Is there really such a good thing in this world? Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Playing dead like a salted fish

Lu Meng didn't know how many years it had been since she last got up this early.

She was served by the maid throughout the entire process of dressing and washing up, remaining in a state of complete daze.

Since she was going to light the lamps for King Jian'an during his morning audience, the maid, guessing her eager thoughts, styled her hair in a very elaborate manner early in the morning and chose a set of very luxurious jewelry for her to wear.

Her lips were painted in a way that made it look as if she had just finished eating a dead child. At this pre-dawn hour, when the sky was still dark, Lu Meng looked at her reflection in the mirror and almost thought she had seen a female ghost!

It was then that she remembered she was no longer herself but had become Zhangsun Lu Meng. Her original appearance bore no resemblance to Zhangsun Lu Meng’s; from head to toe, only the pronunciation of their names was similar.

Lu Meng raised her hand and touched the unfamiliar young face in the mirror that even the heavy makeup couldn't hide, and she sincerely sighed...

What a wonderful thing this is!

There’s no need to talk about appearances; anyway, Lu Meng thought her original self was also as beautiful as a flower. Although she couldn't remember Zhangsun Lu Meng’s exact age, given that marriages happened early in ancient times, Zhangsun Lu Meng looked at least ten years younger than her modern self!

Ten years, ten years – how many decades of youthful beauty does one have in life? Why pursue some illusory love and degrade oneself?

Lu Meng would only "degrade" herself in pursuit of real gold and silver!

As she was gazing at her reflection in the mirror, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a maid tidying up the wedding dress and phoenix crown from last night.

The pure gold one she planned to use as escape money!

No way!

"Put it down!"

Due to her urgency, the command slipped out of Lu Meng's mouth.

The maid holding the phoenix crown was startled, thinking Lu Meng was flaunting her new concubine status, and quickly bowed, attempting to kneel.

Then Lu Meng's words followed: "Put the crown next to the vase, no need to put it away."

Although the wedding dress also had gold threads, the total amount wouldn't even be two liang, but the phoenix crown was different; it was pure gold, and pure gold could not leave her sight.

The maid hesitated upon hearing this, but seeing Lu Meng's stern face that didn't reveal whether she was happy or angry, she bowed and swiftly complied.

Lu Meng was also testing the maid, to see if she would follow her instructions or try to put the crown elsewhere.

The maid placed the phoenix crown next to the vase on the lattice, and Lu Meng instantly felt relieved. Good, this thing should be hers once she wore it, no need to return it to anyone.

After Lu Meng finished grooming herself, the maid helped her up. Though she still felt sleepy and unfocused, she was willing to serve the male lead, King Jian'an, just for the sake of the pure gold "overtime pay."

As there was still plenty of time, the maid asked Lu Meng if she wanted to eat something first.

Lu Meng nodded. Despite not having much appetite, she felt reluctant to go to "work" without eating anything.

Then the maid brought the red bean soup that Lu Meng had talked about last night.

After a whole night, the red beans had become almost mushy, with their bright red color and visibly softened dried fruits, arousing Lu Meng's appetite. Lu Meng took a small spoonful and tasted it; it was sweet, delicious, and refreshing.

She leisurely consumed the soup with the demeanor of a lady, savoring each sip. Although her movements were elegant, they were not slow, and she drank all the red bean soup that had been cooked overnight. She felt like having another bowl, but it seemed to challenge her self-image.

Moreover, her original appetite should have been small, so even with just one bowl, she felt a bit full.

Lu Meng sighed inwardly, set the spoon aside, wiped her mouth with the napkin handed to her by the maid, and then helped by the maid to put on her cloak and left the room.

Outside, it was the most peaceful time of the night. Because last night was the wedding night, the roads in the palace were decorated with red candles and lanterns that had not yet burned out.

Lu Meng walked down the middle of the path, glancing at the two maids who had been serving her since last night. However, Lu Meng still couldn't figure out who was Xiu Yun and who was Xiu Li, so she just followed whichever direction they turned.

Luckily, Lu Meng was a new bride and shouldn't be familiar with the mansion. Therefore, she didn't need to worry much about which way to go; the two maids would come to assist her.

She woke up earlier than a dog, dressed in her finery, and headed towards the mansion's gate. Even before reaching the gate, she could see the brightly lit gate from afar, with guards and carriages waiting there early.

