Xiao Hui was just a poor maid accompanying the Han fu ren in one of her strolls. They were simply walking around the town, admiring the bustling marketplace, how some shops were even run by children!
The Han fu ren, Li Xinyi, heartily took a tanghulu offered by a young boy with a beaming smile. She had a soft spot for children and although they never voiced it, the servants often wondered why she did not bear the King's child yet.
However, they were so engrossed in the festivities that they wandered until they reached the outskirts of the town. It wasn't much of a concern; Li Xinyi knew the way back. Yet, Xiao Hui had heard unsettling stories about the people living in these parts.
While doing her main tasks in the palace, Xiao Hui had overheard Mo Chao, the King's manservant, tell the other servants about the horrible people he ran into during one of his errands.
He had been sent to buy some candles from the market and walked a bit too far. Then he came across three big busted women with faces so dolled up with makeup that they all looked the same. The women had crowded on him, grabbing Mo Chao's arm and pressing their breasts against his appendage, asking if he wanted their services. "Just a few copper coins for you, dear, nothing else," they twittered.
Xiao Hui could not recall how Mo Chao managed to escape those women but she hoped she would not ever need the information.
She glanced at Li Xinyi but the Han fu ren was looking somewhere else. Following her mistress's gaze, Xiao Hui gasped at what she saw.
A few meters away, behind a tree, the King Han Bingwen, was holding the hands of a coquettish woman full with a horrendous amount of makeup on her face. The King had a dopey smile in his face; the smile of love, as the Han fu ren often said whilst she read her romance books, and was whispering something on the woman's ear that made her giggle in her hand.
When Xiao Hui first met Li Xinyi, she was in red bridal clothes and with a veil hiding her face. Han Bingwen's mother, the Han Empress Dowager had, along with the wealthy Li family, decided to let their children marry each other. It was a marriage of convenience fueled by strategic potential, not of love, and their main aim was to bear a child who will be the heir of the throne.
Xiao Hui had been assigned to be the new Han fu ren's maid and she was proud of it. Everyday she would wake Li Xinyi up and give her her meals. On the evenings she would listen to her mistress rave about her many romance novels while sipping on the finest Han dynasty tea.
Yes, Xiao Hui knew the Han fu ren inside and out and she knew that although the marriage was agreed on both sides, it was awfully cold. The King never talked to his Queen consort and Xiao Hui knew that that hurt the Han fu ren.
There were rumors around the palace that the Han fu ren was infertile. These false ideas came to existence simply because it had been 2 years since the Han marriage and yet no news of a child was known. But Xiao Hui knew that these rumors were false because the King had never consummated his marriage with Li Xinyi!
She (Xiao Hui) had always thought that the King was simply waiting for the right time. She thought that he wanted to consummate not out of duty, but out of love. She thought that the King would one day fall in love with Li Xinyi.
Who could have known that the reason why he did not consummate the marriage was because he was already in love with some one else? In love with a courtesan? All her illusions were shattered by this one scene.
Anyone with eyes could see that the woman was a courtesan. Her face was completely dolled up and if that was not enough indication then the brothel behind them was evident.
Xiao Hui turned from the scene, opening her mouth to complain about the scandalous scene, when she got a look at Li Xinyi. The Han fu ren was hiding her mouth with her fan but it was her eyes that made Xiao Hui stop.
The Han fu ren's eyes were full of undisguised glee.
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Just some info:
Xiao Hui's name is written with 晓 (xiǎo) meaning dawn and 晖 (huī) meaning light
Li Xinyi's name is written with 心 (xīn) meaning heart and 怡 (yí) meaning joy
Question:
Have you ever walked into your lover cheating? What did you feel?