Xiao Jin was caught off guard by the unlocking of Chu Shao’s favorability.
She hadn’t realized what she had done when she turned around and found Chu Shao was no longer by her side.
Looking ahead, she saw a white figure standing under a colorful paper lantern.
Chu Shao at that moment looked like an embroidered ice flower on a silk scarf, ethereally sewn onto brocade.
The petals were pure and clean, like white silk floating in water.
After a moment, Chu Shao looked up and gazed quietly at the paper lanterns.
The colorful lights reflected on her sleeves and face, sometimes green and sometimes blood-red.
They overlapped and interlaced, all captured in her eyes.
After staring at the paper lanterns on the wooden frame for a long time, Chu Shao turned around and smiled at Xiao Jin, asking softly, “Your highness, is today the Lantern Festival?”
The answer was obvious.
Xiao Jin nodded, “Yes.”
In the dim light of the candles, Chu Shao’s smile was gentle and warm.
She raised her eyebrows and softly said to Xiao Jin, “Thank you.”
Xiao Jin noticed.
This time, Chu Shao’s gratitude did not include the prefix “my lord” or any honorifics like “your highness.”
It meant that this sentence was not for the original owner or for the Prince Yan of Qi.
Chu Shao was thanking her.
So Xiao Jin nodded slightly and said, “No need to thank me.”
…
Back in her room, Xiao Jin pondered over what conditions Governor Xu would propose.
But in fact, Governor Xu had no choice.
The struggle within the royal family may seem complicated, but it was actually simple. Offending Mu, the Prime Minister, was tantamount to offending the Fourth Prince’s faction.
If Governor Xu wants to be transferred back to the capital, he must rely on forces other than the Fourth Prince’s faction.
Apart from Xiao Jin, the only ones who can compete with the Fourth Prince are the Princess Chang and the Crown Prince.
Ignoring the fact that Princess Chang secretly supports the Fourth Prince, this person is only a small county governor in Qingzhou, serving in a local position.
To expect an audience with the Crown Prince of Qi and the Princess Zhao Yang is like a pipe dream.
Therefore, Xiao Jin believes that until the male lead extends an olive branch to Governor Xu, she is his best ally.
The reason she wants to use Governor Xu is not only because of his personal grievances with Prime Minister Mu.
More importantly, in the original story, Governor Xu held a secret about Prime Minister Mu.
When the former Governor of Wanzhou was punished and exiled to Lingnan, he entrusted a ledger to Governor Xu because they were close friends.
The ledger recorded the details of Prime Minister Mu’s relief efforts in Wanzhou.
Prime Minister Mu was not a clean official, on the contrary, he loved to accumulate wealth. So when it came to relief efforts, he naturally wanted to get a cut of the money.
However, for some reason, after Prime Minister Mu finished his relief efforts for the flood, the Blood Rain Tower leaked the news of his corruption.
Seeing the rumors spreading throughout the capital, Prime Minister Mu was greatly alarmed and eventually pushed the former Governor of Wanzhou to take the blame.
On the way to exile, the former Governor of Wanzhou died of a “sudden illness”, so the fire never burned Prime Minister Mu.
Although Governor Xu held evidence of Prime Minister Mu’s corruption during the relief efforts, he alone was too small to make a difference.
It should be noted that the Mu family had a prime minister and a favored imperial concubine in the palace.
If they wanted to shake the Mu family’s position with the relief corruption incident and overthrow Prime Minister Mu, it would be too naive.
Even though he was criticized again and again, Governor Xu, never revealed the matter. He endured in silence, waiting for the right moment.
Looking at the calligraphy and painting in the room, Xiao Jin thought that in the original story, the opportune moment you were waiting for was the prince.
But unfortunately, this time you met me first, so you can only accept your misfortune.
After finishing these important matters, Xiao Jin’s mind still held some things that were not important but equally significant. The white figure under the colorful lights lingered in her mind.
It was difficult to describe the way Chu Shao tilted her head for a moment. The expression on her face was extremely calm, with her eyes slightly open, filled with the light of the moon.
Looking at Chu Shao’s expression, Xiao Jin felt as though she had thought a lot but also as though she had thought of nothing.
Chu Shao was someone between innocence and cruelty. She found all the complexities of human emotions to be uninteresting. Too noisy, she felt it was too loud; too quiet, she could only indulge in boring pastimes, leading to a sense of loneliness.
