Restless Heart - Chapter 3

Chapter 5

I signed up again.

This time, the name Lin Suibian successfully passed the screening.

Before I entered the palace, my adoptive father gave me a very serious warning.

“Don’t wear plain colors, but don’t wear anything too bright either.”

What kind of rules horror story was this?

I understood not wearing bright colors when praying for blessings, but plain colors were taboo too?

What a pity. With this fresh, delicate face of mine, plain colors suited me best.

I packed a few lake-blue dresses and charged in.

On the first day, I knelt in the Buddhist hall, struck the wooden fish, and copied scriptures.

Thump.

Merit +1.

On the second day, I continued eating vegetarian food and striking the wooden fish.

Thump.

Merit +2.

……

By the seventh day, someone finally couldn’t take it anymore.

The girls sent in were all noble young ladies from prestigious families, aiming to become imperial consorts. How could they possibly be willing to sit here copying scriptures?

She had both schemes and connections. When she first entered the palace, she had bribed a matron and secretly brought in an old plain outfit.

Night gradually deepened.

After handing in my copied scriptures, I was about to go rest in the side hall.

Then I saw her quietly open the heavy vermilion doors a crack.

She was dressed all in plain white, her hair pinned up with a wooden hairpin, looking utterly untouched by the dust of the world.

She stepped one foot outside.

After hesitating for a moment, I called out softly, “I heard His Majesty dislikes it when others wear plain white.”

She looked back and gave me a secretive smile.

“That’s for you people.”

“I know something the rest of you don’t.”

All right, then.

I went back by myself.

But the next day, I heard the news that she had been expelled from the palace.

Improper conduct before the emperor.

Xie Chenyuan gave her a palace maid’s uniform and ordered her to change into it.

That plain white outfit was burned.

She was beaten twenty strokes with the plank, until her flesh split open.

Her life was spared, but she might never walk properly again.

When I copied scriptures, my mind kept wandering.

Might as well pray for her while I was at it.

Chapter 6

The matrons supervising us were all replaced.

I heard the original matrons had gone to receive punishment too.

Xie Chenyuan’s anger implicated a great many people.

The new matrons were extremely strict.

They made us clean the Buddhist hall until it was spotless, and we had to bathe and burn incense every day.

I really felt like I was about to become a nun.

On the day it was my turn to clean the Buddhist hall, I wiped the Buddhist shrine very carefully.

But behind it, I felt a small raised spot.

There was no time to think.

My hand had already pressed down.

The Buddhist shrine rose into the air, revealing a flight of steps beneath it.

I was just scrambling to cover everything up when the sound of the matron’s footsteps came from the side hall.

In my panic, I stepped inside.

The wooden floor overhead closed shut.

I thought, I might have to start over again.

And I could get the System to give me another makeover while I was at it.