I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 33

In a moment of surprise, Wei Ying’s longsword trembled in her hand, its light shimmering.

“The Empress Dowager’s birthday is coming soon?” she asked, sheathing her sword. “Already?”

The Noble Consort smiled, “Yes, every year after the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone begins preparing for the Empress Dowager’s birthday. What are you preparing?”

Wei Ying touched the corner of her mouth, her expression slightly guilty.

The Noble Consort continued, “Didn’t the Emperor ask you to perform a musical instrument again last time? Hurry and tell me, what is it?”

Wei Ying thought for a moment, then said with a serious face, “It’s a dream of my youth!”

The Noble Consort didn’t understand, but she felt it was very impressive. She patted Wei Ying’s shoulder, tossed her sword aside, and pulled her along back to Baoyun Palace.

“Aren’t we practicing anymore?” Wei Ying picked up the sword from the ground and put it back on the weapon rack along with her own.

Usually, when the Noble Consort was in the mood, she would drag Wei Ying along for a practice session all afternoon. Ending so early today, Wei Ying felt a little unaccustomed to it.

The Noble Consort held her arm and smiled, “No more. If we keep practicing, you’ll be able to beat me, and what face would I have then? Let’s go, we’re going to the hot springs.”

The two of them sat in the hot spring, their arms resting on the white jade platform, their eyes half-closed from the warm steam.

“Yingying, do you know? My father and brother are coming back soon!” The Noble Consort’s face lit up with excitement. “After several great victories, they’ve beaten back the Northern tribes so much that they don’t dare to invade again and want to negotiate peace with us.”

Wei Ying already knew about this and smiled slightly, thinking of Xiao Qianxue.

The power of the plot is incredibly resilient, especially in matters related to the female protagonist.

Even though the Emperor doesn’t have any mundane desires for Xiao Qianxue at the moment, everyone outside is spreading rumors that the two honored ladies in Yulu Palace are in great favor and spend every night singing and dancing, which is not too different from the original plot. Similarly, the Noble Consort, as an early-stage boss, for some unknown reason, still dislikes the female protagonist.

A while ago, thanks to Wei Ying’s efforts, the Noble Consort finally opened up the small horse farm to Xiao Qianxue. But in the last few days, her attitude suddenly changed, and she once again barred Xiao Qianxue from entering, so even the magnificent horse, Little Pear Flower, couldn’t shake her decision.

Wei Ying felt that she had to work for her friend’s happiness, or at least figure out why the Noble Consort had started to dislike Qianxue again. She needed to find the reason and then prescribe the right medicine.

She blinked and said with a smile, “I heard that before you entered the palace, my lady, you also went to battle with General Pei to fight the Northern tribes, riding your horse with a sword, looking so heroic and magnificent! Just thinking about it is impressive!”

Upon hearing this, the Noble Consort’s expression immediately became proud, and she looked at Wei Ying with increasing fondness.

Since entering the palace, she had never heard such a wonderful compliment.

She didn’t like it when people praised her beauty. After all, it was such an obvious fact, why keep repeating it? Anyone with eyes could see it. She wanted to hear people praise her accomplishments before entering the palace, but everyone was very hesitant to talk about that.

It was as if for a woman, not staying at home and showing her face outside was some kind of terrible sin; as if for someone like her, who was brave and proud and came from the battlefield, being able to marry into the imperial family was some sort of great honor.

The Noble Consort inwardly scoffed, but she couldn’t help smiling at Wei Ying, feeling that this person was good in every way, and even her compliments were so pleasant that they made her feel as dizzy and euphoric as if she had drunk several pounds of strong liquor.

Wei Ying continued, “The people of Yunzhou must be very grateful to my lady, right?”

The Noble Consort proudly puffed out her chest. “Of course. Once when I was a child, the Northern tribes were at the foot of Yunzhou City. It was thanks to my father leading his troops to arrive and repel them! That was the first time I followed my father out,” her cheeks flushed a light red, and her tone suddenly became very shy, “Someone even gave me flowers.”

Wei Ying said, “Wow, my lady, do you know? There’s a concubine in the palace who is also from Yunzhou.”

The Noble Consort quickly asked, “Who is it?”

Wei Ying saw her chance and quickly said, “It’s Qianxue.”

