The Empress released Xunian.
Xunian secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
“I heard you can’t read?”
Xunian nodded.
She had only told Xia He about this. Was Xia He actually a blabbermouth? Why did she tell everything?
The Empress gazed into her clear eyes, and in her heart arose a trace of…pity? Tenderness?
She wasn’t sure what that emotion was. The only thing she could be certain of was that it was a feeling she’d never experienced before.
For some reason, the Empress spoke faster than her mind, and she blurted out, “I will teach you myself.”
As soon as she said it, the Empress regretted it. Why on earth did she promise to teach a Palace Maid how to read?
Did she have nothing better to do?
Xunian’s face was also full of confusion. So sudden? The Empress would teach a Palace Maid to read?
Did she have nothing better to do?!
Xunian stared blankly and nodded.
Staying by the Empress’s side was risky, but if she could win the Empress’s favor, she’d have more chances to interact with people of high status.
Since this opportunity presented itself, she would naturally not let it slip by.
Once a promise is made, even four horses cannot chase it down.
After much inner struggle, the Empress walked over, her red lips parted slightly, and she called to Xunian, “Come here.”
Xunian obediently followed.
The Empress always felt that Xunian shouldn’t have this sort of personality. She had an illusion that Xunian wouldn’t listen to her.
She wanted to test if Xunian would really obey everything, so she said,
“Sit.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Xunian sat directly on the only Chair in front of the Writing Desk, showing not the slightest deference to the Empress.
“Where do you expect me to sit, then?”
The Empress smiled at Xunian, her smile carrying a hidden edge.
Xunian panicked and stood up. “This servant knows her fault, please punish me, Madam.”
She pleaded for punishment with her mouth, but didn’t seem truly afraid.
Feeling playful, the Empress ordered again, “Sit.”
Sit? Sit where?
If she didn’t sit, that would be against the rules, but the Empress was already sitting on the only Chair. Xunian had nowhere left to sit.
She had no choice but to grit her teeth and sit beside the Empress.
The Empress was very slender and didn’t take up much space, so even when she sat in the center, there was still some room left on the Chair.
Xunian sat at the very edge of the Chair, right next to the Empress, her head lowered in fear, as if waiting for punishment.
As for why she didn’t sit on the floor, it was because she thought it was dirty.
All the Empress could feel was a gentle, harmonious fragrance lingering by her side, soothing her heart.
She couldn’t control her urge to move closer to the person beside her, and somehow reached out to grab Xunian’s sleeve, wanting to hug her arm.
The moment she held on, her mind went blank for an instant, and she hurriedly let go of Xunian’s sleeve.
That was too improper. How could an Empress act so intimately toward a Palace Maid?
She had almost hugged Xunian’s arm naturally, as if they were close confidantes.
Who—who would be close confidantes with a Palace Maid?!
The Empress’s face heated up, her heart erupting like a pot boiling over, and the tips of her ears turned pink.
Having been raised with traditional values, she couldn’t bring herself to admit she wanted to be confidantes with a Palace Maid.
In truth, what the Empress wanted with Xunian wasn’t simply to be confidantes, but she didn’t realize this.
She misunderstood that the strange feeling in her heart was simply a desire for friendship.
She moved aside to make room for Xunian. The two of them sat together on the Chair, close enough to sense each other’s presence.
Xunian felt as if she was sitting beside a living Herbal Essence.
The Empress carried a faint Traditional Chinese Medicine Scent on her, as if she herself had been transformed into an herbal spirit.
Surrounded by the fresh fragrance wafting from Xunian, the Empress’s heartbeat sped up, her cheeks flushed, and her complexion improved visibly, no longer looking so sickly.
Greedily wanting to get even closer, she said to Xunian, “Why are you sitting so far away?”
Xunian heard the hint and scooted closer.
The two sat shoulder to shoulder on the Chair. Through the thick robes, the Empress could even faintly feel the warmth of Xunian’s shoulder.
Her cheeks grew inexplicably hot.
The Empress didn’t know what was happening to her, whether her heart was skipping a beat or pounding faster, and for some reason, her mind was filled with nothing but the Palace Maid beside her.
She wanted to look at her, to hold her hand, to hug her…
She kept holding the Brush, unable to start writing.
Was she really going to become close confidantes with a Palace Maid?
Inside, the Empress was wracked with frantic confusion, unsure what to do as she gripped the Brush and fell deep into thought.
Until Xunian gently called to her, “Madam?”
Xunian had noticed that the Empress, ever since picking up the Brush, hadn’t done anything.
Not knowing what the Empress was thinking, she dared not disturb her.
After a long while, she finally called her softly.
The Empress seemed to snap out of it, cleared her throat, and said, “Shall I teach you to write your name?”
Xunian… Did writing those two characters really take so long to consider?
Xunian nodded.
The Empress took up the Brush and wrote out the characters “Xu Nian,” as perfectly as if printed.
Xunian always remembered to maintain her illiterate persona, so she took the Brush from the Empress’s hand with her Left Hand, immediately about to scribble on the Announcement Paper.
“Wait.”
The Empress took the Brush from her Left Hand, lifted her Right Hand, and placed the Brush in her Right Hand.
Then, quite naturally, she brushed aside the wispy Liu Hai on Xunian’s forehead, tucking them behind her ear.
Once that supremely natural motion was finished, both of them were stunned.
Xunian was somewhat dumbfounded. Why was the Empress treating her this way—they had only met yesterday…
The Empress froze too. She had acted instinctively, as if this was simply what she should do.
The scent of ink mingled with the fragrance of medicine, diffusing in the air, while outside the window, green willows swayed gently in the breeze, as if the room itself were growing warmer.
“Use your Right Hand,” the Empress said, wrapping her arm around Xunian, her somewhat cold hand covering Xunian’s soft one, gently adjusting her grip on the Brush.
The Empress leaned against Xunian’s back, her warm breath caressing Xunian’s ear, “Hold it like this.”
The two shadows leaned close together, overlapped and reflected on the floor behind them.
Since when did the Traditional Chinese Medicine Scent become so pleasant… Its subtle fragrance seeped deep into the heart.
Her heart thumped like a startled fawn, beating joyfully.
Xunian felt that she probably needed some Traditional Chinese Medicine to calm herself down.
To cure this problem she had of getting flustered whenever she met a beautiful woman.
She suspected that the Empress was the Duke’s Daughter, but she had no evidence.
Her heart felt like a radar, and whenever the Duke’s Daughter was near, it would lock onto her and beat wildly.
The Empress, holding her hand, wrote “Xu Nian” on the Announcement Paper.
Writing traditional characters in ancient times—it made sense…
The Empress let go and said to her warmly, “Give it a try.”
Xunian carefully wrote out…a mass of illegible scribbles.
Every stroke landed in the most unexpected places.
Looking at that scribble, the Empress somehow managed to praise her, “For your first time, the force is there—it’s quite…good.”
Xunian “bashfully” lowered her head. “Really?”
“Really, it’s just that…” The Empress sincerely held Xunian’s hand, her gaze earnest. “In the future, don’t tell anyone your handwriting was taught by me, all right?”
Xunian fought hard to hold back her laughter, and nodded solemnly. “Yes, this servant understands.”
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