Xiao Jin could not fully understand what kind of person Chu Shao was. But when Xiao Jin looked up and saw the hundreds of bright lights reflected in Chu Shao’s eyes—
Suddenly, she wanted to know what kind of magnificent scenery she had witnessed, and what kind of decline and desolation she had seen. Only then could she turn around and gaze at her with that smile and those eyes.
…
By now, it was late at night. Xiao Jin drank some wine at the Governor Xu’s residence. At first, she did not find the wine to be particularly intoxicating, but once she was alone in the room, she felt its after-effects.
Although she did not become so drunk that she spoke incoherently, she did feel dizzy and disoriented.”
Fortunately, a few days ago, Jue Ge sent two maids, named Yin Zhu and Zi Ling, to serve me. They were both raised in Yan territory and knew that I am a woman, so they carefully attended to me.
When they saw that I was a bit drunk, Yin Zhu helped me take off my outer garment. But since I had been to the Governor Xu’s residence, I inevitably smelled of alcohol and would need to bathe that night.
So Zi Ling brought me a clean white undershirt and helped me change before leading me to the backyard bath.
The bath was quite large and the floor was paved with jade stones. Despite my leg ailment, I felt the warm spring water caress my toes when they touched the bottom of the pool. The water was a light blue color, and with my eyes half-closed, I asked Yin Zhu, “What am I soaking in?”
Yin Zhu replied, “Your highness, it’s a medicine sent by Ye Daren. It’s said to be very valuable and should be very beneficial for your leg ailment.”
Still feeling the effects of the alcohol, it took me a while to realize that Ye Daren was Jue Ge.
Although I agreed on the surface, I knew that even the divine physician Su from the original text could not cure the original owner’s leg ailment. I was afraid that this medicine would only provide temporary relief and limited benefits.
Despite knowing that the effects of the medicine would likely be short-lived, I was still somewhat relieved to find that I could move my legs a little when I discovered this. It was worth remembering that I had used my legs for the first time since coming to this world.
Zi Ling watched as my legs faintly appeared at the bottom of the pool, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit bashful at the sight of their cold jade-like color.
Then she composed herself and handed me a letter, saying respectfully, “Your highness, Ye Daren has investigated Shen Lang’s background and would like you to take a look.”
Frowning slightly, I took the sealed envelope and quickly scanned its contents with my half-opened eyes. I didn’t notice anything wrong with it.
Half-opening her eyes, she glanced over the contents of the letter and didn’t notice anything unusual until she saw that one line.
—”In the twenty-second year of Yongning, Shen Lang met Rong Lian at Jianjia Tower.”
If she remembered correctly, Rong Lian… was Chu Shao’s birth mother?
Just then, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in Xiao Jin’s mind.
“Congratulations, Host! You have fulfilled the third condition for completing the side quest.”
Xiao Jin was confused. Apart from talking to Princess Zhao Yang for a few moments, she didn’t consciously collect any clues.
As if knowing Xiao Jin’s thoughts, the system explained, “There are four conditions to trigger the side quest. The first is to possess the key item ‘Ice Crystal Flower Silk Handkerchief’, the second is to obtain ‘Princess Zhao Yang’s conversation’, the third is to unlock information about Shen Lang’s origin, and the fourth condition is…”
“To increase the favorability of the female lead, Chu Shao.”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
So the system knew from the beginning that completing the side quest required increasing Chu Shao’s favorability, but it kept it hidden from her?
The system said, “The favorability of the female lead, Chu Shao, is a hidden condition that the system cannot detect whether the host can achieve or not, so it did not inform you of this condition.”
“In short, if the host has not increased the favorability of the female lead, Chu Shao, but still completes the side quest, you will still receive a reward, but the reward will be secretly reduced by half.”
Xiao Jin understood the system’s meaning.
This meant that it didn’t matter if she didn’t meet this condition; she would still receive a reward.
But it would definitely be better if she did.
At this point, Xiao Jin couldn’t wait to ask before finishing the rest of the letter, “So, what’s the reward exactly?”
The system replied, “The reward includes a month of life span, as well as a memory fragment about the ‘Flower of Good Omen’.”
