Chapter 115 A Test to the Maids

The evil empress wouldn’t rest for a single day. It was an autumn afternoon. But for others in the palace, winter had already come. Shui Yinzhu left the hot spring in the morning. After she arrived at her own palace, she finally sent people to deal with the dead body of the palace maid in the bathroom. She killed someone in the morning. However, in the afternoon, she summoned all the palace maids, eunuchs, guards, Elder Consorts and almost everyone in the palace to the Imperial Garden. They weren’t invited to appreciate the flowers and scenery. That wouldn’t sound like what Shui Yinzhu might do. When they all arrived, they found that there was a murder game going on in the center of that dense crowd. The rule was simple. No one would be provided with any weapon. But among all the eunuchs that slapped Shui Yinzhu before, only one can get to live. In order to make it more fun, Shui Yinzhu didn’t allow them to eat anything in the past three days. These eunuchs had never experienced hunger ever since they got into the palace. Having served the emperor’s father for all the time, they used to be men of power in the harem. No one had suffered this. In order to stay alive, they started the brawl and fought with their hands, feet, fingernails and even teeth. It was like a fight of animals. Shui Yinzhu sat at the center of the Imperial Garden with her eyes filled with irony. Well, who would have imagined this? Without proper weapons, these eunuchs were fighting in a rather nasty way. As time went by, Yun Su came to visit his Sister Xi. But Shui Yinzhu only told him to watch it together. The most unbearable part of the show wasn’t the fight itself. It was when Shui Yinzhu enjoyed her food while watching all the brutality as if she was watching a shadow puppetry. She was so creepy. Even the guards felt like to throw up in the face of this murder game. Survival forced these hungry eunuchs to bite each other. Horror, tiredness and physical exertion all deprived them of their sanity. That afternoon, the Imperial Garden was just like a living hell. The last surviving eunuch could barely be called a man. He was covered in blood, most of which belonged to his fellow eunuchs. Scars and wounds were all over his body but none of those could compare to his mental breakdown. He had to end up waiting for his death in the death-row prison. It could have been a better ending to die in that brawl. The woman in red, the evil empress Shui Yinzhu watched all this happen. She even judged the performance of the eunuchs with Yun Su in laughter. This brutal game was far more horrible than killing those eunuchs. And it soon became a nightmare of the servants. After that event, people would shiver at the name of the evil empress. The only one not feeling it wrong would be the cold-blooded Yun Su. He held his beloved girl in his arms for that night and felt satisfied to have his empress down beneath him. Shui Yinzhu didn’t say a word. She simply lied flat and allowed Yun Su to do whatever he wanted. She had already become hardhearted, so there was nothing she cared about. Everything was going as she planned and that would be enough. The following morning, Shui Yinzhu woke up from her dreams. The aching body annoyed her. She took that hairpin with two pearls down from her hair and rubbed the one that belonged to Xuan Zhi. She missed her man. No. She had been missing him all the time but life here had turned her into a monster. A glistening tear dropped on the pearl of Xuan Zhi, as if it dropped into his heart. Xuan Zhi raised his head in the far-away Feng City as if he knew that Yinzhu was missing him. He clenched his fists. Xuan Zhi would be teaching the soldiers by himself during the day. At night, he kept discussing the plans with Li Yi and Uncle Zhi. He had to hurry up so that he could pick her up as early as he could. But working all day caused fatigue. It was autumn sun on top of his head, not too scorching or hot. But Xuan Zhi started to feel dizzy and then fell down to the ground. Zuo Xin immediately called for Uncle Zhi as she had always been a quiet company. Luckily, Xuan Zhi was just exhausted and fell asleep. It wasn’t anything serious, but enabled him to have a good sleep instead. His dream was all about his engagement ceremony with Shui Yinzhu on the Seventh Night of July. He held his most beloved girl in his arms so that they could feel each other’s heartbeat. He kissed her on the lips. Xuan Zhi kept calling “Yinzhu” even in his dreams. Zuo Xin clenched her fists beside the bed. She couldn’t help feeling upset that this man had only Shui Yinzhu in his mind. As she touched the face of the man she loved, Zuo Xin came up with a wicked idea. She couldn’t decide for Xuan Zhi whom he loved. But she would be able to spread rumors about Shui Yinzhu being a monster reborn. Xuan Zhi and his staff were all concentrated on the war. His army was made up of unsophisticated big boys. It would be a piece of cake for Zuo Xin to secretly spread rumors on Shui Yinzhu. She would like them all to know that Shui Yinzhu was a sick b*tch and a whore that would sleep with anyone. She wondered how Xuan Zhi would be able to shut the mouths of the public. Zuo Xin even imagined that Xuan Zhi would give up on Shui Yinzhu after hearing this rumor and fall in love with the pure and innocent girl beside