After a few more uneventful days, the Jing Prince arrived.
It was a bright and beautiful afternoon. The Jing Province’s spring seemed to have just arrived. The courtyard’s trees were green and the flowerbeds were blooming. Gardeners came every day to tend the flowerbeds. It felt like it hadn’t been that long and there were already green sprouts shooting up, and a few faintly discernable flower buds were present as well.
The Jing Prince had come, but Xiao Hua hadn’t seen the flowers bloom nor the birds call.
She seemed no different from before, but also seemed extremely different from before.
The little flower was clearly the same, but the Jing Prince still felt a little twisted in panic.
“What happened to you?”
Saying this, the Jing Prince stroked Xiao Hua’s hair.
Because of this little gesture with the Jing Prince, Ding Xiang would always leave Xiao Hua a strand of hair sticking out on the side of her temples regardless of her hairstyle. Every time the Jing Prince stroked that spot, Xiao Hua would feel the warmth of spring and flowers blooming. These days she didn’t leave that strand hanging, and had tied it all up. The Jing Prince’s hand had paused before falling onto her hair.
“Nothing much.”
The Jing Prince looked at his own hand, and then looked at her. She had her head lowered and he couldn’t see her eyes. The finger that would always be stroked by her twitched and seemed to be a little at a loss.
He purposefully placed his hand in front of her, but there was still nothing.
The Jing Prince felt a little depressed. After thinking a little, he placed his hand on her hand, but there was still nothing.
The Jing Prince was depressed for a while, but his weariness ended up covering this unclear emotion. He had truly been too busy these past couple of days. He stole some time off to come to the western pavilion just to see her, and rest for a while.
Unknowingly, he fell asleep.
Despite not wanting to look over, Xiao Hua did so anyway after not sensing any movement from that side.
He had fallen asleep, and was fast asleep.
She grabbed the thin blanket from the kiln and carefully covered the Jing Prince with it.
Xiao Hua’s actions seemed to have startled the Jing Prince awake. He moved a little and pulled her into his arms. It was just like before. She curled up in his arms and he wrapped one arm around her waist as they napped together.
The emotions in her heart surged and threaten to choke her up. Xiao Hua endured for a long while before finally pushing it back down. She steadied her breathing for a long time before closing her eyes and stopped thinking about anything.
The Jing Prince only awoke after dark.
The two of them were each helped with washing their faces, and dinner had already been served.
After eating dinner, the Jing Prince took a bath first. After the Jing Prince was done, Xiao Hua also went.
The bed curtains were lowered, concealing the charming scene inside.
The Jing Prince moved in close, one hand on Xiao Hua’s nape as the other roamed about below. Their lips and tongues intertwined above and his hand rubbed and pinched teasingly below.
Compared to the past, the Jing Prince’s current skills were far too good. Having done this for some time, the two of them were very familiar with each other. The Jing Prince knew which places would make Xiao Hua let out a few sweet sounds, and he also knew how to make her feel good. After a few rounds, the area beneath his hand was dripping wet.
The Jing Prince’s fingertips that were placed on that area rubbed a little once more, and he felt the person in his arms shiver all over from excitement. His breathing grew heavy, putting pressure and teasing the spot, and even inserted his finger inside up to the first knuckle and moved about.
Xiao Hua hadn’t wanted it, but was teased by him until her mind went blank, and had even been stimulated by him in that embarrassing area.
Her mind was filled with all sorts of nonsense as she wondered whether he had done this with other people.
Her vision went black and she couldn’t endure any longer.
At this moment, the Jing Prince got on top, parted her slender legs and thrust himself inside.
She had still been experiencing the aftershocks of her climax, and being penetrated at this time Xiao Hua’s vision went black once again. An extremely shaky cry erupted from her throat.
She didn’t care about whatever propriety in her heart anymore. She hugged his neck and wildly moved her lips over his neck, chin, and lips. Her hand also didn’t forget to move around. Her legs wrapped tightly around that firm, slender waist without leaving any gaps.
“Xiao Hua’er, gentler, gentler” The Jing Prince urgently said by her ear.
Xiao Hua had already lost control by this point. How could she pay attention to these words? Her eyes were red and seemed like they were about to drip water, her hands moved about wildly, her mouth let out cries as she urged, “highness, keep moving”
The Jing Prince did hear this, but how was he supposed to move when he was squeezed like this?
Seeing her aroused to this extent, he could only use his hands to force her slender legs apart and put them on his shoulders. He lowered himself and directly thrust the daylights out of her.
***
“Ding Xiang, has his highness woken up yet?”
