Chapter 176

Chapter 8.20 – Goddess of the Harem

The Emperor had not been to Jinfangzhai for many days. Yan Yuqing has managed – with great difficulty – to heal her face and took care of her body every day. She even asked Imperial Physician Lu to prescribe a lot of medicinal herbs. Now she had slowly gotten used to eating spicy food and her face would not have acne again. But at this time, news of Beauty Chen’s committing suicide by imperial order was passed around in the harem, just like the massacre in Jingyun Palace that day. After Beauty Chen’s death, His Majesty even killed several people and nearly all those who were “favored” by His Majesty during this period of time were brutally murdered.

Blu: Suicide by imperial order – as a mark of imperial favour, so as to be spared the dignity of execution (Source: Pleco)

Yan Yuqing was considered the luckiest one. When she heard this news from the mouth of the inner servant, Yan Yuqing’s body went limp.

“Master, be careful!”

Su Wan immediately supported Yan Yuqing.

“Su Wan.”

Yan Yuqing paled, her lips trembling: “Su Wan, what should I do?”

Only at this moment did Yan Yuqing finally feel scared, afraid of Dongfang Yao’s brutality and cruelty. If you lie beside a tyrant like him, could you sleep in peace?

…………

This time the dispute in the harem once again caused a big disturbance in the court, but Su Rui had always turned a blind eye to the advice of the imperial censors.

Dongfang Li, the Rui Wang, who had just returned from another place not long ago, naturally knew about this. Dongfang Li was Dongfang Yao’s older cousin. They have always had a good relationship. Dongfang Li was the only Fan Wang allowed to live in the heart of the Capital.

Blu: Fan Wang – ruler between local officials and the emperor, and has his own kingdom. It is equivalent to the aristocracy of ancient Europe. They may be members of the clan, military heroes, or local separatist forces that have formed but have not declared independence in name, or the ruler of a certain area canonized by the emperor. (Source: Baidu) So based on my understanding, his title is ‘Rui’ Wang and the type of ‘Wang’ he is is a ‘Fan Wang’.

This time, Dongfang Li was forced to enter the palace by a group of old ministers to offer advice. He was righteous on the surface, but in fact, he wanted Dongfang Yao to be more cruel. Then when he completely lost the hearts of the people, he could just take the opportunity to take the throne.

Of course, as a scheming Fan Wang, Dongfang Li was always expressionless and would not show the slightest attachment and desire for power in front of Dongfang Yao. He had been working hard to portray himself as a happy prince who liked to play around. Therefore, when he entered the palace this time, Dongfang Li never said anything about the old officials. He just drank and chatted with Su Rui about women.

Regarding those women in the harem, Dongfang Li had investigated them in detail. Of course, he had never seen these newly promoted Beauties, but Dongfang Li also knew that almost all of the newly favoured Beauties were killed by Dongfang Yao. Now, it seems that there was only Beauty Yan from Jinfangzhai. Who knows what kind of outstanding beauty that Beauty Yan was?

Dongfang Li was indeed curious about the Master of Jinfangzhai and even planned to make friends with her. When Dongfang Li and the Emperor had finished drinking and were about to leave the central palace, they just happened to run into Yan Yuqing – who had just finished offering incense – at the entrance of the Imperial City’s prayer hall.

Ever since Yan Yuqing learned of the death of Beauty Chen and the others, she had constantly been on tenterhooks. After all, she was a young girl. When she was favored, she thought she was the greatest in the world. Now that she had seen the cruelty of the Emperor, how could she not be scared?

Being frightened out of her wits, Yan Yuqing had no choice but to turn to Su Wan for help. In her eyes, the only person around her who she could discuss countermeasures with was Su Wan.

Su Wan naturally comforted Yan Yuqing. Seeing that she constantly felt ill at ease, she suggested that she go to the prayer hall to light some incense and chant some sutras in order to calm her heart.

Yan Yuqing naturally did what Su Wan said.

And the result…

Yan Yuqing felt more or less at ease that Su Wan didn’t know, but Yan Yuqing and Dongfang Li meeting in front of the prayer hall in the Imperial City was according to Su Wan and Su Rui’s expectations.

Yan Yuqing’s face was pale at this time with the look of a sickly beauty.

Dongfang Li learned from the inner servant behind him that this was “Beauty Yan”. He immediately stepped forward to greet her with a gentle expression and asked about little Beauty’s health.

After all, Yan Yuqing was the daughter of a commoner family who had just recently entered the palace. She had only heard of Rui Wang’s name before. She didn’t expect to meet the real person today and that he was such a handsome and gentle man.

Compared to the Emperor who was becoming more and more cruel recently, Dongfang Li image in Yan Yuqing’s heart had soared sky high.

When she saw two people acting very familiar after meeting for the first time, Su Wan – who was standing behind Yan Yuqing – couldn’t help lowering her eyes ——

What was the most adulterous place in the world? That was naturally the harem.

The more strict the hierarchy was, the more scarce the presence of men were, the more the concubines would climb over the walls and have lovers.

Well, relatively speaking, the man who has been cuckolded the most was naturally His Majesty the Emperor——

Today the imperial concubine was having an affair with the imperial doctor and tomorrow the concubine and the guard would have an affair. Maybe even the Empress will join forces with her cousin to rebel in a few days.

In short, the occupation of the emperor, he he, everybody who is anybody knows.

Teh: my interpretation of this either is that it’s saying people who deserve to know would understand or only those who’ve been in this job or had been in this position would understand /// Blu: Smort. I had no idea wtf it meant ._.

