TTCGTW Ch 18, Pt 1
The Treacherous Concubine's Guide to Whitewashing
Chapter 18, Pt 1 - Making Money
One day in the afternoon, Yuan Luo went to find Empress Wei. When she entered the main hall, she immediately saw her leaning on a table and reading a book.
The rims of her eyes were deep red and she hadn’t even noticed when Yuan Luo arrived.
It wasn’t until Yuan Luo walked closer that she hurriedly stuffed the book under the table in agitation. She resembled a primary school student who quickly hid an extracurricular book after realizing the teacher was coming.
"Why wasn’t I informed that you were here? They must all be dead people outside." Empress Wei grunted coldly.
"This palace was in a hurry." Yuan Luo wouldn't let her fool around so easily. "What is the Empress looking at?"
"Nothing." Empress Wei turned her face away full of resentment. This unruly woman! Someone should know a little about etiquette. They should pretend that they didn’t see it, change the subject, and not make the other person embarrassed.
"Is it a notebook?" Yuan Luo asked casually.
Empress Wei grumbled under her breath and deliberately didn’t answer. She picked up a small tea cup instead.
Seeing Empress Wei ignored her, Yuan Luo smiled malevolently. "This palace understands. The Empress is looking at that kind of book."
"What kind of book?" Empress Wei shot a quick glance at her.
"Oh, an erotica picture book. I understand." Yuan Luo said lightly.
With a ‘pfff’ Empress Wei sprayed the sip of tea she had just taken and stared at Yuan Luo in horror. It was as if she had said something earth-shattering.
Yuan Luo shook her sleeves as if to remove the droplets of water and with a solemn face criticized, "The Empress is too undignified."
This uncivilized woman dared to say that she was not dignified. What she said just now was truly undignified! Empress Wei felt like she was being driven mad.
"What lustful… How could you say…" Even after simply thinking about the word in her head, Empress Wei felt like she was going to collapse.
Was such a huge response really necessary? Although girls in ancient times were exposed to this less, they still would have heard about it before getting married. Their mothers would have pulled them into a room and secretly shown them some in order to instruct them about the future, married bedchamber.
"No!" Empress Wei resolutely denied. "Furthermore, this palace’s mother passed away long ago."
"I'm sorry," Yuan Luo apologized reflexively.
Empress Wei glanced at her quickly. This was the first time Yuan Luo had shown any weakness in front of her.
"I should not have mentioned the matter of your grief."
"It doesn’t matter. It all happened before New Years more than a dozen years ago." Empress Wei looked away. She had been no more than two or three years old when her mother had died of an illness.
Thinking about how to divert the topic, unexpectedly that person took the opportunity and suddenly approached.
"What are you doing?" Empress Wei said angrily when she saw the movement.
While she was off guard, Yuan Luo pushed away the table and took the book from its hiding place.
Scanning the title of the book, she couldn’t help but be amazed.
"The Happy Prince"[1]?
In addition, there appeared to be something else in hiding, so Yuan Luo proceeded to stoop over and collect what was there.
"You shouldn’t go through other people’s things!" In a fluster, Empress Wei wanted to block her, but she was entirely not Yuan Luo’s opponent.
She watched blankly as Yuan Luo removed a few more books from under the table and tossed them onto the tabletop. Empress Wei clenched her teeth angrily.
"Could you not have just told me earlier that you were reading picture books. Was it really necessary for us to go around in circles like this?" Yuan Luo looked at her innocently. Actually, before she had come today she had heard a report from Si Xi. Earlier, there had been two little maids who had furtively snuck up on Si Xi and locked her into a room in Zichen Palace. Those two people were from Kunning Palace and had come over to spy. Yuan Luo made it clear that they were to be left alone and to wait until they made a move.
Now that at last they had taken action to some degree, Si Xi investigated their actions, but wasn’t certain what the two maids had done.
Yuan Luo soon afterward came for a visit to test Empress Wei, but hadn’t expected that the two maids had snuck in just to steal a few picture books.
Recently, she has prepared more and more picture books for Sikong Lin. The majority of them were her creative ideas coupled with the drawings of expert painters. After a few books, some of the master painters, who were also able to tell stories, began trying to create their own short stories themselves. Yuan Luo had looked them over and, as long as they were suitable, she would keep them. As a result, there were already hundreds of picture books that had been tossed into a trunk and she hadn’t read them all carefully.
"Who are you saying likes to read this sort of thing," Empress Wei exclaimed indignantly.
"Oh, then how do you feel? These picture books are pretty good, right?" Yuan Luo smiled. It’s no wonder that when she walked in earlier, the rims of the Empress’ eyes had been so red. Recalling the story of "The Happy Prince" from a textbook when she was a child, she had also cried profusely.
"Very stupid." Empress Wei turned away.
This tsundere little girl.
Yuan Luo pretended to be mysterious, "Actually, "The Happy Prince" has a follow-up story."
Sure enough, Empress Wei took the bait. Her eyes opened wide and she impatiently said, "What follow-up story?"
Emperor Wei then took the bait, his eyes widened, and couldn't wait: "What follow-up story?"
"Guess."
"I think the prince’s stone statue and the swallow have accumulated a lifetime of merits. The Buddha's mercy will surely make the two reincarnate. They will be reborn into a wealthy family and together become... you know... brother and sister and so on. For a lifetime." Empress Wei whispered.
She had a delicate voice and her tone was full of hope and expectation.
Yuan Luo couldn’t bear to destroy her imagination. "Perhaps they are, or maybe they become immortals, happy to live free and unfettered in the heavens. They could be floating and wandering anywhere they chose. Wouldn't that be more enjoyable than being a human being?"
"You lied to me. There isn’t a follow-up story at all." Empress Wei immediately realized the truth and sternly accused.
Yuan Luo smiled and said, "The story is imaginary. What follows is merely that which is in one’s heart, so why bother being obsessed in this way."
In a moment, Empress Wei’s expression changed to that of wanting to jump forward and scratch a person, so Yuan Luo hurriedly continued, "Actually, these picture books are somewhat naive. They are not at all suitable for a lady the Empress’ age."
"The imperial concubine has poisoned the Emperor with such innocent things," Empress Wei quipped sarcastically.
"How is it poisonous?"
"The Emperor shoulders the responsibility of the world. He must concentrate on learning to rule the country every day, yet you waste his time with these kinds of things all day, saying that the poison is still mild."
Yuan Luo deeply sighed.
"The Emperor’s innate tendency is toward stupidity. You may not be aware, but an effective teaching method is to combine education and entertainment. This palace believes that this sort of picture book is not only good for the Emperor’s temperament, but he also likes it due to his innocent nature."
Empress Wei disdainfully curled her lips, but did not refute her words.
Yuan Luo continued, "Compared with these picture books, this palace knows of a set of books that are more suitable for you to read."
She immediately summoned Si Xi to her side and requested of her to bring a set of books from the study of Zichen Palace.
In less time than it took to drink a cup of tea, Si Xi left and returned, bringing the requested books.
"New Legend of Madame White Snake?[2] What is this?"
"You might like it if you take a look at it."
Empress Wei glanced at her, then lowered her head and turned over the front page of the book. She read very rapidly and she skillfully finished reading the entire volume in a short time.
----
TN:
[1] This is in reference to "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde, which, if you’ve never read it, can be found in the public domain on Project Gutenberg's website.
[2] This is in reference to the highly popular television show from 1992, "New Legend of Madame White Snake" (or "New Legend of White Snake"). I haven’t watched the series personally, but here’s the Wikipedia and MyDramaList references for more information.