CH 13

No man could accept his wife hanging out with others. Even if he didn’t love this person at all, he would still feel his dignity being insulted, and it was even more unforgivable for such a thing to happen to the emperor.

This was an obvious provocation.

Li Ying’s expression became ice cold.

In the Full Moon Pavilion, a light green wide sleeve suddenly swept across the table, tossing off everything there. A porcelain cup fell to the ground and broke into pieces.

Ning Rou was furious: “He brought him back again!!”

“Concubine Ning, please calm your anger.”

“How can I calm down?!” Concubine Ning’s cheeks flushed with anger, her hair ornaments shaking: “Yun Qingci openly led his people into our palace. His Majesty didn’t scold him. He stabbed His Majesty in front of everyone. His Majesty didn’t pursue it. When he made His Majesty go unconscious, he only knocked his forehead…”

When she mentioned it, she couldn’t help getting furious: “This is the Forbidden City. Yun Qingci was so overbearing, and His Majesty just knocked his forehead!”

“Didn’t you all say that Yun Qingci would definitely not be able to turn back this time? Didn’t you all say that this time he would definitely be abolished? Why was he picked up by the ceremonial cortege instead?!”

She hissed like a wild cat, her jealousy overflowing: “That was the Son of Heaven’s magnificent cortege, unparalleled in glory, unprecedented in history! Why was it for Yun Qingci? Why should it be him?!”

She kicked the table, her heart beating madly with anger. As she took two steps forward, she suddenly felt dizzy. The Momo (high positioned palace lady servant) beside her hurriedly stepped forward to support her. She also felt puzzled and depressed, and could only say: “There is Prime Minister Yun standing behind him, and Prince Qin from the southwest is his maternal grandfather. And the Shuofang envoy controls the military… It is natural for His Majesty to be cautious.”

“Do you really think he was just cautious?” Ning Rou’s eyes were filled with tears. She couldn’t hide how suffocated she felt, stroking her chest: “If His Majesty really wanted to kill him, he could’ve accused him of an assassination attempt. Even if he were killed on the spot, neither Yun nor Qin nor Xiao family would have dared to say anything. It was Yun Qingci’s fault from the beginning.”

She wailed: “Even if His Majesty didn’t want to kill him, he could propose peaceful separation and drive him out of the Forbidden City. If it didn’t work, just send an escort to pick him up. Why bother to mobilize the crowd and drive the ceremonial cortege in person? What was His Majesty doing? He clearly wanted to dispel the rumors of the Lord Empress being abolished and to coax Yun Qing to be happy!”

“But His Majesty did want to abolish the Lord Empress that day and even confiscated his escort… How could he suddenly change his mind again?”

Ning Rou gasped with difficulty and said, “I don’t know, I just know that Yun Qingci has returned to the palace again. I’m afraid he won’t let me go… That lunatic, if His Majesty allows him to go wild like this, he will definitely kill everyone in the palace who is close to His Majesty.”

Momo’s face changed slightly, and she asked cautiously: “Then how should we act?”

“How to act?” Ning Rou gnashed her teeth and said viciously: “Keep our tail between our legs and hide as long as we can hide.”

“Not necessarily.” Momo thought for a moment and said softly: “You have forgotten that in the past two years, His Majesty got very tired of him. The ceremonial cortege might be only a spectacle for the outsiders to see. Even if he did return to the palace… His Majesty would definitely target him secretly, and his life probably won’t be better than ours.”

Ning Rou’s expression was slightly startled. What Momo was saying was the truth. Although the emperor had coaxed Yun Qingci, he was already dissatisfied in his heart. She had had a conflict with Yun Qingci before, and His Majesty was on her side. This was why Yun Qingci hated her so much, to the point of disregarding palace rules and leading his people to break into her Full Moon Pavilion at night. 

Concubine Ning’s beautiful face that had just waned, suddenly blossomed up again brightly.

“I still have a chance.”

Yun Qingci expected Li Ying to get angry. He didn’t seem to be afraid at all. Not only was he not afraid, he was even somewhat looking forward to it.

In his previous life, he spoiled Li Ying in every way. As long as Li Ying gave him a glance, he would treat Li Ying and his affairs as the most important, even if he felt wronged in his heart.

Now he wanted to understand: since Master Li Ying had mobilized the crowd to pick him up, it meant that he had a plan. Anyway, he didn’t care whether Li Ying was spoiled or not, and no matter what his opinion was, it wouldn’t affect Yun Qingci’s status as Lord Empress.

It was pleasant to watch Li Ying tolerate him and coax him. It would be even more pleasant to make him jump with anger and show his true face.

For the rest of his life, Yun Qingci was going to respect him like an honorable guest. But since Li Ying insisted on pretending to be affectionate, no one could blame Yun Qingci for waiting for the opportunity to retaliate.

However, His Majesty Emperor Li was worthy of being a person who had endured him for twelve years in the previous life. His heavy breathing quickly returned to normal. Looking at Yun Qingci, he called, “Liu Ziru.”

