was only once, how could it be so coincidental to conceive! …”
Hearing this made me break out in sweat. So that Lady Zhang had actually used drugs to sleep with Qi Sheng. In that case, she really was pitiful.
“So shameless,” the person beside me whispered with a sigh.
“Indeed shameful,” I echoed.
Even seducing a man required using drugs, and she still left herself open to gossip. Lady Zhang, oh Lady Zhang, you really wasted that good figure of yours!
Just as I was lamenting, the person beside me had finished the osmanthus cake. He casually clapped the crumbs from his hands—pa, pa—two crisp sounds, and I instantly froze like a statue in the wind…
From the other side of the tree came Qi Sheng’s cold shout: “Who’s there?”
With my mouth open, I watched helplessly as the person beside me suddenly sprang up the tree with monkey-like agility. Then, in the next moment, Qi Sheng appeared swiftly in front of me.
Although tonight was the full moon, we were deep in the woods, and the moonlight was mostly blocked by the canopy, so one could only make out silhouettes. Qi Sheng gripped my throat and stared for quite a while before recognizing me. Only then did his fingers loosen slightly as he suppressed his anger and asked, “What are you doing here?”
I touched my neck, lifted my eyelids, glanced upward, then looked at Qi Sheng and cautiously asked, “If… I say I’m here looking at the moon… would you… believe it?”
The night was too dark for me to see his expression, but judging from the situation, he clearly didn’t believe me. While I was still thinking, he released his hand and said coldly, “Go back!”
Ah! That was exactly what I wanted to hear! I hurriedly lifted my skirt and headed back. After taking two steps, I accidentally glimpsed the white hem of a skirt behind another tree. My good heart suddenly acted up again, so I stopped, turned back to Qi Sheng, and said, “Hey! Tell her next time if she comes to a dark place like this, she should wear darker clothes. White is too conspicuous, it’s not good if people see it!”
After saying that, I didn’t wait to see Qi Sheng’s expression and quickly lifted my skirt and trotted off. Who would have thought the trouble came precisely from my big mouth! Because of that extra sentence, what had originally been nothing turned into another disaster for me.
That night, after the banquet ended and I had just returned to the Eastern Palace, Qi Sheng announced that I was confined for one month. When he said this, everyone was stunned. I stared at him blankly for a long time, thinking: well done, Qi Sheng, you’re really quick at burning the bridge after crossing it! Do you think it’s easy for me in the Eastern Palace? The only pleasure I had left was admiring beauties from afar, and even that you’ve cut off!
And besides! Why is it allowed for you to watch the stars and snow with your brother’s wife by the lake, but I can’t even watch the moon alone? Where is justice? Huh? D*mn that Star Lord of Fate!
No one understood why I was suddenly confined. I knew clearly in my heart but couldn’t say anything, so I could only let everyone keep it to themselves. Luli felt especially wronged on my behalf. Comrade Luli had accompanied me to the banquet with great revolutionary enthusiasm. She only went to the latrine halfway through, and when she came back both Qi Sheng and I were gone. Later, seeing the two of us return one after the other, she thought we had gone out together and secretly rejoiced for quite a while. Who knew that just after returning to the Eastern Palace such bad news would arrive? Thus, Comrade Luli’s tender heart could not bear it.
Because I was confined, even the palace maids serving in the hall suddenly decreased a lot. No electricity, no internet, no beauties, I was so bored that all I could do was look at the moon to pass the time.
Sitting on the steps outside the hall, looking at the perfectly round moon, I really wanted to howl loudly. But when I opened my mouth, it felt pointless. In the past, howling might at least bring a couple of tomatoes or a basin of foot-washing water flying over, but now, what could howling bring? Sigh. Just thinking about it made me powerless, so I could only sigh deeply.
Luli had been quietly sitting beside me the whole time. Hearing my sigh, she began to sob again. “Niang Niang…”
“Stop!” I quickly raised my hand and negotiated with Luli. “Can we stop crying?”
While wiping her tears, Luli nodded vigorously.
