"Oh? You discovered it?" The beautiful ma... no, the beautiful man with a delicate hair ornament in his hand spoke in a deep voice.
If not for the icy coldness in his eyes, just hearing that lingering tone that made one's heart flutter, one might think he was whispering sweet nothings.
Zhou Shengsheng stared at the devastatingly beautiful person before her.
She could hardly believe that the Noble Consort she had served for years was actually a man!
"Given your years of service to me, I'll let you end yourself." The person lounging on the imperial couch lazily waved his hand, carelessly tossing a long sword to the young woman on the ground.
Zhou Shengsheng, dressed in palace robes, knelt trembling on the ground with tears in her eyes, looking utterly pitiful. "Your Highness, please spare this servant. I've served you for so many years and don't want to die. Please have mercy!"
Kowtowing until her forehead hit the ground, blood soon trickled down her pristine forehead along her cheeks, mixing with her tears and reddened eyes to create a truly pitiful sight.
But that person's heart seemed made of iron, showing not a shred of sympathy for the scene before him. He merely lifted his eyelids impatiently, finding her too noisy.
"Finally! I've made it to the ending! Come on, you cross-dressing freak, say goodbye to your master and thank me one last time!"
"Thank me for serving you day and night, only to end up being forced to kill myself!"
[Congratulations host, you've finally survived to the character's ending]
A chubby little panda suddenly appeared in mid-air, excitedly flying a circle in front of Duan Fusheng.
[My my, no wonder the emperor was so captivated by him, that face is just something else]
Duan Fusheng's previously casual expression subtly vanished as his pupils contracted, showing rare confusion in his eyes.
Who was speaking?
And what was this thing flying around in front of him?
Ending? Villain?
Those treasonous words just now - wasn't that the voice of the maid before him?
But she was right under his nose and hadn't opened her mouth at all!
Was it an illusion?
Zhou Shengsheng grew panicked seeing the system being so bold.
[Pang, come back quickly!]
The system named Pang waved dismissively at the still-kneeling and trembling Zhou Shengsheng below.
[Don't worry, he can't see me]
[Shengsheng, hurry and kill yourself, it's time for us to go.]
Zhou Shengsheng responded with a "yes," and with tears streaming down her face, picked up the sword that had been thrown before her. She lifted her grief-stricken face to take one last deep look at Duan Fusheng above.
"Noble Consort, it was my blessing to serve you. If there is a next life, this servant will gladly be your beast of burden again."
With that, she placed the sword against her neck. Just as she was about to apply force, she suddenly felt a breeze carrying the unique fragrance of Qianyi Palace brush past her cheek.
Her wrist trembled, and Zhou Shengsheng opened her eyes in disbelief.
She saw that the sword was no longer in her hand, and instead, an enchanting face was before her.
Duan Fusheng carefully examined the face before him, which could at best be called pretty.
Then he revealed a bewitching smile, but the words from his mouth contained malice that made Zhou Shengsheng tremble involuntarily.
"I've changed my mind. You shall continue to be my beast of burden."
He wanted to see exactly what kind of supernatural beings these two were.
The air grew so still that only the crackling of embers in the brazier could be heard.
The human and the panda exchanged a quick glance, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes.
"Was... was this in the original story? Shouldn't I be dying right now, then perfectly transmigrating back to before entering the palace, farming and doing business while casually picking up an amnesiac prince to live happily ever after?"
"What game is this cross-dressing freak Duan Fusheng playing?!"
The cross-dressing freak Duan Fusheng himself used every ounce of self-control to contain his anger.
Though he didn't understand the term "cross-dressing freak," he clearly understood that this impudent little thing was cursing him in her heart!
Pang was also bewildered, even dropping from mid-air where it had been floating.
[In the original novel "The Beauty of the Consort," Zhou Shengsheng should have been silenced immediately after discovering the big villain Duan Fusheng's true gender. That's right...]
Spinning in circles on the spot, a confused Pang held its head and muttered.
This world was from a novel called "The Beauty of the Consort," which embodied every dramatic trope and perfectly illustrated the essence of classical romance novels.
It told the story of the love and hatred between the female lead Jiang Zhiyu and the powerful figures of three kingdoms.
In the end, even the story's biggest villain - the cross-dressing mastermind who later single-handedly threw the three kingdoms into chaos, the mercurial and murderous Duan Fusheng - was moved by the female lead and chose to withdraw from the political arena to live in seclusion.
And in such a chaotic environment where various forces were rising and schemes lurked beneath a peaceful surface.
Zhou Shengsheng was neither the kind and patient female lead nor some vicious female antagonist.
She didn't even have a name in the original text.
That's right.
She had transmigrated into the body of the villain Duan Fusheng's head palace maid.
A cannon fodder among cannon fodder.
Originally, she was placed in this world because someone told her.
If she completed the plot line in place of the original character who had quit due to being too insignificant, they would let her return to this body before entering the palace, and find her a peaceful place to live in this era of impending war.
The original wandering soul Zhou Shengsheng had agreed without hesitation.
But who knew the unexpected would come so suddenly.
"I must die today! For my amnesiac prince- no... for my freedom to live unbounded in my next life!"
With that, Zhou Shengsheng pushed herself up with her wrist and lunged at Duan Fusheng with extreme speed.
"Die, you clean freak, I'll disgust you to death!"
But who would have thought, despite the angle and timing being perfect, Zhou Shengsheng would miss completely!
Looking up while sprawled on all fours on the couch, Zhou Shengsheng stared dumbly at the person beside her.
Could someone explain how Duan Fusheng - who normally wouldn't sit if he could lie down, who acted like his spine was broken and couldn't take care of himself - had such agile movements??
"How dare you." A pale finger emerged from his sleeve to lightly brush his robe as he spoke leisurely.
Zhou Shengsheng hurried to respond: "It's all this servant's fault! Please punish me, Your Highness!"
Inner monologue: "Come on, aren't you supposed to be a cold-blooded killer? Hurry up and execute this lowly maid who dared to touch your precious body!"
Very well.
The cold-blooded killer with the precious body, Duan Fusheng, curved his lips slightly as a rich, alluring smile spread across his features.
But what he said was: "Tail, considering your loyal service, I'll punish you to clean the chamber pots for three months."
He emphasized the words "loyal service" heavily. If Zhou Shengsheng hadn't been extremely confident in her acting skills, she would have thought Duan Fusheng had seen through something.
At this moment, little Pang floating beside Zhou Shengsheng suddenly realized something and bit its thumb: [Host, why did he call you Tail? That name sounds somewhat familiar...]
Zhou Shengsheng: !
Never underestimate the memory of a palace maid who had served a notoriously difficult master for years.
Three years ago, the emperor had gifted Duan Fusheng a rare pure black stallion.
Even in the presence of the world's sovereign, this person still maintained that lazy demeanor and casually gave that priceless horse a name.
Ah Tail.
That same year, someone else presented an even rarer blue ox to the emperor.
It ended up being given to Duan Fusheng by the emperor who doted on him like life itself.
As a side note, before this, Zhou Shengsheng had thought blue oxen only existed in Journey to the West.
At that time, when Duan Fusheng saw her staring at the ox, he had granted her the privilege of naming it.
Thus, the perfunctory name "Little Ba" was born.
In the end, because of her lowly status, she had dared to name an ox bestowed by His Majesty, and the emperor found an excuse to give her ten harsh strikes with the paddle.
So this incident left an especially deep impression on her.
Now look what had happened - she had lifted a rock only to drop it on her own foot.
She had gotten a new name.
Tail.
Heh.
Now she really was being treated like an ox or horse.
