I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 29

Princess consort Shu, still fuming from her failed plot, looked at her good-for-nothing sister and fanned herself furiously. Even from a distance, Gong Beinu felt a chill and shivered, cautiously asking, “Sister, are you hot?”

Fanning oneself in the autumn chill could only mean she was burning up with rage.

Princess consort Shu glared at her. “I’m not hot, I’m agitated!”

Gong Beinu responded, “Let’s get agitated!”

“Get agitated you…,” Princess consort Shu caught herself, remembering her status and holding back a vulgarity she’d heard on the streets. She sighed ruefully, comforting herself with, “Never mind, she’s my own sister.”

What could she do? She’d just have to cry and forgive her.

Oblivious to her sister’s sorrow, the young girl tilted her head and said with a haughty air, “But Sister, Duan Weiying and Xiao Qianxue are just too much!”

Princess consort Shu touched the swollen red bump on her cheek and gave her a nonchalant glance.

Gong Beinu slammed the table. “We should teach them a lesson!”

Princess consort Shu retorted, “Have you forgotten? We went to the Jade Dew Palace precisely to teach them a lesson.”

Gong Beinu looked as if she was waking from a dream. “Oh, right.”

Princess consort Shu was on the verge of a heart attack. “But you were bribed by a box of scented powder. Do you lack that scented powder?”

Gong Beinu nervously poked her fingers together, then said, “But Sister, you didn’t tell me the powder was poisoned. You should have told me about these things first.”

Could it be that her sister saw the treacherous palace as a huge vat of dye and didn’t want to stain her? So, she chose to commit evil deeds and stain only her own hands.

Tears welled up in Gong Beinu’s eyes. “Sister, I get it!”

Princess consort Shu held her teacup, blew on it, and took a small sip of the hot tea. “What do you get?”

Gong Beinu’s face lit up. “You want me to be an untouched, pure lotus flower, a beautiful white lotus!”

“Pfft—” Princess consort Shu spat out her tea and, after a long pause, managed to say, “You…you really have quite the imagination.”

Gong Beinu blinked. “Huh?”

Princess consort Shu added, “I just thought, with your brain, you probably couldn’t pull off any schemes.”

Gong Beinu’s face crumpled, her lips pursed into a pout of wounded innocence. Then, she heard Princess consort Shu’s tone change. “However, today proved that I have misunderstood you all along.”

She looked up with hopeful eyes at Princess consort Shu. “Exactly, exactly, I’m not that stupid.”

Princess consort Shu slowly wiped the tea from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief. “I was wrong. I shouldn’t have thought you had a brain.”

Gong Beinu burst into tears.

Princess consort Shu: Unstoppable. [Expressionless]

But bickering with her sister was one thing; seriously plotting palace schemes was another. When they heard the news that the Emperor had summoned Weiying for a second time that night, the two sisters couldn’t sit still. They went together to the Empress Dowager’s Palace of Benevolence and Peace and took the opportunity to harshly criticize Dong E.

The Empress Dowager still didn’t say anything bad about Dong E, but her expression was not pleased.

The autumn winds in the Jade Dew Palace were still boisterous.

Lula held her chest dramatically. “Ahhh!”

Hongzhu barked excitedly. “Woof woof!”

Lula asked, “I’m excited because my mistress is favored again. Why are you woofing?”

Hongzhu laughed, revealing shallow dimples on her cheeks. “Heh, what’s the difference between your mistress and mine? They’re practically the same person.”

Lula nodded. “That’s true.”

After all, when the Emperor’s summons for Weiying arrived, the person it was meant for looked gloomy, while Xiao Qianxue was so happy she bounced around the room.

“Yingying, let’s change your clothes this time. The Imperial Wardrobe sent a batch of new clothes, and I saw a light blue one that would suit you perfectly!” Xiao Qianxue was in high spirits, dressing Weiying and adorning her hair with jade and pearl hairpins, more eagerly than she would her own.

Weiying tried to resist, but after a couple of struggles, Xiao Qianxue held her shoulders and pressed her back down onto the stool.

Xiao Qianxue said, “Be good, don’t move.”

Weiying pleaded, “Qianxue, just forget it.”

Xiao Qianxue was righteous. “No way. I want you to win the Emperor’s favor all to yourself!”

Weiying: …

Xiao Qianxue continued, “The Emperor must like you. That night, he held your hand tightly and pulled you close. And when he came back, the Emperor’s clothes were half soaked, but you were completely dry. Did the Emperor hold an umbrella for you?”

Weiying nervously touched the corner of her mouth.

She never thought that the seemingly clumsy Xiao Qianxue was so observant.

Xiao Qianxue opened the jewelry box, picking through a variety of hairpins, and finally chose a sapphire blue orchid hairpin, which she placed in the young girl’s hair bun. Standing behind Weiying, she looked at their blurry reflections in the bronze mirror and couldn’t help but sigh.

Weiying said, “Do you want to go? Then you should go!”

She hadn’t finished opening the last blind box and missed her lucky charm!

The Palace Scheme System: …You only think of her when there’s a blind box to open! This woman is too much, heartless after using her card, a total player.

Weiying: Shhh, I’m just a heartless blind box opening machine.

Xiao Qianxue pursed her lips. “I just suddenly feel sad, as if things weren’t supposed to be this way.”

Weiying was immediately on alert, suspecting that the female lead was being influenced by the plot, starting to notice something was wrong, or perhaps developing feelings for the Emperor, which was making her feel lost.

Then she heard Xiao Qianxue sigh wistfully.

“Why is it? I was here first, and now Yingying has a Noble Consort and the Emperor. Will we drift apart? Or will we become enemies?”

