Happy New Year to you all. Here’s to a better 2021.
The translation for this series has been discontinued.
The Vixen is Attacked
The Secret History of the Lily Harem
Chapter 2
Hua Diewu didn’t speak the entire way. She could clearly feel the rejection of others towards her.
As the sinister, cunning, smart, and glamorous vixen (false) in the eyes of humans, Hua Diewu quickly figured out the reason.
Su Luoyan’s identity was special, so she would always avoid servants when bathing, but suddenly a new little palace maid had “served” Su Luoyan.
It was unbearable in the eyes of the other palace maids who wanted to get ahead of each other. And Wanzhu knew from a glance that Hua Diewu wasn’t a low-ranking maid, so it was natural to give her that look.
While Hua Diewu thought about this, she had followed Su Luoyan to the front hall of Liushuang Palace and met with Lu Zhaoyi like the maid said.
Lu Zhaoyi wore a crescent moon and phoenix tail gown with a rosy outer silk blouse that had small discs embroidered on the hem1. Lu Qingrong originally had a domineering appearance, and with the flamboyant outfit, she became as eye-catching as a flame.
Su Luoyan wasn’t any worse than Lu Zhaoyi; she could even be considered as better. The reason why Su Luoyan was named Li Fei2 was because of her unparalleled beauty, her cold and beautiful appearance that held an aloofness that made it seem like she could ignore the raucousness of the world.
Even if Su Luoyan smiled, others would still find it difficult to approach her, as if she was an otherworldly existence.
Lu Qingrong didn’t like Su Luoyan’s pretentiousness, so she often goes to Su Luoyan to make trouble. However, her little tricks would never affect Su Luoyan, and every time she came arrogantly, she would leave angrily.
Lu Qingrong drank the tea slowly while squinting at Su Luoyan, saying ambiguously, “Concubine Li is very arrogant. She always makes me wait for so long.”
Obviously, her rank was lower than that of Su Luoyan, but her tone wasn’t polite at all. This was due to the status of Lu Qingrong’s family: her father was the General Zhenguo, Lu Shangyang. And Su Luoyan was just a little daughter of a county magistrate, so she was without help in the inner palace and was only able to get to this position thanks to the emperor’s favor.
Su Luoyan lifted the teacup with nonchalance. After taking a sip, she raised her head and said, “Why, there’s a tea leaf in Lu Zhaoyi’s teeth.”
Lu Qingrong had always valued her beauty and would never present herself as unsightly in front of others, especially not in front of so many people. Lu Qingrong immediately panicked and urgently asked someone to bring her a mirror.
The servants in the front hall instantly became busy, asking each other if they had a mirror on them. And in Suo Luoyan’s palace, it would of course be the most convenient to ask Suo Luoyan herself for a mirror.
Su Luoyan waited for Lu Qingrong to calm down a little before slowly saying, “Wanzhu, present the mirror.”
“Yes.” Wanzhu bowed and left to fetch a mirror.
Hua Diewu smiled and stifled a laugh the entire time in the corner. As a matter of fact, there was no tea leaf in Lu Qingrong’s teeth, but because everyone was afraid to anger Lu Qingrong, no one dared to look carefully.
Lu Qingrong closed her mouth tightly and waited for Wanzhu to bring a mirror.
While Lu Qingrong looked in the mirror, the servants all bowed their heads, fearing her reaction.
Lu Qingrong opened her mouth and looked left and right in mirror, but she couldn’t find the tea leaves Su Luoyan mentioned.
Lu Qingrong slapped the mirror on the table angrily and glared at Su Luoyan with upturned eyebrows.
“Su Luoyan, you dare to lie to me!”
Su Luoyan lifted her eyes, glanced at Lu Qingrong, and said, “I suppose my vision was blurry.”
“You!” Lu Qingrong felt like she had punched cotton, unable to release her strength.
“I am now a little tired, so may I ask Lu Zhaoyi to return quickly lest I pass my illness onto you.” Su Luoyan pressed against her forehead, pretending to have a headache.
Lu Qingrong took a step back in disgust. She waved her hand and grandly left with her servants.
Su Luoyan put down her hand and traced the teacup. Her eyes slowly fell on Hua Diewu.
“You, come here.”
Hua Diewu, who had been holding back her laugh until she was about to burst, was suddenly called out, but didn’t react for a bit until the person next to her touched her arm. Only then did she move to walk over to Su Luoyan.
Su Luoyan studied Hua Diewu with a scrutinizing look. After a long pause, she asked with complicated eyes, “Is your name really Xiaodie?”
Hua Diewu nodded immediately, fearing that Su Luoyan would doubt her again and off her3.
“Then you will take the place of Wanzhu and serve me in the future.” Su Luoyan said.
Hua Diewu froze for a moment, and then followed the example of the servants and bowed to Su Luoyan.
“Thank you, My Lady.”
Wanzhu, who was replaced, raised her head incredulously. “My Lady, Xiaodie is a palace maid who has just entered the palace. I fear she will be clumsy when she serves…” Su Luoyan didn’t let Wanzhu finish and raised her hand. Wanzhu bit her lower lip unwillingly, swallowing the rest of her words.
“That’s enough. Xiaodie, come and help me rest.”
“Yes.”
Hua Diewu walked out behind Su Luoyan. When she passed by Wanzhu, Hua Diewu felt that Wanzhu’s glare could have turned her into dust.
For those who had struggled to get a position, being overtaken by a newcomer was naturally unbearable.
However, Hua Diewu couldn’t give up this excellent opportunity to get along with Su Luoyan day and night. Rather than others, she had to consider herself first.
