Chapter 2 The Proud Emperor

"In fact, it is good to be an imperial concubine, and our emperor is so excellent..."

"No, I don't want him." Hua Qingxin interrupted him.

"I heard that it is really difficult to be an imperial concubine. Almost no imperial concubine will be loved for long. Most of them are killed due to beating, starvation, coldness, tiredness, abuse, enslaving and loneliness... In general, the emperor has a thousand methods to make a harem die an ignominious death. Besides, she might die due to the frame-ups and schemes by other harems. Eight babies in tens will be dead before they are delivered. With respect to the lucky two coming to the world, one of them will die before he grows up, and the other one..."

"The other one..." Yun Cang firmly concluded, "the other one would grow up to a pillar of the nation."

"No." Hua Qingxin asserted in a loud voice, "The other one will grow up with a distorted heart!"

"How dare you!" Yun Cang stood up angrily. "Stupid girl, full of foolish talk!"

"No, I'm telling the truth." Hua Qingxin stood up too, and patted off the dirt on her sleeves, "My aunt was killed in the palace in a tragic way."

Yun Cang got very angry, and said, "Don't give me your nonsense, lunatic, keep practice your terrible singing here."

Yun Cang gave a flick of his sleeves and turned around to leave.

Soon after that, he heard that horrible, "Ho! Huh!" again.

God! She really sang again.

He admired her sincere innocence, but she was so stupid and could not see clearly about the situation.

Yun Cang returned by the same path he came and met with a man with white skins. That man ran over as soon as he saw Yun Cang.

"Your Majesty, I've been looking for you so long. It's almost the time to get back to the palace."

Yun Cang answered unhappily and walked. At the thought of something, he stopped to ask, "Eunuch Ling, do I have a distorted heart?"

"Oh dear, who said that?" Eunuch Ling showed his orchid fingers (hand movement indicating grace), and said, "You are really a good emperor."

Yun Cang agreed and nodded, "As a good emperor with handsome appearance, profound knowledge, civil and military skills, I'm an example for all the men and an idol of all the women. How can I have a distorted heart?"

Eunuch Ling nodded firmly, "Exactly, your majesty."

"By the way, there are so many vines on the ancient tree in the back yard. Have them cut down."

"Ah? But why?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh. Eh? What happened to your jaw, your majesty?"

"I don't want to talk about it either."

"Oh."

Hua Qingxin found a place with no person and practiced for a whole day. Then she had an exaggerated make-up and wore a dress like a feather duster, and entered the palace in the morning of the concubine selections.

Out of the selection room, there were rows of girls to be selected, and Hua Qingxin was the most dazzling one.

Inside the selection room, the emperor and his consorts were selecting beautiful girls.

Hua Qingxin heard that the emperor's loud voice,

"No, she is too fat, she'll eat too much."

"No, her arms are too short to serve me well"

"Are you playing the zither with your feet?"

...

What a pity! Excellent noble girls of officials were kicked out with shame. That bad emperor in the room was being picky on them just like he was picking vegetables in a market.

So, Hua Qingxin further confirmed her own idea – every emperor had a distorted heart!

Finally, it was the turn of Hua Qingxin. When she looked up at the emperor as she curtsied, the emperor was staring at her in a wicked expression.

The man hanging himself on the ancient tree was the emperor!

Hua Qingxin was so scared that she kneeled on the ground. She opened her mouth but failed to manage a word.

Consort Ming laughed and teased her, "What talent will the daughter of the prime minister display?"

The emperor was staring at Hua Qingxin in a rantankerous way. That was an expression showing that he would kill her if she dared to sing.

Hua Qingxin jittered, and said, "Hua... Hua Qingxin has no other talent but kneeling down and kowtowing."

She then kept kowtowing, and the consorts laughed at her, covering their mouths with their hands.

Consort Ming sneered at her, "She is a fool. Prince Yun Hai would never marry her."

Hua Qingxin was shocked, showing embarrassment by holding her hands together.

Yun Cang clapped his hands, and said, "Ok, it's her!"

Everyone was shocked by his words.