After Transmigrating Into A Eunuch, I Became Famous In The Harem - Chapter 12

Su Zhongjie never could have imagined that Shao Yin was anything but what he seemed.

It took considerable effort on his part.

On the day the first snow fell, he finally learned Shao Yin’s secret.

The person who told him said, “I’m risking my life to tell you this.”

“The Emperor adores Eunuch Shao completely. Who knows? She might even become our Empress someday.”

Su Zhongjie was shaken to his core.

He’d always thought Shao Yin, with her bean-sprout-like figure, was the most unmanly eunuch in the palace. Her every expression carried a hint of feminine grace.

So, she really was a woman.

He hastily thanked the informant, repeatedly assuring them that the Empress was no rash person and would never involve the hardworking palace staff in any trouble. Only then did he leave.

His return journey was swift, the fresh snowflakes dancing around him as cold sweat drenched his clothes.

So, she was a woman.

So, she had always intended to enter the Imperial Harem?

The white snow blurred the red palace walls. Palace attendants hurried along the paths, heads bowed, each seeming to carry a secret.

Su Zhongjie rushed back to Kunning Palace.

The Empress was seated beneath the colonnade, admiring the snow. Though the early winter air was bitterly cold, Su Zhongjie felt that even the harshest weather couldn’t match the icy chill of the Empress’s gaze.

Guan Zhixian knew that the Empress was far from the calm and detached figure she appeared to be. She was, in truth, a woman with an insatiable thirst for control. Otherwise, how could she have wrested Shao Yin from the Emperor’s palace and brought her to her own?

The woman sat alone on the veranda, her gaze, seemingly devoid of desire, fixed on the swirling snowflakes. She extended a hand, pale as jade, and caught a flake. The crystalline snowflake landed on her slightly reddened fingertips, but without hesitation, she crushed it.

Hearing footsteps behind her, Guan Zhixian turned and saw Su Zhongjie. She knew immediately that he had uncovered the results of her investigation.

She didn’t speak, merely raised an eyebrow slightly. Su Zhongjie bowed and laid out everything he had discovered.

“Imperial Consort, I learned from other palace attendants that… that Eunuch Shao… isn’t actually a man.”

As the words hung in the air, even the wind seemed to hold its breath.

Su Zhongjie found himself holding his own breath, wondering if Kunning Palace would soon claim another life, a crimson splash of blood against the pristine white snow.

After a long pause, Guan Zhixian stood, her face impassive. “Bring her here,” she said quietly.

Su Zhongjie immediately bowed and turned toward the eunuch’s quarters.

Shao Yin stood by the window, watching the snow.

The eunuch’s quarters were small, with tiny windows.

Through the narrow window, she looked up at the sky. White snowflakes drifted down, floating past the red palace walls and melting almost instantly upon the bluestone floor.

A cold wind blew, sending a shiver through her.

She wondered how winter in the palace would be endured, and whether the night shifts would leave her trembling with cold.

Just then, she saw a familiar figure trudging through the snow toward her.

Clad in blue eunuch robes, he approached with an aura more chilling than the blizzard itself.

As he entered, Shao Yin recognized him as Su Zhongjie. She immediately stepped out to greet him.

Su Zhongjie’s gaze held a peculiar intensity, sending a sinking feeling into Shao Yin’s heart, a premonition of impending danger.
She followed Su Zhongjie to the Empress’s quarters, her mind racing with thoughts of how to win the Empress’s favor.

Though she couldn’t yet confirm who the Great Female Protagonist was, she was certain that within the Imperial Harem, even the Empress Dowager would yield to the Empress if she truly asserted herself.

Simply serving tea and water by the Empress’s side wouldn’t suffice, but rashly offering advice could easily lead to grave consequences.

The journey seemed unusually short today.

Shao Yin soon arrived at Kunning Palace.

Entering the palace, Su Zhongjie closed the door behind her, plunging the room into darkness.

Shao Yin instinctively looked up and saw the Empress seated above her. She knelt and bowed, but the Empress didn’t call her to rise.

The dim lighting made it difficult for the Empress to clearly see Shao Yin’s face. Even so, the blurred contours and Shao Yin’s graceful bearing made it instantly clear that she was a beauty.

Her back was straight, her head bowed. The light streaming through the door illuminated the snow-white nape of her neck, making her seem even more delicate, as if a single touch could break her.

