“Oh, I understand,” Eunuch Zhu said with a smile and a nod. He planned to go out and kill a few people tonight; those people should have died long ago.
Bai Sheng added, “Your Highness, the process of treating your face absolutely cannot be disturbed. It would be best for you to have your treatment at my home. Therefore, I suggest you find someone to take your place in the palace as soon as possible.”
Mei Fei pondered for a moment and said sternly to Ziqiu and Eunuch Zhu, “No one in the palace can know about my facial treatment. You two must maintain absolute secrecy.
When I am not in the palace, Ziqiu, you will impersonate me. Your build is similar to mine, and you wear a mask. You are familiar with everything about me, and you will absolutely not reveal anything.”
“Yes, my lady!” Ziqiu replied respectfully.
Mei Fei understood that once the people in the palace knew she had regained her appearance, it would bring a lot of trouble, the biggest of which would be the Emperor. She had already given up all hope for the Emperor and had no lingering affection for him. Therefore, it would be best if he didn’t provoke her.
She found him repulsive.
Bai Sheng naturally understood Mei Fei’s thoughts. However, next, she wanted to gauge Mei Fei’s attitude towards the Baili family, so she deliberately steered the conversation towards her own residence.
“Your Highness, please rest assured. Although it is rumored throughout the capital that the residence in Yuhua Lane is haunted, we have lived there for so long and haven’t seen a single ghost. It will be very safe to have the treatment there.”
Mei Fei smiled, “Even if there were ghosts, I wouldn’t be afraid. I believe the ghosts in that residence are all kind-hearted.”
“Oh?” Bai Sheng feigned surprise and lowered her voice, “It is said that my residence used to belong to the… Baili family. Does Your Highness Mei Fei know that family?”
A sorrowful expression appeared on Mei Fei’s face. “That family… they were all upright and kind people.”
“Upright and kind? Then why did they… alas, rumors are truly frightening. After we bought the house, all we heard were insults directed at the Baili family, saying they colluded with the enemy and were lackeys of the Northern Qi Kingdom. Your Highness Mei Fei, did the Baili family really do such a thing?”
Mei Fei snorted coldly and sighed, “Often, what you hear is not necessarily true. I understand now. In this world, the eyes of the common people are the most blind. They are fooled and toyed with by a few powerful individuals, sold out, and yet still have to count the money for them.”
Bai Sheng gasped and covered her chest, “Could it be that the Baili family was wrongly accused?”
Mei Fei looked at Bai Sheng and said seriously, “Little Sheng, it is best for you not to know too much about these matters, lest you invite a deadly disaster.”
Bai Sheng chuckled playfully, touching her ear, and said sheepishly, “Your Highness, I hear people’s discussions outside every day, and I’ve suddenly become very interested in the original owners of my home. That’s why I wanted to gossip and satisfy my curiosity.
Your Highness, I heard that the third son of General Baili went to the battlefield at thirteen, was brave and skilled in combat, and lost his legs to an enemy while saving his comrades. You know that young master Baili, don’t you?”
A smile appeared on Mei Fei’s face, “You are referring to Baili Rong Mo. Back then, he was indeed heroic. Even after losing his legs, his spirit was not dampened. It is a pity—”
Mei Fei’s eyes were full of desolation.
“Does Your Highness Mei Fei know him?” Bai Sheng was very excited; she was about to get some juicy gossip about her third maternal uncle.
Mei Fei nodded, her eyes unreadable, “We met when we were thirteen, but it was a brief encounter. Later, I married the Emperor, and we had fewer opportunities to meet.”
Bai Sheng sighed and teased, “Alas, at that time, if Your Highness had sparked a romance with Baili Rong Mo, you wouldn’t be trapped in this deep palace now.”
Mei Fei smiled and patted her head, “Then the grass on my grave would be very tall.”
When she knew Baili Rong Mo, she had already fallen for the Emperor when he was still a prince. If she had met Baili Rong Mo before the Emperor, perhaps something truly would have happened.
However, that was all in the past. If she had ended up with Baili Rong Mo by some twist of fate, she would have been willing to die with him.
Bai Sheng laughed, “Perhaps history would have been rewritten too.”
“That’s true,” Mei Fei smiled.
There are no ‘what ifs’ in this world; people can only move forward on one path.
The two chatted until Si Zai fell asleep.
After lunch, Mei Fei kept Bai Sheng in the palace for a while longer, chatting, before letting them leave.
Before they departed, Bai Sheng left Mei Fei with a bottle of perfume and several large packs of sanitary napkins.
Mei Fei, in turn, took out four large gold bangles and put them on Si Zai’s wrists. The gold bangles were so thick they were almost as thick as the babies’ arms.
Calling them bangles was too generous; they should have been called gold tubes.
Bai Sheng finally understood where Prince Yu inherited his gift-giving style from.
Mei Fei said that when Bai Sheng’s “Red Powder Beauty” shop opened, she would send a gift to liven things up.
The two agreed to meet at the Lu residence in Yuhua Lane a month later.
Bai Sheng returned home and, without even giving her own husband a second glance, rushed to her third maternal uncle.
“Third Uncle, Third Uncle, in a month’s time, Your Highness Mei Fei will be coming to our home for treatment!”
The crippled uncle’s half-finished bow and arrows clattered to the ground, “She… she’s coming to our home?”
“Mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm,” Bai Sheng nodded vigorously.
The crippled uncle immediately became flustered, rubbing his hands, touching his amputated leg, or scratching the back of his head, like a silly dog chasing its tail in circles.
Bai Sheng watched him and laughed for a long time before saying, “Third Uncle, I think we can tell Mei Fei that you and Fourth Uncle are still alive. Furthermore, if we want to clear Grandpa’s name, she would be a great help.”
“It’s not impossible to tell her the truth. But… I… I look so pathetic like this,” the crippled uncle said dejectedly. Even if he stood on his prosthetics, he would still be much shorter than Mei Qing.
He didn’t want to stand before her in such a pathetic state. Although he was an old cripple, he still had his pride.
Bai Sheng chuckled, “So that’s what it is. Third Uncle, don’t worry, I’ll immediately help you make a pair of prosthetics! I guarantee you’ll be eight feet tall and regain your former glory!”
“Make… prosthetics? What are those?” The third uncle couldn’t imagine what “prosthetics” looked like. There were no such things in the Great Xia Kingdom.
Bai Sheng smiled mysteriously, “You’ll know in a couple of days, and I promise you’ll be satisfied. Third Uncle, you have a lot of cowhide here, don’t you? Give me a piece.”
Since wearing prosthetics required an adaptation period, and to ensure that her third uncle could walk naturally on the day Mei Fei arrived, Bai Sheng decided to make a pair of prosthetics for him as quickly as possible.
The crippled uncle excitedly picked up a piece of cowhide and handed it to her. As long as it could make him look tall and majestic, he wouldn’t mind giving a hundred cows, let alone a piece of cowhide.
For some reason, he was quite looking forward to the prosthetics his niece-in-law had mentioned.
In the evening, after Bai Sheng had Lu Ye measure the circumference of her third uncle’s amputated leg, she pulled Lu Ye into the space.
They left Si Zai under the care of Hengheng and the others and began making prosthetics for her third uncle.