Treacherous Living in the Imperial Harem - Chapter 21
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- Chapter 21 - Treacherous Living in the Imperial Harem Chapter 21
Chapter 21 Cheng Gui Yun couldn’t actually contradict!
“It seems that I can’t go back to Xi Xing Building tonight.” At the appropriate time, Yun Fenghuang was hiding in the woods and wringing the water out of her long and messy hair and clothes. She sighed, “I originally wanted to go to Ning Bi Hall to pay respects to Consort Yue on the way I went back to Hu Zhu Palace and told something cruel to… make her angry deeply.”
To be honest, she originally planned indeed to go ashore secretly after swimming underwater for some time, and then she would find a way to solve the trouble. Helplessly, she joined the Imperial Harem too short to be familiar with the environment.
Because the reeds beside Sha Lv Pavilion had not yet flourished this season, and Yun Fenghuang was afraid that she would be caught if she raised her head above water too early, so, she broke off a section of a reed tube under the water for breathing. She didn’t raise her head over the water secretly until she couldn’t breathe. Looking around quickly, she found a place of dense vegetation and then went ashore successfully with carefulness and persistence.
As a result, before having time to breathe a sigh of relief, she found that it seemed like… an island here.
Yun Fenghuang was so tired that she could say nothing.
She remembered the information about the Imperial Palace she learned briefly in a short time before joining the Imperial Harem. It’s said that Tai Ye Pool was the boundary of the country’s Imperial Palace and divided it into the Imperial Court and Imperial Harem…
In other words, she was no longer in the Imperial Harem now…
As to where she was at present… The calabash-shaped Tai Ye Pool had five islands famous as celestial mountains in the historical records and they were separately Small Dai Yu, Small Yuan Qiao, Small Fang Hu, Small Ying Zhou and Small Peng Lai from east to west.
Because she had particularly chosen a place easy to hide her trails to go ashore previously, she couldn’t even see the surface of the pool, of course she had no idea about which island it was.
But no matter which island it was, Yun Fenghuang who almost used up all her strength wasn’t able to go back to the Imperial Harem by herself as she came.
“It’s impossible for me to swim back, and I don’t know where to steal a boat and how to row, so, I have to find the maids on the island and ask them to send me back.” Yun Fenghuang hastily clean herself up. With the last light of the sun to recognize the surrounding environment, she walked towards the nearest house hiding in the rich foliage.
In every former dynasty, the emperors had come to the five small islands standing in Tai Ye Pool, except recent decades. Emperor Shenzong had been busy fighting with his brothers for being enthroned in the former part of his life, and had been busy governing the country in the latter part of his life; his lineal son Emperor Xiaozong had been fighting with other families before he died at a young age; and Emperor Chunjia had been acting as a puppet until now. Therefore, none of them had a free time to take a boat on the pool to appreciate the results of taking people’s money.
They were originally one of the most popular places in the Imperial Palace, but now they attracted few people and boats here and were almost forgotten by the people of the Imperial Court and Imperial Harem.
Therefore, Yun Fenghuang was unfamiliar with these five islands. She just wanted to find people at the moment.
The path was very winding, which might be designed for viewing the scenery. The house looked closely, but it was quite distant to arrive on foot. It had already been evening when she went ashore, and it had been getting dark when she finally saw the gate of the house.
It was lucky that when Yun Fenghuang was about to knock the door, the door happened to be opened and two maids holding baskets went out.
The maid walking ahead whispered to her companion while crossing the threshold, “You remember to take away the Lignum Aquilariae Resinatum later. Shizi don’t like the smell now.”
Her companion nodded, and said lively, “I remember. Is there anything else to be aware of? I heard that Shizi has been having a bad mood recently, so, we need to be careful.”
“How dare you! You speak too much.” The maid who spoke before was going to twist her and warned, “Luckily, your words are not heard by anyone else. If Mammy heard them, you should be punished!”
“There have been being few people in the Small Chun Sheng Building. Don’t worry…”
The two maids went far away as they talked and laughed. Yun Fenghuang came out behind a clump of blossomed vegetation with a bit unhappy face.
