Chapter 332: Chapter 332: Suffering Wife vs. Homewrecker (18) Chapter 332: Chapter 332: Suffering Wife vs. Homewrecker (18) Gu Shengyin was gently awakened by a palace maiden.
After all, as the daughter of an official, it would damage her reputation if word got out that she had stayed overnight in the palace due to drunkenness.
After drinking a bowl of sobering soup, Gu Shengyin finally sobered up. In a daze, she remembered being embraced by someone who smelled of lotus fragrance. Could it be that Emperor Xiande had brought her back?
She tentatively asked the female official beside her, “I cannot hold my liquor and I do not know which sister brought me here. I should properly thank her.”
The female official smiled and bowed, “This is but the duty I ought to perform, Miss Liang is too polite.”
She had seen how the Emperor treated Miss Liang, carefully and as if she were a treasure, so naturally, she was very polite to Gu Shengyin. However, the Emperor had instructed that the matters from earlier were not to be disclosed, so the credit was attributed to her.
Gu Shengyin felt a surge of disappointment within her heart, but showed no signs of it. She thanked him gracefully, checked her clothes to see that they were fine, and then followed the female official back to the main hall where the banquet was held.
The palace banquet was just about to end. Seeing her granddaughter, the Grand Princess Ronghua couldn’t help but scold, “Where did you go just now? If you hadn’t come back, I would have had to send someone to look for you.”
Gu Shengyin hooked her grandmother’s arm, smiling cheekily, “Your granddaughter indulged in a bit too much drink and got a bit tipsy, so I went outside to catch some fresh air and sober up.”
The Grand Princess knew her granddaughter could not hold her liquor. Seeing that there was nothing amiss, she let go of her worries.
After the palace banquet ended, Gu Shengyin followed her family elders back home, while Emperor Xiande was left in a dilemma.
When he was alone, the image of the young girl kept flashing through his mind, her round eyes staring at him, her content face sniffing flowers, her docile way of snuggling into his embrace.
Qin Shao forcefully closed his eyes, reminding himself over and over that she was not someone he should touch.
At this time, the Chief Eunuch Fu Xi reported that the Empress Dowager was requesting the Emperor’s presence at Shoukang Palace.
Qin Shao pinched the bridge of his nose, his head throbbing with pain. He didn’t even need to think to know what his mother was plotting; it was obviously about the emptiness of the Harem, the issue of imperial heirs.
But the problem was that he really had no interest in those women. When he was sixteen, the late emperor had appointed two palace maidens to educate him in intimate matters, but he, unusually angry, had them sent out directly, and told the late emperor that he was devoted to his studies and disliked women.
The matter was thus delayed at that time, and when he ascended the throne later, no one could really control him anymore.
The Empress Dowager had worried herself sick over this, arranging several flower-viewing and moon-viewing banquets in the palace every year, with a clear purpose. However, each time, Qin Shao’s response was the same–He did not find them appealing.
This time was the rare occasion that there was someone he did find appealing, but unfortunately, he had already designated her to someone else.
The wife of a subject is inviolable.
Qin Yuanzheng. The young Emperor thought to himself, I’ll give you one more chance. If you don’t cherish her, don’t blame me for being ruthless.
Gu Shengyin was unaware that during a mere palace banquet, so many thoughts had crossed her lover’s mind.
She had been busy lately, busy trying to have “chance encounters” with Qin Yuanzheng, busy being Zhang Mingshu’s confidante.
It must be said that Zhang Mingshu was quite eloquent. Even Jian Jia, Gu Shengyin’s personal maid, who had gone to see her residence a few times, began to pity Miss Zhang who was “cruelly harmed by the woman her beloved was betrothed to.”