Concealed by Brocaded Clouds, Frost on the Roads: Volume 02 Chapter 10

March 14, 2022 Oyen 1 Comments

I will finished this novel soon~

Chapter 10: Who Thinks The West Wind Is Cold Alone?

translator: Oyen

Winter was short, and it always got dark in the blink of an eye. The maids had already lit the lanterns and the lights in the hall were bright at the moment.

She hugged the white fur and listened to the cold wind whistling outside the window, through the forest through the trees, and there was a faint sound. Four large golden charcoal furnaces were burned in each of the four corners of the hall, and a smoking pot was placed in front of the bed, which made the whole hall warm like spring.

He sat on the other side of the golden bed, holding a memorial book in his hand, lowered his eyes and very focused.

Such a situation as if they were returned to the newly married phase in that year.

At that moment, a thousand kinds of bitterness welled up in her heart. At that time, although it was not like glue like paint, it was also respectful. When she thought about it now, she had an illusion. It turned out that he and she had also had such a beautiful situation…

She could have stayed out of the palace, but she came back anyway. She couldn’t let go of Chengxuan, and how could she be willing to give up the child in her belly? … But, he looked at her like that.

As if sensing it, he turned his head only to see her sideways, then bowed his head back down and ordered, “Drink the ginseng soup.”

That ginseng soup had a peculiar smell, and she had never drunk them. In the middle of the night, he raised his head and said in a deep voice, “Drink quickly, don’t let me say the second time.”

Biting her lip lightly, she reluctantly picked up the bowl, pinched her nose, tilted her head and poured it out.

But before entering the throat, the peculiar smell had already regurgitated from the stomach. She covered her mouth and burped continuously. The standing Mo Ran had already brought the copper basin up, and as soon as she bowed her head, she vomited continuously, scouring her stomach, as if to vomit out all her bile before refusing to stop.

A pair of thick hands supported her waist and belly and gently touched her back again. She covered her chest and struggled to get up from the bed, shaking off his hand coldly.

He sighed almost inaudibly, and there was an unknown pampering tone in his voice, “Well, no more of this nuisance ginseng soup in the future.”

The hall was filled with charcoal furnaces and braziers, and the air was as warm as a spring day. She didn’t know whether it was because of vomiting or because of heat, it was red as if it had been smeared with rouge, burning brightly.

He stretched out his hand towards her. She looked away, held her waist and bowed to him, but didn’t  open her mouth to speak. However, he knew what she meant: ‘Emperor, I will rest. Respectfully escort the Emperor back to the palace.’

His face froze and was silent. She was clearly driving him away! She bowed again, meaning approximately: ‘This concubine is not well enough to serve the Emperor, please move to the other sisters’ hall.’

She stood with a cool posture holding her waist, as still as a deep winter pool, with a deep cold at hand.

She hated him so much, right? Since both of them pierce the layer of paper through, she refused to speak to him any longer.

He stood up, swung his sleeve, and called out loudly. “Shi Quanyi.” Shi Quanyi answered from far away in the doorway, “this slave is here.”

“Drive, go to Jiangyun Hall.” It was always as she wanted, he walked out with a frozen face.

She stood by the bed, watching him swing his sleeves and strode away for a long time before turning around in a daze.

Mo Ran sighed on the side. “Young Miss, why do you bother with this? The Emperor is still the Emperor ah!” She turned quietly, not hiding her sorrow. He hurt her so deeply that she still remembered it, and there was a kind of pain that she couldn’t help herself. Tell her, how could she forgive him ah!

She only entered the palace for Chengxuan and Ruan’s family. This was the only meaning for her to be in this deep palace. Everything else, including him, meant nothing to her, someone who had already died once.

The day after he forced her to eat, he arranged for Mo Ran and Mo Zhu to come over. Mo Ran and Mo Zhu only then learned that Concubine Ning was really their own Young Miss Ruan Wushuang. The two were crying and laughing, sad and happy, and it took a few days before they calmed down.

However, she still wasn't relieved for Chengxuan in the end, so she let Mo Zhu continue to serve Chengxuan. Mo Zhu and Mo Ran were naturally reluctant to part with the little master, and they were happy in their hearts when they made such an arrangement.

Since he went to the Jiangyun Hall that day, he hadn’t been in Fengyi Hall for several days. The maids of the Fengyi Hall were talking about themselves in private, vaguely knowing that their Mistress had provoked the Emperor to be angry.

“It’s said that the Emperor either going to Jiangyun Hall or Lanlin Hall these days,” Someone sighed, “*sigh*, what’s going on here? It’s obvious that our Mistress is pregnant with a dragon heir, how come it’s like she’s lost favor now instead!”

