Chapter 117

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Whitelist us. Ad revenue gives additional support to the translator and keeps the site running.

Interested in being a part of the Nocturne TL team?

We are looking for Editors and Chinese, Korean, and Japanese translators to join our team. Join us on Discord and look for Picky Reader#7543 to guide you through recruitment if you are interested.

==============================================================================================

This kind of female protagonist must be beautiful and scheming, and ruthless at critical times. Playing tricks with her was too tiring and hard, so let’s live longer with her!

Li Huairou sighed, took the kitchen knife, and chopped the branches.

After doing some activities, it was really not that cold. Li Huairou found a dusty charcoal basin, then cut off the branches and started a fire. After a while, the bedroom became warm. Of course, Li Huairou opened the furthest window halfway. Dying from carbon dioxide poisoning was no joke.

“Sister Rou, it isn’t cold!” A-Li stuck half of his head out from the bed. “Can I come down?”

Li Huairou nodded. “This servant will help you get dressed. You can come down and do some activities.”

A-Li happily stood up from the bed, and Li Huairou quickly helped him put on his clothes.

After helping A-Li wash up, Li Huairou asked him to run around the room twenty laps. Then she found a pot to cook by herself.

Although A-Li didn’t understand why Sister Rou wanted him to run in circles, Sister Rou must be doing it for his own good, so he obeyed.

Li Huairou set up the pot, looked at the remaining rice, and sighed. But it was okay—she’d found a pile of sweet potatoes in the corner, all of which Jiang Man had brought in before. In the palace, sweet potatoes were eaten by the lowest servants, and the servants with a little status were unwilling to eat them because eating too much of this stuff would make you fart.

The original owner was unwilling to eat sweet potatoes in the past. She always stubbornly believed that A-Li was the master, so how could the master eat these pickled things? And she, who served the master, also couldn’t eat them.

Fortunately, they hadn’t eaten them, so it was convenient for Li Huairou.

Li Huairou immediately threw a few into the fire, buried them in the firewood, then washed two, cut them into pieces, and boiled sweet potato porridge.

A-Li stopped in curiosity. “Sister Rou, what are you doing?”

“It’s delicious—you’ll find out later. Have you finished running?” Li Huairou asked.

A-Li nodded. “I’ve finished all 20 laps.”

“Your Highness is amazing. You will run another 20 laps before going to bed at night. After that, add 2 laps every 10 days. If Your Highness can’t run anymore, just say so, don’t be brave.” Li Huairou took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from A-Li’s head. The wind outside was bitterly cold. They could only move around this small room. What to do!

Li Huairou suddenly thought of something. “By the way, brother, this servant could teach you to read?”

A-Li widened his eyes, his face full of surprise. “Sister Rou, do you know how to read?”

“The lady previously taught this servant. But this servant doesn’t know much, so the rest is up to you,” Li Huairou said with a smile.

Concubine Shu was a person who loved books. There were not many things in Huanyin Palace, other than books. Li Huairou searched for a long time and found a thousand-character text. Alright, let’s use this.

On the first day, Li Huairou taught him the four characters for heaven, earth, black, and yellow.

A-Li was talented and intelligent. It didn’t take long for him to memorize and write with his hands on the table.

Li Huairou looked at him as she added firewood. In Concubine Shu’s study, there were brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, but not many. A-Li was only able to read, so he was reluctant to use those good ones. She suddenly thought of a way—she could make a sand table!

Li Huairou searched and searched, found a tray with a broken corner, washed it with well water, then wiped it dry. She went to the ground outside, shoveled up some fine sand, carefully sifted it three or four times, then put it in the tray. Then she found a suitable branch.

“Your Highness, you only know how to read, so use this first, okay? After you can hold the brush firmly, you can then officially practice writing on paper, okay?” Li Huairou said.

A-Li nodded excitedly, immediately took the branch, and wrote on the sand table. “Sister Rou, this is good. After writing, you can erase it and rewrite it.”

Li Huairou smiled. A-Li, this child, was really too sensible. Then she lowered her head and said silently in her heart, What is the female lead doing now? Has the whereabouts of her sister been investigated? I hope that the female lead will enter the palace as soon as possible and rescue us as soon as possible!

In fact, Wei Qingxue had actually found out her elder sister’s whereabouts in advance. She and her elder sister had been born from the same mother. After their parents died one after the other, she and her elder sister were picked up by their other family member. The elder sister was taken to Jiangnan by her uncle, and she herself was picked up by her aunt and stayed in the capital.

It was just that Wei Qingxue had been thinking about her elder sister all the time. She finally had the opportunity to go to Jiangnan to look for relatives, but she learned that her sister had entered the palace, and she hadn’t heard from her since then. And her uncle’s family, after receiving a reward, had also left her elder sister behind.

Distraught, Wei Qingxue returned to the capital and asked her uncle about everything. Adding up the time when her sister had entered the palace, Wei Qingxue found out that the person most likely to be her elder sister was Concubine Shu. But Concubine Shu had suddenly disappeared three years ago. Since then, there’d been no news about her.

