CH 16

“Are you sure that the thing has been handed over to Ming JiuZhu?”

“This slave doesn’t dare to deceive Master.”

“However, she kept eating the entire time. She didn’t even take out the embroidered picture from start to finish.”

She ate pastries and vegetable dishes before moving on to the meat ones. Her mouth practically never stopped moving.

“Per-perhaps she forgot?”

“Forgot? Didn’t you all say that this Ming guniang is naive and good-natured, so she easily becomes soft-hearted?”

“Perhaps such a naive and good-natured person’s memory… memory is not very good?”

“Master, the palace maid who delivered the embroidered picture to that Ming JiuZhu has been captured.” 

The conversation came to an abrupt end.

She waited no less than an entire day just for this outcome?!

“Your Majesty…” Su Guifei sobbed mournfully as tears rolled down her cheeks like pearls: “These days, this concubine could not rest or eat in peace. But fortunately, Your Majesty loves and takes great care of us mother and son, and has selected an exceptionally good fiancee for DuQing.”

“This concubine never expected that some people could not endure themselves any longer and deliberately used such a malicious scheme over a trifle to drive a wedge between this concubine and her future daughter-in-law.” Saying this, Su Guifei wept even more sorrowfully: “Nevermind. Along with her humble birth, this concubine is afraid that only by being an evil mother-in-law will she be able to satisfy certain people.”

“Don’t cry, it will harm your health.” Emperor LongFeng took a handkerchief and wiped Su Guifei’s tears personally: “Zhen will investigate this matter strictly. Zhen will never let you suffer even a little bit of grievances.”

“It doesn’t matter if this concubine suffers some grievances but the girl from the Ming family is still young. She has no idea how vicious people can be.” Su Guifei looked at Emperor LongFeng with tears in her eyes: “Your Majesty, this concubine has been cherished and protected by you all these years, so she doesn’t know what to do. Perhaps, even if someone plots against your daughter-in-law in the future, this concubine will not be able to protect her.”

“You ah, Zhen has indeed protected you too well in all these years. Otherwise, your subordinates would not have been successfully bribed by other people.”

“This concubine feels sad. How can Your Majesty make fun of me?”

Seeing Su Guifei get angry, Emperor LongFeng quickly tried to cheer her up. When the smile finally returned to her face, he instructed the subordinates to let JiuZhu in.

This was JiuZhu’s first time seeing Emperor LongFeng, the monarch of Da Cheng who controlled the lives and deaths of thousands of people.

“Chennu from the Ming clan greets Your Majesty.” JiuZhu knelt on the ground, kowtowing deeply before Emperor LongFeng.

He glanced at Liu ZhongBao and the latter stepped forward to help JiuZhu up: “Ming guniang need not be too polite.”

“Thank you, Liu gonggong.” JiuZhu smiled at Liu ZhongBao.

“Sit down and talk.” Su Guifei announced, “Before me and His Majesty, you don’t have to be reserved.”

JiuZhu raised her head and replied in a low voice, “Thank you, niangniang.”

According to Emperor LongFeng’s imagination, since the Ming family’s daughter was raised in a Daoist temple, she should very likely have a pure but cold temperament.

However, when he really met the person, he discovered that this little guniang was brought up very well. She was very unlike someone raised in a Daoist temple. Instead, she resembled someone who was spoiled by her elders and raised cut off from the rest of the world, therefore being innocent and simple.

It was not surprising that Ming JingZhou, a man with an upright personality, entered the Palace to try to break off this engagement for the sake of his daughter.

Su Guifei was so fond of her. Even Liu ZhongBao, after returning from Assistant Minister Ming’s residence, praised Ming family’s guniang for her good character. Apparently, he did the most correct thing by engaging her with his son.

“Called you over just to chat with you.” Emperor LongFeng began speaking unhurriedly: “There are no outsiders here, so you can just treat Zhen as an ordinary elder.”

JiuZhu nodded obediently: “Your Majesty, can chennu ask if the person who wanted to harm Guifei niangniang has been captured or not?”