“A memory fragment?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Jin had a hunch that this memory had something to do with Chu Shao, and couldn’t help but frown and ask, “When will the memory fragment be triggered?”
The system kindly replied, “Right now.”
“Right now?” Xiao Jin was shocked.
“Yes, host.”
“The system is very efficient.”
Xiao Jin hadn’t even had a chance to curse out loud and was using all her strength to resist the triggering of the memory fragment.
And then she lost consciousness.
…
After returning to her room, Chu Shao was thinking about something she couldn’t quite understand.
Or rather, many things.
By the moonlight in the courtyard, Chu Shao raised her hand and looked at the faint blue veins on her wrist.
She knew that blood was flowing inside.
But this kind of flow did not give her the pleasure of being alive.
Certainly, the pulse on her wrist was real.
Even if she gently pressed a knife to the vein, the blood inside would still flow.
Whether it was in the form of silent surging or spewing out, it was all the same to Chu Shao.
However, tonight, when Chu Shao saw the hundred colorful lanterns hanging on the wooden frames, she felt her blood enter an extremely peaceful state. They seemed to be tamed by something, becoming very quiet. Quiet, unlike her.
Chu Shao walked and wandered in the burning lights. She acted out of character, doing something so dull and meaningless. When she turned around and smiled at Xiao Jin, she felt her blood burning with the butterfly-like flames.
She felt like she had overlooked something very important, something she wanted to understand and explore. What was it?
Chu Shao didn’t know, but she knew she had to find out. She had to know what caused that momentary feeling, no matter what means she had to use.
She wanted to know, so she walked out. Into the night, into the darkness. Passing through the wooden frames covered in lights, passing through the cold and desolate flowers.
Then Chu Shao arrived at the bathhouse in the backyard. She knew that the guards of the Yan Mansion were stationed there, but they did not stop her. The only ones who stopped her were two vigilant maids.
“Your Highness, the Princess, the Prince is taking a bath inside. Please stop,” they said.
After listening to them, Chu Shao smiled gently and expressed her understanding.Â
Then she struck them both on the neck with a hand chop, knocking them out.
Watching the two maids fall softly, Chu Shao supported them and placed their bodies by the pillar.
She had a smile on her lips and continued walking forward.
Chu Shao’s steps were light.
She gently pushed open the door, stepped lightly over the moist jade bricks, and even the action of taking off her shoes and sneaking into the pool was extremely gentle.
The bath was filled with hot mist.
Chu Shao was immersed in it, feeling the hot spring soak her clothes and hair.
But she didn’t care.
Chu Shao just walked, slowly wading through the water.
She was like a pure white carp, dragging her wet clothes to swim to the person in front of her.
It wasn’t until Chu Shao saw Xiao Jin leaning against the edge of the bath that she stopped her steps.
She looked at the three thousand strands of black hair scattered on the water’s surface and the quiet sleeping face of the other person, still full of doubts in her heart.
One step closer, and Chu Shao could see Xiao Jin’s black and moist eyelashes, and the mist in front of her seemed to be getting clearer.
Her slightly closed eyes and slender and soft neck were all familiar to her.
So when Chu Shao reached out and grabbed Xiao Jin’s neck, a series of movements seemed effortless and natural.
Chu Shao didn’t use any force to strangle her.
She still had a smile on her lips, gentle as the fragrant breeze blowing in the spring night.
Just feeling the flow of blood between her neck was enough to excite her.
But at this moment, Chu Shao was not satisfied with just enough.
She wanted to explore more.
Looking at Xiao Jin, who was asleep, Chu Shao felt that even though her sleeping appearance was still cold, her facial features seemed to soften a lot in the white mist.
She looked as quiet as a lifeless doll, a beautiful and fragile porcelain item.
So Chu Shao released her hand from around Xiao Jin’s neck.
With a smile on her face, she leaned closer to the fair skin. Just as she was about to open her mouth to bite down, her elbow suddenly touched something soft.
Something unexpectedly soft.
Chu Shao’s movements froze.
She was stunned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution between 23:59:25 and 23:59:33 on March 13, 2022.
Translator’s note: Just as she was about to open her mouth to bite down, her elbow suddenly touched something soft.
Hmmm… Maybe it’s a boing~~ boing~~~ WAHAHHAHA..
TO BE CONTINUE…
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