Chapter 12: Disfigured Palace Maid vs. Cold-blooded Emperor
Zhu Xiang glared at her and scolded her in a low voice: "Keep reading until the emperor says stop."

Yu Yao glanced at Zhuxiang, but did not refute her. Instead, she lowered her head and continued reading.

The night was dark, the red candles flickered, and in the quiet and silent imperial study, the only sounds left were Yu Yao's clear and pleasant reading voice and Ye Beichen's light breathing.

After an unknown amount of time, Eunuch Fu walked in from outside the hall. He glanced at Yu Yao who was studying, and thought that Lin Cainu was still waiting on the dragon couch in the side hall.

After hesitating for a moment, he tiptoed to Ye Beichen's side, bent down and whispered to him: "Your Majesty, wake up!"

Ye Beichen woke up instantly, opened his eyes and glanced at Eunuch Fu, and asked lazily, "What's the matter?"

Eunuch Fu smiled and said hurriedly, "Lin Cainu is here and is waiting on the dragon couch!"

When Ye Beichen heard this, he remembered that he had turned over Lin Cainu's card tonight.

Just as he was about to get up and go over, he caught a glimpse of Yu Yao standing next to him reading. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he thought: This woman is really honest. She is still reading even when he fell asleep.

"Stop reading and help me take a bath!"

He said this calmly and walked away!

Yu Yao put down the book in her hand and hurriedly followed him out.

Zhuxiang naturally followed quickly.

However, just as she raised her footsteps, she heard Ye Beichen, who was walking in front of her, say, "She can serve alone."

It means to tell Zhuxiang not to follow.

Zhuxiang stopped instantly and did not continue to follow, but her eyes were fixed on Yu Yao's departing back, with jealousy emerging in her eyes.

Originally, it was the eunuchs' job to help the emperor bathe, but the emperor felt that eunuchs were neither male nor female and did not like them to get close to him, so he started to serve him as the personal maids.

This is an opportunity for them. Which palace maid doesn't have the idea of ​​flying up to the tree and becoming a phoenix?

The same is true for the fragrance of bamboo.

But the emperor didn't want her to serve him, which meant she had lost her chance.

She didn't dare blame the emperor, so she could only blame Yu Yao.

Yu Yao felt the coldness behind her, and also understood that Zhuxiang was jealous of her.

But there is no other way, I can only be careful in the future to avoid falling into the trap of the other party.

Yu Yao soon arrived at the rear hall of the Hall of Supreme Harmony. This was the emperor's bedroom, and it was naturally decorated according to the highest standards. It could be said to be extremely luxurious.

At this time, Ye Beichen had already entered, and the sound of water was heard.

Realizing that Ye Beichen had already started taking a shower, he didn't dare to look any further and hurried into the inner hall.

There is a two-meter-high rosewood nine-dragon screen in the inner hall. It is framed with rosewood and is carved with lifelike nine-dragon patterns.

There was smoke behind the screen, and a tall and muscular figure could be vaguely seen.

Since it was not the first time that Yu Yao saw Ye Beichen's body, she was not that nervous and walked in lightly.

Inside was a huge hot spring pool, large enough to accommodate five or six people. Ye Beichen sat in the pool with his back to her.

Last time, Ye Beichen washed himself, and she went up to help him dry.

Ye Beichen hadn't started washing yet, and she was not sure whether she should stand by and wait like last time, or go up and help him wash.

Perhaps because Yu Yao hadn't made any movement, Ye Beichen suddenly spoke up, "What are you still standing there for?"

The low tone carried a hint of impatience.

Yu Yao instantly knew what to do. She squatted down and picked up the soft handkerchief by the pool. But looking at his smooth back, she didn't know where to start.

He was stunned for a while, afraid of being urged again, so he started washing from his shoulders.

"Please use more strength. Can you wash it cleanly like this?"

Ye Beichen's sudden voice startled Yu Yao.

She looked at the man in front of her, curled her lips, and couldn't help complaining in her heart: You are the emperor, how dare I use force when bathing you? If I hurt you, won't you kill me?
Of course, she didn't dare say this out loud. She just washed a little harder than before and began to scrub vigorously.

Soon, Ye Beichen's back was rubbed red.

"You're using too much force. Are you trying to wipe off my skin? Wash it somewhere else."

Ye Beichen suddenly spoke again, with a strong sense of dissatisfaction.

Yu Yao was also furious. She said that you were the one who was weaker, and you were also the one who was stronger. If the person in front of her was not the emperor, she would have wanted to throw the handkerchief in her hand at his face.

Thinking that this person was the emperor and the object of her mission, she endured it and said, "I will change the place to wash now. Please turn around, Your Majesty."

After washing the back, the next step is the front.

How can she wash if she doesn’t turn around?
Fortunately, Ye Beichen did not make things difficult for her this time. He turned around very naturally, glanced at her, and continued to close his eyes to rest.

Yu Yao dipped a handkerchief in the warm water from the pool and wiped his chest.

Because of what happened just now, she didn't dare to use too much force, but she also didn't dare to use too little force. She could only wash with appropriate force.

Suddenly, a special faint fragrance, like a gardenia blooming after the rain, quietly drifted into Ye Beichen's nose.

He opened his eyes, lowered his gaze to look at the woman in front of him, and couldn't help asking, "What kind of incense are you using?"

It looks like gardenia, but not quite. It has a fresh fragrance without being too sweet. It smells very good, at least he likes it very much.

Palace maids were not allowed to burn incense, but the palace maids serving in the Hall of Supreme Harmony were allowed to, so they thought she was burning some kind of incense.

Yu Yao paused, looked up at him, and instantly knew what Ye Beichen smelled.

The fragrance of the fragrance pills emanated from the inside out. The two of them were not close to each other at first, so Ye Beichen did not smell it.

At this moment, she was giving Ye Beichen a bath, and they were very close to each other, so she could smell it naturally.

"The servant did not burn any incense."

Seeing Ye Beichen looking at her, she said again: "I was born with a body fragrance. I guess the emperor smelled my body fragrance."

"Body odor?" Ye Beichen raised his eyebrows, his eyes full of surprise.

Yu Yao blushed and nodded slightly, "I have had it since birth, but the fragrance is very faint and most people can't smell it."

What she didn't say was that the scent of the fragrance pills would become stronger as she moved, and even have an aphrodisiac effect.

But because it is a system product, others cannot feel it.

Ye Beichen glanced at her and said nothing.

There are women who are born with natural body fragrance, but they are very rare. I didn't expect that this would appear on a little palace maid.

He couldn't help but look at her face again. He caught a glimpse of the scar on her left cheek and thought to himself: If there wasn't this scar, the woman in front of me would also be extremely beautiful. What a pity.

He didn't know if it was his illusion or the heat from the hot spring, but he always felt that her skin was much better than the previous two times he saw her.

Even compared with the concubines, her skin is not inferior. Her skin is fair and delicate, and her face is rosy, which gives her a unique charm.

Of course, ignore the scar on the left cheek.

"What's up with the scar on your face?"

Ye Beichen couldn't help but ask.

Although it was not nice to expose a woman's scars like this, as an emperor, he naturally would not care about other people's feelings.

Yu Yao unconsciously stroked her left cheek, her eyes darkened, but she did not hide it, and said: "This is what I did on purpose."

"Did you do it on purpose? Why?"

Ye Beichen was really surprised this time. He knew how important appearance was to a woman. He couldn't imagine that there would be a woman willing to destroy her own appearance.

(End of this chapter)