"Umm, is that even a secret?"
Hell, a fake Imperial Ancestral Temple? Really?...
Li Mu didn't know what to say.
He wondered why the royal family would bother worshipping fake ancestors.
"Of course. The royal family members put in that temple were not the important ones throughout the generations. The true temple is probably the real graveyard of the royal family," Old Demon Han said.
Li Mu listened to the other man talk and realized that he didn't seem to know where the temple was either.
It seemed as if Old Demon Han wasn't even all that interested in the temple.
Who was the one spreading the rumor about Old Demon Han trespassing into the royal palace to look for the temple then?
"I've seen previous emperors being worshipped in that temple."
"Previous emperors, huh? Like they mattered. They were but the administrators of the regime at best. The true Imperial Ancestral Temple has to be the one for the worship of the strongest among the royal family. I'm just wondering where those people are."
"What about the Imperial Clan Court then?"
"One way or another, it can't be inside the royal palace," Old Demon Han replied.
"The Imperial Ancestral Temple not inside the royal palace. Interesting," Li Mu nodded and turned around to leave.
"Sir, please don't go just yet! Can't you at least set me free?"
"Just stay where you are for the time being. With that bit of true qi I've given you, you'll live. Just hone your powers and temperament where you are. I'll consider freeing you when I'm in the mood."
Only Li Mu's voice was heard at the end of the dungeon.
He was no longer anywhere to be found.
"Please! What did I do to deserve this?" Old Demon Han shouted.
His shout reverberated throughout the empty dungeon.
Just how far has he come with his training? No, not that. Why does he not know of the royal family's secrets even though he's already so formidable?
Li Mu circled around the royal palace for a bit after emerging from the dungeon before returning to the Jingning Palace.
Things are getting more interesting.
If Old Demon Han wasn't in the Library Tower to look for the Imperial Ancestral Temple, then what was he doing there then?
Li Mu clapped his head.
Whatever...
I'll ask him another day.
He wasn't in any hurry to locate the Imperial Ancestral Temple after all.
He went back and sorted out what he'd gotten from the check-ins that night.
...
The leaves in the compounds of the Jingning Palace began to pile up.
Autumn had come yet again.
The cold winds blew.
The bellies of the new concubines began to bulge.
Li Mu listened in on the chatter of the court ladies time and again, and the topics always consisted of who among the concubines had gotten pregnant and whose baby would probably be a prince.
There was also talk about which concubine of which palace had gotten cocky.
Then there was talk about which concubine was actually a b*tch with a polite facade.
The place had gotten very rowdy all of a sudden due to the concubines who had gotten into the royal palace of late.
The court ladies and the eunuchs stopped talking about the outside world, which meant that Li Mu became ignorant yet again.
"I wonder what is happening in the world outside of late."
Given that none of the court ladies and eunuchs were talking about anything outside, he deemed that nothing of importance was going on out there.
He'd initially thought about going outside the royal palace and asking around about the Imperial Ancestral Temple or other matters.
He quickly dismissed that thought.
If it was something that not even someone like Old Demon Han knew, then the nobodies out there would definitely not know either.
Winter came soon.
Cold winds blew everywhere.
D*mn, it was cold.
The winter that year was extremely cold.
The amount of coal that the Jingning Palace got was extremely small.
Li Mu had no need for any of it, so he gave it all to the old court lady.
However, he never expected to only sense the breathing of one person in the palace one morning.
Huh?
Swoop~
Li Mu charged into the hall without a care.
He had been assigned to the Jingning Palace for over a decade, and yet this was the first time he had gone inside the concubine's place.
The reception hall was right inside the door.
The bedroom was right beside the hall, and the old court lady could be seen lying silently in a fetal ball.
The blanket that was wrapped around her was practically in tatters.
The room was a huge one, and winds blew in from everywhere.
It was too near the hall after all.
Thick curtains were hanging behind the bedroom.
The concubine's bedchamber was right behind the curtains.
Concubine Jing's breaths sounded very weak at that moment as well.
"Xiaolizi, is that you?"
"Yes, my lady," Li Mu bowed and replied.
Concubine Jing had been very nice with her servants throughout the years.
She had never once berated him for anything.
She had always been polite when giving her orders.
"Could you fetch Granny Mi for me? I've called out to her many times this morning, and she hasn't responded."
Granny Mi was the old court lady.
"My lady, Granny Mi has frozen to death last night," Li Mu replied truthfully.
