Chapter 381: The Empress Dowager’s Chamber!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On that day, the Metal Emperor almost suffered a nervous breakdown.
He had been very busy overseeing the building of the teleportation device, but he had still had a small hope that Xu Que would be able to create a miracle and give the Imperial City a makeover.
That young man had helped to implement changes, but everything was now a mess.
The people of the city were satisfied but his court officials constantly kept coming to him to complain that Xu Que was destroying the appearance of the beautiful Imperial City!
He had sent men to hang all kinds of horizontal banners with strange slogans on them. Xu Que also ordered the slogans to contain the words "Exploding Heavens Faction" as well in order to boost its publicity.
The worst thing was, Xu Que had gone all over the city and taught all those funny songs to people. The songs had become so widespread that citizens ranging from 80-year-old ladies to little children who had just learnt how to walk were now all able to sing them.
When one took a walk down the streets, everywhere one went there would be people humming "you are the most beautiful cloud on the horizon", "you are my small ah, small apple", "hey girl, come and grab, come and grab a handful of melon seeds, ah"!"
And some of the commoners had modified the lyrics in such a way that made the songs really strange.
For example, the songs had now become:
You are my small ah, small handful…
In any case, the Imperial City was filled with happy citizens but miserable eunuchs and officials!
On the third day, the Metal Emperor quickly sent men to get Xu Que to come to the Palace.
The reason was that the teleportation device would be ready very soon and Xu Que needed to hurriedly make preparations by going to the Palace.
Of course Xu Que was relaxed. When he received the news after waking up in the inn, he put on the Act Tough King basic suit, with the three s.h.i.+ny words "Exploding Heavens Faction" on the front. He also donned a pair of sungla.s.ses before going out.
Along the way, the people in the streets were very friendly and warm towards him. He was very popular.
Xu Que"s Acting Tough Points were rising again, especially over the last two days. He had already earned several thousand Acting Tough Points and had gotten back what he had spent, as well as a lot of surplus points.
Now, looking at his System"s personal interface, the Acting Tough Points had nearly exceeded 30,000!
Xu Que was delighted whilst he continued on his way to the Palace. He even hummed a song with enthusiasm:
"Hey girl, come and grab, come and grab, come and grab some melon seeds ah…"
Instantly, a commoner on the street continued the song:
"Hey boy, show that black fur, that black fur, those black furry pants, ah…"
The scene was bustling with activity and more people started to join in, singing louder and louder.
And so, Xu Que nodded in satisfaction as he heard the loud singing from the people. He happily strode along and entered the Palace!
...
The moment he entered the Palace, a eunuch immediately came to greet him. The eunuch had a subservient and eager-to-please att.i.tude. "Young Hero Xu, Your Majesty has sent me to lead the way for you. Come, this way please!"
Xu Que nodded and followed.
But soon, he felt something amiss. He seemed to be going deeper into the Palace. It did not seem that the teleportation device would be built so deep inside its walls!
"Eh? Isn"t this the way to the Empress Dowager"s chamber?" exclaimed Xu Que, seeming to recall something.
"Young hero Xu, please forgive me," implored the eunuch, who shuddered in fright. "This old servant has lied earlier. Actually the… the Empress Dowager, Her Majesty, wants to see you!"
Xu Que gasped.
"Her Majesty wants to see me? Why?" said a perplexed Xu Que. "I"m handsome but Her Majesty, being an elderly figure, can"t just do this. This is broad daylight, it"s embarra.s.sing!"
"Ah?"
The eunuch was confused for a moment. "Young Hero Xu, please don"t misunderstand," said the eunuch, waving his hands. "Her Majesty just wants to invite you over for a chat. She doesn"t have any other intentions and she won"t hold you up for long."
"So it"s just some chitchat? Then forget it. Relay my message to Her Majesty that I"m not going to see her!" said Xu Que, who turned and walked away.
The eunuch was fl.u.s.tered and he hurriedly stopped Xu Que in his tracks.
"Young Hero Xu, don"t be in such a rus.h.!.+" said the eunuch, smiling somewhat bitterly. "Her Majesty did tell me that she knows that you"re going to the Water Nation. And she has something to discuss with you!"
"Something related to the Water Nation?" Xu Que looked startled.
The eunuch replied with a nod. "Yes, it is something related to the Imperial Tombs of the Water Nation!"
Xu Que frowned slightly when he heard that:
Something related to the Imperial Tombs of the Water Nation? I have to make this trip then.
