The Gilded Cage - Chapter 46
Obscene Clothes (2)
Cui He stood nearby to keep watch. When she saw Chu Ning, she quickly helped her into her room and gave her the medicine to prevent pregnancy.
Chu Ning immediately drank it in one gulp. She only felt a little more at ease after swallowing the bitter and sour medicine.
“Madam, please slow down and drink some tea to wash the taste away.” Cui He was surprised by her urgency. “What happened just now?”
After taking the cup of tea, Chu Ning closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She smelled the fragrance of the tea and shook her head gently. “It’s nothing. I felt a little nervous just now.”
She did not understand why Xiao Yu suddenly wanted her to have children. All she knew was that she never wanted to bear children for someone who killed her father.
However, what he said just now made her a little nervous. For a moment, she desperately wanted to kill him and leave the East Palace.
Unfortunately, he had destroyed her family. If she left here, she would truly lose everything.
Therefore, she had no choice but to bear with it.
She gripped the corner of the table tightly until its hard surface hurt her hand. Then, she let go slowly.
“Can you bring me two of my undershirts?” Chu Ning suddenly got up from the table and went into the inner room. She took a bamboo basket containing her sewing kit.
Cui He was surprised by her request and wondered what she wanted to do. She hesitated for a moment before rushing to the wardrobe and bringing out two undershirts and placing them on the table.
“Madam, what do you want to do? Perhaps I can do it for you.”
Chu Ning shook her head and spread an undershirt flat in front of her. “I want to alter it.”
Then, she thought for a moment before taking a ruler and a chalk. She marked the collar and drew two lines at the back of the shirt.
After that, she took a bronze scissor.
Under the candlelight, she used scissors to cut along the marked line.
Most ladies in Great Liang knew how to sew and embroider. As a high-born lady, Chu Ning learned those skills too. Although she did not like it, she had decent craftsmanship.
Soon, the ordinary undershirt became something new. The originally demure neckline was lowered and there was a slit all the way down the back to the waist. Even the sleeves were cut off, leaving only two straps to hang from the shoulders.
“Madam, this…”
Cui He was shocked and began to blush.
However, Chu Ning remained calm and unembarrassed. She checked the revealing undershirt carefully.
Then, she stood up and measured the shirt against her body before making a mark at the waist. Next, she sewed a part of the undershirt.
The sewing tightened the waist area of the undershirt to better accentuate a slim waistline.
In less than an hour, the demure undershirt turned into a revealing garment that could arouse desires. One could not help but blush upon looking at it.
Cui He vaguely understood what Chu Ning was doing. She blushed but did not stop her.
“Madam, what else do you want to do? Let me help you.”
This time, Cui He offered to help directly.
Chu Ning put down the things she was holding and looked at Cui He. For a second, her eyes seemed a little red.
What she was doing was considered shameful for a respectable married woman. However, she kept telling herself to ignore what other people think and to stop caring about morals and respectability. However, she could not help feeling guilty and uneasy about the state she had allowed herself to fall to.
Fortunately, she still had someone on her side.
She blinked her tears away and took up a brush to draw a beautiful lotus flower. She gave the drawing to Cui He and said, “Can you help me to embroider this?”
Cui He accepted the drawing and nodded without hesitation. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it done in a few days.”
……
…
In the following few days, Xiao Yu became busy as his trip drew near.
However, he did not tell Chu Ning what he was doing. She only heard about them from Zhao Yanzhou. It turned out that he was busy attending banquets with various supporters. Perhaps he was afraid that Xiao Kezhi or the Empress Dowager would snatch his power while he was away for more than a month.
Xiao Yu did not have a high tolerance for alcohol. After a few banquets, he frequently came back half-drunk. He would ask a few eunuchs to help him wash up before going to bed. That saved Chu Ning a lot of trouble.
Chu Ning did not step out of the East Palace in these few days. In the morning, she brought a few maids with her to Azure Hall to bring out Xiao Yu’s winter clothes. Then, they dried the clothes under the sun and fumigated them before packing them into trunks. These will then be taken with Xiao Yu to Huazhou.
At night, Chu Ning and Cui He would sit under the lamp and embroider lotus flowers on her undershirts.
She planned to reveal her purpose to Xiao Kezhi on the day of the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet.
Although there would be many people there, they would only focus on Empress Dowager. They would probably not pay attention to a Crown Princess. As for Xiao Kezhi, he had control over the whole Taiji Palace, so he had nothing to worry about.
Most importantly, as the Crown Princess, she had few opportunities to leave the East Palace. Therefore, it was hard to find a chance to meet Xiao Kezhi and speak to him privately.
Although Taiji Palace and the East Palace were next to each other, to Chu Ning, it might as well be separated by a cliff. It was hard for her to find a reason to go there. Therefore, she needed to grab every little opportunity she could get to meet him.
However, she was a little worried.
When she went to the Palace of Hundred Blessings previously, she found out that Qi Chenxiang would be presenting a dance there. That might be the reason why Empress Dowager insisted on organizing the birthday banquet. It meant that they would keep a close watch on Xiao Kezhi.
Furthermore, there was a problem with Xiao Yu. Since he would be leaving the next day, he would definitely not let her out of his sight. She needed to find a way to deal with this carefully.
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