Chapter 8.19 – Goddess of the Harem

After eating dinner, Yan Yuqing’s throat became a little sore, but even so, she still endured her discomfort and wanted the Emperor to stay at Jinfangzhai for the night. Unfortunately, after the meal, Su Rui just left without saying a word with Wang Yi and then ordered people to send a lot of rewards, but these rewards were meaningless to Yan Yuqing.

What she wanted was His Majesty’s person and heart, not these gold and silver jewelry.

“Master, are you okay?”

Seeing that Yan Yuqing had been drinking water with a bad look on her face, Su Wan concealed the brief smile in her eyes and looked at her with concern.

“I’m fine.”

Yan Yuqing shook her head. There were many people in this inner palace and she didn’t know if there were other people’s spies in it. Yan Yuqing couldn’t eat spicy food since she was a child, but others didn’t know about it, and Yan Yuqing did not intend to let anyone know.

“Su Wan, His Majesty was very satisfied with today’s dinner. You can choose anything from today’s rewards. Consider it as my reward to you.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Su Wan bowed to Yan Yuqing. She knew that the more low profile she was at this time, the more she obeyed Yan Yuqing, the more she would feel a sense of superiority from being a Master……

It was night and a few lower-ranked palace maids took the night watch in the bedroom. Su Wan had returned to her room earlier. She was Yan Yuqing’s personal maid servant and the place she lived in was actually next to Yan Yuqing’s bedroom. It was a fairly spacious side room.

As soon as Su Wan entered the door, she saw Su Rui, who was wearing casual clothing while sitting on her bed with a smile: “Wife, please comfort me.”

Su Rui blinked his good-looking eyes and looked at Su Wan with grievance. All of the bad ideas were what his wife had come up with and Yan Yuqing had played into her hands. General Su felt fed-up with it.

Fortunately, Yan Yuqing had eyes and wouldn’t stubbornly pester people non-stop. This one point was better than that crazy woman Jiang You in the last world.

“Sure, this is for you, to comfort your wounded heart.”

Su Wan came to the bed and threw a little plaything she got from Yan Yuqing into Su Rui’s hands.

General Su: ……

Wife, don’t bring back such a thing.

“Wife.”

Su Rui pulled Su Wan over and let her sit in his arms: “When do you plan to take the next step? That Xu Bingyue hasn’t given you Chen Shengbei’s letter, what do you think she’s waiting for?”

What she was waiting for?

Xu Bingyue was waiting for an opportunity.

Thinking of this, Su Wan raised her head and looked at Su Rui with a smile: “Xu Bingyue has been waiting for an opportunity. Your Majesty, you should benevolently give her a chance!”

Su Rui: It’s me again?

Seeing Su Rui’s blank expression, Su Wan couldn’t help but smile again.

General Su, ah, General Su. You have killed countless enemies on the battlefield, you can also plan tactics in the imperial court, and you are even an expert in the business world. Unfortunately, only in the affairs of the heart in the back palace, you do not understand the womenfolk in the back palace.

Their mystical brain circuits and the power of their imagination were absolutely beyond your imagination…

On the second day, it was still a lively scene in Jinfangzhai. Yan Yuqing was dressed up early in the morning, waiting for the Emperor to come by again, but unfortunately she ended up waiting for a whole day and finally heard news that His Majesty had gone to the newly promoted Beauty Chen. It is said that this Beauty Chen was also very slim and young. For the next few days, His Majesty has never gone to Jinfangzhai again and Yan Yuqing ate the spicy dishes sent by the imperial kitchen every day. After some time had gone by, the internal heat in her body rose and red acne popped up on her face. The more irritable she became, the more acne would appear on her face and this vicious cycle would continue on for a long while.

