Based on looks alone, Liao Tingyan felt this eunuch should have had a name in the original story.

So Liao Tingyan asked, "What's your name?"

The eunuch smiled and replied, "Chang You."

Chang You? Liao Tingyan thought carefully and found that there didn't seem to be such a person in the original story.

It looked like he was indeed just a nameless character. Since he wasn't an original character, it meant he wouldn't casually trigger any messy plot developments. Liao Tingyan relaxed a bit and said offhandedly, "I don't need anyone to take care of me here, you can go."

But Chang You said, "The chief steward ordered it, this servant doesn't dare disobey. I hope the lady will allow this servant to stay."

Liao Tingyan had no interest in making things difficult for others. Hearing this, she didn't say more.

After a while, Liao Tingyan turned her head to look at Chang You, meeting his eyes. This person wasn't noisy, didn't make a fuss, and didn't meddle, and was quite pleasing to the eye. His only flaw was that for some reason he kept staring at her.

Liao Tingyan thought, could it be that chief steward was worried she would run away halfway, so he specially sent this person to watch her?

Is that necessary, watching her like a thief? Liao Tingyan muttered in her heart. In any case, it was very boring in the carriage, so she started talking with Chang You.

"You're Chang You, right? Do you serve by His Majesty's side?"

Chang You's eyes flashed as he replied, "This servant doesn't often get to see His Majesty." He was waiting for the lady in front of him to ask more about His Majesty.

Who would have thought Liao Tingyan pondered and then asked, "Does the palace use a lot of ice in the summer?"

Not expecting her to ask this question, Chang You was stunned for a moment, not coming back to his senses right away. After a while, he said while recalling, "The palace uses ice in several main halls. There are a few extremely large ice cellars inside and outside the palace. Ice is stored in the winter. After the weather gets hot, a large amount of ice is sent to various places inside the palace every day."

Liao Tingyan calculated that as long as she could get a decent position, she could have endless ice to use. As the female lead, she should at least be able to get a good position.

Chang You studied Liao Tingyan's face and found that her hair by her temples was a bit damp with sweat. He instantly reacted, realizing that she was afraid of the heat. Actually, he also felt a bit hot, it was too stuffy in this carriage.

"Please wait a moment, my lady." Chang You jumped off the carriage. Before long, he returned and placed a bowl of shaved ice drizzled with milk and fruit in front of Liao Tingyan. "Please enjoy, my lady."

What, why was there such good treatment while the carriage was moving? Liao Tingyan started to feel that entering the palace might not be a bad idea.

She gracefully picked up the ice bowl and ate it in small mouthfuls. If Chang You wasn't there, she might have directly hugged the ice bowl and gnawed at it.

The river didn't freeze much last winter, so everyone wasn't able to store much ice. This summer, the hot weather lasted too long. Even in late summer, ice was frighteningly expensive, and there was no place to buy it at all.

She was too engrossed in eating and didn't notice that the eunuch Chang You was squinting at her in a very scary way. He stared at her with a full smile, his lips red and teeth white, the red like blood, the white chillingly cold.

One hand was lightly rubbing a string of wooden beads on his wrist, making a soft rustling sound.

This Liao girl, he didn't dislike her, how strange. Chang You watched her slowly finish the ice bowl and put down the hand that was rubbing the wooden beads.

"Does the lady want more?"

Liao Tingyan wiped her mouth and shook her head in a reserved manner. "No need, thank you."

She felt like she had come back to life, it was so refreshingly cool!

Looking at this Chang You again, Liao Tingyan felt he was much more pleasing to the eye. He was truly a considerate eunuch.

Having been satisfied, Liao Tingyan wasn't keeping a straight face anymore. She smiled at Chang You, "Is there ice specially stored among the entourage?"

Chang You was stunned by her smile, then he also smiled, "Yes, ice specially for the use of nobles."

Liao Tingyan assumed he meant she was the noble and nodded, looking even happier. Chang You noticed her thoughts and his fingers twitched. He suddenly leaned closer and said, "Does the lady still feel hot? How about having this servant fan you?"

Liao Tingyan glanced at him and found that on this young eunuch's excessively pale face, there wasn't the slightest hint of sweat, making her instantly envious. It was really great to have a physique that rarely sweated.

Unlike her, in the summer she would be drenched in sweat at the slightest movement. Although there was a phrase "fragrant sweat dripping", it was still terrible for a great beauty to be covered in sweat.

Chang You rummaged around in the carriage and found a fan. He really started fanning Liao Tingyan. The carriage swayed and with the cool breeze, Liao Tingyan fell asleep before she knew it.

