AMLFS Chapter 56

Chapter 56: So It Turns Out I’m Not Even Worth As Much As a Servant

Chapter 56: So It Turns Out I’m Not Even Worth As Much As a Servant

Song Huaixi shrank back, drawing into himself.

His straight, slender legs pressed tightly together, knees bent to hug himself.

Pulling the nearby quilt over, Song Huaixi said with flickering eyes, “I… I want to sleep…”

Prince Zhao Fangye of the Ning district, eyeing his slightly reddened cheeks, looked at him with the ointment in his hand.

He knew he was embarrassed.

His heart softened, and he propped himself up on the bed, looking at him gently, “You and I are husband and wife, Huaixi doesn’t need to be shy.”

Hugging the quilt, Song Huaixi bit his lip. After a moment’s thought, he shook his head. The room was so bright, he wasn’t used to it and felt it was strange.

He stammered, “That… that… actually, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Song Huaixi buried his head.

This was the first time he had lied to Zhao Fangye.

Zhao Fangye, of course, knew he was lying, and his eyes showed some helplessness. He hadn’t expected him to be so resistant to applying the ointment. They had already done the most intimate things, yet he resisted this.

Shaking his head, he chuckled speechlessly. He really couldn’t understand his little simpleton’s mind.

“Be good, it will hurt if you don’t apply the ointment.” Zhao Fangye approached him with the ointment, coaxing him softly.

Song Huaixi quickly shrank back, shaking his head like a rattle-drum, his face resolute.

“Alright, since Huaixi doesn’t like it, then we won’t apply it.” Zhao Fangye placed the ointment on the carved small table in front of the bed.

He got up and extinguished the candles in the room, leaving one lamp in front of the bed according to Song Huaixi’s habit.

Getting into bed and opening the brocade quilt, Zhao Fangye patted the space beside him, his voice smiling, “What are you still standing there for? Didn’t you say you were sleepy?”

Seeing that he really wasn’t going to apply the ointment, Song Huaixi relaxed his guard and happily crawled over from the corner of the bed.

He snuggled up to Zhao Fangye and lay down, raised his arm, snuggled into Zhao Fangye’s arms, looking content.

He raised his head and pecked Zhao Fangye on the lips, “Sleepy time.”

Gently patting his back, Zhao Fangye’s voice was lazy, “Okay, sleep.”

Hugging Zhao Fangye, Song Huaixi contentedly rested his head on his chest, slowly closing his eyes.

Half an hour later, in the darkness, Zhao Fangye opened his eyes.

He lowered his eyes, looking at Song Huaixi’s serene sleeping face in the dim candlelight. He stretched his arm out of the bed curtain and picked up the ointment that was just placed on the small table.

He took some with his finger and lifted the brocade quilt.

The floor heating was on in the hall, so lifting the brocade quilt for a short while wouldn’t be a problem.

Zhao Fangye’s movements were meticulous and his expression serious. While applying the ointment, he paid attention to Song Huaixi’s expression.

Seeing that he showed no signs of waking up, he breathed a sigh of relief.

After applying the ointment, Zhao Fangye wiped his fingertips clean with a brocade handkerchief and lay back down, holding Song Huaixi in his arms.

He stroked the top of his head, his eyes full of pity.

A man is different from a woman. If he is not careful, he will inevitably suffer when he is old. Song Huaixi didn’t understand, but he was always mindful.

He had asked someone to prepare the ointment long ago in order to deal with the current situation.

Closing his eyes, Zhao Fangye listened to his long, even breathing and gradually fell asleep.

The night was like water, and soft moonlight sprinkled on the earth.

In a corner of a dimly lit palace, a teenager wearing a brocade robe and with disheveled hair was devouring the light yellow pastries in his hand.

The brocade robe on his body was dirty and tattered, and the strands of hair on his face were tangled together in a mess. Revealing a pair of alert eyes.

Like a food-guarding vicious dog.