Blu: internal heat – I’m not too sure how to explain this. It’s something my mom always says (before telling me to drink more water) and it always made sense to me. I think it’s something like excess “heat” in your body. Your body becomes “heat-y” if you eat things like fried foods too much. You can cool down by drinking water, cooling tea (liang cha), red bean soup, etc. Btw, females shouldn’t drink too much “cooling” stuff because female bodies are naturally cooler than males, and if we do drink a lot, it’s not good. Though, water is the exception. This was all from what my mom told me, so don’t quote me on this. Just google it.

Teh: Chinese medicine concept basically.

What can you do to please His Majesty without beauty that could move the heart?

Yan Yuqing immediately ordered Su Wan to go to the imperial hospital to bring in Lu Muxun, who had the best medical skills.

This was the second time Su Wan saw Lu Muxun. He looked more gentle and indifferent than when he met last time. His countenance also brought a hint of happiness.

Su Wan speculated that there might be new progress between him and Yan Yunuo, which was really gratifying–

The opportunity to counterattack the Male Lead was in sight! You are only one step away from success! Good luck, Imperial Physician Lu!

Perhaps because of her relationship with Yan Yunuo, Lu Muxun worked very hard when he treated Yan Yuqing. After he finished the treatment and issued a prescription, Su Wan immediately sent someone to the imperial hospital to get the medicine with Fu Lu. She herself sent Lu Muxun out of the gate of Jinfangzhai.

“It’s fine from here.”

Lu Muxun stopped at the door of Jinfangzhai and turned to give Su Wan a faint smile: “You go back and take care of your Beauty, I will be going to Xiuning Palace to see Concubine Liang niangniang.”

“Oh, then take care, Imperial Physician Lu.”

Su Wan was not surprised when she heard Lu Muxun’s words. Concubine Liang was always a restless time bomb in this harem. She might suddenly take action and disrupt Su Wan’s plan. The safest way to handle her was to make her sick and keep her on the bed without the time and energy to plan anything.

Imperial Physician Lu’s medical skills can be considered very good, but how will it compare to Physician Si’s medical skills?

In that world that had the Great Xia dynasty, Su Wan had learned to use poison from Physician Si and her skills with poison were already exceptional. Of course, the reason this golden finger could be used here was because the background was similar. The more powerful the poison, the more ingredients it needed. Su Wan asked Wang Yi to search in the warehouse of the imperial city for several days before she finally completed mixing a colorless and tasteless slow-acting poison, and this poison was naturally used on Concubine Liang.

Blu: Great Xia dynasty – From the first arc. Physician Si is that Imperial Physician who decided to poison the previous Su Wan to death because she was “sick” and the Female Lead couldn’t bear to see her so “sick”. /// golden finger – a cheat

Su Wan will not underestimate anyone in this world. Wasn’t there a saying ‘Even anxious rabbits will bite’? Let alone such an important, living person.

Even agents who were familiar with the plot would occasionally stumble because of the other people’s plots in the mission world. Although Su Wan had not experienced such a thing, she had always acted very carefully and would not let herself fall into any danger……

During this period, the back palace really was not peaceful. Since the tragic death of the Imperial Concubine Yu and the killing of Concubine Shu, the women in the harem have been trembling with fear. His Majesty had not summoned anyone to serve him in his bedroom for many days and everyone was quietly watching the changes. No one wanted to take the lead, especially after the Empress Dowager was confined in Cining Palace. The air in the back palace seemed to have become particularly suppressed.

It was when Yan Yuqing was entitled as Beauty, that everyone’s hearts that were still for a period of time finally began to stir.

Subsequently, with Yan Yuqing’s promotion, several new people were named Beauty and Imperial Concubine successively. These people were all very ordinary xiu nu and some were even palace maids, but they all received the Emperor’s favor. Without exception, these newcomers were very young and very unripe.

Blu: Beauty – a lower ranking concubine, literally means beautiful person /// Imperial concubine – high-ranking or senior imperial concubine, literally means noble person. I would use ‘Noble concubine and Beauty concubine’ but they don’t seem to fit and my smol brein doesn’t have the capacity to think of an alternative. /// Xiu nu (xiù nǚ) – from what I understand, young ladies are selected to enter the palace every 3 years and the Emperor will pick some to enter the harem. The rest either serve in the palace as maids or return home (not sure on this part).

