The Noble Consort's Eunuch Darling

In the fifth year after the marriage swap, Zhang Pianran was the most favored woman in the imperial harem, a noble consort treated like royalty in Wan'an Palace.

But only she knew how bitter it was. For all her outward splendor, even Huo Xiyou, a eunuch of humble birth, treated her with indifference. In his low, weary voice, he told her word by word, “Your Highness, the person His Majesty loves most is the palace maid who stood by him when he was at his lowest. He’s only putting on an act with you.”

Resentment burned inside her. Why? After enduring all these years, why could she still not be made empress?

That palace maid had only just entered the palace, yet she was exceptionally promoted to Consort Rou, cutting off Zhang Pianran’s path to a life of glory!

After all the humiliation she’d endured and the marriage swap, had she become a laughingstock?

A torrential rain came down. Zhang Pianran was utterly disheartened. Just as she was about to collapse, with no one to lean on, the chief eunuch at the emperor’s side reached out to steady her. “Your Highness, be careful.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Look at that. Even the head eunuch, who used to be at odds with me, feels sorry for me now.”

“This servant understands your suffering.” As the powerful chief eunuch at the emperor’s side, he was refined and dignified, like a fine piece of jade from Langya, nothing like a eunuch. Stranger still, his gaze held an indescribably tender, yearning affection for her.

Only later did she marry again, this time as a eunuch’s wife.

She fell into the cage Huo Xiyou had woven for her.

Holding her aching waist, she begged him to let her go. “You and I were only putting on an act.”

She didn’t know that the Crown Prince she had yearned for day and night had been by her side for years! Huo Xiyou’s rough fingertips wiped away her tears, and he could no longer hide his possessiveness. “Your Highness, you want revenge for the Crown Prince of those days? Then this servant will grant your wish. What does it matter if I become a sinner for all time?”

Only then did Zhang Pianran understand. In public, she was the noble consort; in private, he wanted nothing more than to spoil her rotten!

[Next upcoming historical romance: The Widow Marries Again]

After many years of widowhood, Ruiniang was forced by her mother-in-law to press her fingerprint onto a deed selling her as a maidservant to the Sun family.

The official of that household had once been an old acquaintance. Back then, he called her “older sister” and was so proper he hardly dared look her in the eye. Years later, when they met again, he bought her contract and drew close to her under the pretense of making her a servant.

Ruiniang tried to hang herself.

She thought herself an old woman past her prime, with nothing but vulgarity beneath her skin, and nowhere near as wonderful as he imagined. She could only hope he would grow tired of her one day.

Many years ago, Sun Fengshi had been no more than a poor scholar lodging in the side room of his older sister’s home. On his way to the capital to take the imperial examinations, he accidentally saved the current emperor and earned merit for helping him ascend the throne. After the former dynasty fell, he was made Prince of Qiancheng Commandery.

One day, he received news: the older sister he’d been in love with as a young man had been widowed.

After that, he could no longer hold back and fell wholeheartedly in love with her.

He visited often and showered her with gold and silver, all for the sake of making her smile. “When you’re at home and I’m out working, I can’t put my mind at ease. Those soft, sweet lips of yours could be the death of me.”

Ruiniang blushed and pushed him, but couldn’t budge him.

He liked her even more. “You may be twenty-nine, older sister, but you’re lovelier than a girl of seventeen or eighteen. You’re nothing like that shrewish tigress in my household, who makes my life worse than death. Besides, you and I are old acquaintances. How could soft words in bed not be delightful?”

Ruiniang realized that the kind, pure-hearted scholar from years ago had changed.

She ought to hate him.

But she couldn’t bring herself to.