The reason Concubine Jing hadn't gotten out of bed was also because it was so cold in there.
The winter was a season where everyone wanted to hide in their blankets after all.
"Aaahhh!"
A scream came from behind the curtains, and her breathing speeded up.
"Xiaolizi, can you help me up? I want to see her for one last time."
The concubine's voice could be heard from behind the curtains after quite a while.
Her voice sounded very croaky. She was probably weeping.
Li Mu was able to tell just how heartbroken she was from how she sounded.
He lifted the curtains and walked inside.
A fragrance washed all over him as soon as he went inside.
The concubine was sitting on her bed with her hair all over her face.
She was still in her pajamas.
He went up to her and helped her get up.
"Get me my clothes," the concubine said.
Li Mu looked around for a bit and found her clothes.
It took quite a while before he was able to help her get dressed.
He managed to touch her several times while she was getting dressed.
Her skin felt warm and supple, and she smelled very nice.
Li Mu was however unfazed.
It was not the time for such emotions after all.
He helped her to get to the old court lady's bed after she got dressed.
The old court lady's body had frozen hard.
The cold wind blew, and the concubine coughed.
"I'm going to get the fire going," Li Mu said.
Concubine Jing remained silent for quite a while.
He looked up and saw two long streaks of tears on her face.
He turned around and went outside, flying out of Jingning Palace looking for more coal. Soon he came back with a sack of coal.
There was no more coal to be had in the Jingning Palace.
"People always become afraid of cold when they got old, especially us women. We're always cold, even in our blankets during the winter."
It wasn't until the fire had been started that Concubine Jing said anything.
Li Mu didn't say anything in reply.
"All the other concubines have eunuchs to warm their beds for them, and the court ladies usually huddle together for warmth in the winter. Their palaces never run out of coal either. Here in the "cold" palace, there's nothing. Xiaolizi, if you're cold, you're welcomed to huddle with me for warmth tonight."
Li Mu took a look at the alluring concubine.
He lowered his head.
He knew that the concubine felt colder deep down than she looked physically.
The warmth she needed was the warmth of the heart.
The empress died, then the emperor died, and the one court lady that had attended to her had now died as well.
"It's fine, my lady. I don't feel the cold, and we will have coal to spare from here on out too. But Granny Mi…"
Concubine Jing stayed quiet for a while before she replied, "Let her stay like this for a bit longer. Head to the Imperial Household Department in the afternoon and ask around and see if they have some coffin of good quality to spare for granny here."
Several eunuchs came and took the old court lady's body out in the afternoon.
Concubine Jing had dressed the old court lady up with the best clothes she had before the old court lady was taken out.
Li Mu was called to the concubine's bedchamber that night.
No one liked the feeling of having lost someone who'd been by their side all of a sudden.
Li Mu stayed around to keep her company.
He made a great fire in the room.
The room felt warm.
The mistress and the servant sat looking at each other.
"Xiaolizi, you're welcome to get into bed if you're cold."
"I dare not, my lady."
Li Mu shuddered.
Is she trying to seduce a eunuch like me right now?
I wouldn't mind if my body was whole, but it's not.
It was especially difficult that he was able to see and touch her, yet he couldn't do anything more than that.
It wouldn't have mattered so much if he had only lived in this current life.
But he knew what such things were like from back in his past life.
That girl right in front of him looked enticing.
Ah, forget about it.
I won't get any ideas if I don't look.
Just what the h*ll is going on inside Concubine Jing's head?
"It's all right. You don't have the one thing that matters. No one will say anything even if word got out."
"I'm not cold, my lady. I'll just sleep by the fire."
Concubine Jing got undressed and went to bed.
It was only after that that he closed his eyes and sat.
D*mn!
A bottleneck again.
If I had been able to get to the fifth tier of Zaohua Sutra and reconstruct my body, things wouldn't have been so awkward tonight.
I guess any woman would behave like Concubine Jing, if they were locked up in a "cold" palace for more than a dozen years.
Li Mu continued to watch over Concubine Jing as she slept for the next several nights.
It was he who helped Concubine Jing get dressed in the morning after she woke up, as well as he who cleaned her urine pot.
What should have been the old court lady's work was all taken over by him.
He learned how to wash clothes, brush the lady's hair, and some other tasks in the next several days.
It continued like this until the concubine's period came.
"Umm…"
"It's fine. I can clean it up by myself."