My enemies became my companions

Chapter 221: Drinking Wine and Talking About Beauty

She was wearing a palace dress, and even though the green background looked plain and concealed the natural charm of a prostitute, she could never have imagined that one day she would be able to wear palace clothes.

It was snowing in Beijing, and the numerous white snowflakes were scattered everywhere. The snow-covered mountains in the distance were looming under the dark sky. Not far from the lakeside was a small building for rest and enjoyment, with pillars painted with vermilion.

The lights were on in the room, and palace maids in red or green were walking outside the building. Looking down from the second floor, they looked like festive koi carps. The palace maids came upstairs with some side dishes, and with them came an old lady in rough clothing. She was holding an underglaze red jade vase. Min Ming could guess the rich aroma of wine inside just by looking at her.

The inestimably beautiful woman in the palace was leaning on the couch. If she hadn't asked Min Ming to sit down, Min Ming would have knelt down. Even though Min Ming was sitting now, he was still restless, with his head buried so low that it was almost stuffed into the place that the palace dress could not cover.

A palace maid poured the mellow and elegant "Jia Qing Niang" from a jade vase into a wine pot, lit the small stove and heated it through the iron net. Another palace maid placed four white jade wine glasses. Soon, the wine fell into two glasses and was presented to the Queen Mother first. After the Queen Mother waved her hand, the other glass of wine was presented to Min Ming.

Min Ming took the wine with great trepidation and did not dare to drink it rashly.

"Why, are you afraid that the wine is poisonous, a cup of poison that will penetrate your intestines?"

An Hou's voice was leisurely and slow, as if she was joking, but also not joking, which made Min Ming unable to tell.

"How could I presume to guess your majesty's intentions..." Min Ming's voice trembled a little, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but it looked like a bitter smile.

"Then why don't you drink it?" Empress An asked with a smile, "Or is it that the 'Jia Qing Jiu' in this palace is not as good as the flower wine in Bai Hua Tower?"

Min Ming was silent. She gritted her teeth, carefully brought the wine glass to her lips, and slowly drank it all.

Under the tension, a drop of clear liquid slid from the corner of his mouth, slowly fell along his neck into his palace dress, and seeped into his chest. Min Ming trembled slightly.

Queen An looked at the direction of the drop of wine and an ambiguous smile appeared on her face. Apart from anything else, this prostitute was truly worthy of the word "voluptuous", even her neck was soft.

She turned her eyes away and stopped looking at Min Ming, which made the latter feel relieved. Then, she looked at the snow outside the window in the dim candlelight and suddenly asked:
"Aren't you Chen Yi's concubine? Why did you go back to Baihua Tower?"

When Min Ming heard Queen An asking about this, she just breathed a sigh of relief, but her throat rose up again. She saw the nameless old lady standing quietly, like a statue, and immediately understood something.

I still remember that when the old lady led people to encircle and suppress the people of Wuyong Tower, they entered Chen Yi's yard. At that time, Chen Yi said that she was a concubine to cover it up.

It seemed that the old lady recognized her and reported the whole story to the Queen Mother.

In this situation, hiding the truth is useless, so Min Ming had no choice but to lower his head and say, "Your Majesty... my daughter was sent by Wuyong Tower to be the concubine of Captain Chen... But there were many setbacks along the way, so my daughter did not move into the courtyard, but stayed in Baihua Tower, but was also exclusively for Captain Chen's use."

Beside my ear, I heard the nobleman's chuckle: "Wu Yonglou is good at doing things. I don't know how many times he has repeated this method."

Min Ming was speechless for a while. She naturally understood what Queen An meant. Wuyonglou bought and opened brothels in the capital, and there were countless dignitaries connected with them. They would often seduce the girls in the brothels, and then find various reasons to keep the girls in the brothels and not let others touch them. They would also provide them with good food and drink as a means of attraction.

An Hou's eyes were fixed on the misty snow, and she said absentmindedly:

"Tell me, how come this snow-like girl pleases him so much?"

Min Ming naturally knew who Queen An was talking about. She had also heard from Min Ning about the concubine's identity. She hesitated for a long time, not knowing how to respond. When Queen An's eyes narrowed slightly, she hurriedly said:
"Perhaps, it's because the girl is a beauty."

"Aren't you considered a beauty?" Queen An glanced at her sideways and asked with a smile.

Min Ming didn't know how to answer. If he affirmed it, he would undoubtedly be suspected of boasting. If he denied it, he might be accused of deceiving the emperor. Seeing that she was hesitant and did not answer for a long time, Queen An said coldly:

"You have been in the palace for three days, and you still don't understand that I would rather have simple and honest people than those who are self-righteous?"

Min Ming quickly replied:

"My lady, it is probably true."

"It counts, then it counts. If it doesn't, then it doesn't count. What do you mean by probably counts? Are you trying to fool me?"

"Well...my daughter is a beauty." Min Ming was almost overwhelmed by the sudden momentum. His shoulders were shaking and he almost fell down.

Afterwards, Min Ming heard Queen An say "hmm" in satisfaction, and thought the matter was over, but Queen An said:
"You don't count."

Min Ming froze for a moment and didn't dare to reply.

Empress An took a sip of wine, leaned back on the couch, and said leisurely: "Beauty in the world is never just about appearance, but also about story and status. For example, Zhaojun went to the frontier, and Baosi brought disaster to the country. Even if you can make a city fall in love with you with one glance, and a country fall in love with you with another glance, if you can't really make a city fall in love with you, then you are just an ordinary person."

As wine boiled in front of the warm stove, Queen An talked about beauties. Min Ming's face was gloomy. She came from a brothel and had a low status, so she could naturally better understand the meaning of Queen An's words.

"A princess in distress, even if she is a little less beautiful, is still much more beautiful than an Oiran in a brothel. Moreover, you only win in terms of your figure. In terms of appearance, you are still a little behind."

Queen An glanced at Min Ming and spoke in a gentle voice without haste.

“…Your Majesty is right.” Min Ming responded.

She turned her head slightly and glanced at the fine snow outside the window out of the corner of her eye.

Both Queen An and Chen Yi have revealed, explicitly or implicitly, that the appearance that she is most proud of is actually not worth mentioning.

The brothel girl, dressed in palace clothes, looked lonely.

She had been summoned into the palace by Empress An for three or four days. Except for the initial discussion in Jingren Palace about something that would lead to Chen Yi's death, Empress An met with her many times during the rest of the time, but she did not explain further. She just talked about irrelevant things like today.

When Min Ming came to his senses, he was met with that pair of imposing phoenix eyes.

"If I were to let that princess be adopted into the Jingwang Mansion so that I could pardon her crimes and make her a princess, wouldn't that make the difference between you and her even greater?"

An Hou's voice slowly came to my ears.

Min Ming was startled and quickly lowered his head and said:
"I dare not say anything."

"You must speak up." Empress An sneered. "I have seen you for many days and repeatedly warned you, but you still don't have any autonomy at all. You are like a puddle of stagnant water. Which man would like a puddle of stagnant water? Min Ming, I will tell you clearly today that the palace wants to use you and let you be deceived by them. If you continue like this, you will ruin the palace's plan, and the end will not be good..."

I have written the detailed outline for the rest of the story, so this chapter is late. I will update it for you in two days.

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(End of this chapter)