“Wait,” Weiying interrupted. “Where are all these crazy thoughts coming from?”

Xiao Qianxue straightened up and combed her hair. “Oh, Consort Xian gave me a novel.”

Weiying said, “Such a distraction. Don’t read those novels!”

Xiao Qianxue nodded. “Okay.”

“Read more medical books instead, to prepare for our side business in the Cold Palace.”

“Yay! Cold Palace, Cold Palace, let’s get it started!”

The Palace Scheme System: …What the heck? They seem to be seriously planning their side business!

Before she got into the sedan chair to go to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Consort Xian came out of her palace, as usual, and prepared a basket of pastries for Weiying, not forgetting to instruct her, “Remember to share some with His Majesty~”

Xiao Qianxue waved. “Yingying, don’t overdo it.”

Weiying rubbed her wrist. “It’s fine, it’s not tiring, but it’s a bit rough on the hands.”

As soon as she said that, she saw the two little palace maids next to her quickly cover their faces, their ears turning red.

Weiying: ???

What weird things were they imagining? And why weren’t they blushing the last time Consort Xian and the others said suggestive things?

Then she saw that Consort Xian and Xiao Qianxue’s faces also had a strange blush.

Consort Xian said softly, “My dear sister, you don’t have to be so specific~”

Weiying said, “Huh?”

Before getting into the sedan chair, she grabbed the giggling Xiao Qianxue. “What’s going on? What’s this secret code? My hands are tired from grinding ink; they don’t know that, but you do. Why are you blushing?”

Xiao Qianxue said, “Well, Consort Xian gave me a novel to read, and it was…”

Her face was beet red, and she secretly pulled a scroll out of her sleeve, stuffing it into Weiying’s hand. “Read it yourself in the sedan chair!”

Weiying said, “You carry it with you?”

Xiao Qianxue ran away with her face in her hands.

The distance from the Jade Dew Palace to the Hall of Mental Cultivation was not long or short. Weiying sat in the swaying sedan chair, lifted the curtain, and in the sunlight, she clearly saw the large characters printed on the small blue booklet: Tales of Love and Intrigue in the Harem.

What was this?

She spent a few minutes reading a few pages, and then her gaze uncontrollably fell on her own hands. After a moment of stillness, she spread her fingers out toward the setting sun outside the sedan chair. Looking at her long, fair fingers, the last rays of sunlight filtered through them and cast a faint blush on her pale cheeks.

After looking for a while, she put her hands to her face, with the same expression as Xiao Qianxue, and took a deep breath. “Hiss—”

The Palace Scheme System asked worriedly, “Host, are you okay?”

Weiying hugged Tales of Love and Intrigue in the Harem to her chest. “I’m fine~”

The Palace Scheme System: “But you don’t seem right. The system just detected that your heart is beating very fast.”

The sedan chair was silent.

The Palace Scheme System: “Host?”

Weiying: “…I’m just proud.”

The Palace Scheme System: ???

By the time they arrived at the Hall of Mental Cultivation, it wasn’t dark yet. In the faint light, she saw the Emperor sitting upright at his desk.

Weiying walked over and dutifully curtsied.

The Emperor didn’t even lift his head. He was focused on his memorials and said indifferently, “Rise. Help me grind the ink.”

Weiying walked up to the inkstone, her face once again a strange red. She placed one hand on the inkstone and used the other to hold the ink stick, slowly grinding the ink.

She was very close to the Emperor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the Emperor’s body was tense. He held his vermilion brush and was very seriously reading the memorial.

Grinding the ink was too boring, so she relied on recalling the exciting scenes from the novel to pass the time. Before long, she yawned out of boredom.

The Emperor’s brush paused slightly, leaving a bright red dot on the memorial. “Are you tired?”

Weiying subconsciously replied, “My hands are a little sore.”

The Emperor gave a soft chuckle, his tone unusually gentle. “Then you can go rest on the side.”

After being corrupted by the novel, Weiying’s mind was full of spicy thoughts. She suddenly felt that the Emperor’s words were very subtle, as if he was saying, “You can’t do it,” looking down on her.

A real woman can’t be told she can’t!

She proudly puffed out her chest. “I can keep going! I can last for a long time.”

The Emperor turned his head to look. The girl was wearing a light blue gauze dress today, with a delicate orchid hairpin swaying in her hair. At first glance, she looked like a light and ethereal dream. His heart skipped a beat, and he tensed up again, thinking sweetly: Yingying is willing to stay by my side to grind ink even when she’s tired.

Maybe, just maybe, she cared about him a little bit?

The image of a wise ruler she had of him that night… did it matter just a little?

The Emperor happened to have a memorial from a censor in his hand. He pondered for a long time how to start a conversation, finally lowering his eyes to the memorial and saying, “That night… I told the guards to be lenient when they hit people. They wouldn’t kill them.”

He wasn’t that violent and scary.

Weiying was stunned. “Huh?”

The Emperor continued, “During the time those injured officials were recovering, I also had imperial physicians go to see them.”

He wasn’t as heartless as those censors had accused him of being.

Weiying thought of the cards she had used and her heart ached. She said earnestly, “Your Majesty, you are too soft-hearted! Will hitting them make them remember their lesson? No, you should make them pay!”

The Emperor was stunned. “Huh?”

Weiying’s eyes darted around. “Just have the imperial physicians charge for their house calls. Every day they don’t attend court, send a physician to them and charge one hundred silver taels each time. Isn’t that reasonable?”

The Emperor was silent for a long time before finally saying, “…Yingying, never mind, never mind.”

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