I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 20

Autumn skies are clear, and the sun is just right.

Wei Ying, having had her fill of food and drink in front of the Bao Yun Palace, wasn’t feeling hungry just yet. Glancing at the time, she decided to do something with a well-fed Xiao Qianxue to help them digest. They moved a long table into Wei Ying’s room, then spent half the day sifting through Empress Dowager’s gifted fabrics, finally settling on a piece of dark red silk embroidered with gold threads.

Xiao Qianxue was puzzled, “Yingying, what are we doing?”

Wei Ying spread the red silk on the long table, then placed several plates of pastries and an incense burner on it. She bowed solemnly twice, and pulled Xiao Qianxue to do the same.

Xiao Qianxue looked at the character for “Yun” on the wall, then at the altar-like setup, and immediately understood. Her gaze towards Wei Ying became sad and sympathetic. “Oh, Yingying, my condolences.”

Wei Ying: “Condolences?”

Xiao Qianxue whispered to the “Yun” character, “She will surely watch over you.”

Even though she didn’t know which of Yingying’s relatives this was.

Wei Ying agreed, “Yes, you should bow more, she will protect you too.”

Xiao Qianxue followed her lead, closing her eyes and clasping her hands, and said devoutly, “I hope the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet goes smoothly.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Ying’s heart skipped a beat. She turned around and said, “That… probably won’t happen.”

Xiao Qianxue was confused, “Why not?”

Wei Ying patted her shoulder, “You’ll know when the day comes.”

The bright crescent moon in the sky, perhaps having eaten too many mooncakes, slowly grew fatter, its light glowing full. Soon, the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived. The palace began to light lanterns, and a pagoda made of bright lanterns appeared in the imperial garden, luring many palace maids to sneak a peek.

While styling Wei Ying’s hair, Lu La mentioned this, “The craftsmen have been rushing to finish it for the past few days, and they finally did yesterday. The pagoda will be lit tonight. You just entered the palace and don’t know yet, but when the five-colored fireworks go off, it’s so beautiful.”

Wei Ying smiled too, her eyes crinkling. “Then we’ll have a feast for our eyes tonight.”

No matter how long they were together, Lu La was always occasionally stunned by the beauty that washed over her. Holding the comb, she exclaimed again, “Wuwu, my lady is so beautiful. You’ve been getting even more beautiful lately.”

Her heart was almost pounding out of her chest.

Wei Ying smiled faintly. It was probably because her physical stats and compatibility were increasing, and this body was slowly changing, becoming more and more… like her former self.

She was a task-performer, and she had held many identities, but most of the time, she would use her original body from her home world.

Unless it was a special circumstance.

While she was still deep in thought, Xiao Qianxue, already dressed up, ran over and sat beside her, tilting her head and smiling, “Yingying is so pretty! Should you wear that silk dress of mine today?”

She thought Yingying looked good in everything, but she was the most beautiful in that red silk dress embroidered with gold threads.

“Look, I’ve brought it over,” Xiao Qianxue said, pulling her hand and pouting, “Please, Yingying.”

What could Wei Ying do when a beauty was pouting? She could only pinch her cheek and say helplessly, “Alright, alright, whatever you say.”

Xiao Qianxue’s eyes curved into a smile, “Yingying is the best.”

Wei Ying put on her dress behind a screen, while Xiao Qianxue once again went to the altar they had made a few days prior, and devoutly bowed, “I hope nothing happens tonight.”

A little while later, Wei Ying also walked over, and piously bowed three times in front of the altar, “I hope something happens tonight.”

Lu La and Hong Zhu, who witnessed everything: …

When the time came, they gathered in front of the Yu Lu Hall, waiting to join Consort Xian for the banquet in the imperial garden.

Consort Xian, as usual, handed each of them a red bean paste pastry. “The rules in the palace are strict. There’s a long time before dinner, so if you get hungry, just secretly eat a few bites of the pastry.”

