Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“Your Highness, His Majesty has arrived.” Shenglan’s voice came from beyond the door.
At the words *His Majesty*, Fusheng frowned and flicked his fingers.
Shengsheng Zhou knew the gesture well. He was annoyed.
“Tell him to wait outside.”
The flat command sent Shenglan away at once.
Fusheng was probably the only person in the entire Zhu Kingdom who dared leave the reigning emperor standing outside his door.
Of course, Xunlan Liu was happy to indulge him. Perhaps the emperor had used up all his discernment on affairs of state, because his taste in women was truly abysmal. Every woman in his harem either stirred up trouble or threatened the kingdom–and one of them was not even a woman.
No wonder the heroine had no interest in him. Despite being an emperor, he could only serve as an expendable supporting man, one more trophy in the heroine’s eventful life.
[Shengsheng… the villain is looking at you.]
A-Pang’s voice snapped her back to her senses. As a palace maid, she was supposed to help Fusheng change into something suitable for receiving the emperor.
She looked up and met Fusheng’s displeased gaze. His arms were spread, waiting for her to dress him.
“Have you even forgotten your duties?” he mocked. Then, as if struck by sudden inspiration, he added, “I will dock your pay.”
Shengsheng nearly stopped breathing.
Docking a worker’s pay was akin to murdering her parents. Scrubbing chamber pots had not upset her all that much, but her wages were sacred!
At the sight of her stricken face, Fusheng turned around with perfect composure.
His guess had been right. The girl worshiped money.
Perhaps the threat had set a fire beneath her. Shengsheng, normally the slowest dresser in all Qianyi Palace, moved with unprecedented speed, as though someone were chasing her Tail with a torch. Worse, she made not a single mistake. Fusheng, who had hoped to drag matters out, found himself temporarily deprived of an excuse to punish her.
Although he presented himself as a woman, he disliked women’s dresses. Every garment was specially tailored in an androgynous style. His shoulders and arms were always covered, as was most of his throat. He wore neither rouge nor jeweled hairpins, and his waist-length hair was invariably tied high with a ribbon.
From the beginning, Shengsheng had never understood how anyone could mistake such a person for a woman.
The mystery grew even more absurd when Emperor Xunlan Liu stood beside him.
“My beloved consort, have you lost weight these past few days? It pains Us to see you so thin.”
Xunlan held a glistening red cherry between his fingers and gazed upward at Fusheng, who sat beside a low table with his cheek propped on one hand and his eyes half-lidded in boredom. The emperor dared hold the fruit out, but not place it between the lips of the man who had driven him to obsession.
Yes, the key word was *upward*.
*Look, A-Pang. Have you ever seen a Noble Consort in any television drama who was taller and broader than the emperor? Xunlan Liu looks perfectly normal on his own. Next to that ladyboy Fusheng Duan, he looks like an underfed chick.*
Now that her part in the plot was supposedly over, A-Pang could finally accompany her. Heaven knew how many years Shengsheng had spent bottling up her comments about this impossible spectacle.
Fusheng, who had been expressionless and faintly irritated, abruptly coughed. He quickly smothered the laugh rising in his throat.
He forgave Shengsheng for calling him a ladyboy.
He truly did.
“You wretched servant!” Xunlan barked. Unable to do anything but stare at Fusheng from a respectful distance, he fell back on his familiar habit of venting his temper on Shengsheng. “Did you not hear your mistress cough? What sort of service is this?”
“Have mercy, Your Majesty! It was all this servant’s fault!”
With the smooth efficiency of long practice, Shengsheng dropped to her knees and kowtowed.
Her inner voice did not miss a beat.
*Mangy little tyrant. All you do is make me take the blame. You don’t even dare climb into Fusheng Duan’s bed. Wait… don’t tell me you can’t?*
While Xunlan Liu’s attention remained fixed on Fusheng, Shengsheng Zhou continued pleading tearfully and stole a glance at the emperor’s lower body.
Her gaze happened to collide with Fusheng’s perfectly open stare.
Fusheng offered her a polite smile.
Excellent. From the way she trembled whenever she saw the emperor, he had assumed she was terrified of the man. Who would have guessed she was such an accomplished actress?
It would be a crime not to put talent like hers on a stage.
Shengsheng’s pleas broke off. She nearly choked on her own spit.
Xunlan noticed the sudden hitch in her voice as well. He was about to sentence the reckless maid to another beating when Fusheng, who had barely acknowledged him until now, turned his head.
One glimpse of that exquisite, beguiling face, and Xunlan forgot what he had meant to say.
“I understand Your Majesty’s request. I will attend the Spring Banquet.” Fusheng lowered his long lashes. His voice was tender, but his words were anything but courteous. “However, Your Majesty represents the entire Zhu Kingdom. I trust you know which words may be spoken–and which must never leave your mouth.”
Xunlan, for all his customary arrogance, merely stared at him in a daze and nodded like a man bewitched.
The mention of the Spring Banquet jolted Shengsheng.
*A-Pang, if I remember correctly, isn’t the Spring Banquet where the heroine first makes a name for herself and catches the attention of Weiqing Song, one of the male leads–and that ladyboy Fusheng Duan?*
Fusheng went still.
So there was a heroine?
According to Shengsheng, this world truly was nothing more than a storybook with predetermined protagonists.
How laughable. He had clawed and killed his way to survival, yet his entire world was merely a book? The thought that his fate could be decided by the stroke of a stranger’s pen brought murder into his eyes.
The main plot was about to begin, but cannon fodder who should have left the stage was still alive. A-Pang’s little head began to ache over the unprecedented problem.
[This has never happened before. Don’t panic, Shengsheng. I’ll go back and ask my supervisor how we should handle it.]
A-Pang’s supervisor was an administrator responsible for keeping the many book worlds running. He was also the one who had offered Shengsheng, after her long years as a wandering ghost, this opportunity.
“Burn everything.”
The emperor had barely left when Fusheng’s cold, disgusted order cut through the room.
Shengsheng acknowledged him and watched him retreat into the inner chamber. For once, his back seemed to carry a trace of exhaustion.
*Well, there’s a novelty. Even ladyboys get the blues?*
After delivering her customary jab, Shengsheng shrugged and began removing every trace of Xunlan’s visit.
Fusheng’s footsteps halted.
“Have Shenglan do it. You will scrub chamber pots at the Palace Labor Bureau for three months. When you finish, come straight back.”
The punishment had been an idle threat before. Now, Fusheng’s thoughts were in turmoil. He needed time to sort through them, and for the moment, he did not want to see Shengsheng.
She stared after him.
*He’s really making me scrub them?*
No one gave her the chance to protest. The moment she stepped outside, servants escorted her to the Palace Labor Bureau beneath Shenglan’s mocking gaze.
Sometimes Shengsheng truly hated how efficient people were in ancient times.
Still, three months would carry her neatly past the crucial plot events. She could hardly complain about the peace and quiet.
[Shengsheng, I’m back! My supervisor says you’re the only person who can carry the main plot now! As the bug, you have to make sure the main plot stays on course!]
Shengsheng fell silent.
No. At the moment, she hated A-Pang’s efficiency too.