At this moment, Xiao Jin found herself within the Great Yao Imperial Palace.
She reached out her hand and discovered that her body had become a transparent observer.
Xiao Jin felt no joy at being able to disguise herself as invisible, for she remembered that before entering this memory fragment, she seemed to have been bathing in a pool.
Xiao Jin’s only thought now was that she very much wanted to leave.
But obviously, leaving was certainly impossible.
According to standard web novel conventions, she would have to wait until the memory fragment ended before she could return to the original world within the book.
These principles, Xiao Jin understood them all.
However, she truly hadn’t expected that the activity range within this memory fragment was pitifully small.
She had wanted to go out and see the scenery outside the palace, but as soon as she stepped out of this room, she felt an irresistible force of resistance.
So Xiao Jin adopted an attitude of “since I’m here, I’ll make myself comfortable” and simply stayed right here.
She didn’t know how long she stayed in the room, but finally, she saw a living person. Looking closely, that person’s features were extremely similar to Chu Shao’s.
It was just that Chu Shao’s features were more gentle, while this person’s eyes and brows were filled entirely with an air of solitary pride and cold detachment.
The woman was dressed in magnificently elegant attire, as if she had just experienced a grand ceremony. Yet, strangely, she wasn’t followed by many attendants.
Only one maidservant stepped forward, supporting the woman’s hand: “Consort Rong, please be careful.”
Xiao Jin immediately understood the woman’s identity: she was Chu Shao’s imperial mother, Rong Lian.
Rong Lian didn’t seem to like talking much; she merely glanced at the maidservant.
Afterward, Rong Lian moved into this palace hall and gradually began to walk around the imperial palace, and Xiao Jin’s activity range expanded accordingly.
Xiao Jin discovered that the palace Consort Rong inhabited was built of colored glaze. Under the spring sunlight, the entire palace looked translucent and bright.
Having observed for many days, Xiao Jin learned that Rong Lian had once been a dancer at the Reed Pavilion.
Occasionally, Rong Lian would don her dancing robes and dance within the Glazed Palace. Because her back was bare, the silver-blue patterns on her shoulders appeared intermittently through the gauze curtains.
Watching from within the palace, Xiao Jin couldn’t help but find it somewhat baffling.
With Rong Lian’s status, even if her dancing was especially mesmerizing, it shouldn’t have been enough to overcome all objections and be titled Consort Rong by the Emperor of Yao, right?
It wasn’t until that day that Xiao Jin learned the reason behind it all.
After Rong Lian became pregnant, she shut the palace gates tightly and refused all visitors. The Emperor of Yao, Chu Yu, was busy with state affairs and rarely came to see her, only sending palace attendants to deliver many rewards and pregnancy tonics.
Yet there was one person who could casually order the palace attendants to open the crimson gates and step into the palace.
That woman wore a deep purple robe with an outer cloak of carved-silk crane design. Her expression and demeanor were noble beyond words, clearly an esteemed figure of the Yao Kingdom.
Looking closer, Xiao Jin noticed a vermilion mole between the woman’s brows, and her lips and nose were handsome almost to the point of sharpness.
The woman carried a food box in her hands. She seemed to be smiling, yet also seemed not to be.
This deliberate smile felt very familiar to Xiao Jin. Then she understood—the smile on the woman’s face was exactly the same as Chu Shao’s.
Just as Xiao Jin was thinking this, the violet-robed woman had already crossed the palace and arrived under the corridor.
At that time, Rong Lian was leaning against a peach blossom tree, playing a flute. The violet-robed woman merely stood far away, listening, not intending to walk over and look.
Only after Rong Lian finished playing a piece did the woman step forward at a leisurely pace and say with a smile to Rong Lian, “Greetings to Consort Rong.”
Xiao Jin saw that Rong Lian’s movement to put away her jade flute seemed to pause for a moment.
Then Rong Lian said, “Dispense with the formalities. May I know what matter brings the Imperial Preceptor here?”