…………

Ever since Yan Yuqing got acquainted with Dongfang Li, Dongfang Li would send someone into the palace to bring some toys to Yan Yuqing every now and then. Every time he entered the palace, he would make a detour to Jinfangzhai.

Of course, all this went on in secret, so it should definitely not be discovered at all, right?

Well, in fact, Su Rui had deliberately made things convenient for him a long time ago, turning a blind eye to all Dongfang Li’s actions.

An Emperor who would match his imperial concubine and his royal brother with such gusto – since time immemorial, only one existed and it is definitely limited edition.

Blu: I’m sorry. I did my best but…. This sentence is so chinese that it can’t be any more chinese. It’s basically saying that it’s only Su Rui who could matchmake his concubine and his brother. I left the ‘limited edition’ in because… it’s the author’s style. Looking at this, I feel my heart crack.

Thus, under Su Rui’s deliberate indulgence, Yan Yuqing and Dongfang Li quickly embarked on the route set in the original plot.

At this time, Yan Yunuo and Lu Muxun, who formed ties to each other because of the “five hundred taels of silver”, also developed smoothly. Although Lu Muxun usually treated people gently and tepidly, he was still very serious with his feelings. After interacting with Yan Yunuo for a long time and after he affirmed his thoughts, Lu Muxun overtly and secretly began to hint at Yan Yunuo again and again. He was afraid that his feelings would scare Yan Yunuo and he was also afraid that Yan Yunuo wouldn’t accept him.

Fortunately, even though Yunuo was a little slow, she finally understood Lu Muxun’s intentions and slowly accepted him in her heart…

And Yan Yunuo and Lu Muxun became a couple, Xu Bingyue began to become more anxious. During this period, she still helped Su Wan and Chen Shengbei send a letter to each other. Actually, there were several times Su Wan wanted to personally send it, but Xu Bingyue tried her best to dissuade her before she finally dispelled that idea.

As the relationship between Su Wan and Chen Shengbei became more stable, Xu Bingyue’s heart became more impatient.

At this moment, something major suddenly happened in Jinfangzhai——

His Royal Highness Rui Wang went so far as to openly fool around with others in Jinfangzhai!

And the person who was caught red-handed by His Majesty the Emperor turned out to be Su Wan!

When Yan Yunuo learned the news, Su Wan had already been imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court and Rui Wang was also imprisoned.

Su Wan already had Chen Shengbei, so how could she get involved with Rui Wang?

Yan Yunuo immediately went to Jinfangzhai to verify. Unfortunately, Jinfangzhai’s door was always closed. No matter how Yan Yunuo knocked and called, the people of Jinfangzhai refused to open the door.

Desperate, Yan Yunuo went to the Imperial Hospital that very night to seek help from Lu Muxun.

Lu Muxun was naturally responsive to Yan Yunuo’s request. The next day, the people of Jinfangzhai summoned Lu Muxun to treat Yan Yuqing. Yan Yunuo dressed up as a small servant boy and followed him into Jinfangzhai.

After not meeting for a few days, Yan Yuqing looked particularly haggard. It turned out that on that day, she was fooling around with Dongfang Li in the bedroom and she had already told Su Wan not to let anyone in. But right when the two of them were having sex, Su Wan rushed in panickingly.

“Master, His Majesty has come!”

Su Wan, who rushed into the bedroom, seemed to blanked out when she saw the sight in front of her, but she still immediately relayed the bad news that the Emperor had arrived.

At that moment, the always cool-headed Dongfang Li, and not to mention Yan Yuqing, was stunned and his entire mind blanked.

Recently, his journey to and from Jinfangzhai had become easier and more effortless, which made him relax his vigilance a long time ago. Who knew that Dongfang Yao would launch a surprise attack at this time and to even catch them red-handed as they commit adultery on the bed!

At this critical juncture, Su Wan bravely came forward. She hurriedly packed Yan Yuqing’s clothes and piled them into her arms: “Master, quickly jump out of the side window.”

After just a moment of hesitation, Dongfang Li also reacted – it was a capital offense to fool around with the Emperor’s concubines in the harem! But the charge of taking advantage of the concubine’s absence to fool around with her maid in the harem was much lighter.

So, he promptly pushed Yan Yuqing out of the window and then turned around and hugged Su Wan in his arms.

As the saying goes, if you’re putting on an act, you have to act the whole set. So when Su Rui brought Wang Yi and entered, he saw Dongfang Li intending to forcefully kiss Su Wan in his arms, and Su Wan naturally struggled desperately.

In short, the Emperor’s face at that moment turned black and Su Rui rushed over, and then… then His Royal Highness Rui Wang was accurately kicked in the lower body by a sweeping leg. He was not wearing much clothing in the first place and immediately fell to the ground and wailed like a ghost……

Seeing that Su Rui was about to go berserk, Su Wan immediately shivered and knelt on the ground and kept shouting: “Your Majesty, please spare slave’s life! Your Majesty, please spare slave’s life!”

Blu: Slave – it wasn’t explicitly mentioned who’s life she was asking to be spared. It could be Dongfang Li who’s being beat up or her own. I’m leaving it as ‘slave’ for now.

Su Wan’s voice finally made Su Rui regain some of his reasoning. His face immediately clouded over and he coldly spoke: “Servants, take them all away for me!”

When Yan Yuqing finally put on her clothes and pretended to come back from outside with her face all nervous and pale, she saw the scene of Su Rui leading people to bring Dongfang Li, who was still crying in pain, and Su Wan away.

At the moment when he passed by, Su Rui ignored Yan Yuqing’s existence. Even so, after Su Rui had taken the people away, Yan Yuqing collapsed to the ground in fear…