71 Storyline Part 1 Literally don'st read if you don'st want spoilers

1. Pei Nan enters the party and ruins the mood for Yu Mei. Yu Mei barely acknowledges his presence. One, because she is mad at him and two, she is busy getting information from her second customer, Nuan Ti Ling. Turns out, she had never met Ju Ming and she still has hidden feelings for General Shang Guang.

2. Fei Ning gets super comfortable with Pei Nan as she is seen feeding him and wiping his mouth. Yu Mei tries to ignore them by talking with Gu Shao. The two are making small talk and laughing and this gets Pei Nan jealous.

3. Before the party ends, Yu Mei pulls Nuan Ti Ling over and tells her that General Shang Guang likes her too but doesn't know how to approach her since he has grown up in the battlefield since young. Ti Ling is suspicious at first and questions Yu Mei's ulterior motive. Yu Mei simply tells her that they are both females. They should help each other, esp when it comes to love.

4. Nuan Ti Ling makes the first move and this makes Shang Guang blush as he admits that he's had feelings for her since he first met her. He then asks her in a shy voice if he can court her.

5. That night, Pei Nan comes over to Yu Mei's courtyard. The air is tense as Pei Nan is seen being jealous. He asks her how close she and Gu Shao is. Yu Mei simply tells him that they are on friendly term. Which isn't a lie. Pei Nan thinks there is more than that going on and starts to overthink things. Pei Nan calls Yu Mei shameless and chases her out.

6.She takes it literally and leaves that night. Chu'mei is waiting for Yu Mei but she never returns. Only after running to Pei Nan's palace did Pei Nan realize she left. With his heart pounding with fear and worry, he goes out to find her. Chu'mei is instructed to stay in case Yu Mei comes back. Feng Ju stays behind to comfort the worried Chu'mei. Feng Ju is surprised when she starts to cry in front of him. He can only walk over to her and offer her his chest. She then cries and wets his shirt as she continues to cry as he pats her back.

7. Gu Shao who came over to have a late night chat with Nan also finds out that Yu Mei is missing. The two frantically search for her.

8. Pei Nan is the one to find her in the rain. Yu Mei doesn't know where to go so she was crouched in the middle of the street crying from frustration. Pei Nan runs over to her and goes on both knees and pulls her in for a hug. The thought of her leaving just now made him realize just how much Yu Mei means to him. Pei Nan apologizes and tells her that he didn't mean to hurt her. He also tells her the reason why he is being the way he is. When Yu Mei realizes it, she tells him she only wanted to keep faking her injure to spend time with him. Pei Nan scolds himself for being stupid as he pulls Yu Mei into a warm embrace. (Sweet/cute moment)

9. Right at this time, Prince Shao sees them and feels a tug in his heart. At this moment when he sees Yu Mei with Pei Nan, he realizes that he has fallen for her.

10.Shao makes a move when the consorts go to see the empress for training. (Pei Nan asked his mother for Yu Mei's sake.) Pei Nan wants to use this chance for Yu Mei and his mother to bond. Yu Mei at this point is willing to try since she now has good feelings towards Pei Nan.

11. Prince Shao accompanies his mother during the etiquette training. He tries to make Yu Mei jealous by being close to Fei Ning but that doesn't work. After a few days, he gives up and finds a chance to speak to her privately. (One scene I wanted to write)

***[Gu Shao suddenly pulls Yu Mei behind the fake boulder inside the palace garden. From the area and angle they were in, no one could see them unless they were looking very hard. Yu Mei's back gently pressed on the boulder as she looked Gu Shao in the eyes surprised. All she wanted to do was take a breather from the training. But now...she was in front of Gu Shao as he held her shoulders with his palms. She had an ominous feeling.

Yu Mei let out an awkward smile. "Brother Shao, what are you playing at?"

No reply.

Yu Mei felt weird as she was being stared at by Gu Shao. It almost looked intimate to her but that thought was quickly pushed behind her mind. This was Gu Shao.

"Pan Yu Mei, these few days that I have been close with Fei Ning, how did you feel?" he started to sound like Pei Nan with his low serious voice.

"Is this a prank?" Yu Mei chuckled lightly. Why did he sound so serious? She was not used to this.

Seeing that Yu Mei wasn't taking him seriously, he kept on asking her in the same interrogative voice. "Did you feel jealous? Did your heart beat fast? Upset? Irritated?" He arched his brow, waiting for her reply. The clueless Yu Mei didn't want to play this game anymore. She stretched her arms and moved his hands away. "Brother Shao, why would I feel jealous? The only thing I feel is frustration and disappointment. Disappointed that you are not going for a good girl but someone like Fei Ning. You are one of my best friends, I only want you to have the best."

