The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 18: Royal Guard

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》Yanxi Gonglue

   The Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 18: Royal Guard

   Wei Yingluo stayed up in fear for a few days and whether she was working or not, her eyes always darted to the front door, intentionally or unintentionally.

   Fearing that someone would push in, he shouted out and said, “Wei Yingluo, you've had an incident, come with us!”

   Wei Yingluo almost jumped up when she was tapped on the shoulder and said, “What's wrong?”

   “What's wrong with what?” Jixiang gave her a strange look and said, “Sister Yingluo, you look over there.”

   Wei Yingluo followed her gaze, only to see several Royal Guards walking along the tunnel, six in total, all of them tall and handsome and wearing swords in their martial arts uniforms, highlighting the majesty of the men to the utmost.

   “Look at that one, the one walking last.” Jixiang said in a wistful tone, “He looks like my brother.”

   “Oh, come on.” Jinxiu said with a snort, “Don't put importance on your brother's face.”

   Jixiang glared at her and said, “How dare you talk!”

   “I'm not wrong.” Jinxiu waved her fingernails, which had been secretly dyed red with anthurium juice and said, “You think that all Royal Guards in the Forbidden City are ordinary people! The red wall of the Forbidden City is the dividing line between Royal Guards!”

   Jixiang didn't understand the meaning of her words and was reluctant to ask her for advice, so she turned to Wei Yingluo and said: “Sister Yingluo, tell me, what is the Royal Guard's line of demarcation?"

   Wei Yingluo sighed and explained to her as succinctly as she could, “The guards outside the Red Wall are from the Lower Five Banners and the Royal Guards inside this Red Wall are all royalty from the Three Upper Banners.”

   Jixiang nodded with seeming understanding, then shook her head and said, “I don't understand, do you need to be a noble to be a Royal Guard too?”

   “That's natural!” Jinxiu said, she loved to be in the limelight and she loved to show that she knew more than others, “Not to mention the highest ranking Royal Guard, even the Qianqing Gate Royal Guard, in the future, they are likely to become a general and a minister! Don't forget to stick to His Majesty at all times and you will naturally rise up the ranks!”

   The rest of the palace maids also began to gossip and point at the six Royal Guards.

   “I heard that every year the noble sons of the Three Upper Banners compete in a tournament for the Royal Guard places in the Forbidden City.”

   “It is not enough to be of noble birth, one must also be extremely skilled in martial arts.”

   “It is said that the most distinguished of the Royal Guard is Lord Fucha, the brother of the Empress, a true man of letters and military prowess, a royal family!”

   “Which one is it? Is it in there?”

   “The lead one, the tallest one!”

   Jinxiu suddenly shoved the tray in her hands into Jixiang's arms, then pressed her stomach and said, “I'm in a hurry, I need to find a place to go, Jixiang, do me a favor and send my stuff to the Embroidery Workshop for me, ouch, ouch. I'll go first!”

   “What a person, so many things.” Jixiang muttered unhappily but didn't think much of it.

   Beside him, Wei Yingluo looked in the direction where the other had disappeared, pondering.

   I've been in the palace for a while now and other than that, I must grow in my wayfinding skills, otherwise I'll get into places I shouldn't and I'll get a good beating.

   If the six Royal Guards were to go their separate ways here, then in all probability Fucha Fuheng was going to the Changchun Palace to visit his sister.

   Jinxiu was hiding behind a rockery, her face flushed and her heart pounding, poking her head out, when she finally caught sight of a figure walking alone.

   Ouch!”

   Luckily, she had stuffed a hanky into her mouth beforehand so she didn't scream out in pain.

   Holding the rockery with one hand, Jinxiu staggered to her feet, figuring that she was already at the other end of the rockery and with her other hand she fiddled with her hair at her temples, adjusting her face to make herself appear more pitiful and weak.

   Everything is ready, Jinxiu was ready.

   But an arm suddenly reached out from the side and pulled her back behind the wigwam.

   Beyond the wigwam, Fucha Fuheng walked by.

   Behind the wigwam, Jinxiu broke away from the hand covering her mouth and yelled down in anger, “Wei Yingluo! What are you doing!”

   “I'll ask back to you.” Yingluo stared at her and said, “Jinxiu, what do you want?”

   “What's wrong with me when women want to make a good career for themselves?” Jinxiu suddenly looked Wei Yingluo up and down for a moment and said suspiciously, “Could it be that you too have your eye on this high branch?” [1” High branch - Marry someone of higher social standing to improve yours

   “I wouldn't dare.” Wei Yingluo snorted, then put away her laugh and said coldly, “You and I are both the Three Upper Banners Bond Servant, when you were at home, did any of the sons of the Duke or Seneschal's family come to propose to you? Even the sons of the Banner Commander did not even look at you! What about those families, let alone the really powerful ones?”

   Her admonition was met with Jinxiu's disbelief: “As long as you're pretty, how do you know I can't get ahead?”

   Wei Yingluo flinched, then frowned at her and said, “You mean ... Be a concubine?”

   Jinxiu nodded decisively and said, “It is better to be a concubine to a powerful man than a first wife to a poor man!”

