Ex-Girlfriend – Chapter 36

by Little Panda

Volume 2: Power Over Court and Country

The Deposed Empress 11

Covering The Heaven With One Hand

Xin Lan listened to Qu Zhi’an’s words, her face showing some pleasure.

Thinking carefully, staying overnight here wouldn’t be bad [literally: not impossible to try].

Anyway, that emperor had been dealt with severely by her, probably wouldn’t be able to attend morning court tomorrow. He couldn’t even take care of himself, how could he possibly have free time to look for her.

Thinking of this, Xin Lan nodded.

Qu Zhi’an was happy in her heart, and didn’t let go of Xin Lan’s hand, walking out in this position.

“There’s still a side room here, Ah Rou stayed here last time, but after she moved out, I haven’t cleaned it up. I hope you won’t find it too simple when sleeping.”

Xin Lan followed Qu Zhi’an to that side room, but unexpectedly when the door opened, a rat quickly darted under the cabinet.

“Yanyan, looks like this really needs a good cleaning.”

Xin Lan said teasingly, in a good mood.

Qu Zhi’an also saw that fleeting black shadow, and touched her nose embarrassedly.

“This… I guarantee there aren’t any in my room, don’t know when these little things settled here.”

Qu Zhi’an muttered, noticing dust had settled in places that hadn’t been cleaned for dozens of days, and frowned.

“This room definitely cannot let you stay, why don’t you put up with some discomfort tonight and sleep on the same bed with me?”

Qu Zhi’an said questioningly, suddenly remembering in her mind the scene of their first meeting.

The warmth of her cheeks from that time seemed to still remain, making her face immediately heat up.

Although both were women, whenever she thought about it, she always felt somewhat shy.

“Of course it’s fine, but…”

“But what?”

“I’ve always hated people disturbing my peaceful sleep, Yanyan better not wake me up.”

“Naturally, tomorrow I won’t attend court, what’s wrong with sleeping until the sun is three poles high [until late morning]?”

The two reached an agreement, and walked arm in arm towards Qu Zhi’an’s room.

Actually, this state of being neither drunk nor sober was most comfortable, not too clear-headed, but also not enough to make mistakes.

The two removed their clothes and lay side by side on the bed.

Xin Lan suddenly remembered something, lying on her side and propping up her head to look at Qu Zhi’an.

“Yanyan, you wear chest bindings every day, doesn’t it hurt?”

Chest binding isn’t pleasant at all, if one was originally flat it would be fine, but for larger ones having to bind tightly to look like a man’s shape, when untied it must turn blue and purple.

When Qu Zhi’an heard Xin Lan mention this, her face almost steamed.

“No… doesn’t hurt… wasn’t very… and got used to it… don’t really feel anything.”

Qu Zhi’an finished speaking hesitatingly. Before she hadn’t felt anything was wrong, after all it made it convenient for her to dress as a man, but thinking of Xin Lan’s softness, she felt an indescribable dejection.

It wasn’t exactly envy, but rather a more complex emotion that Qu Zhi’an didn’t know how to express.

Xin Lan’s concern made her heart feel warm, very comfortable.

“Good that it doesn’t hurt, let’s sleep then. You don’t need to think about taking leave tomorrow, probably the emperor won’t have the mind to attend morning court either.”

Xin Lan let out a mocking laugh, if the emperor could still attend morning court with an unchanged face after what happened, then she would have to think more highly of him.

“Oh? Did something happen?”

“I just received news that he’s unwell, let’s sleep.”

Xin Lan lay flat, had Ling Jiu bring her mosquito repellent, the spray was the silent type, held it in her palm, sprayed twice, then put it back.

Qu Zhi’an nodded and closed her eyes too.

Sleeping until midnight, in their drowsy state, they felt tonight was much cooler than usual, even the annoying mosquitoes hadn’t come to bite.

While they were sleeping soundly here, someone in the palace was extremely angry.

Wu Yanqing finally waited until the pressure point’s effect wore off, when he found he could move, his whole body was numb.

He had been pressure pointed while lying on his side, now able to move, he fell flat by habit.

But his fingers were still inside his body, and because of falling like this by habit, they went in even deeper.

Wu Yanqing’s face immediately twisted more unpleasantly, when his hands could move, he quickly pulled them out.

Tonight was absolutely the most humiliating day in his twenty-six years of life.

He, the dignified Son of Heaven [emperor], actually in his own palace and his own chambers, was treated that way by someone.

And that person had fled without a trace, appearance unknown.

The pain in his back remained, Wu Yanqing thought the blood stains had probably dried.

Thinking of that brazen ‘was here’ [marking/graffiti], he wanted to find the person and cut them into ten thousand pieces, then feed them to dogs.

He dug out the dagger from his body, while doing it, his face alternated between red and white, but he managed to remove the thing that had been fully pushed in.

The dagger was ordinary, like one bought from the street, with no markings left on it, only blood stains from when it was recklessly inserted.

Wu Yanqing felt sick looking at the blood stains, his stomach churning, the pain from his back and unspeakable place made him more agitated.

He smashed the dagger violently to the ground, loudly ordering the eunuchs outside to bring water in, he wanted to bathe.

He tried to sit up from the bed, the wound on his back pulled painfully in waves, what pained him more was the place between his legs, his eyes red, helplessly taking a few duck-like steps [waddling], hips spread wide, shamefully and angrily smashing things within reach.

Mei An stood guard outside the door, not knowing what was making the master inside so angry, trembling with fear.