But this Empress Dowager… there might be something that she wants. This looks like a major deal to me!
Xu Que curled up his lips into a smile. "Fine, let"s go, to Her Majesty"s chamber. I happen to have a big secret with regards to the Second Prince that I wanted to share with her as well!"
"Alright, Young Hero Xu, this way please!"
The eunuch responded with a face full of joy and continued to lead the way.
Soon, both of them arrived at the main entrance of the Empress Dowager"s chamber.
At that time the doors were shut tightly and Xu Que could not sense anyone inside the chamber. Clearly, the Empress Dowager was not inside.
Xu Que was instantly unhappy about this. Is this a f*cking no-show? he cursed inside his head.
The eunuch also realized that the Empress Dowager was not around. He explained, "Young Hero Xu, please wait for a moment. Her Majesty had ordered this old servant to wait for you at the Palace gates since early morning. She does not know that you have arrived!"
"What shall I do then? I"m in a hurry, the plane is going to… bleh, the teleportation device is going to start soon."
"Her Majesty should be inside the library, reciting scriptures," smiled the old eunuch apologetically. "This old servant will go inform her right now. Young Hero Xu, please pardon me while this old servant quickly goes. I will be back soon!"
As the saying went, "do not slap a smiling face". Xu Que did not make things difficult for the old eunuch and let him leave to inform the Empress Dowager.
After all, he was so curious as to what she wanted to say!
But after waiting for a while, the eunuch still had not come back. Xu Que started to take a closer look at the courtyard of the Empress Dowager.
Apparently, there was nothing interesting in the courtyard.
But the bedroom of the Empress Dowager would likely be interesting!
Thinking back, he remembered that even the Second Prince had a secret treasure vault that contained many treasures. Maybe the Empress Dowager had some good stuff too!
With that, Xu Que reached for the k.n.o.b of bedroom door.
Creak!
He opened the door lightly. Before he entered, he detected a faint scent in the air.
"Eh, there"s actually some floral fragrance here!"
Xu Que raised an eyebrow, went in and surveyed everything in the room.
The furnis.h.i.+ngs inside the room were simple, mainly furniture made of sandalwood which exuded a light, refres.h.i.+ng scent.
However, the floral fragrance was not from this furniture.
Xu Que felt an urge to search for the source of the floral fragrance.
Maybe Her Majesty has hidden a secret garden somewhere, like some indoor planting?
He started to wander about the room and time to time, he would touch the furniture or items to see if there were any secret doors or anything of the sort.
Before long, he found himself standing in front of a neatly arranged bed!
This was because the faint floral scent came from this very bed!
To be precise, there were some small, colourful and neatly arranged pieces of cloth on the bed. And they were actually the undergarments that women wore during ancient times!
Xu Que was a well-informed person but undergarments that could emit floral scent were really rare.
"Hmm!"
He pondered for a short while before picking an undergarment up.
Sure enough, the material for making the undergarment was silk threads that he had never seen before. Besides the faint floral scent, they also had a soft gleam!
The fabric felt smooth to the touch, so soft and smooth that it felt like it could seep through the fingers like warm water.
Wait… why is this warm?
Has this just been taken off?
Xu Que raised his eyebrow again in thought.
When facing new things, people tend to look, touch and even smell them, even if it"s only instinctive!
Therefore, now that Xu Que had seen and touched the undergarments, and was pondering the reason why they were slightly warm, he instinctively held the undergarment over to his nose and took a sniff.
The faint scent of the flowers was indeed more concentrated in the undergarment.
However, at that moment, Xu Que felt a chill run down his back.
In no time, an icy, cold voice was heard from behind him as well.
"What are you doing?"
"Eh?"
Xu Que was taken aback and hurriedly turned around. He had not even known that a beautiful woman had appeared and was standing at the entrance of the room. The woman had a nice figure and wore a veil over her face.
A faint floral scent wafted from the woman"s body as well. Xu Que could detect that the floral scent was exactly the same as the one coming from the undergarment!
She also exuded a mature and charming aura!
Obviously, this had to be the beautiful Empress Dowager!
However, she was glaring at Xu Que coldly. Her gaze fell on the undergarment that Xu Que was holding and she looked furious.
Xu Que put down the undergarment calmly. "I know you might not believe me!" said Xu Que seriously. "But I only wanted to smell it to see what brand of was.h.i.+ng powder you"re using!"