Chapter 4

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

Author: Xiao Yao

Chapter 3 – Title – Chapter 5

Although Su-gonggong said that she should go back and rest, but she had just experienced a major event like rebirth, so how could Hui Ming calm down?

After leaving the Hall of Heavenly Virtue Hui Ming straightened her clothes, she hesitated for a moment, then candidly held the hand warmer1 and paper umbrella that Yuan Bao had just sent, after that she got up and headed west. Please read at insidethemirror. DO NOT REPOST.

The Hall of Heavenly Virtue where Hui Ming served was the residence of His Majesty, it was naturally the best place in the whole palace, and was located at the very center of the entire Forbidden City, while behind it was the Kunhe Palace where the empress lived and on the other end was the residence of the Empress Dowager, later on, the concubines would also live there according to their position, these were the few places that was considered the most noble and glorious in the harem.

Once more, going further west, there lived the imperial concubines of the previous emperor, through the previous emperor’s benevolence, before his death he decreed that his concubines did not need to be buried along with the dead, and over the past few decades those with children have already been taken out of the palace, while the rest just lived for the sake of praying for good fortune.

For example, the Hall of Calm Fragrance that Hui Ming was going to at this moment was the residence of the former Imperial Concubine Kang, it took only half an hour to walk there, and in addition to Imperial Concubine Kang, who had dedicated herself to worshipping Buddha, there was also a concubine surnamed Tian who had fallen out of favor.

This Tian Concubine was born from a humble background, but she had a peerless beauty and was extremely elegant, although she didn’t know poetry and lacked etiquette, she was still very popular on account of her appearance, and after a year of hard work, she was selected from being a humble maid and promoted to a concubine, but her luck was not very good, at the time when she was being favored, she suddenly suffered from a strange disease, there was nothing seriously wrong about her body, except for a chronic ailment of looking wan and sallow along with suffering hair loss.

No matter how beautiful a woman is, but with a faint complexion and sparse hair, her countenance would undoubtedly decline, what’s more, Tian-shi had nothing else she could offer, she was just serving using her face and now that she had lost her beauty, she immediately lost most of her favor, although she was lucky enough to be pregnant with the dragon seed after grasping the last few lingering feelings of His Majesty, but as the prince grew older, he vaguely revealed a bit of insanity, as a result, His Majesty became more ruthless towards these Tian mother and son, and coupled with the instigation of a few caring people, they simply asked for them to be moved to Imperial Concubine Kang’s palace to pray to Buddha together, considering that what the eye didn’t see, the heart wouldn’t grieve over.

Hui Ming didn’t know this Tian Concubine and didn’t come to look for her, who she went to see was the Seventh Prince that was born from Tian Concubine, the country’s next in line for the imperial throne, the one she had taken care of for more than ten years, and the now more or less only ten years of age Emperor Cheng Qi.

For a concubine that had fallen out of favor it would be difficult to bear, moreover, when Tian-shi was still being pampered, she also offended many people, she stepped low and crawled high2when she was in the palace so life was naturally difficult, Tian-shi originally complained and vented her anger to this son who had made her fall out of favor and lose face, under this distress her already sparse mother’s heart was also worn out, and she could only wish that the Seventh Prince never crawled out of her belly and ignored him every day.

If it weren’t for Imperial Concubine Kang who couldn’t just stand by and watch anymore and reached out a hand, I’m afraid that the formidable Seventh Prince would have silently starved to death deep inside the palace without even making a wave.

There were not many people around Imperial Concubine Kang, and those that waited on Tian Concubine were even pitifully less, Hui Ming didn’t even see anyone who stopped that asked about her along the way, and only through to the knowledge she had based on her previous life that she knew to go around and look under the rocks behind the Hall of Calm Fragrance, sure enough, she found the person she was looking for not far away.

On the stone platform behind the festoon gate3, a thin moderate-sized boy sat alone, looking at his age he was at most eight or nine years old, but in this kind of weather, he was only wearing a single coat in the late autumn, a layer of plain white snow covered his body, and at first glance, it was like he was a small eunuch who had been humiliated and bullied by others.

