Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 75: Returning the Favor.

   Changing rooms was impossible. Though she didn’t know exactly why, Momo Liu was extremely unfriendly toward her. Otherwise, with so many different chores in the Cleansing Department, there was no reason to immediately assign her the dirtiest and most exhausting tasks, nor to give her the bed closest to the night-soil bucket.

Since asking others for help was useless, starting the next day, whenever Wei Yingluo had any free moment, she wandered around the courtyard, stopping here and there, collecting leftover charcoal and ashes from the ground.

The others didn’t understand what she was doing and pulled Jinxiu aside to ask: “You’re close to her. What do you think she’s up to?”

It was the height of summer, yet she was gathering the charcoal ashes left over from winter use in the various palaces. Jinxiu found it utterly baffling and had no idea what she was planning. She could only give a cold snort and say, “That girl is full of schemes. Whatever she’s doing, just stay away from her… Ah!”

Her gaze shifted away from Wei Yingluo and fixed firmly in one direction. In an extremely sweet, syrupy voice she called out, “Brother Yuan, you came so early!”

The rumbling sound of wheels grew closer and closer. A night-soil cart was pushed into the courtyard.

The filthiest thing in the world, the most foul-smelling thing in the world—and the one pushing it was the most beautiful man in the world.

Hongli and Fuheng were also extremely handsome, but their beauty was a masculine kind—one refined and elegant, the other valiant and heroic. The youth before them was different. He looked about sixteen or seventeen. Perhaps because he had been castrated, his face was as delicate as a woman’s, exuding an androgynous, bewitchingly sinister beauty.

It was as though all the beauty and all the resentment of the women banished to this Yong Alley had been drawn out and poured into a single person.

“Brother Yuan, why won’t you pay attention to me?” Jinxiu sidled up to him, tugging playfully at his sleeve like a spoiled child.

The young eunuch shook off her fingers, lifted the buckets one by one from the courtyard, emptied all the waste into the night-soil cart, then pushed the cart away without saying a single word.

Jinxiu stamped her foot in anger behind him. Another palace maid mocked her: “I told you long ago—Brother Chunwang won’t like you. Stop wasting your energy!”

Jinxiu shot her a glare. “If he doesn’t like me, does he like you? Look at your own face!”

“Even if you’re pretty, you’re still not as pretty as Yuan Chunwang,” another palace maid said, shaking her head. “But what’s the use of him being so good-looking? His personality is colder than ice. Even if I wanted to find a ‘food companion,’ I wouldn’t choose someone like him.”

“As if he’d want you even if you did want him…”

So the young eunuch’s name was Yuan Chunwang.

The palace maids in the courtyard, taking Yuan Chunwang as their starting point, began discussing the other eunuchs. The conversation gradually grew deeper and more explicit—food and sex being fundamental human nature. In the deep palace, the lonely consorts could seek the Emperor; the palace maids could secretly seek the guards. But for this group of lowly women, all they could do was find some equally unfortunate eunuch nearby, form a “food companion” relationship—a fake husband-and-wife arrangement.

Yuan Chunwang was clearly the “food companion” target Jinxiu had set her sights on—or rather, the target most of the palace maids had their eyes on. After all, a eunuch so young and so beautiful was extremely rare. With such looks, even if his temperament was a little cold, he should still have been able to serve one of the higher-ranking ladies. No one knew why he had been demoted to the Cleansing Department…

Everyone was speculating and gossiping when Wei Yingluo shook her head, unwilling to join in. She continued quietly gathering the leftover charcoal from the ground until Momo Liu entered the courtyard and called her back to continue yesterday’s work.

Another night passed, and the night-soil buckets were once again piled as full as the day before—still just as foul. Even though Wei Yingluo had folded her handkerchief into a triangular mask and tied it over her face to block the smell, the odor still seeped through, making her face turn pale.

I couldn’t eat tonight’s dinner either.

After finishing cleaning the night-soil buckets, Wei Yingluo walked heavily toward the well, intending to draw a few buckets of water to wash her hands and also wipe down her body. Otherwise, she really wouldn’t be able to swallow even one bite of the steamed bun in her arms.

But unexpectedly, someone had already arrived at the well ahead of her.