   Every man has his own will and cannot be forced.

   Wei Yingluo shook her head, thinking that this woman had a good skin but it was stuffed with vanity, unrealistic desires and extreme selfishness.

   “What you think is your business but remember one thing, this is the Forbidden City, Royal Guard having an adulterous affair with a palace maid, once word gets out, he is an imperial relative and can be gently uncovered but you? A dead end.” Wei Yingluo's face turned cold and she said in a deep voice, “You and I came out together and live together, if you make such a scandal, we will have to follow you to be criticized together.”

   Jinxiu said with a mocking smile, “So, it's for yourself.”

   “Yes, you are doing it for yourself too.” Wei Yingluo smiled back and said, “If you don't want me to tell Fang Gu about what happened today, you will come back with me now.”

   Seeing that she was again using Fang Gugu against herself, Jinxiu laughed in anger and was about to sneer back when a sweet male voice came from beyond the rockery and said, “I think the girl is right.”

   Immediately afterwards, a man in a Royal guard suit, clutching his arms, turned into the inner side of the wigwam and smiled at them, saying, “It's time for you to go back.”

   “Lord Fucha ...” The two women turned their heads in unison to look at him.

   Some men do not look like sons of heaven even in their dragon robes and some men do not look like Royal guards even in their Royal guard uniforms.

   Fucha Fuheng is one such person.

   Even if he stands there casually, he is like a phoenix in a paulownia tree, with its plumes gently spreading.

   The narrow, phoenix shaped eyes swept up to Wei Yingluo's face and a teary mole under the right corner of her eye added an ambiguity and sensuality that could only be imagined.

   “Wei Yingluo...” He called out, his sweet voice sounding like a fine wine that had been brewing for years, once the clay seal was opened. It can be drunk without drinking.

   Wei Yingluo, repeating her old trick, deliberately bowed her head deeply before the other party remembered how she looked and said: “... Lord Fucha, what more can I do for you?”

   “Look up at me.” Fucha Fuheng Road.

   Wei Yingluo had no choice but to slowly look up at him.

   No wonder Jinxiu is crying out to be his concubine.

   He doesn't have to speak, he only has to look at you with these eyes and all the tenderness will rise up in your heart.

   “You are very self-aware, which is good but you still neglected to mention one thing.” Fucha Fuheng casually patted his belt with his sabre and said, “The Royal Guards in the palace are all first class Batulu, including me and any of them ... would have found someone hiding behind the wigwam.”

   In other words, Jinxiu's ploy didn't work from the start.

   Even if it had worked, it would have been a deliberate ploy on the part of Royal Guard to play with this beauty that he had put into his palm.

   Jinxiu hung her head in shame and Wei Yingluo beside her similarly hung her head and said, “Yes, Yingluo is taught.”

   “Well, it's time for you to go...” Fucha Fuheng nudged Jinxiu beside her with his gaze and said, “Help her back, teach her more lessons when you need to, before you get into big trouble later.”

   Wei Yingluo hurriedly helped Jinxiu to leave and all the way there, Jinxiu's face looked ugly, not knowing whether it was because of her sore feet or because of Fucha Fuheng's words.

   “Did you hear all that? There are no fools in the palace, so don't you dare make any more fools.” Wei Yingluo advised one last time.

   Jinxiu pushed her away and limped herself towards the court maid's house, saying with a hint of excitement in her voice: “You've used me as a stepping stone again, Lord Fucha remembers your name, not mine!”

   Wei Yingluo shook her head.

   This is the last time, from now on she won't advise Jinxiu one more time, anything else she makes is none of her business, she's responsible for it.

   “[Flutter”.”

   A small stone rolled under Wei Yingluo's feet, she looked in the direction it had been thrown, frowned and suddenly said, “Are you sure you want to walk back on your own, without me?”

   “Nonsense!” The Jinxiu in front of her heard this and immediately quickened her pace and said, “Who needs your fake courtesy! I can walk by myself!”

   Enduring the pain in her feet, Jinxiu walked all the way back to the court maid's house and as soon as she saw the bed, she flung herself on it, her whole body falling limp, the sweat from her body leaving a human shaped imprint on the bedding.

   “Ouch, what's wrong with you, making such a mess.” Jixiang, who was passing by, stopped in her tracks, with a pastry in her mouth.

   “Eat eat eat, you just know how to eat, eat your share and then eat Wei Yingluo's share, you think she's doing it for your own good, she's trying to make you fat and walk around with her slimmer ... Wait!” Reflexively, Jinxiu said “Wei Yingluo?”

   “Didn't she go after you?” Jixiang shoved another pastry into her mouth and said, “Why, didn't she catch up?”

   Jinxiu flinched and hung her head, remembering carefully what had just happened.

   What was there in the direction the stone was thrown?

   It is a lush stand of wisteria, with dense leaves to hide the singing birds and fragrant breezes to keep the beauty alive.

   Beauty indeed.

   A Royal Guard with a slender and handsome figure just by looking at his profile.

   Jinxiu sat up violently from the bed, her eyes burning like two blazing fires.

  

   The Story of Yanxi Palace《延禧攻略》CHAPTERS