Sharing

Three days had passed since the harem block was filled with the new girls but the emperor had never set foot there. The girls started to complain.

The eunuchs had told them a lot of excuses such as how busy the emperor was but they could no longer be deceived. Today, they swarmed around the eunuchs, who guarded the harem block, for knowing the truth.

At last, they found out that actually, the emperor had been faithful to someone he chose with his own will and had no intention to be intimate with any of the girls. The news immediately spread all over the block.

After hearing this, Feng Meifeng could not be happier and excitedly trotted to Shao Chen's pavilion to share this happiness.2

Feng Meifeng knocked at the door impatiently. Not long after, a lazy voice heard from inside the pavilion, permitted her to come inside. Feng Meifeng quickly opened the door, intended to shout cheerfully when it turned into a terrifying scream. She even fell down on the pavilion terrace.

Shao Chen knitted his brows in confusion. "What happened, Meifeng jie3*? Anything wrong?"

"Anything wrong your ass! I almost thought I finally had a sixth sense!" The tomboy Feng Meifeng could not stop her mouth from cursing.

"Sixth sense?" Shao Chen frowned deeper in confusion.

"I mean, I thought I had seen a ghost!"

Shao Chen looked around his room and still confused. "I don't see a ghost."

Feng Meifeng almost choked on her saliva. "The ghost is you!"

"I'm a human," Shao Chen replied innocently.

Feng Meifeng slapped her forehead, sigh…. She should have known that there was no point in arguing with this idiot.

Feng Meifeng stood up then approached Shao Chen. She turned Shao Chen's face with a snap. A crack sounded from his neck and it was a luck that there were no fractures.

Now, Shao Chen could see his own reflection in the mirror. Feng Meifeng pointed at it with horror.

"Look! Look at your face!"

Shao Chen's face was like a clown, completely white because of thick powder. Two red circles clearly painted on both cheekbones and what was even worse, how he applicate the lipstick was too thick, too red, and too messy so that it crossed the line of his lips!

"Ah … I am putting on makeup," he said, thinking that Feng Meifeng did not understand what he was doing.

Feng Meifeng slapped her face. "I know! But the way you do it was so bad!"

"Hmm…." Shao Chen looked at his face carefully. Since these three days, this is the first time for him to really observe the outcome of his makeup.

At last, he agreed with what Feng Meifeng said. This was indeed awful and very far from the makeup that the Jiangs had done for him.

Why is it so different? Even though I had followed all of the steps they taught me.

"I am amazed that there is no one who frightened by your makeup these three days!" Feng Meifeng murmured in amusement.

"I never went out." Shao Chen was too serious at thinking about his revenge plan, which was still had no progress until now, so that he never went out. He only met the maids that brought him food into the pavilion.

Feng Meifeng sighed. She could not read what was Shao Chen thinking and did not bother to try. It would just exhaust her.

Instead of that, she brought Shao Chen to sit in front of the dressing table. "I will fix your makeup. See how I do it carefully and learn from it, OK?"

Shao Chen nodded.

*****

Liang Hu was stealthily looking at the Emperor, full of fear. That was because His Majesty was in bad mood again but this time, Liang Hu also had a contribution so that he could not help to be tensed, in case the Emperor knew about it then ruthlessly punished him.

The matter was started when yesterday, Liang Hu was a bit drunk. His mouth became out of control and the worst was the partner of his drinking party at that time was the former Emperor, Chen Guang.

He immediately complained about all of Chen Liqin's bad work behaviors just because of the sake of making time with the lover. Chen Guang was furious and this morning, Chen Liqin got reprimanded.

Of course, Chen Guang did not reveal who told him about this so that Chen Liqin could only harbor his anger.

The Emperor could still hear his father's stern voice until now.

"If you still using your lover as an excuse for not doing your work properly, you can be sure that you will never have a future with him!"

Chen Liqin banged the table furiously. Liang Hu trembled in fear until the document scrolls fell out of his hands.

Finally, Chen Liqin noticed the existence of his secretary. He immediately muffled his emotion and forced a calm expression.

"What did you bring?"

Liang Hu came to his sense, quickly picking up the scrolls then placed them on the emperor's desk.

"These are the investigation report documents about the illegal auction from His Supreme Majesty1," he explained still a little scared.

Chen Liqin nodded. "Let me see."

He opened each of the scrolls one by one. After reading some sentences, he began to drown in the documents, forgetting all of the vexations he felt earlier.

****

"Perfect!" Feng Mengfei exclaimed in satisfaction.

Shao Chen looked at his reflection in awe. He had totally been transformed from a clown into a diamond! 

Feng Meifeng's skill in makeup was superb which was very delicate and beautiful.

"I had taught you the technique. Tomorrow, try again, ok? Don't worry! If the result was still bad, I will fix it and teach you again."

Shao Chen nodded.

Feng Meifeng recalled the purpose of coming here and immediately told Shao Chen about it.

"…with this, we don't have to be worried about serving the emperor on night!" she exclaimed excitedly, closing her sharing.

"On night?" Shao Chen frowned in confusion. 

Feng Meifeng blushed. She wanted to explain with a more explicit word but she was too embarrassed that the words stuck in her throat. Only after a few minutes that she managed to clear her throat then murmured the words 'on bed.'

"That's great!" Shao Chen's eyes lit up in happiness, similar to how he looked at money.

"Yep!" Feng Meifeng felt jubilant too but she also felt a little bit sad. "But, we have to be trapped in here forever, becoming a spinster. Sigh … if we did not look for interesting daily activities, I am sure we will die in boredom."

Shao Chen did not comment. He felt he would not die just because of boredom. In fact, his brain had never been this busy – with his revenge plan – until he could not feel dull and sleepy.

Feng Meifeng did not know about Shao Chen's thoughts as she had been looking around Shao Chen's pavilion. The pavilion did not have any differences with hers. The height, the wide-scale, and even the furniture were the same.

This is really boring. I should have brought my sewing tools!

She was still looking for something she could use for spending the time today when her eyes fell on the small bookshelf in the corner, which had some books inside it.

"Reading a book is a good idea too." She went to the bookshelf and randomly picking one of the books.

Shao Chen followed her movement and for the first time, he noticed the bookshelf inside his room.

"Want to read together?" Feng Meifeng asked, thought that Shao Chen was glancing at her because he wanted to read the book too. Besides, reading books together was more fun than alone.

Shao Chen shook his head. "I cannot read."

"You can't?"

Shao Chen shook his head again.

Feng Meifeng's eyes lit up excitedly. "That's great! Then, I will teach you how to read!" She thought she had finally got an interesting way to spend her time in the palace.

"Alright…."