CH 11

The Emperor coughed, I still remained unconcerned, so it was the Empress Dowager who spoke.

“Your Majesty, Li Yumian is the youngest daughter of Lin da-ren, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice – she’s well-read and smart, let her stay perhaps.”

The Empress Dowager had spoken, even if the Emperor did not want to keep her, she had to stay.

After that, another girl entered, her name was Wu Anyan and she was the Consort Dowager’s niece, naturally the Consort Dowager persuaded the Emperor to keep her niece’s token.

Watching the Emperor’s face grow darker, I finally came to my senses, the two girls just now were arranged by the Empress Dowager and the Consort Dowager.

Since ancient times, the imperial harem had always been filled with beauties, but there were always one or two who had entered thanks to their backing, the Emperor could not be blamed for feeling displeased.

Amongst the eighty-eight girls, nine remained.

On the way back to Yangxin Palace, the Emperor’s mood was not great. I knew that he was feeling conflicted because the Empress Dowager had asked him to arrange a ranking and a title for each of the girls, and they would begin serving in order tomorrow.

In the evening, the Emperor stayed in Qianqing Palace the whole time, aside from reading through the memorials, he also had to think about the titles.

His complexion was just as gloomy as before as I stood next to him grinding the ink, my heart felt uncomfortable.

The Emperor ate very little for dinner, I didn’t know whether he would get hungry, the imperial kitchen had still not delivered the soup over.

I kept looking over at the door, the Emperor knocked on the table, “What are you looking at? Pay attention to the ink.”

“Yes.” I pouted feeling wronged.

“Are you still unresigned?” The Emperor put the brush heavily onto the table.

I was taken aback and then immediately kneeled, “Your Majesty, please forgive me….”

At this moment, there was the voice of Yuan Moshu from outside the door, “Your Majesty, the imperial kitchen has delivered soup.”

The little eunuch brought the soup to the table and then retreated.

“Raise your head.” The Emperor said, “Liu Xiaoyu, last time, did you tell the Empress Dowager and the Consort Dowager that I don’t feed you?”

I quickly admitted my wrongdoing, “This servant was wrong, Your Majesty….”

The Emperor seemed to be smiling through his eyes, he said very entirely, “I will feed you some soup then.”

He was up to no good again, after serving him for so long, I already had some experience now…..

“Your Majesty, this servant is afraid, this is not…..” This was not appropriate, he was over-spoiling me then.

But the Emperor would never listen to a little eunuch like me, he immediately brought the spoon to the side of my mouth, “Open your mouth, drink it well, if you spill any, I will punish you.”

All I could do was obediently open my mouth.

I’m not sure if the Emperor did this on purpose since I was already drinking the soup, but he suddenly tilted his hand and the soup slid down the corners of my mouth, down my chin, neck and then onto my collar.

I saw the prevailing joy in the Emperor’s eyes.

He put down the soup spoon and then used his hand to pinch my chin, “Get up.”

Due to his grip, I stuck close to his body, slowly standing up. His hand moved down to my waist, I felt him trembling slightly.

Or perhaps that was I who was trembling.

“Sit here.” The Emperor’s voice became a little hoarse.

I didn’t dare, my cheeks began to burn up, “Your Majesty, you mustn’t……”

The Emperor’s hand that was on my back pinched me with much force, as if he was using strength to control me, “Sit here.”

But the dragon throne had armrests on either side, I couldn’t sit down directly, I could only have my two legs kneeling either side of the chair to sit on the Emperor’s lap.

He leaned in very close, his lips were stuck to my chin as he licked the soup from the corner of my mouth and then…..

“Your Majesty, you mustn’t….” My voice became extraordinarily weak as my heartbeat was sounding louder than someone shouting.

The Emperor turned a deaf ear to my quiet protests, he used one hand to pull open my collar.

I was immediately stunned, both my hands placed on the Emperor’s shoulders, “No…..”

The Emperor raised his head, his eyes were misty, making his emerald green eyes even more mysterious, I couldn’t help being pulled in.

“Liu Xiaoyu, are you my person?” The Emperor once again buried his head into my collarbone.

His tongue swept along my collarbone, I didn’t dare to respond, I didn’t know how to respond.

Just as the Emperor was impassioned, a report came from outside the door, “The Empress Dowager has arrived!”

It was like I had been awakened from a dream, I forcefully pushed the Emperor away and then frantically jumped behind him, and then scuttled underneath the table. I couldn’t let the Empress Dowager see me so dishevelled, otherwise, my head would be separating from my body tonight.

I kneeled on the floor trembling in fear, the Emperor was still just as calm as he patted my head, “Turn around, raise your bum up.”

No way! Your Majesty, why are you being like this!

“If you don’t listen to me, I will chop off your head.” The Emperor smiled.

In the end, as the door opened, I turned around and raised up my bum, and then the Emperor’s hand began to stroke it.

“Mother Empress, why have you come?”

“Your Majesty, why do you have no one serving at your side?”

“I was thinking about the titles for each of the consorts and wanted some quiet.”

“This is good, I came for this exact reason.” The Empress Dowager was clearly in a good mood. “Your Majesty, do you still remember Lin Yumian, the daughter of the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, she’s a distant relative of mine, what ranking does the Emperor see fit for her?”

The grip that the Emperor had on my butt suddenly tightened, I thought that he must definitely be annoyed.

