NOVEL NEXT Lv Li, who had been waiting by the lamp, was very much surprised when she saw me coming back alone. When she heard about me turning down the bet proposed by Qi Sheng, she was beyond disbelief and exclaimed like a teacher reprimanding a dim-witted student, “Your Majesty, don’t you get it? That’s not a bet. That’s his commitment to you!”
“Yeah, I thought so, too,” I nodded and raised up my leg so as to enjoy Lv Li’s massage, “So what? Would you have believed him?”
Not knowing how to answer that question, Lv Li thought for a while and decided to change the topic, “You Majesty, are you serious about choosing beauties for the Emperor?”
I was jolted out of my thought when I heard this and with a thud on the bed, I exclaimed, “Of course. I am dead serious.”
Lv Li replied, “Your Majesty, I think it’s a waste of time. We won’t be able to pick anyone good, other than a few vixens sent over by the Empress Dowager who might want to take this opportunity to plant someone in here to spy on us. People from other palaces are worse than our kitchen maids.”
I was struck dumb by this remark, “Really? Surely they won’t send over unpresentable ones to serve the emperor, right?
Lv Li didn’t answer and simply curled her lips.
Unsurprisingly, a group of candidates sent by the Empress Dowager came to my palace first the next day. There were roughly seven or eight of them, and all of high quality. Some of them were as plump as porcelains and some of them were thin as willow trees, and they all lined up in front of me.
The senior maid who brought them here gave me a flattering smile and said, “The Empress Dowager said that you could choose whoever you like.”
I was in a good mood and with a wave of my hand I commanded, “They all look fine. I shall keep them all.”
The senior maid was overwhelmed with joy and started complimenting me in whatever ways she could think of and then left, looking pleased.
Then came a succession of “beauties” sent from other palaces that looked nowhere near the word “beautiful”. And that Concubine Huang even went as far as sending over the ugliest maid she could find.
I could not help but feel impressed by how unyielding a woman Concubine Huang was.
Lv Li, on the other hand, was greatly offended; she gritted her teeth and said, “Your Majesty, what does she want? Why would she do that?”
Sensing her anger, I turned around and consoled her, “Calm down. When they send over the pretty ones, you felt angry, and when they send over the ugly ones, you still take offense. Why?”
Lv Li took a deep breath as if she was trying to rein in her anger.
Xie Yi who stood nearby was obviously enjoying this and she quickly cut in, “Your Majesty, this is never about appearances. This is about Concubine Huang being disrespectful towards you!”
I cast a displeased look at Xie Yi, “Well, being a professional spy that you are, I would expect more from you than a useless attempt to fan the flames. Better save your energy and take more trips to the Youlan Hall if you are so bored.”
Upon hearing these words, Xie Yi’s face turned ashen and immediately dropped to her knees. She pleaded with a crying face and kept kowtowing to me, “That’s not fair, Your Majesty! I’m wronged. Ever since I came here, I have never once set foot outside this palace! I have changed. I swear! I am loyal to you, Your Majesty!”
Well, though she kept crying, tears gushing out of her eyes, she made herself quite clear. It seems that she has got the trick of acting from Lv Li. And with this thought, I turned to Lv Li and said, “you are such a great teacher.”
In embarrassment, Lv Li waved her hands and replied, “The credit should be hers. She is such a quick learner…”
That “beauty” kneeling on the floor had lost her patience. She raised her head and asked with a rather manly voice, “Your Majesty. Do you want me to stay? If not, I should get back to attend to the food that I was preparing this morning.”
I turned around and nodded, “Very well, stay, and forget about your previous work. You are needed in my kitchen.”
That “beauty” was struck dumb. But being a straightforward woman that she was, she gave her lap a hard slap and replied, “Great, Your Majesty! I am on my way!”
Everyone was shocked by her sudden out burst and they all fell into silence.
I licked my lips and broke the silence, “Well, what a dedicated woman. She’s exactly what I want in this palace.” As I finished those words, I noticed that both Lv Li and Xie Yi were obviously shocked by what I said.
Acting as if I didn’t notice anything different, I cleared my throat and commanded, “Figure out how many beauties that we have here and have some trusted senior maids train them. When they are ready, I want them all sent to the Emperor’s bedroom.”
Lv Li goggled at me and exclaimed, “All of them, Your Majesty? Are you serious?”
I hesitated for a second and then replied, “Well, how about we pick out the prettiest ones and keep them here for now and send the rest to the Emperor?”
Lv Li apparently misunderstood my intention. She felt relieved by my reply and paused for a few seconds before resuming, “How, and who should we send over to the Emperor?”
