Translator: 🍓SassyStrawberry | http://www.sassystrawberry.com
Project: Phoenix Totem (凤凰图腾） | Author: Huaishang (淮上) | Rating: Mature
Trigger Warnings: Non-con, rape, underage, grooming, age gap, abuse of authority, problematic gong, harem politics, depression, suicide, murder, death.
Tags: Abusive obsessive love, Imperial Court and aristocracy, Strong x Strong characters, Jianghu grievances
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Chapter 4 The Hidden Struggles within the Imperial Harem
FOR THE BEST READING EXPERIENCE, WE RECOMMEND READING THE CHAPTERS IN THE ORIGINAL FORMAT INSTEAD OF THE WORDPRESS READER.
Mingde nodded his head. To the outside world, the Emperor and his wives look to be affectionate in love, but in truth, their relationship is frigid and filled with deceit and intrigues. This flavour is not limited to the Guifei, but even the Empress feels this deeply. In other words, who is genuinely favoured within the Imperial Harem? Which of them does not endure suffering and hardships on a daily basis? It is only after enduring until one becomes the Empress, and then enduring even more until one becomes the Empress Dowager, and only then can one’s life work be considered to be successfully concluded.
Mingde stood up, and stared into the Empress’ eyes, and enunciated one word at a time,:” The Empress should try having the Guifei prepare some beautiful boys to receive the Emperor.”
The Empress was shocked by this,:” Since when would the Guifei actually listen to me, and also, what are you trying to achieve by that?”
Mingde did not reply, instead only snorted softly. Between his eyebrow and eyes, his countenance was exquisite and refined, but his mood was terrifyingly dark and gloomy [1].
The Qianwan Emperor as usual went to the Guifei’s palace, for no other reason than to annoy and make life difficult for the Empress.
These two days, his internal fire had been stoked, and he had nowhere to vent it. At night, upon entering the Qitai Palace, he went directly to the bed chambers, his face impassive. The older female attendants by the Guifei’s side looked at one another, and let out sighs of relief,” After spending so many days in alarm and great trepidation, the Emperor’s favour has finally and belatedly shown itself again.”
This imperial grace and favour is the benchmark for victory in the innumerable internal struggles within the imperial harem and even in the imperial court.
The Qianwan Emperor entered the inner chambers. The door curtain was made of ice mermaid silk. On the red woven couch, an indistinct figure could be seen, that person’s bearing was exceedingly graceful. The Qianwan Emperor was disinclined to speak much. Upon lifting the bed curtain, he was speechless with astonishment.
There was a boy, who used the most humble and shameless posture to prostrate himself at his feet. This child was only in his teens, his bone structure as fine and fragile as that of a female. He had extremely beautiful and elegant eyes and brows, and smooth and delicate skin. His appearance was entirely different from normal youths his age.
The Qianwan Emperor hadn’t been able to react initially, but afterwards, he almost exploded in rage. He suddenly turned his back and snapped angrily,:” Whose absurd idea was this? Attendants!”
The palace attendants quaked fearfully as they ran over, and knelt before the bed curtain,” Your…your Majesty……”
The Qianwan Emperor was about to unleash a torrent of abuse but suddenly felt that the corner of his clothes was being lightly tugged at. He turned his head to look and saw that boy child quivering from head to toe in fear. Even though the Emperor was filled with wrath, at a glance, he could still see the frequency of how the boy’s fingers trembled.
The external and internal attendants were similarly terrified, so frightened that their teeth chattered,” Your Majesty please forgive us, your Majesty please forgive us……” Even though they didn’t really know what crime they were guilty of, nor why the Emperor had suddenly unleashed such a great fury.
The Qianwan Emperor himself didn’t understand why he was so angry. It was merely a small tactic by the women of the Imperial harem in their battle for favour. To destroy the innocence of someone’s child in a fit of lust, it’s not as if he’d never done that in the past.
It was just that when he had seen that child just now, he had suddenly found it intolerable. As if something within his heart had been contaminated by someone who had no right to it, perhaps even sullied and tarnished it. As if someone had despoiled Shangguan Mingde in his presence.
He was aware that it was a very unfounded and absurd illusion. The one who had destroyed Mingde was actually himself.
However, in that instant, he felt like a treasure that he had hidden deep within his heart and had been forcibly meddled with. And it was even under the guise of trying to ingratiate themselves and curry favour with him.
