Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Xiao Qibai didn’t know that I didn’t need a deed of sale.
At every new city gate, the young eunuch would stand at the front of the carriage and flash Lu Jin’an’s waist token. The City Defense Army would immediately break into smiles and usher the carriage inside.
No one bothered to inspect me at all.
“What are you thinking about?”
Lu Jin’an’s slender fingers tapped lightly on the table.
I snapped back to reality and lowered my head to grind the ink.
Lately, whenever he needed someone to attend to his calligraphy, he sent for me.
I tried my best to act as though I were illiterate, nearly slipping up several times.
At this moment, Lu Jin’an was staring at me. His eyes were like deep pools-clear, yet bottomless.
I decided to be honest. “I was thinking about how to keep the Imperial Consort from killing me.”
Lu Jin’an chuckled.
He lowered his head and painted an ink lotus on the white Xuan paper.
“The lotus itself is innocent.”
…
When I returned from Lu Jin’an’s room, the other three women were preparing for bed.
Xie Rushu was steady and reserved, a woman of few words.
Li Jiuniang still had the temperament of a child; she didn’t care much about anything except when the next meal was.
Only Zhan Mingyue narrowed her eyes and spat at me in resentment.
I ignored her, which only made her angrier.
“Just what kind of tricks did you use to seduce Lord Lu?”
Her voice was loud. Xie Rushu tried to stop her. “Mingyue, watch your tongue.”
But she wouldn’t be stopped.
“I want to say it! If she’s bold enough to do it, why shouldn’t I be bold enough to speak of it? If you ask me, we should just label her a femme fatale now and send only her into the palace! Why should the rest of us be buried with her?”
At those words, Xie Rushu lowered her eyes.
Li Jiuniang sat to the side, clutching her small hunting knife tightly.
It was the only thing she had brought from home.
She was young, but she wasn’t ignorant. Aside from asking what there was to eat every day, she was also afraid of dying.
She could only grip that hunting knife, even if it was likely useless.
The moonlight filtered in, and a sudden thought struck me.
I crouched down, leaning close to Zhan Mingyue’s face, and asked softly, “So, did you try to seduce Lu Jin’an because you wanted to live?”
Zhan Mingyue’s eyes suddenly turned red.
I understood.
In the capital, any eunuch with a modicum of status had a residence and a family outside the palace.
Lu Jin’an was the head of the powerful eunuchs, once even referred to as the ‘Lord of Nine Thousand Years.’
It was no wonder Zhan Mingyue had entertained such thoughts.
On this long journey, Lu Jin’an was the only person who could offer help.
After a moment of silence, I took a deep breath.
“Lu Jin’an cannot protect you.”
Zhan Mingyue glared at me, refusing to give up. “How do you know?”
She had never suffered at the hands of men.
In all my years in Jiangling, I had seen countless high-ranking officials and noble scions.
Men in high positions never hesitated when forced to choose between power and affection.
Moreover, Lu Jin’an had climbed his way up step by step on his own.
If he were the type to make such foolish mistakes, he never would have reached where he was today.
However, this logic was lost on Zhan Mingyue.
I took a step back. “Even if he were willing to protect you, what then?
“Above the Lord of Nine Thousand Years, there is still the Lord of Ten Thousand Years. Since ancient times, if an Emperor wants to take a subordinate’s woman, it only takes a single word.”
I pulled the hairpin from my hair and handed it to Zhan Mingyue.
I said, “If you truly want to survive, you must realize that the thing most likely to kill you right now is your face.”
I had been thinking about what Lu Jin’an said earlier.
He seemed to have said nothing, but in truth, he had given me the answer.
“The lotus itself is innocent.”
The one with the sin was the Demon Consort.
As long as we were not favored by the Emperor, the Imperial Consort would not drive us to total extinction.
The moonlight was silent.
Xie Rushu had already figured it out.
Her mind was the quickest among us, and she immediately looked at Zhan Mingyue.
“Mingyue, Ah Fei is right.
“To live, we must prove that there is absolutely no possibility of us entering the palace as consorts.”
It was easy to say, but difficult to do.
Prove it? How?
Could a mere oath or a promise dispel the Imperial Consort’s suspicions?
The only way was to burn one’s bridges.
“The rest of us aside, Mingyue, you are in the most danger. Didn’t you hear the servant women? They said you look exactly like the Imperial Consort did when she was young.
“If the Emperor sees you and feels even a moment’s attraction…”
Then it would be a certain death sentence.
Zhan Mingyue’s hand trembled as she held the hairpin.
The sharp tip pressed against her cheek, and she closed her eyes.
A moment later, there was a loud *clang*.
“I won’t do it! I won’t cut it!
“Who knows if you’re just lying to me!”
She threw the hairpin to the ground and ran off, crying.
…
The moonlight was like water.
Zhan Mingyue didn’t come back. From nearby, I could hear the sounds of tossing and turning; Xie Rushu and Li Jiuniang couldn’t sleep either.
The fear of death hung over everyone’s head.
I sighed and got up to find something to eat.
As I walked out of the courtyard, I bumped into a figure standing in the moonlight.
It was Lu Jin’an.
Not knowing how to react, I gave a quick bow and tried to hurry away.
Behind me, he spoke with a faint, knowing smile. “You certainly seem to understand me.”
He seemed to have been standing there for a long time.
Everything I had said about him in the room had been overheard.
Lu Jin’an walked up behind me and asked in a low voice, “How do you know I can’t save you?”