Lu Meng thought to herself that all these lights could blind her. Was it really necessary for her to light the way?

Ancient people were really good at making excuses to leave.

Then the two maids helped Lu Meng turn a corner and went through several small gates before reaching a courtyard with only a few dim lamps.

One of the maids handed Lu Meng the lantern she had been carrying all along, reminding her softly, "Madam Meng, hold this. The master is about to come out."

The other maid skillfully extinguished the other lantern she had brought along. Was this to prevent anyone from taking credit for her work?

Lu Meng didn't like all this fuss; she just wanted to go back to sleep now.

However, when Lu Meng considered that the male protagonist was now her boss, she confidently took the lantern and stood in position.

At the same time, she squinted and looked around the courtyard.

Compared to her own courtyard, this one was exceptionally magnificent. The corridor alone was several times wider than hers. However, there was no hint of red in the courtyard, not even a few scattered lanterns; everything was white.

There was no sign of a wedding ceremony, indicating how little the Prince Jian'an valued her as a concubine.

Well, that was fine.

Since childhood, Lu Meng had dreamed of finding a wealthy and influential man who would love her passionately, cry and scream to take care of her, and ultimately be rich but suffer from erectile dysfunction.

But she never expected her dreams to come true so unexpectedly after crossing over.

Although there were some slight deviations, it didn't matter. After receiving a promise from the male protagonist to support her for life, Lu Meng felt like she had reached the pinnacle of her life.

Now, she didn't even need to worry about stocking up on inventory for her milk tea shop.

As she stood there lost in thought for a while, the male protagonist still hadn't appeared. With her warm clothing and having drunk a large bowl of red bean porridge, combined with her guess that it was now summer based on her attire and the temperature, she began to feel drowsy after standing for a short time.

She bobbed her head like a chick pecking at grains, and by the time she had almost finished pecking at the basin, the male protagonist finally came out after being called out countless times.

Lu Meng looked up at him, but because her vision was blurred, she didn't see him clearly, not even on the second glance.

Following the subtle hints from the maids, she cautiously approached and stood beside the male protagonist, holding the lantern to light the way for him.

However, the male protagonist walked a bit fast, and Lu Meng didn't have the skill of the maids who could move their upper bodies while quickly moving their lower legs. Taking slightly hurried steps, her head ornaments swayed erratically.

This made Lu Meng completely alert, her face stinging from the hit.

Nevertheless, she continued to follow the male protagonist's steps faithfully, paying close attention to her footing to avoid tripping. According to the law of the heroine tripping, a fall in the pitch-black darkness wouldn't end well.

Fortunately, the male protagonist's speed wasn't such that she couldn't catch up, and because he wasn't walking slowly, Lu Meng didn't need to distract herself by figuring out which way the gate turned.

As soon as they reached a brightly lit area crowded with people, Lu Meng immediately turned the lantern to the side and took a few steps, and when she felt the male protagonist walking fast and his eyes following his steps, she silently started to lag behind, returning to hand the lantern to the maid, indicating her readiness to slip away.

If she were to walk over now and be seen by other servants, with just her attire, they would definitely have to salute her, and with each salute there would be a chance of exposure, and she's not here to seek attention.

It's her first day on probation, full of enthusiasm, but after just this one day, goodbye to all that.

Suddenly, after turning around, before she had taken a few steps, the male lead unexpectedly paused and seemed to realize something, then turned around to face her.

Seeing Lu Meng leaving, he also appeared surprised, with his eyebrows raised.

Then, with a quick step, he moved a little to stand in front of Lu Meng and block her path, and asked in a deep voice, "What are you doing here?"

Lu Meng hadn't expected him to come back so suddenly, so she was taken aback and raised her head in astonishment, stopped abruptly, took a few steps back in haste, and even grabbed the hand of the maid to steady herself.

Then she slowly replied with humility, "I... I'm here to light the way for the master."

In her mind, Lu Meng wondered if he had eyes in the back of his head. Why did he turn back after she left?

"I... I'm here to light the way for the master." Lu Meng stuck to this explanation, but she didn't show any submissive attitude, rather she seemed a bit nervous.

When Wu Linqing moved away, Lu Meng tried to suppress her drowsiness, but a yawn escaped her, tears welled up, she sniffed, patted the maid, signaling her to hurry back to bed.

But little did she expect the male lead to turn back again.

