CH 69

Chapter 69 Beauty

It was precisely “the painted building flies towards the clouds in Nanpu, and the red curtain rolls in the rain in the west mountain at dusk” – such a sentence was the most accurate way to describe the imperial palace.

The imperial palace was already rich and beautiful, but now it was even more beautiful.

Even the central hall, which had always been cold, had more singing birds and fragrance of flowers.

The prince and the Taifu who were far away in the Federation heard about this incident, and they all returned to the empire to see it with their own eyes.

The two of them had very strong memories of the coldness of the central hall. That place seemed to be built with steel rods, and the most noble color was mercury. It was very cold, like the loneliness of the emperor for many years.

However, this loneliness was broken.

The news came that the emperor had recruited a beauty who looked very similar to the former empress, and now he was very favored.

When they first got the news, both the crown prince and the Imperial Taifu scoffed: “It’s impossible, absolutely impossible.”

With the ability of the emperor, if he really wanted a beauty who looked like the former empress, why would he have to wait until the children became adults?

Besides, the prince and the Taifu who knew the story of Tang Tang knew that the emperor didn’t love the first empress at all, let alone love someone who was similar to be a substitute for the first empress.

So in the beginning, they didn’t take this information seriously.

The situation changed because of astonishing news from the courtiers on that day: “The emperor keeps the beauty in the central hall”.

The prince and the Taifu’s first reaction was: Impossible, absolutely impossible!

As they all knew, there were no living people in the central hall-the emperor himself was not a living person.

Even if there was a favorite concubine before, they lived on an asteroid far away from the central hall. The emperor did not give true favors, yet this unknown beauty can live in the central hall?

The crown prince asked through the video call: “Are you sure?”

The minister did not dare to confirm, but said: “I dare not. No one can be sure about the affairs in the central hall.”

This was the truth.

But the Taifu asked: “Then, have any of you seen that beauty enter and leave the Central Hall?”

“No.” The minister replied, “The emperor kept the beauty in the Central Hall and did not let his subjects see them.” 

The crown prince shook his head even more: “This is simply absurd! Do you even believe such groundless rumors?” 

The prince did not believe that such absurd stories would happen to his Royal Father.

On this point, the Taifu and the Prince were of the same opinion. Shen Yu did not criticize the absurdity like Nu Tianjiao did, he just said softly to the courtier at the other end of the video: “So, no one has ever seen this legendary beauty, right?”

“Yes, that’s right, Master Taifu.” The courtier replied cautiously, “No one has seen this beauty.”

Shen Yu then asked, “Since no one has seen it, why is there such a saying?” Shen Yu used the expression “saying”, rather than the “rumors” from the mouth of the prince.

The courtier replied: “Because… because the emperor had people buy a lot of brocade clothes and delicacies to the central hall. The ministers dared to ask why the emperor needed these things, and the emperor replied… four words – ‘to entertain the beauty “

Hearing this sentence, Shen Yu and Nu Tianjiao both showed shock, “Did the emperor say it himself?”

“Yes, to entertain the beauty, the emperor said it himself.” The minister replied tremblingly, “It’s absolutely true, how dare the minister tamper with the emperor’s holy words?”

Shen Yu felt strange: “But why did a beauty suddenly appear in the central hall?”

Nu Tianjiao felt inexplicably uneasy: “Go back and take a look and you will know.”

Shen Yu said again: “Then do we need to say goodbye to Shan Weiyi?”

Nu Tianjiao’s face darkened and he didn’t speak.

Shen Yu sent a video request to Shan Weiyi, but was rejected – Shen Yu was used to it. Shen Yu then sent Shan Weiyi an electronic letter, saying that he and the prince would return to the court first, but if Shan Weiyi needed it, they would provide help or accompany Shan Weiyi no matter how far apart they were.

Shan Weiyi gave them a cold feedback of “Received no reply”.

Nu Tianjiao looked at the reminder of “Received no reply”, and said dissatisfied: “He is really arrogant.”

“Naturally.” Shen Yu said, “He has the capital.”

Nu Tianjiao was also angry, but was more angry at himself.

On the way back, Nu Tianjiao and Shen Yu received new news from the courtiers.

The inner minister said: Great, the emperor wants to repair the central hall.

Nu Tianjiao and Shen Yu were really shocked and couldn’t be more shocked: Repair the central hall?

Everyone in the empire knows that the Central Palace was not just a palace, it was more like the heart of a giant. And now, the giant wants to change the heart for the little beauty?

“How is this possible?” Nu Tianjiao couldn’t believe it, and asked again, “How does Royal Father plan to repair the central hall?”

“To make it golden.” When the minister said it, his face was full of difficulty, as if he couldn’t even accept this fact himself, “he said he wants a ‘golden house to hide the beauty’.”

After hanging up the video call, Nu Tianjiao looked at Shen Yu with a serious face, and said, “Could he be bewitched?”

“That’s unlikely, My Highness.” Shen Yu remained calm, and said to the prince, “The emperor is not a human brain, but a super brain.”

“Is he infected with some virus?” Nu Tianjiao continued, “After all, the Freedom Federation has been researching a virus targeting Royal Father.”

“But there should be no progress.” Shen Yu said.

Nu Tianjiao sneered: “How do you know? After all, even high-dimensional creatures can’t see through the status of the ‘door’ laboratory.”

Shen Yu thought of Wen Lu and Ruan Yang who were still tied up by them, but felt bored: the usefulness of these two high-dimensional creatures was too small. They can neither have any influence on Shan Weiyi, nor can they check and balance Jun Gengjin, let alone spy on the central hall.

Shen Yu unfolded the virtual scroll of the information center, clicked on the federal secret report, and said: “Jun Gengjin returned to the Jun family and regained power. But we haven’t seen any latest news about Shan Weiyi.”

Nu Tianjiao said calmly: “No news is good news, which proves that Jun Gengjin didn’t hurt him.”

“Of course. I am never worried that Shan Weiyi would be hurt by anyone.” Shen Yu replied with a smile.

“You might as well worry about Jun Gengjin getting hurt.” Nu Tianjiao said with a half-smile, “Jun Gengjin doesn’t seem like his opponent either.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness is very wise.” Shen Yu agreed with Nu Tianjiao. If so, it was precisely because of this that Shen Yu was not happy.

Shen Yu was jealous of Jun Gengjin, jealous that he could get Shan Weiyi’s schemes, tricks and harm at this moment.

He silently approached the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror, those peacock blue eyes were shining with water. He touched the corners of his red eyes, and sighed to himself: The look of jealousy was really ugly. I’m so ugly. Shan Weiyi must really hate me like this.

Thinking of this, he turned the corners of his mouth towards the mirror again, revealing a refined and charming smile.

After the spaceships of the crown prince and the Taifu landed at the entrance of the empire, they were received by a guard of honor to check specifications.

Nu Tianjiao still cared about the news from the palace, so he said to the ceremony officer: “Since we are going home, all these false courtesy will be avoided. It is a serious matter for me and my teacher to go back to the palace to meet Royal Father first.”

Naturally, the ceremony officer would not stop him, he immediately arranged a small airship to take the prince and the Taifu back to the palace.

After the two rushed back to the palace, they were also shocked by the sight in front of them for a moment.

The imperial palace of the Empire, though splendid, had always been lifeless, and now they had a new look. In front of them, there actually appeared—the Imperial Garden.

This thing had never been seen in the palace.

The imperial palace was a miniature space city, and it was very difficult to cultivate earth plants. Therefore, for the sake of economic convenience, the palace only did the most common level of greening, planting evergreen plants that can grow with just a little water. Flowers were only taken out of the cultivation room to decorate the space on important days or festivals.

And now…

There was an open-air garden in the palace!

It was open air, not a greenhouse.

If it was a greenhouse garden, then they would only need to adjust the temperature, humidity, oxygen content and other parameters in the greenhouse. But this was an open-air garden, which means that the climate parameters of the entire palace must be changed accordingly to provide a suitable growth environment for those delicate ornamental plants.

——Of course, this was also beneficial. People in the court felt that the air had improved recently and the temperature was very pleasant. The Imperial Garden was right in the center of the palace. When you pass by, you can enjoy the beautiful flowers and plants, and your mood will be much better.

“But… why did he build a garden?” Nu Tianjiao didn’t understand, and was greatly shocked.

Wasn’t Shen Yu also extremely surprised? But he was still able to maintain his expression, he smiled and asked the palace maid who was arranging flowers and leaves: “Why does the emperor suddenly have the pleasure of enjoying flowers?”

The mysterious beauty had no name, no surname, and no title, so everyone called him, “the beauty of the central hall”.

Shen Yu looked curious: “Didn’t you say that the beauty does not go out?”

“The beauty does go out, but His Majesty does not allow anyone to see him.” The palace maid whispered, “When the beauty goes out for a walk, everyone should avoid them, including bionics and robots.”

Shen Yu was quite surprised. Before he could be surprised by this incident, he had to be surprised by something new – a white unicorn walked by.

“Is this… a unicorn?” Shen Yu was astonished. Before he finished speaking, a Suzaku flew over his head.

“This is irrational…” Nu Tianjiao was also greatly shocked.

The palace maid was used to it, and explained: “Maybe he is afraid that the beauty would be bored, so His Majesty arranged these bionic beasts to entertain the beauty.”

Shen Yu and Nu Tianjiao looked at each other.

Now, even Shen Yu, who insisted on rational thoughts, couldn’t help but start to waver: is there a possibility that the emperor was really bewitched?

After seeing the unicorn and Suzaku, Shen Yu and Nu Tianjiao were no longer surprised by the carved beams and painted buildings, green willows and flowers along the way. They can be said to be – numb.

The two of them came all the way to the central hall, and when they looked at it from a distance, they were also blinded—in their memory, the central hall was a cold mechanical palace but now, it was a golden mountain shining with precious light.

Under the light, the golden shell was extremely bright, just like a dragon’s cave in western legends.

In the cave, there were mountains of gold, dazzling gemstones, an evil dragon that no one dared to offend, occupying the treasure… and the beauty that the evil dragon looted from nowhere.