The Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 26

Inside the room, Qin Shu was taking off the Empress Dowager's shoes. He half-squatted down, placing her feet on his knees and setting the shoes aside. Looking up, he saw the Empress Dowager rubbing her forehead, looking very tired, and asked, "Would this servant massage Your Majesty's feet?"

"Need not."

"What would Your Highness like to eat? This servant will go and make arrangements."

"No need to bother, come up here and rest for a while." Liu Qingtang pushed aside the small table on the couch, put her feet on it and stretched them out, then casually pounded them with her fists.

"You servant..."

"There's no room for discussion. Look how obvious the dark circles under your eyes are. Are you deliberately trying to make me uncomfortable?" Liu Qingtang raised an eyebrow, and Qin Shu shut up and sat on the couch.

"Take off your shoes and put your feet up like me. What are you doing sitting there?"

Qin Shu obediently took off her shoes and placed her feet, clad in white footwear, on the couch. However, the movement was so gentle that Liu Qingtang felt the couch would break if she stepped on it even slightly.

Then look again. He said he was on a tatami mat, but almost half of his body was suspended in the air, leaving such a large space for her.

Liu Qingtang rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the small table beside her, staring intently at Qin Shu. Qin Shu felt extremely uncomfortable under her gaze, then realized what she had done to displease the Empress Dowager, and quickly moved closer to her.

The Empress Dowager remained silent, staring at him. Qin Shu leaned closer to her, almost touching her, before Liu Qingtang blinked and sighed softly. "If we wait for you to come and lie down on your own, we won't get any rest today."

After saying that, she pulled Qin Shu down and made him rest his head on her lap. Then she unfolded the blanket and covered his body and her legs together.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When Qin Shu came to his senses, he found himself resting his head on the Empress Dowager's soft thighs, close to her, with a warm blanket covering him.

Qin Shu, still clutching the blanket around him, hesitated for a moment, then tentatively pulled it back a little and asked, "Your Majesty, won't you rest for a while? It's not comfortable to sit like this. How about I get up and give you..."

"You should sleep well, I don't want to sleep yet." Liu Qingtang tucked the blanket back into him, then withdrew her hand and reached out to push open the window a crack, letting the night breeze blow in and caress her face.

The chilly wind invigorated her, instantly clearing her mind. She did feel very tired, but her thoughts were in turmoil, and closing her eyes only made her feel worse; it was more comfortable to sit like this for a while.

Through a crack in the window, Liu Qingtang quietly watched the bright lights in the distance, her hand unconsciously patting Qin Shu's arm through the blanket.

Qin Shu, resting his head on her lap, couldn't relax at all. Gazing at her profile, which appeared even more hazy and jade-like under the lamplight, he couldn't help but wonder, if the Empress Dowager didn't want to sleep, why did she agree to rest here? Could it be because of... him? As soon as this absurd thought popped into his mind, Qin Shu quickly dismissed it.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep?" Liu Qingtang noticed Qin Shu's gaze, turned her head, and touched his cheek with one hand. "I noticed the dark circles under your eyes a while ago, and you looked listless standing there. Didn't you want to rest?"

"Alright, I told you to sleep, so don't force yourself. Go to sleep," Liu Qingtang said, gently covering Qin Shu's eyes with her hand.

Qin Shu closed his eyes and sank into a soft, warm darkness, feeling the temperature covering his eyelids. Suddenly, he felt the whole world quiet down.

In the silence, he could only hear the Empress Dowager's soft, slightly amused voice in his ear: "I'll count to thirty, and then you'll fall asleep, understand?" She said this in a way that left no room for refusal, and then began to count.

"One...two...three..." She counted slowly, her voice soft and gentle, the long trailing sounds like a small brush, making his heart ache with a strange, itchy feeling.

Qin Shu felt that the Empress Dowager's voice carried a strange power, which gradually relaxed him. He listened quietly to the sound around him, which gradually overlapped with his own heartbeat, slowly returning from intense to peaceful, from clear to distant and blurry.

"Twenty-nine...thirty..." Liu Qingtang finished counting and waited quietly for a while before letting go of his hand. After letting go, she found that Qin Shu had closed his eyes and was asleep with shallow breathing.

Looking at his sleeping face, Liu Qingtang couldn't help but smile. She touched his cheek with her fingers and chuckled softly, "He's really asleep. How can he look so silly?"

She rested her chin on her hand and looked at him, noticing that he slept very quietly, without moving for a long time. She herself was different; she always liked to toss and turn in her sleep, turning to her left side every now and then to her right side, unconsciously shifting in her sleep.

Liu Qingtang would look at the scenery outside and then at Qin Shu's sleeping face, often unable to resist tapping his nose, brushing his eyelashes, or poking his cheek. When he felt ticklish and rubbed against the blanket, she would withdraw her hand and secretly cover her mouth to laugh.

