If not abolished

Chapter 92: Escape from the Palace Banquet

Chuxiu Palace

"Auntie is here, everyone stop for a moment."

"Aunt." The concubines said in unison.

"The Dragon Boat Festival is only five days away. Please cheer up and do your best to perform well at the palace banquet."

"Yes."

After a day's training, everyone went back home. Along the way, Chu Xuanying kept talking to Cao Wanyi.

Suddenly, Cao Wanyi fell down, "Ah..." Cao Wanyi fell down.

"Sister," Chu Xuanying had been immersed in the joy of the Dragon Boat Festival banquet and did not notice how Cao Wanyi fell, so this scared Chu Xuanying, but she still quickly squatted down to check on Cao Wanyi and asked with concern: "Sister, how are you? Do you want to call someone?"

"Hiss, I think I sprained my ankle." In order to make the trick more effective, Cao Wanyi actually sprained her ankle, and her face was wrinkled in pain.

"What should we do? Come, let me help you and see if you can get up first." Chu Xuanying let her put her hands on her shoulders so that she could use the force to get up.

After finally helping her up, Cao Wanyi's feet had just touched the ground and she would have almost fallen again if Chu Xuanying hadn't supported her.

"No, you can't leave at all. I can't help you back by myself. I have to call for help." Chu Xuanying came to the conclusion after seeing this situation.

"Sister, please sit here and wait for a while. I'm going to talk to my aunt and see if someone can carry you back." Chu Xuanying said as she helped Cao Wanyi sit down aside.

Cao Wanyi had just recovered from the pain and said gratefully, "Thank you for your help, sister."

"What are you saying, sister? It's my duty." Chu Xuanying didn't say much to her. Fortunately, she didn't have bound feet and ran fast. Soon she caught up with Aunt Yan who was halfway back.

"Aunt, aunt, wait, help." Seeing Aunt Yan, Chu Xuanying no longer cared about etiquette and shouted directly.

"What happened? You are so reckless. Where have all the rules you learned gone?" Aunt Yan is as her name suggests. She is usually very strict with the concubines. Naturally, she was very angry when she saw Chu Xuanying like this.

"Aunt, I don't want to either, but it's really urgent. Sister Cao sprained her ankle on the way. Please go and help." Chu Xuanying said while panting, and was about to pull Aunt Yan away.

"What? You sprained your ankle at this time. What should you do at the palace banquet? Really, how unlucky you are." Aunt Yan complained but quickened her pace to follow Chu Xuanying.

"Yes, so am I not anxious to invite you over?"

Aunt Yan had Cao Wanyi carried back to Chuxiu Palace, and in preparation for the palace banquet she also reported to Yikun Palace and asked the imperial physician to come and take a look.

"Imperial Physician, is there anything wrong with Miss Cao's foot?" Aunt Yan asked after the imperial physician had finished examining her.

"It's not a big problem, just a sprained ankle. Don't get out of bed for half a month. Take good care of yourself and you will be fine in the future." The doctor wrote down the prescription and gave it to Aunt Yan, saying, "Aunt, please ask someone to get the medicine according to this prescription. In order to make it easier for you to move around in the future, you need to prepare a cane."

"But she still has to perform at the Dragon Boat Festival palace banquet in five days? This..." Aunt Yan heard the imperial physician say that she couldn't get out of bed for half a month, and thought about the palace banquet. What if something went wrong at that time?

"Given your current situation, it is impossible for you to attend the palace banquet. I'm afraid you will still need someone to take care of you personally. Otherwise, if you don't recover well, it will affect your ability to walk in the future." The imperial physician said truthfully.

"I see. Thank you, doctor."

The imperial physician gave all the instructions and then packed up his medicine box and left.

"Aunt, I..." Cao Wanyi lay on the bed and cried.

"Okay, it's come to this now. No matter what you say, it's useless. Since you can't attend the palace banquet and need someone to take care of you personally, let Chu Xiunv, who lives with you, take care of you. The performances at the palace banquet also need to be re-arranged. If you two don't go, others will go." Cao Wanyi was interrupted by Aunt Yan before she could finish her words.

"But..." Chu Xuanying spoke up immediately when she heard that she couldn't go.

"But what? I haven't punished her for delaying her performance at the palace banquet yet. I've already shown mercy. Aren't you two good friends? Since one of you can't go, it's better for both of you not to go. Well, I still have a lot of things to deal with, so you guys just stay here."

"Yes." The two did not dare to refute and could only agree.