The Noble Consort’s eyes widened in surprise, then after three seconds, her expression changed rapidly, and her tone became cold. “Oh.” She picked up a floating petal from the water and frowned. She then got out of the hot spring, her tall and fair body wrapped in a water-soaked outer robe, and looked down at Wei Ying. “Did you praise me for her sake?”

Wei Ying quietly backed away until she hit the cold wall of the pool. “My lady?”

The atmosphere suddenly became dangerous!

The Noble Consort said, “I hate this. I thought you were sincerely praising me and thought I did a great job before!”

Wei Ying nodded, “I am sincere, truly sincere, more sincere than a pearl.”

The Noble Consort scoffed, “Heh, liar, you obviously got close to me for her sake, didn’t you?”

Wei Ying said, “I didn’t, I don’t, who told you that?”

The Noble Consort gave her a cold glance and neatly tied her belt. “I have books as proof!”

A cup of tea later, Wei Ying sat on the Noble Consort’s couch, holding a storybook with a very complicated expression.

The storybook was about anecdotes from the harem of an unknown dynasty, but that wasn’t the point. The point was the name of the book…

“《A Thousand Songs of Sorrow》?” She frowned. “System, am I really the only task-doer in this world?”

The Harem Survival System replied, “Of course, you are. You are the light, you are the electricity, you are the only myth. I guarantee it with my personality!”

Wei Ying mercilessly exposed it, “You don’t have a personality.”

The Harem Survival System whimpered.

The Noble Consort had already left in a huff, leaving only a few storybooks for her. It was said that these books had recently appeared and were very popular among the public. Because they were so highly praised, the bookstores kept reprinting them, and the price of paper in the capital had risen quite a bit.

Wei Ying flipped through 《A Thousand Songs of Sorrow》 and roughly understood the story. It was about a pair of childhood sweethearts, except one was the daughter of a high-ranking official and was sent to the deep palace very early, while the other came from a humble background and only entered the palace later as a concubine.

Then came the familiar plot of childhood sweetheart turning into a “newcomer.” This trope has been overused in later generations, but at the time, it could be considered groundbreaking, so it was no wonder it made paper expensive in the capital.

Wei Ying was starting to get interested in the author of these books, “Yinianpeng,” and wanted to have an in-depth conversation with them.

For example, why the female protagonist in 《A Thousand Songs of Sorrow》 was named Qianxue, and the other person was named Que.

She remembered that her Noble Consort’s name was Pei Que, and this must be some kind of hint.

So who wrote these books?

Wei Ying opened a few other storybooks. One was called 《A Glimmer in the Palace》, and another was called 《New Snow Buries the Songbird》. These were tragic romance stories. The “Que” and “Xue” inside were the same two people from 《A Thousand Songs of Sorrow》, and the “Ying” was…

A frail, beautiful, and sickly Duan Xiaoying, who entered the palace at the same time as Qianxue.

Wei Ying: …

She took a deep breath and asked, “System, can I use 100 points to exchange for the real name of ‘Yinianpeng’?”

The Harem Survival System was very tempted, but then it refused her. “What do you want to do if you find out?”

Wei Ying: “Assassinate them in the dark!”

The Harem Survival System: …

But after thinking about it, she felt something was unclear. If the Noble Consort hated being written about in storybooks and having a romantic pairing, why did she not exclude Wei Ying, who was written about at the same time as Xiao Qianxue, but dislike Xiao Qianxue so much?

The Harem Survival System: Host, you have overlooked a blind spot.

Wei Ying was very receptive and humbly asked, “Good System, please tell me why?”

The Harem Survival System, hurt by being “humbly asked,” bit its non-existent little handkerchief and said, “Because in 《A Thousand Songs of Sorrow》, ‘Qian’ is before ‘Que,’ and in the other two books, whether it’s 《A Glimmer in the Palace》 or 《New Snow Buries the Songbird》, ‘Ying’ is at the end.”

The Harem Survival System became more and more excited as it spoke, its tone rising with a happy little ending, “Admit it, you’re the eternal bottom~”

Wei Ying slumped on the bed, clutching her chest. “Even you are starting to bully me. It hurts here.”

The Harem Survival System let out a wild chicken-like cackle. “Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.”

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