Marked by a Tyrant After Transmigrated

Chapter 50

The imperial palanquin pulled up at an isolated palace.

Unlike the palaces in the central part of the harem, this place was extremely cold and lifeless. As the journey progressed, the palace walls on either side of the road became mottled, with thick snow accumulated on the curbside, a sign that it had not been tended to for a long time.

When Jin Wang ascended to the throne, the former emperor's harem was disbanded. All its palaces were sealed off, as was the Cold Palace.

It had just snowed last night. Ye Shu had the palanquin stopped outside the courtyard. He stepped on the soft snow and approached the wooden door.

The wooden door had become so weathered that it no longer clung together properly. Standing in front of it, one could feel a cool breeze coming through the gap.

Ye Shu's heart inexplicably beat more rapidly. He took a deep breath, pushed open the wooden door that had been left unlatched, and stepped into the courtyard.

The courtyard, however, was not as desolate as he had imagined.

The courtyard was small, with a bare peach tree covered in snow, and a stone table sited beneath it with four stone benches. There were only two sheds in the courtyard and a few potted plants arranged in front of the house, evident that they had been carefully pruned.

Ye Shu strolled directly into the main hall, which was equipped with simple furnishings, but was so clean, not a speck of dust could be seen.

He looked up and saw that the roof, which he recalled was damaged, had been repaired and the windows on all sides had been reattached to ensure that the cold wind would not enter.

It had clearly been uninhabited for a long time, yet signs of inhabitation were apparent everywhere.

Ye Shu entered the inner room.

Notwithstanding the cleanliness of the house, it did not detract from the crude surroundings. There was a single wooden cot in the inner room, with a flimsy mattress on it whose fabric had been washed to the point of fading and was full of stitch marks from an unknown period of use.

The Palace's living expenses were distributed regularly and rationed by the Imperial Household Department, but no one would send these to the Cold Palace.

In the hardest times, the original owner could only go to other palaces, scavenge things that others didn't need and sew and clean them himself, struggling to get by.

Ye Shu sat down at the small table by the window.

The table was missing a part of its leg, held up only by a small piece of broken tile, and as he looked up, he caught sight of the faint carving on the wall facing him.

It was two tiny stick men of a crude form.

The two were sitting side by side. The taller one with his arm around the other was all smiles. The other, on the other hand, was relatively reserved, only slightly curving the corner of his mouth.

All traces of the two juveniles' growth had been kept well intact there.

Ye Shu's eyes suddenly started to prickle.

He got up to go when his foot accidentally hit the corner of the table.

The small, short table was light in weight and shifted slightly from his impact, revealing what was carved beneath the two tiny stick men.

It was a small, beautiful line of written characters.

—"Ye Shu & Jin Wang. The

fifth year of spring."