Two large sedan chairs with sky-blue gauze curtains were parked in front of the Yu Lu Hall.

Consort Xian revealed a satisfied smile and said, “I specifically asked them to bring two large sedan chairs, so you can sit together.”

Xiao Qianxue was so touched that tears welled up in her eyes. “Thank you, Consort! You’re so good!”

Consort Xian: “You’re welcome. You entered the palace together and were both conferred the title of noble lady. This friendship is rare, and you should cherish it in the future.”

Xiao Qianxue nodded repeatedly, listening intently to Consort Xian’s words, wishing she could frame them.

Wei Ying frowned slightly. For some reason, she felt that something was off about Consort Xian.

But she couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong, so she could only reassure herself that with the influence of the plot, Consort Xian’s initial favorability towards the female lead was positive, so it was normal for her to be a bit enthusiastic.

Consort Xian looked up, her smile radiant. “It’s getting late, we should leave. You two go on ahead.”

Xiao Qianxue: “We’ll wait for you to get in first, Consort.”

According to the rules, lower-ranking concubines had to wait for higher-ranking ones to get into their sedan chairs before they could move. However, Consort Xian didn’t care for the rules and said gently, “You two go ahead.”

So Wei Ying and Xiao Qianxue boarded the sedan chair together.

After sitting down, Wei Ying felt something was wrong. She quietly lifted the curtain and saw Consort Xian’s strange smile.

Wei Ying:!!!

There it was again! That familiar big bad wolf-like smile!

Consort Xian nodded at her, the corners of her mouth turned up, and she walked happily towards her own sedan chair. Her steps seemed to have become very light, as if she were dancing.

Wei Ying: …Consort Xian is not right.

Xiao Qianxue and Wei Ying sat in one sedan chair, while Consort Xian sat in the other. They swayed and shook as they headed towards the imperial garden.

On the way, Xiao Qianxue couldn’t resist taking out the red bean pastry and starting to munch on it. “The red bean pastries made by the Consort are so delicious. I’ve never had any like them in Yunzhou.” She sighed, “I always want to ask her for two pastries, but she’d probably think I’m a little piggy.”

Wei Ying’s eyes were filled with loving kindness. “She’ll think you’re a big piggy, because you’re a little piggy right now.”

Xiao Qianxue: “You said I’m a piggy q^q, but you also secretly eat delicious things all the time! So you’re a little piggy too.”

Wei Ying smiled, “I’m not.”

Xiao Qianxue: “Do you believe a pig that says it’s not a pig?”

Wei Ying: “Are you a little piggy?”

Xiao Qianxue: “I’m not.”

Wei Ying’s expression was blank. “See, I believe you.”

Xiao Qianxue was stunned for a moment, and after she realized what had happened, she giggled and started tickling her. The two of them playfully attacked each other in the sedan chair, their clear laughter carrying to the sedan chair in front.

Consort Xian laughed, “Their friendship is so good~”

Granny Zhang: “My Lady, don’t just laugh. You should eat something to fill your stomach. The banquet will make you hungry later.”

There were too many rules in the palace. The banquet was supposed to be a meal together, but there were too many procedures to go through before eating, and too many rules to follow while eating. As a result, every year after the banquet, her lady would rush to the small kitchen to find something to eat.

Later, it became a habit to eat something beforehand to fill her stomach and even prepare a bag in her sleeve to hide some pastries and snacks to secretly munch on when she got hungry.

Consort Xian looked at a drawer full of pastries and realized something. “Hmm, maybe giving them one pastry each was too little?” But then she said to herself, “But the two sisters have such slender waists, they probably can’t eat much anyway. Maybe half a pastry is enough.”

When they arrived at the imperial garden, a lot of people had already gathered.

The sky was getting dark, the twilight was fading, and the sky turned a dark blue. A few sparse stars were faintly visible.

