CH 2

This novel is to be only hosted on Foxaholic; copies found elsewhere are stolen or worse, plagiarised. 

-廖青青(Liào qīngqīng)- Liao Qing Qing, the female lead. 

-廖容华(Liào róng Huà)- Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance, the female lead’s current designation.

-景礼帝(jǐng lǐ ​​dì)- Emperor Jing Li, the male lead.

-福生(fú shēng)- Fu Sheng, the emperor’s chief eunuch. 

-荷香(Hé ​​xiāng)- He Xiang, the female lead’s maidservant

-梨声阁(lí shēng gé)-Lisheng Pavillion, the place where the female lead resides.

-正乾宫(zhēng qián gōng)- Zhengqian Palace, the place the male lead resides. 

–清风苑(qīngfēng yuàn)- Qingfeng Garden

–梁贵妃(liáng guìfēi)- Noble Consort Liang

After waiting for a long time, she didn’t sense any movement from the person beside her.

Liao Qing Qing slowly let down her guard; subsequently, her body and mind relaxed.

In a short while, she unknowingly fell asleep.

She jerked from the bed as if she was startled by something. She was in a daze momentarily, before she realised that it was already dawn.

She subconsciously looked around her, but there was nothing there.

Where is the Emperor?

Hearing the movements, He Xiang slowly walked in and greeted her with a smile, “Master, you are awake. The Emperor went to attend the morning imperial court before dawn.”

“The Emperor has gone to the morning court?” Liao Qing Qing inquired in surprise. She subconsciously touched her body. She didn’t feel any different.

“Master, what’s wrong?” He Xiang asked in confusion.

The Emperor did not sleep with her?

Liao Qing Qi was even more confused. She was promoted and asked to perform nightly duties. It caused such a huge commotion and the result was just lying in a bed and simply sleeping.

There was no real action!

This is too strange, isn’t it?

Could it be that Emperor Jing Li is impotent?

He came here to sleep just to cover up his inability to be a man. Otherwise, he would have many beautiful women in his harem.

Why was he still childless up till now?

It was clear that the Emperor had an illness.

An unmentionable disease!

At the time when Liao Qing Qing concluded that Emperor Jing Li was impotent, Emperor Jing Li had left the imperial court and was sitting at Zhengqian Palace having his meal.

Seeing that Emperor Jing Li was in a good mood, Fu Sheng beside him couldn’t help but say, “Your Majesty, the crystal shrimp dumplings cooked by the Suzhuo’s cook are good. It has a blend of the flavours of Jiangnan with the style of our capital. Please have a try.”

“En.” Emperor Jing Li nodded. “Not bad.”

“Your Majesty, have some more of this snow fungus soup.”[1]

“Mm.”

After serving Emperor Jing Li with his meal, Fu Sheng cautiously asked, “Your Majesty, should we go to the Imperial Garden or to Qingfeng Garden for a walk later?”

He had followed Emperor Jing Li for many years and still could not understand his mind, but he knew that he had the habit of taking a daily walk.

“I won’t be going for a walk today.” Emperor Jing Li said.

Fu Sheng was puzzled, but also responded, “Yes.”

Jing Li turned and went to the imperial study. He turned on his work mode, going through the imperial dossiers one by one, unknowingly working straight till noon n.

It was only when Fu Sheng reminded him to eat that he put aside his vermilion brush.

When he sat down at the table, he felt a little hungry and picked up his chopsticks, but a sudden headache struck him.

A headache!

A headache again!

His brow knitted in disbelief.

Sensing that something was odd, Fu Sheng called out, “Your Majesty.”

“It’s fine.” Emperor Jing Li waved his hand.

Fu Sheng was forced to bow his head and stand aside, feeling a little uneasy in his heart.

Emperor Jing Li once again gripped his chopsticks and tried to continue eating, but the pain in his head intensified.

In fact, he had suffered from headaches since he was very young, but they had only been intermittent.

Ever since he ascended to the throne, the headaches had become increasingly more frequent.

When the pain was at its worst, he could not eat at all. Several imperial physicians were consulted to no avail.

However, things took a turn for the worse the day before yesterday. The headache flared up again, and he ran into Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance in the imperial garden, where he smelled a faint fragrance on her.

It was hard to say what the scent was.

In short, his headache was instantly relieved.

At first, he didn’t believe it. After several repeated tests, he was finally sure that Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance was the reason. At that moment, he thought of poison and witchcraft, and he deliberately ordered people to thoroughly check all three generations of Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance’s ancestors.

There was nothing suspicious.

Besides, he always had this head ailment since he was a child.

It had nothing to do with poison or witchcraft.

Naturally, it had nothing to do with Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance either.

He had always been clear in his rewards and punishments.

If Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance could cure his headache, then he would consider her merit and promote her to Lady of Lovely Countenance. It was to cure his headache that he went to Lisheng Pavilion on purpose, and as soon as he was near Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance, his headache disappeared.

That feeling of relief made him reluctant to leave.

While sleeping with Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance, he felt a peace that he had never felt before, and he slept until it was time for the morning court.

If Fu Sheng had not come to call him, he would have overslept.

It was also the best sleep he had since he ascended to the throne.

It felt like his headache had been cured.

But now it hurts again!

Emperor Jing Li put down his chopsticks with a <clang>.

Fu Sheng asked again, “Your Majesty?”

Emperor Jing Li said in a deep voice, “Go to the Lisheng Pavilion.”

To Lisheng Pavilion again?

Didn’t he just go there last night?

In the eight years since Emperor Jing Li ascended to the throne, he had been devoted to the affairs of the state and had been working hard to bring about unprecedented prosperity in the Great Wei Dynasty.

However, the state of Emperor Jing Li’s harem was extremely depressing, with less than a tenth of the beauty of the previous emperor.

He had no heirs and empress.

The Emperor never indulged in female pleasure, and he was often admonished by his ministers. Then, he would go to the harem and sleep for a night.

Even so, the number of the Emperor’s monthly visits to the harem was only a handful. However, he had just been to Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance’s last night and was going there again today.

Emperor Jing Li has set his heart on Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance?

It looked like he would be more attentive to Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance in the future as well.

When he looked up, he found that Emperor Jing Li had already got up and left.

So anxious?

Fu Sheng hastened to follow him, but Emperor Jing Li was tall and his gait was quick, so he had to trot.

Currently, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, making one feel dizzy, and large beads of sweat were falling from his forehead and his back was wet.

He let out a sigh.

However, Emperor Jing Li did not have the slightest intention of stopping, so he had to run into the Lisheng Pavilion first and, shouted out while suppressing his pants, “His Majesty has arrived——”

After making the announcement, Fu Sheng hurriedly stood aside to take a big breath. He saw Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance who walked out to receive him, he could finally rest for a while.

“This imperial concubine[2] greets Your Majesty.” Liao Qing Qing paid her respects.

“You may all rise.” Emperor Jing Li walked directly into the hall.

Liao Qing Qing followed him into the hall and ordered someone to prepare some cold tea and bring it to Emperor Jing Li, while she stood far away from the hall.

In her mind, she wondered why this Emperor Jing Li was here again.

Because, for some unknown reason, he promoted and “slept” with her yesterday. She had gotten a lot of strange looks from the women in the harem when she went to pay her respects to Noble Consort Liang this morning.

She didn’t expect this Emperor Jing Li to come over again.

What does this mean?

Do you want to sleep in the literal sense of the word even in broad daylight?

After taking a sip of tea, Emperor Jing Li, seated in the upper seat, was slightly relieved of the heat and his headache.

It was only an alleviation.

He was surprised to find that as long as Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance was around, his headache would ease. He had to be close to Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance if he wanted the pain to stop.

This was really too annoying.

He looked at Liao Qing Qing.

Liao Qing Qing was standing with her head hanging down, her whole body was slender and surprisingly relatively eye-catching. He was shocked to realise that he never knew what she looked like.

Just then he felt another headache. Although it was not as bad as in Zhengqian Palace, why did it hurt when it stopped before?

There were no other alternatives but to get closer to Lady Liao of Lovely Countenance to do so. He pressed his forehead and said, “Come here.”

Liao Qing Qing froze and stared at Emperor Jing Li.

Emperor Jing Li repeated, “Come here.”

Liao Qing Qing looked here and there, not knowing for a moment who Emperor Jing Li was calling.

Emperor Jing Li calmly looked at Liao Qing Qing.

""

He seemed to be calling her… Liao Qing Qing didn’t know what this problematic Emperor Jing Li wanted, so she slowly approached him.

As Liao Qing Qing got closer, Emperor Jing Li’s headache slowly eased and he started to feel better. It was at this point that Liao Qing Qing stopped in her tracks.

Emperor Jing Li looked at Liao Qing Qing in confusion.

Liao Qing Qing smiled and opened her mouth to ask, “What are your orders, Your Majesty?”

？？？

This dialogue does not sound like something an imperial concubine would say, but rather something Fu Sheng would say?

[1] 银耳汤(yín’ěr tāng)- Snow fungus soup or or white fungus (Tremella fuciformis) soup. Picture of Snow fungus soup.

[2] 嫔妾(pín qiè)- This imperial concubine. It is a self-appellation that can only be used by Lady of Talents (才人), Noble Lady (贵人), etc to the Emperor and Empress Dowager.