After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 111 Li Gongcai Encounters the Emperor of Chu
In the evening, Chu Yan, having finished a day's political affairs, arrived at Changchun Palace.

She bumped into a tall, elegant palace maid with a refined and charming appearance. Perhaps she was startled by the sudden sight of a man in a bright yellow robe in the palace. Her elegant face showed panic, and she quickly lowered her head and stepped aside.

Chu Yan glanced at her and asked, "Where is your mistress?"

The slender palace maid bowed her head and replied, "The Imperial Concubine went to the Empress's residence and was unaware of His Majesty's arrival. This servant... will go and invite Her Highness back immediately."

"No need, just wait for her to come back."

Upon hearing her voice, Chu Yan glanced at her again. This palace maid was about twenty years old, and her voice was like a pool of spring water, clear and calm, with a pleasant tone. She spoke slowly and deliberately.

"Pour me some tea."

Chu Yan instructed her and stepped into the East Warm Pavilion of the main hall.

The palace maid was stunned for a moment, and only after being stared at by the eunuchs and maids following behind Chu Yan did she come to her senses and hurriedly follow him inside.

Chu Yan sat on the kang in the warm pavilion and looked at the palace maid again. The more he looked, the more he felt that she was outstanding in appearance.

She had a classic oval face, a gentle and refined temperament, and a dignified and composed demeanor. She was tall, about the same height as Qin Keqing, and had a slender figure. She wore a palace maid's dress and her makeup was light, but it couldn't hide her graceful figure.

Her makeup was not outstanding; she only lightly applied rouge to her lips, seemingly to deliberately conceal her beauty, or perhaps because she didn't care about her appearance. As a result, it was easy to overlook her at first glance.

But the more Chu Yan looked at her, the more he felt that this palace maid possessed a womanly charm that attracted him, making him want to become Cao Mengde.

The palace maid bowed her head and approached him with steady and gentle movements, pouring him tea.

Just as she was about to step back, Chu reached out and grasped one of her hands.

"!"

The palace maid was as if she had been electrocuted. She quickly withdrew her hand, her delicate face flushed red, and she lowered her head as if she were so ashamed that she wanted to disappear.

Chu Yan smiled and asked her, "What's your name? I didn't see you before when I came here."

He had his own set of aesthetic standards, and the palace maid in front of him fit them perfectly.

She stammered, her face flushed, "This servant..."

She glanced towards the door several times, seemingly hoping to wait for the Imperial Concubine to return and rescue her.

As emperor, Chu Yan possessed the greatest power in the land. All palace maids who entered the palace were subjects of his favor. In history, there were also several emperors who were born to palace maids.

Chu Yan wasn't angry at her nervousness. He smiled and said to her, "Raise your head, come closer, let me take a good look at you."

The tall palace maid had no choice but to take two steps toward him, slowly raising her head to show Chu Yan her elegant oval face.

"Get closer," Chu Yan said.

The palace maid bit her lip, but had no choice but to move forward until she was only one step away from the emperor before stopping.

Chu Yan reached out, put his arm around her waist, and pulled her close to him.

"His Majesty!!"

The palace maid gasped in surprise, her beautiful and elegant oval face flushing with embarrassment as she instinctively covered herself with her hands.

Her knees were forced to rest on his lap, her body tense and trembling. She glanced at him with her clear eyes, then quickly lowered her head, her face full of shyness.

Chu Yan put one arm around her waist and reached out with the other to caress her face. "Don't be nervous. I see you look beautiful and want to talk to you. How long have you been in the palace?"

"Yes, yes... Your Majesty, I haven't been in the palace for very long."

"Just entered the palace?"

Chu Yan found it strange; she was not young anymore, and had been in the palace for ten years by now.

"Was it because your husband died that you had no choice but to enter the palace? Or did the emperor of the Shun Dynasty confiscate your property?"

Chu Yan asked her again.

In this era, few people did not marry, and women could only depend on men for their livelihood.

The wives and daughters of the princes and ministers whom Chu Yan ordered to have their homes confiscated have not yet been brought into the palace, so she could only have entered the palace earlier.

"Yes, yes... My husband has been dead for five years." The palace maid knelt on his lap, her waist embraced, and the man's breath rushed towards her. Their bodies touched, causing her, who had been feeling empty for so long, to tremble.

She felt a mixture of fear from violating social norms and unbearable unease from the throbbing deep within her body, making her feel utterly ashamed!

She had studied "Rules for Women" and "Biographies of Exemplary Women," which taught that a widow should be chaste, respectful to her parents-in-law, and raise her late husband's children. Yet now, she was being held in the arms of a man...

"How pitiful. No wonder you entered the palace. Did you not want to remarry, or were you forced by your in-laws?"

Chu Yan asked her.

The palace maid raised her head, glanced at him briefly, and then lowered her head again: "This servant has never had any intention of remarrying, and my parents-in-law treat me well."

Chu Yan laughed and said, "Is it that you never did, or that you dare not say it? There is no need to hide it from me. I will not look down on women who remarry. Not long ago, I even issued an edict ordering women in the city to remarry."

She hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "Even if I had the idea of ​​remarrying, my parents-in-law and parents would not allow it, and people would look down on me. I do not want to remarry."

Chu Yan nodded. "I understand you. When you're alone at home late at night, you sometimes have wild thoughts, but you don't dare to say them during the day. However, now that you've entered the palace, you're mine from now on, and there's no question of you remarrying."

