The Prisoner of Beauty

Layers of silk and gauze curtains blocked the daylight outside Guanghua Palace.

The bedchamber was dim, with the Boshan incense burner exhaling wisps of fragrance. The pearls held in the mouths of the phoenix-shaped gilded candlesticks seemed veiled in mist. Within the tasseled and embroidered canopy, the brocade quilt shimmered brilliantly. The beauty's emerald phoenix hairpins had fallen haphazardly on the cloud-like pillows, her disheveled hair cascading over her snow-white skin.

"...Does Manman want her husband to go faster or slower..."

The Emperor, suppressing the fire burning within him, slowed his pace slightly and kissed her closed eyelids, murmuring the question.

Beneath him, the beauty's cheeks flushed pink, her lashes fluttering.

"Like this?"

"Or like this?"

"I want you to say it..."

"Mmm... whatever my husband wishes..."

Finally hearing her speak, the Emperor was overjoyed. He captured her small lips with his tongue, his dragon root surging fiercely. Amidst the faint jingling of golden hooks and jade pendants, the beauty's intermittent moans were utterly intoxicating.

As the saying goes, "What sorrow is there in such joy? Only that the sun hastens southwest." While our wise and mighty Emperor was rolling on the dragon bed with his beautiful Empress, reveling in the ecstasy that words could hardly describe, a sudden murmur of palace maids outside the chamber interrupted them.

The cat from Jiade Palace had somehow wandered out and fallen into the Sweet Spring Pool in the imperial garden.

The cat, growing older, was usually inactive during the day, preferring to bask in the sun and nap. Today, the maids had paid it little attention. By the time they noticed and fished it out of the pool, it seemed nearly drowned.

The Grand Empress Dowager had raised this cat for many years. Now seven or eight years old, plump and snowy white like a rolling silk ball, it had always stayed by her side. Princess Fei Fei adored it even more, playing with it daily. Only because the Grand Empress Dowager had gone to the temple and found it inconvenient to bring along had the cat been left in the palace.

No one expected such an accident.

Terrified and not daring to conceal the incident, the maids rushed to the Empress in panic to report and beg for forgiveness, only to be stopped by the attendants guarding Guanghua Palace.

The palace was already quiet, and the afternoon hours were especially silent. The voices outside faintly drifted in.

Xiao Qiao, entangled like an octopus by Wei Shao, couldn't quite make out what was being said outside. She only vaguely heard the anxious, tearful tone of the maids, suggesting something had happened. Puzzled, she opened her eyes and nudged him.

Wei Shao, interrupted at the height of his pleasure, was naturally displeased. Muttering "ignore it," he tried to continue, but she kept pushing him. Reluctantly, he stopped but didn't leave the bed. Instead, he lifted the curtain with one hand and stuck his head out, growling, "What's all this commotion?"

The attendants outside, who hadn't dared to disturb the Emperor and Empress, were quietly urging the messenger to wait when the Emperor's roar startled them. Though they couldn't see him, they immediately knelt and loudly relayed the news.

Xiao Qiao, now understanding, was shocked.

Not only had the cat accompanied the Grand Empress Dowager for years, but her daughter also loved it dearly. Xiao Qiao herself was fond of it too, having raised it for so long. However, because Wei Shao was allergic to cats, Guanghua Palace had never allowed it inside.

Who would have thought it had fallen into the pool and drowned!Xiao Qiao let out a gasp of alarm and immediately pushed Wei Shao away, sitting up in haste to put on her clothes. Wei Shao frowned, forcibly pressing her back onto the pillow.

"The cat's in trouble!" Xiao Qiao shoved him.

"Let me finish first..."

Wei Shao's expression was tense as he pinned her down, gritting his teeth and intensifying his movements with rough urgency. With one final heavy thrust, he finally exhaled a long breath and collapsed onto her, completely relaxed.

"...I'll come back early tonight. Wait for me... I still want..."

Even after it was over, he continued holding her, his face showing clear disappointment at having his pleasure interrupted.

He had never liked that cat—probably wouldn't care even if it died.

Xiao Qiao shot him a glare, complaining about his cold-heartedness, then pushed him aside and hurriedly got out of bed to dress.

Wei Shao sprang up from the bed and followed her, flashing her a grin. "I'll go with you to check on it!"

By the time Xiao Qiao finished dressing and stepped outside, a row of palace maids was already kneeling in the courtyard.

The maids from Jiade Palace, seeing the emperor and empress appear, trembled with fear, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for mercy.

At noon when they had closed the doors, the weather had been clear, but now dark clouds loomed overhead, and distant flashes of lightning flickered between the layers of clouds.

It looked like a thunderstorm was about to break.

Xiao Qiao glanced at the sky and hurried toward Ganquan Pool.

Wei Shao followed closely behind her down the palace steps.

A raindrop landed on his face, cool and damp.

...

Inside a waterside pavilion by the pool, the cat lay wrapped in cloth. The surrounding maids all dropped to their knees when they saw the emperor and empress arrive.

Xiao Qiao rushed to the cat's side, cradling it in her arms and calling its name. She pressed its belly, but its ears drooped weakly, and its four plump paws remained motionless—it really did seem dead. Heartbroken and frantic, she turned to Wei Shao. "What do we do? What do we do?"

Seeing her on the verge of tears, Wei Shao felt a pang of sympathy and sharply scolded the maids for failing to watch the cat properly.