him. Shui Yinzhu came up with more ideas after the murder game of the eunuchs. This time, she started to make full use of her pretty face and smile at other men. Her smile was so charming that she could easily push the limit of Yun Su’s jealousy. Most men served as guards inside the palace. It could be her evilness that made her appear more charming than before. At that moment, the new captain of the imperial guards stood in sun, securing the safety of the emperor and the empress. Shui Yinzhu called his name as she chuckled; her smile was more beautiful than flowers. She even winked at him. Yun Su, the emperor got so angry that he took the bow and arrows and shot directly through the body of this new captain. The guards were all used to it. They came and disposed of the dead body of their new captain. Everything was done fast. But all other people only started to avoid eye contact with Shui Yinzhu, especially men. The flowers were blossoming in the Imperial Garden. However, Shui Yinzhu, the empress was no less gorgeous. The red dress added to her glamor. There were two palace maids beside her. Yun Su had no idea how he could deal with his Sister Xi as she would constantly flirt with others out of habit. He was afraid that even eunuchs would be her targets, so Yun Su had to arrange maids to serve her. It wasn’t just eunuchs. There was not even a male cat or dog around her. But Yun Su never expected that Xiaoba, the man who could never show up in front of Shui Yinzhu had become the prey of his empress. Shui Yinzhu always flirted with men in public, she intended to let others feel that there was no need for her to hide such a thing. But the truth was, his Sister Xi had already been cuckolding him. After Kong Yue’s death, Yun Su checked the gender of all the palace maids serving Shui Yinzhu. They were all legit women. And they had been trained to protect Shui Yinzhu. Finally they tended to be those who could keep Shui Yinzhu safe without becoming a threat to Yun Su. But that was simply what Yun Su believed. He underestimated his Sister Xi. That would be the story afterwards. Shui Yinzhu needed to know if the two palace maids around her could be trusted. She had to bait Xiaoba out, flirt with him and threaten him so that he wouldn’t report to Yun Su what he saw today earlier than the two palace maids. Shui Yinzhu smiled as she saw the two soldiers standing at the gate of the Imperial Garden. As she grinned towards that direction, she paid attention to the expressions on the two maids’ faces. “Xiaoxing, Xiaoren, tell me, what do you think of the two men over there?” Since her trick had been known to all, the two palace maids knew that she was into that prank again. Xiaoren didn’t give any response. But Xiaoxing glimpsed at the guard on their right, clearly looking worried. Shui Yinzhu would never fail to notice that. She tried to remember the face of that guard. “Xiaoxing, get me my cloak,” Shui Yinzhu ordered Xiaoxing. As she left with a “Yes”, she took Xiaoren to the guards. In front of her servant, Shui Yinzhu touched the face of the guard on the left. She deliberately left alone the one Xiaoxing cared for. This poor man became the experiment of Shui Yinzhu for no reason. Shui Yinzhu enjoyed flirting with this normal-looking guard and paid attention to the expression on Xiaoren’s face at the same time. There was contempt in her eyes. Despised and so what? Either by fear or threat, what Shui Yinzhu wanted to secure was loyalty. In order to test their loyalty, she sent all others away and kept the two girls. As the night came, Yun Su came to Shui Yinzhu’s bedchamber as usual. Together, he brought the guard she flirted with in the morning. “Sister Xi, I’m told that you like this guard.” Shui Yinzhu stared at the guard and deliberately smiled charmingly as she answered, “Of course!” Yun Su stabbed the guard to death immediately and ordered other guards to deal with his dead body. “That’s so naughty of you, Sister Xi.” Yun Su tried to embrace Shui Yinzhu. He didn’t seem to be annoyed at all as if it wasn’t a man that died but a garbage getting disposed of. To his surprise, Shui Yinzhu ran away and said, “Yun Su, I’m in love with someone. You shouldn’t touch me anymore.” “Sister Xi, who, who is it this time?” “Xiaoxing, Xiaoren.” Shui Yinzhu didn’t answer his questions but called the name of her servants instead. The two palace maids came in. Yun Su had no idea what his Sister Xi was up to. As they walked in, Shui Yinzhu held Xiaoren in her arms and started to kiss her as if she was her favorite toy. Yun Su went speechless. He sent Xiaoren to serve Shui Yinzhu, but he never expected that his Sister Xi would do such a thing to a maid. “Sister Xi, are you telling me that you are in love with this girl?” “Yes. I love her.” As she spoke, she held that shorter and chubbier palace maid. “Xiaoxing, Xiaoren is my lover from now on. Make sure you serve her well.” Xiaoxing and Xiaoren already started to shiver. They had no idea why would happen to them. “Sister Xi, you shouldn’t be in love with a girl. What are doing this time?” She heard Yun Su’s question and proved it with her action as she kissed Xiaoren on her lips. That had crossed Yun Su’s line. As he couldn’t hold it any longer, Yun Su called a guard, took a clean sword and stabbed it into Xiaoren’s back, putting an end to this little bother.