Chapter 120 A Ladies Only Party

Knowing that Yun Su was busy dealing with his said-to-be siblings in order to consolidate his power, Shui Yinzhu was glad to have more free time. The evil empress Shui Yinzhu decided to hold a party for ladies only in an evening and invited the wives of all the ministers to the Imperial Garden for tea and chitchat. Since the invitation was from Shui Yinzhu, the wives had to come whether or not they were willing to. They didn’t want to get their family killed because of themselves. However, Shui Yinzhu appeared to be an easygoing woman that night instead of a patronizing empress. She was nothing close to that evil empress who murdered people cruelly. “Please take a seat, ladies.” “Yes, Your Majesty.” “Xiaoxin, stay here to serve me,” Shui Yinzhu instructed Xiaoxin. Xiaoxin understood Shui Yinzhu’s intention as she nodded and stood on the left of Shui Yinzhu. “Would you mind me asking why you invited us all here, Your Majesty?” It was Bu Xiaoyan, Wei Ruxuan’s wife, who started the conversation. She recognized that Shui Yinzhu, who used to be Wu Shuang years ago. But even though Wei Ruxuan had become a scheming man, his wife remained unsophisticated. She didn’t even try to hide the hatred in her eyes, although she knew she was provoking the dangerous evil empress. She really should have taken a lesson on restraining herself. Shui Yinzhu knew it but didn’t intend to fire back. She wasn’t into killing anyone today. She had gone past the threatening phase, and all she needed at this moment was conciliation so that all the ladies would be relaxed. “I invited you here because it’s been so boring inside the palace, and some chitchat would always be pleasant. Please feel free to talk to me like this is a chat among sisters.” “Yes, Your Majesty.” Even if the ladies agreed, they would never have the courage to take that liberty. No one knew when the evil empress would suddenly get angry. After all, Shui Yinzhu directly killed the Prime Minister and the Commandant right in the imperial court. Bu Xiaoyan was simply too stupid to initiate the conversation. “Your Majesty, there is nothing I can share with you.” “Oh, you must be Madam Bu, the wife of Prime Minister Wei. Let’s start with you. Is there anything interesting that happened between you and Master Wei?” Shui Yinzhu decided to start the ice-breaking from her. “Again, there is nothing I can say, Your Majesty.” “Well, let’s start from His Majesty and me, then. It’s known to all that I am the only one His Majesty loves. He likes to call me Sister Xi. He loves me so much that he is unwilling to marry any concubines. I now end up having no one to talk to in the harem and feel so bored. I really do envy that you all have companies at home. It must be fun.” In order to ease their minds, Shui Yinzhu was being very casual to make it sound like a conversation among sisters. “Well, I’m told that Madam Bu is the only one Prime Minister Wei married. Your situation must be very similar to mine. I’m sure Master Wei loves you a lot.” “Your Majesty, my husband used to be deceived and cheated on by a whore called Wu Shuang. He was heartbroken because of her, and he doesn’t care about me at all.” “Oh, really? I never thought that Master Wei would have such an interesting affair. Given this, I will surely tell him to treat you well.” “That low-life prostitute looked very similar to you, Your Majesty. I almost mistook you for her when we first met. I wonder if His Majesty will be interested in meeting that whore.” As soon as she said that, all the ladies and servants went down to their knees in terror. It was a really unlucky day for them to stay with Bu Xiaoyan. They all wished that someone should sew up her mouth. Bu Xiaoyan didn’t care about her life, but they did! “Really? I would like to meet her if I have the chance.” Shui Yinzhu, the evil empress, didn’t look angry at all. “Get up and sit back, everyone.” Then she stared at Bu Xiaoyan and said, “Madam Bu, this should be a conversation between us sisters. It won’t be appropriate to let His Majesty know this.” “His Majesty ought to know your true colors, you evil monster. You...” Since Bu Xiaoyan didn’t intend to stop it, Shui Yinzhu cast a glance, and a palace maid knocked Bu Xiaoyan out and held her to stop her from talking nonsense. “Your Majesty, Madam Bu is drunk and just passed out.” They were only provided with tea instead of wine during the party. Besides, no one had taken a sip except Shui Yinzhu. “I didn’t hear anything. Let’s continue. Send Madam Bu back to the mansion of the Prime Minister and take good care of her on the way. I don’t want to spoil the fun of the ladies here.” Bu Xiaoyan was such a fool to believe that she could threaten Shui Yinzhu with her past. However, the shrew served as an example to those cautious ladies. After all, the empress didn’t even get angry at those mean words, which finally eased their minds a bit. “Yes. Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty.” The ladies went back to their seats. The party continued with some random conversations about family trifles. Meanwhile, Shui Yinzhu threw her questions from time to time, all of which sounded funny but were actually tentative. The evil empress would never be that kind and bored to throw a ladies-only party just for chitchats. Things couldn’t be that simple. During the party, Xiaoxin memorized the life habits and other details about the ministers mentioned in their conversations. A cool breeze blew into the empress’ palace on this winter night. With the brazier, it was still warm inside the room. Yun Su was too busy to stay with Shui Yinzhu these days, and she was quite delighted with it. Shui Yinzhu sat in front of that vanity table in her warm palace and allowed Xiaoxin to comb her hair. “Xiaoxin, you’ve memorized everything those ladies said today, haven’t you?” “Yes, I have, Your Highness.” “Any news from the brothel?” “Yes. I told the girls to get