“Zhen has already dispatched people to investigate secretly so that the Guifei is not wronged.” Emperor LongFeng looked at JiuZhu, trying to guess what JiuZhu would say next.

“That’s good.” JiuZhu breathed a sigh of relief, completely convinced by his words: “Today is niangniang’s birthday. The people who did this kind of thing are really bad.”

“Fortunately, Ming guniang is clever and did not let the evil person succeed in their plan.” Seeing that she believed his words so easily, Emperor LongFeng laughed loudly: “Say, why do you think the evil person asked you to give that thing to the Guifei?” 

“Because… because niangniang is fond of chennu.” JiuZhu smiled shyly: “That person just wanted to spoil niangniang’s happiness through chennu.”

Emperor LongFeng laughed again: “Guifei niangniang is indeed rather fond of you.”

This embroidered picture did not only harm the Guifei and spoil her mood but also served to make her discontented with the Ming family’s daughter.

Besides, what else could be more reassuring to some people than Su Guifei being at odds with her daughter-in-law, who was born in the Ming family?

“XiangJuan.” Chen Wang walked into the inner courtyard and saw XiangJuan guarding the door: “Was that little guniang from Ming family summoned by Father Emperor?”

XiangJuan nodded.

Chen Wang lifted the curtain and stepped inside with large strides.

“Father Emperor.” Chen Wang walked into the room, glanced at JiuZhu who was sitting beneath the main seat, and cupped his hands to greet him: “It’s getting dark. Erchen will send Ming guniang back, so as to avoid making Assistant Minister Ming worry.”

“Don’t worry, I have already sent someone to notify Ming JingZhou that Ming guniang will stay at the MingYue Palace tonight.” Emperor LongFeng raised the teacup and took a sip: “Your Mother Consort and Ming guniang are like mother and daughter. It’s fine for her to accompany your Mother Consort in the Palace.”

“What does a little guniang like her understand?” Chen Wang sat down beside JiuZhu and grabbed a piece of the pastry placed before her: “She entered the Palace to attend a birthday banquet but she was plotted against immediately. If she stays here for a few more days, others are going to ask her to bring things to you next.”

JiuZhu pushed the untouched teacup in front of her toward Chen Wang to prevent him from choking on the food.

After drinking two sips of the tea pushed over by JiuZhu, Chen Wang put down the teacup and beamed, “It’s better if Father Emperor stays back at the MingYue Palace to accompany Mother Consort tonight. I’ll take this ignorant little guniang away.” 

After speaking, he tugged at JiuZhu’s sleeve and pulled her up from the stool: “Father Emperor, Mother Consort, please excuse erchen.”

JiuZhu looked at Chen Wang, then at Su Guifei and the Emperor. She curtsied before letting Chen Wang pull her out.

Su Guifei caressed the teacup and said with a smile: “Servants, come and change the tea. It’s cold.”

“DuQing has truly been spoiled by Your Majesty to no end.” Putting the newly changed tea in front of him, she shook her head and sighed with a smile: “Your Majesty, don’t you think so?”

Emperor LongFeng shook his head helplessly: “You should take some rest now. I will go and summon the Chief of the Dali Temple. Don’t worry, I will never let you feel wronged.”

Su Guifei squeezed Emperor LongFeng’s hand without a word.

“Tonight, I’ll come over to accompany you to dine.” Emperor LongFeng stood slowly.

“Your Majesty, take care.” Su Guifei got up and helped him sort out his robes: “I’ll have the kitchen cook your favorite dishes for dinner.”

“Alright.” Emperor LongFeng reached out and hugged Su Guifei before turning around and leaving.

Su Guifei touched her face which only had dried tears, as she announced, “Pass on this message. Feeling the profound love of Heaven, Ben Gong summons all the concubines of the harem to copy scriptures with her tomorrow. We will all pray for the well-being of the people of our Empire.”

Since she was unhappy, she would simply let no one have an easy time as well.

As a Demon Consort, she had to behave like one.

“His Royal Highness.” Walking all the way out, JiuZhu looked behind worriedly: “Will His Majesty be angry at you because we left like that?”

“I’m Father Emperor’s son. He won’t be angry with me.” Chen Wang let go of JiuZhu’s hand and raised his eyebrows with a smile: “You never thought that he might be angry with you?”

JiuZhu halted: “He should…not, right?”

“Don’t worry, I was the one who took you away. Since Father Emperor won’t be angry with me, why would he be angry with you?” The afterglow of the setting sun fell on Chen Wang’s face, dyeing it red like the sky: “You are my future wife, so you and I are one. Do you understand?”

“I understand. After we get married, we will live in the same room, eat together and have fun together.” JiuZhu nodded and patted her chest softly: “That’s done with our own people.”

Chen Wang: “……” 

Nothing seemed to be wrong with her words but at the same time, there seemed to be something wrong.

“Do you know why I took you out of the Palace?”

“I don’t know.” JiuZhu looked at Chen Wang in confusion: “Didn’t Your Highness want to take me home?”

“You came out just because I took you out?” Chen Wang snorted softly: “Aren’t you afraid that I will cheat you into doing bad things?”

“What do you want to do, Your Highness?” JiuZhu lowered her voice: “I’ll help you.”

Chen Wang saw her expression that revealed how she planned to ‘handle matters’ for him and sighed silently. This child’s brain was indeed melon seed-sized… She was too guileless.

“Your Highness, why don’t you speak?” JiuZhu lowered her voice even more, and tiptoed to whisper beside Chen Wang’s ear, “Is it a very tough matter?”

“It’s nothing, I was teasing you.” He covered his ear with his hand and took two steps forward, looking at the Imperial CityImperial City [皇城] – It is not the entire capital city but just its inner part, with the Palace in its center. soaked in the rays of the sun: “I was just worried that you are not used to sleeping in the Palace, so I wanted to send you home.”

There were several palace courtyards here. A little girl like her shouldn’t stay in this place for too long.

“Your Highness.” JiuZhu walked to Chen Wang and showed him a big smile: “Thank you, Your Highness.”

“Let’s go, I’ll take you back.” 

It was cold at night. JiuZhu lit the candle, spread the writing paper, and sat upright at the desk, writing a letter to her two masters stroke by stroke.

【To the two best Masters in the world, I hope all is fine when you open this letter.】

【Did the two of you like the snacks this disciple sent a few days ago? Are the tangerines at the temple already ripe?】

【This disciple has a pretty good life in the capital. Just, sometimes she misses you both; and also the grass and tree at the temple. In the last letter, I forgot to tell you that my father and mother do not dislike me for eating too much. They said that I’m blessed with the fortune of being able to eat. However, I know that they feel guilty about what happened in the past even though I don’t blame them.】

【Late autumn is colder in the capital than in LingZhou. My mother made a lot of new clothes and new shoes for me. This time, I also sent some new winter clothes for Masters. It should be winter when they get delivered to you in LingZhou, so it would be the right time to wear them.】

【Second Master, do you still remember how disciple wanted to raise a white horse in her childhood? Disciple now has a little white horse. It’s adorable and has a docile temper, much like a big and cute dog.】

【Disciple knows that the Masters did not let me speak out about the incident that happened eight years ago for her own safety. Please don’t worry, I will not let down your painstaking efforts……】

The candle flickered. JiuZhu hesitated for a moment before continuing to write.

【Before coming here, First Master said that in the prosperous capital, wanting to find someone whom disciple has not seen for many years is like searching for a needle in the sea, so she should not be too adamant. But fortunately, disciple has met the benefactor.】

Folding the paper, JiuZhu put the letter into the envelope and happily drew a little duck on the back.

Her two masters had complimented her for her good drawing skills, so every time she wrote a letter, she would draw something in passing.

Reading the words and seeing the picture was like seeing JiuZhu.