Liu Ziru quickly came in: “What is Your Majesty’s order?”

“Go to the musical department and find a few musicians who are ‘young, handsome and good-looking’.”

His gaze turned from Yun Qingci to Liu Ziru, his eyes suddenly darkening like black holes, but his tone was still gentle: “Tonight, I want to accompany Lord Empress to have a good time.”

The Li Ying that Liu Ziru saw had a bloodless face and pitch black eyes like two abysses. His scarlet mouth was grinning and his teeth were bared. Liu Ziru wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, “I’m going now.”

Seeing Liu Ziru go out, Li Ying turned to Yun Qingci again, with his expression gentle like flowers at the full moon: “Is Lord Empress satisfied?”

“Yes.” Yun Qingci nodded and said, “Satisfied.”

“I won’t go to the court session today. Let’s have something to eat and go out for a stroll?”

“After tossing around all morning, I am tired.” Yun Qingci said, “I’ll go to bed after eating.”

His nap was mandatory.

Li Ying ordered people to prepare lunch, all the dishes Yun Qingci loved to eat. After eating, Yun Qingci got up and undressed. When he took off the phoenix robe, he turned around and saw that Li Ying had also taken off his dragon robe.

Yun Qingci: “?”

“I dealt with the government affairs yesterday and there is nothing to do today. I want to spend more time with you.”

“I want to sleep by myself.” Yun Qingci refused straight away. He laid on the couch and spread his legs, his wide inner shirt covering most of the bed: “No one will accompany me for a nap.”

Li Ying’s gaze fell on his toes, then he glanced at his posture intently. His Adam’s apple rolled, then he walked over slowly.

Yun Qingci’s brows twitched.

Li Ying bent over, moved the corner of his spread inner shirt and made room to sit down. He forced himself not to think about what shouldn’t be thought about and said, “Today the cortege to pick you up was just to dispel the rumors.”

Whether it was to dispel the rumors or to make him relax his vigilance before killing him, who knows.

Yun Qingci didn’t bother to talk to him. “You go back to Jiangshan Palace.”

“Qingci…” Li Ying stretched out his hand to hold his feet. Yun Qingci shrank away suddenly, changed his position to sitting cross-legged, hiding his feet under the hem of his shirt and looking unhappy.

Li Ying had to retract his hand. “Last time, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have confiscated your escort,” he said.

“If you want to abolish someone, of course, you’ll confiscate their escort.”

“I don’t want to abolish you.”

“Haven’t you thought about it?”

“…” He did not make excuses.

Yun Qingci glanced at him and said, “You and I both know what you brought me back for.”

Li Ying shook his head, his voice slightly muffled: “You don’t know.”

No matter what else he wanted to say, Yun Qingci didn’t want to listen. “Forget it, I don’t care.”

Li Ying stopped talking.

Yun Qingci laid down, glanced at him, turned away and pulled up the quilt vigorously.

Li Ying sat behind him for a while unhappily, then propped his palms on the bed and reached towards him, holding his breath.

Yun Qingci suddenly turned back. Before his back touched Li Ying’s hand, Li Ying instinctively pulled away and awkwardly supported himself with his hand on Yun Qingci’s shoulder.

Yun Qingci was lying flat under him. He was a little sleepy, but he opened his eyes with vigilance: “You’re still not leaving.”

“I’ll just sit for a while.”

“There are chairs over there.”

“Actually, I’m a little sleepy too.”

“You can recline on the beauty couch.”

“…I want to lie down for a while.”

“Go back to Jiangshan Palace and lie down.” As if afraid that Li Ying would climb on the bed secretly, Yun Qingci spread his limbs and said, “Put down the bed curtain before leaving, it’s too bright to sleep.”

Li Ying finally retracted his hand, got up and put down the bed curtain.

The heavy bed curtains blocked all the light, and Yun Qingci curled up and fell asleep.

Li Ying sat outside for a quarter of an hour, then walked over again, lifted the curtain of the bed. Making sure that Yun Qingci was asleep, he got on the bed lightly.

The bed in Chaoyang Palace was very large, and Yun Qingci slept very quietly, taking up less than half of the space, far less domineering than when he was awake.

But Li Ying just sat at the head of the bed, pulling his knees up to his chest, occupying only a corner and looking at Yun Qingci quietly.

Chaoyang Palace lit an incense that Yun Qingci was used to, and the scent in the small space behind the bed curtains was even more intense. Li Ying breathed for a long time, allowing the unforgettable smell to slowly penetrate into his heart, like a steel knife piercing and carving bloody marks.

Yun Qingci at this time shouldn’t have disliked him so much.

Liu Ziru went to the musical department.

The musicians in the palace were all good-looking. After all, they were people who wanted to meet the emperor. No matter what, they had to look decent. However, the Son of Heaven deliberately enunciated the words “handsome and good-looking”, which meant that this matter was not that simple.

So he told the man in charge of the musical department: “Pick a few, the ones who are not eye-catching.”

The man’s expression was complicated. He took Liu Ziru to the main hall, pointed to the handsome men there and asked, “Mr. Liu, look, which ones are not eye-catching?”

The musicians raised their faces one after another, some of them simply handsome and a few others looking exceptional. Liu Ziru’s heart sank when he looked at them.

When Yun Qingci woke up, Li Ying was no longer there. He said that he was not busy but it was impossible to be really not busy. Yun Qingci yawned, dressed and got up to freshen up.

Being the Lord Empress was better than being the Emperor. There was a lot of free time and one didn’t need to face a group of old stubborn guys every day.

In his past life, Li Ying found a lot of teachers to keep Yun Qingci from sticking to him, and spent a lot of money to build a small greenhouse so that Yun Qingci could pass the time.

Many flowers in the imperial garden in winter had withered, but the flowers in the greenhouse still grew very well. Yun Qingci went there and watered the plants, then cut a few flowers to put them in a vase for decoration.

As night fell, the main hall was quickly cleaned up. Li Ying really didn’t break his promise and came to accompany him to have a good time.

Yun Qingci happily changed his clothes and sat down in front of the table, impatiently watching the musicians who entered the hall.

Li Ying sat beside him, carefully observing his expression.

“Is there no one else in the palace?” Yun Qingci looked puzzled: “How can it be so?”

He didn’t indulge in eating, drinking and having fun before, but every feast he would still see a group of handsome young people. This time, the men looked somewhat ugly, their faces yellow and dull.

Some of them looked like they couldn’t even speak formally.

Amidst the music, the girls danced with their faces covered, but among the men there was not a single one who looked attractive.

Yun Qingci closed his eyes, feeling deeply hurt, and his mood worsened abruptly.

Liu Ziru raised his eyes secretly and saw that the emperor looked relieved, as if he was very satisfied.

Of course, he was satisfied. After all, these musicians were all specially found from outside the palace. Their craftsmanship was good, but their appearance fell short.

At this moment, suddenly catching a sharp glance, Liu Ziru’s heart skipped a beat.

His Majesty was satisfied, but the Lord Empress was obviously very displeased.

He looked at the emperor again and saw His Majesty straighten his back and clench his fingers on his cuffs. His peaceful expression stiffened.

Yun Qingci said, “I think Mr. Liu’s eyes aren’t good.”

Li Ying said, “Then dig them out.”

Liu Ziru: “…?”

Yun Qingci’s gaze moved from Liu Ziru’s face to Li Ying’s face. His anger surged. He got up and said without turning his head, “I want to go home.”

The dancers and musicians stopped together, looking blankly.

Yun Qingci said in the morning that if he was dissatisfied, he would go back to his father’s house. It was the truth.

Li Ying’s pupils contracted, and he glanced at Liu Ziru quickly. The latter hurriedly followed: “Lord Empress, Lord Empress, it was this servant who didn’t do well. Maybe, this servant indeed is old and his vision is somewhat different from that of a young man. Lord Empress, please calm down and give this servant another chance…”

Yun Qingci disregarded him.

He was not a fool: Li Ying was obviously doing it on purpose. Sure enough, as long as he didn’t come back, everything was fine. As soon as he’d come back, the man started secretly wronging him.

If Li Ying dared to make him feel unhappy, then he would feel unhappy. Did the man want him to be a hostage in the palace obediently and be as compliant as he was in his previous life? Let him dream on!

Li Ying really had the ability to kill him.

Since the ceremonial cortege brought him back, he would not be called Yun Qingci if he didn’t make Li Ying please him in this life.

Liu Ziru didn’t dare to stop him and only watched in sorrow as Yun Qingci walked all the way to the doors of the palace, his body feeling very light suddenly.

His clothes were grabbed and there were cold eyes staring at him.

Li Ying held him firmly and looked down at him for a few moments. Then his tense expression eased and he said good-heartedly: “Since Mr. Liu’s eyes are not good, I will personally accompany him to pick the musicians.”

Yun Qingci: “?”

Liu Ziru wiped the sweat from his forehead and secretly thought: what is this? Since the Lord Empress has come back this time, he’s become even more arrogant than before.

In the past, Yun Qingci didn’t care about anyone but His Majesty. Now he didn’t even respect His Majesty.

He caught Li Ying’s stare again.

Liu Ziru agreed: “This servant will go and make arrangements for Lord Empress.”

“You are not allowed to go.” Yun Qingci stared at Li Ying. “What is that gaze you gave him?”

Li Ying said patiently: “I think you scared him, so I’m trying to calm him down.”

Liu Ziru: …

You lie.

“Don’t treat me like a fool.” However, Lord Empress had seen through everything: “You just want him to hide the good ones.”

Li Ying smiled as if he didn’t know what Yun Qingci was talking about: “I didn’t even think about it.”

“If that’s the case,” Yun Qingci didn’t argue with him, “then I will trouble His Majesty to go pick together with me.”

He emphasized: “Let’s go now.”