The Qianwan Emperor froze in place for a while, before reaching out to pull that boy child to his feet. Unexpectedly he saw the child was crying, his face full of tears.
The Emperor opened his mouth, and asked softly,” ……how old are you?”
The boy was so afraid that he almost couldn’t speak, and it took him a while to respond,” To…to reply to your Majesty… fourteen……”
“Whose child are you?”
“My…my home is in the north lane to the south of the city.”
After all, he was still young and frightened. His speech was neither clear nor eloquent. The Qianwan Emperor had to listen carefully for some time before he could make it out. This child had been a gift from the state capital to the Konghe Mansion [2] and had been purchased by one of the aunts within the Guifei’s palace. With regards to his parents, they were probably at home wailing loudly to the sky and knocking their heads on the ground in sorrow.
The child started to cry as he spoke. He knew that he wasn’t supposed to cry, but was unable to restrain himself. He was so frightened that his face had gone pale as if he was about to die any moment. The Qianwan Emperor recalled the depths of that night, two years ago. Had Mingde ever been so afraid? Had he been this terrified?
……probably.
His impression of it wasn’t very clear, he had only been entirely immersed in the joy and excitement at the time. Only vaguely recalling that the child had also been trembling faintly at the time. As to whether he had cried during the most agonizing moment……he truly did not recall it clearly.
The Qianwan Emperor wanted the child to stop crying and reached out to wipe away the child’s tears. But the boy seemed to have become even more terrified by this, his entire body shuddered and the sounds of his teeth chattering were like the noise of battle.
The Qianwan Emperor lowered his hand dejectedly, he opened his mouth and spoke woodenly,:” ……Attendants, give this child a hundred taels of gold, and send him home.”
The attendant answered in the affirmative, then bent down and got on his knees, came in, and supported the boy to stand up, before carefully leaving.
The Qianwan Emperor sat down again for a long while, before slowly getting to his feet. He walked out of the bed curtain where the Guifei was kneeling deeply. She didn’t dare say a word, nor even look up at the Emperor’s expression. She merely rigidly knelt in place.
The Qianwan Emperor stared at her for a while, before speaking in a low tone,” You go to the Cold Palace [3] to atone for me.”
The Guifei suddenly pounced over as if she wanted to complain tearfully to him, or something, but the Qianwan Emperor pushed her away without warning, striding out of the room. The entourage behind him hastily hurried after him, and his most trusted eunuch confidante, Zhang Kuo followed behind closely, and spoke quietly,” Emperor, should we summon Mingde-gongzi to present himself?”
The Qianwan Emperor suddenly stopped in his tracks. The people following behind all waited in their places, not daring to make a sound or even exhale loudly.
Actually, it was already late at night. The moonlight spread over the courtyard, as it had formed a clear and tranquil pool of water. The sounds as the wind brushed past the treetops, the leaves rustling in the boundless night, like the secret whispers of lovers.
The Qianwan Emperor inhaled deeply,”…… call him over. Zhen wants…wants to have a look at him.”
Shangguan Mingde received the secret decree that the Emperor said that he wants to have a look at him.
The messenger of this imperial edict, Rong Shiba was disapprovingly sitting by his bedside, and said,” Mingde, in my opinion, the imperial harem having an additional concubine isn’t as valuable as the shadow guards having another team leader. I’ve already spoken this so clearly, why do you still not understand my meaning?”
Shangguan Mingde flipped himself over whilst still half asleep, and said,” That’s fine, then this subordinate won’t go.”
Rong Shiba was satisfied at this and got up, and went out of the window, leaving the Shangguan household via the door of the side courtyard. In the end, he had only walked two steps, before turning back. He stuck his head into the door and weakly said,”……by the way, Mingde, if you do this, it seems to be considered as ‘defying the imperial decree [4].”
Mingde tugged at his blanket, and replied lazily,” It was Rong-daren who taught this subordinate to defy the imperial decree.”
The hair on Rong Shiba’s body immediately stood on end,” Don’t, don’t, don’t, Mingde! Mingde xiao-zuzong [5]! You’d better go! I, as your commanding officer, wouldn’t dare to instigate you to resist the decree! I, laozi [6] only have one head!”
Mingde was dragged up by force and wrapped up in a cotton robe. A blast of cold air swept across him, and his entire body started to shiver, immediately waking him up fully. Rong Shiba jumped up and down as he rubbed his hands,” So cold! So cold! Mingde, how is it that your room doesn’t even have a warming brazier lighted?”