Could His Majesty’s taste have changed?

His Majesty was tired of eating banquets and changed to clear porridge and side dishes?

While everyone in the inner palace were speculating over this matter, Yan Yunuo and Xu Bingyue took advantage of the break time in the Shangfu Bureau and went to Jinfangzhai to visit Yan Yuqing.

At this time, Yan Yuqing had fewer acne on her face, but her complexion was still very poor.

Seeing that Yan Yunuo and Xu Bingyue had come, Yan Yuqing naturally asked Su Wan to entertain the two people warmly, and also affectionately asked them to accompany her for dinner.

This was the first time after Yan Yuqing was promoted to Beauty that the four sisters sat together for a meal.

Halfway through the meal, Xu Bingyue mysteriously shuffled to Su Wan and pulled out a letter from her arms: “Sister Xiaowan, what do you think this is?”

“This is……”

Seeing the letter in Xu Bingyue’s hand, Su Wan’s eyes lit up: “Is this Chen…”

“Shhh.”

Xu Bingyue made a gesture for her to be silent and stuffed the letter into Su Wan’s palm with a smile.

“What mysterious secret are you two talking about? Su Wan, what are you holding in your hands?”

Yan Yuqing, who was sitting on the host’s seat, naturally noticed Xu Bingyue’s “abnormal” behavior. Seeing her being so mysterious, Yan Yuqing couldn’t help but harbor suspicions, so she asked without hesitation.

Upon hearing her question, a self-satisfied expression secretly flashed past Xu Bingyue’s face and Su Wan hesitantly took out Chen Shengbei’s letter: “This is the letter for slave-servant, it was…written by the slave-servant’s fiance.”

“Hm?”

Yan Yuqing and Yan Yunuo simultaneously looked at Su Wan with surprise. It was very obvious that the both of them were surprised by such big news.

“Su Wan, it must have been hard on you to conceal this from us! You’re still not owning up to it after we have found out?!”

Yan Yuqing originally thought that Xu Bingyue was trying to secretly win over Su Wan, but it did not seem so.

Regarding Su Wan’s fiance who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, Yan Yunuo also seemed to be very interested. Under everyone’s gaze, Su Wan had no choice but to narrate the story between her and Chen Shengbei.

Hearing such a complicated story, Yan Yuqing couldn’t help but sigh: “Su Wan, you are so lucky! Imperial Guard Chen is also a good man who is infatuated with you.”

“Yes.”

Hearing Yan Yuqing’s words, Xu Bingyue immediately couldn’t help but sigh, “This time, it was fortunate that this servant met Brother Chen when servant went to the guard barracks to handle work. Otherwise, I would have a miserable death if other people found me. Big brother Chen is young and promising and also elegant and unrestrained, and makes such a perfect couple with Sister Xiaowan. Alas! If I could meet such an ideal husband, I will not change even if you give me the position of senior concubine!”

“You – this girl!”

Hearing Xu Bingyue’s words, Su Wan showed an embarrassed look and whispered softly: “How could Brother Chen be as good as what you said?”

“How is he not?”

Hearing Su Wan’s words, Xu Bingyue’s eyes flashed and she pretended to say jokingly: “If you don’t want him, Sister Xiaowan, then I want him. Such a good man can’t be found even if you looked for him!”

“Damned girl, speaking nonsense.”

Hearing Xu Bingyue’s words, Su Wan’s face became even more embarrassed, her hands unconsciously holding Chen Shengbei’s letter tightly.

Yan Yunuo only thought it was a joke between the sisters, so she didn’t take it to heart. Instead, Yan Yuqing thoughtfully paid attention to Su Wan and Xu Bingyue’s reactions and looks——

Chen Shengbei, is that man that good?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep