CH 46

Today’s second update~

Jiuzhu held her forehead and continued gazing up at the lantern.

“Like it?” 

“En en.” Jiuzhu nodded.

Chen Wang waved to a eunuch: “Bring one down.”

“Which one do you like?” He turned to ask Jiuzhu.

“They are all too beautiful.” Jiuzhu looked up and pointed at one of the lanterns: “This one maybe?”

The color of this lantern is a bit like that of His Highness’ clothes.

“This one it is.” Chen Wang raised his hand to take the shark gauze lantern from the eunuch and handed it to Jiuzhu.

Little guniangs were like this; they were fond of such flashy things.

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Jiuzhu carefully held the lantern, afraid that she would dirty it. She looked like a child who had an extremely precious treasure.

“Ming Xianzhu.”

Jiuzhu raised her head in surprise. Seeing Sun Caiyao standing before her with hair combed into a married woman’s bun, she froze for a moment. But she reacted quickly: “Greetings, Junwangfei.”

Sun Caiyao looked at the lantern in Jiuzhu’s hand and smiled: “It’s been a while since I’ve seen Xianzhu. If you have time, come and sit with me.”

“Fourth sister-in-law,” Chen Wang spoke up at this time, “fourth brother is injured and needs plenty of rest these days. Our family’s Jiuzhu is still young and ignorant. It would not be a pleasant matter if she ends up disturbing him.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Caiyao forced a smile in an attempt to say something more to Ming Jiuzhu, but Chen Wang had already grabbed the latter and left.

She looked at their backs and turned her head to look at the shark gauze lantern swaying from the branches. It felt as if her heart was empty and had nowhere to land like the fluttering shark gauze.

“Junwangfei.” A young palace maid hurriedly walked up to her: “This slave is a maid from the Lanxu Palace. This slave begs Junwangfei and His Highness to find a way to save niangniang!”

“What’s wrong with Mother Consort?” Sun Caiyao tidied her hair by her temples and asked: “What happened?”

“Our niangniang was summoned to the Mingyue Palace by Guifei niangniang. Not only did Guifei niangniang refuse to see her, but she also made our niangniang kneel in the meditation room to pick up Buddhist beads.” The palace maid cried out in urgency: “Begging Junwangfei and Your Highness to think of a solution.”

Every time their niangniang suffered at the hands of Guifei niangniang, it was them servants who ended up being unlucky with really no way out.

“Don’t worry, I’ll think of something.” Sun Caiyao couldn’t bear to trouble her husband, who was still recuperating. She walked around the place a few times, looked up at the shark gauze lantern hanging from the tree branches and clenched her teeth before stepping toward Chen Wang’s courtyard.

Taiyang Palace. 

Seeing Su Guifei storm into the room, Emperor Longfeng put down the book in his hand: “What happened? Who angered you?”

Looking at Liu Zhongbao and Commander Wang, who had followed her in, his brows furrowed slightly.

The two quickly withdrew. Their intuition warned them that Emperor Longfeng and Su Guifei’s conversation was not something they should hear.

“It has nothing to do with others.” Su Guifei flicked her sleeves and sat down on the chair. “Your Majesty, someone wants to kill me and Duqing. How do you expect me to endure it?”

“The incident at the Imperial horse farm, the embroidered picture at my birthday banquet, which one of these was not a plot against us?” Su Guifei exclaimed angrily. “I thought it was because the princes were now grown up and become ambitious, but I never expected that eight years ago, my son and I had already nearly walked through the gates of hell.”

“It is zhen’s fault. Zhen didn’t protect you properly.” Emperor Longfeng walked up to Su Guifei and gently held her hand. “Don’t worry, zhen will definitely seek justice for you.”

Su Guifei lowered her eyelids and ignored him.

“Meidai, I was wrong.” Emperor Longfeng gently brushed the hair at her temple. “Just scold me if you’re angry. Why be mad at yourself?”

“Offending the monarch is a great crime. How could this concubine dare scold Your Majesty?” Su Guifei snorted. “If the officials find out, they will accuse this concubine of being a demon consort once again.”

“Zhen is the monarch in the eyes of others. But in front of you, I am just an ordinary man with soft ears1Soft ears [耳根子软] – This term refers to people who are easily swayed by others’ opinions..” Emperor Longfeng lifted his robe and sat on the ground in front of Su Guifei, so that he was sitting lower than her, who was sitting on the chair.

“Why are you acting shamelessly again?” Su Guifei looked at him: “Do you think it’s still twenty years ago when you could seduce me with your face?”

“I know, I am old and feeble now. You must be tired of me.” Emperor Longfeng pretended to be miserable and sighed. “But do try to get along with me for Duqing’s sake.”

“Those officials should have a look at your pitiful act.” Su Guifei’s anger subsided slightly. She lifted her dress and was about to sit before him.

“Wait.” Emperor Longfeng got up and spread his cloak on the ground. “Now sit.”

Su Guifei looked at the cloak embroidered with a dark dragon pattern and sat on it. The two of them stared at each other, and a hint of a smile finally appeared on Su Guifei’s face. “That day, Duqing and I did plan to go to a restaurant to taste the local braised fish. But on the way, something unexpected happened.”

As she talked about the little guniang they had rescued from the river, Su Guifei sighed ruefully: “I always thought that we were the ones to save her. Never expected that it was her who had saved us.”

She thought it was the effect; never thought it was actually the cause.

After hearing the whole story, Emperor Longfeng dared not imagine what would have happened if Duqing had not saved the little guniang and had not canceled their plan of eating braised fish.

Those people hated Meidai and Duqing, but in truth, what they hated the most was that he didn’t favor themselves.

Everything stemmed from greed and envy, and he was the source of that greed and envy.

“It’s all my fault.” Emperor Longfeng’s mouth trembled slightly. “I favored you without protecting you enough.”

“Your Majesty, you are not at fault.” Su Guifei shook her head to deny his statement. “The fault lies with people’s hearts.”

“Who is that little guniang?” He did not refute her words. “Zhen wants to reward her.”

Su Guifei shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask her name. I only remember that she had a pair of bright and lovely eyes. Before she left, she said she would remember this favor.”

Speaking of this, her gaze became a bit tender. “She was a well-raised little guniang.”

Emperor Longfeng got up and took the confession that Commander Wang had submitted from the table, and handed it to Su Guifei: “These are the confessions of the Zheng family’s servants.”

Su Guifei took it and inspected it closely. When she saw the information about the little guniang at the end, she almost tore the note: “Zheng family is courting death!”

She wanted to kill them!

Otherwise, her title of the ‘demon consort’ would be in vain!

“The child who was pushed into the river by that scarred man…” Su Guifei traced her fingers over the words about the little lass: “How good would it be if she was the little guniang we rescued that time?”

If it weren’t for the assassins trying to kill her and Duqing, that little guniang wouldn’t have had to die.

But the river current was fast, so no one could guarantee that the little guniang, whose hands and feet were bound by the assassins, would be lucky enough to survive.

“Perhaps it was divine intervention and it was indeed her.” Emperor Longfeng knew why she was upset: “I will have Commander Wang continue the investigation. We will definitely find out the whereabouts of the little girl you saved that year.”

Su Guifei was very regretful. Why did she decide to hide the little guniang back then?

Lingzhou was so big. Moreover, eight years was enough time for the little guniang’s appearance to change. Perhaps she had married someone or was no longer in Lingzhou.

With the vastness of the world, how could they find her?

“Trust me.” He embraced Su Guifei: “Once we find her, we can buy her a big house, give her a lot of money, and even help her find a good husband.”

So that your heart is at ease.

Commander Wang waited outside the Palace hall for half a shichen before he was finally summoned inside again. He quickly bowed and entered. He accidentally looked up and saw the Emperor serving tea to Su Guifei. It wasn’t something he should have seen.

“Commander Wang.” Emperor Longfeng placed the teacup in front of Su Guifei: “Arrange for people to go to Lingzhou and find out a little guniang around sixteen or seventeen years.”

Commander Wang cautiously glanced at Su Guifei. His Majesty is asking him to find out a girl in front of Guifei niangniang? 

“Your Majesty, may this subordinate know that guniang’s name and what she looks like?”

“If her name and appearance were known, would you still need to find her out?” Su Guifei raised her long, shapely eyebrows: “Ben Gong wants you to find out the little girl who was pushed into the river by Zheng family’s servant. Ben Gong suspects that she is the little guniang we saved back then.”

Commander Wang was stunned.

Could it be that the reason why Su Guifei turned back halfway through her journey that day was because she had saved someone?

If the little guniang saved by Guifei niangniang was actually the one who was pushed into the river by the Zheng family’s servants, then this assassination attempt targeting Su Guifei and her son was too absurd.

The natural order of things clearly proved that cause and effect was cyclical.

He cupped his hands and bowed: “This subordinate will follow the order.”

Sometimes, he also hoped for such coincidences. He hoped that the little guniang pushed into the river by the scarred man would be saved by Guifei niangniang and grow up to live a healthy, happy and carefree life.

“Your Highness’ courtyard is so big.” Jiuzhu held the lantern and leaned against the door, looking at the inner courtyard. She was worried that he would be uncomfortable living in the same Palace as the other princes, but the courtyard was much bigger than she had previously imagined.

“Why are you standing at the door?” Chen Wang turned around to look at her. “Come in.”

Jiuzhu peeled herself from the door frame. “Wouldn’t it be inappropriate?”

“You’re thinking about that after you’ve come all the way here?” Chen Wang was a little angry but also found it laughable. “Don’t worry. With so many palace maids and eunuchs here, what could be a problem?”

Jiuzhu stepped into the courtyard. She carefully handed the lantern to a young palace maid and followed Chen Wang.

“Sit here for a while.” Leading her to a pavilion, Chen Wang looked at her. “Now tell me why you bit my hand earlier.”

Jiuzhu held the teacup and lowered her head: “Your Highness, I really didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”

“Of course I know you didn’t mean to.” Chen Wang crossed his arms. “But I also know that you have something on your mind.”

“Yes, maybe just a little bit.” Jiuzhu removed the lid of the teacup and gulped the tea.

“Wait!”

“Hot! Hot!” Jiuzhu winced, tears almost welling up in her eyes.

“Take a sip of this cold water. Don’t swallow it.” Chen Wang fed Jiuzhu. Seeing her cheeks puffing up with the cold water, he explained: “This tea needs to be brewed with boiling water and then mixed with cold water to bring out the flavor.”

Jiuzhu blinked. She had no idea that there were so many steps required to drink a few mouthfuls of tea.

“Still hurts?” Chen Wang sighed and had a palace maid bring ice. “You’ll know what it means to be regretful when you have dinner tonight.”

Jiuzhu took an empty cup, covered her face with her sleeve, and spit the water. “The teacup doesn’t feel hot at all. Why is the tea so hot?”

“Don’t you know that some teacups are insulated?” He took the jade cup filled with ice from the palace maid’s hand, picked up a piece, and delivered it into her mouth. “Keep it in.”

“Cold.” Jiuzhu shivered.

“Good, it’s supposed to be cold. This will let you remember it.” Chen Wang put down the jade cup. “Let’s continue our conversation. What is on your mind?”

“I was a little worried to hear that someone tried to assassinate niangniang and Your Highness.” Jiuzhu glanced at the palace maids and eunuchs behind Chen Wang. Unconsciously, the tip of her tongue went atop the cold piece of ice. “If Your Highness is angry, I’ll let you bite my finger.”

He looked at the hand reaching out in front of him. The little hand was fair and tender, with neatly trimmed nails.

He really wanted to bite a little.

Just a little, not a lot.

“Your Highness.” A palace maid walked up to him. “Qi Junwangfei wants to meet you.”

“Won’t meet.” Chen Wang looked at Jiuzhu, who was still holding onto the ice cube. “She is the sister-in-law. To meet this younger brother-in-law alone is not appropriate ah.”

He had not even wed in the wife. Why would he bother with these outsiders’ businesses?

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