Author: Xiao Yao
Chapter 25 – Title – Chapter 27
In vague confusion, Hui Ming blankly stood by the outside wall of Hall of Heavenly Virtue for a while with her heart full of doubt.
Why was she here? What was she doing?
Oh, that’s right, Hui Ming suddenly remembered, Rui-wang had rebelled, and hearing that many imperial servants inside the Hall of Heavenly Virtue were killed, she had wanted to inquire who had perished, were there any female maids she was acquainted with, in addition, there were rumors that Su-gonggong also …
She needed to take a look.
She wanted to figure it out right now, then all at once, Hui Ming’s eyes turned to the old imperial servant who was sweeping the outer courtyard of the Hall of Heavenly Virtue, that’s right, she could ask him, Hui Ming walked forward, but before she could speak, the wrinkled old imperial servant already knew her purpose, and shaking his head chanted the same words: “Dead, all dead …”
Hui Ming froze in place, then heard her own voice as light as a feather say: “What about Chief Eunuch Su, Su-gonggong?”
“Chief Eunuch Su?” The murky gaze of the old imperial servant showed impatience: “Dead! Also dead!”
Dead, too!
——————————
Dreaming up to here, Hui Ming struggled for a while, and as if finally struggling out of cold water, suddenly sat up.
With her chest still throbbing violently, Hui Ming faintly gasped for breath, she turned to look at the dark sky outside, only to discover that at this time her palms were filled with cold sweat.
Lu An, who was beside her, noticed her movement, turned over, and called out in a daze, “Gugu?”
“It’s nothing, I had a nightmare.” Hui Ming gently shook her head, her voice a bit hoarse.
She had been having this dream for several days now, Hui Ming stroked her chest and took a moment before coming back to reality.
Strangely enough, when she learned of the news of Su-gonggong’s death in her previous life, she was clearly just shocked for a while, besides feeling somewhat desolate, she kept watch over the Young Royal Highness following that, looking after him for more than 20 years, there was no other obvious response at all.
Even in the few days after she came back, when she found out that Su-gonggong was still alive, though she admittedly was glad from the bottom of her heart, thinking about repaying his kindness, but it was not like this where she couldn’t even sleep peacefully.
Since she had sent the steamed hibiscus egg the day before yesterday, then afterwards listened to Su-gonggong’s long speech of carefully warning her repeatedly, after coming back she would be awakened by such a nightmare time and time again, and had been going on for several days, which she seriously didn’t know why.
Maybe thinking about it all day, so she dreamt of it at night? Hui Ming thought, this was not to say that it’s unreasonable, these days, she was really thinking practically all the time about how to get Su-gonggong to escape from the matter of the Ghost Festival two years later, and live a long life in this lifetime.
She lightly turned and leaned against the kang1, reached for a bowl of water from the small table under the kang and took a few sips, although the pot was placed on a rattan holder2, it had already turned cold after the night, Hui Ming taking a few mouthfuls used this coolness as stimulation to wake up instantly, and being tightly covered by a thick quilt, she slowly recovered, then leaned on the pillow and pondered about having not been able to speak with Su-gonggong for several days now.
It’s been four… five days already? Hui Ming used her fingers and calculated, it was not just Su-gonggong, to speak of it, she hasn’t even seen Yuan Bao in these four or five days, when the charcoal was delivered yesterday, she happened to be out, and it was Lu An who received it.
This won’t do, at this rate, how could she get close to Su-gopnggong so that she could ask about the major event involving Rui-wangye? After a few more days, she ought to become diligent and go again! As it happened, having not seen them for a few days, she didn’t know if Su-gonggong’s stomach problem had improved, and whether he drank the millet and fuling herb powder every day.
Thinking like this, Hui Ming laid down for a while, then hearing outside that the time was almost near, she simply sat up under the dimness of the night, took out a few silver coins from the wooden box rewarded by Imperial Concubine Xian last time which was placed at the end of the bed, got up and quickly tidied up, then went to the kitchen like last time and asked for a bowl of non-glutinous rice congee boiled with oil, at the time she was about to leave, she saw that there were thinly sliced dishes of cucumber in the kitchen, though it was something simple, but it looked fresh and tasty, so she cheekily asked for a plate and put them in the food box then sent them to Su-gonggong’s room.
