Chapter 232: Too Sudden

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Li Shishi, Zhao Yuannu, Cui Nianyue, Wang Zhongduan, and Xu Poxi were all originally top courtesans trained by their respective brothels; because of Zhao Jiguang's visits to brothels, they were seized by the Teaching Bureau, later sent into the palace, then Li Shishi was chosen by Zhang Chun, Zhao Yuannu by Ye Shi Yun, Cui Nianyue by Li Lin, Xu Poxi by Yuan Qing Cheng, and Wang Zhongduan by Guan Shi.

After entering the palace, though separated, the five women shared unmatched beauty and figures, identical origins, shared experiences, and—all except Wang Zhongduan, who followed Guan Shi—had masters who held extremely special status in Zhao Yu's harem: Zhang Chun's five women. This kept them continuously connected.

Later, because Xi Duo's master was Ma Xiao Jiao, and Xi Duo had also been sold into a brothel, though Xi Duo fell short of Li Shishi's five in looks, figure, and skill, she still infiltrated this small circle—and, due to her seniority and age, became their "elder sister."

Slowly, this circle of six women became one of the more famous among the hundreds of small groups in Zhao Yu's harem; and because their masters were Zhang Chun's five women, they could access some of Zhang Chun's resources, granting them a notable position and considerable influence within Zhao Yu's harem.

Thus, these six women's gatherings received Zhang Chun's support, for they were Zhang Chun's closest maids—and if they thrived, it reflected well on Zhang Chun.

So, with Zhang Chun's open door, Xi Duo organized gatherings of the other five women at regular intervals.

Today was the day of Li Shishi's six-woman gathering; all five others arrived early at their meeting place—Ye Shi Yun's palace.

Li Shishi arrived late because last night her master, Zhang Chun, had spent the night with Zhao Yu; she had to first attend to Zhao Yu's departure and wait until Zhang Chun summoned her before she could join the others.

Fortunately, Zhao Yu rose early, skipped breakfast here, and left without delaying Li Shishi much.

Yet, before leaving, Zhao Yu unusually took a thorough, deliberate look at Li Shishi.

Li Shishi's features were exquisitely perfect; her white palace robe clung to her slender waist, swaying like willow branches in the wind. Where the robe could not conceal, her skin gleamed like congealed fat—smooth, warm, faintly luminous in the sunlight. Her vermilion lips parted as if steeped in wine; her eyes, shifting with seven parts languor and three parts allure, blended elegance and sensuality into an effortless grace that drew one into the shimmering spring light within her gaze.

In short, Li Shishi's beauty was not merely in her face or figure, but in an innate elegance that radiated from within—like a celestial immortal untouched by mortal dust, standing utterly apart in a crowd, unforgettable at a single glance.

Quoting the historical Zhao Jiguang's words to Empress Zheng and other concubines describing Li Shishi's beauty: "If you took a hundred of your concubines, removed all hairpins and ornaments, dressed them in plain makeup, and mixed them together, people would instantly recognize her difference—her aura and charm cannot be captured by mere beauty of face or form."

Zhao Yu sometimes described beauties he saw in this era using modern female celebrities.

But Li Shishi was different—Zhao Yu could not find any female celebrity to match her. Past actresses who portrayed Li Shishi—Zhong Lingling, Qi Meizhen, He Qing, Xie Ning, Xie Keke, Yu Na, Xiao Liu Jia, An Yixuan, Ma Su, Liu Yanxi, Han Zaifen, Tao Luoyi—all failed to capture Li Shishi's utterly unique appearance and essence.

'Is this the unique charm of history's greatest courtesan?'

Looking at Li Shishi, Zhao Yu couldn't help thinking, 'Such an otherworldly beauty has been beside me all along, available to me—and yet I let her grow to adulthood? This is the greatest disrespect to her beauty!'

Zhao Yu looked again at Li Shishi's curvaceous body and said: 'You've grown up.'

At once, Li Shishi's flawless face flushed crimson; she lowered her eyes shyly, unable to meet Zhao Yu's intense, deep gaze. Her long lashes trembled like butterfly wings, her heart pounding wildly like a startled deer.

A girl grows tender in youth.

Moreover, Li Shishi came from a brothel, raised since childhood to serve men, steeped in all matters of sex and pleasure; after entering the palace as Zhang Chun's personal maid, she often attended Zhao Yu and Zhang Chun during their intimate moments.

Thus, Li Shishi was far more sensitive and mature than ordinary women regarding romantic and sexual feelings.

In truth, Li Shishi could not recall when her heart first became entirely filled with Zhao Yu—since childhood, all her dreams were of him.