Hearing this, Gu Shao felt like a hundred knives stabbed him. He wanted to hear something her say she was jealous. Jealous to the point of crying. But why did she only scold him. Did she really not feel anything for him? Just thinking about it, Gu Shao was hurt. Without another word, he turned away.]

12. Ji Er goes to find Yu Mei. At the same time, court session had ended and she sees Xu Hou Lei coming her way. She suddenly gets nervous but that nervousness soon turns into disappointment when he pretends not to know her. She feels disappointed when he refers to her as Consort Nuan and not Ji Er. (I really wanted to write about Ji Er's love story)

***[Ji Er froze on the spot when she saw Xu Hou Lei walking towards her. She didn't know if it was fate that he was the only official to come out or not. She held her hands together tightly. She could feel her fingers shaking relentlessly. Seeing Hou Lei, she wanted to fix her hair but didn't want to seem anxious or nervous in front of him.

It felt like eternity as she watched Xu Hou Lei walk towards her. At first she thought he was looking at her but now the he was closer, he had actually been looking behind her. As if she was invisible. Only when he was a few steps away from her did he bow. "Greetings to Consort Nuan." Hou Lei spoke with a serious tone, unlike his usual carefree self. Ji Er felt disappointed; disappointed that he had referred to her as Consort Nuan and not Ji Er.

Hou Lei took a step passed Ji Er. He wanted to escape this awkward situation. Ji Er on the other hand did not want to escape this awkward situation. It had been more than six months since she last saw him. She quickly grasped onto his sleeve, refusing to let him leave. "Lei ge'ge." Ji Er called out softly as she looked him in the eyes, filled with emotions.

"Consort Nuan, this is not proper. Please let go." He reminded her. Ji Er only shook her head no desperately.

With his other hand, Hou Lei removed her hand and just like that, Ji Er had to watch as Hou Lei walked away.]***

13. When Ji Er comes back, she is acting strange and Yu Mei asks her what is wrong. She doesn't say anything.

14. Next day on break, Ji Er hides behind a pillar and waits for Hou Lei to come out. She tails him. When Xu Hou Lei realizes that Ji Er is following him, he speeds up. Ji Er quickly runs in front of him and stops him. She asks him why he is so indifferent to her. He tells her that she is his best friend's woman. How else was he supposed to act?

15. Ji Er can't take it anymore as she once again has to watch as Hou Lei walked away from her. These past months, she tried so hard to avoid him but the moment she saw him, everything she worked so hard to forget came back because she saw him. Ji Er throws everything away as she runs after him and back hugs him. Hou Lei places his hands on hers and closes his eyes for a moment. He almost loses himself in her embrace. He quickly acts fast enough to break away and remind her that she is Prince Nan's wife.

16. Yu Mei who was following Ji Er sees and is shocked to find out that Ji Er knows Xu Hou Lei. Even if she couldn't hear anything, just by their expressions, she could tell.

17. That night Yu Mei goes to Ji Er's palace and confronts her. Finally she gets the answer she has been wondering about. Ji Er is in love with Xu Hou Lei.Yu Mei doesn't understand and asks why she wants Pei Nan's baby then. This question, Ji Er doesn't answer her. Instead she tells Yu Mei that Xu Hou Lei is her childhood lover and they were supposed to get married but she broke it off with him. She doesn't blame Xu Hou Lei for acting indifferent towards her. She doesn't know why Ji Er married Pei Nan but just thinking about Ji Er's situation makes her depressed.

18. Yu Mei comes back to her Southern Palace to see Pei Nan sitting there. She is happy but nervous at the same time at the sight of him. He knows what she is thinking (sleeping together) and he tells her that he couldn't sleep. The two end up having small talk and he falls asleep on the table. Yu Mei goes to his palace to call for his maids but sees Fei Ning exiting the room.

19. Yu Mei stops Fei Ning and they both quarrel. Yu Mei snatches some kind of map from Fei Ning's hand. Fei Ning quickly snatches it back saying it was something Pei Nan requested her to copy for him. Yu Mei doesn't think much of it as she would just ask Pei Nan in the morning.

20. Next day Pei Nan finds out someone has been in his room and stole a military map. Everyone is in question and Yu Mei is about to say it was Fei Ning but Fei Ning was quicker to blame Yu Mei. Pei Nan does a search in both rooms to be fair and finds the map in Yu Mei's room. He asks her if she was the spy sent from Lian. Instead of replying, she asks him if he trusts her. Silence. She understands and asks him to punish her then. He never trusted her once.