The maids, already trembling in fear, pressed their foreheads to the ground, not daring to look up as the emperor raged.

"Where are the imperial physicians? Summon them at once!" the emperor commanded.

Several physicians arrived in a flustered rush, panting from the hurry. At the sight of the cat, they hesitated. "Your Majesty... we only know how to treat humans... this... this creature, how are we to—"

Wei Shao cut them off. "Treat it the same way you'd treat a person! Hurry up!"

Knowing the cat was more precious than a human in the emperor's eyes, the physicians dared not refuse. Steeling themselves, they took the cat and huddled around it, working frantically.

Whether the cat had never truly died or was actually revived by the physicians, after a short while, it let out a faint mewl.

"It's alive! It's alive!"

The physicians rejoiced, the maids cheered, and Xiao Qiao was overjoyed. She rushed forward and, sure enough, saw the cat's paws twitch. Nearly jumping for joy, she grabbed Wei Shao's arm. "It's alive, alive! This is wonderful!"

Wei Shao glanced at it and said, "Good that it's alive." Then, turning to the physicians, he added, "Well done. You shall be rewarded!"

The physicians wiped their sweat and hastily thanked the emperor.

Xiao Qiao was ecstatic. Though the cat had been saved, its fur was soaked, and it shivered incessantly—perhaps from cold—looking terribly weak. Heart aching, she quickly wrapped it in cloth again, intending to carry it back. But Wei Shao had already stepped forward. "Let me carry it for you!"Xiao Qiao quickly said, "No need. Don't touch it."

Wei Shao replied, "It's wrapped in cloth, it's fine! The cat is quite heavy, you can't carry it..."

As they struggled over the cat, the moment his hand touched it, a bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a deafening thunderclap that seemed to shatter eardrums. Nearby palace maids screamed in fright, covering their ears.

Xiao Qiao's heart trembled with the thunder, and she instinctively buried herself in Wei Shao's embrace, clinging tightly to him with her eyes shut.

The thunder passed.

When Xiao Qiao opened her eyes, she was surprised to find the previously weak cat suddenly seemed to regain some strength. It struggled out of the cloth wrapping it, shakily stood up, and fixed its glass-bead-like eyes on her, appearing overjoyed. Oblivious to the emperor's stunned gaze locked onto her, she worried the cat might catch cold. Quickly releasing the emperor, she covered the cat completely and scooped it up, turning to him: "It's going to rain! Let's go back!"

Palace attendants had already opened umbrellas.

Clutching the squirming cat firmly to prevent its escape, Xiao Qiao hurried from the pavilion. After a few steps, noticing the emperor hadn't followed, she turned back: "Your Majesty, it's about to rain. Why are you still standing there?"

But the emperor seemed transfixed, remaining motionless with an utterly strange expression as he stared at Xiao Qiao's face.

"Husband?"

Finally sensing something amiss, Xiao Qiao looked at him puzzled.

The emperor suddenly snapped out of it, almost avoiding her gaze as he hastily averted his eyes, mumbling: "We suddenly remember unfinished state affairs. We shall attend to them first. The Empress may do as she pleases."

As rain began falling, he strode briskly down the steps without waiting for an attendant's umbrella, heading through the downpour toward the audience hall.

Attendants scrambled after him with umbrellas.

Xiao Qiao stood bewildered, watching his retreating figure disappear down the palace path, feeling an abrupt distance had grown between them.

He never used the imperial "We" with her before, nor formally addressed her as "Empress" in private.

What had happened to him?

The cat in her arms grew restless, meowing incessantly and wriggling about.

Shaking her head, Xiao Qiao turned and returned to Guanghua Palace.

...

Wei Shao's mind was a stampeding herd of ten thousand grass-mud horses.

Everything had been perfect until that damned cat appeared and the thunder struck. Somehow, inexplicably, he found himself transformed into the cat!

No—more precisely, his soul had entered the cat's body, while his own physical form had been simultaneously possessed by another spirit!

He didn't understand how this happened, but in that lightning-fast moment of possession, he clearly sensed the other's consciousness.

The one who had taken over his body was none other than himself—his past-life self!Wei Shao was forcibly bundled up in a cloth by Xiao Qiao and taken back. He was frantic, trying every possible way to make her understand that the emperor was no longer himself, warning her not to mistake that person for him lest she be deceived. But no matter how hard he tried, all he could manage to utter was, "Meow—" "Meow—" "Meow—"

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

This cursed cat! It truly clashed with him. Normally, it would eat its fill, sleep, wake up, and eat again—fat-headed, chubby, and covered in meat. After just a few struggles, he felt the cat's body weaken, unable to leap anymore. In the end, he could only lie on his back, his plump belly exposed, sprawled across Xiao Qiao's lap, panting heavily with his tongue lolling out.

"Empress, this poor cat has suffered such a fright today. This servant observes it's acting quite unlike its usual self," a palace maid remarked.

Xiao Qiao sighed. "Indeed, the little one must have been terrified."

She picked up the emperor-cat and lovingly stroked its head.

"I'm your man—" Wei Shao wailed inwardly, letting out another meow.

Author's Note: The side story about Eunuch Chen is canceled. Let's just write the final one, about Wei Shao accidentally transmigrating into a cat while his original body is taken over by his past self—the one who shot him dead with an arrow in their previous life—and the ensuing absurdities...

They'll switch back in the end, and the past Wei Shao will return to his own time.