Gulp, gulp, gulp…

A wooden bucket was pulled up from the well, sloshing with ice-cold well water. The moment the bucket touched the ground, the person who drew it immediately braced both hands on the rim and buried his face in the water, drinking greedily with loud gulping sounds.

Wei Yingluo’s footsteps were very light, but he was as alert as a small wild animal. Almost the instant she approached, his right ear twitched, and he abruptly turned his face toward her.

An extremely beautiful, yet extremely cold face.

It was as though a beauty who had died by falling into a well had absorbed the moonlight, turned into a wisp of white mist, slowly drifted out of the well mouth, sighed softly, and returned to the mortal world.

“It’s you?” Wei Yingluo was momentarily stunned.

The beautiful young man before her was none other than Yuan Chunwang. His gaze, cool as well water, swept across Wei Yingluo’s cheek. He lifted a hand to wipe the water droplets from the corner of his lips, then stood up and turned to leave.

Just as they passed each other, Wei Yingluo suddenly said, “Wait.”

Yuan Chunwang’s steps halted.

Wei Yingluo hesitated for a moment, then took out a steamed bun wrapped in a handkerchief from her arms and held it out. “Do you want to eat this?”

Momo Liu had been disgusting her nonstop today, deliberately sending her dinner into the night-soil room once again, completely ruining Wei Yingluo’s appetite.

Moreover, the weather was hot. Especially in the large communal bed where dozens of people slept, the night felt like a steaming cage. A steamed bun left overnight would definitely go bad. Rather than throw it away, it might as well be given to the person in front of her…

Yuan Chunwang stared at the steamed bun in her hand. His throat moved noticeably.

Wei Yingluo took in this detail and thought to herself: As expected.

Though this young man had outstanding looks, his complexion was very poor. Up close, he was so thin that the bones were visible. Combined with the earlier scene of him treating water as a meal, Wei Yingluo immediately understood: life in the Department of Punished Labor must be extremely hard for this boy—perhaps even worse than hers.

After all, no matter how much Momo Liu targeted her, she still gave her food to eat. But this young man… it seemed he hadn’t had a full meal in a very long time.

The palace was full of sordid affairs. They weren’t close, so Wei Yingluo didn’t ask too many questions. She simply felt that he needed it, and she happened to have no appetite, so why not do him a small favor? She pushed the steamed bun a little closer and said, “Take it and eat.”

Yuan Chunwang looked at the steamed bun in her hand. His gaze slowly moved upward. A pair of eyes filled with confusion and wariness fixed on her face—like a small animal watching someone trying to feed it. Finally, he turned his head sharply and ran away.

Watching his fleeing back, Wei Yingluo let out a helpless sigh and turned to look at the wooden bucket he had left behind.

He had only drunk about a quarter of it. There was still plenty of well water left in the bucket. Having worked hard all day and eaten nothing, Wei Yingluo’s arms and legs felt weak and sore. She really didn’t want to go through the effort of drawing fresh water again, so she simply decided to use the remaining water he had left to wash herself.

Wei Yingluo set the steamed bun aside, then dipped the handkerchief that had wrapped it into the bucket. After thoroughly soaking it, she began using the cloth to wipe her cheeks, neck, and arms.

The shock of the ice-cold well water caused goosebumps to rise all over her arms. Without saying a word, she kept wetting and wringing out the handkerchief, wiping her body over and over until every exposed part was clean and free of any lingering odor. Only then did she hesitate, glance around left and right, and ask softly:

“Who’s there?”

No one answered. Strangely, she actually felt relieved.

Her fingers slowly moved toward her waistband. Just as Wei Yingluo was about to untie her clothes to wipe the rest of her body, a hand suddenly reached out from behind and landed on her shoulder.

Wei Yingluo was greatly startled and was about to struggle free when a familiar voice sounded beside her ear:

“It’s me.”

Wei Yingluo froze for a moment, then turned her head and asked, “Why are you here?”

Clouds parted, the moon emerged, and shadows danced among the flowers. Fuheng’s face appeared faintly under the moonlight—still as extraordinarily handsome as ever, like an immortal who had descended to the mortal world. It only made Wei Yingluo, covered in dust and grime at this moment, look all the more disheveled by comparison.

