Chapter 75: You Act Too Badly, Let Me (5)
When Qi Huang returned to her bedroom, her roommates were holding basins and preparing to go bathe.
Qi Huang did not move. Firstly, as a cultivator, not bathing for two or three days was not a big deal. Secondly, her identity was too sensitive, so she tried her best not to go out if she could help it.
“No, aren’t you going to bathe? I remember you didn’t wash last night?” asked Huang Min with a frown. After all, she slept next to Qi Huang, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they slept in the same bed.
“What? She didn’t bathe last night?”
The girls next to her shivered. They had been sniffing around Qi Huang at the time.
“I bathed when I entered the palace yesterday, so I didn’t wash last night,” Qi Huang quickly explained.
The girls were skeptical, but they didn’t press further. They picked up their wooden basins and left.
After careful consideration, Qi Huang decided to wash. After all, a person has to maintain their dignity. If she were despised by the other girls because of this, it would be a loss that outweighed the gain.
With her decision made, Qi Huang also picked up her small wooden basin and clean clothes and followed her roommates out. These items were all uniformly distributed by the Shangyi Bureau.
‘What is the bathing room in the Imperial Palace like?’
On the way, Qi Huang couldn’t help but imagine if it was a public bathhouse or individual luxurious compartments. However, she felt the latter was more likely. After all, this was the Imperial Palace, and it definitely wouldn’t be as casual as outside.
Qi Huang soon arrived at the bathing room. As soon as she stepped inside, a wave of misty water vapor greeted her, significantly reducing visibility.
Qi Huang walked through the mist, and her view suddenly opened up. A very spacious bathing pool appeared in her sight. In the hazy mist, naked figures could be seen faintly.
“Cough, cough…”
Qi Huang froze on the spot. It wasn’t until she choked on her saliva that she guiltily averted her gaze.
Qi Huang cautiously looked around and found that no one had noticed her embarrassing behavior. Only then did she calmly walk towards the bathing pool, thinking contemptuously, ‘Still the Imperial Palace, and they’re using a public bathhouse.’
The reason Qi Huang thought this was due to her naivety. The life in the Imperial Palace was indeed extravagant, but that was only limited to the royal family. This Shangyi Bureau was where the palace maids lived. How could it be luxurious? After all, people here were divided into different ranks.
Facing the scene before her, Qi Huang had no mood to bathe. She pretended to hold her basin and wandered around the bathing pool, her beautiful eyes revealing a somewhat vulgar gaze, scanning the girls in the pool.
Some girls quickly noticed Qi Huang’s blatant gaze. If it weren’t for her prominent chest, they might have thought she was a pervert disguised as a man sneaking in to peek.
“What are you looking at? Is having a big chest something to be proud of!”
“Yes, look at her showing off. It’s like she’s here to inspect.”
“Who is this little bitch? Sisters, remember her. If anyone is lucky enough to enter the harem in the future, they must kill her.”
…
Some girls clearly misunderstood Qi Huang, and thus showed hostility.
“What are you doing? If you’re bathing, then bathe. Why are you wandering around? Are you really showing off your big chest!”
Yaoyao couldn’t stand it anymore, so she spoke out and questioned.
“It’s nothing. I’m a shy person, so I want to find a more private place to bathe.”
Qi Huang explained awkwardly. Because there was a risk of being ganged up on, she no longer dared to peek.
Qi Huang found a hidden corner, projected her spiritual sense out of her body, and gathered some mist to act as a natural barrier. Only then did she start to undress and prepare to bathe.
“Are you really doing this? This is full of girls, do you need to be so conservative?”
Yaoyao, who had been taken off and placed in the basin, was speechless.
“Nonsense. If I weren’t conservative, how would I have the right to criticize them?”
Qi Huang smiled triumphantly, then entered the bathing pool like a fairy, carrying the mist with her. At the same time, she released her spiritual sense, taking in the entire scene of the bathing pool. It’s just eyes, she had plenty of them.
“Did you see that Imperial Concubine?”
“No! I haven’t seen her since she entered the Shangyi Bureau. The rumors are getting worse and worse.”
“Isn’t that like your chest? You insist it exists, but no one has seen it.”
“Are you looking for death!”
“Stop joking. She did enter the Shangyi Bureau, but she was arranged a private bedroom by the stewards, the innermost room of the west wing.”
“One person, one room? Humph, as expected of an Imperial Concubine, the treatment is indeed different.”
“There’s nothing to envy. Too much success attracts too much attention. There are also many people who want to deal with her.”