After the hot water was carried in, several palace maids prepared to step forward to serve, but were frightened back by the emperor’s gloomy expression.

“No need for anyone to stay and serve here, go fetch an imperial physician.”

“Yes.”

Wu Yanqing soaked in the hot water, fingers tightly clenched into fists, enduring the stinging pain of the wound on his back, cleaning his injured lower area.

The imperial physician came, Wu Yanqing didn’t speak, the physician didn’t dare come in at all, waiting in the outer hall.

Only when Wu Yanqing felt he had cleaned himself thoroughly, and the characters written in blood on his back should be gone, did he slowly put on his pants and move back to the bed, bare-chested, waiting for the imperial physician to apply medicine.

The imperial physician entered, saw the stabbed mark on the emperor’s back, trembled internally, and began silently applying medicine.

“Does Your Majesty want some prescriptions for blood replenishment and energy restoration?”

“Mm.”

The imperial physician packed up the medicine bottles, and as he prepared to leave, heard the emperor call him back.

“Some days ago I summoned a beauty for the night, but the movements were carelessly too rough, do you have any soothing medicine for injuries?”

“Yes, this humble servant will prepare it right away and send it to you when ready.”

The imperial physician understood, nodding in response.

Wu Yanqing nodded, and the imperial physician hurriedly withdrew.

After the person left, Wu Yanqing’s expression finally changed.

The jianghu [martial arts world] and imperial court have always stayed out of each other’s affairs, he hasn’t fully grasped power yet, so if he were to make a big move to investigate someone who might not even be caught, he would likely face memorials from his officials.

But this grievance was really hard to swallow, and the Imperial Guard Commander was his own man, if he were to order heavy punishment, he couldn’t bear to do it, after all this was a chess piece he had cultivated with great difficulty.

Due to physical discomfort, Wu Yanqing tossed and turned for a long time unable to sleep.

After the imperial physician prepared the medicine, he hurriedly sent it over, he held the porcelain bottle, his face dark.

When extending a finger to apply medicine to himself, he remembered that person’s mocking words.

He was so angry he wanted to smash the thing in his hand, but forcefully held back.

The next day’s light, warm sun shone on the earth.

Qu Zhi’an opened her eyes with a bit of a headache, and saw Xin Lan nestled beside her.

Last night they had clearly slept properly and properly, but now most of Xin Lan’s body was pressed against her.

Xin Lan’s sleeping face was peaceful, showing a gentleness not usually seen.

Qu Zhi’an looked at her, feeling her headache had improved somewhat, just watching Xin Lan’s sleeping face like this.

But in just a moment, Xin Lan opened her eyes, her black pupils meeting directly with Qu Zhi’an’s.

“What is Yanyan looking at?”

Wouldn’t anyone find it quite strange to wake up early and find someone watching them?

“Not looking at anything, was just spacing out just now.”

Qu Zhi’an denied, pretending to come back to her senses.

Xin Lan didn’t ask further, getting up from the bed.

Her clothes still carried last night’s lingering alcohol smell, Qu Zhi’an was fine as she had clothes to change into.

Xin Lan originally wanted to pick up yesterday’s old clothes to wear, but was stopped by Qu Zhi’an.

“These clothes are already dirty, why don’t I go out now and buy you a set, if it’s inconvenient for you to enter the palace during the day, we can play together all day, and you can return after nightfall, you probably haven’t been out of the palace to play for a long time, right?”

Qu Zhi’an looked hopefully at Xin Lan, if they could spend a whole day together, couldn’t they drink tea and do fun things together?

Xin Lan thought it feasible, nodded.

“Buy subdued colors, shouldn’t be too flashy, best to buy me a face veil too, if we run into any acquaintances on the road, it would be terrible.”

This capital city isn’t very big, but isn’t small either, although the original owner didn’t appear much, and hadn’t met people while waiting to be married, she had still been empress for several years, although now stepped down, those officials who had seen her and their family members would still recognize her face.

Speaking of which, these several missions, perhaps there was an element of matching the host’s image, otherwise how would the name be exactly the same, and even the appearance somewhat similar?

Qu Zhi’an heard her instructions and nodded.

Qu Zhi’an went out, leaving Xin Lan alone in undergarments in this room. She first studied the room’s arrangement, then opened the door to look at other rooms.

This courtyard was medium-sized, having three rooms total: one was Qu Zhi’an’s own bedroom, another was the guest room for visitors, though rarely used, and another was Qu Zhi’an’s study.

Xin Lan didn’t enter without the owner’s permission, just stood at the window and peeked inside twice, saw the books and calligraphy paintings displayed in the room, then returned to the bedroom, continuing to lie on the bed with eyes closed.

Qu Zhi’an returned with clothes and face veil, placing them in front of Xin Lan.

Xin Lan put on the clothes, washed up briefly, then prepared to go out for breakfast with Qu Zhi’an.

“There’s a very tasty wonton shop in an alley, I’ll take you there.”

Qu Zhi’an was very happy, wanting to share all the good food and fun places she knew with Xin Lan.

They closed the door, locked it, and walked out together.

Xin Lan’s hand was held by Qu Zhi’an, she didn’t resist, following her forward.

The street was full of life, an atmosphere impossible to find in the Cold Palace.

They arrived at the wonton stall Qu Zhi’an mentioned, the elderly woman [auntie] wiped tables while smiling at them.

“Young master, you’ve come again, oh, and brought your wife this time?”

LP: Re-translated on December 21, 2024

Volume 2: Power Over Court and Country

2 Comments