Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
Translatorâs notes:
Thank you UE for donating, and then for donating once againâŠ.
With that, threshold for two sponsored chapters has been reached. This is actually the final chapter of the main story. There are 12 more chapters after this for the epilogue, and 5 more days left in the week. Including the sponsored chapters, I owe 8 more chapters this week. However, Iâll do my best to finish translating the remaining chapters by the end of the week. No promises, but itâll be at least more than 8.
*****
In the end, Xiao Hua was a decisive person and thought things through very quickly.
Actually, what Lin Qing Wan said was very reasonable. She could choose not to think about it and not feel guilty. From a selfish perspective, she could make any eyesores disappear.
Of course, there were many ways to make people disappear. It was up to her to decide how to do it.
Speaking about it was easy but carrying it out was hard.
The Jing Emperor was a man and the emperor after all. How could he release his own women? If the women in the palace wanted to leave, death was probably the only optionâŠ.
Xiao Hua kept this in her heart for a long, long time, and never brought it up.
As someone who slept beside her, the Jing Emperor naturally realized Xiao Huaâerâs abnormality. But since she didnât say anything, he also didnât know how to start asking.
Before long, the Jing Emperor stopped trying to guess.
He first called Chun Cao and Ding Lan away to ask them about it, but didnât get any results. Then, he set his sights on Lin Qing Wan, who was the senior concubineâs best friend.
Of course, the Jing Emperor wouldnât summon a commoner for questioning. This was left to the hardworking and diligent Eunuch Fu.
Eunuch Fu brought back the answer.
Lin Qing Wan naturally wouldnât say things too clearly, but still gave a few hints. Who was Eunuch Fu? He was a talented person! Although he didnât completely understand what she meant, he understood one thing. The senior concubine couldnât get used to seeing those three people.
According to Eunuch Fuâs thoughts, it made sense. If those people werenât easy on the eyes, they shouldnât be wandering about being eyesores. The concubine was pregnant, and couldnât afford to be angered.
The same words had a different meaning to the Jing Emperor.
He glanced at Eunuch Fu who was standing submissively, âYou donât need to worry about this.â
Eunuch Fu didnât understand, but responded, âYes.â
That night, the Jing Emperor stroked Xiao Huaâs stomach, adjusted his emotions and gave a speech.
This was the first time the Jing Emperor said such sappy and corny words. Regardless, Xiao Hua felt goosebumps popping up from cringing. It couldnât be helped. When a man said such sappy things with a rigid face, anyone would feel uncomfortable.
The gist of his speech has that now he had her, he wouldnât look at anyone else. Therefore, he felt a little sorry for the other people. He lamented and felt guilty, and somewhat blamed himself for not being a better personâŠ..
In the end, he gave Xiao Hua an extremely distressed glance, almost making her tear up.
âMajesty, donât ever say that. Itâs all because of me. Majesty is like this all because of me.â Xiao Hua hugged the Jing Emperorâs head and comforted.
The Jing Emperor lay in her soft bosom and let out a sigh.
How comfortable!
âWe plan to wait another two years, and once people are no longer paying attention to Our harem, We will release them.â
Xiao Hua was in disbelief and rubbed her ears.
Where did this thought come from? Was she too in tune with her man, or was he just too good at reading people?
âIs, is that ok?â She was actually very pleased inside.
âWhatâs not ok about it? Wasting their time would only bring bad karma.â The Jing Emperor spoke righteously.
Fine, then Xiao Hua wouldnât have reservations anymore. Since her man had said so, everything was great.
âThen majesty better not regret it afterwards.â
âNaturally wonât regret.â
***
The empress finally couldnât endure any longer.
She had lasted so many years. Despite suffering from her illness, she had endured it gladly.
Whenever she felt uncomfortable, she would imagine how she was making the two of them hopping mad, and would immediately feel better.
Some people were born to make trouble for others. The empress reflected back on her interactions with the Jing Emperor, and felt this was all she had been good for.
But she was now completely at ease. If she was a bother then sheâd be a bother. Since she couldnât obtain his love, it was also good to obtain his hatred. Regardless, he would forget about her in the end. He would forget that in his life, there had once been such a horrible woman.
The empress wanted to see his majestyâŠâŠ
This message was swiftly relayed to the Jing Emperor. Xiao Hua also received the news.