It was still quite early, but there wasn’t anyone in Su-gonggong’s room already, even the door was tightly locked, this made Hui Ming slightly surprised, this room was originally a servant room to temporarily rest in, it was at the back of the Hall of Heavenly Virtue, and there was nothing valuable inside, whenever she used to come and go there the door was usually unlocked, especially after she started to send meals to Su-gonggong, Yuan Bao also specifically mentioned it to her, saying that if there was no one in the future, she could just go right in, and by all means don’t stay outside under the cold.
Why is it locked today?
Did Yuan Bao forget? Hui Ming paused, she waited outside for a moment while stamping her feet in the cold wind, but seeing that Yuan Bao and Su-gonggong were late in coming, and was afraid that the hot congee would soon turn cold on such a day, after thinking for a moment, she had to turn around, carried the food box and hurried back to her own room, she quickly placed her hands and feet next to the brazier to keep warm, and then without delay, immediately went back to her duty.
The snow was slowly melting, and although the path around the Hall of Heavenly Virtue was already being cleaned by the imperial servants every day, the snow that were melting would inevitably seep out a little, especially around the rooms and corridors where the masters won’t step foot in, there were still a lot of dirt and mud on the floor tiles.
The imperial servants didn’t want the snow to stain their shoes, so they all walked around using the clean walkways, but Hui Ming with her hurried steps, nevertheless did not have such skills, so she just picked up her skirt and went straight to the floor tiles with the snow.
Running around in the snow like this, her shoes were already mostly wet, fortunately, because she picked up her skirt, the corners were fairly clean, and nothing could be seen when it was smoothed down, it was just that the shoes and socks that were wrapped around her feet were all wet, and she had to endure this difficulty all the way.
Hui Ming inwardly frowned, but she couldn’t care about this too much at the moment, she could only receive the instructions of Wei-gugu together with the other maids on duty today, and as usual, she prepared His Majesty’s accessories for the day, holding the lacquered tray to wait outside the curtain of the bedroom, then before long, following a command, she stepped forward.
Hui Ming was very familiar with such daily errands, and could hardly go wrong even with her eyes closed, therefore at the moment, most of her mind were divided into paying attention to Su-gonggong.
According to His Majesty’s routine, it was always the job of the female attendants to personally serve, and the eunuchs never got involved, therefore, Su-gonggong just stood there with his eyes lowered, quietly standing at the entrance, nose lowered and head down, as if he had no interest in anything inside the hall.
Hui Ming stared at him for a long time, but today’s Su-gonggong did not look as acute as before, even until Hui Ming served holding the lacquer tray and retreated, Su-gonggong didn’t give her a look, but just stood where he was, simply determined to stay like that!
Hui Ming lightly pursed her lips, somehow in a bit of a depressed mood when she went back out.
Although Hui Ming was also on duty in the Hall of Heavenly Virtue, compared with Su-gonggong who was chosen by the emperor, it was only when His Majesty changed clothes that she would come forward to serve, when there was no errand, she wouldn’t serve in front of the emperor, when His Majesty has finished his morning meal, he would go to Yang Qian Hall to deal with the state affairs, and Su-gonggong would also accompany him, so as the morning passed, Hui Ming failed to find any opportunity to meet Su-gonggong when he was free, and she had to drink the rice congee she had asked for early that day to warm herself.
In this way, until noon came, when His Majesty took a nap, Hui Ming who was paying attention the whole day finally found a free time, and at the gate west of the Hall of Heavenly Virtue, she caught sight of Su-gonggong wearing a large black coat with Yuan Bao who were in a hurry and were just about to leave.
“Su-gonggong!” Hui Ming’s face carried a smile, then called out a greeting from the distance.
Su Jin’s footsteps stopped, and under the cover of the large coat, the palm of his hand holding the ruyi knot trembled slightly, but his face was just like the gloomy weather, without the slightest billows.
“Where is Gonggong going?” Hui Ming raised the corners of her mouth, a light tone, and a somewhat concerned look on her face: “I wanted to send Gonggong a bowl of rice congee this morning, but unfortunately the door was locked, and I still didn’t see you until the hour of chen3, Gonggong being this busy, have you had breakfast?”
Su Jin raised his head stiffly, his eyes almost greedily swept across Hui Ming’s face, he had not spoken to her for six days, and at the moment, towards this kind of Hui Ming who was showing her utmost care, he wanted to lift his head and properly look at her, but the shame and timidity in his heart made him not dare to look at her.
Su Jin bowed his head again, at this time, he knew that he should say something cold, so that she could back down, and from now on not pay attention to him, but …
“Going to the Palace of Eternal Longevity.” He spoke with great effort, and immediately after, the corners of his mouth moved slightly a few times, but it turned out that he was unable to say even one of the whatever hurtful words he wanted to say.