“You want to deal with an Imperial Concubine? Who is so bold?”
“Do you think everyone is as brainless as you? If you can’t do it openly, can’t you do it in secret?”
“Is she also afraid of being targeted, which is why she has been staying in her room?”
“There’s a possibility. Although she is a clone of a cultivator, she has lost her cultivation, so she’s not much stronger than an ordinary person.”
…………
Some discussions began to reach Qi Huang’s ears.
‘Yes, these women dare not target Ouyang Tong openly, but no one can guarantee they won’t act in secret.’
Qi Huang came to her senses. She no longer delayed. She quickly dried herself and left the bathing room.
That night, Qi Huang did not sleep. She monitored Ouyang Tong’s bedroom.
As expected, in the middle of the night, a palace maid, apparently at someone’s behest, sneaked to Ouyang Tong’s door, poked a hole in the window paper, and then threw a small jade bottle inside.
“Crack!”
The small jade bottle shattered the moment it hit the ground, and a female ghost enveloped in yin energy emerged.
The female ghost quickly discovered Ouyang Tong lying on the bed and lunged at her with bared teeth and claws.
Ouyang Tong was also startled awake. She tried to get up, but a bone-chilling cold wind blew towards her. Then her body became paralyzed, and even breathing became extremely difficult. Her consciousness quickly blurred due to lack of oxygen, just like the previous “ghost pressing down on the bed” phenomenon, but this time the symptoms were unprecedentedly severe.
Ouyang Tong wanted to shout, but she couldn’t even move a finger. She forced her eyes open and vaguely saw a dark shadow pressing on her. The pale face and crimson eyes were so piercing.
Ouyang Tong was so terrified that her soul was scattered, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t move.
At this moment, Qi Huang acted. Her powerful spiritual sense transformed into a large hand that quickly reached into the room, grabbed the female ghost, and then fiercely crushed her into pieces.
“Pfft!”
Ouyang Tong only felt the pressure on her suddenly disappear. She greedily took a breath and slowly opened her eyes, cautiously observing the room, only to find nothing?
“Was it a hallucination?”
Ouyang Tong wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and muttered to herself. After all, this was not the first time she had experienced “ghost pressing down on the bed.”
“It might be a hallucination!”
Ouyang Tong consoled herself, but the scene just now was too terrifying, and she couldn’t calm down. So, she could only keep her eyes open and wait for dawn.
“What a malicious move, using ghosts to harm people. If I really only had Juling Realm cultivation and were in Ouyang Tong’s current position, I would surely be dead tonight, and dying inexplicably.”
Qi Huang said with lingering fear. She finally had a preliminary understanding of the dangers in the harem.
The next morning, Qi Huang got up as usual. But when she arrived in the courtyard, her spiritual sense inadvertently captured a familiar shadow. It was a palace maid from the Imperial Concubine Guard team.
“Damn it, why is she here?”
Qi Huang quickly retreated. This palace maid had been following her for several days, and she would surely be recognized with just a veil.
Qi Huang returned to her bedroom and then released her spiritual sense to observe the other party. She soon learned the inside story; this palace maid was temporarily transferred by the Empress.
“This is bad. Not only can Ouyang Tong not go out, but I can’t either.”
Qi Huang felt like crying but also laughing.
So, Qi Huang began to feign illness. Anyway, when she first arrived, she had told the steward that she had caught a cold, and now she could use it.
At noon, Steward Zhou personally came to visit. After all, Imperial Concubines were future women of the Emperor, and she dared not neglect them.
Since Qi Huang couldn’t go out, Ouyang Tong spent the day in hunger and thirst. The palace maid kept watch on her room all day.
At night, Ouyang Tong couldn’t stand the hunger and thirst and went out. However, when she drank water, the palace maid saw her face.
Qi Huang saw the entire process. Since she didn’t know the other party’s purpose, she didn’t act rashly but used her spiritual sense to track and monitor.
The next day, the palace maid left the Shangyi Bureau and went to the Empress’s palace.
“Reporting to Your Highness, that Imperial Concubine is an imposter. She is not the real Qi Huang.”
Xiao Huan reported the information she had investigated.
“Oh? Is that so? That’s truly a shame. It seems that Qi Huang is indeed gone.”
Empress Zheng immediately feigned sorrow.
“Congratulations, Your Highness, congratulations to Your Highness for successfully eliminating a major threat.”
An older palace maid next to her said repeatedly.
“It’s really you who caused this. But don’t celebrate too early. The bigger surprise is yet to come.”
Qi Huang slightly raised the corner of her mouth.