Wei Ying didn’t want to squeeze into the crowd. After secretly giving her red bean pastry to Xiao Qianxue, she slipped away to a deserted pond, leaning against a rockery by the pond, and looked up at the bright moon gradually climbing up the willow branches.

On the other side of the willow tree, someone asked softly, “Why did you sneak out here?”

The voice was light and slow, and deliberately low.

Wei Ying was startled. She crushed a dry leaf in her hand and frantically called out to the system in her mind, “System! Xiao Qianxue is still at the banquet, why is the dog emperor here with me?!”

The Palace Fighting Princess’s voice was joyful, “Because the host has completed the task, causing a slight shift in the female lead’s halo, oh.”

Wei Ying: Is this just a slight shift?!

But no matter how much she was freaking out, she could only pretend to be clueless. Since the emperor wasn’t revealing his identity, she would pretend not to know either. “There are too many people over there, it’s stuffy.”

Yun Shao smiled softly, his fingers rubbing his sleeves. He felt a little numb and a little sour in his heart. When he wore the dragon robe during the day, he would deliberately lower his voice, but… they had already met several times, and she still couldn’t recognize him?

Wei Ying: “Are you a little eunuch in the palace?”

Yun Shao’s body stiffened. Then he heard the girl continue with “innocent” charm, “Little eunuch, shouldn’t you be busy at the banquet? Why did you run over here?”

Wei Ying hid behind the willow tree, secretly stifling a laugh. The dog emperor’s voice was so feminine, it made perfect sense for her to mistake him for a little eunuch!

The dog emperor didn’t blame her. After a moment of silence, he said, “Didn’t you also run here, little palace maid?”

Wei Ying was surprised. The dog emperor didn’t get angry and punish her on the spot?

Didn’t they say he was a tyrant?

She held the card in her hand and looked at the dog emperor who had such a good temper. For once, her conscience got the better of her, and she felt a little bad about using it. So she coughed twice and continued to play dumb. “I’ll go over there in a bit. Oh… it flew away…”

A water bird with sparse feathers, which was originally in the green water among the withered lotus, may have been disturbed by them and fluttered its wings, flying up into the sky.

Wei Ying looked at it with a touch of melancholy. The “Lust at First Sight” card in her hand was completely unusable now.

The emperor watched the ripples spread on the water and said in a low voice, “So you were watching the bird. Have you heard the story of the bird and the fish?”

Wei Ying: “No.”

Yun Shao seemed to remember something, his expression slightly dazed. “There was once a fish in the water that fell in love with a bird in the sky. The bird stayed by the water for it, and they looked at each other from a distance, but could never touch. Later, the bird flew back to the sky and was never found again. The fish was trapped in the water, often looking up… Where do you think that bird went?”

Wei Ying: “It changed its diet.”

Yun Shao was stunned. “What?”

Wei Ying said as a matter of course, “That bird squatted by the water for so long and couldn’t catch the fish, so it changed its diet and flew away to catch some shrimp or crabs to fill its stomach.”

Yun Shao was silent.

After a while, she turned and left, fuming. “A bunch of twisted logic.”

Wei Ying blinked. She was kindly helping the dog emperor solve his confusion, so why was he angry? The dog emperor is just a dog emperor!

Ptooey!

At this time, the banquet was about to begin. She could see the faint lights in the distance, and the sound of music and singing drifted on the night breeze. Wei Ying watched for a while, and after calculating the time, she also prepared to go to the banquet.

But before going to the banquet, she had one last thing to do.

“System, use the modification card I drew last time.”

The modification card could change one character in a task, but it could not be changed to skip the task, for example, “participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet” could not be changed to “do not participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet.”

The Palace Fighting Princess: “Okay, what do you want to change, host?”

Wei Ying: “Change the four characters ‘amaze the entire audience’ to ‘terrify the entire audience.'”

The Palace Fighting Princess was stunned.

The author has something to say:

Wei Ying: Surprise!

Support