When Qin Shu groggily woke up, before he could even open his eyes, he heard the Empress Dowager's voice beside him. She said, "Open your mouth." He subconsciously did as she said, and as soon as he opened his mouth, something was shoved into it. After chewing a couple of times out of habit, Qin Shu finally realized what was going on.

He was still resting his head on the Empress Dowager's lap, covered with the same blanket as her, while the Empress Dowager held a piece of pastry with a missing piece in her hand, smiling as she looked down at him.

Qin Shu was caught in a dilemma: he had a half-chewed pastry in his mouth, unsure whether to swallow it or not. He actually fell asleep with his head on the Empress Dowager's body, and he didn't even know how long he slept like that.

"Alright, stop stiffening up. Get up and rub my legs; they're numb from being used as a pillow." Liu Qingtang patted his cheek.

Upon hearing this, Qin Shu sat up abruptly and reached out to massage her leg. Liu Qingtang's numb leg hissed in pain from the massage, and Qin Shu's eyes immediately filled with remorse. Without thinking, he said, "This servant deserves to die, this servant..."

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Qingtang swiftly stuffed the piece of pastry with a missing corner into his mouth. "If you're hungry, there's another plate of snacks here to tide you over."

Qin Shu was speechless and could only silently massage her legs and chew on some snacks.

Seeing that he couldn't free his hand to hold the pastry in his mouth, Liu Qingtang kindly held it for him and fed him three pieces before stopping.

"Master, are you up? The banquet is about to begin," Zhuiyi asked from outside the door.

"It'll be done soon," Liu Qingtang replied, telling Qin Shu to stop massaging, and then bent her legs and sat on the edge of the tatami.

Qin Shu quickly put on his own shoes and then squatted down to help her put them on. But when he tried to stand up after putting on her shoes, his shoulder was pressed down. Although he didn't know what the Empress Dowager wanted to do, he still followed her instructions and continued to squat down.

Liu Qingtang leaned closer to him, her wide sleeves brushing against his shoulders, and then adjusted his hat. Qin Shu then realized that his hat was crooked, and that he had been massaging the Empress Dowager's legs with the hat tilted like that.

He clearly wanted to present himself in the most appropriate manner to the Empress Dowager, but for some reason, it always turned out this way. Even after following the Empress Dowager back to the top floor of the Zhongsui Pavilion for the family banquet, Qin Shu still felt frustrated, though his expression betrayed no emotion.

This family banquet was much quieter than the previous two. At the plum banquet, a female storyteller was invited to tell several interesting stories. At the banquet for officials, the music troupe danced and played music non-stop, so even though there were few people watching, it was still lively.

However, since there were no such things at the family dinner, and there were only a few people sitting around the table, there were very few people talking, so the atmosphere was a bit cold.

The three princesses only answered a few words when asked; even the Dowager Consort was nervous about her son from beginning to end, afraid that he would do something strange; Xiao Huaiyu stared blankly into the void, and did not move even when the Dowager Consort pulled him.

Then only Liu Qingtang and the young emperor Xiao Huaixu remained. They would talk occasionally, but they couldn't talk forever and would often fall silent suddenly.

Liu Qingtang thought for a moment and decided to do what she did every year: have the female musicians from the music troupe perform a few shadow plays. These were the kind of plays performed behind special screens, where shadows were projected by light. She didn't know when they had originated from the common people, but the musicians in the music troupe had learned to perform them. At first, she found them quite interesting, but doing the same thing year after year lacked any novelty. Even the most interesting things become tiresome after so many years. Liu Qingtang felt she could fall asleep watching them now, but even if she didn't like them, it was still better than this awkward, silent scene.

After three shadow plays had been performed with a tinkling sound, midnight was finally approaching. When the large bronze bell on the watchtower rang, a series of dazzling fireworks burst forth in the sky. These were set off by the eunuchs who had been waiting in the square long ago; a full ninety-nine large and ninety-nine small fireworks rose one after another from the ground and exploded in the sky. There were also fireworks forming the characters for "fortune" and "longevity," and various other colorful displays, illuminating the sky with a vibrant and dazzling display.

Liu Qingtang and the young emperor stood by the window on the top floor of the Zhongsui Pavilion. The fireworks seemed to explode right beside them, making them see them exceptionally clearly.

Apart from the palace, fireworks were set off simultaneously in various mansions and streets outside the palace. Although they didn't have as many varieties as the fireworks in the palace, the continuous crackling and popping in the sky created a lively atmosphere.

There were also firecrackers; almost every household set them off at this time, making a much louder noise than fireworks. From the Zhongsui Pavilion, which was separated from the market by more than half of the palace, the booming sound of firecrackers from the street could be heard clearly.

The sound of firecrackers continued for a long, long time, and amidst this deafening festivities, they welcomed the fifth year of Yuan Ning. This was a year completely different from their previous life, a special year for both her and Qin Shu.

Author's Note: Ladies, you'll probably have to wait a while longer for what you're looking for. I don't want to rush things... By the way, the location isn't in the palace!