Chapter 203: Gold and Grievances

Yue Mingxuan nodded.

Of course it did.

In this lifetime, the thing he loved most was gold.

In the past, now, and in the future, that would never change.

“What? Is your master planning to give me gold?”

Seeing that there was an opening, the eunuch stepped closer and lowered his voice.

“My master is Concubine Hua. Today she sent me here because she wishes to ask you for advice. As for the price…” He raised one finger. “My lady has said that if the method is truly effective, she will give you ten taels of gold for every sentence.”

Ten taels of gold?

Yue Mingxuan opened his mouth in shock.

Had Concubine Hua robbed the national treasury or something?

Otherwise, where would she get such confidence?

Seeing that Yue Mingxuan was tempted, the eunuch continued, “Besides gold, my master also said she could grant you the right to choose your own marriage.”

Yue Mingxuan glanced at the eunuch. For Concubine Hua to make such a promise, this was certainly no small matter.

Could she be planning to seize the throne?

The emperor was still in his prime and Beirong Kingdom was currently the strongest among the four nations with no external threats to rival it.

Concubine Hua’s move would likely be extremely difficult.

Even if she supposed to be did succeed, Rong Qinglei had already been established early on as the successor and he just lacking only a formal ceremony.

Moreover, he controlled the entire financial power of Beirong Kingdom.

No matter how one looked at it, Concubine Hua had virtually no chance of winning.

So what exactly was she trying to do?

After pondering for a moment, Yue Mingxuan still could not make sense of it.

He decided to follow the eunuch first and see what was going on.

“Alright, lead the way.”

Following the inner eunuch all the way, Yue Mingxuan found everything looking more and more familiar.

They were not heading toward her lalace at all; instead, it looked very much like they were going to the Cold Palace.

“Don’t tell me your lady also wants to meet me in the Cold Palace?” he said.

The inner eunuch nodded and replied, “Other places have too many people and too many loose tongues. We ask Prince Yue to bear with it a little.”

Damn it.

These women must have gone psychologically warped after staying in the palace for too long.

What was there to like about a gloomy place like the Cold Palace? Afraid others would find out? Just shut the palace gates and send all the eunuchs away, no one would know anything at all.

Yue Mingxuan complained inwardly while tightly following behind the eunuch.

The resentment in this place was heavy and just standing outside made one feel a chill seep into the body.

When the two reached the entrance of the Cold Palace, they saw Concubine Hua standing outside dressed in a palace maid’s outfit.

Although she was somewhat older, with her head lowered and her demeanor submissive, if one did not look carefully, it would truly be hard to tell that she was the mistress of an entire palace.

Yue Mingxuan thought of the rumors he had heard before, that Concubine Hua had once been a palace maid and it seemed those rumors were not groundless after all.

After leading Yue Mingxuan to the door, the eunuch bowed to Concubine Hua and then silently retreated to the side.

Seeing Concubine Hua dressed like this, Yue Mingxuan only offered a half bow. “Mingxuan greets Your Ladyship.”

Once he got closer, he noticed that there was a hint of worry on Concubine Hua’s face.

She was nothing like the charming, seductive consort he had first seen; the difference was like heaven and earth.

“Yue Mingxuan, I truly find you very irritating,” Concubine Hua said as she picked a relatively flat stone by the Cold Palace wall and sat down. This was the very first thing she said. “First, you became engaged to Shan’er and ruined his chances of inheriting the throne. Then you caused him to nearly lose his life.”

Please, as if he wanted that either.

Who told him that the moment he transmigrated, he had to take over such a mess?

Concubine Hua’s resentment made Yue Mingxuan feel extremely wronged.

He was clearly someone sent by the heavens to clean up disasters, all right?

“If Your Ladyship summoned me here just to say these things, now that I’ve heard them, may I leave?”

Concubine Hua let out a low sigh. “Young people these days have no patience at all. But I don’t blame you. How could pampered little prince like you possibly understand the bitterness of climbing from the very bottom to a high position? Yue Mingxuan, do you know why I asked you to come here?”

Yue Mingxuan shook his head.

At most, it would be some kind of warning or intimidation.

He had already experienced that routine with the Imperial Consort Zhou.

“At the beginning, I was merely a palace maid here. Every day I watched those people who once held high positions get sent here. Their former wealth, glory, and imperial favor vanished in the blink of an eye. Any people who stayed here for too long would end up half crazed… I thought I would be just like those palace maids, when the time came to leave the palace, I would randomly marry someone and live out an unremarkable life… until that day, when I accidentally stepped into that room.”

Concubine Hua raised her head and gazing at the azure sky, sinking deep into her memories.

“That room was very clean, and the furnishings inside were extremely simple. The entire room was filled with portraits of a single woman, depicting every movement of hers, every smile and frown, even the way she cried loudly or slept with furrowed brows… That woman was truly beautiful. Even I, as a woman, could not help but want to draw close to her, kiss her, worship her.”

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