âMajesty, donât go.â Xiao Hua grabbed the Jing Emperorâs arm and said urgently: âThis servant concubine isnât being selfish. Regarding that sick person, these years many of the Fengqi Palaceâs people have ended up getting infected. You are the emperor, the ruler under the heavens. You naturally have to watch your health.â
The Jing Emperor patted Xiao Huaâs hand and ordered for everyone in the imperial hospital to be brought over.
The reason he called them over was to ask about the probability of getting infected if he were to meet the empress once. These imperial physicians all hesitated, and finally a young imperial physician surnamed Hu stood out and said that with sufficient preparations and minimizing the period of exposure, there shouldnât be a problem.
This imperial physician was the Little Doctor Hu from back then. He was now an imperial physician at the imperial hospital.
The Jing Emperor nodded and had them make the preparations.
Seeing this, Xiao Hua no longer stopped him, and merely watched as the physicians prepared. In the end, she still didnât feel at ease and ordered them to place a screen in front of the empressâs bed.
âŠâŠ
Seeing the slender and tall silhouette behind the screen, the empress held in a bitter smile.
As expected, he still loathed her.
The hall was silent enough to hear a needle drop.
The empress coughed lightly a few times, and had the palace maids beside her support her up before waving her hand and having them leave.
Only two people remained in the hall. The empress in her bed and the Jing Emperor behind the screen. The two should have been the most intimate people in the world, but they were worlds apart.
The empress let out a deep breath and laughed nastily, âDid you feel this seat was extremely irksome these years?â
Silence.
âI can imagine it. You have everything you wanted, and have accumulated enough to confer her as empress. No one would dare object. UnfortunatelyâŠ.unfortunately this seat just refuses to die!â The empress panted rapidly, her voice becoming shrill, âHaha. You have the urge to choke this seat to death, right? You probably hate this seat from the bottom of your heart, right?â
The silence continued.
âDo you regret speaking too grandly back then? Luo Jing, this seat may not be good at anything else, but Iâm still good at making you feel vexedâŠ..â
She was a little out of breath from laughing, her withered body trembled over and over before finally recovering somewhat. However, she realized that the silhouette behind the screen had left at some point.
âŠâŠ.
Her dull eyes were blank.
After being frozen for a long while, she lay back down on her soft pillow, and said faintly: ââŠ.now, this seat is tiredâŠ.I donât want to play with you guys anymoreâŠ.in the next life, I hope to never meet you againâŠâŠâ
Behind the screen, a trembling silhouette appeared, and unfolded something in its hands.
âIn compliance with the heavens, receive the emperorâs edictâŠ..â
In the next life, I never want to meet you againââ-
âŠâŠ
At the same time, the Jing Emperor returned to the Chenxi Palace with a sunken expression.
He chose not to enter the main hall right away, and instead went to the side hall where a bath had already been prepared. He used wormwood infused water to cleanse himself and had someone burn the clothes he was wearing. Only after changing into a new outfit did he enter the main hall.
Only now did the worried Xiao Hua feel relieved. She walked over and grabbed his hand, âMajestyâŠ..â
The Jing Emperor patter her hand comfortingly, and led Xiao Hua, who was heavily pregnant, to sit down.
âEverythingâs fine, right?â
âFine.â
The Jing Emperor naturally wouldnât say that the empress only wanted to see him to mock him.
Having ignored the woman who was his wife for so long, he truly felt nothing for her anymore. The slight regard between the married couple over two lifetimes had long since vanished. Even when hearing her say such words, the Jing Emperor truly couldnât be bothered to listen.
There were too many strange people in the world, and there were all sorts of weird ways of thinking. The Jing Emperor didnât want to understand it, and couldnât be bothered to do so.
âWe have already passed the edict stripping the empressâs position. Tomorrow, We will pass the edict conferring you empress. Really sorry for making you wait so longâŠ.â
Xiao Hua squeezed forwards and covered the Jing Emperorâs lips, âMajesty, never say that. Perhaps I had thought about it early on, but after so many years, I feel weâve long since become undoubtedly a married couple. That official status isnât as important to have.â
âWe only feel at ease this way.â
A eunuch came in and reported with a bow, âMajesty, Xiao-Shi is no moreâŠ.â
After a whileââ
The Jing Emperor waved his hand and had him take his leave.