Yet despite the vast gulf between them now, the way he looked at her remained exactly the same—filled with pity and deep love.

“Come with me.” He reached down and pulled Wei Yingluo up from the ground in one motion. “I’ll take you to the Yangxin Hall to see the Emperor. I’ll ask him to issue an edict and grant us marriage immediately!”

Fuheng had only taken two steps when he suddenly stopped—because Wei Yingluo had already shaken off his hand. She retreated while shaking her head at him. “I’m not going. The Emperor already said that if I ever come near you again, even half a step, he would kill me to vent his anger. Do you really think I would disregard my own life for your sake?”

“I won’t let him harm you.” Fuheng gazed at her earnestly, every word coming straight from the heart. Even if it meant defying an imperial decree, he would have no regrets.

Wei Yingluo’s heart ached fiercely. She took another step back, putting more distance between them, and deliberately hardened her voice. “And then what? You would anger the Emperor and be punished. I refuse to become the wife of a criminal and live the rest of my life unable to raise my head!”

Fuheng looked at her steadily for a long moment, then stepped toward her. “Yingluo, both you and I know that what you’re saying right now is false. Why keep saying it?”

“I…” Wei Yingluo was caught by both arms and had no choice but to lift her head to meet his eyes.

Words can lie, but eyes cannot.

“Or are you saying that in your heart, I; Fuheng is such a fool that I can’t even see your true feelings?” Fuheng gave a tender, pained smile. “You could use me so easily—you could get out of this wretched place in an instant if you wanted to. But you didn’t. You’ve been avoiding me, hiding from me, afraid of dragging my future down with you. If you’re willing to humble yourself and suffer for my sake, then how can I not be willing to give up this so-called ‘future’ for you?”

Wei Yingluo stared at him—stared at his deep affection, and also at his ideals.

The room full of military books, the bright gleam in his eyes whenever he spoke of leading troops into battle and achieving glory on the battlefield—how could she ever forget that?

“…Why ruin everything for the sake of one woman and anger the Emperor?” Wei Yingluo lowered her head and said softly, “If you lose his favor, how will you ever go to the battlefield? How will you fulfill your dream of winning honor and merit on horseback?”

She didn’t dare look up at him, afraid her own eyes would betray her heart again.

After a long silence, Fuheng’s voice finally sounded once more—calm, so calm it was like the still surface of the sea hiding a whirlpool beneath.

“Wei Yingluo, you are someone who distinguishes clearly between kindness and enmity. You were the one who deliberately approached me first, who intentionally seduced me afterward. I couldn’t guard against it and fell completely into your trap. Now you say you’ll let go just like that—but the feelings you took from me, the heart you took from me, how are you going to return them?”

Wei Yingluo was ice-smart; the moment she heard those words, she already knew what he would say next.

“If you can’t return them, then use the rest of your life to repay me.”

Wei Yingluo clenched her teeth. Her slightly trembling fingers moved to her waist. After a brief hesitation, she resolutely pulled open her sash.

With a soft rustle, under Fuheng’s stunned gaze, her gray-blue palace maid’s upper garment slipped gently to the grass.

A graceful, slender figure was reflected in his pupils, bathed in moonlight, like a jade statue come to life.

“…I’m returning it to you.” Wei Yingluo hugged her arms across her chest and said softly, “I’m giving you this body.”

Her body trembled faintly in the night wind, like a prisoner awaiting execution—every second an unbearable torment.

At last, she received his answer.

A robe was gently draped over her, once again covering the body she had offered.

“Don’t do this.” Fuheng pulled her into his arms, his voice filled with pain. “You know what I want… it’s not this.”

Wei Yingluo’s eyes instantly grew hot; tears nearly fell right then and there.

“This body will belong to me sooner or later—but not now, and not in this way.” Fuheng tenderly kissed her temple. “I won’t force you anymore. Since you don’t want to come with me, then I’ll wait. I’ll wait until you come out of the Laundry Cleaning Department. I’ll wait until the day you’re finally willing to accept me.”

His words were filled with reluctance, yet in the end he still loosened his unwilling fingers and let her go.

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