Eunuch Fu walked in and asked. Since the Jing Prince often stayed the night at the western pavilion, he had arranged a room for Eunuch Fu to stay in overnight as well. However, Eunuch Fu always got up very early. He had come asking about it before the crack of dawn.
“General Manager Fu, his highness hasn’t awoken yet.” Seeing Eunuch Fu, Ding Xiang’s thoughts were very complicated.
Eunuch Fu let out an “oh” and sat on the side.
Only after another half an hour passed was there movement in the bedroom.
Eunuch Fu walked inside and asked with a low voice: “Is highness planning to get up?”
There was a low sound of affirmation. Eunuch Fu waved his hand and several low-ranked eunuchs came in carrying a copper basin, warm water, hand towels, light salt, basin for the mouth rinse and the Jing Prince’s clothes that he planned to wear today.
These were all prepared in advance. The Hall of Splendor’s low ranked eunuchs that were used to serving the Jing Prince had brought them over before dawn. Luckily, since this happened quite often, everyone had gotten used to it by now.
The palanquin bed’s curtains remained shut, and those standing outside stood solemnly at attention.
A faint trembling movement sounded, and a soft, lovable yet also slightly hoarse voice rang out, “Highness is leaving? This servant concubine will help you get dressed.”
“You sleep.”
“Oh.”
Xiao Hua lay on the bed still a little fuzzy. Seeing the person dressed in his underwear prepare to leave, she couldn’t help but call out, “highness….”
The Jing Prince turned his head. Although he didn’t say anything, he seemed to be asking what was wrong.
Xiao Hua shook her head, smiled a little and shut her eyes.
She thought that he had probably left, but she unexpectedly felt someone stroking her hair.1
Xiao Hua opened her eyes and saw that apathetic yet extremely handsome face in front of her eyes. Although he wasn’t smiling, she could tell there was a smile in his eyes, and a tenderness that made her heart stop.
“Sleep a little longer.”
She nodded her head, and closed her eyes once again.
She told herself to hurry and fall asleep without letting her imagination run wild. But she couldn’t resist pricking up her ears and listening to the movements outside. Only when she heard the footsteps fade did Xiao Hua’s tears come pouring out.
She didn’t know how much time went by when she head Ding Xiang’s hesitant voice from outside the curtains.
Xiao Hua let out an “en” without knowing what was going on.
Outside, Ding Xiang let out another sigh.
“Madam, let this servant say some improper words. Why do you make things difficult for yourself like this?’
These days, Ding Xiang had always kept an eye on madam’s attitude and felt worried in her heart. She thought that since she was young, having encountered a setback suddenly she would have gotten better after a few days. His highness came yesterday and the two of them had gotten along very well. The commotion last night was so large, she had expected madam to be full of joy. Unexpectedly, when she came to ask if madam wanted to get up, she heard the sound of suppressed weeping.
At that moment she understood that madam was digging herself deeper into the hole.
“Ding Xiang, I…..” Xiao Hua whimpered a few words from inside the curtains, “….I just feel stuffed up in panic….”
Ding Xiang gritted her teeth and said: “Let’s not discuss whether Eunuch Fu’s actions were appropriate or not. Has madam forgotten that there is still the consort, Senior Concubine Qiao and the two Madams Yu in this estate?”
Xiao Hua lay inside as though struck by lightning, her face pale.
That’s right, she had really been possessed.
Because the Jing Prince had solely favored her, because the Jing Prince had never visited the other places, she had become foolish. She had felt that person belonged to her alone. She had buried her head, not thinking about anything, not caring about anything, and pretended everything else didn’t exist.
But she had gotten a shock this time when people entered the Hall of Splendor, especially since these people were very similar to her. They also had Eunuch Fu behind them pushing them forward. She thought of her own origin and of how she herself entered the Jing Prince’s eyes, and she ended up panicking.
She was scared and she was hurt. She felt choked up with emotions…..actually, at the source, everything was merely due to her discontentment with the situation. What was there to panic about? There were bound to be others. That was how the world worked. Just like what Ding Xiang had said, it was natural for men to have several wives and concubines. She was just one of many.
But, but, why did she feel unreconciled in her heart? She was unwilling to yield him to others, unwilling for him to shift everything they shared onto some other woman.
She didn’t show it on the surface, but in the few days he hadn’t come she wildly thought he had someone new….
Otherwise, why wouldn’t he come?
Then he finally came. She had felt uncomfortable, but in reality she had felt more ecstatic than anything.
She was just unwilling to let him see it. She had even thought: “Why did you come? I had finally calmed down, and with a little more time I would have become the sort of woman who ate and drank when she should and didn’t make things difficult for herself.”