Someone’s voice lowered a little. “I heard the people under Chief Shi say that the Emperor still cares about our Mistress, and asks about food and living every day…”

“Then, why doesn’t the Emperor come to see our Mistress ah?”

“I think this thing is also strange. You enter the palace late, some things are unknown since our Mistress entered the palace. Before, the Emperor didn’t like women very much. The four concubines of the harem at that time were all given cold shoulders, even…” The maid’s voice lowered. “Even heard that the Emperor has… Later, after our Mistress was favored, the Emperor pampered her tightly, and he stayed in this Fengyi Hall every day…”

“*sigh*, no matter how strange it is, the Emperor is not here ah!*sigh*... I look at Mistress’ supplement during this time, it seems to have a little effect, just a big belly, her face is also thinner by a few points than when she was entering the palace…”

Ruan Wushuang took the soup from Mo Ran, suppressed the nausea, and drank it all. He drank the honey water on her hand and rinsed her mouth. For a moment, the maid said at the door, “Mistress, the Crown Prince asks to see you.”

She was overjoyed, and Mo Ran hurriedly lifted the curtain to go out. Sure enough, she saw Mo Zhu following behind Chengxuan and came suddenly.

Chengxuan stepped forward and hugged her. “Mother, are you my mother?” she suddenly trembled, and the jade bowl in her hand fell with a crisp sound, and it shattered on top of the white jade tiles.

Chengxuan hugged her and refused to let go. “You must be my mother, you must be. Only my mother can be so good to Chengxuan…”

Mo Zhu knelt on the ground, while secretly wiping away tears, she said. “Young Miss, you punish this slave. This slave has already told the Crown Prince the fact that you are the Crown Prince’s biological mother. This slave couldn’t help herself, and accidentally slipped her mouth…”

The young Crown Prince seemed to have a small mind since Young Miss was pregnant, and today he tugged at her sleeve again and asked her with a hint of trepidation and a few hints of uncertainty, “Mo Zhu, if Auntie has a little brother or sister, does she not like me anymore? Will she not love me in the future?”

The young Crown Prince always asked this question, and Mo Zhu had already seen it strangely. Mo Zhu was entangled by him, was also busy with her hands buttoning his coils, trying to change his clothes, and somehow slipped her mouth. “How can it be? The Crown Prince is also the flesh and blood of Young Miss ah! How can she not love you in the future…”

Although she realized that something was wrong, it was already too late to cover her mouth. Although the young Crown Prince was still small, he was definitely didn’t have a simple character, and later she was so entangled that she had no choice but to say, “this slave will take you to see Mistress, and let her talk to you personally.”

Ruang Wushuang’s eyes were hazy, and she took the small brocade robe that had been done and tried it on for him, the size was just right. She wanted to laugh, but the tears fell straight down.

Chengzuan touched his robe and said happily, “Mother, is this for me?” She touched Chengxuan’s hair, and with tears in her eyes, she nodded and smiled. “Mother has not given clothes to our Chengxuan for many years.” At this moment, she felt very fortunate that she had entered the palace herself.

Chengxuan hugged her and choked. “Mother… Mother…” She held the child tightly in her arms. When he was taken away by the maids, he also called her mother in this way. But it seemed that it was only a blink of an eye, he was already so big…

Chengxuan suddenly looked up from her arms and blurted out, “Father Emperor…”

She turned slowly, only to see him appear again silently as usual. She was always so caught off guard. He didn’t seem to have a good life these days, looking haggard and lonely.

Just like that, he came every day again. It was as if nothing had happened between the two of them. Her belly was getting bulging, and it was difficult to sleep in bed and even difficult to turn over.

But even though she had occupied almost the entire bed, he didn’t mind a bit. Such a scene sometimes always made her feel a little confused.

She was still newly married that year, and so was he, even if she had a big belly, and every time she turned over, she would make him uneasy, but he stayed with her until she gave birth.

So day by day, the spring was near and a hundred flowers were shining. In the blink of an eye, the spring was old and the summer sun was sizzling.

In the afternoon of this day, she was as sleepy as ever, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep sleep. Although ice had been used in this Fengyi Hall for a long time, she still felt sweltering and uncomfortable. She woke up hazily and called, “Mo Ran, hot…”

Mo Ran’s steps were extremely light. She walked to the bed and gently stopped and began to shake the fan. It was better, she rubbed the white jade pillow, it was cold as water, and the tiredness struck again.

She slept very well, and woke up in the evening. Probably having fanned for a long time, the maid fanned for a while and then not fanned. She closed her eyes, waved her hand lazily, and said, “No need to serve, go back to rest.”

The person didn’t move, and still fanned as before. The sound of cicadas outside the window was sharper, and the sound of strings came one after another, which made the hall even more silent.

