Feng Tianlan replied with a soft ‘uh-huh.’ When she remembered what she promised He Lian last night, she said, “Things happened so suddenly last night that I didn’t even have the chance to send He Lian off. Did you meet him?”
“No. I didn’t meet him.” Xi Lin looked around. Her hands were tightly clenched under the blanket while her pale face started blushing suspiciously.
When Feng Tianlan saw her in this state, she couldn’t help but tease her. “Did you lie to me saying that you were asleep last night because you went to meet He Lian?”
“No, it’s not like that. Don’t make a wild guess.” Xi Lin raised her head and stared at Feng Tianlan as if she was angry and embarrassed after being exposed.
When Feng Tianlan saw Xi Lin behaving this way, she stopped teasing her and stopped saying how good He Lian was. This was because He Lian was an emperor. He would definitely have countless concubines in his imperial harem. If Xi Lin were to get married to him, even if she were to become the Empress, her life would still be very tough.
One would only feel blissful getting married to an emperor if he eradicated the imperial harem system and kept only one wife by his side. Otherwise, how could one even feel happy?
The two of them then talked for a while longer. After making sure that Xi Lin was just catching a cold, Feng Tianlan finally got up and left.
Xi Lin was rather absentminded as she watched Feng Tianlan’s figure slowly disappearing before her eyes. She then opened her shirt slightly after a while and looked downwards at her snow-white skin that was covered with hickeys. She could remember how intense it was last night at the West Partial Palace.
She couldn’t help but touch her tender, white neck that was initially filled with hickeys. She had removed them with some ointment. However, she couldn’t bear to remove the hickeys on her body that could be covered with her clothes.
She then applied another type of ointment on the obvious hickey on her left breast so that they would be there for the rest of her life. That was the only memory she had with He Lian; the only sexual memory. To her, this was extremely precious. She could feel blissful for the rest of her life just by thinking about this memory!
That was enough. It really was enough. She was contented!
…
Feng Tianlan was sitting in Jialan Hall. She was looking at the weird talismans that were all over the place. She then raised her head and looked at the roof that was made out of a special material that allowed her to see the outside world through it. It was just like an open roof. She was thinking about how pretty the scenery would be if she could see the sky full of stars when she looked up at night.
She paced towards the painting that was hanging on the wall then raised her head and looked at it. The woman in the painting was standing under the moonlight and looking up at the crescent moon with her red dress pooling on the floor. Although she could only see her side profile, she found that woman rather familiar.
Around the woman’s feet were red spider lilies that looked enchanting, evil, and bloodthirsty. They really set off the woman from the painting. One couldn’t help but feel touched by the image.
Besides, she could actually feel the sorrow of the woman from the painting. Even if all she could see was the side profile or the corner of the woman’s eye, she could really feel it. She also felt a suffocating pain in her heart, as if she was the person in the painting, causing it to become hard for her to breathe.
“Since Miss could relate so much to the painting, I would like to give this painting to Miss,” a voice said.
When Feng Tianlan heard that rather illusory voice, she withdrew from her thoughts. The suffocating pain disappeared immediately. When she raised her head and looked towards the source of that voice, she saw a very handsome man whose white clothes made him look as if he was in the clouds. However, such a handsome young man was actually giving off a sage-like vibe.
The man in front of her was the only person other than Mobai who could wear white like a celestial being. Besides, from her memory, there were only a few old men who gave off this sage-like aura.
“Thank you for that, State Preceptor.” Feng Tianlan looked away. She couldn’t help but accept his offer when she looked up at the painting that she related to so much.