After Aunt Yan left, Cao Wanting said with a guilty look on her face, "Sister Chu, it's all my fault. I caused you to not be able to go to the palace banquet. Otherwise, I will go and beg Auntie in two days. She was just angry and impulsive just now."

"Forget it, aunt has already made the decision, how can we change it? It's good enough that we are not punished, and what aunt said is right, we sisters share happiness and hardship. Do you really think that your younger sister is the kind of person who can watch you without anyone to take care of you and still go to a palace banquet with peace of mind? What's so good about a palace banquet? It must be very boring, and there are all kinds of etiquette. You know, I hate this kind of thing the most. I'm so happy that I don't have to go. What's more, this way, my sister and I can spend a good Dragon Boat Festival here. I don't know if there will be anything to eat at the palace banquet. When the time comes, I will give some silver to the people in the kitchen so that we can have a few more dishes. It's good to think about it. So sister, don't feel guilty, I'm fine." Chu Xuanying comforted.

"But you wanted to go so much before?" Cao Wanyi knew that Chu Xuanying was pretending to be strong and must be feeling very uncomfortable inside.

"Oh, sister, that was all in the past. I don't want to go now. I just want to take good care of you. I hope you get better soon."

"Xuanying, thank you so much. If you hadn't called people today, I don't know what would have happened. And about the palace banquet, I'm sorry for you." Cao Wanyi took her hand and apologized.

"Sister, it's too polite for you to say that. Let's not talk about the fact that you and I grew up together. Since I entered the palace, haven't you helped me enough and taken care of me? I finally have the opportunity to help you, so you can't be embarrassed. Just think of it as something I owe you before, and I'm going to pay you back a little bit this time."

"Okay, then I'll have to trouble you during this period of time," Cao Wanyi said pleadingly.

Chu Xuanying patted her chest and promised: "No problem, sister, just tell me what you want, I will definitely help you do it."

On the other hand, because of what happened with Cao Wanyi, Aunt Yan Ru told all the concubines that nothing must happen to other people in the next few days.

"Am I dreaming?" She whispered, a little uncertain and a little surprised, "Otherwise, why are you here?" She raised her hand as she spoke, wanting to touch him, but halfway through, she quickly withdrew her hand as if she was afraid, and said to herself, "No, if this is a dream, then you will disappear as soon as I touch you."

She kept looking at him without blinking, afraid that he would disappear in an instant.

After a while, perhaps because it was too quiet, or perhaps because she thought it was a dream, she said to him, "Now, I seem to understand what kind of obsession I have with you."

"I once read a book. There was a story about a princess who had eyes that could see everything. Once, she saw a person behind her father and was confused. She asked the people around her who that person was. But no one could see her and thought she was a fool. Later, she found that the person liked to rest in her palace. Then she talked to the person every day and told him everything that happened to her. The people who listened to her every day thought that this girl must have been a mute in her previous life, so she kept talking in this life. He didn't know that she could see him."

"Later, the girl was used by her sister, who made him stay in the human world forever, and transformed him into a physical body, becoming a real person. From then on, he hated her and never spoke a word to her again."

"Later, she was killed by her sister. She was on the edge of the cliff at the time. When he arrived, he saw her resisting her sister and dragging her down. After seeing this, he went straight over and cut her hand tendons. Before cutting, the first thing he said to her was, I will bury you properly."

"Three months later, she miraculously returned. No one knew how she came back, and she never mentioned it. A few years later, she became the empress. On her first day, she announced that she would marry him. When he heard about it, he committed suicide in front of her. After that, she tried every possible way to revive him, even at the cost of the lives of all the people in the world."

"Later, they met in hell. He saw that there was a person like himself beside him, but she was just an illusion. He asked her why she was so obsessed."

"Do you know what she said? She said that she just wanted someone who could listen to her, just like when we were little, she just wanted someone to accompany her, even if that person didn't say a word, but I knew he was listening. For you, I might be the same, right?"

"Am I talking too much?" she asked suddenly.

"No." He actually responded.

She smiled and pinched herself in the quilt, "Maybe I couldn't speak in my previous life, so I can't stop talking in this life?"

After saying that, she looked at him, as if hesitating, "Can I touch you?"

"Um"

"I'm afraid that only in dreams will you agree to everything I say." She stroked his eyebrows and eyes gently. "This is the second time I've dreamed of you. The last time, you disappeared before I could see you clearly."

"This time, wait until I close my eyes before you see me again, okay?"

"it is good."

"Goodbye!" She closed her eyes and he walked out of the room. When the door closed, she burst into tears.

"You are a dream in my life that I don't want to, dare not, and am unwilling to wake up from, even though, to you, I am a nightmare!"