In her dreams, she replaced Zhang Chun, living shamelessly with Zhao Yu, becoming the beloved Li Imperial Consort, envied by all in the harem.

Upon waking, Li Shishi blushed deeply—but did not reject these dreams, for she knew: one day, she too would become Zhao Yu's woman, and he would treat her as he treated Zhang Chun and the other women who had lain with him. In that light, her dreams were not entirely fantasy.

Yet Li Shishi never imagined she would wait so long—now, Zhao Yu had still not taken her.

To be honest, Li Shishi had begun to harbor resentment toward Zhao Yu.

Now, Zhao Yu finally noticed she had grown up. Li Shishi's woman's intuition told her: her night might not be far off.

Her heartbeat quickened; she could almost hear the rush of her blood. It was anticipation, anxiety, and the sweet relief of hardship finally ending.

What saddened Li Shishi was that Zhao Yu, after uttering that vague remark, simply left. It felt exactly like he had teased her and walked away.

Li Shishi bit her lower lip, gazing after Zhao Yu with a look of quiet sorrow.

Only after Zhao Yu was far away did Li Shishi turn to look at Zhang Chun.

There, Zhang Chun—exhausted from last night's exertions—slept soundly.

According to Li Shishi's years of experience, Zhang Chun would sleep until noon; a brief absence would not disturb her.

So Li Shishi gave instructions to the other servants in Zhang Chun's palace and went to Ye Shi Yun's palace, where she met Xi Duo and the others.

Seeing Li Shishi finally arrive, Zhao Yuannu asked: 'Why so late?'

'My mistress spent the night with him,' Li Shishi replied.

Xi Duo and the other five understood at once and asked no further. In Zhao Yu's harem, heaven and earth were secondary to Zhao Yu himself. Any matter concerning him, no matter how trivial, outweighed their lives—let alone this ordinary gathering.

'I envy Empress Zhang so much—she always gets to spend the night. If I could have even one-tenth or one-fifth of her fortune, I'd die content,' Xi Duo said.

The other five rolled their eyes or shook their heads—each using silent gestures to scorn Xi Duo's faux modesty.

Not only was Xi Duo one of only two among them who had ever spent the night with Zhao Yu—something Li Shishi, Zhao Yuannu, Wang Zhongduan, and Xu Poxi could never match—but

moreover, since Xi Duo had been Ma Xiao Jiao's maid before Ma Xiao Jiao rose to power and had even financially supported her, Ma Xiao Jiao treated Xi Duo like a younger sister, often bringing her along to spend the night. Most crucially, Xi Duo had the fortune of bearing Zhao Yu a son.

This was something even Cui Nianyue, who bore Zhao Yu only a daughter, could not match.

And as for Zhang Chun, whom Xi Duo envied—could any of them even compare?

Not just them—even Zhao Yu's other concubines far surpassed in number of nights spent with him. Among Zhao Yu's other consorts, only Empress Zheng Xiansu and Li Qingzhao—who inexplicably remained his favorite—could rival Zhang Chun's five women.

The tenth or twentieth of Zhang Chun's nightly visits that Xi Duo fantasized about was beyond the reach of even powerful concubines like Zhang Nan and Cai Xuan.

Xi Duo knew she had spoken out of turn, revealing her lack of propriety and overreaching ambition, so she quickly added: 'It was just a wish—I'm sure you all have dreamed the same?'

To say they hadn't dreamed it? That would be a lie.

After all, in this deep palace, which woman did not yearn for the emperor's favor, for that supreme tenderness and care? Even as maids, they harbored dreams of rising above the three thousand beauties to become Zhao Yu's cherished beloved.

Zhao Yuannu admitted openly: 'Of course I've dreamed it—but our immediate priority isn't more favor, but the chance to spend the night at all. Without the first, there can be no future.'

Li Shishi and Xu Poxi nodded vigorously in agreement.

Cui Nianyue said: 'Sustained favor matters most… and you must bear the emperor a son. Otherwise, all else is meaningless.'

Li Lin had been the woman Zhao Yu visited most frequently. As Li Lin's personal maid, Cui Nianyue should have had many opportunities to spend the night, like Xi Duo.

But the problem was: as Zhao Yu's private trainer and sparring partner for "Prisoner's Fitness" and "Yoga," Li Lin mostly interacted with Zhao Yu alone in training grounds—Cui Nianyue rarely got invited along, so she could not match Xi Duo.

But this wasn't because Li Lin refused to help Cui Nianyue.

Hadn't Li Lin once taken Cui Nianyue to Yan? During that time, Cui Nianyue frequently spent the night—even had her own private nights with Zhao Yu?