Hui Ming hasn’t noticed anything wrong yet, and seeing Su-gonggong’s silence, somewhat in a baffle asked: “What did Gonggong want to say?” Then after a pause, she felt a little embarrassed: “But did I delay your errand?”
“No, no…” Su Jin clenched his palms tightly again, almost exhausting all his strength, and finally he just followed his remark by twisting his head to escape, saying, “I still have some important errands, if you have something, just tell Yuan Bao.”
Su-gonggong bowed his head and hurriedly spoke, then turned away and left in an almost panic, leaving only Yuan Bao standing in place smiling dryly at Hui Ming and calling out a Hui-gugu.
Hui Ming still didn’t realize what was wrong at this moment, but wondered, “Is there something wrong with Gonggong? By the way, why is the door locked in the servant room, you should have told me so I didn’t have to make a trip in vain. “
“Blame me, blame me, it’s this lowly person who forgot.” Yuan Bao lowered and scratched the back of his head, his eyes looking away, with his face full of embarrassment.
Hui Ming paused, this look was familiar to her, when she offended Wei-gugu before, Qiu Ya, Yun Hua, including Yu Gan and Ku Kou faced her like this, all of them were somewhat embarrassed and had a look that wished for her to stay away.
Thinking about the situation in the past few days, Hui Ming seemed to understand something.
Su-gonggong, in addition to the post of being the chief eunuch, there was the managing of the sacrifice for the first empress’s death anniversary, every day, he would go out early and come back late, he wasn’t deliberately dodging, just no longer purposely made room for her like in the past, so it’s really hard to have time to meet Hui Ming in private.
It was also for this reason that Hui Ming felt that Su-gonggong was getting busier these days, but she really hasn’t noticed that this was Su-gonggong intentionally alienating from her.
Until now, when she saw Yuan Bao dodging away, so being tactful and keen she suddenly realized—
Su-gonggong, did he already resent her troublesome meddling, also thoroughly explained it to Yuan Bao, and wanted to stay at a respectful distance from her?
This was also right, Su-gonggong was originally a man of honor, in her previous life, she was self-indulgent, treating him with disdain in all aspects, Su-gonggong was magnanimous and naturally didn’t care, as it happened, she was diligently attentive this time, and Su-gonggong was afraid of her misunderstanding, so naturally wanted to be polite and distant, it turned out to be something normal.
“In that case, I won’t keep you, next time when Su-gonggong has time, I’ll just express my gratitude then.” Hui Ming still smiled generously, and still spoke to Yuan Bao with the same appearance.
Hui Ming in her heart told herself, it’s just as well, it should have been originally so, she acted too hastily, she’ll just be more careful in the future, and try to find another way to get close to Su-gonggong slowly.
Even so, though in her heart she was clear about and understood this, but—
Hui Ming stretched out her hand and touched her chest, it made no sense, but she felt a little wronged.
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The author has something to say:
No, don’t panic! Put down the blades in your hands! You have to trust this author, believe in the female lead! This is a short chapter! Forge through what lies ahead, which is the truth that Su-gonggong would love to see~
Small Theatre # Very fragrant2—
Su Jin: No, it’s impossible to ignore you, I’m hurting to death! I’ll jump down from here! Tell Rui-wang to die in a pit! I also have to endure ignoring you!
Hui Ming: QVQ~
Su Jin: I, I…
Hui Ming: But I came back to look for you~
Su Jin: Ahh, I can’t help it, actually I super like you! \(≧▽≦)/~
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES:
1. 炕: is a kind of surface that is used to sleep in like a bed, coal can be burned underneath, so that the temperature can be maintained in winter. ↩
2. 藤编的瓷壶 ↩
3. 辰时: 07:00-09:00 in the morning. ↩
If there are any mistakes, please do not hesitate to point it out.
Chapter 25 – Title – Chapter 27
Thank you for reading. If you like the story, consider supporting the author! Also, if you like my work so far kindly consider fueling my coffee addiction! (❤ω❤)
❀.(*´◡`*)❀. °˖✧°˖✧° ˖✧°˖✧° ❀.(*´◡`*)❀.
insidethemirror translation nook 
I’d love to read more, is this continuing somewhere?
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Is the translation continuing elsewhere?
This appears to be the last chapter published. ☹️
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I love them so much 😥
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