Mingde replied,” Economizing.”
“……” Rong Shiba said,” I don’t recall being behind in paying you your wages.”
“I seldom spend money.” Mingde said,” Anyway, as per the words of the lady of the house, when raising children, they must be cold and hungry 30% of the time, hence I am frequently somewhat hungry and somewhat cold.”
Rong Shiba looked back at him, the youth’s lean profile was covered in the shade of the moonlight, as reticent as a rock.
Rong Shiba turned back again to hurry onwards when he suddenly heard Mingde ask,” Rong-daren.”
“What?”
”Are you about to move to work in the open?”
“Yes.”
“Then what do you want to do?”
Rong Shiba thought about it,” Probably become one of the Crimson retinue guards, maybe a commander or something. ……Of course, it’s also possible that I’ll be sent to serve as a local official somewhere else. I would prefer to be sent out of the capital, perhaps to be a General who defends the North [7] or something similar. Although it is at the Yunnan border, the skies are high and the Emperor is far away [8], being able to live like a tyrant will be so freeing and unrestrained.”
Mingde nodded his head,” Oh.”
“What about you? What do you plan to do?”
Mingde smiled and said,” I intend to guard the Imperial Mausoleum.”
Rong Shiba almost tripped and fell to the bottom of the tree. Guard the Imperial Mausoleum? With only an oil lamp before the statue of the Buddha, eating vegetarian food and fasting, never again seeing the light of day?
“You…you…you… Are you alright? Are you burning up with a fever and spouting nonsense? Or am I hallucinating and hearing things due to a lack of sleep?”
Mingde stared at Rong Shiba’s back for a while, and slowly gave a forced smile, sighing as he replied,”…… I was joking.”
Their travelling pace was extremely quick, in a short time they had already passed the outer city walls and entered the palace city proper. The towering gate of the Zhengtai palace had already become indistinctly visible. In the night, the sinister-looking city walls reflected the pale and gloomy moonlight.
Rong Shiba stood below the palace wall and said,” I’ll only send you till here, you can go deal with his Majesty on your own.”
Most people wouldn’t speak in this manner at such a time, but Mingde knew that his character was just like that. Hence he indeed, and said,” Rong-daren, a good journey to you.”
Rong Shiba walked back a few steps, and again turned his head back to look, at this time, Mingde had already pushed open the door to enter.
When he walked, it was almost entirely silent. This person always moved around cautiously and without making any noise, as if at all times he must be on his guard in fear of something. In actuality, with his position and the level of favour that he received, he could actually be as arrogant and domineering as he pleased, and none would be able to say anything about it; But he has always been like this as if he had never been able to spread himself out at leisure, or be calm and unperturbed.
The heavy palace doors opened one by one before him. Shangguan Mingde walked down a long bluestone main path, in front of him was the taciturn and stately Zhengtai Palace at night.
His footsteps paused slightly, and he adjusted his breathing slightly.
How did the Empress tell the Guifei? How is the Guifei now? Has it succeeded? What are the results? He has no idea.
All he knew was since the man said he wanted ‘have a look at him’, it meant that the beautiful boy prepared by the Guifei had not been of any use. Otherwise, why would that man summon him in the middle of the night? Since when did that man not spend an entire night ‘tossing and turning his partner before stopping？
With this kind of ‘fighting for favour’, despicable and unpresentable actions – you either succeed or you don’t. If you don’t succeed, then perhaps you can be embarrassed to the extreme. A dignified Guifei, trying to seduce the Emperor with such low-class and filthy methods, any monarch with the slightest self-esteem would fly into a rage at this.
Mingde inhaled deeply, a fleeting frosty smile at the corner of his lips.
Truly foolish. Everyone in this imperial harem was like that. Even the slightest inducement would immediately cause them to take the bait. All of them are so greedy as to be incapable of controlling their own desires.
He adjusted his state of mind slightly, and just when he was about to step forward, there seemed to be the minute sounds of wind flashing past his ear.
Shangguan Minggde’s entire body suddenly tensed up – almost in a millisecond, a dark shadow swooped down from the sky above the Zhengtai Palace, so fast that it couldn’t be seen clearly. However, with the events transpiring in a flash [9], Shangguan Mingde rose up like an arrow that had escaped from the bowstring, and in that instant, he leapt up and swiftly and violently pounced over!