Wu Linqing wanted to inform his newly appointed concubine that someone might come to summon her to the palace today.

Usually, this was the job of Granny Wu, but he had hurried back last night and banished her to the countryside to calm her nerves.

The newly appointed maid from the city shops might be delayed, so Wu Linqing decided to alert her to this.

Upon his return, he saw his dream wife crying profusely, tears streaming down her cheeks silently, which made him feel shocked, as if she resembled a deer hit by a bullet.

Wu Linqing's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he clenched his fingers inside his sleeve.

Was she really crying?

"Your Highness..." Lu Meng immediately stopped, and although she caused his internal anger, her stance was extremely polite.

Wu Linqing said, "Someone will come to the palace later to fetch you, so prepare yourself."

Lumeng's heart skipped a beat, thinking: "There's no fixed schedule in the palace, why wait here! She won't be crushed, going to the palace? Just want to sleep..."

Plus, what can she prepare? She knows nothing about palace protocols, she's in a deep dilemma this time!

After Wu Ling finished speaking, Lumeng bid a polite farewell, "Alright," without daring to look at him.

As he was about to leave, she hesitated for a moment, glanced at her red eyes, furrowed her brow, and said, "If you insist on coming to light the way, then come."

What's making you cry?

After Wu Ling showed his "mercy," he left gracefully.

He left Lumeng alone, shedding genuine tears of frustration.

Why waste time! Why light the way for you! Can't you see me?

Ah, damn it! My precious sleep!

Lumeng's defeat was evident as the servants helped her back to her room, feeling utterly defeated. Life is too hard, isn't it?

Not only does she have to risk her life going to the palace soon, but she also has to wake up early every day?

Lumeng let out a string of curses.

Being a princess isn't what it seems...

Instead, her two maidservants looked delighted, their steps even more cheerful. Although the prince didn't spend the night, today he seemed very considerate of their young mistress and even promised her future visits!

Lumeng didn't notice her maidservants' genuine happiness for her, nor did she realize that these two maids were the only ones she had brought with her from the minister's house.

Being served again, she slept through, not even waking up for breakfast, until she slept soundly until the sun was high. Finally, she felt well-rested.

As she was being assisted back into consciousness and sat up, Lumeng saw her busy maidservants and felt no irritation, instead feeling that these easy days were quite good. She didn't even have to leave the room. Surely, winter wouldn't be cold, and the toilet was clean too.

Lumeng didn't move a finger, just washed her face and sat at the dining table.

It was already lunchtime, and Lumeng ate her meal leisurely, not behaving in solitary, as she had suffered from stomach problems in the past and was accustomed to chewing slowly.

After finishing, she suddenly remembered what the prince had said in the morning, that someone from the palace would come to fetch her!

So, Lumeng thought for a moment and asked the maid standing beside her, "Has anyone come from the palace?"

She still didn't know whether it was Xiuyun or Xiuli's maid who bowed and answered: "Not yet. After finishing the meal, Lady Meng can start preparing. The lady sent by the prince this morning, does Lady Meng want to see her?"

Upon hearing this, Meng was relieved. It was good she hadn't arrived yet. She feared these two maids might deliberately not inform her.

She glanced at the maid beside her, carefully distinguishing her beautiful face. She also looked at the other one, at least to remember their faces, one with a round face and the other with a slim face, like watermelon seeds and tomatoes, hmm.

After finishing her meal, Meng took a pure white handkerchief and carefully wiped her slender fingers.

"Please, call the lady in." Meng finished wiping her hands, and the maid quickly cleared the table. Meng sat on the couch in the outer room, half-leaning, and saw someone entering through the door.

As Meng looked on, she realized she couldn't be called a lady; perhaps she was a young woman?

"I'm Xinyan, here to inquire about Lady Meng's well-being."

The woman's voice was mature and clear, and her appearance was refreshing, the kind of person you could easily tell was decisive at first glance.

Meng said, "Please rise, no need to be formal."

Meng couldn't help but smile a little. It turned out the new maid mentioned by the other maid wasn't actually new; she was some of the new maids whose names she didn't know.

"Thank you, Lady Meng."

Then Xin Ya stood there, waiting for instructions from her new mistress.

Meng just looked at her, without saying anything. She didn't know the procedures in the first place.

After a moment, Xin Ya quickly raised her head to meet Meng's scrutinizing gaze, without understanding what she meant at all.