—It was then that Cui Nianyue conceived Zhao Yu's child; shortly after returning to Dongjing Bianliang, she gave birth to a daughter.

That period was the happiest of Cui Nianyue's life.

After returning from Yan—no, not even after returning—ever since Yelu Yanxi and his ministers presented Zhao Yu with three hundred beauties from various ethnic groups, Cui Nianyue had never again known such happiness.

Also, because Li Lin rarely spent the night at her own quarters, Cui Nianyue's chances of being favored through Li Lin were few.

This was also the reason Cui Nianyue had never been able to bear Zhao Yu a son.

So Cui Nianyue also envied Xi Duo; she used her own experience to tell the women that a moment's favor was useless—one had to stay favored continuously, or at the very least keep up the frequency, otherwise it would be drought in times of drought, flood in times of flood.

"Several of you have mothers at home who are Your Majesty's favored consorts—you're close to the water and get the moon first, sooner or later you'll get to share his bed. My elder sister, since entering the palace, has only shared his bed three times, all more than three years ago. In recent years, the number of times she's even seen His Majesty up close is fewer than ten. How could she share his bed, and how could she lend me a hand?" Wang Zhongduan said.

Although Lady Guan had been with Zhao Yu relatively early, she was too ordinary in every respect. Ever since Zhao Yu's women grew more numerous, she no longer had chances to share his bed, and could only rely on her seniority to serve as a female official in Zhao Yu's harem. She wasn't doing too well, but she couldn't be said to be doing badly either—the kind who fell short compared to those above but had more than those below; her livelihood was certainly no problem.

Only, for the women in Zhao Yu's harem, without offspring, they would forever have no guarantee.

Lady Guan truly could not resign herself to never bearing children, to being old with no one to rely on, so she always wanted to try once more, to fight for a chance to share his bed, hoping she could bear Zhao Yu an Imperial Prince—even a daughter would be far better than having no children at all.

However, the women in Zhao Yu's harem grew more and more numerous, so much so that now even Lady Guan's companion Pei Sui could hardly get a chance to share his bed, let alone Lady Guan herself.

Later, seeing that Wang Zhongduan had grown up to be increasingly enchanting and beautiful, a little sprite through and through, and was very close to Zhang Chun's five women's maidservants, her future standing was bound to be something Lady Guan could look up to but never reach. To curry favor with Wang Zhongduan, Lady Guan simply stopped recognizing Wang Zhongduan as her daughter, and instead began recognizing Wang Zhongduan as her younger sister, and had always been extremely good to Wang Zhongduan, preparing to wait until Wang Zhongduan had hooked up with Zhao Yu, then go into battle alongside Wang Zhongduan to see if she could conceive an imperial heir.

It is worth mentioning that the reason Lady Guan stopped being Wang Zhongduan's adoptive mother and became Wang Zhongduan's adoptive elder sister was also because she feared Zhao Yu would find her too old and not give her the chance to share his bed together with Wang Zhongduan—even though she was only twenty-seven.

Because Lady Guan held this attitude, Wang Zhongduan was far freer than the other five women, which also allowed Wang Zhongduan to help the other five women with things they wanted to do but had no time to do.

This might be the reason Wang Zhongduan could always stay in this circle?

In fact, if outsiders overheard the conversation between Li Shishi and the others, they would find it tedious and dull. They either talked about Zhao Yu, or discussed current affairs and gossip in the palace, and even when discussing the latter, they would quickly turn the topic back to Zhao Yu.

As for their expectations, without exception, they all wanted to receive Zhao Yu's favor, to receive Zhao Yu's love, to bear Zhao Yu sons and daughters—the more the better.

In fact, it wasn't only these six who were like this; rather, the women in Zhao Yu's harem, including those who came from the Liao Kingdom, from Western Xia, or from somewhere else, were all like this.

Without exaggeration, Zhao Yu was their entire world, as if they had been born for Zhao Yu.

This was the truest portrayal of the women in an emperor's harem under feudal society.

Li Shishi and the others chatted for a while, then ate some pastries and dried fruits together; nearing noon, Li Shishi returned.

Half a shichen later, Zhang Chun woke up.

Li Shishi immediately took people to attend her.

Just as Li Shishi was combing Zhang Chun's hair, Zhang Chun casually said: "Go tidy yourself up properly later, you'll share his bed tonight."

Upon hearing this, the exquisitely gorgeous "Zhou Xiaosi Ji" inscribed plum-blossom double-lion patterned silver comb in Li Shishi's hand went "snap" and dropped to the floor!

Li Shishi covered her own mouth, and tears "whoosh" streamed down!

This happiness came far too suddenly...

……

(End of this chapter)