Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace
Chapter 168: An Unexpected Story

A court courtesan was a female entertainer working in the palace, but it was different from ordinary courtesans.

Lower-ranking courtesans were required to perform whatever service their client requested, but a courtesan specialized in marketing her art.

Of course, Xu was already resigned to walk that path if she was to be sold, but becoming a court courtesan wasn’t something she could attain just because she thought about it.

She had already given up at the very beginning because she didn’t have any connections to such a place like that.

From Yui Mei’s point of view, she had the possibility of being approached by high-class brothels and by their intermediaries to become a courtesan who sells her skills  if she’s a merchant daughter and she could play the flute well. Unfortunately, the guy who wanted to oppose her probably crushed all those possibilities.

And Xu, ignorant as she was with the ways of the world, didn’t know anything about it. It seemed that she hadn’t thought of anything but to become a low-ranking courtesan.

‘Still….’

The sincere young man piqued Yui Mei’s interest.

The reason why Xu became a palace courtesan was probably because of the emperor’s final say.

He still forced things to proceed despite the rumors circulating that Xu was the emperor’s lover. These theories had been passed off as truth, moreover..

With these clues, it was easy to see the true identity of this sincere, kind man.

Perhaps, the emperor snuck into the merchant’s banquets because he wanted a glimpse of the rumored lute player?

What an inquisitive man.

‘What the heck were you doing, Dad!’

Yui Mei scolded him in her heart, before sneaking a glance at Libin. His expression looked as if he was enlightened.

He probably realized the same thing.

But that must be set aside for now.

Xu’s choice was very obvious when faced with the dilemma of whether she’d become that scumbag’s exclusive prostitute or if she would accept the sudden offer of becoming a palace courtesan.

And so, Xu became a court courtesan.

However, even if she was a palace courtesan, the rules for leaving the Inner Palace still applied to her naturally.

In that case, she wouldn’t be able to meet her lover if he returned.

However, Xu didn’t balk at the thought of becoming a nun, but that person refuted her.

“What, His Majesty the Emperor isn’t such a heartless person. If the person you are waiting for returns and asks for your hand so that you’ll be married for life, then he will think of a way to help you out of bondage.

That’s why Xu, all you have to do is to comfort His Majesty’s heart with the songs of your lute, and pray for the safety of your lover.”

The man told her those words and he even personally sent her into the palace, but she never saw him again after he entered the Inner Palace.

Yui Mei decided to just ask about it.

“Eh~ Miss Xu. By the way, have you ever seen the face of His Majesty the Emperor?”

“There’s no way I could, of course. We’re only allowed to have an audience when he’s on the other side of the curtain.”

Xu retorted while looking at Yui Mei with suspicion.

So that meant that person also didn’t want to be discovered.

There’s a possibility that his voice would expose him, but then, it’s also rare for the emperor to directly give his order.

His retainers were usually the ones who communicated with him one-on-one.

Actually, Yui Mei was the weird one for having opportunities of directly conversing with the emperor.

However, if he really wanted to help, why couldn’t he do it earlier?

If he had stepped in right away, then Xu’s lover didn’t have to go all the way to the borderland in order to work as a soldier.

‘Well, he can’t just leave the palace at will even if he’s the emperor, I guess.’

Yui Mei inwardly thought about it.

Xu then continued her story. Time passed after she became a palace courtesan, and 10 years went by in a flash.

Then one day, something was sent to Xu, who had been praying for the safety of her lover all this time.

It was the hair of her lover — deceased lover.

Xu was devastated, both physically and emotionally, when all that returned was a tuft of hair after all those years of waiting.

“Enough, there’s no reason for me to wait here anymore. I had continued playing this lute in the hopes that it would reach him, but…”

She believed that the sound of her lute would reach her lover who was on the other side of the sky, but he had gone on to a place where her lute couldn’t reach him.

She had wanted to follow him, but in the face of death, she was reluctant.

Her lover had gone to the battlefield and died for her, but what the heck was she doing — she cried and lamented her deplorable, shameful self. 

And so, she had been roaming around, passing her days searching for the place that could let her die, until she met Yui Mei at the dumping site on that day.

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T/N: Hello everyone, Hundred Blossom Palace is back again after a long hiatus! Sorry had a lot of things going on in rl, so I couldn’t translate before…I’ll just do daily releases (except Sundays) for the month of Feb so that I can catch up with all the releases that I missed ? Thank you!

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