The Palace Maid is Socially Dead Every Day

Chapter 20

"Your Majesty."

Li Rong, who was guarding the door, stepped forward to bow as Ming Siran and Jiang Zhiyu emerged. As she raised her head, she glanced at Jiang Zhiyu, who stood beside him, looking rather clueless.

Ming Siran nodded and said to Jiang Zhiyu, "Wait here for me."

Once they were alone, Li Rong spoke, "Your Majesty, the news of your fall from the cliff has reached Miss Qing Wan. She has already dispatched people to come and assist you as quickly as possible."

Miss Qing Wan? Ming Siran paused. He didn’t recognize the name.

"I understand," he nodded.

---First Appearance---

"I told you to wait for me, but you ran off pretty fast."

After asking around, Ming Siran finally found Jiang Zhiyu at a stall selling candied hawthorns, her face filled with longing.

"Do you want some?" he asked.

Jiang Zhiyu nodded eagerly, her eyes sparkling. "I want some."

"No money," Ming Siran replied, waving his hands to show they were empty.

Jiang Zhiyu blinked. "The woman in black next to you has money." She had bought the storybooks and snacks before.

Ming Siran scolded her angrily, "How can you think of someone else’s money? That’s hard-earned!"

The old man at the stall, annoyed by their argument, snapped, "Hey! Are you going to buy or not? If not, don’t block my stall and ruin my business!"

Ming Siran gave the old man an apologetic smile and quickly pulled Jiang Zhiyu away, though she kept looking back longingly.

The old man’s face flushed. The young man was so handsome and well-dressed, yet he was penniless.

"I want that!" Jiang Zhiyu pointed to a stall selling sugar figurines.

Ming Siran pulled her back, repeating, "No money."

"What do we do then?" Jiang Zhiyu looked distressed, on the verge of tears.

Ming Siran, seeing her silly expression, pointed to the sign of a shop behind her. "Figure out a way to get money."

Perhaps due to her memory loss, Jiang Zhiyu couldn’t read the sign and just stared at him blankly.

Ming Siran sighed. How could he have considered this fool as a rival? It was truly beneath the dignity of the Emperor of the Great Yong Kingdom.

"Do you have anything on you that you can exchange for money?" Ming Siran asked softly, coaxing her.

Jiang Zhiyu tilted her head, then her eyes lit up. "I think I have something, but I’m not sure if it’s worth anything." She rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a rather ordinary piece of jade, shoving it into Ming Siran’s face.

Ming Siran pushed her hand away and examined the jade. "Just this? Anything else?"

Jiang Zhiyu shook her head. "That’s all."

Ming Siran secretly rejoiced. This must be the "heirloom" Zhou Shengsheng had mentioned.

According to Zhou Shengsheng, this would help restore the so-called plot.

Though Li Rong had said that Zhou Shengsheng was just a maid he had brought back on a whim from the Zhu Kingdom, Ming Siran knew himself well enough. If he hadn’t been truly captivated by her beauty, why would he have kept her by his side?

Spoiling his woman, he truly was a good husband.

Thinking of this, the sixteen-year-old Ming Siran’s face flushed with a rosy hue.

Love had made this once scheming young man’s heart as sweet as a piece of preserved fruit.

Jiang Zhiyu looked at him, then up at the sky, wondering why he was blushing when it wasn’t even hot.

---Another Scene---

Zhou Shengsheng stared at the two people in front of her, laden with bags, and fell into deep thought.

So they really had a good time outside, huh?

Well, at least the plot had progressed.

"Shengsheng, don’t be mad. I bought all this for you," Jiang Zhiyu said cautiously, holding out the items like a pitiful puppy.

Strangely, the first thought in Zhou Shengsheng’s mind was, has my daughter grown up?

Bah, treating the female lead like a daughter? The laws of the universe would surely strike her down for that.

However, Zhou Shengsheng’s smile faltered. "You bought these?"

Jiang Zhiyu nodded vigorously. "I did!"

Ming Siran silently put down the bags he was carrying and sat obediently on a nearby stool, staring intently at a sleeping bird as if he had never seen one before.

Zhou Shengsheng narrowed her eyes. "Where did you get the money?"

Jiang Zhiyu excitedly recounted how she had pawned her jade pendant for money and went on a shopping spree at the food street. After finishing her story, she beamed at Zhou Shengsheng, waiting for praise. If she had a tail, it would have been wagging furiously.

After hearing this, Zhou Shengsheng was momentarily speechless.

Though she didn’t have to lift a finger, the female lead had taken care of this part of the plot herself.

But in the original story, the jade pendant was a treasure to the female lead, something she would never part with, even in death. Yet, here she was, having pawned it for snacks because of her amnesia.

Zhou Shengsheng wondered how Jiang Zhiyu would react once her memory returned...

Glancing at Ming Siran, who was pretending to be innocent, Zhou Shengsheng felt a headache coming on as she calculated whether she had enough money to buy back the pendant.

In the original story, Ming Siran had sent someone to retrieve the pendant after reuniting with Li Rong.

But now, the once wise and decisive male lead was not only suffering from amnesia but was also the one who had encouraged Jiang Zhiyu to pawn it. It seemed Zhou Shengsheng would have to retrieve it herself and then have Ming Siran return it to Jiang Zhiyu.

That night, Zhou Shengsheng looked at the two people clinging to her, her temple throbbing. "So, what’s the matter now?"

Jiang Zhiyu pouted. "I’m scared of the dark. Shengsheng, can you sleep with me?"

"And you, Your Majesty? Are you also scared of the dark?" Zhou Shengsheng asked with a forced smile, looking up at Ming Siran.

Ming Siran rested his chin on her head. "You’re my wife. We should sleep together."

In the end, the commotion only stopped when the bird, which had woken up at some point, flapped its wings and knocked a teacup off the table.

Zhou Shengsheng successfully evicted the two clingy companions and reclaimed her room.

Sitting down at the round table, Zhou Shengsheng poked the bird, which had returned to its nest, and narrowed her eyes. "You understand human speech, don’t you? You’re so clever, my little treasure~"

The bird in the nest shifted, trying to escape Zhou Shengsheng’s grasp, but she held it down and showered it with kisses.

Duan Fusheng had never felt so helpless. If he had known this would happen, he would have preferred to be bitten to death by that snake.

In this form, he could only wait for his ancestral powers to fade on their own.

Thinking of the cursed key beneath Moonside Lake, a mocking smile appeared in his eyes.

At least he had obtained it. The process didn’t matter, did it?

This would be a good opportunity to take a vacation in the Yong Kingdom, away from the constant vigilance required in the palace to avoid Liu Xunlan’s advances. He wondered if Liu Xunlan was satisfied with the decoy he had left behind.

Seeing that the bird remained still no matter how much she kissed it, Zhou Shengsheng smiled, thinking it had finally warmed up to her.

"You’re so lazy, that’s not good. The last lazy person I knew was forced to change from a man to a woman. Laziness can make your... you know, stop working. You shouldn’t be like that," Zhou Shengsheng lectured as she stroked its soft feathers.

To her surprise, the previously unresponsive bird suddenly flew up and pecked her forehead sharply.

Zhou Shengsheng: ...?

Such a strong reaction. Could it be... a female?

Thinking about it, she realized she had never actually checked its gender. With that thought, Zhou Shengsheng’s eyes gleamed with curiosity as she looked at the bird hovering in the air.