She suddenly felt something different and opened her eyes. It was actually him that was sitting on the edge of the bed, slowly shaking the fan. She suddenly opened her eyes and startled Baili Haozhe. “What’s wrong?”

She closed her eyes again, and Baili Haozhe said with a smile. “It’s already this late, get up and eat some refreshments.” She was silent and went back to sleep.

Halfway through, she only listened to his command. “Someone come, bring the things up,” and the chamberlains entered lightly.

The Emperor was in a good mood, smiling and nudging her arm with the fan, “Ministry of Rites has presented the latest jadeite jewelry, take a look.”

The gold plate held by the chamberlain presented several sets of jade bracelets, jade pendants, jade hairpins, and jade ornaments, white and green. At a glance, it was translucent, extremely moist, vaguely like flowing water.  

She only glanced at it and looked away again. About her habit, he was getting used to it, and personally took a peony hairpin from the gold plate, inserted it in her slightly loose bun, and looked at it for half a moment, very satisfied.

He handed the mirror to her, she didn’t look at it, pushed his hand, and pulled away the mirror, he also didn’t mind, turning over to grip her hand. She struggled to pull it out, but he clenched it tighter and tighter, only smiling and said. “You’ve been sleeping all afternoon, this will be a good time to get up,” She lazily turned sideways, not moving a muscle.

The red sun filled the windows, light and shadow came through from it. Under the window, there was a high table of pineapple wood and a bunch of white magnolias were placed in the porcelain vase above, the fragrance was rich and distant.

A chamberlain tiptoed forward and whispered a few times toward Shi Quanyi, who was waiting behind the dragon chair. Shi Quanyi was shocked, and hurriedly leaned over Baili Haozhe’s ear and whispered. “Emperor… Emperor… Concubine Ning had abdominal pain just now. Fengyi Hall has summoned the Imperial Physician and the midwife…” 

Baili Haozhe stood up from the dragon chair, ignoring the courtiers, and stared. “What?” He waved his hand at the chamberlain and said, “Announce them to withdraw the court.” With that, he hurriedly walked towards the back hall.

The court chamberlain had already proclaimed in a loud voice, “Withdraw the court!” and after the courtiers had saluted, they were discussing, “The Emperor withdraws the court in such a hurry, could it be that there is something big in the harem?”

The Minister of Rites stroked his gray beard, glanced at the direction where Ruan Wulang and Ruan Wutao were, and said with a light smile, “There are only a few concubines in the harem, what could be the big deal ah? I guess it’s the Ruan family’s Concubine Ning who is going to give birth to the imperial heir!” 

The Emperor had favored Concubine Ning wasn't a matter of a day or two. The ministers were also clear about this, and when they heard the Minister of Rites say it, they all felt it was reasonable.

Mu Ningyan’s face was pale as she lay on top of the bed, her hands clutching the bedding beneath her. Baili Haozhe leaned down compassionately and held her hand, “Wushuang, there is me with you… I’ll always be with you…”

Her gaze turned to him in a daze, and there seemed to be a very faint flicker of softness, but the pain struck again, and she frowned fiercely, biting hard at her own lip’s.

Baili Haozhe placed his palm on her lips, leaned into her ear and whispered, “Wushuang, we’ll get hurt together, okay?”

She bit her lip and looked away…

She didn’t want him. No matter how he was, whether it was a threat or a favor, she didn’t want him for anything.

The pain seemed to be getting worse and worse, and her sweat wet her hair, sticking to her sideburns. Her whole person was drenched in cold sweat, as if she had been fished out of the water.

The sun moved westward bit by bit, the haze darkened inch by inch, but the child didn’t want to come out.

He brought the ginseng soup to feed into her mouth, but it was still of little use, as her gaze grew lax and her screams grew lower.

If there was a way, let him bear it. As long as she was there, as long as she was there, he was willing to do anything.

He shook her, “Wushuang, wake up… you wake up for me…”

“Say, what do you want, as long as you are safe, I promise you everything. This monarch isn’t joking! I really promise you everything!” Even if she wanted to leave the palace, he… he would comply with her. As long as she was safe and sound in this world!

Her eyelashes seemed to move slightly. But for a long time, there was no reaction.

He suddenly went cold, she hated him and didn’t want him, so did she really want to leave together with his child this time? No, no, he would never allow it.

“Ruan Wushuang, do you hate me so much?”

“But I tell you, if you dare to abandon me, if you dare to leave me with the child, I will not let your Ruan family go! You know my means, and I certainly won't let your father and brother survive!” In this world, he only cared about her. If she didn’t want him anymore, he would have done everything.

She opened her eyes sharply, looked at him blurry, opened her mouth and, bit his hand fiercely…

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