I thought about it for a while and said, “How about they draw lots for it?”
People nearby fell into silence once again.
I really thought it a great idea. If we put one of the paper with the word “up” written on it into the pot and made them draw lots, then whoever got that paper should volunteer herself. I opened my mouth and was about to further expound on the idea when Lv Li stopped me in a hurry. She lunged forward to hold my arms and together we walked to the interior of the palace. As we took our steps, Lv Li kept saying out loud, “Your Majesty must be tired. Why don’t you take a rest?”
Lv Li slowed down her steps once we entered the bedroom. She turned around with a worried look on her face and asked, “Your Majesty, what’s got into your head?”
Yeah, what’s wrong with me? Ever since the revelation that night with Qi Sheng, I found myself suddenly beset with anxiety as if everything was slowly spinning out of control. Even though I knew this, there was nothing I could do about it.
A few days had gone by and one day Zhao wang suddenly dropped by to visit me. I sent the nearby maids away and started describing how I felt these days to him, “I felt a sudden panic attack that I’ve never felt before, as if I am drowning in a bottomless river and wherever I looked, there was nothing to hold on to, and there was nothing I could do except watching all the water slowly submerge my mouth and nose. I felt like I would either be suffocated or choked to death…”
As usual, Zhao wang was squatting down on the stairs below the corridor. He turned around and cast a casual glance at me and my growing belly. Then, he said uncaringly, “Didn’t you already know how to swim?”
I was rendered speechless, downcast by the fact that he didn’t get my poetic depiction of what I had been feeling all these days. I shouted, “Lv Li, bring Zhao wang to the Youlan Hall.”
Lv Li poked her head out immediately after my yelling. Upon seeing that, Zhao wang quickly waved to her and apologized to me, “Your Majesty, forgive me. I do apologize.”
Seeing that I didn’t insist on enforcing that previous order, Lv Li quickly went back inside. Zhao wang took a long sigh of relief and continued, “You don’t know him. He has that aloof look, but deep down, he was very sensitive.”
I was amused by what he said and asked, “Sensitive to whom? Your wife?”
Zhao wang remained composed and replied, “He was lenient to me as well. Last time I stabbed him in the back, and even you couldn’t help but beat me up. But he didn’t do anything to me other than stripping of my powers. I was allowed to keep my possessions and titles. If it had been any other Emperor, I would have died a million times over.”
I sneered, “You didn’t die because the Empress Dowager has the order from the late Emperor forbidding him from killing his brothers. That doesn’t make him a merciful Emperor.”
Zhao wang looked at me and slowly replied, “If he wanted me dead, he would have found tons of justified reasons to get rid of me, but he didn’t,” he paused and continued, “You only feel drowned because you don’t trust anyone, be it the Emperor, Lord Ninth, or even your family. That’s why you feel scared and anxious, and that’s why you feel like you are all alone. Why don’t you relax and just let it be? So long as you know how to swim, in the end, you will make it ashore.”
I have never thought that he could be such an eloquent speaker and for a few seconds I was lost for words.
He stared at me for a while and then smiled as he stood up, “Don’t fret over it. Get rested and give the Emperor a daughter. He will surely love that.”
After finishing those words, he simply left.
I was dumbfounded for a long while and when I finally managed to come back to myself, I pointed at his back and shouted, “Why don’t you get a daughter? I hope you would never have a son!”
Time flew and it was already June. The weather was getting hotter by the day, and various factions in the court had resumed their usual plots against each other. Qi Sheng wanted to strip the Zhang clan of their control of the army, but the Zhangs refused, citing the ever-increasing hostilities amassing on the border as an excuse. Meanwhile, the once loyal tribes in the Yunxi Province had been fomenting a new wave of rebellions and they nearly came to clash with the local garrison. He Liangchen, the governor of Yunxi Province sought aid from the Emperor, hoping to squash the rebellion, but the more moderate faction lead by Chu wang championed for peace and tried to appease the rebels rather than risking an all-out war.
As the various factions were engulfed in a tug of war, Qi Sheng surprisingly arranged He Bingze to marry the second daughter of the Zhang family.
This arrangement immediately sent ripples throughout the court.
He Bingze was the only son of He Liangchen, who was the most trusted senior general of Qi Sheng, whereas the Zhang clan provided him with military backing. Between those two clans, which one delivered the olive branch to the other?
Upon hearing the words “olive branch”, I giggled, “Well, what an olive branch it is! I only hope it doesn’t come with too heavy a price for these two families.”