After she fell asleep, Chang You boldly sat by Liao Tingyan's side, one leg folded under him as he leaned close to look at her face. It was truly a flawless face - he had seen many such faces.

A lock of black hair by Liao Tingyan's cheek was blown by the wind to stick to her face. Chang You suddenly frowned, stopped fanning, and reached out a finger to brush away that lock of black hair. He examined it from side to side before he was satisfied.

The feeling of his finger brushing across her cheek was like caressing warm jade. Human skin, it still felt better when it was on a living person. Once peeled off, the texture wasn't as good.

Chang You sighed. Seeing that Liao Tingyan kept sleeping, he suddenly lost interest. Holding the fan in one hand, he jumped off the carriage.

Seeing him get off the carriage, the eunuch in the carriage behind immediately had the carriage stop and came forward to receive him. Chang You waved off the eunuch's hand that came to support him.

Lifting his long robes himself, he stepped onto the carriage shaft. This carriage looked very ordinary from the outside, but the interior was even more luxurious and comfortable than the carriage Liao Tingyan was in. After getting on, Chang You directly sat down. With a lift of his hand, he pulled off the hat on his head and casually tossed it to the side.

The eunuch who got on the carriage behind him was precisely the chief steward among the envoys. At this moment, he carefully knelt by his feet and poured him a cup of iced wine.

Chang You took it and downed it in one gulp. His other hand was still fiddling with a fan.

The eunuch continued to pour wine for him and cautiously said, "Your Majesty, why do you have to..."

Before he could finish, a fan was thrown in front of him. The movement wasn't big, but it was enough to scare him into silence. Chang You's voice was casual, "Fan."

Having served him for so long, the eunuch was clear about his temperament. Knowing that he didn't want to hear anyone say anything at this moment, he tightly shut his mouth. Picking up the fan, he honestly fanned for him.

This person using the alias Chang You, even disguising himself as a eunuch to serve someone, was precisely the current emperor, His Majesty Sima Jiao. The reason so many people came this time was less to receive Liao Tingyan and more to protect Sima Jiao.

Recently, Emperor Sima Jiao was feeling bored and restless in the palace. He suddenly wanted to go out for a walk. The officials were naturally terrified and did not agree with the emperor leaving Luoyang so casually.

However, this emperor was an extremely domineering person who disliked others opposing him. After killing a few people, he still stubbornly left the palace. It just so happened that he heard about the famous beauty Liao from Hexia, and Sima Jiao became interested.

He simply detoured to Hexia to bring her back, and on a whim, he disguised himself like this to approach her.

Sima Jiao always acted on his own whims. If the ministers knew about his behavior of disguising himself as a eunuch, it would definitely be another absurd incident in his records.

"Liao Tingyan..." Chang You - Sima Jiao suddenly muttered to himself, "She's not bad, she suits my taste."

The eunuch fanning him had a thought in his heart. It seemed that this Lady Liao was going to be favored for a while. However, he was not in a hurry to flatter her.

After all, who knew how long this beauty Liao could live? Their emperor had a fickle temper. Maybe in a couple of days, Lady Liao would unintentionally do something to displease His Majesty, and His Majesty could directly throw her into the mountains to feed the wild beasts halfway through the journey.

Completely unaware of this, Liao Tingyan took a nap and woke up with a sore back and waist. She was alone in the carriage. She grimaced as she rubbed her waist and legs, and also rotated her neck.

The road conditions were poor, and the carriage's shock absorption was not very good. She had really suffered. She didn't know how long she would have to travel like this.

Fortunately, she did not get carriage sick. Otherwise, she would have vomited terribly, and that would have been truly miserable.

Lifting the curtain, Liao Tingyan could no longer recognize the scenery outside. She didn't know which official road it was. There were almost no pedestrians on the roadside. The undulating mountains in the distance were lush and green. There was a gentle breeze, and it was already afternoon, not as hot as it had been at noon.

Seeing that she was awake, two maidservants came up to serve her and help her freshen up. This time, going to Luoyang, she was alone. She had wanted to bring a few family servants, but who knew that the old eunuch with a smiling face, who seemed easy to talk to, refused so bluntly.

There was no way. Liao Tingyan could only comfort herself that it was better this way, so that a few more people wouldn't be sent to their deaths. They were all old people who had served her for some time. It was better for them to stay in Hexia and enjoy their old age.

Near dusk, they arrived at the post station to stay the night. Liao Tingyan ate dinner in the room and went to bed early. After all, the carriage was not as comfortable as a bed. Only when she lay down on the bed did she feel relaxed.

Sima Jiao changed his clothes and reclined on the couch, gazing at the tightly closed door of Liao Tingyan's room across from him through the window.

