The Empress Dowager immediately stood up upon seeing the little prince’s action. That little prince had lived in her Cining Palace for many years, but had never once picked food for her.
She looked at the piece of lotus root in Meng Fu’s bowl, her gaze both envious and emotional.
Meng Fu, however, immediately understood the little prince’s intention. She smiled and said to him: “Nope. You can have them when you open your mouth and talk.”
The little prince pouted, then used his chopsticks to take the lotus root back from Meng Fu’s bowl.
Meng Fu couldn’t help but laugh. The Empress Dowager sat down again and laughed as well, saying: “I see he’s more lively these past few days than before.”
Meng Fu consoled the Empress Dowager: “He’ll get better little by little.”
In the past, when others said this, the Empress Dowager only took it as empty words said to comfort her. But now it was different. The Empress Dowager saw hope. If one day her youngest son could live like a normal person, then when she passed on, she could rest in peace.
Tonight, the Empress Dowager was truly happy. By the end of the meal, she even drank two cups. But her tolerance for alcohol was truly poor. After drinking, she was a little drunk, and sat there silently shedding tears.
The former emperor’s harem had many consorts. The Empress Dowager was truly not considered clever among them; she didn’t have many tricks for competing for favor — she just had a decent appearance, and was thus able to receive a little of the former emperor’s affection among the many beauties. But that affection was limited.
When Li Yue was sent by the former emperor to the northern frontier, for the first two months, the Empress Dowager couldn’t sleep for entire nights — afraid that blades and swords would wound him, afraid the fierce cold winds would freeze him, and most afraid that once he left, he might never return.
At that time, the Empress Dowager burned incense and copied scriptures day and night, begging the Buddha to bless him with safety. She also made many cloth bunny dolls that Li Yue had loved as a child, and always kept them stored in a cabinet — never once told Li Yue about them. Until today, taking advantage of the drunken state, she finally gave them all to Meng Fu.
Meng Fu received the little cloth bunny dolls and smiled silently. She hadn’t expected that His Majesty would’ve liked something like this when he was little. When she was about to leave, the Empress Dowager still hadn’t sobered up much. With support from Gugu Chen, she looked at Meng Fu, hesitating for a long while before finally opening her mouth slowly to ask:
“How is Nanny Liu doing?”
Meng Fu replied: “Still investigating.”
Nanny Liu’s mouth was very hard — after enduring every kind of torture, she still stuck to the same story. But the shadow guards had already checked: her son’s grave hadn’t been visited in years. If she truly loved him that much, how could she have let that grave remain so desolate for all these years?
It’s just that she acted very cautiously. The shadow guards hadn’t found any other clues in her room either. In the past few years, the only transgression she seemed to have committed… was the injuries on the little prince.
Why exactly did she do this?
The Empress Dowager let out a sigh. Every time she thought of how it was she herself who handed the little prince over to Nanny Liu, her heart was full of guilt and regret. Seeing that the Empress Dowager was about to shed tears again, Meng Fu quickly said to Gugu Chen: “Quickly help the Empress Dowager back to rest, and prepare some sobering soup. Let her sleep early tonight.”
Gugu Chen quickly agreed.
Meng Fu returned to Zichen Palace hugging a pile of rabbit plushies, intending to have the shadow guards deliver one to His Majesty later. Then she sat down at the desk to handle the day’s memorials. Most of what was mentioned in the memorials were unimportant trivial matters, except for one that caught Meng Fu’s attention — the officials compiling records in the Fengtian Study said the first volume of the Grand Ceremony had already been completed, and they wished to invite His Majesty to inspect it.
Meng Fu set that memorial aside separately, planning to ask His Majesty about it before making any decisions.
On the other side, when Li Yue returned to the Xuanping Marquis Manor, he saw Hua Xiaoling standing outside the Jixue Courtyard, seeming like she had been waiting for him for quite some time.
“What are you doing here?” Li Yue asked coldly.
Hua Xiaoling had already gotten used to Li Yue’s coldness. Compared to being scolded by madam, there were scarier things about to happen. The nine-day period was almost over, and she hadn’t even gotten close to Xie Wenzhao. Suddenly, Hua Xiaoling realized — Xie Wenzhao was taller and stronger than her, and when he was a child, he had even learned a bit of martial arts from the old marquis. Even if he had forgotten most of it by now, for Hua Xiaoling to beat him and pin him down, it would take at least two to three years.
But Hua Xiaoling couldn’t wait that long. In two or three years, Xie Wenzhao might already be carrying babies in his arms. So today she thickened her face and came to ask Li Yue: “Madam, I want to ask you something — are there any moves that can subdue a person in one go?”
Li Yue glanced sideways at her and asked: “What do you want to do?”
Hua Xiaoling gave a “hehe” laugh. She wasn’t a fool — of course she wouldn’t tell Li Yue the truth. She only said she wanted to learn some martial arts for self-defense.
