"What should I do? What should I do?"
The delicate and refined young girl in a red palace dress paced back and forth in front of the carved wooden bed in the Kunning Palace repeatedly, clutching tightly the red bridal veil embroidered with the pattern of the dragon and the phoenix. As the protagonist of today's conferment ceremony, the Emperor's Concubine De, there was not the slightest trace of a smile on her face. Instead, there was only annoyance and anxiety.
It was not until the flame on the dragon-and-phoenix candle in the distance flickered that she came back to her senses, stopped her useless pacing, and slumped down on the wedding bed. She couldn't help but scold herself in her heart:
"Qin Huaiqiu, Qin Huaiqiu, how could you come up with such a stupid idea of substituting your younger sister to enter the palace as a concubine?"
But what else could she do if she didn't enter the palace?
The Qin family would only perish even faster.
Yes, the young girl in front of you was not the original Concubine De who had been betrothed to the royal family. Moreover, she, or rather he, was not a girl at all. He was Qin Huaiqiu, the twin brother of Concubine De, who had traveled a long way to accompany his younger sister to get married.
This morning should have been a good time for Concubine De to enter the palace. However, Qin Huaiqiu didn't see his younger sister show up for a long time. He sent his servants to look for her, only to find out that his younger sister, Qin Huailian, had gone missing.
In the empty bedroom, there was only a farewell letter left in front of the dressing table, indicating that she was unwilling to get married and couldn't bear to see her father and elder brother in a difficult situation, so she had to leave on her own.
Upon hearing this news, Qin Huaiqiu, who was in charge of seeing off the bride, felt as if the world had gone dark in front of his eyes. He almost fell to the ground.
Defying the imperial edict and running away from a royal marriage was a serious crime.
The entire Qin family might be implicated. Even if they met an emperor with a narrow mind, it was not impossible for the whole family to be executed.
At that time, the imperial guard of honor to welcome Concubine De was already waiting outside the Qin Mansion. Unfortunately, his younger sister, the real Concubine De, Qin Huailian, had already appeared in front of everyone. It was simply impossible to find another girl to take her place.
The eunuch outside kept urging in a shrill voice, saying that if they delayed any longer, they would miss the auspicious time.
Helplessly, looking at his own face in the mirror, which had no obvious masculine features and was seven or eight-tenths similar to Qin Huailian's, Qin Huaiqiu made a decision.
With the help of his secret guard, Nie Rong, he put on the wedding dress, disguised as a woman, and married into the royal family just to buy some time.
As the youngest son of the Qin family and still young, having experienced few things, Qin Huaiqiu originally thought that as long as the secret guards found his younger sister before the Emperor arrived and they switched back, everything would be fine.
However, the following things were beyond Qin Huaiqiu's control.
The new emperor had just ascended the throne, and there was no empress in the palace yet. As the first high-ranking concubine conferred after the new emperor's accession to the throne, the ceremony was naturally grand.
Along the way, the common people knelt down in worship. After entering the palace, the princes, nobles, civil and military officials congratulated, and the concubines and ladies of noble families paid their respects... More importantly, if the music and the imperial guard of honor at the beginning were the Emperor's favor to the Qin family, when the imperial guard of honor for Concubine De passed through the main gate of the palace all the way to the main entrance of the Kunning Palace, Qin Huaiqiu felt something was wrong.
Qin Huaiqiu was born and grew up on the border. Although he was still young and didn't know much about the court affairs, he also knew that this was definitely not normal.
As the saying goes, a wife is welcomed through the main gate, while a concubine is welcomed through the side gate.
Not to mention that his residence in the palace was the Kunning Palace, where the former empresses had lived.
All of this meant that Qin Huailian, who was only titled Concubine De, received almost the same courtesy as an empress!
Qin Huaiqiu felt even more guilty.
Guilty and nervous.
The Emperor treated the daughter of the Qin family so generously, but the daughter of the Qin family had done such a despicable thing as running away from marriage. Moreover, in order to make up for the mistake, he had even disguised as a woman and entered the palace as a concubine!
If it weren't for the lives of dozens of people in the Qin family, Qin Huaiqiu, who had been influenced by the thought of being loyal to the emperor since childhood, would have almost wanted to tell the Emperor everything.
But he couldn't!
Qin Huaiqiu was deeply tortured by his conscience. While being angry with his younger sister who had run away from marriage, he also added a bit of disgust.
Since the Qin family doted on their only daughter, Qin Huailian, very much, they had repeatedly asked for her opinion before she entered the palace. At that time, Qin Huailian clearly agreed to enter the palace willingly. Now, however, she had done such a thing as running away from marriage, putting the Qin family in a situation of extermination. Qin Huaiqiu just couldn't figure it out.
Didn't Qin Huailian know what kind of consequences her running away from marriage would bring?
Didn't Qin Huailian care about the lives of so many people in the Qin family?
