Evening arrived, and it was time to flip the green-tablet again.
Emperor Zhangping could not help but recall the intimacy of last night.
The little Concubine was not only soft and delicate in body, but her voice in bed was also soft and tender.
This softness was tinged with a hint of weeping; if his movements were a bit heavy, she seemed as if she were about to cry, yet she obediently cooperated, letting him control her at will.
Tears would fall before she even spoke, bewitching him without her realizing it.
Emperor Zhangping was not an Emperor obsessed with women, yet at this moment, he found himself craving her.
He was the Emperor, holding supreme power; summoning a concubine who pleased him to serve in bed was not a major affair.
Therefore, he did not flip the tablets of other concubines and directly ordered his subordinates to go to Xianfu Palace to deliver the oral decree.
This meant Attendant Pei was being summoned to serve in bed again!
The eunuch before the Emperor who was asked to deliver the oral decree suppressed the shock in his heart, feeling even more fortunate that he had always been careful and cautious, and had not put on any airs just because Attendant Pei’s rank was low.
One must know that the fate of the concubines in this harem was the most unpredictable; great rises and falls were all possible, depending entirely on the Emperor’s whim.
Just like now, a Little Concubine who had long been forgotten and merged into the crowd had suddenly caught the Emperor’s eye; imperial favor just came as it pleased.
Having the same concubine serve in bed for two consecutive nights was a rare occurrence; only a few of Emperor Zhangping’s past favored concubines had received such treatment.
Unexpectedly, the one to receive this treatment again would be a Little Concubine.
The eunuch before the Emperor had a vague premonition that there was likely to be a new favored concubine in this harem.
Qing Luo and her servant were naturally delighted to receive the oral decree for serving in bed, especially Zhu Lan, who was overjoyed.
Her Little Master had finally “opened up,” and she had already served in bed twice in a row.
If she could be a bit more promising and conceive a dragon fetus in one go, a promotion in rank would be just around the corner, and then she would no longer be bullied everywhere.
However, Zhu Lan only thought about this in her heart and did not say it out loud.
There were so many concubines, some of whom had served in bed many times, yet they hadn’t been able to conceive.
Her own master had only done it twice; wanting to conceive a dragon fetus was no different from a wishful thinking, and it would be laughable if said aloud.
In order to leave a better and deeper impression on Emperor Zhangping, Zhu Lan used all her skills to groom and dress up Qing Luo, determined to make her as beautiful as a fairy.
“This… wouldn’t it be too elaborate?”
Qing Luo looked at herself in the mirror, her head covered in hair accessories—velvet flowers, hairpins, dangling ornaments, all piled on.
It was complicated, certainly, but she genuinely felt it didn’t look very good.
Moreover, she was going to serve in bed, not to a beauty pageant.
Making it too elaborate would be counterproductive, and Emperor Zhangping might not even like this style.
After being told this by her Little Master, Zhu Lan also felt it was too much and quickly removed a few hair accessories.
Yesterday, she had worn a rose-red palace dress.
Today, Zhu Lan chose a goose-yellow dress with tassels for Qing Luo, which, combined with Qing Luo’s delicate and weak aura, made her appear even more like an innocent girl with a charming and refreshing look.
Having already come once yesterday, Qing Luo was familiar with the routine and went to the West Warm Pavilion first.
At this time, Emperor Zhangping was still in the Imperial Study handling state affairs.
There was no one else in the West Warm Pavilion at the moment; the serving palace maids were waiting outside.
Qing Luo looked around, and after a while, having absolutely nothing to do, she began to use the Go pieces to play Gomoku.
A moment later, Emperor Zhangping arrived at the West Warm Pavilion.
He did not have anyone announce him, so Qing Luo did not know the main person had arrived and remained immersed in the self-entertainment of playing Gomoku.
As soon as Emperor Zhangping entered the room, he saw the Little Concubine sitting crookedly, propping up her pointed chin.
She was placing pieces while muttering to herself, and the little expressions on her face were quite interesting—happy one moment, worried the next, as if she were playing chess against herself.
Walking closer, he saw that the chess game the Little Concubine was playing had absolutely no strategy; it was a mess, painful to look at.
At a glance, she was clearly a layman who understood nothing.
“Ahem.”
Seeing that the Little Concubine was too engrossed and had not noticed him at all, Emperor Zhangping could not help but cough twice on purpose as a reminder.
These two coughs made Qing Luo snap back to reality.
She quickly stood up, wanting to kneel and salute,
“Greetings, Your Majesty…”
She was caught halfway by Emperor Zhangping and did not kneel down.
“No need for formalities, there is no need to kneel.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” This time, Qing Luo did not kneel but instead curtsied.
“I recall my Beloved Consort saying that you did not know how to play chess, so what were you doing just now? Could it be that you are deceiving the Emperor and playing tricks on me, pretending not to know how to play when you actually do?” Emperor Zhangping’s expression was half-smiling, making it impossible to tell if he was happy or angry, his deep eyes fixed on the Little Concubine.
“This humble concubine is not deceiving the Emperor. This humble concubine truly does not know how to play Go, but I do know how to play Gomoku. Yesterday, Your Majesty wanted This humble concubine to play Go, not Gomoku.” Qing Luo was not frightened; instead, she defended herself with reason and evidence.