Xiao Hua was also dazed. After some time, she slowly let out a breath, âHow strange. While it shouldnât be the case, I still feel a little uncomfortable in my heart. She, sheâs gone just like that?â
The Jing Emperor let out a sigh and pulled her into his arms. âYouâre currently pregnant, donât overthink things.â
Xiao Hua didnât say anything. Only after a while did she say: âMajestyâŠ..look how large my stomach is. Itâs also not too convenient. How about waiting a little later to confer me empress. This servant concubine wants to be a beautiful empress, not a pregnant empress.â
How could the Jing Emperor not know what she was thinking? He nodded his head in agreement. âAlright.â
***
The Fengqi Palace was currently extremely lively.
Today was the empressâs grand conferral ceremony. The current Fengqi Palace was naturally not the same Fengqi Palace from before. After the former empress passed away from her illness, his majesty had ordered the Fengqi Palace to be torn down, and a new one was constructed in its place.
It was larger than before, and even more luxurious.
The internal affairs department had sent over the empressâs imperial outfit for tomorrow early on. It was extremely dazzling, and the entire bed was covered in its various accompaniments and complementary pieces.
The most eye-catching was the empressâs phoenix headdress. The round piece was made of jadeite, adorned with nine dragons and four phoenixes. The central dragon held a large jewel in its mouth. It was topped off by a jade cover and a string of pearls. The remaining dragons all held a jewel in their mouths as well. There were forty pieces of jade clouds, twelve large and small pearl flowers, twelve inlaid jade flowers, three strands of trailing ornamental hair adorned with golden dragons and jade clouds, each with a hanging pearl. There was a pair of jade loops with twelve jeweled flowers, twelve jade flowers, some golden support hoops and five types of jade pearl flowers. The base was also surrounded by pearlsâŠ..
Xiao Hua weighed it in her hands and truly wondered if her neck could support it.
She then looked at the phoenix robes. These were long traditional dark cyan robes, woven with twelve pairs of pheasants within flower wheel patterns. It had red cuffs, collar and bottom with small golden dragon patterns. The dark cyan robes covered the knees, and there were four flowers for every three pairs of pheasants. The jade leather belt was held in place with green silk, outlined in golden dragons with ten jade ornaments and four golden ornaments. The green and red mixed large band hung down and was also embroidered with golden dragon motifs.
There was also a green secondary belt, a rainbow major tassel, three minor tassels, two sets of jade ornaments, cyan golden stockings, and shoes with five ornamental pearls eachâŠ.
Seeing the large amount of things she had to wear tomorrow, Xiao Huaâs head swelled up. To say she wasnât excited and pleased would be a lie.
She could finally become his wife, become the person who could justifiably stand at his side. There would no longer be anything that came between themâŠ..
Before dawn the next morning, Xiao Hua got up.
The entire Fengqi Palace was lit up. With the help of palace maids, Xiao Hua took a hot bath and washed her hair. Afterwards, a steamer was used to dry her long hair.
Ding Lan brushed Xiao Huaâs hair for her from the roots to the tips. On the other side, Chun Mei and the others were led by Chun Cao in helping her put on a facemask. After everything was done, Chun Cao helped Xiao Hua apply face cream and started putting on makeup.
After putting on makeup, around ten palace maids came in carrying the empressâs imperial outfit. Ding Lan and Chun Cao helped her put it on piece by piece. Once everything was in place, Xiao Hua sat in front of the makeup counter while Ding Lan brushed her hair.
Once she was done, Chun Cao carefully put on the phoenix headdress for Xiao Hua.
Xiao Hua stood up after they were all done, and tried taking a couple of steps.
Luckily, it was still stable. She finally experienced Zhuoâers emotions when he first put on his imperial outfit. It was truly heavy on top and light on the bottom.
Before she knew it, the sky had brightened.
Suddenly, the beating of drums sounded in the distance.
It was still quite far away, but was clearly audible.
Dong, dong, dongâŠ..
It was dignified and solemn.
Chun Cao let out a low sigh, âHis majesty has already started.â
For the sake of todayâs conferral ceremony, Xiao Hua wasnât the only one with a lot to do. Chun Cao and Ding Lan also had a lot of homework. They had to know all the proceedings and what to do during each step. Therefore, even if they werenât by the front court, Xiao Hua could understand the situation based on the beating of the drums.
