Chapter 21, Aunt Flo’s Backward Flow
As soon as they heard that His Majesty had returned, the women in the harem rushed over from all directions, as if they were injected with chicken blood. Colorful and lively, they gathered together, leaving Huangfu Changan alone on the outskirts, pushed aside by his unfortunate fate. It was infuriating that despite his large size, he was still disregarded. Ignored.
Sighing at the good fortune of his royal father, Huangfu Changan brushed off the dirt from his palms, turned his head to glance at Huangfu Fenglin, who had been lifted out of the pit, and saw him looking disheveled with a pale face. This brought him some psychological balance.
As the saying goes—
Seeing him doing poorly, I feel relieved.
“Oh my god… this snake, this snake…”
Suddenly, a young eunuch exclaimed in fear, pointing at the bottom of the pit, then couldn’t help but glance back at Huangfu Fenglin’s back, and finally cast a horrified gaze at Huangfu Changan. When their eyes met, he quickly turned away, afraid for his life.
Huangfu Changan raised an eyebrow, took a few steps forward to look into the pit, and couldn’t help but be stunned.
So many snakes!… No, wait, so many… flattened snakes!
She never expected her impact to be so great. This battle, damn, it was too brutal… She swore she didn’t do it on purpose!
Oh… she heard that the Fourth Prince has a slight case of cleanliness obsession. Even if a little ink smudges on his sleeve, he would feel uncomfortable all over and immediately change into clean clothes. If he knew that his precious body had crushed so many poisonous snakes, she wondered what his reaction would be?
What a pity, why did he faint so easily? It wouldn’t hurt to take a look first before fainting… If only they had cameras in this era, she would definitely capture this scene, print it as posters, and plaster them all over the Fuyao Palace! Let those bastards who dare to plot against her feel disgusted. Everyone knows she has a strong sense of revenge.
The Emperor is a good father, even if he is surrounded by concubines and guards and can’t get away, he hasn’t forgotten his precious daughter. Before leaving with the entourage, he instructed the palace servants, “Safely escort the Crown Prince back to the Eastern Palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Finally, he cast a reassuring glance at Huangfu Changan, “You go back to the palace and rest. I will visit you later.”
Suddenly, everyone’s gaze fell on her, finally acknowledging her presence. However, each person’s expression was different, filled with disdain, contempt, jealousy, resentment, and ten thousand other emotions that she couldn’t understand. They couldn’t understand why His Majesty paid such great attention to this useless Crown Prince. They must have lost their minds.
Ahem, even though Huangfu Changan’s perspective aligns with theirs in this regard, as the one who receives all the favor, she naturally wants to enjoy the envy and special treatment from others. Even if it means leaving Huangfu Yinhua with a smug and content smile, “Father loves me the most! However, I haven’t finished my exercise today, so I’ll take my leave…”
With that, Huangfu Changan turned her big butt in front of everyone, leaving them with a bulky figure.
“Hehe…” Seeing this, Huangfu Yinhua raised an eyebrow in surprise. It was the first time he had seen Huangfu Changan make such progress, and it took him a moment to adjust. “This kid’s brain must have been soaked! If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have wasted so much effort. I would have just thrown him into the water to see if it could awaken his senses. Don’t you think so, Empress?”
The Empress’s expression slightly changed when she was mentioned by name, and she had to smile and accompany him. “Your Majesty is joking. The Crown Prince is a priceless treasure. How could we easily let him fall into the water?”
The Imperial Consort sighed. “Although the Crown Prince has lost his memory and doesn’t remember what happened that day, if the Jingyao County Princess didn’t offend him, why would he have resorted to violence against her? There must be some connection between them, right?”
“What do you mean, sister? On that day, Jingyao suffered greatly and the Crown Prince later admitted that it was a result of being startled. Sister, without evidence, please don’t stir up trouble and spread rumors in front of His Majesty.”
Seeing that the two women were about to argue again, Huangfu Yinhua suddenly felt a headache and waved his hand to stop them.
“Enough, let’s not talk about this anymore. I will investigate this matter thoroughly. If I catch whoever is at fault, I will punish them severely! Of course, I won’t falsely accuse anyone of baseless things. Everyone, let’s return to the palace. I have something to discuss with General Zuo.”
Knowing that His Majesty was going to deal with the assassins, the concubines dared not say anything more and bowed before leaving, one by one dispersing.
Back in the Zhao Hua Palace for a moment of rest, the Empress pondered and still felt uneasy. She called for her attendant, Yuanhe, and gave her instructions.
“Regarding the Crown Prince falling into the water, His Majesty will probably not let it go easily. Just in case, find a reason to leave the palace and inform Marquis Hou and Jingyao to be prepared in advance.”
“I will go right away.”
In the Fu Yao Palace, the Imperial Consort walked to the edge of the bed and pushed the pretending-to-be-unconscious Huangfu Fenglin. She sighed. “Get up, how long do you plan to keep up this act? It’s surprising that you endured being dirty until now. Are you waiting for your mother to undress you and clean you up?”
She shook him a few times but there was no response from Huangfu Fenglin. The Imperial Consort couldn’t help but glance at her attendant and took two steps forward to feel his forehead. She was instantly startled.
“It’s so hot… Lan Se Yi, quickly go get a basin of water, Lu Se Shang, go quickly and summon the imperial physician!”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
As soon as the Emperor returned to the palace, Huangfu Changan clearly felt a great change in everyone’s attitude towards her. Those who used to avoid her were no longer avoiding her, those who used to have a mournful face when they saw her now smiled at her, and those who used to be lazy and neglectful in serving her were now attentive… Tsk tsk, as expected, people rely on clothes, Buddhas rely on gold attire, and waste relies on powerful backing!
Because of Huangfu Fenglin’s disturbance, when Huangfu Changan returned to the sleeping quarters after running around, it was much later than usual, and the dinner that had been prepared in advance had already gone cold.
The palace servants were about to reheat it, but Huangfu Changan didn’t feel hungry and ordered them to take it away.
In an instant, the table that was once full was left with only some snacks and fruits.
In the middle of the table was a pyramid-shaped stack of crab paste. Ever since that day when Lan Yi was beaten, Huangfu Changan had thought he would give up, but that guy was persistent. After lying in bed for only three days, he struggled to make crab paste for her. Regardless of whether she ate it or not, he would deliver it to her sleeping quarters every day, just like the story of Meng Jiangnu crying at the Great Wall, he was even more persistent than her.
Huangfu Changan had already punished Huangfu Changan, feeling that it was unnecessary to argue with the same male companion, so she let him be.
And that guy was considerate as well. When he found out that she was on a diet, he added more coarse grains to the crab paste and reduced the sugar. It was the perfect thing to eat when she was feeling hungry.
She walked over and picked up the small piece of crab paste on the top, put it in her mouth, and chewed a few times. She hummed a song as she walked to the mirror, turned around, and looked at the round, fat, and unattractive figure in the bronze mirror. Huangfu Changan’s mood instantly turned sour.
She stood on the scale… Holy shit!
Not only didn’t she get lighter, she actually gained weight?! Why? Why? Why?!
In that moment, Huangfu Changan suddenly understood the feelings of the original owner of this body, that feeling of despair and self-abandonment—she had tried hard, she had endured hardships, she had persevered, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t stop the weight from increasing, she couldn’t escape from that nightmarish situation!
Too desperate, that feeling of slowly sinking into a quagmire and unable to extricate oneself, it was like… Aunt Flo reversing the river.
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