A eunuch, about eight or nine years old, squatted in front of him, pushing the pastries in his hand towards him, “Eat slowly, there’s still a lot, don’t worry, no one is going to snatch them from you.”

The little eunuch looked ordinary, but his eyes were dark and bright. His eyes were pure and without a trace of impurity.

Looking at him, his eyes were filled with sympathy.

The little eunuch had just entered the palace this year, learning from the eunuch to run errands to various palaces to deliver things to the concubines.

The boy devouring the pastries in front of him was whom he met when he delivered things to the Empress. The Empress was a very special existence in the palace.

The emperor had not visited Kun Ning Palace for a long time, but the Empress in Kun Ning Palace was not neglected, her food, clothing, housing, and transportation were exactly the same as before.

In theory, if the concubines in the palace did not receive the emperor’s favor, their situation in the palace would be very difficult.

The little eunuch had been in the palace for less than a few months and naturally did not know some of the palace secrets. The Empress usually only asked for paper, pens, scriptures, and Buddhist scrolls.

The eunuch felt that he could not get any benefits from it, so he asked the little eunuch to deliver the meals and items required by Kun Ning Palace.

He met Zhao Jingshuo when he was delivering food to Kun Ning Palace. As he was walking on the road carrying the food box, he was suddenly knocked to the ground by a black shadow thatStopout from the corner of the wall.

The food box in his hand was spilled, and the lotus root powder sugar cakes carefully made by the imperial kitchen fell all over the ground. The little eunuch landed on his butt, feeling as if it was about to split open.

Before he could see who it was, he saw the black shadow quickly rushed to the side, picked up the lotus root powder sugar cakes on the ground and stuffed them into his mouth.

The pastries were mixed with dirt and dust from the ground, but the person did not care at all, mechanically stuffing them into his mouth with a blank expression.

The little eunuch was frightened by his posture, seeing that the robes on his body seemed to have not been washed for a long time. He kindly reminded, “Hey! You, that’s already dirty. Don’t eat it!”

But he didn’t expect that his voice did not dissuade the boy, but attracted the palaceMama.

“What’s all the noise? The Empress is copying the Heart Sutra, who dares to make noise here!”

When the boy heard the sound, he ran away like a gust of wind, leaving the little eunuch at a loss in place.

TheMama came out and saw the food box on the ground and the pastries shattered all over the place. He immediately stepped forward and scolded, “How can you be so useless, you wretched servant!”

It’s rare for the Empress to have an appetite and want to eat lotus root powder sugar cakes, but you knocked them over.

The little eunuch immediately got up and knelt on the ground. Shivering, “This servant… this servant didn’t mean to… this servant… this servant…”

The little eunuch wanted to tell what had just happened, but the pitiful appearance of the person just now appeared in his mind. The words came to his lips, but he swallowed them back down.

“This servant deserves to die!!” The little eunuch was still a child himself, knowing that he had made a mistake, his voice trembling as he knelt on the ground.

TheMama was about to reprimand him when a melodious voice faintly said, “It’s just a spilled pastry, it’s not a big deal. He’s just a child, let him go, I suddenly have no appetite.”

The little eunuch raised his head, and a woman in plain clothes with a beautiful face stood at the door of the hall. She exuded a transcendent and refined temperament. Her face was without powder, but still bright and moving.

The little eunuch had never seen such a beautiful person. None of the concubines in the entire harem were as good-looking as her. Even the most favored Noble Consort Xiao only had eyebrows and eyes that resembled her somewhat, but were far inferior to her.

Stunned for a moment, the little eunuch quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed to thank her, “Thank you Empress for sparing my life! Thank you Empress for sparing my life!”

In a corner invisible to everyone, the boy with dirty clothes clenched the pastry in his hand.

His eyes were red.

He didn’t understand why that woman could easily forgive a little eunuch for a child of the same age.

But she treated her own son with cold eyes, extremely resentful. Wishing that he would die immediately.

So it turns out that I live not even as well as a servant.