Chapter Forty-Two: As If Something Had Been Missed...

Xu Boqing lay on the phoenix couch, watching as the sky outside the window gradually lightened.

Noble Consort Liu, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, lay limp in his arms, gently wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes...

She was not crying from being wronged, but because she felt she’d lived her life in vain for over a decade—reflecting on past hardships, savoring fleeting sweetness, moved beyond control.

Xu Boqing glanced at her pitiful state and nonchalantly tightened his embrace. “Your Grace is quite bold.”

There was still a faint blush on Noble Consort Liu’s cheeks. She snorted softly at his words, a hint of implication in her tone. “If we’re speaking of courage, you little eunuch are no less daring than I.”

“That’s not the same. I have no choice.”

Xu Boqing sighed. “I am all alone. If discovered, I’d simply lose my head. But you, Your Grace, if you were found out, your fate might be even more tragic than mine.”

“And do you think I ever had a choice?”

Noble Consort Liu, perhaps stirred by old memories, asked with bitterness, “As you said, I entered the palace at thirteen—did I have a choice? Sixteen years in the palace, not a single child, the emperor has favored me so few times I can count them on my fingers. I can barely recall what he looks like anymore—saying I’ve been a living widow for sixteen years is not an exaggeration! Did I have a choice?

I remember the faces of the palace matrons and eunuchs better than I recall my own parents. Is that a choice? Life is painfully brief...

I’ve suffered half a lifetime already. Must I cling to the façade of chastity and suffer through the rest as well?”

Xu Boqing fell silent.

That dog of an emperor pursued immortality and left a harem of consorts to live in empty abstinence. It was against human nature. There were countless pitiful souls like Noble Consort Liu in the imperial harem.

“Perhaps you think I’m a shameless wanton,” Noble Consort Liu propped her chin on her hand, gazing at Xu Boqing with a silly, infatuated smile, unconcerned. “But it doesn’t matter anymore. I have tasted the ultimate pleasure of the mortal world...

Whether it’s a length of white silk or a cup of poison after being discovered, even if my whole clan is to be executed, so be it.”

“It seems I was the one overthinking things.”

Xu Boqing had thought Noble Consort Liu had simply come to terms with her situation, but now he saw that she truly had.

“What about the Empress Dowager?”

“She’s in the side chamber.”

Noble Consort Liu seemed lost in thought. She shifted her body, draping herself across Xu Boqing like a kitten, rubbing against him softly...

So it was true that good things never came easily.

Xu Boqing paid her no mind, instead folding his hands behind his head and enjoying the moment. “There’s actually something I still don’t understand.”

“Oh?” Noble Consort Liu’s cheeks were like peach blossoms. Whether out of confusion or something else, she gave a soft hum, then asked, “You don’t understand why I’m here?”

“Yes...”

“It’s nothing much.”

Noble Consort Liu’s eyes were sultry as she pondered, then explained, “I’ve always been on good terms with the Empress Dowager. Normally, no one would stop me from visiting her. But yesterday, when I went to her residence, I was stopped. That was the first clue.

The day before, the Empress Dowager had sent word inviting me and the Empress to view the flowers. Yet, when the time came, she remained in her chambers. The old matron at the gate said she was unwell, but in fact, she looked perfectly fine. That’s the second clue.

When I entered her chambers, I discovered a little trinket you’d left in the corner. And you, as a eunuch, were allowed to attend to the Empress Dowager’s daily life. That’s the third clue.

Later, I tested her by asking if I could have you, but her reaction was odd. So I knew there was more to it than met the eye.

In the afternoon, I feigned exhaustion and rested in her chambers. Taking the chance, I probed a bit, and the Empress Dowager, unable to withstand the questioning, confessed everything about your relationship with her.

She knows my situation and fears I might reveal your secret, so she decided to drag me into it as well.”

“You could have refused, Your Grace...”

“Why would I refuse?”

Xu Boqing saw the beauty before him, breathless and struggling to speak, and was about to lend a hand when suddenly, the doors to the bedchamber were flung open.

“Ah!”

Noble Consort Liu screamed in fright, her entire body going limp.