But Hui Ming recognized him at a glance, this was indeed the current Seventh Prince, and the Little Emperor in the future. Please read at insidethemirror. DO NOT REPOST.

With a birth mother like Tian Concubine, the Seventh Prince’s face was blessed by the heavens4, vermilion lips and white teeth, a face as white as jade, especially the pair of naturally bright eyes, they were extraordinarily exquisite, it was only because he often hanged his head and lowered his eyes that people couldn’t notice them, but as long as they truly saw them, anyone would feel how stunning they were from the bottom of their hearts, with such an appearance, how could an ordinary little eunuch have them?

Back then, the palace of Imperial Concubine Kang was deserted, and the relationship between the Tian mother and son were even more bitter and strained, without even anyone that would run errands for profit, at that time, the people around Imperial Concubine Kang avoided him and it happened that Hui Ming, who had no background came, so she was instantly pushed to serve the Seventh Prince.

Who would have thought that at that time, the one who was finally enthroned was actually this Little Highness who no one cared about?

Su-gonggong died in the rebellion of Rui-wang, but Hui Ming, on the contrary, after His Majesty passed away, followed the Seventh Prince who had ascended the throne and rode on his triumph, once the imperial palace was regained, she became the closest and most trusted gugu beside the emperor, and just like that more than ten years steadily passed by, it’s just that Seventh Royal Highness was born with a mental illness, and had only luckily by sheer coincidence climbed the dragon throne, no more than a puppet on the dragon seat, and in the end, was even killed by rebels and thieves.

In Hui Ming’s eyes, even when he later wore the imperial robe and sat on the imperial throne as the emperor, he still had the silent and pitiful appearance even while he was on the dragon throne, not to mention he was younger now, moreover Seventh Royal Highness’ body still hasn’t grown up, which made her all the more unable to lightly control her breathing.

His Seventh Royal Highness was reserved by nature, he didn’t like talking and walking about, he was reluctant to go to unfamiliar places, and was even less willing to meet strangers, if pushed too hard, him trembling in fear was just a trivial matter, at worse he would fiercely struggle and cry, to the extent that he would even faint, Hui Ming had never seen such a Little Majesty in her whole life.

With the lessons from her previous life, Hui Ming did not rush forward, she followed the experience she had learned little by little in her last life after several years of hard work and took three or four steps forward without haste, Seventh Royal Highness right away already found her existence and he leaned back behind the door a little nervously, immediately stopping all his action, then regardless of the blowing snow, just like a lifeless wood carving and stone sculpture he stood quietly in place.

His Seventh Royal Highness lowered his head and one by one counted the old Buddhist beads on his wrists, this was the most daunting habit of His Seventh Royal Highness, once he became nervous and afraid, he would twirl these beads one by one, the worse the situation, the faster he would twirl them, as if as long as he lowered his head and concentrated on this matter, the surroundings would no longer be able to hurt him.

The Buddhist beads, which was given to him by Imperial Concubine Kang, was an eighty-one sandalwood scented beads that had long been polished smooth after being turned around again and again.

In the palace, this beads weren’t made of good material, but His Royal Highness liked it very much, not to mention now, but in the future, when Seventh Royal Highness became emperor, the Bureau of Administration outside gave Buddhist beads made from various materials to His Majesty, but the beads His Majesty always had in his hand was the original sandalwood string, even when he was finally killed by the rebellious ministers with poison wine, he still held the old Buddhist beads tightly in his hands.

When His Seventh Royal Highness first ascended the throne, this behavior was praised by the ministers in the palace as cherishing the memory of the past and pure kindness, some thought that His Majesty was dedicated to the Buddha, so naturally, he would have great power in the future, while also had the audacity to discuss in private about His Majesty as being stupidly silly and couldn’t distinguish between good and bad.