She had no choice but to carefully say, "The Prince specifically transferred me from Meilan Garden to serve Lady Meng, which shows how much the Prince values Lady Meng."

Meng thought to herself, "That's not much. He's just showing off. Does he want me to live in luxury forever?"

Meng was musing to herself when the maid came to report, "Lady Meng, there is a visitor from the palace waiting at the gate."

At that moment, Meng looked at the new maid and said, "If the Prince specifically transferred you here, it shows how much he cares about you. As for the palace visitor..."

Luming intentionally paused for a moment, then said, "How should we prepare? You go and handle it."

Thank goodness! Thank goodness this new nanny came, otherwise Luming would really have gone crazy.

Xin Ya immediately nodded in response, "Yes."

So, after a while, the new nanny directed the maids to change Luming into another set of extremely heavy clothes and jewelry. Luming checked and found that it included seven layers, including the intimate bellyband.

Looking at the sun outside the door and the green shade of the trees, Luming thought to herself that it was summer, and she was afraid of the heat. She hadn't even stepped outside yet and felt like she was going to get heatstroke.

Everything was arranged, and Luming was assisted to the door. She first got into the sedan chair, then was transferred to the carriage at the gate. She was sweating profusely due to the heat.

Luckily, there was a maid dabbing her face with a cloth soaked in something similar to ancient makeup powder. Otherwise, she would have looked like a clown when she entered the palace.

As the carriage started, Luming saw the new nanny and a handsome young eunuch who had come to pick her up.

Upon hearing the new nanny calling him "Gonggong," Luming realized that he was a young eunuch.

A living eunuch!

Curiosity led Luming to look at him several times. There was no difference between him and a normal man, but he was slightly more beautiful, with fair skin, no beard, and gentle manners, more in line with modern standards of male beauty.

Finally, the new nanny gave a small bag to the young eunuch, probably money.

Luming once again celebrated her luck in persuading this new nanny to come back last night.

The carriage slowly headed towards the imperial palace. At first, Luming was somewhat interested in seeing the palace, but later, the increasing heat made her completely lose interest.

When they finally arrived outside the majestic palace gates, Luming's only impression was that this magnificent building blocked the sun, and the long path towards the palace served as a natural air-conditioned route, truly refreshing and cool.

This wasn't the main entrance, but Luming didn't care which gate it was.

Upon entering, the palace was quiet, with maids and eunuchs moving quickly. There were large gates, small gates, corner gates... in short, there were so many gates it was intimidating.

Led by someone, Luming passed through numerous gates before finally reaching a splendid courtyard where the palace doors were tightly closed. Luming was quietly informed by the new nanny that this was the Empress Dowager's sleeping palace, the Anhe Hall.

Then, at the door, Luming followed the maid's gesture and knelt down without speaking. Before she could open her mouth, another maid went inside to announce her arrival.

Luming saw only one palace door from the outside, but there were several doors inside. No wonder they didn't need her to speak; even if she did, they probably wouldn't hear her.

But Luming was already starting to sweat nervously. What should she say when she entered? How should she address herself? "This servant," "This daughter-in-law," or maybe "This commoner"... As a result, Luming thought, "I wish lightning would strike me," remembering she had scored 18 in history class in high school.

The titles used in novels are also different!

She knelt in the middle of the hall door, with no cover, and the direct sunlight was shining on her, making her feel hot and suffocated.

But the maid who was supposed to convey the message from inside took a long time to come out. Luming started sweating profusely and realized that this was a show of power.

The maid beside Luming and the new nanny stepped back, and after kneeling for a while, her knees started to feel numb.

No matter how hard she tried to recall, she couldn't remember how the original story's protagonist handled this situation. Luming was also terrified. If the Empress Dowager didn't make things difficult for her, she wouldn't know how to speak. If she asked her two questions, she wouldn't know how to answer, and she might burn alive without leaving the palace.

Under the sunlight, Luming squinted for a moment, and suddenly, a brilliant idea struck her!

Pretending to wipe off sweat, she raised her hand to cover her neck with the wide sleeve and pinched the skin on her neck.

It was that traditional way of pinching, similar to cupping.

It didn't hurt, and it also reduced the heat.

Before long, her neck was covered with frightening red and blue bruises. Luming looked down and thought, "Wow! This original body had a lot of internal heat."

After finishing, she took a deep breath, aimed in the right direction, and collapsed straight to the ground.

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