CH 5

I had never seen or smelled such sumptuous cuisine before. In a blink of an eye, I swallowed, but did not dare to make it obvious, I could only slowly lower my head and not look at the food any longer.

The eighteenth dish was finally served on the table. The Emperor suddenly said to me, “Liu Xiaoyu, from now on, you will have the additional duty of serving me at mealtimes.”

I could not believe my own ears, is this Emperor really not going to kill me? But asking me to serve him during his meals, what did that mean….

Seeing that I hadn’t reacted for a long while, the Emperor frowned slightly, “What is it? Are you unwilling?”

I immediately snapped out of my daze, and instantly kneeled on the ground, “This servant was frightened, Your Majesty, please forgive me.”

“You may rise, I’m hungry.”

I quickly got up and then looked at the table full of delicious dishes, I had no idea what I had to do.

Before I came, no one told me what I actually had to do, and now after coming, there was no one to teach me.

I awkwardly glanced at the Emperor and just saw that his brows knitted tightly once more, and then he pointed to the little wooden basin on the table and said, “Wash your hands.”

“Ohohoh.” I immediately went up and put my hands into the water, and washed them carefully. I then wiped them dry and stood at the side waiting for further instructions from the Emperor.

“Well, pick up the food for me!” The Emperor sounded a bit annoyed, “So bloody dumb!”

I grievously picked up the chopsticks, but I still did not move because I didn’t know which dish he actually wanted to eat….

Suddenly, the Emperor smacked me on the bum. I was so frightened that I turned my head and saw him smiling playfully.

He said, “Slowpoke, are you trying to starve me to death?”

“This… This servant was frightened, Your Majesty……”

I was about to kneel, but the Emperor reached out and grabbed my wrist and then he pointed to three of the dishes on the table, “These three, first pick up some from these three and put it in the bowl.”

I picked up the bowl in a hurry and then began picking up the food with the chopsticks to place into the bowl before I placed it neatly in front of the Emperor.

Who knew that when I had just put down the bowl and then stood up straight, the Emperor slapped my bottom again, “Why did you put it there? Aren’t you going to feed me?”

Eh? So serving the Emperor his meals included feeding food directly into his mouth?

Seeing the Emperor’s hand raising again, I immediately picked up the bowl and chopsticks and picked up a piece of food and delivered it to the Emperor’s mouth.

The Emperor once again revealed a playful smile and then took a bite.

Seeing his smile, I felt like he was purposefully teasing me, but I had no proof….

After that, I incessantly did laps around the table to pick up the food that the Emperor liked and then fed him mouthful after mouthful with the chopsticks. During that time, if I even slowed down slightly, or I made any minor errors, the Emperor would smack my bum, and he only hit the left side! He made half my bum go numb from the smacking.

Following that, when he was done eating, he stared at me with satisfaction, “Do you want to eat?”

In all honesty, I really wanted some. These dishes were things I had never seen before, plus, they smelled truly delicious. As I was picking up the food with the chopsticks for the Emperor, I was incessantly swallowing back my saliva. If the Emperor would bestow some of the food to me, then that would be amazing.

I did not know whether my current facial expression was filled with expectation, but I only knew that the Emperor seemed extremely happy, he made a gesture with his finger to indicate for me to lean in closer and then he said, “You’re not allowed to eat any.”

After that, the Emperor ordered the others to take away everything and then asked someone to bring me a bucket of water.

He was making me scrub the table, he even asked me to scrub the table legs clean. What was even worse was that he asked people to close the doors…

I felt incredibly aggrieved, but I could only helplessly walk towards the wooden bucket, I guess I would have to miss dinner tonight.

As my hands made contact with the icy cold water, I felt mixed emotions. Who would have thought that even though I had already left the Palace Laundry Service, I still couldn’t get away from the damn water.

For the sake of a dinner that I could still get to eat, I began to work diligently. In reality, these kinds of tasks were not difficult for me, it was just that this place was rather grandiose and the Emperor was also watching me, so I was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Pfff, who told me to be a eunuch hey. When I thought about this, I remembered that person who had read my fortune back then. That evil bastard whose dog mouth could not spit out ivory1狗嘴里吐不出象牙 gǒu zuǐ lǐ tǔ bù chū xiàng yá – just an expression that means a bad person has nothing good to say– and just from his word was enough to make my parents sell me to the palace.

“Liu Xiaoyu, this kid is a boy with a fate of a girl. His yin qi is overbearing, in the future, he will bring misfortune.”

Since that person had said this, the very next day, I was tricked by my mother using a thumb-sized piece of osmanthus cake to go to Fengchuan city to be sold.

If I had known back then that I would have been sold to become a eunuch because of those words, I would have definitely gone to tear up that bastard’s mouth.

Perhaps I had been overly engrossed in thought that I didn’t even notice the Emperor standing behind me.

When I finally noticed, he was already entirely pressed against me in the same way as that chaotic and tumultuous night.

“Eh???”

I was about to move when he grabbed my wrist and pressed me against the table.

“Your Majesty?” At this moment, it was like a little fawn was carelessly bumping around in my heart.

The Emperor bent down, his thumb rubbing my wrist slowly “Weren’t you a eunuch in the Palace Laundry Service, why is your skin so soft?”

His voice did not carry any emotion, nor could I see his face, I had no way of interpreting the current situation I was in.

“Have I seen you before I ascended the throne?”

The hot air from the Emperor’s mouth sprayed onto my ear, in such close proximity, the rosemary scent on his body incessantly wafted towards my nose. I wasn’t sure if he had remembered what happened that night but I was sure that I could not admit it otherwise I would surely be killed.

“Your… Your Majesty… You… What are you saying? This servant… This servant saw you for the first time on the day of the assassination.”

“Oh, is that so?” The Emperor’s lower body pressed against me even tighter, trapping me underneath him completely.

“Yes…. yes.”

“Then cry for me to hear.”

What? My brain was blank, what kind of request was this….

I suddenly heard the Emperor’s voice again, his lips lightly brushing against my ear, “Cry out help me, or stop, stop.”

I pursed my lips tightly, I did my utmost to calm my heart, I told myself that no matter what he couldn’t know that the person that night was me.

At this moment, I felt something hard against my bum, the Emperor suddenly got up and said uneasily, “You can go now, from now on, you will serve me at mealtimes, if you do something wrong, I’ll smack your bottom…..”

I ran like mad back to my room, and sat in a daze on my bed. I felt even more aggrieved when I thought about everything that had happened recently.

Especially that night, under normal circumstances, I should have given the person who stole my chastity two great slaps across the face, or I should have made him take responsibility for his actions, but because I was a court eunuch and not palace maid and because he was the Emperor, I had no reason whatsoever to feel wronged. I could only think about how to keep hold of my life, and how to not let others discover the pitiful truth.

Feeling sullen, I didn’t end up going to have dinner. At least the Emperor still seemed to have a conscience and didn’t ask me to continue working.

So I just continued to sit there in a daze until Zhou Xin returned.

I originally wanted to say hello to him but since he entered the room he did not even bother to glance in my direction so I didn’t bother to utter a word to him either.

Pffff, this really rendered me speechless, why had I been transferred to such a place.

In my heart, I felt even more that I wanted to return to the Palace Laundry Service…..