The oval-faced palace maid blushed, unsure how to respond.

Chu Yan hugged her tighter, pressing her tall body close to him until there was no space between them. Chu Yan felt the graceful and soft figure of the palace maid who was now a married woman.

Her body, hidden beneath the palace dress, is well worth exploring.

"Your Majesty..." The palace maid trembled, wanting to refuse but not daring to say it.

Refusing the emperor's favor, if not a grave offense, would at least bring about a major disaster.

"You don't want to?" Chu Yan asked her.

Asking such a question as an emperor would usually not elicit a sincere answer from her.

Chu Yan only wanted her to give a reply that didn't reflect her true feelings.

"This servant..." The palace maid was at a loss for words, and after a long while, she finally found an excuse: "This servant did not learn from the palace matrons how to serve His Majesty in bed..."

"There's no need to learn this kind of thing."

Chu Yan reached out and lifted her smooth chin, looking at her blushing face, and said with a smile, "You are very much to my liking. Stay in the palace with peace of mind, and you will benefit from it in the future."

Her face was burning hot, and after her eyelids trembled, she finally slowly closed her eyes.

I resigned myself to my fate.

Chu Yan put his arm around her waist and moved closer to her face, clearly feeling the heat on her cheeks and the rapid beating of her heart, making one wonder if she was expecting something.

Regardless, Chu Yan lowered his head and kissed her lips, which were only lightly rouged.

The palace maid opened her eyes, her clear almond-shaped eyes imprinting his appearance in her mind. After a moment, she shyly closed her eyes again.

Her chastity, which she had guarded for five years, was now destroyed.

An indescribable tremor spread throughout her body. She had violated the chastity that her parents had taught her to uphold. The various words praising women recorded in the Four Books for Women and the Biographies of Exemplary Women were shattered in her mind.

Instead, one could overhear the old women in the garden whispering insults at others: whore, slut, little vixen, fox spirit, unchaste slut...

Here are some words I learned from books: dissolute, male thief and female prostitute, seductive fox spirit who bewitches the ruler...

Two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks.

She felt as if she were shattered, and she seemed to hear her son's voice. The emperor released her, and she subconsciously turned around. Sure enough, she saw Jia Lan standing outside the door, holding two toys that the princes in the palace played with, staring blankly at her: "Mother..."

Jia Lan seemed puzzled as to why her mother was hugging and kissing a man.

She was...utterly ashamed.

Fortunately, the emperor seemed not to notice, and continued to kiss her cheek, comforting her: "Don't cry, I won't force you."

She dared not let the emperor see Jia Lan, and in her haste, she looked up at his handsome face and took the initiative to kiss him again.

Chu Yan accepted her offer without hesitation, put his arm around her waist, sat down on the kang (a heated brick bed), and told her to stay in his arms.

They parted after a long time.

"What's your name?" Chu Yan asked, holding the palace maid's soft, jade-like hand.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she silently warned herself, "I must not deceive the emperor, I must not deceive the emperor..."

"This servant's surname is Li, and her name is Gongcai..."

She answered with her head down, not noticing the strange expression on Chu Yan's face.

"Li Gongcai?"

Chu Yan put his arm around her waist, feeling both amused and exasperated. It turned out to be Li Wan, one of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling!
"Yes, yes, my name is Li Gongcai."

Li Wan's throat and lips were dry. After only two kisses with him, her heart was pounding, her cheeks were flushed, and she leaned most of her body against him, being held tightly in his arms.

"Oh...Li Gongcai, what a nice name!"

Chu Yan smiled, held her slender hand in his, lowered his head, and kissed her lips again.

He gave her a quick kiss and left, watching with a wicked grin as Li Wan looked embarrassed and ashamed.

"His Majesty--"

Li Wan hesitated, then snapped out of her daze and glanced at the door. Fortunately, Jia Lan had already been taken away by the palace maids.

She was filled with trepidation, knowing that the emperor was well aware of the Jia family's affairs, but she still held onto a sliver of hope.

Few people knew the woman's name, and only a handful in the garden knew that her courtesy name was Gongcai. Logically speaking, Zhou Rui's wife would not have known that her courtesy name was Gongcai unless she made a special inquiry.

"Her name sounds nice, and she's good-looking too."

Chu Yan gently stroked the burning cheek of the widow in his arms and said slowly.

"His Majesty……"

Li Wan was overwhelmed with shyness. Her cheek had been caressed so intimately that even when her husband Jia Zhu was alive, he had never been so close to her.

She couldn't help but raise her eyes to look at the emperor who was holding her, her heart still pounding.

Chu Yan lowered his head again and kissed her. His aesthetic judgment was indeed correct. He recognized at a glance that Li Wan, disguised as a palace maid, had a captivating beauty and her lips were moist and sweet.

Li Wan quickly closed her eyes, passively accepting the emperor's affection.

Inside the East Warm Pavilion, only the clicking sounds and rapid breathing of the two people could be heard.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine has returned to the palace."

The palace maid outside the door whispered a reminder, but Chu Yan ignored it. Li Wan also seemed not to hear it; she had already begun to take the initiative.

So, when Jia Yuanchun entered the East Warm Pavilion, she saw a scene that astonished her:
The emperor held his sister-in-law, Li Wan, in his arms, and the two kissed passionately.

Yuan Chun was stunned.

(End of this chapter)