t.i.tle: Crossing Into The Emperor's Body At Night.

Author：花心者

Words Per Chapter : 2k-3k (T/N Chapters will divided into 3 parts.

Synopsis: Fang Shu has a secret. Every night, she crosses into the body of the emperor, who is aloof, and distant like a deity. 

But she is timid. At most she eats some delicious food while borrowing his ident.i.ty. For half a year, she makes no mistake.

One day, the emperor finds himself fat.

Chapter 1 Part 1 : Emperor's Body

Editor : Siha Ma

It was the time of late March. At the end of spring, the weather was a little cold. 

Fang Shu shrank in the cold and, along with some others, followed behind the head maid of the empress's palace Jin Xiu. They were rus.h.i.+ng toward the imperial kitchen.

The time for the meal was almost upon them, and the kitchen workers were busy; no one who came in was idle.

Jin Xiu was inside talking to the steward while Fang Shu was waiting outside.　　

Not long after, the former waved her hand; it was to let her and Hongxiu come over. The emperor's meal was ready, and the empress's meal was to follow.

The empress had her personal small kitchen. However, she missed the taste of the imperial kitchen's food, and on a whim she'd ordered the head maid to come and pa.s.s her message to the steward.

The imperial palace had people of various factions and powers mixed together who could harbor evil thoughts, so the empress didn't trust them. Thus she'd ordered Jin Xiu to keep an eye out on the way. From being taken out of the pot to reaching the Changchun Palace, not a single link was to be missed.

Afraid that a single pair of eyes couldn't focus on every direction, more than two people had come. It should've been someone else, but that person was sick, and so Fang Shu had to come in her place.

This job wasn't easy. Upon being delivered to the empress's table, if the food had a single trace of hair, everyone involved would be punished: from these maids, to Jin Xiu, to the imperial kitchen's workers.

Fang Shu didn't dare to be careless. She stared with full focus and didn't dare to come out of the kitchen until the steward had reported to the Changchun Palace and brought the imperial food bureau to serve the dishes.

A lot of people were involved in preparing the food, and the number of dishes was high. They all had to be checked.

Jinn Xiu made the final check for each item, and Fang Shu stood beside her as she also took a look along the way. There was a steward nearby to ensure absolute safety. 

When they were checking the milk, Fang Shu was a little distracted, and she blurted out, "This is not a mare's milk. It's mung bean milk."

Her words frightened Jin Xiu and the steward. The two of them hurried to check it, and, sure enough, it was mung bean milk.

Mare's milk looked almost the same as mung bean milk. They were both crispy, with one a grayish-green and the other a darker green, which could easily be missed if one didn't look carefully. [1]

This day, they didn't know why, but the milk was the same green as mare's milk. Jin Xiu and the steward who checked the dishes hadn't recognized it, but Fang Shu had.　　

Fang Shu felt as if she was out of her mind. As a third-cla.s.s palace maid, how could she tell between mare's milk and mung bean milk?

She hadn't figured out the right words yet while the steward and Jin Xiu had already gone after the man who had brought the milk. Thankfully, the person hadn't gone far and was quickly able to come back. Both sides were relieved after the milk was replaced.

If something had gone wrong in this manner, several people would've been punished. Jin Xiu was a little grateful to Fang Shu, but she also had some doubts.

“How did you recognize the milk?”　　

Fang Shu, of course, couldn't say she'd drank it before, and that too many times. Since she liked both of the milks a lot, it was easy for her to tell the slight difference in fragrance and in the way of handling.

By now she'd come up with an explanation.

“The elder sister who bought the mare's milk had muttered, ‘It's mung bean milk today, that's why the color is light, right?' “

Jin Xiu said in realization, “I see.”　

She didn't think more about it, patted Fang Shu on the shoulder, and said, “You don't have to wait for the others. Just follow me.”　　

The maids who'd just entered the Changchun Palace weren't qualified to serve the empress. They had to first serve the more senior maids, the first-cla.s.s ones such as Jin Xu or second-cla.s.s ones, and learn from them the way to serve the master.

Fang Shu followed a second-cla.s.s maid, and she'd come here to take her place. Fang Shu worked hard every day, but that maid hadn't taught her anything yet, and instead that woman had been a terrible superior.

[1] – T/N: Some folk, in the early days, intentionally curdled or clotted their lo or milk, while others fermented it to make koumiss or kaymak. Milk was also dried, most often without the cream. Some used the left-over cream in their tea while some mixed it with sago to make milk cakes. Still others, particularly affluent folk and royalty, mixed their milk with flour and camphor, and chilled it. They made something a.n.a.logous to ice cream.

As for its color, green had symbolized wealth, fertility, regeneration, hope, harmony, and growth. It also represents something that is pure and clean.

To be continue……