the ministers to talk.” “Good.” “And now we have known a lot of secrets of those ministers.” “Well, send all the information you learned today to the brothel. Tell the counselors there to analyze it and write a report to me.” “Yes, Your Highness.” “I want a detailed report about all the ministers and officials that includes their strengths, weaknesses, mindsets, hobbies, and things I can use to threaten them.” “Yes, Your Highness.” “Xiaoxin... you can leave... now...” Shui Yinzhu’s abdomen started to ache. She clenched her fists tightly. Holding back the deadly pain, she sent Xiaoxin out. Shui Yinzhu had been so focused on her revenge in the past month that she forgot this monthly Heat Poison attack. This could be a dangerous night since she forgot to ask for some painkillers from the imperial physicians. The only good news was that Yun Su wouldn’t come. As soon as Xiaoxin left, Shui Yinzhu curled up on the ground because of the pain. Even though it was painful, she felt rather pleasant. The pain kept her mind sharp, reminding her that she was still breathing and she had to carry on her revenge. She gritted her teeth after yelling out for a single time. She wasn’t worried. As long as Yun Su wasn’t around, no one had the courage to pry. But she never expected that Xiaoba would show up. Xiaoba held the woman, who kept tossing and turning, into his arms. He didn’t care if Shui Yinzhu was only wearing her long underwear. Seeing her twisted face, he felt so sorry for her that he even forgot the boundary between men and women he usually cared about a lot. “Are you all right? What is wrong?” “Xiaoba, why... are you here?” “I’ll call an imperial physician over.” “Don’t. Just...get me...some...painkillers.” “But look at you.” Xiaoba held her more tightly subconsciously. He never imagined that he would feel worried about her pain. At that moment, he was so concerned that the man didn’t realize he had already fallen in love. But he really felt bad for her. “I’ll take you to a doctor outside the palace. His Majesty won’t come tonight, so it’ll be fine.” Despite her struggle, Xiaoba carried her in his arms and started to head outside. All of a sudden, the door was opened. “Your Highness! Your Highness, I met a strange palace maid. She gave me a bamboo scroll and told me it was for you. And she told me to give this to you in secret.” It was the innocent palace maid Paner. Shui Yinzhu spoiled her so much that she didn’t fear Shui Yinzhu any longer and started to treat her like family. The little girl was so flustered this time that she directly broke into the room. Shui Yinzhu didn’t blame Paner for it. If it weren’t for her, Xiaoba would have taken her out by force. She never intended to get the Heat Poison cured. Paner saw Xiaoba holding Shui Yinzhu in his arms. She thought it was a thief and tried to alert the guards. Xiaoba was quick enough to hit at Paner’s acupoint without dropping Shui Yinzhu. He wanted to kill the little girl. The pain was severe, but it didn’t crush Shui Yinzhu’s mind. She was much more tolerant than ordinary people and immediately grabbed Xiaoba’s hand that was moving towards Paner. “Xiaoba, don’t hurt Paner.” “Fine, are you all right?” Shui Yinzhu’s clothes were soaked in her sweat because of the pain, but she still appeared tough, making Xiaoba pity her even more. “Xiaoba, if you do care for me, get me some painkillers. Hurry.” “But you...” “Just go. I know...my own...situation. I’ll...wait for you...” Seeing that Shui Yinzhu was suffering the pain, Xiaoba stopped hesitating and put her back on the bed. He unsealed Paner’s acupoint so that she could stay with Shui Yinzhu and then hurried out. He needed to be fast so that he could come back to her as soon as possible. Once Paner’s acupoint was unsealed, she ran to Shui Yinzhu. As Shui Yinzhu was sweating in pain, tears dropped from Paner’s eyes. She truly cared for her master. The little girl had been bullied by other palace maids and eunuchs ever since she started working in the palace. Shui Yinzhu was the only one treating her sincerely. Shui Yinzhu was so kind to Paner, like an elder sister. She would get her all the good food, trinkets, and toys. Shui Yinzhu only instructed her to stay away from Yun Su for her own safety. “Your Highness, what’s going on? Are you all right?” Even though she was experiencing sharp pain, Shui Yinzhu still reached out to caress the lovely face of Paner. “Be a good girl, Paner. I...I’m fine. It’s just my body...aches...a little bit.” “Your Highness, Your Highness, which part of your body hurts? I can give you a rub.” “Silly...girl. Don’t...don’t cry. Or you won’t...look...pretty.” “If I don’t cry, your body will stop hurting, right?” “Yeah...it doesn’t hurt...that bad now. Paner, how are you...these days in the palace? If...anyone bullies you, just...tell me.” “Your Highness, why are you so nice to me? You are like my family. I’ve got all the good food and toys from you, and you are still caring for me even when in pain.” “You are like my younger sister... Paner, will you be my...younger sister?” “Then what about your real younger sister, Your Highness?” “She died.” The pain didn’t stop Shui Yinzhu from making up a story. The last princess of the Kingdom of Shui never had a younger sister. She just wanted to use the story to win Paner’s heart faster. “Don’t you want...to be my sister, Paner?” “I do, but I don’t deserve such a good elder sister like you, Your Highness.” “Well, just...call me sister.” “Sister.” “Yeah.” “Sister.” “When nobody is around...you can call me...sister. Don’t let...others know. It’ll get you into...trouble. I...I can’t stay with you...all the time... But I will try my best...to protect you.” “Sister, sister. Please be alright.” Paner held Shi Yinzhu’s hand. The empress wasn’t evil at all. She was just a kind and weak woman that still cared for her even when she was ill. In Paner’s mind, Shui Yinzhu was just a kind older sister who pampered her.