At this time, his majesty should have arrived at the Hall of Origin.
As expected, the drums stopped and instruments began playing the âscore of silenced drumsâ.
By the time the music reached the Fengqi Palace, the sound had become quite faint. But it was the empress conferral ceremony today, and everyone was watching. Outside of the relevant ceremonial sounds, the entire palace was naturally silent. Therefore, Xiao Hua could still steadily hear the music within the Fengqi Palace.
Once the âscore of silenced drumsâ was over, the next piece was the âscore of celebrated peaceâ and âscore of prominent peaceâ.
Xiao Huaâs heart beat extremely fast. This was a sort of indescribable excitement. It made oneâs blood boil yet also made oneâs eyes burn at the same timeâŠ..
âConcubine, itâs time to rise. The conferral procession should be arriving soon.â Ding Lan suddenly spoke at some point.
Xiao Hua had the people support her to the Fengqi Palaceâs gates. Within the courtyard, all sorts of festive tables, incense tables and treasure tables had all been set up already.
The festive tables were in the dead center of the hall. The incense tables were towards the south and the treasure tables were set up in the east and west. The empressâs worship position was in front of the incense table, and there were six female officials already waiting.
The distant music came closer and closer.
Xiao Hua got off the steps, and right as she steadied herself, she saw the Jing Emperor in his black imperial outfit. Behind him, a large group of people carried the scrolls and treasure box containing the imperial rites.
It was currently sunrise, when the Golden Crow had just risen. The golden yellow sun shone brightly onto the approaching people, giving them a gilded appearance. That person, dressed in his black imperial robes, looked especially handsome and dignified, as though an immortal had come down from the heavens.
Xiao Hua completely forget what happened next. She merely followed the female officials mechanically and performed the ceremonial actions. However, her eyes couldnât bear to move away from him.
She only looked at him, looked at him the whole timeâŠ.
The Jing Emperor was the same way. His gaze was apathetic but extremely focused. Just like throughout all these years, he only noticed her alone, and never looked away. His restrained eyes burned with a smoldering gazeâŠ.
Following the cry of âCeremony completeâââ
A jade-white slender palm appeared in front of her. Xiao Hua placed her hand upon it and gently used his support to stand up.
âMajestyâŠ..â
âOur empress. You look extremely beautiful in this outfit.â
âReally?â
âEn.â
Authorâs notes:
Just to clarify: the details on the empressâs clothing were taken from the internet.
Please allow this author to laugh foolishly for a whileâŠ..
Itâs been three months, and this book has finally reached its epilogue. Actually thereâs still a lot I want to write about, but also feel perhaps writing about things unrelated to the male and female leads would be dragging it out? Therefore, the main story will end here. What comes next is the epilogue. The epilogue actually just continues where we left off, and tells a few stories about what happens after being conferred empress. For example, Eunuch Fu, Yi Yi, the fourth young master and so on. Of course, there wonât be a lack of Xiao Hua Hua and Repressed JingâŠ..
It wonât be too long, but ââ I can finally write without restraint!
I always felt that being conferred empress was the conclusion, so let this be a small ending.
Hahaha, this author will put her hands at her waist and laugh loudly towards the heavens. I can only release the carefree emotions in my heart this way.
Iâve updated chapters for half a year. From my very first novel to this one, Iâve never missed an update. Actually it was quite a lot of pressure. After all, this author isnât a professional, and this is only a hobby and I enjoy doing it.
Every time this author ended up crying while updating in the middle of the night, I would feel I have some issues. Luckily, there were always readers who could sympathize, whether it was one or two or a few. Iâd always feel kind of gratifiedâŠ..
Every woman has a dream, a beautiful dream. Actually this author is also dreaming, and wanted to share my dream with everyone elseâŠ..
As for the empress, this author ended up shedding quite a few tears for this woman. When I wrote the part where she was venting and Repressed Jing had left, I felt especially uncomfortable in my heart. Actually Repressed Jing isnât heartless, he just didnât know what to say, or perhaps after being estranged for so long he really became distantâŠ..
The first chapter in the epilogue is about Eunuch Fu. Iâm quite affectionate towards this damn eunuch, and must make his old face bloom in a smile.