She originally thought that although Tai Ye Pool was out of the range of the Imperial Harem, it was forbidden for outsiders to go in. She didn’t expect that there was a Shizi here.
Although in recent years eunuchs had more and more power, as Yun Fenghuang knew, no eunuch had been titled as a Shizi.
Therefore, no matter who the Shizi that appeared on the island at this moment was, he must be a complete man, so, she needed to prevent herself to be seen.
Therefore, it was inconvenient for her to show up publicly.
After all, the group of Emperor Chunjia obviously showed their intention to let her die. If he knew that she was on the same island with a Shizi, even if he knew that the two people had no relationship and did nothing, and even didn’t see each other, he would firmly claim that her reputation and integrity had been tarnished. At that time, she would be fortunate to be locked in the Cold Palace if the Emperor were mercy, but what the worst thing was that she might be killed cruelly.
But if she didn’t ask the people on the island for help, how could she go back to the Imperial Harem?
Yun Fenghuang thought carefully and ultimately made up her mind, deciding to look for a place to satiate herself and then take a break. After she recovered the energy, she… would swim back!
She was helpless. Although this method was very dangerous, she still had a chance to survive.
But if she met Shizi on the island at night, it meant she took initiative to handle a knife to Emperor Chunjia, Consort Yue and others to kill her.
There was an old saying that one should choose the less harmful one from two evils. She had to bet on it.
Making up her mind, Yun Fenghuang did not delay any more. Taking advantage of the darkness at night to hide her figure, she quickly stole a box of snacks hidden by some maids who did the cleaning job in a pavilion nearby to allay her hunger. After that, she planned to find a place to sleep.
Although under this situation, it would be safer to find a quiet corner to sleep for a while, Yun Fenghuang had to swim later. Although it was not the cold winter now, the night was still very cold and the water was even colder. If she did not take advantage of the sleeping time to warm her up, she would be regretful if she had an accident later.
Therefore, Yun Fenghuang considered a lot, and decided to sneak back to the Small Chun Sheng Building where she met the two maids just now.
After all, she was unfamiliar with this island, and she was not clear which place was uninhabited. Besides, she had to swim back to the Imperial Harem before dawn, so, she couldn’t afford to pick the place slowly. This Small Chun Sheng Building looked secluded, and the maid had said there had been few people here, so, it seemed to be the best choice.
Although the Small Chun Sheng Building seemed to be uninhabited, and she knew that the two maids were unlikely to say those words intentionally to cheat her because they had paid attention on their talks and had not even noticed her, Yun Fenghuang walked around the building and went inside by climbing over the wall.
After inspecting every corner of the place, she carefully observed the dust and spiders’ webs. She found that the main room and wing-rooms were cleaned carefully. They were clean and dust-free, and even seemed to be cleaned up just now.
However, the doors and windows of the backroom as the bedroom were closed tightly. Besides, just opening a little hole in the back paper-making window, she could smell the uninhabited smell. She managed to open the window and saw a thin layer of dust taking advantage of the wind lantern under the corridor. It was estimated that it was not cleaned for at least one month.
According to this situation, it was easy to speculate that a noble man who was not forbidden to the Imperial Palace often came to this island, but his maids were lazy. The two maids just now might be the cleaners. They cleaned carefully to the places that were easy to be seen when opening the courtyard gate, while for the back rooms, it was estimated that no one lived and no chargers checked carefully, so, they simply ignored them.
Yun Fenghuang was very satisfied with this room. Although she preferred cleaner environment usually, she was not very hypocritical at the special situation. At this moment, she climbed inside the room from the back window, patted the quilt on the bed for a while, took off her clothes and hung them on the coat hanger with the patterns of yellow pear flowers and double peonies not far away to dry her clothes, and then covered her naked body with the quilt… Tossed by the hard trip, she had been already tired very much. After she relaxed for a while, she quickly fell asleep.
Yun Fenghuang originally dared not sleep deeply because she worried something even if this place was secure. Maybe she was too tired or something, she slept very well this time. It was unclear what time it was, she suddenly awakened. Before she opened her eyes, she felt that there was light in front of her eyes.