21. Pei Nan sends her to the Taiji palace (similar to the cold palace) until further investigation.

22. After a day, Shao hears about it and is outraged. He goes to defend Yu Mei but Pei Nan says the evidence is there and it has been proven that there really was a spy in his palace. He asks Nan if he really thinks that someone like Yu Mei could be the spy. Pei Nan doesn't answer him. He only asks why Shao is defending Yu Mei. Gu Shao replies with "She is someone I want to protect."

23. Shao is angered and visits Yu Mei that night. Even though Yu Mei is feeling terrible, she is still happy to see Shao. Shao accompanies her the next few days that she is prisoned. No one knows because she is the only person in the palace.

24. On the fourth day, Yu Mei is released but Pei Nan didn't tell her why. She thinks that it was due to Shao helping her and she is thankful for that. She has Chu'mei hand a letter to Shao. Pei Nan gets the letter first and finds out that the two of them are secretly meeting.

25. When Yu Mei goes to see Shao, she thanks him but he doesn't know why. When she says he helped her, he wanted to say it wasn't him but somehow he couldn't. The only reason why Yu Mei wanted to see him was to personally thank him. Pei Nan is watching from afar and leaves disappointed afterward.

26. This time, it's Nan who visits Shao's palace at night. Shao knows that Nan is going to visit. He saw Nan earlier. He purposely plays with the jade bracelet Yu Mei gave him. When Pei Nan comes in, Shao "tries" to hide the bracelet but it drops on the ground. Pei Nan picks it up and can tell right away it is Yu Mei's. It was one of the betrothal gifts he gave her. Pei Nan asks where Shao got it.

27. Shao says that he got it from a friend. Pei Nan pretends like he doesn't know and proceeds to have a drink with Shao. They have an intense conversation over Yu Mei. During this time, Gu Shao tells Pei Nan about his blood jade pendant. Finally, Pei Nan realizes where the pendant Yu Mei desperately took back from him came from. He believes that the two exchanged "gifts". He asks Gu Shao if he loves Yu Mei. Shao doesn't deny it and Pei Nan doesn't believe he sincerely loves Yu Mei since he thinks that Gu Shao is still in love with Fei Ning. The two part after the misunderstanding never gets cleared.

28. Next day, Yu Mei boldly enters Fei Ning's courtyard and tells her that she's going to find a way to reveal her true face. Fei Ning tells her that Pei Nan loves her and would never believe Yu Mei over her.

29. Ji Er is also feeling very anxious at this time. She happens to run into Hou Lei as he leaves Pei Nan's study room and asks him to run away with her. He tells her that he has already stopped loving her. He is trying hard to not care about her that he doesn't realize how anxious she is. (Ji Er scenes. I could write about them forever but will refrain myself *wuwuwuw*)

***[In the middle of the night, Ji Er and Hou Lei were standing behind a willow tree. Because it was dark, Hou Lei could not see how stressed and anxious Ji Er looked. She tried to keep calm as she stood tall and elegant in front of him. The two of them just looked at each other for a very long time.

"What does Consort Nuan want to speak to me about?" Hou Lei was the first to speak, using an emotionless tone.

"As long as you agree, I am willing to throw everything away to be with you." For the first time in her life, Ji Er wanted to be brave. If it was any other time, she would never have said these words to Hou Lei. She even wished he could hear how desperate she sounded. Maybe he would agree.

Hou Lei wanted to say yes so bad. He could throw away everything he had for this woman. But he could not throw away the trust and brotherhood he had with Pei Nan for her. Pei Nan was someone who stuck with him when he was still nobody. He never blamed Ji Er for leaving him to be with Pei Nan. He could understand why she would do so. Pei Nan was the kind of man any man strives to become.

Ji Er became even more anxious when he didn't reply. This time, she desperately held onto his hands. Her cold shaking hands grabbing onto his. "Lei ge'ge, let's run away. Didn't we say we would live where only the two of us existed? Somewhere no one could find us? We can still do that. Run away with me, okay?"

"Ji Er." It had been so long since he had last called out to her this dearly. "This isn't like the past. We can't just run away from our lives, our duties. You are the wife of Prince Nan and I am his adviser. If I leave with you now, how could I face my ancestors? Or Pei Nan? This is the decision you chose for the both of us. We can only continue to move forward. It's late, I must go." Hou Lei felt if he stayed any longer, he would really leave everything and take her away this moment. Ji Er on the other hand let go of his hands as she stared at the ground in front of her. Even after Hou Lei left her side, she didn't move. [Ji Er, this is the choice you made. Lei ge'ge is right. There is no turning back.] Ji Er closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek.]***

***THE REST WILL BE POSTED TOMORROW NIGHT (And yes, she leaves the palace)*** ^_____^

***I reread this and it makes sense to me but then I am the author. But if you guys have any questions or don't understand something from this, please comment and I will try to answer it before posting the final half ^_____^