Hearing that Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu still wanted to bath at this hour, Yue Xiu could not help but advise: “It’s already more than halfway through the Chou hour, Your Highness should rest, there is still a need to supervise the banquet tomorrow!”


  (Translator note: Chou hour is 1am to 3am for GMT/UTC+8)

  “It’s not a problem.” Imperial Concubine waved her hand in dismissal, “The banquet is being organised by that old granny the Empress, she hosted the banquet for so many years, she has a lot of experience! There’s no need for this one to worry too much. The formal banquet is just for appearances, after tomorrow night, this one would be Imperial Concubine Gui and will only be one step away from that Empress. It’s good as long as the goal is achieved, whether there is a banquet, or how it is organised, This One is not concerned.” She said to Yue Xiu again: “Just leave, this one does not like others waiting on me when bathing.”


  This was a bad habit Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu obtained not long ago. The bedroom in the main hall of Cun Shan Palace had a secret room originally. She had ordered someone to create it in the past when she lived here. There was nothing else in the secret room other than a huge bath. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu would soak in there occasionally. But in the past, she still wanted servants to wait on her, but ever since the period before disaster befell the Eighth Prince, she added some rules, not wanting anyone to serve her when she was bathing, all the servants could not be around, and could not even stay in this house.

  Yue Xiu also did not understand why her Master would suddenly have such rules, but she was just soaking in the bath. Since her Master liked to be alone, it was also inconvenient for them to disturb her. Therefore, every time Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu said that she wanted to bath, she would automatically leave on her own accord, chase out all the servants in the house, then stand guard outside the door, not allowing anyone to enter until Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu stepped out.

  It was like this today as well, there was no one in the side hall. This was when Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu stepped on the floor while barefoot. The floor of this palace had heating, so it was not cold, and she quickly walked behind a screen in the corner of the room. Pushing on the wall lightly, a secret room appeared immediately. She entered quickly, but before she could close the door to the secret room, she fell into someone’s embrace. A pair of large hands started to roam over her body and every place they touched were her most sensitive areas, teasing them, causing Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu to quickly let out a moan.

  “Wait a moment, the door isn’t closed.” Finally remembering that the door to the secret room was opened, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu reached back to close the door, but was unable to reach it after a few tries.

  That man hugging her said softly instead: “What are you afraid of? There is no one else in this hall. I was thinking that we should just go out and enjoy ourselves on your mattress, always doing it in a stuffy walled up place is really spoils the mood.” That person moved to open the door of the secret room as he spoke, pulling Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu outside as he did so.

  But Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu was very afraid, and rejected it flatly: “No, definitely not! Did you forget about me telling you that something happened at Mo-er’s end? As well as what happened at Zhao He Hall before? If someone can sneak around to that point, how do you know my Hall really doesn’t have anyone else?”


  Once she said this, the man did not insist any longer, but he was in a rather bad mood. Scoffing coldly, he reached out to close the door, then bit the area around Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s heart, this bite causing Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu to let out a whine.

  The two people, just like dry wood meeting raging fire, quickly fell into the large bath. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu did not know how her clothes were removed. She just felt that after a wave of dizziness, she was already naked and being hugged tightly by that man. That person kept teasing her and the two of them continued to stick to each other and finally became one.

  In the end, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu was much younger than the Emperor and gave birth to a son in her teens. Right now, at an age of less than 40 years old, regardless of how much the Emperor was brimming with energy, he would lose to the needs of a woman at that age. Moreover, the Emperor ignored her for so many years, and the new liberation could not make up for these 20 years of emptiness. However, the person in front of her was much younger than the Emperor was even 10 years younger than her. This was the prime years for a man, and what he could give her was a completely different feeling from what the Emperor could offer. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu could willfully demand from his body, and no matter what it was, this man could satisfy her and never disappointed her before.

  “How is it, much stronger than that old Emperor, right!” That man spoke, doing it softly next to Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s ear, exhaling a warm breath. The bath in the pool contained the fragrance of nice smelling herbs but can cause one to feel delirious. “A pity, he is the Emperor and is lucky to be surrounded by women. He can herd so many women in the palace and use them whenever he wants.”


  “Hmph!” Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu scoffed, “What of it? He needs to make use of it first. In these more than 20 years, which woman in the imperial harem did not spend her nights alone? He would only think of the Imperial Concubine Yun and threw the other people to the back of his mind. If I could, why don’t you also put a Gu in that Imperial Concubine Yun. The best one would be a suicide Gu, she can go die on her own and stop being an eyesore.”


  “I have to see her first to do it.” The man flipped Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu over and continued his actions, “I am a Gu Master, I don’t know any spells. Without seeing the person, anything said would just be nonsense. But you said that Winter Moon Palace is heavily guarded, how can I go in?”


  Once Imperial Concubine Yun was mentioned, Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s mood would be rather bad, so the topic was not continued and the focus was shifted to the fun before her. The two messed around for almost an hour and finally quietened down. Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu leaned against that man and asked softly: “Can you increase the power on him? I am always worrying, feeling that that side is close to losing control. You didn’t know, tonight, the older Emperor suddenly remembered that Eunuch who was thrown into the Department of Guilty Servants and forced the Empress’ hand to bring him back. I’m really afraid that he would suddenly clear his mind, then everything would be over.”


