The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl

63. Too Stupid

Translator: Iris Guo

“Of course. Why should I cry for such a wonderful thing?” While randomly covering and wiping her face, A’Chou hastened to massage Zhong Mingwei’s hand with red eyes. “What about now? Can you move your hand again?”

Zhong Mingwei flexed his wrist slowly and tremblingly, but A’Chou was overjoyed: “Show me Number One!”

He stretched out a finger with great effort.

“Now two!” She laughed even louder, and nobody could tell that she had just cried.

He did so again.

“Now three!” Her dark eyes glowed and were fixed on his hand, but she didn’t see there was a tender look on his face.

In no case would he show four. He found it too stupid and felt a little tired. Besides, his arms were terribly sore and numb after only slight movements.

A’Chou also worried that Zhong Mingwei would get exhausted, so she hastened to massage his arms. He was startled by her eagerness: “Girl, stop it. I mean it.”

A’Chou ignored Zhong Mingwei and still continued to knead his fingers slowly and carefully: “Why not? It’s my massage that cured you.”

Zhong Mingwei didn’t resist but suddenly asked A’Chou: “Did Eunuch Xie save dumplings for you on that Lunar New Year’s Eve?”

“Haha, surely he did! He saved twenty dumplings stuffed with three delicacies, the best I have ever had. I finished them without a break. Moreover, he gave me a red packet of two qian of silver ingots. That was my first time to receive lucky money and see so much money. A’Chou smiled shyly. Then she stopped smiling and said in embarrassment: “However, he told me that he wanted to be my godfather.”

“You said no?” Zhong Mingwei looked at A’Chou. By that time, he already figured out who Eunuch Xie was, so he was very surprised. In the Imperial Palace, it was quite usual to claim kinship with respectable eunuchs, who normally had one, two or even dozens of godchildren, not to mention Xie Zhenglan, Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Kitchen. There must be many imperial servants and maids eager to have something to do with him.

“I said no.” A’Chou nodded with her head down. After a long time of silence, she murmured: “I have my own parents. How can I call another man father? My parents would be so sad.”

While A’Chou was speaking, she reached her neck subconsciously for the pendant, but as soon as she touched there, she paused and put her hand back silently to massage Zhong Mingwei’s hand.

The faint red mark on A’Chou’s neck was gone. Only her old scarlet scar was left. Zhong Mingwei stared at her scar for a while. Then he looked away and asked: “Since you rejected Xie Zhenglan, has he often made things difficult for you?”

“You know him?” A’Chou was stunned, and then understood. “Afterwards, he became Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Kitchen and began to serve the imperial members. Of course you know him. However, he’s not a petty person, so he never made trouble for me, but I was too embarrassed to go to the Imperial Kitchen again since then. Ah! I never had such delicious dumplings again.”