When they stepped out from the door, the sky outside was already dark. Some servants had lit the palace lanterns. The lanterns depicting maple leaves on the promenade swayed slightly under the night breeze, and the flickering light fell on Su Luoyan, making her slender figure seem even thinner.
For some reason, Hua Diewu always felt that Su Luoyan’s back looked a little sad.
Su Luoyan suddenly turned around. “Keep up.”
Hua Diewu only then noticed that she was staring at Su Luoyan’s back and forgot to move. “Yes.”
Su Luoyan was used to leaving only one servant to wait on her, or sometimes even no servants. For example, when she went out on a mission today, even Wanzhu was sent away.
Because Hua Diewu discovered her secret, Su Luoyan had no choice but to keep her around, and the best place to keep her was by her side.
Hua Diewu followed Su Luoyan into the inner hall. Inside the inner hall were a few fist-sized night pearls4, illuminating the whole hall like daylight.
Su Luoyan took off her outer blouse and sat on the wide bed.
“Come here.”
Hua Diewu walked over obediently. She guessed that Su Luoyan might have some pills to give her, as noted in the book. To make a person obedient, give her poison. Then feed her medicine every month to avoid the pain of the poison. She was proficient in pharmacology and was also a demon, so a little poison didn’t worry her.
So Hua Diewu wasn’t surprised when she saw Su Luoyan pouring a black pill from a porcelain bottle.
“Take it, I won’t kill you.” Su Luoyan opened her palms and handed it to Hua Diewu.
Hua Diewu picked up the pill and put it into her mouth without any hesitation. Su Luoyan hadn’t expected that Hua Diewu would actually take the medicine without asking any questions, but it was too late to stop her.
Su Luoyan didn’t know why she wanted to stop Hua Diewu, but at that moment, her heart seemed to stop beating.
After Hua Diewu swallowed the poison, she looked up at Su Luoyan. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t cause you trouble.”
Su Luoyan frowned. She didn’t seem to understand Hua Diewu’s behavior.
“Why are you not afraid of me?” Su Luoyan had seen too many people that feared her.
Each of them would look at her with frightened eyes, afraid, begging and hoping that she would spare their lives.
But Hua Diewu was completely different. There was no hatred or fear in those clear eyes, and even…a trace of pity.
Was she pitying her? Why?
There were too many questions in Su Luoyan’s heart.
The cool night breeze lightly lifted hanging curtains, and the wind that blew in from the open door into the depths of the hall seemed to shroud everything in smoke.
Su Luoyan’s face distorted, and while it was still the same face, her expression was completely different.
Su Luoyan looked very sad and her eyes seemed to ask her, ‘Do you remember me?’
Like a ghost, Hua Diewu uttered, “I have never forgotten you.”
“Huh?”
Hua Diewu realized she had said something wrong and quickly corrected herself. “Nothing. My lady, I want to help you. I know your identity. Do you want to live like this for a lifetime? Being a killer, walking the line between life and death every day.”
“So what? You can’t help me.” Su Luoyan’s face is still very cold. It seems that no matter what others say, her stance would not change.
Hua Diewu clenched her fists and smiled brightly. “Who said that? Don’t look at me like this, I’m actually quite amazing.”
Su Luoyan looked intently in Hua Diewu’s eyes, wanting to see a change, but she soon found that she couldn’t see the emotions she wanted from her eyes.
Hua Diewu was serious. Su Luoyan could tell that, but she doesn’t believe that Hua Diewu could help. If she were able rid herself of Yanfei Pavilion’s control, she wouldn’t still be under them today.
Su Luoyan took out another porcelain bottle from her bosom and poured out a white pill.
“This is your antidote for this month. If there is any discomfort, you must tell me since the antidote could be toxic for those with special constitutions.”
“Okay.” Hua Diewu nodded.
“You… rest in the inner hall today. There is another bed5 here and I will get the mattress for you.”
Hua Diewu discovered that although Su Luoyan was a killer and was rude to her at first, she was unexpectedly caring.
The other maids had a terrible impression of Hua Diewu. If Hua Diewu were to live with them, she would be ostracized. Because of that, it was better to keep Hua Diewu close to her instead. She also gave the antidote to her very generously. All of this was evidence of Su Luoyan’s attentiveness.
Hua Diewu laid on the bed, and the more she thought about it, the more she felt that Su Luoyan wasn’t as cold as she thought.
Inexplicably, she had a good impression of the heroine whom she met for the first time.
Footnotes:
1: My vocabulary for clothing is practically nonexistent. Raw: 陆昭仪穿着一身月牙凤尾罗裙，外面是霞色的蚕丝罩衫，罩衫的下摆处零星绣着几只小碟儿。
2: Li Fei: 丽妃. It means “beautiful concubine”. For convenience, it’ll be translated interchangeably with Concubine Li.
3: To clarify, she uses an expression of “kill” in the thought, which I substituted with “off”. The sentence is basically her worrying that Su Luoyan would change her mind and kill her.
4: 夜明珠: night pearls. They’re fluorite gemstones that are naturally luminescent.
5: 榻 translates to couch but can refer to a bed-like seat or just a bed.
-Italicized mes or Is are used to translate 本宫 or other non-standard first person references (我)
6/13/21: The translation for this series has been discontinued. Quite frankly, I’ve lost interest in translating this series and it’s been half a year since I updated last. If you are a translator and wish to continue it, feel free. The direct MTL of this series is also decently readable (and shouldn’t be terribly different from what it is here since I’m simply copy and pasting from different translation machines for the most part).
twilightpavilion 
Thanks for the Chapter!~
How Sweet~
Giving the Antidote So Kindly~
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