On The Self-Cultivation Of A Favored Concubine - Chapter 23

The Chenxin Palace was built on high ground, with a staircase of twelve stone steps leading up to it. Trees were lush and green on both sides. To the left was the Noble Consort’s Palace, and to the right was the Imperial Kitchen. Further down were the six palace quarters. The high location allowed for a view of the entire imperial inner court, giving it a geographical advantage.

Of course, there was another palace above the Chenxin Palace the Emperor’s residence.

Xie Xuanzhao was squatting by the long corridor, trimming the leaves of a trident maple hugging a rock.

Today, she wore a large, bright crimson court dress embroidered with woven gold phoenixes and flowers. In the vast imperial harem, she was the only one who could pull off such a brilliant and striking color. She held small scissors, and as she squatted, her court dress spread out, draping on the ground.

Liu Qinglan scrambled out of the bushes and saw her right in front.

The silk tree in the Qinglan Palace had grown extremely tall, its branches reaching over the high wall and extending onto the sandalwood red railing of the Chenxin Palace corridor.

Liu Qinglan lay on the branch. If she stretched out her hand, she could touch the neatly arranged wooden railings.

She looked at the beautiful Empress in front of her, smiling. She felt that the way the Empress was squatting beside the flowers and leaves, surrounded by her sprawling dress, truly made her a beauty in a painting, with rich, deep colors, like a mountain forest in autumn, red like a raging fire.

Excited, Liu Qinglan let out a few “meows” at her. Realizing her mistake, she cleared her throat and switched to human speech: “Hi, hello there~”

Xie Xuanzhao looked up, seeing the little beauty who had suddenly appeared. Her phoenix eyes widened for a rare moment.

She quickly regained her composure, lifted her skirt, stood up, and walked over to the railing. “How did you get here?”

Liu Qinglan tilted her head and said matter-of-factly, “I climbed up.”

Xie Xuanzhao looked down from the corridor. Goodness! It was a massive silk tree, and she had managed to climb it from bottom to top. Even she, a general’s daughter, was not that good at climbing trees when she was little.

“You climbed up by yourself?” Xie Xuanzhao still couldn’t quite believe it, sizing up Liu Qinglan’s petite frame.

Liu Qinglan hugged the branch and slightly puffed out her chest. “Of course! If Empress Sister doesn’t believe me, I can climb it again for you to see.”

“No…” need. Xie Xuanzhao reached out, trying to stop her, but Liu Qinglan had already slid down like a little loach.

Xie Xuanzhao could only put her hand to her forehead in exasperation. You silly girl, there are stone steps at the main entrance, why did you have to climb the wall…

Liu Qinglan was determined to prove herself and not disgrace the Feifei (a mythical creature, her original form). After sliding to the bottom of the tree, she used all four limbs and quickly climbed up again.

Xie Xuanzhao leaned on the railing, watching her agile movements with a mix of worry and delight. Why is she so adorable even when climbing? She looks just like a kitten climbing a tree.

Liu Qinglan suddenly popped her head up from beneath the branches, looking at Xie Xuanzhao with a cheerful smile. “See, am I not very impressive?”

The Feifei’s best trick is: climbing trees!

Xie Xuanzhao was both amused and exasperated. She wanted to scold her for being so reckless with her safety and image, but seeing Liu Qinglan’s bright, sparkling eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to voice a reprimand. She could only humor her, “Yes, yes, yes, you’re super impressive, even more impressive than Snowball.”

A little person in Liu Qinglan’s heart instantly put her hands on her hips and roared with laughter toward the sky. Finally, I’m better than that scheming cat!

While roaring with laughter internally, Liu Qinglan put a foot over the railing and stepped into the long corridor of Chenxin Palace.

She looked back and a thought suddenly popped into her mind: It’s going to be super convenient to get to Chenxin Palace in the future!

Xie Xuanzhao watched her lively movements around her, her eyes constantly filled with endless, overflowing smiles.

After the climb, Liu Qinglan’s hairdo was messy, with a few strands of hair loose. Her court dress, which she had rolled up her sleeves on, had become loose. There were a few streaks of dirt on her fair face, and a few sparkling beads of sweat glistened on her perky little nose.

Xie Xuanzhao took her hand, just like one would treat a child who had run home dirty after playing outside. “Look at you, you’ve turned into a little calico cat. I’ll take you to the waterside pavilion to wash your face.”

Liu Qinglan now understood that humans would also call their own kind “cats” a little lazy cat, a little greedy cat, and now, a little calico cat. So, she wasn’t scared at all. She even meowed a few more times at Xie Xuanzhao and obediently followed her, holding her hand. In reality, she was crazily rubbing against the spiritual energy on Xie Xuanzhao’s body.

Xie Xuanzhao was delighted by her clinginess and the way she called out to her. Her phoenix eyes shimmered with light, becoming even more deep and captivating.

