When Noble Consort Yan fell, the surrounding palace maids and eunuchs had all rushed forward to help her, while others ran to summon the imperial physician. As a result, no one had paid attention to the state of the surrounding area.
Because Noble Consort Yan was wearing a long, trailing dress and thick-soled shoes, taking a sudden tumble wasn’t exactly an impossible occurrence. At the time, the servants were too overly concerned about their master; out of five or six people, not a single one had used their brain to check the scene.
Having received Noble Consort Yan’s orders, Xiang Qing carried a translucent horn lantern to the spot where she had fallen.
The bluestone steps were perfectly clean. Xiang Qing reached out to feel around; the very center of the steps was spotless, without a single thing out of place.
When Noble Consort Yan walked, she always walked right down the middle, and she had been the only one to fall. Even if someone had tampered with the steps, it would have to have been in that small, central area.
Xiang Qing carefully inspected the area but found absolutely nothing. Just as she was about to leave, two or three palace maids carrying lanterns walked over. “Isn’t this Sister Xiang Qing from Yuhua Palace? Sister Xiang Qing, it’s so late. Why aren’t you resting well in Yuhua Palace? What are you doing out here braving the cold wind?”
Xiang Qing smiled and replied, “Ah, it’s Li’er. Our Her Highness accidentally fell here today and dropped something, so she specifically sent me to look for it.”
“Her Highness the Noble Consort fell? How did this happen? Is she badly hurt?”
Xiang Qing lowered her voice. “I’ll tell you, but you absolutely cannot say it came from me. Our master’s leg was injured quite severely, yet His Majesty hasn’t even come to see her. Sigh, it is truly pitiful for our Her Highness.”
The maids exchanged glances and repeatedly assured her, “Sister Xiang Qing, rest assured. None of us are the type to chew our tongues and gossip.”
Zhengyang Palace.
Imperial Physician Zhou arrived very quickly. He took Qi Yue’s pulse and hesitated for a brief moment, before Aunt Yun immediately shot him a pointed look.
Physician Zhou respectfully reported, “To answer Your Majesty, Her Highness was struck by the cold wind and caught a chill. Coupled with the fact that Her Highness’s body has always been delicate and frail, she was unable to hold on and fainted. This humble minister will prescribe medicine for Her Highness right away.”
Li Yi secretly let out a breath of relief.
He waited for a long time. It wasn’t until a full hour later, after Aunt Yun had personally brewed the medicine, that Li Yi watched Aunt Yun feed the medicine to Qi Yue. Only then did he feel completely at ease.
Aunt Yun set the empty medicine bowl aside. “Your Majesty, Her Highness carries the air of illness, and this servant fears it might clash with you. Why don’t you go rest in the side chamber? It has already been cleaned, and the window has been repaired. This servant will stand guard over Her Highness the Empress here.”
Li Yi replied, “There is no need. I will stay here and accompany the Empress.”
Seeing that Qi Yue still had her makeup on, and knowing full well that the Empress absolutely had to remove her makeup before sleeping, Aunt Yun had a servant fetch a warm, wet towel to wipe the Empress’s face clean.
Li Yi watched helplessly as Aunt Yun gently wiped again and again, wiping away every bit of color from Qi Yue’s face. Finally, what entered his eyes was her quiet, deeply asleep face. The little girl’s complexion was a luminous, translucent white, looking as though she had grown up eating snow lotuses on top of a snowy mountain. Yet, her complexion was undeniably poor, carrying a heavy dose of sickly frailty.
His fingertips lightly, almost imperceptibly, traced over Qi Yue’s brows and eyes. After a long while, Li Yi heard the faint footsteps of the palace maids leaving the room.
Every three years, new women entered the inner palace. The girls who had entered just last year were the exact same age as Qi Yue—fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls in the prime of their youth.
Any woman selected to become an imperial consort came from a noble family with high status; they were the absolute top-tier women of the Great Yan Dynasty. Every single one of them was raised to be plump, radiant, and full of lively vigor. Qi Yue was the exact same age as them, so why did she look so terribly thin and frail?
Li Yi’s rough fingertips slowly trailed down from Qi Yue’s eyebrows, to her eyelashes, down to her lips, until finally, one of his hands came to a stop wrapped around her swan-like neck. Qi Yue was petite, while he was tall and large; with just one hand, he could effortlessly encompass her entire neck. Being so close, Li Yi could even feel the blood pulsing through her veins.
Beautiful women suffer tragic fates. Her body was so terrible; even if he didn’t actively try to harm her, she still didn’t look like someone who could live a long life of a hundred years.
Without realizing it, Li Yi’s grip tightened.
With her breathing obstructed, Qi Yue suddenly began to cough violently. Her fingers dug into the mattress while her other hand shoved Li Yi away. Forcing her eyes open just a slit, she struggled to sit up, coughing so hard tears sprang to her eyes.
Li Yi patted Qi Yue’s back.
She stopped coughing and suddenly raised her eyes to look at him. “Your Majesty, were you trying to strangle this Concubine to death?”
Li Yi quickly soothed her. “I merely wanted to touch you, to see if your blood was warm.”