But he had come, and the tenderness from before had come again, overwhelming her in an instant. Her mind got bewildered, her eyes got blurry. She hated how she couldn’t keep him hidden, not giving him to anyone else…
She had never had these feelings before, even in her past life. This was because she had known the 4th young master wasn’t a good husband from the get go.
His highness was different from the 4th young master. Xiao Hua wasn’t able to say exactly what was different.
Xiao Hua lay in bed and silently recalled all her interactions with him….
From the beginning as she served in the hall, to when he wanted her, to when she moved rooms and he would come spend the night once in a while, to when she moved to the western pavilion due to the Jing Consort’s scheme…..
Even when she moved to the western pavilion, he had remembered her. He would come once every three to five days. At that time, she had felt restless after moving to the western pavilion, and every time he came, even if he didn’t speak, she would feel some comfort in her heart….
Xiao Hua understood how their relationship had slowly developed. It was entirely due to him liking her body.
In her past life she had often been cursed by others, saying she was a vixen who seduced others. She would often use some lowly moves to hook the 4th young master to her room, but she didn’t feel it was shameful.
She still remembered long, long ago when she was still young, she had heard a saying from somewhere, “If a woman can’t even serve her man well in bed, why would he be good to you”…..
At that time she didn’t understand. Afterwards, having seen various people as she moved from household to household, she finally realized that this was indeed the case. Therefore in her past life, after getting together with the 4th young master, she had served him with all her heart for the sake of his support….
In this life, this was her initial goal as well. However, under his apathetic yet focused gaze, his clumsy yet considerate actions, and him stroking her back comfortingly….her goal had changed little by little beyond recognition…..
He was so, so good. How can she be willing, and how can she be resigned to yield him to others!?
Translator’s notes:
My sister was kind enough to draw some fan-art for the novel. She had been reading along but stopped a while back because I wasn’t translating fast enough >.<
She was nice enough to do this for free, so in exchange I’ll give her newly created Artist’s Instagram page and gaming Twitch Channel a boost. Please hop over and let her know if you liked the art. Maybe we can convince her to do some more…
I had been bugging her about making emojis for this novel, and had already thought of a list (disdainful Xiao Hua, arrogant Xiao Hua, face-lowered Xiao Hua, “wtf” Xiao Hua, apathetic prince, random broken teacup), but didn’t have any good ideas of where these emojis could be useful. Dunno if it would work in the comment section. I’ll look into it when I get a chance.
I’ll also post the pics on the novel’s main page.
Aww Chibi Xiao Hua is really too cute! Your sister is very talented. Thanks for the translation.
It’s really wonderful to have a look at Xiao Hua’s thoughts. We can see how her feelings evolved, and although I know it is common for people in ancient times, it never really sits well with me when a relationship (especially a physical one) is just about getting favors and support. So this transition into feelings of true love due to compatible personalities and both individuals being decent human beings, really speaks to me.
I am also happy to see Prince Jing being more and more in tune with Xiao Hua. Despite his own socially-awkward personality and his well-known disregard over other people’s feelings, he could detect Xiao Hua’s difference in mannerism, and started feeling panicky. That is progress indeed!
Looking forward to seeing how Eunuch Fu is going to get burnt hahaha
Imo, Prince Jing was changing and willing to change to be a better person for Xiao Hua, and that’s exactly the reason she’s helplessly fall deeply in love with him.
The 4th Young Master was also changing after he favored her in the past, but it’s not for her and he’s changing to be a worse person.
Most people would fall out of love when their significant other indulge and drown in bad habits, especially when the bad habits hurt them (either it’s physically or mentally). If they don’t hate them, at most, they’ll grow weary and indifferent toward them.
Hahahahhahahah your sister is a hoot!🤣🤣🤣. If only she knew that you are one of the fastest translator’s. Hahaha.
The chibi’s are adorable! Good quality art. Maybe this could be something you guys team up to do for other future novels you translate. I followed her page!
I empathize with XH because I went through a similar emotional rollercoaster with a guy I had a crush on in my teens.
But she is strong so I expect her to shake it off in maybe the coming two chapters😜?
Keep up the good translation.
Having read MTL raws… *Stones down ML*
If I was Xiao Hua {since I’m mad af about my partner being ‘shared’} I’d probably ignore him, scream at him or kill him (or kill the girls n eunuch fu) like ik that’s drastic but :/
So cute 😍😍😍 already followed at instagram!
“This was because she had known the 4th young master wasn’t a good husband from the get go”
??? Before, didn’t she say she was easily fooled because 4th young master was so tender and kind to her? How come her past self suddenly got this wisdom? It was only later that he lost her affection and she was after him merely for the support he could give her.
The author has contradict her own narration since Xiao Hua stay in western rear court. 😑 That’s not the only point she changed. 😓😑😓