Chapter Eighteen

  As the sun sets, I lean against a stone by the willow tree, half-closing my eyes to watch two butterflies dancing in the flower cluster in front of me. The purple and white irises, which have already begun to wither, are not as lovely as they once were. However, due to these two colorful butterflies, which stop and fly among the flowers, flying together and falling together, under the sunset, their love seems boundless, making everything I see even more beautiful.

  A childish but clear voice sounded, asking: "What are you doing? Why aren't you moving?" I turned my head to look and found it was a six or seven year old little boy, round and cute. Judging from his clothes, he should be of high status. I pointed ahead and said: "Watching butterflies!" He walked over to me, took a glance at the butterfly, and said: "What's so great about watching? Catching butterflies is more fun!" I smiled and ignored him.

  He asked again, "Which palace are you from?" I still stared at the butterfly, carelessly asking back, "And where are you from?" He said, "I was the one who asked you first." I ignored him and continued to watch the butterfly, chasing each other in the distance. If only I could fly away like that too! He waited for a while, seeing that I wasn't responding to him, so he had to say, "I am Aixinjueluo Hongshi." I was startled, quickly turning my head to examine him carefully. Thinking to myself, this is the son who was later demoted to commoner by Yongzheng! After looking at him for a few moments, I lazily turned my head back around.

  "Are you not going to pay your respects to me?" he asked. I turned my head around, looked at him and thought that he was still so young, yet already knew how to distinguish between master and servant so clearly. I smiled and said: "I won't pay my respects to you now, wait until you grow up in the future, then I'll pay my respects to you." He tilted his head and looked at me saying: "The other palace maids are paying their respects to me right now." I looked at him with a smile and asked: "Who brought you into the palace? Why is it only you?"

  He didn't respond to my words, and instead asked: "Who are you?" I was taken aback, and didn't immediately answer. He asked again in a shrill voice: "Who are you?" I turned back to gaze at the solitary flower cluster bathed in the warm glow of sunset, muttering to myself: "Who am I?" Am I Ma Wei Tai? Or Ye Xi? Or Zhang Xiao Wen? A Qing dynasty palace maid? A modern office worker? My mind was a jumble of confusion. "Ah! Who am I indeed? I don't know who I am." I turned my head to look at him, and smiled wistfully: "I don't know who I am." He seemed taken aback by my smile, staring blankly at me.

  I watched his reaction, startled, and hastily piled up a kind smile, planning to comfort him, don't scare the child because of my own temporary loss of composure. A eunuch rushed over, "Ah! Good master, I've finally found you. How did you run so far in the blink of an eye?"

  I looked back, and the Fourth Prince was following behind, hurrying over. I quickly stood up to pay my respects. The Fourth Prince walked closer, took a glance at Hong Shi, and asked in a cold tone, "What's going on?" Hong Shi seemed a bit afraid, and said in a low voice, "I just chatted with her for a bit." Suddenly remembering something, he spoke loudly, "Auntie, she refused to pay respects to me, and even said she didn't know who she was."

  I almost fainted when I heard that, you're really something, Hong Shi, always speaking ill of others, no wonder people dislike you. I didn't know how to react, so I just stood there without reacting.

  The fourth prince said to the eunuch beside him, "First send Hongshi to the empress's place." The eunuch responded and quickly squatted down to carry Hongshi on his back. Before leaving, Hongshi looked at me as if he wanted to say something, but seeing his father's expression was indifferent, he didn't make a sound and obediently followed the eunuch away.

  I thought the Fourth Prince would leave with Hongshi, but unexpectedly he stood still. Thinking that I should retreat at this time, I'm afraid it's not possible to do so, so I might as well stay and listen to what he has to say. So I lowered my head and looked at the willow tree, its long shadow stretched out by the sunset, standing quietly.

  He calmed down for a moment, and said calmly: "Next time if you want to know about my private affairs, just come ask me directly." My heart skipped a beat, and I started blaming Thirteen. Why did he go ask him some things about Fourth Brother? He didn't even get many answers, but instead let Fourth Brother find out. If only I hadn't asked him... Now what should I do?

