Like Pearl and Jade

Chapter 72

"Took her away?" Gu Ru Jiu stilled and wiped the water from her face. "What did he say when he came?"

Qiu Luo shook her head and said after a moment of thought, "When he took her away, He Ming only said that Your Majesty has no need to trouble yourself for such a minor matter."

"Really?" Gu Ru Jiu thought for a moment. "I see."

After the bath, Gu Ru Jiu put on a loose and breathable palace dress. She said to Qiu Luo, "Get someone to find He Ming. Say that I have something to ask him."

In a dark room, He Ming looked at the pale Bao Lu and sneered. "You have a good life. The empress is willing to let you live."

Bao Lu panted and trembled on the ground. She did not dare to even look at He Ming.

"If you were not the empress' personal maid, the emperor would not have tolerated you." He Ming walked in front of Bao Lu and grabbed her hair, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Do you know how many people in the palace want to climb on the dragon's bed?"

Bao Lu's lips were as white as paper. Tears fell from her eyes. She was in a sorry state.

"Look at you. From head to toe, how can you compare to the empress? Why have such thoughts?" He Ming loosened his hand and Bao Lu fell back on the ground.

"We are all servants. But you cannot even be loyal to your master. What is the use in you?" He Ming looked in disdain at the woman on the ground, his gaze icy. "The emperor is in great love with the empress. Yet a servant like you dares to wound the empress' heart. You really want to die."

Then, he slapped Bao Lu on the face. Just as he was preparing to continue to torture Bao Lu, an eunuch walked in from outside. The eunuch glanced at Bao Lu on the ground and whispered, "Grandfather He, the empress wants to see you."

He Ming took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands. He flicked away the creases in his sleeves. "Since the empress has summoned me, I do not dare to delay. I give this person to your care. Remember to keep her alive."

"Yes." The eunuch who had passed the message nodded. He glanced at the palace maid curled up on the ground and raised his eyebrows. "Do not worry—this lowly one will take good care of Miss Bao Lu."

Bao Lu looked up and only saw He Ming's departing back. So she turned to look at the green-robed eunuch standing in front of her, and smiled bitterly. In the past, an eunuch like this would have only tried to gain favor with her. Now, he dared to look down at her, and she was at his feet.

She had a high position among these palace attendants not because of her own status, but because the empress gave her status. After leaving the empress, she was nothing. Anyone could bully her.

Before entering the palace, she always heard people say that those in the palace flattered those higher up and bullied those lower down. Life was hard. So when she first entered the palace, she was cautious. Later, because the empress's position was secure, because she controlled the palace and was favored by the emperor, these people serving the empress, like her, also rose in status to be flattered by countless people. Even the people who served the emperor were polite to her.

After being praised and flattered, she gradually forgot herself, and that all this was due to the empress.

"You regret it?" The green-robed eunuch saw her regretful expression, and shook his head, sighing. "I entered the palace when I was six. What hardship did I not suffer? What kinds of people have I not seen? But it is my first time seeing someone like you who has good fortune but does not know it.

"All right, let's not waste words." The green-robed eunuch looked at the sky outside. "Since He Gonggong told me to take good care of you, I cannot slack off. If you want to blame someone, you can only blame yourself." Then, he took a whip from the wall, and it flew onto Bao Lu's body with a whoosh.