Immediately, she sat up suddenly in shock!
“My god. Did… did I sleep until dawn???”
Then she saw two melon-shaped carved palace lanterns with a picture of beauties playing in the spring not far away, and a copper incense burner with silver wire under the lanterns, from which a ray of green smoke was rising directly to the beam.
After Yun Fenghuang calmed down for a while, she slowly, slowly, slowly and slowly turned around, and then she saw a young man in a plain robe lying beside her. He was seventeen or eighteen years old, and was simple and handsome. Maybe because of the light, his skin color was so white that it was almost translucent, which set off his red lips, like blood drops, compared with the skin color.
With his black long hair covered the whole pillow, the man crossed his arms behind his head, while his eyes closed, and his long butterfly-like eyelashes moved slightly with his breath. The calmness was visible from his eyebrows.
Maybe he felt Yun Fenghuang’s gaze, then he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her indifferently.
Yun Fenghuang subconsciously pulled a corner of the quilt and wrapped her tightly.
There weren’t any emotions in the young man’s eyes. He closed his eyes again, and his breathing was even again.
“…” Although Yun Fenghuang regarded herself being alert and resourceful, she was a little dazed looking at his defenseless appearance. Was there any problem with this person?
While she was thinking, she continued to stare at the young man, but she secretly touched the underside of the mattress, and pulled out a silver hairpin whose tail was sharpened deliberately.
After all, she lived outside alone. Although she thought the Small Chun Sheng Building was relatively secure before, she was still customary to prepare something beside her left hand.
At this moment, she held the hairpin tight and suddenly stabbed at the young man’s heart!
However!
When the tip of the hairpin just touched the young man’s robe, her wrist was firmly held. Although she tried her best, she could not go any further.
Yun Fenghuang’s heart sank. The young man opened his eyes again, and asked indifferently, “Why are you trying to kill me suddenly?”
“At the middle of night, you did the beast-like actions…” Yun Fenghuang raised eyebrows, “Do you have face to ask me?”
The young man sneered, “Beast-like actions? The Small Chun Sheng Building is my place of residence. You didn’t ask my permission to enter, and you broke my window, occupied my bed, and stained my coat hanger. I have always been good to others. I didn’t find your trouble, but allowed you to sleep. As the host, I leaned to sleep, leaving most of the place to you… You not only don’t thank me, but vilify me as a beast…”
He looked disdainfully, “There is actually such a shameless person in the world. I have learned a lot today!”
Yun Fenghuang was dumbfounded. After a long while, she said slightly, “Even though it’s my fault to enter your room without your permission, it’s improper for a man and a woman to sleep on one bed. Especially, I…”
In order to dry the clothes quickly, and prevent moisture from entering her body, she took off her clothes and lied down naked!
However, this man dared to lie beside her silently. Even if her body didn’t feel anything abnormal, he was not qualified to claim he was aggrieved even though she stabbed him using the hairpin!
“Do you mean that I should call someone immediately after I find you?” The young man narrowed his eyes and stared at her. “Then the whole Dijing City would know that you and I do the disgraceful thing? Maybe you have this kind of elegant interest, but I will not accompany you!”
Yun Fenghuang was speechless.
The young man continued, “Or do you think I deserve to give in the room to you, an uninvited guest, and find a corner to wait for dawn? The question is we have no relationship, so, why should I be so harsh to myself for you?”
Yun Fenghuang was speechless.
She tried to contradict, “But you can awaken me and then…”
Then she promised to go away immediately, without any hesitation!!!
“Then you blame me?” The young man interrupted her expressionlessly. “Or do you think that you, a woman with the unknown origin lying on the bed of an unfamiliar man, deserve to be treated as a noble lady? Shouldn’t you be doubted?”
“…” Yun Fenghuang who thought she was talkative had never fallen like this before. She couldn’t justify herself and was speechless. After a long time, she trembled as she asked, “Since you doubt me, why do you allow me to sleep here?”
Why did he lie down honestly since he hated her so much???