CH 38

Who Are You?

The small melon-faced palace maid nodded her head while rubbing her clothes and agreed, "That is true, the Empress has been ill for so long, but the Emperor still takes care of him attentively and accompanies him day and night, without developing flirtatious thoughts, so I am relieved."

"Someone as good as the Empress needs to be treated in the best way possible..." This little palace maid was originally serving beside Ning Zhiyu, but because she broke a teacup given to him by Yan Yuan, she caused Yan Yuan to become furious and was going to be dragged off to be killed on the spot. It was Ning Zhiyu who begged for her favour, which saved her from death, and she went to the laundry bureau.

Although they were no longer master and servant, she remembered his kindness, so she was particularly keen to learn news of Ning Zhiyu.

The round-faced palace maid and the melon-faced palace maid are colleagues and have a good relationship, so she naturally knows about her past. Seeing that she was lost in her memories, she flicked the water from the washing basin at her face with her fingertips, trying to make her laugh: "Don't worry about it, the Empress is well. Hurry up and get to work, if the disciplinarian hears us gossiping, he will break your legs."

The little melon-faced palace maid looked towards the round archway and saw no one coming, so she put her mind at ease and flicked water at the round-faced palace maid's face in retaliation. The two of them laughed and joked around for a while, but their eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a pair of black boots in front of them, the surface of which was wet and stained with mud.

"Who is the empress?"

The two palace maids looked up and saw a man in a black robe, with a long, lean body, wearing a black veil hat, making it hard to see his face. Perhaps because he had just experienced a heavy rain, there was water dripping from his body, and he looked a little embarrassed.

The two of them were taken aback, did this man walk without a sound? Looking at this outfit, he didn't look like someone who was on duty in the palace... The small melon-faced palace maid sized him up and spoke with a frown: "Who are you? Why did you barge in so abruptly?"

"I..." Xuan Long spoke, not knowing how to answer.

At that moment, a demonic wind caught him by surprise and blew up the black veil that was blocking Xuan Long's face. The palace maids took the opportunity to see his face, but since Xuan Long had pressed the veil down in time, they could not see him very clearly, only a few of his features and his turquoise eyes. The little round-faced palace maids stared in shock.

They say that the people of the foreign countries look slightly different from the people of Darong, as their features are deeper and more three-dimensional, and their eyes are either blue or green in colour...

The small melon-faced palace maid immediately thought of those male pets who were sent to the palace. She did not have a good feeling about those people, those people are here to compete for favour, and are an existence that makes Ning Zhiyu unhappy. If her benefactor is unhappy, she is naturally unhappy. Shaking off the water on her hands, she stood up and looked Xuan Long up and down, then coldly said: "You are one of the male pets who were sent as a tribute to the Emperor by the foreign countries, right? "

"......"

When she saw that Xuan Long did not answer, she became more and more certain, and her clear face showed disgust without any disguise: "What are you doing running around in the palace when you can't obtain the Emperor's favour? This is the laundry bureau, you can't bump into the Emperor here."

"You, don't waste your breath, the Emperor's couch is only for the Empress, and a lowly male pet like you is no match for the Empress. The Empress is the son of the Prime Minister, who was born in a noble family. Look at yourself, apart from that face, where else can you be compared to the Empress?"

The palace maid herself was lowly, but when she had someone she wanted to defend, she became emboldened. Looking at Xuan Long almost as if he were a monkey, her every word carried a sting, trying to extinguish his prestige and his confidence in fighting for favour, "I can see that your face is inferior to the Empress', and your silhouette is so rigid and hard, without any soft beauty, how could the Emperor possibly see you? You'd better stop while you're ahead, the Emperor only loves the Empress, one couple, one pair for a lifetime, and there is no room for anyone else in his heart."

Xuan Long didn't take the palace maid's words to heart, but he was still stung by Yan Yuan's remarks about loving the Empress. He was so confused that he stubbornly asked: "Who is the empress?"