As Her Ladyship the Empress and the newly appointed Noble Consort went hand-in-hand like close sisters toward the waterside pavilion, Yan Mo stood by the curtain, shuddering.

These two are too close, too intimate!

Yan Mo knew Her Ladyship the Empress definitely would not want to be disturbed at this time. Since it was quiet everywhere and there was no work to be done, she decided to go look for her sister.

The other day, Tao Xi had shown a scared expression and mentioned seeing her sneakily take charcoal from the kitchen, and also asked if her injury was healed. All these signs indicated that her sister had been to the Imperial Kitchen, and she might really be injured.

Yan Mo entered the secret room, deliberately treading lightly, wanting to see what her sister was doing inside.

The stone table where her sister usually sat to practice her martial arts was empty. Yan Mo quietly walked around the stone table and saw a figure squatting in the corner.

Her sister was squatting in the corner of the secret room, and her back looked particularly… Yan Mo frowned. Why is she hiding there so furtively?

Her sister was holding a small shovel in her hand, digging a small hole in the earth. She gazed at the leftover water caltrop shells in her hand, her internal monologue extremely rich and active, muttering to herself: Oh, water caltrop shells, water caltrop shells, it’s not that I’m heartless to bury you in this place where you’ll never see the light of day, destroying the evidence. It’s just that I, being despicable and servile, obtained you through dishonorable means. I must not let those few swans see you, especially my sister. If she saw you lying in my nest, it would be self-incriminating. Wouldn’t the fact that I stole you be exposed, and the truth come out? But you truly are delectable, making my mouth water. I took you out of an irresistible impulse, a profound feeling. My sin, my sin, Amitabha.

Yan Mo stood behind her, her temple throbbing. She rubbed her forehead weakly. Sister, you’re misusing idioms again!

She felt she couldn’t listen any longer. She wanted to speak but chose to leave quietly in the end. Her sister seemed to be full of energy and even had the mind to misuse idioms, so it was likely she was fine.

Yan Mo waited outside for a while, estimating that her sister had finished “destroying the evidence” of the water caltrop shells, then she stepped back inside.

Her sister was now sitting in meditation at the stone table, her clean, indifferent face very solemn.

“Cough, cough.” Yan Mo saw her in this posture, then thought of how she was just now sneakily squatting in the corner, chattering away. She felt a strong sense of incongruity and couldn’t help but want to laugh. She could only use a cough to hide it.

Her sister opened her eyes, already calm and composed. “Do you have a cold?”

“Probably because I was feeding the swans against the wind yesterday, so I caught a bit of a cold.” Yan Mo smiled gently and affectionately, sitting down at the edge of the stone table.

Her sister’s back stiffened. She quietly lowered her eyes and glanced at the corner of her stone table that had been occupied. She didn’t say anything, indifferently looked away, and closed her eyes again.

“If there’s nothing else, you can leave first.”

“Did you get injured when you went to investigate Concubine Yu Cai a few days ago?” Yan Mo decided not to beat around the bush and asked directly, “Is that why you’ve been in a bad mood these past few days?”

“I’m fine, not injured.”

Yan Mo pulled a piece of bark from her sleeve. “Then what is this?”

Her sister opened her eyes and saw her own scrawled handwriting on it. For a moment, she wanted to die.

“That’s not mine,” her sister said, maintaining her aloof and proud image without cracking.

Yan Mo cleared her throat and began to read the contents aloud with great emotion: Dearest Older Sister, life is fleeting like a colt passing through a gap (Yan Mo paused because there was a misspelling here) and is as vulnerable as a morning dewdrop…

The piece of bark was too small, and the writing became smaller and smaller toward the end. Yan Mo had to lean in to carefully decipher it.

Her sister’s expression began to crumble bit by bit, and then she used immense willpower to recompose her cold and arrogant expression.

“Haha, which fool wrote this? So dramatic.” Her sister mercilessly chastised herself.

Yan Mo carefully put away the bark and smiled gently. “I found it in someone’s sleeve while I was washing clothes.”

“…Is that so?” With the speed of lightning, her sister snatched the bark back from Yan Mo’s embrace, and then, with the fastest speed, took out a fire starter and directly burned the “will” she had written in a moment of feverish panic.

She now knew she wouldn’t die because she had used her sister’s identity to have the medical maid check her, and she was fine. Also, the black smoke was gradually disappearing. Later, she thought about it and realized it might be the effect of her decades of internal energy cultivation. Knowing that she was fine and had simply overthought things, her sister started worrying about the bark “will” that she didn’t know where she had put.

It turned out it was left in the sleeve of the clothes she had changed out of, and Yan Mo had discovered it when she took them to be washed.

Her sister threw the piece of bark, which was only a corner left burning, onto the ground. As it completely turned to ash, she had already repositioned her posture, pretending that nothing had happened.

“That was your hallucination,” her sister said coldly.

Yan Mo: …