“Since Mother Empress has come personally, then this girl must have her talents, so I’ll give her the title of consort, En…. How about Consort Zhuang? So that she can be composed1端庄 duānzhuāng – dignified or refined, hence, Consort Zhuang and refined as mother, embodying the qualities of a virtuous and capable mother figure, who can bring order and harmony to the world.”

“En, it’s unusual for the Emperor to be so thoughtful, it’s quite good.” The Empress Dowager paused, “Then what about the graceful girl, Wu Anyan. How does the Emperor plan on placing her?”

Wu Anyan? Wasn’t that Consort Dowager Wu’s niece? My brain was also in deep thought, the Empress Dowager and the Consort Dowager had never got on, since it was the other’s niece, how could the Emperor deal with this?

I was pondering over it when the Emperor’s finger suddenly slid over my coccyx. I was so frightened, I almost cried out. I quickly covered my mouth with my hand.

Perhaps he had felt my reaction, so he stopped his hand there and began to lightly turn in circles…..

The Emperor laughed lightly a few times, “Mother Empress, although Wu Anyan is an lucid and attractive appearance, she’s still lacking some ink on the chest2胸无点墨 xiōng wú diǎn mò – she’s not well educated basically, I believe her to be beautiful and affectionate, how about Consort Li3丽 lì beautiful?”

Although I didn’t understand the meaning of their titles, the Empress Dowager seemed to be satisfied.

I heard her say, “That’s not bad, then it’s decided. I will return to my palace, Your Majesty should rest early.”

“Please return safely Mother Empress.”

The Empress Dowager finally left, I immediately crawled out from under the table.

“Liu Xiaoyu, who allowed you to leave?” The Emperor’s tone was slightly joking, I knew that he was just teasing me.

“Your Majesty…..” My face was flushing as I kneeled on the ground and lowered my head, “Please don’t tease this servant…..”

“Crawl over here.”

The Emperor’s order was simple and forceful, but I also heard infinite tenderness in his voice.

But crawling over there was really humiliating….

“Liu Xiaoyu!” The Emperor made his tone of voice more severe.

I was obliged to bite my lip and slowly crawl over.

When I crawled over to the Emperor, he was already smiling and smiling quite evilly, “Do you want some more soup?”

I quickly shook my head, I definitely couldn’t have anymore, in case of any accidents to arise.

But how could the Emperor possibly grant my wish…..

He pinched my chin, and then did as the last time and used his finger to dip into the soup and make me lick it.

I knew that I could not hide, so I just shyly opened my mouth.

I thought that the Emperor would just be the same as before but who knew that he suddenly put his whole finger in my mouth.

“The Consort Dowager has arrived!” Once again a voice was heard from the outside at the most inopportune moment.

I saw the Emperor close his eyes, his face showed his anger…..

At this moment, I suddenly wanted to laugh.

I had no alternative but to hide under the table again before the Consort Dowager entered the room.

However this time, the Emperor did not ask me to raise my bum, he used his hand to caress my cheeks instead.

“Your Majesty, this is a ginseng and chicken soup that I asked my own kitchen to make for you.”

I heard someone quickly run up to the desk, my back tightened up nervously, the Emperor lightly patted me on the head, signalling for me not to worry.

“I’ve troubled the Consort Dowager to personally deliver it, I wonder if there is another matter that the Consort Dowager has come for?”

“I won’t beat around the bush then. How has the Emperor decided to title my niece, Wu Anyan?”

I saw the corners of the Emperor’s mouth drop, he was clearly displeased. The Empress Dowager and the Consort Dowager were creating trouble for the Emperor in order to cement their own power and position in the palace, even I, a little eunuch, felt unhappy, let alone the Emperor himself.”

As expected, the Emperor’s tone became harsh, “I am slow-witted, I wonder if the Consort Dowager had any thoughts?”

“Then I will be frank, Anyan is a child with an exceptional appearance, she is skilled in the four arts, in the future, she will be a good person to handle the imperial harem for Your Majesty, the two words – “Xian” and “Shu”4贤 xián worthy or virtuous person, 淑 shū warm and virtuous are the most appropriate.”

The Emperor made an unnoticeable noise of disapproval and then replied, “The Consort Dowager is right, then I will listen to the Consort Dowager.”

“Then I will thank the Emperor first in Anyan’s place.” The Empress Dowager was ready to leave but as she was leaving she suddenly stopped, “Oh yes, Your Majesty, the daughter of the Secretary of Ministry of Justice, Lin Yumian, I think she had been previously engaged to Wenliang but you don’t need to mind, since in the beginning, Wenliang was the crown prince.”

After she was done talking, the Consort Dowager laughed softly and then left.

I was taken aback, the Consort Dowager was overly-confident, Wenliang should be the Emperor’s brother of the same mother, the former Emperor’s crown prince, Zhuo Wenliang right?

The Emperor’s fingers used more force and pinched my chin until it hurt.

“Your Majesty……” I couldn’t take it anymore, I called out gently.

The Emperor finally came back to his senses, he lowered his head to look at me. I discovered that his eyes had become bloodshot, the redness was completely incompatible with his emerald eyes.

He was angry, in fact, he was very very angry. I didn’t know whether it was because of the Consort Dowager or Lin Yumian, or whether it was for another matter, however, I knew that he would definitely not sleep well tonight.

After that, the Emperor did not tease me any longer, he asked me to return to Yangxin Palace first.

He sat on the dragon seat and closed his eyes, the expression he had on his face made my heart ache…..