Xiao Jin could hardly believe it. The woman before her eyes was the Imperial Preceptor of Yao, that person above ten thousand, second only to one?
The great traitor who caused the downfall of Yao?
The Imperial Preceptor’s expression was perfectly natural, as though she didn’t mind Rong Lian’s cold words. She loved to smile, and her smile carried a unique charm.
It was just that Rong Lian shifted her gaze elsewhere and didn’t look at her.
At this moment, Xiao Jin watched as the great traitor, infamous for cruelty and cold-bloodedness, took out a colored glaze cup from the food box, held up the crystalline vessel, and offered it to Rong Lian.
Peach blossom petals floated within the glazed cup.
The Imperial Preceptor smiled and said to Rong Lian, “This subject heard that Your Highness has always loved peach blossom soup, and thus specially sought out a cup, hoping you will kindly accept it.”
It was then that Xiao Jin noticed the Imperial Preceptor’s hands were wrapped in gauze and bandages, presumably injured by something sharp.
Rong Lian did not take the bowl of peach blossom soup. She merely said coldly to the Imperial Preceptor, “My Lady, I will not eat it.”
The Imperial Preceptor asked with a smile, “Why not?”
Rong Lian looked at the Imperial Preceptor. “I don’t know whether the things you send have been poisoned.”
The Imperial Preceptor seemed stunned.
She laughed several times, looking somewhat regretfully at the peach blossom soup in her hand. Then, the colored glaze cup slipped from her hand, fell to the ground, and shattered into many pieces.
“Pity. Since you dislike it, then this thing is of no use anymore.”
“Please rest assured and nurture your pregnancy, Your Highness. This humble official takes her leave first.”
The Imperial Preceptor flicked her sleeves and departed. Rong Lian leaned against the peach blossom tree and played her flute for a long time again.
Sometime after that, through the palace servants’ discussions, Xiao Jin roughly learned the reason why Rong Lian entered the palace.
It turned out that the Yao Kingdom had suffered continuous natural disasters in recent years. The Imperial Preceptor had sought out a shaman to observe the celestial phenomena at night, deducing that only the Star of Auspiciousness could dispel the disasters.
The shaman said the Star of Auspiciousness was a person.
That person was a woman, with silver-blue patterns on her shoulders, as beautiful as rhombus-edged snowflakes.
She said the Son of Heaven of Yao must welcome this woman into a palace of colored glaze, bestow the title of Consort upon her, only then could the natural disasters that had plagued Yao for years be dispelled.
A few months later, Rong Lian gave birth to a baby girl. The Emperor of Yao bestowed the name Shao upon her.
Princess Shao was just as beautiful as Rong Lian, but Rong Lian didn’t seem to like her much. So it was often the maidservants who looked after Chu Shao.
Xiao Jin looked at Chu Shao, who was sitting in the courtyard watching the flowers, gazing at the other’s large, dark eyes, feeling somewhat wistful.
Because Chu Shao was already five years old at this time, and her personality was very quiet and gentle. One couldn’t see any potential for growing up into a deviant at all.
Chu Shao sat in the courtyard, hiding among the peach blossoms and willows, resting her chin on her hands as she listened to Rong Lian play the flute.
Listening, she fell asleep.
Rong Lian carried Chu Shao back to her room. Curled up in her embrace, Chu Shao asked, “Imperial Mother, what tune were you playing?”
Rong Lian put away the purple flute, glanced at Chu Shao, and replied calmly, “Everlasting Longing.”
At night, Chu Shao secretly opened Rong Lian’s chest.
Inside were stored many flutes. She casually took one and began to play a melody softly in the courtyard.
The flute’s notes were halting, and her technique was inadequate.
Xiao Jin leaned against a willow tree, gazing down at Chu Shao below. She could barely make out that what she was playing was “Everlasting Longing”—the same tune Chu Shao had played on the pleasure boat that night.