  He looked at me with no reaction, smoothed out his robe, and sat down on the stone I had been sitting on earlier. He narrowed his eyes, gazing at the flower cluster in front of him, and said in a flat tone: "My favorite tea is Taiping Houkui, my favorite snack is Yubing Gao, my favorite color is blue after rain, and my favorite ceramic style is white with splashed flowers and butterflies. I like dogs, dislike cats, don't like spicy food, and don't like to drink too much...". He paused for a moment, thought for a bit, and continued: "I've probably told you these thirteen things already. But you have so many questions, that's all I can remember for now. If there's anything else you want to know, ask me now!"

  I stood there, really not knowing how to react. What did his attitude mean? Should I hurry up and kneel down to confess and apologize? Or should I take this opportunity to ask for clarification? In fact, my thoughts were very simple, only knowing that in the palace, there were two people who absolutely could not be offended: Kangxi and Fourth Brother. The taboos of Kangxi's preferences had been warned by teachers countless times, but the taboos of Fourth Brother's preferences were unknown, thinking that Thirteen was close to him, should know, so I asked Thirteen. But Thirteen replied in surprise 'How would a big old man like me know these things?' I could only pretend to be unreasonable and say 'Never mind! Just go and find out for me.' And carefully instructed him to secretly investigate, without letting others know. The result?! The result was that this Thirteen had done it this way for me! Alas!

  Thinking of this, I suddenly felt that things had come to this point, so I might as well let it go and consider it a done deal. After all, it couldn't get any worse. So in a wooden tone, I asked: "What's your least favorite color?" He was taken aback, probably because he really hadn't expected me to actually ask that question. He tilted his head to the side and looked at me for a moment before turning back to face forward, still speaking in an even tone: "Black." I nodded and continued asking:

  "What's the most hated incense?" He quickly replied: "Jasmine incense"

  "What's your favorite flower?" "Water Lily"

  "What's your favorite fruit?" "Grapes"

  "What weather makes you happiest?" "Light rain"

  "What kind of weather is most annoying?" "Poisonous sun"

  I don't know what I was thinking, probably because I've read too many modern idol profiles. The more I asked, the smoother it went, and later on, I even started asking things like "where do you most want to go?", "what's the happiest thing that happened in your childhood?", "the most embarrassing thing" and so on. And he would answer one sentence for each question I asked. In the end, my brain was stuffed with a bunch of things, but I don't even know if I remembered them or not. Finally, when there were no more questions to ask, I clicked my tongue and stopped.

  At this time, the sky had already darkened, and the two of us were silent for a while. I bowed my head to bid farewell, saying: "The slave has asked all she wanted to know. If the Beile master has no other matters, the slave will take her leave!" He stood up, looking at me who was half-kneeling, thought for a moment, and said calmly: "Go!" I then got up, stiffened my head, turned around and left.

  ――――――――――――――――

  Autumn is approaching, but the heat has not dissipated and instead becomes even more intense. Kangxi decided to go on a hunting trip outside the Great Wall, firstly to avoid the heat and secondly to practice his martial skills, so as to remind future generations of their Manchu roots. Although this trip beyond the Great Wall had many unexpected events, I seem to recall that except for the Crown Prince and the eldest prince having bad luck, everyone else was safe and sound. As long as one is careful, there shouldn't be any trouble. Thinking about the scenery and cool weather outside the Great Wall, I still hope to follow along.

  I am still thinking about how to ask Li Dequan to let me go, Wang Xi has already come over and told me to prepare the tea utensils and follow him to Saiwai. I heard that I secretly called for it. Then happily packed up my things.

