Untouchable Lovers

Chapter 67: Chapter 67 The Truth Within

The following day, she entered the palace again in the morning.

Aside from the first summons, the times Chu Yu chose to visit the palace were almost always right after the little emperor finished his morning court session. By discerning Liu Ziyue’s mood and probing with a few questions, she was able to get a rough grasp of the affairs in the court.

Today was no different.

However, as she was entering the palace, Chu Yu caught an unintentional glimpse of an ethereal purple figure—Tian Rujing, drifting towards the direction of Liu Ziyue’s harem. It wasn’t until Tian Rujing’s figure had vanished behind the palace walls that Chu Yu frowned and turned to ask the eunuch beside her, “Does he come to the palace to exorcise ghosts often?”

This eunuch had led her several times now, looking to be about seventeen or eighteen. Chu Yu already knew his name was Xuan An. Over these days, she had memorized the palace layout. The current guidance was merely a formality, a display of status.

Xuan An’s voice was somewhat thin, but due to its gentle tone, it wasn’t piercing, “Yes.”

Although his response was by the book, Chu Yu was not satisfied. She pulled out a golden hairpin from her sleeve and handed it to Xuan An, smiling faintly, “What else?”

Nowadays, Chu Yu’s sleeves held several golden, silver, and jade hairpins—convenient for both bribing and self-defense due to their ease of carry.

Seizing the hairpin discreetly into his sleeve, Xuan An spoke softly, “Within the harem, when is it that people do not die? The more that die, the more naturally the ghosts arise.”

Chu Yu smiled lightly and continued walking forward, “You should know, that’s not the answer I’m looking for.” Although what Xuan An said wasn’t incorrect, it wasn’t the aspect Chu Yu wanted to know about.

After a moment’s hesitation, Xuan An caught up with Chu Yu’s pace and still spoke up, “Actually, sometimes it’s the women in the palace acting out of self-interest, using exorcisms as an excuse—Lord Heavenly Master is young and handsome…”

With that, Chu Yu understood. There were many women in the deep palace. Aside from a few favorites, most were quite lonely. Yet, she couldn’t help but express her shock, “Does the Emperor… have no idea?” This would be akin to Liu Ziyue being cuckolded, wouldn’t it?

Xuan An quickly replied, “Princess mustn’t misunderstand. Lord Heavenly Master is honorable and refined, never tainted by the secular world. Tian Rujing, as a Heavenly Person reincarnate, how could he be matched by mere mortals?” Those concubines who summoned Tian Rujing, at most, just wanted a look, even touching the hem of his robe would be difficult.

Chu Yu observed Xuan An calmly, noting his fervent expression. His admiration for Tian Rujing did not seem at all contrived but appeared to come from the heart, “Is Tian Rujing really that remarkable?”

Xuan An sighed, “Lord Heavenly Master is a man of Dao, truly different from us mere mortals. That aura around him, how could ordinary people possess such? If the Princess were to draw near Lord Heavenly Master, she would feel that his entire being seems to carry an ethereal aura.”

Chu Yu, unable to endure such sycophantic praise any longer, waved her hand to signify she had heard enough and moved on to see Liu Ziyue, repeating the daily routine of appeasement.

As Chu Yu left the palace, Xuan An was her escort again. She thus smoothly picked up the previous topic, “If one were to request Lord Heavenly Master to perform an exorcism, how much would it cost?” As she said the word “Lord Heavenly Master,” she let out a faint scoff, emphasizing the words.

Xuan An paused, then said, “Lord Heavenly Master is an immortal among men, how could he covet rewards?”

Chu Yu really wanted to make a few more sarcastic remarks, but since she remembered the eunuch before her seemed to hold Tian Rujing in high regard, she didn’t want to cause too much conflict and thus held back, merely smiling and saying, “That’s truly wonderful. For some reason, there seems to be ghosts haunting a few rooms in my mansion these days. I’ve already spoken to the Emperor about it, so if Lord Heavenly Master happens to have some free time, please invite him to my mansion for an exorcism.”

By the time they reached the palace gates, upon hearing her words, the young eunuch—who greatly admired the Heavenly Master—stood paralyzed on the spot, watching her stride away.

It took a good while before he came to his senses, after Chu Yu’s carriage had left. Stumbling over his feet, he ran toward the quarters where Tian Rujing currently resided, for he had to, he simply had to warn the Heavenly Master that this Princess was the type to chew men up and spit out their bones.@@novelbin@@

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Chu Yu went directly back to the Princess Mansion and made her way to Xiu Yuan Residence to find Huan Yuan. Just as she arrived at the junction between the East Upper Pavilion and the West Upper Pavilion, someone informed her that a person surnamed Wang had delivered a letter of invitation to her that very day. Chu Yu, not wanting to stop specifically for a letter, instructed them to bring it to Xiu Yuan Residence with her.

In Xiu Yuan Residence, Huan Yuan was still busy with his work, while Chu Yu sat opposite him, gazing at him intently.

Even though Chu Yu had told Huan Yuan to ignore her, he couldn’t help but be acutely aware of the stare directed at him from across the table. The harder he tried to ignore it, the more he couldn’t help but care, feeling like there were thorns in his back and a lump in his throat. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he looked up, about to speak when a knock sounded at the door.

“Princess, the invitation you requested has arrived.” The voice was timid and soft, the speaker being Fendai who had just been assigned to serve Chu Yu that day.

Fendai came in to deliver the letter and then quickly left. Chu Yu opened the invitation, which was written by Wang Yizhi. It was a simple invitation for “Yu Zichu” to attend a gathering. In addition to the usual courteous terms, there was some side notes at the bottom, in which he inquired about distilled water and other details.

The day before going out to find Rong Zhi, Chu Yu had composed a letter, and after her visit with him, she had it sent to Wang Yizhi. In reality, her letter contained only some chemical experiment precautions that she knew, such as using distilled water is best, washing hands before performing experiments, using different containers for collecting powdered ingredients, and some storage solutions—all very basic modern chemistry experimentation requirements but unheard of a thousand years ago.

As expected, these piqued Wang Yizhi’s interest, leading him to initiate an invitation himself, marking the first step of Chu Yu’s plan as a success.

Having read all the contents of the letter, Chu Yu couldn’t help but admire Wang Yizhi’s handwriting for a while. His calligraphy was beautiful. Although everyone in ancient times wrote with a brush as a basic skill, and Rong Zhi and Huan Yuan both had nice handwriting, Wang Yizhi’s script had an ethereal and free-spirited quality to it, bordering on the realm of art.

The reason Chu Yu stayed in Huan Yuan’s room wasn’t to deliberately annoy him; rather, she did so to make clear to the people in the mansion through her actions which way the wind was blowing and to clarify her favoritism.

Huan Yuan had no idea what Chu Yu was thinking. He was no longer interested in his work, and seeing Chu Yu looking at the letter again and again, he was consumed with curiosity and wanted to see what could make Chu Yu so joyous. Just as his gaze stealthily drifted over, there was another knock at the door: “Princess, the Historian Tian Rujing has come to visit.”

“Perfect timing!” Chu Yu quickly stood up, folding up the letter, and walked briskly outside.

Huan Yuan, left looking at the direction Chu Yu had headed in, felt rather gloomy: he hadn’t even had a chance to look.

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This is today’s basic update, working on the additional 12,000-word update