"She's a lone woman, without any familiar people around her. How can she be so calm?" Sima Jiao swung his long legs boredly. "Doesn't she feel scared? She clearly looks like a delicate noble lady. Could it be that my notorious reputation hasn't reached Hexia? How can she still sleep? It's really strange and odd."

Not only could Liao Tingyan sleep, but she also slept very well. Because before going to bed, the maidservants brought a basin of ice to her room.

The next day, they continued their journey. Liao Tingyan saw the eunuch Chang You again. After he got on the carriage, he looked at her with a smile on his face.

"Lady, it's stuffy in the carriage. This servant is here to entertain you. If there's anything you want to know, feel free to ask me."

Liao Tingyan thought for a moment. She knew that Sima Jiao, her 'boss' at the top, was aware of her entering the palace, but she should also have a general understanding of the situation of the other 'colleagues', the beauties. The original book did not describe much about those beauties. Anyway, every time a beauty appeared, she was destined to die. So she said, "Then tell me about the beauties in the palace."

This question stumped Sima Jiao. He actually didn't know how many beauties there were in the palace. He recalled a few faces filled with terror, but they didn't seem to match the identities very well.

He thought to himself, his face remaining calm, and began to make things up: "His Majesty has not established an empress. The positions of the three first-rank consorts below the empress - the Noble Consort, Pure Consort, and Virtuous Consort - are all vacant."

There seemed to be a Virtuous Consort before, but he later killed her. He couldn't remember what exactly she had done to displease him at the time and make him want to kill someone. He only remembered that after killing the Virtuous Consort, a few ministers argued in the court for a while, which was truly troublesome.

"There are... seven second-rank concubines."

Sima Jiao started recalling again. Was it seven? He suddenly remembered the one he had thrown into the tiger garden last month. She seemed to be one of the seven concubines. So there should be six left now.

"There are twelve Jieyu, and about a hundred Meirens, Cairens, Baolins, and so on." Probably. Anyway, he didn't remember very clearly.

Liao Tingyan thought to herself that there didn't seem to be as many as she had imagined. There might have been quite a few originally, but Sima Jiao had killed them, leaving only these.

After waiting for a long time and not seeing her ask about the emperor, Sima Jiao had to take the initiative to ask, "Why doesn't the lady ask about His Majesty's situation?"

What was there to ask? It wasn't like she wanted to have a romantic relationship with him. If she could live quietly like a chicken for as long as possible after entering the palace, that would be enough.

If she could avoid it, she would definitely avoid that psychopathic second male lead, just like avoiding the male lead.

Sima Jiao stared at her. "Isn't the lady afraid of His Majesty?"

Liao Tingyan: "You have quite the courage to ask such a question."

Sima Jiao laughed. His handsome and youthful face made him look harmless and sincere. "Because the beauties this servant has seen before, upon learning that they were going to enter the palace, all cried and wailed. The lady is so calm, which makes this servant very curious. Moreover, this servant believes that the lady won't blame him for this."

The young man was still too young. Liao Tingyan thought to herself that with this kind of personality, it was no wonder he had no name in the original book. Otherwise, he might not have survived more than three chapters.

"I heard that His Majesty enjoys killing people." Liao Tingyan said, "Some time ago, I encountered an attack by mountain bandits and witnessed them killing people with my own eyes. The scene was horrifying. After returning home, I couldn't eat meat for half a month. The smell of meat made me want to vomit."

Sima Jiao: "..."

Liao Tingyan leaned closer to him and asked in a low voice, "When His Majesty kills people, does he force the beauties in the harem to watch? If he doesn't force me to watch, then it's not so bad."

Sima Jiao burst out laughing. "The lady is so strange. When talking about His Majesty killing people, the lady is neither surprised as to why His Majesty kills people, nor does she show any sympathy for those who were killed. I heard that the lady is a kind-hearted person. Don't you want to persuade His Majesty to stop killing people?"

What's so strange about it? Does a madman need a reason to kill? Trying to persuade a madman not to kill, she herself might be killed, so why bother thinking so much.

The most important thing in life is to know yourself and not cause trouble for others. Just because the original female lead has a certain identity doesn't mean she is the center of this world and can have whatever she wants.

If she can't even save herself, how the hell can she save others?

Liao Tingyan sighed and said to this overly naive and bold young eunuch: "Listen to my advice, do what you are supposed to do and don't meddle in other people's business. Only then can you live a long life."

Author's Note:

I must say, everyone, don't form certain stereotypes. In fact, there were many strange emperors in history, and the social atmosphere and various rules and habits were different in each period. So it's best not to apply the background from one or a few novels to all novels.