Chapter 3 — Behind the Curtain of Glory

5

At that moment, Dao Tu's voice softly announced from outside the door:

"Little master, Anh Dao has recovered from her cold. I want to come in and say goodbye."

The palace door opened, Tu Chieu Hoa walked in with a brisk gait. Although she wore a palace maid's outfit, her whole body still carried the aura of someone she had been pampered with since childhood. I know, Tu Chieu Hoa is waiting for me to open my mouth. So I deliberately raised my head with a timid expression of fear, my eyes revealing panic and confusion.

“Your highness?”

"Good brother Dao, come here quickly. The palace's dormitory is cold and hard, making me miserable. Today you can arrange another place for me, or else I can sleep with you."

She calmly walked over, opened the lotion box on the dressing table, and lamented as she did so:

"What's wrong with your knee? It's thick and swollen, and it's always damp and painful."

That was when she first entered the palace and offended the Duc Concubine. I knelt for her for a whole day, leaving behind consequences.

“Oh my god, there are those hands of yours too, looking at them makes me feel scared, they even itch at night…”

After talking for a while, perhaps realizing that I still hadn't opened my mouth, she finally stopped and turned to look at me. I just saw me kneeling on the ground, my face full of tears.

"Lady, why did you really become a maid? Please quickly tell the immortal to exchange it for us."

I want to try to find out what kind of evil spirit the so-called "Thong Tu" is in your mouth. Tu Chieu Hoa casually waved his hand:

"It's okay, others desire glory and power, I don't, I prefer freedom."

“The endless glory I have given you, are you willing to do anything for me?”

I pretended to be innocent and raised my head:

"This slave has a lowly status, what can he do for you? Isn't there a god who helps you? You should change it back soon."

There was a flash of impatience in Tu Chieu Hoa's eyes.

"What lowly? When you were still Anh Dao, I never considered you a slave. Moreover, now you are Tu Chieu Hoa, daughter of General Tong Nhat Pham Tran Dinh, in the future the most favored noble concubine in the six palaces, who dares to say that you are lowly?"

"If I hadn't failed in my strategy and didn't have enough points, I wouldn't have chosen you, I could only rely on you..."

She squeezed my shoulder and said fiercely:

"In general, whatever I tell you to do next, you must do it, quickly get to the position of noble concubine to release me from the palace, otherwise I will tell the fairy to strike you with lightning and kill you!"

Seeing that I could only humbly and obey, she proudly raised her head and comforted me:

"Don't be afraid, just listen to me, you will live good days that you never dared to dream about before. Anh Dao, absolutely don't reveal the fact that we switched bodies, you don't want to be considered a monster and burn to death, right? I have a fairy to protect me, naturally it's okay, I'm just worried about you, you stupid girl."

"At that time, you tell the emperor to make me a princess, and give you more gold, silver and jewels. I will leave the palace, and you will be the only noble concubine Nguyen in Van Phu Palace."

Following her all my life, I understand Tu Chieu Hoa very well. Just listening to the last few sentences, I immediately knew that there was a problem with her magic. If you want anything else, you can only rely on me to get it Okay. You yourself can only exchange with me. You yourself have no way to exchange any more. After she left, I smiled coldly, arranged a secluded room for Tu Chieu Hoa, and then found a mute eunuch named Vinh Uy in the cold palace. Just give him one job - when it's quiet late at night, secretly hide in the room next to Tu Chieu Hoa's room and record every word she mutters to herself.

6

When Tu Chieu Hoa first entered the palace, he offended Duc Phi, so his green card was put on hold for a month. According to her, it was her intention — the harder it is to get, the more appreciated it is. I used less than a month to read books like crazy. In my previous life, I could only learn a little bit of writing when I was punished on Tu Chieu Hoa's behalf, copying books to imitate her handwriting, and taking the time to study. Now that I have a good opportunity like this, I'm like a fish in water, taking each page of her book to read, word by word, and pondering over it. So, on the night of the funeral, when the emperor read out the sentence:

"The willow eyebrows don't need to be drawn by Truong Thang, they were born with eyebrows curled into the sideburns."

I am not like Tu Chieu Hoa who naively asked who Truong Thang was, but blushed and took the initiative to take off the pearl for the emperor.

"We are both in our youth, don't waste this beautiful moment."

The emperor couldn't stand it anymore, so he immediately hugged me and put me on the bed. No one knows, when I was still a lowly maid, how much I secretly loved this emperor. Loving his heavenly grace, loving his unlimited power, I dream every day to the point of grinding my teeth, dreaming of sitting on a noble and resplendent phoenix palanquin. I even dreamed of being favored, and Tu Chieu Hoa had to wait for me to wash my feet. After waking up from the dream, I slapped myself twice, trying to force the corners of my lips not to curl up, then pressed them down again. But today, the king is lying under my blanket, his hands are unfastening my bra strap. The dark illusions we have hidden for many years have come true today. How can I - not enjoy it madly, not risk my life to climb up?

7

The next morning, I was specially promoted from a noble person to a non-ranking person, and was awarded the title "Nguyen". Tu Chieu Hoa was so angry that he was devastated. She disregarded everything and rushed into my palace, looking at me with a gloomy face.

“I took you lightly.”

She definitely thinks that I don't have magical powers and am a servant of low birth, so the emperor won't like me.