Guan Zhixian suddenly understood why she had always felt a sense of pity toward Shao Yin. It wasn’t that her nature had changed, making her attracted to a eunuch, but rather because Shao Yin was, in truth, a woman.

In that moment, Guan Zhixian saw Shao Yin’s fragile, delicate appearance as strikingly similar to her own sisters at home.

With this realization, even though Shao Yin had concealed her identity and deceived her, Guan Zhixian no longer felt as angry as before.

Still, Shao Yin’s decision to disguise herself as a man and remain by the Emperor’s side likely meant she intended to enter the Imperial Harem.

Yet these few fleeting encounters left Guan Zhixian with the vague impression that Shao Yin had no desire to enter the Imperial Harem. She likely felt the same way about the Emperor as Zhixian herself.

Suppressing her suspicions, Guan Zhixian gazed down at the trembling figure kneeling before her. Rising from her seat, she stepped closer to Shao Yin.

Up close, Shao Yin appeared even more delicate and vulnerable, kneeling at her feet.

Outside, snow drifted past the door, the wind howling. Guan Zhixian’s sigh was barely audible as she asked, “Do you have anything to say to me?”

Through Shao Yin’s eyes, the Empress’s swaying skirts came into view, embroidered with phoenixes in golden thread, exuding unparalleled nobility.

Her hands, resting at her sides, gripped the hem of her robes, fingers unconsciously clenching until the fabric crumpled.

What could she possibly say to the Empress?

She had so much she wanted to say, but she dared not utter a word.

She wasn’t foolish enough to trust anyone in this world.

Instead, she bowed her head and replied, “This servant knows nothing.”

She didn’t know what the Empress wanted to hear, and she dared not speak recklessly.

Too many secrets weighed upon her.

The Empress’s gaze turned icy at her response.

Slowly, she crouched down, her fingertips gliding across Shao Yin’s tender skin.

Shao Yin’s cheeks were delicate, soft, and smooth, yet they seemed to possess a strange allure that drew the Empress’s fingers to linger.

The Empress lifted Shao Yin’s face and gazed deeply into her eyes, seeing beneath the forced calm the turbulent fear that churned within.

In that moment, the Empress’s heart softened. She’s just a girl who’s barely eighteen, inexperienced in the ways of the world. It’s understandable that she’d be cautious in the Inner Palace.

With this thought, the Empress relaxed her grip on Shao Yin’s cheek. “Was it you who wanted to enter the Imperial Harem, or was it your family who wanted you to enter?”

The moment she finished speaking, Shao Yin froze, her entire body stiffening.
What did the Empress mean by that? Was she implying… that I’m not what I seem?

A eunuch could never enter the Imperial Harem. Only women were allowed inside.

Shao Yin’s breathing quickened, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, as if it might burst through her ribs at any moment.

She stared at the Empress’s calm, composed face, momentarily speechless, unsure what she could possibly say.

Finally, she lowered her gaze and murmured softly, “This servant never wished to enter the Imperial Harem.”

The Empress’s thoughts shifted. “Then did your family want you to risk everything for wealth and status? Your father hasn’t been promoted in the bureaucratic hierarchy for years. Has he grown impatient?”

“It wasn’t my father who sent me to the palace.”

In truth, her father had little to do with it.

He had always been diligent and hardworking, content with his modest position and the satisfaction of doing his best in his role.

Shao Yin had come to the palace at her aunt’s behest, to plead for a promising future for her elder brother.

The Empress suddenly gripped Shao Yin’s chin, tearing through the superficial calm in her eyes and revealing the surging desire for control hidden beneath her cool demeanor. “Do you still insist you have nothing to say to me?”

Shao Yin knew what the Empress wanted to hear.

She wanted Shao Yin to admit, in her own words, that she was a woman.

What would happen after such an admission?

Would the Empress make an example of her?

Shao Yin opened her mouth, wanting to speak, but her voice seemed stuck in her throat, unable to escape.

Guan Zhixian leaned closer to Shao Yin, her overwhelming presence enveloping her. Her voice, though low, carried a threat that made Shao Yin tremble. “Do you want me to personally tear off your clothes before you’ll admit your true identity?”

Shao Yin’s pupils constricted sharply.

A moment later, the sickening sound of fabric tearing echoed through the quiet hall were both gruesome and piercing.

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