  I didn't take my shift today, so I'm sorting out the things I need to bring with me. As I was folding clothes with my head down, I heard a low but clear knock at the door outside. Still with my head down, I casually said, "Come in!" But the door didn't open as I had expected. I put down the clothes and looked at the door again, saying, "Come in!" There was still no movement outside, so I got up curiously and opened the door. Along with the sunlight from outside, Eight Prince walked in. He was wearing a light green long robe, standing elegantly under the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, smiling slightly as he looked at me holding the door. The sunlight filtering through the leaves made his smile even more warm and gentle, as if it brought warmth to your heart along with the sun's rays.

  I stood at the door and stared at him for a while, he quietly looked back at me. It took me a while to react, I hastily stepped forward two steps to greet him. He smiled and said: "This is the first time seeing your place, it's quite quiet." I said with some pride: "I'm now more or less the leading female official, my living quarters can't be too humble." He lowered his head and smiled silently, I also couldn't help but laugh.

  I smiled and said, "Only I and Yutan live in this courtyard, she's on duty today." After saying that, I felt like I was hinting at something, my face grew hot. He smiled and said, "I know!" I responded softly, feeling even more embarrassed. Pretending to be casual, I picked up a leaf from the ground and started playing with it.

  Thinking about the way Fourteenth Brother has been ignoring me these days, and Eighth Brother's attitude being as usual, I really wanted to take this chance to ask him what he's thinking. But standing next to him in this rare moment of being alone together, the warm sunshine on a summer day made me not want to ask anything at all.

  He said, "This time I'll stay in the capital." I hummed in agreement. He continued, "It's your first time accompanying me on a trip, and it's going to be a long one, so be careful along the way." I hummed again.

  After a moment of thought, I looked up at him seriously and said, "Don't worry! I've been in the palace for three years now. I'm not that little girl who didn't understand anything and needed to be reminded of everything. I know what can and can't be done!"

  He looked into my eyes, smiled, and nodded. Then his gaze passed over me, looking at something behind me, and said, "You've done much better than I thought you would these past few years. I never expected the Empress Dowager and Li Dequan to value you so highly."

  After a brief silence, he looked back at me with a smile and said, "But I still worry. What if your stubborn temper flares up again someday?" I fell silent for a while, then let out a sigh and said, "If you do well, you can earn more opportunities for yourself." I smiled slightly and added, "Otherwise, if you had come six months ago, I wouldn't be able to live here. There's no way I could stand here talking with you so calmly."

  He smiled faintly and said, "You have to pay the price before you can get what you want." My heart skipped a beat as I wondered what he wanted most and what he was willing to sacrifice for it. But looking at his smile, I didn't dare ask. I just smiled back at him.

  Two people were facing each other and smiling, a eunuch hastily appeared at the gate of the courtyard, shouting: "Eighth Master!" After calling out, he didn't wait for instructions, flashed his body and ran away. Eighth Brother said: "I have to go." I nodded, without speaking, he looked deeply at me again, turned around and left.

  I watched as his figure gradually disappeared beyond the gate, took a few steps back, leaned my head against the tree trunk, and let out a low sigh. Thinking to myself, yes! Even I didn't expect that I would be able to thrive in the palace, when I first entered, all I knew was that whether it was on TV or in history books, they were always emphasizing how scary the imperial palace was, so I entered with extreme caution and carefulness. Everything I saw and heard reminded me not to make any mistakes, not to! At first, I only had the idea of absolutely not making a mistake, but later I slowly felt that if I wanted to live comfortably, it would be better if there were fewer people controlling me, so that I could have some autonomy. So I decided that since things had already come to this point, I could only do my best to fight for more for myself. In the strict rules and regulations, I fought for as much freedom and dignity as possible for myself.

  Lost in thought, I suddenly heard the voice of Yulan: "Miss, good luck!" I quickly stood up straight, and Yulan had already entered the courtyard, bowing to greet me. I hurriedly asked her to get up. Yulan smiled and said: "I don't have much to bring, it's all packed. So I came over to see if you need any help?" As I smiled and invited her in, I said: "I don't have much to bring either, but you've come at just the right time, help me take a look and see if there's anything missing."