He lowered his head and pressed a kiss against the thin, delicate skin of her neck. “It is indeed warm.”
Qi Yue laid back down. Li Yi also took off his outer robes and lay down beside her. She turned her back to him, and Li Yi proactively leaned in close. “You changed your incense again. I still think the fragrance you wore last time at Hanyuan Hall was the best.”
The scent lingering on Qi Yue today was mostly a mix of sweetgrass and medicinal herbs. Having soaked in the medicinal bath for half the day, the faint, cold fragrance on her body carried a subtle trace of bitterness.
He buried his face into the soft crook of Qi Yue’s neck. “But after a while, it smells quite nice too. Just like you—I am very infatuated with it.”
Qi Yue was exhausted to the bone. She opened her mouth to say something—probably to say that Li Yi was a bit of a psychopath—but before the words could leave her lips, her eyes slipped shut and she fell fast asleep.
The next day, by the time Qi Yue woke up, Li Yi had already gone to morning court. She suddenly remembered that she had completely ruined his memorials with ink last night, and figured that from now on, Li Yi probably wouldn’t dare bring his work to her place anymore.
After washing and dressing, Qi Yue’s complexion looked excellent, without the slightest trace of sickly air.
Aunt Jing walked in from outside and whispered a few words into Qi Yue’s ear.
Last night, Noble Consort Yan had broken her leg. As the Noble Consort, in the eyes of the other consorts, she was the true favored woman of the palace. Yet when this supposedly favored consort broke her leg, Emperor Yuanshou hadn’t even gone to take a single look. It was clear just how incredibly light the weight of this “favor” truly was.
Overnight, Noble Consort Yan had become the laughingstock of the entire inner palace.
Qi Yue asked simply, “Where is His Majesty right now?”
Aunt Jing replied, “This servant does not know, perhaps in Hanyuan Hall. His Majesty has not set foot in the inner palace today.”
Qi Yue nodded. “Aunt Jing, this Empress remembers there is a pair of beautifully carved wooden peacocks in the storehouse. Go find them. This Empress is going to Yuhua Palace.”
Aunt Jing withdrew to fetch them.
Looking into the mirror, Qi Yue’s clear, black-and-white eyes were cold and deep. Her fingers pressed against the vanity table, her mood completely unruffled.
Qi Yue had always loved cleanliness. Her Zhengyang Palace had always been perfectly spotless. Now, with the two spies Noble Consort Yan had left lying around, she found them to be an eyesore.
Now that Noble Consort Yan was injured, Qi Yue could use this time to pinch and handle Geng Han and Yu Miaowan however she pleased. They were like mice caught in a cat’s paws—she could play with them exactly however her mood dictated.
However, she wasn’t a civet cat that loved playing with mice. For prey not worth toying with, she wouldn’t dirty her own hands. Whoever threw the trash in, their hands should be the ones to get stained with blood.
Qi Yue opened a box of rouge. Using a silver hairpin, she scooped a tiny bit, warmed it on her fingertip, and slowly blended it into the corners of her eyes.
The woman in the mirror moved with absolute elegance and sheer nobility, possessing an aura that made others not dare to look her directly in the eye.
Author’s Note: I officially started classes today, my brain is foggy, and I got writer’s block, so the word count is a bit short. Let’s have something else instead.
Below is the psychological journey of our “Big Pig Trotter” (clueless/scumbag male lead) Emperor (This is purely the author letting loose and daydreaming, and has nothing to do with actual character settings or plot!):
This Empress chick is pretty, I can play with her.
The Empress is deliberately scheming to seduce me? Fine, let her seduce me.
The Empress secretly loves me, but I still have to assassinate her eventually.
Empress, sit on top and move yourself.
The Empress refuses to move? Heh, this woman is kinda interesting. I’ll let her live a few more days.
Since the Empress refuses to move, I guess I’ll reluctantly make the moves (Actually not reluctant at all, and is even a little bit excited).
Oh crap, I’ve fallen in love with the Empress. But it’s not a big deal, the Empress definitely loves me too (overflowing with confidence).
Turns out I was just being delusional. I love the Empress, but the Empress doesn’t love me, and she even wants to run away with my child (Wait, I should wake up, she doesn’t even have a child to run away with yet) (Currently drowning sorrows in alcohol).
The Empress absolutely cannot leave me, I cannot live without her!
What else can I do? So what if I’m the Emperor? Even the Emperor has to be a simp.
The Empress wants the sun? Okay, I’ll pick the moon and the stars for her too!
P.S.: I am a noble, glamorous, taciturn, deeply scheming standard male lead, the most charming man in this book. The person I love the most is the female lead, and my favorite thing to say is “Wow, this is so good” (eating my own words).
Translator’s Anecdote:
I am screaming at Li Yi casually choking his wife while monologuing about how fragile she is, and Qi Yue just waking up like, “Are you trying to murder me right now?” and he’s like “Haha no babe just checking your pulse with my whole hand around your windpipe!” And that Author’s Note?! Step 7 and 10 are going to be absolutely glorious to witness. Li Yi is about to fall so hard he’s going to invent new ways to simp for her. I cannot wait to see Qi Yue return those spies to sender in the next chapter! 😏