Li Yue wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to waste words with her. He said directly: “If you won’t tell the truth, then get lost.”
Seeing that Li Yue really didn’t want to bother with her, Hua Xiaoling grew anxious. Not daring to hide anymore, she checked to make sure no servants were around, then secretly told Li Yue her plan.
After hearing Hua Xiaoling’s plan, Li Yue’s first thought was that this girl had quite the ideas. His second thought was: Is Xie Wenzhao really mentally normal?
Frowning slightly, he said: “Is Xie Wenzhao really not okay? Maybe he should see a few doctors and have it checked.”
Hua Xiaoling gave an exaggerated sigh and said to Li Yue: “Madam, you’ve already been married into the marquis manor for so long, how come you still don’t understand the marquis’s heart?”
Why should he understand Xie Wenzhao’s heart? That would be disgusting! How could he still eat after that?!
This was the first time Hua Xiaoling had the chance to lecture the madam with reason, and she felt quite proud of herself. She lifted her chin and said: “That marquis — it’s not that his body has a problem. It’s that there’s someone in his heart. He looks down on everyone else.”
Li Yue gave a cold laugh and said indifferently: “If there’s someone in his heart, how did he end up taking three concubines? His heart must be holding a lot of people.”
Hua Xiaoling said: “It’s not like he had a choice.” She paused, then added, “Well… maybe it wasn’t entirely against his will either. Do you know why Qu Hanyan earned the marquis’s favor? Isn’t it because she can play the zither, and also happens to resemble the person in the marquis’s heart a little? That’s why he took a liking to her and brought her back to the marquis manor. But even after getting Qu Hanyan, the marquis still couldn’t let go of the person in his heart.”
Li Yue let out a mocking snort — there are so many people in this world who look like the old marquis. When the old marquis passes away in the future, is Xie Wenzhao going to gather them all up and make them his dad?
If that’s the case, then he really would have to look at Xie Wenzhao with new eyes.
He commented on this: “A toad riding a frog, ugly but plays flashy.”
[“癞蛤蟆骑青蛙” — “a toad riding a frog,” playing on the idea of two ugly creatures together, used mockingly to describe someone unattractive but acting flirtatiously or shamelessly. “癞蛤蟆” (toad) is also a derogatory metaphor for people who aim beyond their league.]
Hua Xiaoling let out a puchi and burst into wild cackles — she knew it wasn’t appropriate, but what the madam said was just way too funny, gagagaga!
She finally managed to stop her laughter and said to Li Yue with a serious face: “Madam, how can you say that about the marquis? That’s not right at all! What do you mean a toad riding a frog — gagagagaga!”
If only Hua Xiaoling hadn’t let out such an ugly laugh while saying that, her words might’ve been a bit more convincing.
In the end, Li Yue still taught Hua Xiaoling a move. Because he wasn’t feeling well, he didn’t demonstrate personally, only explained it to Hua Xiaoling using Qingping’s body as a reference. Qingping stood there listening to how they were planning to trap Xie Wenzhao, her face utterly numb.
Hua Xiaoling wasn’t strong, had no foundation at all — if she wanted to successfully subdue someone in a single move, she had to act when the opponent wasn’t on guard. She could consider drugging Xie Wenzhao, but if she used drugs, even if she managed to pin him down, nothing else could happen after that anyway.
Whether tonight would be success or failure — it was all up to Hua Xiaoling herself now.
That evening, Xie Wenzhao came to the Linglong Pavilion, found a secluded spot, and began reading. While flipping through the book, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of Hua Xiaoling staring at him intently — that gaze felt very off. But exactly how it was off, he couldn’t quite say.
He wanted to speak, but the words reached his lips and were swallowed back down. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, Hua Xiaoling would surely think he was interested in her.
Thankfully, the nine days at Hua Xiaoling’s place were almost over. Afterward, he could go to Sun Yulian’s place.
Sun Yulian had always been gentle and understanding — he definitely couldn’t be made to suffer the way he had in Linglong Pavilion.
He put away those irrelevant thoughts and continued reading. Xie Wenzhao was moved by the beautiful lines in the book — he thought of how he once, under the flowers and moonlight, had sworn eternal love with Meng Yu, only to end up having no choice but to marry her older sister. In the future, Meng Yu would also marry another, and the two of them would become mere strangers.
Why was it that two people who deeply loved each other couldn’t be together? Xie Wenzhao was completely consumed by his own sorrow and couldn’t pull himself out — totally unaware that behind him, Hua Xiaoling was tiptoeing closer, measuring against his back again and again, confirming the acupoints Li Yue had mentioned. Then, swiftly and accurately, she pressed down.
Xie Wenzhao only felt a numbness in his back — and instantly went blank. All he heard was a thud, and before he even realized what had happened, Hua Xiaoling had already tackled him to the ground.
(T/N: I’m just laughing my ass off because what the hell is happening)