Xu Boqing felt a sudden warmth on his body. Glancing at the intruder, he kept his face stiff and pretended to sleep.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”

Empress Dowager Chen entered, carrying a tray of freshly washed fruit, clicking her tongue as she passed through the curtains. Seeing Noble Consort Liu burrowing under the covers, she teased in the aggrieved tone of a wronged wife, “You little minx, you really know how to stir up trouble.”

Whether it was lingering pleasure or the shame of being caught, Noble Consort Liu’s pretty face was flushed as she stammered, “Sister, why are you here?”

“Why am I here? If I hadn’t come, were you planning to keep each other company until noon?”

Empress Dowager Chen glanced around the room, her expression unreadable. For a moment, she even wondered if this was still her own bedchamber.

She huffed, her tone tinged with resentment, “You might have said you’d be staying here in Cining Palace, but your matron from Yongning Palace didn’t trust that. She came looking for you, and I had to send her away.”

“Oh, this...”

Noble Consort Liu knew it was only natural for her attendants to worry after her absence for a whole day. She crawled from the phoenix couch, her face crestfallen.

Just then, her legs gave out beneath her. If Empress Dowager Chen hadn’t caught her in time, she would have fallen.

“You reek. And your mouth does too.”

Empress Dowager Chen wrinkled her nose in distaste as she helped her steady herself, then fetched her clothes and, like a nagging old nursemaid, began to help her dress, muttering all the while.

Noble Consort Liu, unable to bear the constant nagging, rolled her peach blossom eyes. Taking advantage of the Empress Dowager’s assistance, she pressed her lips to hers in a quick kiss...

“Hmm?”

Empress Dowager Chen’s phoenix eyes widened in shock as she took two steps back.

“You... you...”

“Sister, weren’t you complaining about the smell? Now we can be smelly together.”

Noble Consort Liu licked her lips triumphantly. As if recalling something, she arched her brow and glanced at the phoenix couch. “If you’re so bothered, why not let me take that smelly man off your hands?”

She put on a delicate, demure act. “Your humble servant is not afraid of any smell and is willing to share your burdens, Empress Dowager.”

“In your dreams.”

Empress Dowager Chen gave her a mock vicious pinch on her shapely behind, prompting a few cries of pain before grumbling, “I’ve already had the bathing water prepared. Go wash up and return to your palace right after.”

At this, Noble Consort Liu pulled a long face, but then, as if struck by a mischievous thought, she said with a laugh, “Then I’ll come visit you again tomorrow.”

“You—”

Before the Empress Dowager could respond, she saw Noble Consort Liu slip out beyond the curtain, leaving behind only a parting shot: “Then the day after tomorrow, since you’ll be unwell tomorrow, sister, I’ll come visit you then.”

Empress Dowager Chen fumed inwardly at the shameless little vixen. Turning, she saw the crafty rascal still feigning sleep on the phoenix couch, and snapped, “She’s gone. Why are you still pretending to sleep?”

Xu Boqing sat up, gazing at her with calm indifference. He asked, “Why did you put Noble Consort Liu in my bed without telling me?”

Empress Dowager Chen was briefly taken aback by his expression, then, raising her delicate neck like a proud swan, she declared, “I brought you a peerless beauty to enjoy. You should be secretly pleased, you little rascal.”

Xu Boqing shook his head. “Answer my question.”

Empress Dowager Chen, for reasons she couldn’t name, felt a twinge of anxiety under his gaze—and a hint of anger. She retorted petulantly, “Do I need to discuss it with you when I bring someone back here?”

“No need...”

Xu Boqing suddenly smiled faintly. “Cining Palace belongs to you, Your Grace. You may bring anyone you wish.”

He was no righteous gentleman, nor was he foolish enough to refuse what was freely offered. But he truly disliked how the Empress Dowager made decisions about him without consulting him, as if scheming over his head.

He disliked it very much...

He had once thought there might be feelings between them, but now he realized that, in others’ eyes, he might just be an object—a mere substitute for someone else.

Empress Dowager Chen stared at his smile, momentarily lost in thought.

For reasons she couldn’t fathom, she felt as if something intangible was slipping away from her—and it hurt.

Awkwardly, she fetched the washed fruit, sidled up to the phoenix couch, and offered him a grape.

“Are you angry, little rascal?”

“I was, a moment ago. Not anymore,” Xu Boqing replied, shaking his head with a smile. “The grapes are very sweet...”