28

  He listened to my words without any reaction, still with that eternal smile on his face, only his eyes fixed on mine, as if trying to see through them directly into the depths of my heart. I calmly met his gaze for a while, but eventually felt a bit embarrassed and had to turn back, pretending to look for a seat to sit down, walking out of his line of sight. As soon as I sat down, he said in a low voice: "Come here!" I looked up at him with a questioning expression, and he smiled warmly, still speaking softly: "Come here!"

  I was certain he was serious, so I slowly stood up, hung my head in shame, and shuffled over to him. When I got within three steps of him, I stopped and looked down at the water-milled stone floor beneath my feet.

  He let out a barely audible sigh and said softly, "Am I that scary?" As he spoke, he took two steps closer.

  I found that every time I stood close to him, I felt a sense of oppression, my heart was racing, and my mind was muddled, unable to think normally. He gently grasped my hand, and I subconsciously pulled it back, but he held on tight, saying "Don't move!" He took out a crystal green jade bangle with a thin red line resembling blood from his pocket and put it on my wrist.

  The ring was a bit tight, and when he put it on me, I felt some pain and furrowed my brow. He comforted me, saying "Bear with it for a moment, it'll be fine soon." He slowly pushed the ring onto my wrist, then held my hand, looked at it a few times, and let go of me to walk back to his seat by the table. As he distanced himself from me, I felt my mind clearing up again. I started wondering what was going on - wasn't I here for a lecture? Just as I was pondering this, I heard him say in a soft voice, "The Minister of Justice, Yao, is still coming over. You can go back first!"

  I muttered an "oh!" and did a bow to exit. Outside the door, Li Fu saw me come out and hurriedly bowed to greet me, but I was preoccupied with my own thoughts and didn't respond, just leaving on my own.

  After I got back, my sister saw that I was dazed and probably thought that I had been lectured by Eighth Brother. She smiled slightly and said faintly: "It's time to set some rules." I didn't make a sound and went back to my own room.

  At dinner that night, my sister saw the bangle on my wrist and was taken aback. "Where did it come from?" she asked. I was startled and didn't know how to respond. Just as I was at a loss for words, my sister nodded and said, "Thirteen Brother is really generous! This is a rare Phoenix Blood Jade." It seems that my sister had misunderstood. Anyway, I couldn't explain the situation, so I let Thirteen take the credit for it.

  After finishing the meal, I had drunk half a cup of tea. My sister suddenly said, "Since some things are beyond our control, it's better to never think about them." I held my teacup, stunned, and thought for a long time, not knowing how to respond. In the end, I replied vaguely, "I'll take good care of myself."

  Chapter Fifteen

  As the Spring Festival is approaching, everyone is eagerly looking forward to it! However, my heart is getting more and more gloomy, thinking that after the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival are over, the selection of concubines will begin soon, which is less than a month away. I have no feeling of anticipation for this year, on the contrary, I hope that it would never come. But few things in life go as people wish, reluctantly, I still welcomed the 44th year of Kangxi.

  Spring Festival, the palace is going to have a big celebration. In this half year, I've attended several grand and small royal banquets, and now I don't have that initial sense of novelty anymore. Plus, I have something on my mind, so I'm quite lazy. On that day, I let Winter Cloud arrange things as she pleased, and in the end, I followed Beile Ye and sister to head towards the palace.

  My heart feels stifled, and I'm completely oblivious to the exquisite and luxurious decorations around me. Anyway, when it's time to bow, I just bow; when it's time to sit, I just sit, like a wooden puppet following everyone else's movements, and somehow I haven't made any mistakes yet.

  This time, unlike the previous Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, many officials and their wives were present, making the scene quite lively. I thought to myself that this was for the best, as no one would notice me, and I could indulge in my own thoughts.

  But what did the ancients say? "In life, things don't go as one wishes eight or nine times out of ten." The Tenth Brother and Lady Li became the chief culprits in making this ancient saying come true.

  First, the tenth brother saw me and didn't care that the tenth Fu Jin was beside him, he started sizing me up from head to toe. Then I began to endure four scorching gazes, two were fiery, two were icy, the pain of ice and fire intertwined, making me feel like I was sitting on pins and needles. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I lifted my head and glared fiercely at the tenth brother, he saw that I looked like I wanted to devour him, and finally shifted his gaze away. The tenth Fu Jin saw that he was no longer looking at me, disdainfully gave me a sideways glance, and also shifted her gaze away.

  The world has finally quieted down! I let out a sigh and then spaced out. But before long, I felt like someone was looking at me again, and that anger in my heart! Old Ten, are you done yet? I lifted my head and gave him the most venomous stare I could muster, only to find Thirteen's passionate friendly smile. His passion was instantly frozen on his face by my venom. I hastily pulled out a big smile, my expression changing too quickly, feeling like my muscles were strained from the effort. After smiling, I also gave him a helpless look. Not sure if he understood or not. Anyway, he smiled back at me and raised his cup in a toast, and I happily picked up my own cup to clink with his in a distant toast.

  Just after drinking, I was about to lower my head and continue daydreaming, but saw Eighth Brother's mouth corner seemingly smiling at me. For a moment, I didn't know how to react, so I hastily poured myself another cup of wine, raised it in his direction from afar, he smiled, picked up the cup and also drank a toast with me.

  Put down the wine glass, I thought, now I can take a good rest. A glance around, but saw fourteen with a thoughtful gaze fixed on me. I didn't understand what he was thinking about and didn't bother to think about it either, just smiled at him with a big silly face. Fourteen saw my silly face, shook his head slightly, pursed his lips and smiled. I also smiled back.