Emperor Zhangping had just exempted her from the greeting, so there was no reason for him to be angry immediately.
Qing Luo thought this way, so she was not afraid; she guessed that Emperor Zhangping was deliberately trying to scare her.
Deceiving the Emperor—how terrifying that sounded, but she was not so easily frightened.
“Gomoku? What is Gomoku? Can my Beloved Consort explain it to me?”
It was the first time Emperor Zhangping had heard of Gomoku, and he could not help but feel a bit interested.
“Gomoku is like this: when playing, whoever forms a line of five stars first wins. It’s very simple, not as complicated as Go.” Qing Luo pointed to the five white pieces already connected on the chessboard for Emperor Zhangping to see.
The rules of Gomoku were indeed simple.
Emperor Zhangping understood it immediately and immediately proposed to play Gomoku with Qing Luo.
“If I win, will Your Majesty be angry?”
Qing Luo asked before starting.
In her mind, the Emperor was supreme; even for leisure activities like chess, it seemed he had to win.
She rarely heard of him losing, otherwise, if the Emperor wasn’t happy, others couldn’t be happy either.
Seeing her ask so bluntly, Emperor Zhangping was not angry but instead laughed, “Does my Beloved Consort have so much confidence to believe you can definitely win against me?”
Qing Luo hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “I think so; I used to play Gomoku often.”
Who hadn’t played Gomoku with their deskmate while slacking off in class?
Qing Luo considered her skills to be decent.
Thinking back to those days, she had been invincible, defeating everyone in the class.
And since Emperor Zhangping was a beginner, it was expected that he wouldn’t be able to beat her.
Emperor Zhangping did not comment, only smiling, “Then let’s wait until my Beloved Consort wins against me before we talk.”
Facts proved that the skill of playing Gomoku had nothing to do with whether one was a beginner or an expert.
Although it was Emperor Zhangping’s first time encountering Gomoku, he was a person who looked ten steps ahead for every move he made, a person of deep foresight.
For Qing Luo to play against him was purely overestimating her own abilities; she was destined to be completely crushed.
Could it be that there was a “beginner buff” for Gomoku?
She had never heard of that; she had only heard of it for fishing.
Qing Luo felt very depressed in her heart.
Playing three games in a row, Qing Luo did not win a single one.
Every time, she was blocked just one step away from forming a line of five.
Qing Luo was someone who liked winning and disliked losing.
Losing the chess games one after another, she became listless and dejected, with no energy at all.
She pouted unhappily,
“This humble concubine cannot beat Your Majesty; I will not play chess with Your Majesty anymore.”
Seeing this, Emperor Zhangping could not help but shake his head slightly, his eyes filled with a smile, and said, “I have never seen anyone who wears their emotions on their face like you; the moment you lose, your face is full of unhappiness.”
This was also the truth.
Many people had played chess with Emperor Zhangping.
There were those who had won against him, but they were few, and many had lost.
However, no one would openly display their unhappiness on their face.
As for in their hearts, most likely they didn’t dare, and more often than not, they took pride in playing chess with the Emperor.
However, Emperor Zhangping did not dislike Qing Luo; instead, he found her to be rare and authentic.
She didn’t pretend; whether she was happy or not was written on her face, and one could tell at a glance without having to guess.
Interacting with her, he find himself relaxing unconsciously.
“Well, it’s only natural. Whoever loses, how can they be happy? If Your Majesty lost the game, you wouldn’t be very happy either.”
When Qing Luo said this, her two slender eyebrows knitted together unconsciously, her rosy lips pouted, and her cheeks puffed up.
She looked just like a little pufferfish, and even when angry, she was lively and cute.
Seeing this, Emperor Zhangping felt a stir in his heart and could not help but reach out to smooth her knitted brows.
“Since that is the case, then let’s not play chess. Let’s do something that can make my Beloved Consort happy.”
If analyzed carefully, these words were somewhat inappropriate.
The primary purpose of a concubine serving in bed was to satisfy the Emperor; reversing the priorities could be considered a great disrespect.
But coming from Emperor Zhangping’s mouth, it was bedroom intimacy, merely regulating the atmosphere, and harmless.
Qing Luo was not stupid either; the man’s hot and undisguised gaze had already explained everything.
She gave a soft “Mm” and then stood up to reach out and undress Emperor Zhangping.
Yesterday, she had been dazed the entire time and hadn’t thought that she should be serving Emperor Zhangping by undressing him.
In the end, it was Emperor Zhangping who did it himself, and even the clothes on her own body were unfastened by Emperor Zhangping.
However, Qing Luo was clumsy, and after quite a while, she still hadn’t unfastened the belt.
Seeing that the Little Concubine was not deliberately dawdling but was truly clumsy, Emperor Zhangping did not get angry; in fact, he unexpectedly showed a bit more patience.
He took the Little Concubine’s hand and teased, “I had better help my Beloved Consort, otherwise, it would take all night just to undress me.”
Hearing this, Qing Luo was immediately so embarrassed that her face turned beet red, feeling that she was truly so clumsy.
The bed curtains slowly fell, and the candles in the room did not go out for a long time, swaying gracefully. okay guys please comment on every chapter so I will know my shortcomings, thank very much guys.