“Yue Qing Ying!”
The water splashed in the bath tub and just as I stood up, the door was opened from outside. The wind from outside blasted in, causing the curtains to sway. A familiar figure stood by the doorway, loudly saying, “Tell me honestly, where were you last night? I looked for you everywhere that even my foot had blisters, tell me—“
The other person was originally furious, but froze the moment she saw me, “You- Why are you bathing so early in the morning?”
After panicking for a moment, I calmed myself down. The person in front of me was not a stranger, but rather my roommate, Yu Er, “I- got dirty.”
“Dirty?” Yu Er brazenly came over and tried to flip the curtain open.
I shrunk deep into the bath tub, my face pale as I said, “Don’t! Don’t come in!”
Yu Er stood there, frozen, as though scared witless by me, “What is wrong, Qing Ying?”
“I—“
“And what is wrong with your voice? Why is it so hoarse? Are you sick?”
My voice was not hoarse because I was sick, but because I spent the entire night crying. However, I could not say that to her. I bit my lips and said, “I- I got a cold. Don’t go near me, Yu Er. You might catch it.”
“Oh,” Yu Er stopped trying to come closer to me, “Where on earth did you go last night that you catch a cold? You didn’t come back. Do you have any idea how worried I was?”
The moment she mentioned last night, a burst of emotions rushed to me. I lowered my head, my eyes slightly red, “I had something to do.”
She regarded me suspiciously, but couldn’t see anything clearly due to the position of the curtain. In the end, she gave up and said, “Never mind. Anyway, Eunuch Yu will be going to Courtyard Ye today. They told us to clean up.”
“Eunuch Yu?” He was the supervising eunuch of the inner palace. What would he want in Courtyard Ye?
“En. I wonder what he’s coming over for. Anyway, many servants have gathered. Qing Ying, clean yourself up. You don’t want to be late.”
After saying that, she turned around and left, closing the door behind her.
Once I was left alone inside the silent room, I slowly stood up. I was trembling from the cold and there were bruises and ambiguous red marks all around my body, made more eye-catching from the droplets of water on my skin.
This was what I did not want Yu Er to see.
I was completely at a loss as I stood in the bathtub. What would Eunuch Yu, the head of all eunuchs be doing in Ye Courtyard? Could it be due to that matter?
A piercing chill ran through me. I hugged myself as I trembled.
What should I do?
What on earth should I do?