The palace maid laughed: "Since you have entered the palace and want to gain favour, do you not even know who the Empress is? I don't know if you really don't know or if you are deliberately pretending to be stupid. Then I will kindly tell you today who the Empress is. The Empress is called Ning Zhiyu, the third son of the Prime Minister of the current dynasty, and as his name suggests, he has the appearance of a clear wind and a bright moon, and is gentle, dignified and kind. On the sixth day of the sixth month of the year Tai'an, the Emperor enthroned Ning Zhiyu, the son of the Prime Minister, as Empress, with three books and six rites and an amnesty for all the world, and the whole country celebrated together. The Empress is the only one qualified to accompany the Emperor."

Xuan Long had been alone in the thousand-year-old pond for too long, so long that he had forgotten about time. He was insensitive to the years of the human race, but that did not stop him from learning something from this, "Is that what... you human beings call husband and wife..."

The palace maid was stunned and looked at him oddly, "The Emperor and the Empress are husband and wife. Normal people have multiple spouses, but the Emperor insists on marrying only the Empress, three thousand weak waters only take one scoop... From this alone, you should know how important the Empress is to the Emperor. If you are sensible, you should stop feeling this way before it is too late.” (Angel: Three thousand weak waters only to take one scoop comes from Buddhist scriptures, and means that you may encounter many beautiful things in your life, but as long as you carefully grasp one of them, it is enough.)

The man in front of her did not speak for a long time, and when he spoke again, his voice had become very hoarse, "He has never spoken to me about this..."

The round-faced palace maid next to her tugged at the sleeve of the melon-faced palace maid and lowered her voice, "Don't say any more, it looks to me like he's very sad."

The man's body was filled with an unconcealed loneliness. Although his face was covered, just by listening to his voice, one could feel that he was silently crying from a broken heart.

"Hmph, he knows he has no hope of winning favour, so he is sad." The small, melon-faced palace maid changed her usual gentle nature and spoke nonchalantly. "Who are you, why should the Emperor talk to you about this? The most precious person should be hidden in his heart like a treasure, so he will not talk about it with people who do not matter."

“Really?…" Xuan Long muttered back.

Irrelevant person.

Was he an insignificant existence in Yan Yuan's mind?

As the two of them watched, Xuan Long slowly turned and left.

He searched the palace for Yan Yuan's scent and stopped in front of a bedchamber called Luanfeng Hall.

The evening sun was shining on the ground and the air was sweet and fresh after the rain. Xuan Long had wanted to tell Yan Yuan about his pregnancy when he returned, but now his mind was empty.

He had cast a stealth spell so that the palace guards could not see him, and he easily entered the hall under the noses of everyone. The light in the luxurious hall was dim, and the decorations were extremely comfortable and appropriate. A calming incense rose from the half-human-tall nine phoenix bronze pot.

Before he entered the inner hall, he heard Yan Yuan's gentle questioning voice from inside.

"Ah Yu, what's wrong?"

“Have another nightmare?

Yan Yuan sat on the side of the bed, his palm pressed against Ning Zhiyu's face, caressing it gently.

Ning Zhiyu shook his head, his voice a little hoarse as he had just woken up, and he said with a smile, "No, perhaps I thought I wouldn't be able to see you if I fell asleep, so I couldn't bear to sleep for too long."

Yan Yuan's heart ached, and his voice became softer and softer: "Silly A'Yu, it's just that you miss me when I'm not at your side, but I'm at your side with you, why are you still uneasy?"

The corners of Ning Zhiyu's eyes were slightly red, and his gaze did not want to leave Yan Yuan's face for a moment: "I don't know how much longer I can see, so I want to look at you more."

Xuan Long soundlessly stopped ten paces away from the two, staring at them in awe.

A'Yu... A'Yu was the name Yan Yuan had called in his dream.

It turned out that A'Yu was not a fox, but a human being.