  “Don’t worry, my beauty.” That man squeezed Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu’s chest, saying: “I implanted a Heart Gu into the old Emperor, it’s not that easy to break. If Beautiful is worried, I would just spur the Gu on a little later on. I guarantee that tomorrow morning, the old Emperor would be obedient again.”


  “That would be the best.” Imperial Concubine Yuan Shu fell into that person’s embrace in a soft manner, throwing him a flirtatious glance, then stuck to that person again……

  During this New Year’s Eve, everyone in their own courtyard harboured their own thoughts, and no one was able to sleep well. Feng Zirui could not sleep as well and sat in his own house, staying up past midnight to welcome the New Year with the maid Yue Rong. He did not feel sleep after welcoming the New Year as well, so the two of them chatted. Yue Rong told him: “Young Master doesn’t need to be anxious, there will be a banquet tomorrow, and you’ll be able to see Princess Yu.”


  Zirui nodded and some excitement could be seen in his expression, “That’s right! I’ll finally be able to see Older Sister tomorrow. I came back to the capital to have a reunion with Older Sister, but I never expected that I would be brought to the palace. After this New Year, I will be 11 years old. Thinking back, when Older Sister was my age, she could take care of me and Mother by herself.” Once he mentioned Feng Yuheng, Zirui could not stop taking, and started to tell Yue Rong about their days in Xiping Village, talking about how Feng Yuheng would enter the mountains and pick mushrooms and wild vegetables, allowing them to eat these for a few days with one trip. She would also occasionally bring some medicinal herbs, selling them to the barefoot physician in the village, obtaining some silver to buy nourishing foods for their mother. Every time he mentioned Yao Shi, Zirui would sigh, Yue Rong did not ask about it as well, becoming the best listener.

  The two of them kept sitting like this and until Zirui finally felt a little sleepy did he obediently lie on the mattress to sleep. He did feel sleepy, but it was too difficult to truly fall asleep. He did not know if it was because he was reminiscing too much about the past with Yue Rong earlier, but Zirui felt that once he closed his eyes, the image of being at Xiping village in the past would flash by his eyes. There was his older sister and his mother. At that time, though Yao Shi had a weak personality, did not know how to do anything and did not even know how to start a fire, she was kind and normal. From how he saw it now, that kindness was truly being much too weak, but it was much better than the repeated ruthless cutting off of connections after returning to the capital.

  Finally, everyone feel asleep amongst their own thoughts. In the Chun Palace, Xuan Tianming and Feng Yuheng did not leave, and stayed in the guest courtyard. Their first New Year was sweet. In the bamboo forest, someone was unable to sleep all night, going through a folding fan dance routine in the lightly falling snow.

  He already suffered this kind of loneliness for many many years. Every New Year Eve’s night, Xuan Tianhua would go through the folding fan dance, and every time he did it, no one was allowed to approach. He would then enjoy his unique feeling of loneliness alone. Some time ago, Xian Tianhua felt happy about this kind of loneliness, because his life did not need any companion. Being alone is good, the folding fan dance, his white attire was the same colour as the sky and the earth. He liked the feeling of the cold snow falling on his face. The bamboo forest in the winter was not emerald green in colour, but a faint scent was still emitted, allowing him to forget some mundane matters in this world.

  However, these few years, he increasingly felt that this loneliness was hard to bear. In his heart, something was contained, a person was contained, and loneliness was no longer a happy matter.

  But he had an audience tonight, his folding fan was no longer a lone dance. In a small corner of the bamboo forest, a small figure stood there quietly, looking up towards him, resembling a white porcelain doll, with an expression of admiration and desire. That small person only wore an outer robe without bringing a cape. Both her cheeks were frozen red, and her small hands were practically stiff, not to mention her feet who were standing for a long time in the snow, she would fall if she moved. But this did not stop her from putting her whole heart into watching that person performing the fan dance. Her eyes were sparkling, as if she saw hope and sunlight.

  Xuan Tianhua knew early on that someone was watching him. At the beginning, he frowned slightly and thought that the people in this palace were getting worse, actually breaking the rule which was established for so many years. But when he clearly saw that the small person standing there was no one else but Feng Xiangrong who was residing here as a visitor, he knew that this could not be blamed on the people in the palace. Imperial Concubine Yun must have given special authority and instigated the young girl into coming. He did not make any noise and continued his folding fan dance. His heart which was already not that calm was messed up slightly by that small figure who was watching.

  Without any other choice, he returned to his starting position, made slight adjustments without moving from his spot, then turned around. He happened to make eye contact with Xiangrong. Xiangrong was stunned and wanted to run away on reflex, but her hands and feet were frozen stiff. Without considering her slow reaction speed, her feet did not respond to her will and with action of turning around, she fell into the snow with a “plunk”. Her heart fell slightly, afraid that Xuan Tianhua would think that she did it intentionally, because this looked too much like a cliché plot development in the theater shows. She did not wanted to become that kind of weak girl and did not want to use this method to obtain the pity of the person she liked, so she gritted her teeth and tried her best to get up. Even if her movements were idiotic, slow and did not look nice, she still worked hard, and when she finally stood up, she stumbled along the path which she came from.

  However, she heard someone sigh softly behind her, and she did not know when that person appeared in front of her. She only felt her elbow get grabbed, and she was hauled back from the few steps she managed to run after much effort……