However, Hui Ming knew that this had nothing to do with any silly nostalgia, in so much so that His Seventh Royal Highness was not insane or stupid, the reason why he only carried this string of old Buddhist beads was because he didn’t like to come in contact with new things by nature, no matter if it was the food he ate or the clothes he wore, to the decoration inside his room and even the servants around him, he was accustomed to being surrounded by old things that he had already been used to for a long time, so if he was suddenly flung into a new place, especially where there were many people that would speak loudly to him, His Highness would panic, become irritable, and feel uneasy, if not stopped in time, he would immediately scream in fear as if losing his mind.

But it’s not that there wasn’t any other way, because as long as you have enough patience, stayed calm and watched His Highness’s reaction little by little, after a long time, His Highness would slowly accept you, and if you get accepted, His Highness would quietly stay by your side as a well-behaved child, just like an ordinary person, in some places, it was even more difficult to interact with ordinary people.

It’s just that he was a mediocre, Seventh Highness had no protection from his concubine mother, and the people in the palace would say that His Highness was inherently stupid based on his behavior, but few people had the patience to distinguish the true heart of this unfavored prince.

Thinking of the scene where the Little Majesty was made to drink the poisoned wine in the previous life, struggling as he bled from all seven orifices and died, Hui Ming’s face became disturbed, she was the person who had taken care of him for more than ten years, plus this Seventh Highness was an unusual prince and didn’t have much power and influence over the upper ranks, so having waited upon him every day for a long time, even if she was facing the imperial throne, she inevitably felt towards this Little Majesty a little bit of distress that one had regarding a younger generation.

In that dull and lonely decade that she had experienced in the imperial palace in her previous life, if in Hui Ming’s life after losing Su-gonggong she felt clear and constant reproach and remorse towards herself, then towards this Little Majesty who died tragically by the hands of the rebellious ministers, which she had seen with her own eyes, the feeling of regret and powerlessness couldn’t be stopped.

Hui Ming lowered her eyes and watched as the movement of His Seventh Royal Highness turning the beads gradually slow down, then she gently took another two steps, this time the movement of the Little Highness slightly paused, but there was no more nervousness, instead an acceptance of her existence as he continued to lower his head and quietly turn the Buddhist beads.

Hui Ming was a little surprised, she originally thought that since His Seventh Royal Highness was still this young, so his courage would also be less, who knew that this kind of reaction was actually much better than when she arrived a few years later.

Hui Ming calmly stared at the expression of the Little Majesty from the corner of her eyes and continued to walk a few steps forward, sure enough, although His Highness was still a bit on guard, but until Hui Ming walked up to him, knelt and squatted down beside him, there was no fear of wanting to evade, just the speed of him turning the prayer beads became slightly faster than before.

Looking at this, it seemed that the sickness of His Seventh Royal Highness that became severe as he grew up, was right now on the contrary all better?

Seeing that the day was getting late, it was not good for her to stay in the Hall of Calm Fragrance for a long time without a reason, so after silently noting this matter down, Hui Ming slowly stretched out her hand and gently placed the hand warmer she was carrying at the feet of the Little Highness, then she didn’t say anymore and just as before, gently and slowly retreated back to the path. Because of fear that she would frighten His Seventh Royal Highness, Hui Ming, who had left, did not look back, nor did she find out that the thin young man behind her carefully touched the hand warmer by his feet and felt the temperature though his fingertips, then after becoming surprised, a trace of pure joy flashed in his eyes, matching with his innate exquisite appearance, and for a fleeting moment, shone like a star. Please read at insidethemirror. DO NOT REPOST.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:

1. 手炉: a small burner for warming hands in cold weather. ↩

2. 踩低逢高: unprincipled crawling, flattering one’s superiors and trampling on one’s juniors ↩

3. Festoon gate ↩

4. 得天独厚: enjoying exceptional advantages; favored by nature ↩

If there are any mistakes, please do not hesitate to point it out.

Chapter 3 – Title – Chapter 5

❀.(*´◡`*)❀. °˖✧°˖✧° ˖✧°˖✧° ❀.(*´◡`*)❀.

Thank you for reading, if you like my work so far please consider fueling my coffee addiction!

(❤ω❤)

I do not own any of the novels translated in this website. All credits go to their respective author/s.

Like this:Like Loading...

Related