It was not easy to find out the whereabouts of her elder sister, but her elder sister was already dead. Wei Qingxue didn’t show it on her face, but in her heart she was angry!

Just at this moment, the uncle said again, “By the way, Concubine Shu seems to have given birth to a prince, but when Concubine Shu angered the emperor,

Huanyin Palace, where she lived, became a cold palace. So even if she gave birth to a prince, the emperor has not visited, and the prince has not yet been given a jade plate.”

Wei Qingxue’s eyes gleamed again. Did her elder sister still have children?

Wei Qingxue thought about it all night, and the next day, she stood in front of her uncle. “Father, I want to enter the palace.”

Wei Qingxue’s uncle was the coating bureau manager for the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His daughter was still young, and this adopted niece had been very intelligent since she was a child, and she was extremely assertive.

Now that the adopted daughter has come forward, Wei Qingtai naturally had no reluctance.

So, a month later, Wei Qingxue entered the palace.

Li Huairou was surprised to find that the things sent by the Ministry of Internal Affairs recently were much better than before, and they also lived well without relying on Jiang Man’s subsidies.

Li Huairou was still wondering when A-Li called her in the room. “Sister Rou, I’m ready.”

“Okay, this servant is coming.” Li Huairou hurriedly went in with her things.

Outside Huanyin Palace, Wei Qingxue stood under a tree and looked at Huanyin Palace’s door. “Is she Li Huairou?”

“The people who served are almost gone. Only she and an old momo stayed. That old momo died last year. Huairou has a good relationship with one maid, and she often helps one or two. It’s just that the maid was short-sighted.”

“Thank you. Please take care of Huanyin Palace in the future!” Wei Qingxue said with a light smile, and then she handed over a purse.

“Yes.” The momo accepted the purse with a smile. They already had a tacit understanding regarding Wei Qingtai’s intention. The masters in the palace looked down on them as slaves, but who could guarantee that they would be slaves all their lives? Maybe they would fly up the branches and become phoenixes in one day?

The person in front of them was the candidate chosen by the manager of their coating bureau, and, within three years, their coating bureau would do their best to cooperate with her. If she really had the ability and could become a concubine and then a consort, they could also benefit from it. If, within three years, there was still no gain, then they’d choose another person to support.

There were so many good girls; there was always an opportunity…

Fortunately, Wei Qingxue lived up to their hopes. One month later, Wei Qingxue was named Noble Lady with the title of Ling.

Ling—this title was good. Like a jade table and old jade ornament, with good reputation and fame. It could be seen how satisfied the emperor was with Noble Lady Ling.

Three months later, Noble Lady Ling was promoted to Concubine Ling.

With the new title of Concubine Ling, the supply to Huanyin Palace was much better.

Li Huairou was locked in Huanyin Palace, and she didn’t know anything about the outside world. Jiang Man had been absent for some days, and she didn’t know what was going on outside.

However, she knew the plot and knew that the time when the female lead would pick them up was getting closer, so she didn’t get too impatient, devoting herself to teaching A-Li how to read.

A-Li was very smart. He’d finished reading the thousand-character text, and now he was reading the Book of Songs. Li Huairou couldn’t teach him this and could only let him understand.

In addition, Li Huairou made sure that A-Li exercised every day. He would run in the house when it was cold and run in the yard when it was hot. He sweated profusely and got pressed into the bathtub by Li Huairou.

A-Li’s laughter could be heard every day in the small courtyard.

Suddenly, one day, the door to Huanyin Palace opened.

Li Huairou was sitting next to A-Li and making clothes for him. Li Huairou’s needlework skills were not very good, and the clothes she made were barely wearable, but A-Li never shunned them.

When the door creaked and was pushed open, neither of them cared, thinking it was a hallucination.

But when a figure stood in front of them, the two of them reacted and looked up blankly.

“Are you A-Li?” Wei Qingxue looked at the child in front of her and tried her best to hold back the urge to cry. Was this her sister’s child? His appearance was similar to her elder sister from memory.

“Who are you?” A-Li asked. This woman was so familiar, which made him inexplicably want to get close.

“I am Concubine Ling, fifteenth prince. From now on, I’ll be your mother.” Wei Qingxue reached out to A-Li.

Li Huairou’s eyes suddenly widened. The female lead has appeared? Why so early? She didn’t have time to think about the reason; she knelt on the ground with a thud. Damn, she’d miscalculated, her knees hurt. “This servant greets Concubine Ling.” Then she raised her head and whispered to A-Li, “Your Highness, please greet the concubine.”

A-Li shook his head. “My mother is Concubine Shu.”

Wei Qingxue smiled contentedly. If the child had recognized her as a mother without hesitation, she would have felt that the child was too cold. Now, it was fine.

“I know, Concubine Shu will always be your mother, and I’m your adoptive mother. According to the rules, you can also call me Concubine Mother,” Wei Qingxue said with a smile.

A-Li turned his head to look at Li Huairou. Li Huairou nodded slightly, and so A-Li turned around and put his hand on Wei Qingxue. “Concubine Mother!”

A tear fell and landed on A-Li’s clothes, which quickly dried.

==============================================================================================

This translation is presented by Nocturne Translations.

Related