A cool breeze rustled. Chu Shao played for a long time before finally producing a coherent tune.
A moment later, a smile lifted the corners of her lips. She spoke to the empty courtyard, “Did you think it sounded nice?”
“…”
Xiao Jin was startled, nearly falling from the willow tree.
Chu Shao put away the flute and smiled sweetly. “Since I was little, you’ve always been by my side. So you must know what I look like. But this seems a bit unfair, because I haven’t seen you yet.”
Xiao Jin repeatedly confirmed the fact that she was indeed still a transparent person.
Then she arrived at a conclusion: Chu Shao could either communicate with spirits, or she possessed some kind of clairvoyance.
Only Chu Shao was in the courtyard.
Chu Shao smiled innocently and said softly, “It’s a pity I didn’t play well, making a fool of myself before you.”
“When I grow up, I’ll play a good tune for you to hear, alright?”
“…”
Xiao Jin jumped down from the willow tree.
Looking at the young version of Chu Shao sitting before her, she couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle the other’s hair.
Of course, she was transparent, so she just groped at empty air.
Watching Chu Shao, who was smiling, Xiao Jin said sincerely, “Idiot.”
Chu Shao had no reaction.
Xiao Jin nodded. Now she could be certain: Chu Shao had no supernatural powers.
Chu Shao smiled. “How strange. You stand in front of me, but you don’t speak. Then I’ll take that as you’ve agreed.”
Xiao Jin: “…”
Before she could even marvel at Chu Shao’s terrifyingly acute perception and intuition, she once again lost consciousness.
…
Inside the bathing pool, Chu Shao’s brows were tightly furrowed.
She looked at Xiao Jin, whose body was half-submerged in the pool water, as though seeing her for the first time, observing her extremely carefully.
From the damp strands of hair at her forehead to the tightly pursed thin lips.
The steam rising from the pool carried a scent of medicinal herbs.
A jade-green droplet of water traced a path from the end of Xiao Jin’s brow down to her chin, then rolled onto that slender, graceful neck, slipping into her lapels.
The snow-white inner garment billowed in the pool, very much like a peony blooming in a jade-green pond.
The color was exceedingly pure white, set against the faintly visible legs at the pool’s bottom. That body inevitably appeared somewhat delicate and frail.
Yet, looking upward, this person bore a face so detached it was nearly devoid of any emotion. Only in the steam-filled bath did her features soften somewhat.
Even her lips, usually somewhat pale, had become moist and vivid red in the mist.
Xiao Jin’s face had no problems. The only thing amiss was that narrow, slender waist wrapped by the inner garment, and that one area that was clearly far too soft.
Chu Shao gazed at Xiao Jin, her brows unable to unfurrow.
She lowered her eyes, watching that droplet of water slide along Xiao Jin’s neck into her lapels, leaving a dark trail on the white garment.
So Chu Shao tentatively extended her hand. Like lifting a curtain veiling a beautiful silhouette, she slowly parted Xiao Jin’s lapels.
In an instant, the thick fog lingering in the bath dissipated.
Chu Shao’s hand paused mid-air.
Looking at the inch of skin hidden beneath Xiao Jin’s lapels, she stared silently for a long while.
Only after a long moment did Chu Shao retract her gaze. She gently straightened Xiao Jin’s lapels, as if finally understanding a baffling conundrum. Her brows gradually relaxed.
Xiao Jin seemed to be in a deep sleep.
Her dark hair was scattered on the water’s surface and the jade tiles. Her brows remained cold, yet several water droplets were slowly falling along her cheeks.
They dripped into the pool, clearer than pearls and jade dropping onto a platter.
Chu Shao watched that water droplet splash onto the surface, ripples spreading outward. A smile unconsciously curved the corners of her lips.
Finally, she extended her hand and gently pressed the pad of her thumb against Xiao Jin’s lips.
“So that’s how it is.”