Where on earth was Qin Huailian? And how could he find a way to protect the Qin family, appease the Emperor, and escape safely himself?
Countless thoughts almost made Qin Huaiqiu faint. At only sixteen years old, having been spoiled by his father, elder brother, and other elders in the family, when had he ever encountered such a situation?
Just when he was almost on the verge of collapse:
"His Majesty the Emperor is coming!!!"
The shrill voice of the eunuch almost pierced people's eardrums. Instantly, the young man in red sitting on the carved wooden bed jumped up like a startled cat. He looked around innocently and helplessly. Listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer, the shadows of many people were also reflected on the window.
Gritting his teeth and making up his mind, Qin Huaiqiu directly knelt down at the gate.
Regardless of whether his identity would be discovered or not, it would be better to have a good attitude now. At least, if the truth came out, he could ask for a quick death.
With a "creak", the door opened.
Qin Huaiqiu, who was kneeling on the ground, became even more nervous. His body even began to tremble uncontrollably. He stared at the black boots embroidered with cloud patterns in front of him, looking straight ahead.
Was that... His Majesty the Emperor?
Would he notice something strange about him?
Because of being too nervous, Qin Huaiqiu didn't notice the strange atmosphere at the moment.
Looking at Concubine De kneeling at the gate, the palace servants were also stunned.
Why was Concubine De's bridal veil torn off? Why was there no one to serve her? And why was she kneeling at the gate?
This didn't seem like a conferment ceremony for Concubine De. Instead, it seemed like a palace concubine who had made a mistake had come here specially to plead guilty.
Not to mention that although the rules in the palace were strict, there were still some preferential treatments for high-ranking concubines on the day of their conferment ceremony. They could sit on the wedding bed like real brides and wait for their husband, that is, the Emperor, to visit them in the blessings of the palace servants.
But this Concubine De...
Strange, really strange.
Just when everyone was stunned, the other person involved tonight spoke up:
"Concubine De is observing the rites, but are you all blind? How could you just let Concubine De kneel like this?"
The Emperor, Sikong Ting, was obviously very unhappy with the palace servants' lack of discernment.
Then he said to Qin Huaiqiu in a gentle tone:
"Concubine De, you and I are husband and wife. There's no need to perform such grand ceremonies in private. Just be casual."
The palace servants rushed to help Qin Huaiqiu up. But as soon as Qin Huaiqiu stood up, he subconsciously looked at the bright yellow figure at the gate.
Under the dim lights, the young emperor's originally cold and majestic face softened. The moment their eyes met, there seemed to be a comforting smile on his lips.
For a moment, Qin Huaiqiu was almost mesmerized.
A grand wedding, a handsome husband, and the blessings of everyone... If he were a girl, he would surely remember this for a lifetime.
However, he was actually a real man.
Thinking of this, Qin Huaiqiu instantly sobered up and avoided Sikong Ting's gaze. He didn't know that the young emperor had been sizing up his new Concubine De.
It seemed that Concubine De had really been scared silly by him. The silly Concubine De was actually much more pleasing to the eye than before.
Sikong Ting thought so with a playful smile on his lips.
In fact, he didn't regret threatening Qin Huailian at all, even though Qin Huailian was the daughter of an old official and there was General Qin, who held heavy military power, standing behind her.
After all, this woman was really disgusting.
First, she showed off her charm in public and deliberately seduced him. Second, she secretly bribed the palace servants to inquire about his news.
What Sikong Ting couldn't tolerate the most was that, with premeditation, this woman actually managed to find out his secret - that the current Emperor, Sikong Ting, had a problem with sexual matters!
That was to say, in common parlance, Sikong Ting was impotent.
Of course, it wasn't that he was really impotent. In fact, Sikong Ting suffered from gynophobia and had never had sex until now.
However, being unable to have sex with a woman was actually not much different from being impotent. Anyway, he couldn't have an heir with his own blood.
And an emperor who couldn't have an heir was undoubtedly dangerous to the whole country. So few people knew this secret. Unfortunately... Qin Huailian had accidentally found out about it.
"Miss Qin should know that the dead are always the best at keeping secrets."
Sikong Ting really had the intention to kill at that time. Looking at Qin Huailian, who was caught by his secret guards, wearing heavy makeup, trembling all over, and not daring to look at him, endless anger welled up in his heart.
If it weren't for the fact that the Empress Dowager happened to send someone to invite Qin Huailian over, the current Concubine De would probably have died suddenly in the palace at that time.
Of course, even until now, Sikong Ting didn't intend to just let Qin Huailian go. If she couldn't keep her mouth shut, she would die even faster.
Not knowing that the Emperor, whom he had mistakenly regarded as a gentle husband, had already had the intention to kill him, Qin Huaiqiu, filled with guilt towards the poor Emperor he had deceived, nervously pondered what to do next.
Um... how did men have sex with each other again?