Madam Tang’s first reaction upon hearing this was: what a good Tang Mingqi, he really was hiding private money behind her back. She had said that last month’s grocery money didn’t add up, but because the difference wasn’t much, she hadn’t pursued it further. Now she understood what had happened. Her second reaction was: who was it that wanted to tell her this, and what was this person’s goal?
A lowly palace maid definitely wouldn’t bring this up to her without cause. And there shouldn’t be many people who knew that Tang Mingqi was hiding private money. His Majesty was drinking with Tang Mingqi and wouldn’t have had time to send someone to her. The Empress Dowager might not know about this matter either. Then only one person was left—Ji Yun. Why would Ji Yun send a palace person to tell her this? Could it be he was retaliating because Tang Mingqi only drank with His Majesty and not with him?
Madam Tang asked the palace maid in front of her, “How do you know?”
The maid said, “This servant cannot say. But this servant can tell Madam where General Tang’s private money is hidden.”
Madam Tang suddenly seemed to understand the other party’s intention. But she had to admit, the other side grasped the nature of her relationship with Tang Mingqi very accurately. She turned her head and glanced at Tang Mingqi in the distance. That fool Tang Mingqi was still drinking with His Majesty. Madam Tang said to the palace maid, “Speak.”
The palace maid repeated what the eunuch had instructed her to say to Madam Tang. Madam Tang nodded. She hadn’t expected that Tang Mingqi, who usually had no brains, could be so crafty when it came to hiding private money—he even knew that the most dangerous place was the safest place: hidden in the hidden compartment beneath her dressing cabinet. Was this some kind of innate talent?
After delivering the message, the palace maid withdrew. Madam Tang looked at Tang Mingqi for a while, found that he hadn’t noticed her at all, and felt it was boring. Her gaze then landed on Ji Yun.
She was already seventy to eighty percent sure that this matter was Ji Yun’s doing, but she didn’t know why Ji Yun would do this.
Ji Yun was slightly older than Li Yue, quick-witted, well-versed in military strategy, and had once coordinated seamlessly with Li Yue to crush the invading tribes. He had delicate features, fair skin, and was nothing like the rough men in the army camp, which was why the soldiers jokingly called him “The Flower of the Northern Frontier”.
He was rather refined in nature. Though he had long resided in the bitter cold of the northern frontier, he always harbored a heart full of romance and sentiment. Even when drinking, he had to savor the taste slowly—completely different from Tang Mingqi’s gulping style.
He hadn’t seen fine pastries in a long time. Chatting casually with a few brothers nearby, he picked up his chopsticks and slowly tasted the delicacies. Just as he was happily eating, he suddenly felt someone watching him. He hadn’t returned from the northern frontier for many years—getting some attention now was reasonable. But Ji Yun just felt that this gaze was different from the others.
He lifted his head and searched among the many guests. At last, he met Madam Tang’s gaze. Ji Yun and Madam Tang were considered familiar acquaintances. Ji Yun didn’t overthink it, raised a glass to her from afar, and even gave her a smile.
He didn’t know that this one smile of his would result in being saddled with a huge black pot. [扣上黑锅: to be wrongly blamed for something]
And Tang Mingqi was completely unaware of the danger approaching. His years of painstaking effort were about to go down the drain. While following Meng Fu’s words and recounting all sorts of experiences he had had in the northern frontier these years, he also downed a few more pots of wine.
A palace person served the wrong wine. Tang Mingqi took a sip, tasted it again and again, then frowned in confusion and asked, “Your Majesty, why does your wine have no taste?”
Eunuch Gao was startled and thought to himself: if this plain water had taste, that would be strange. What were the palace people doing? How could they send His Majesty’s wine to General Tang? If General Tang found out that His Majesty was brushing him off with plain water, wouldn’t he be displeased?
Eunuch Gao was still wondering how to explain it to Tang Mingqi when he heard His Majesty say solemnly, “The palace wine is all like this.”
“No wonder you told me you wanted to drink northern frontier wine,” Tang Mingqi nodded, seemingly agreeing with Meng Fu’s earlier words. But then he reacted, shaking his head and saying, “No, wait—what I drank just now wasn’t like this. This stuff is just like plain water.”
Meng Fu didn’t bother explaining and simply instructed a palace person to bring that pot of wine before her. She could tell that Tang Mingqi was in a state of half-drunkenness, half-sobriety—it wasn’t difficult to brush him off. In fact, there was no need to brush him off at all.
Meng Fu said, “You’ve had a bit too much to drink.”
Tang Mingqi denied it, “Impossible! I’m just getting started.”
Meng Fu didn’t argue with him, simply raised a cup of plain water and, without any guilt, said to the general: “Then I’ll toast you again.”
As expected, General Tang immediately forgot all about why the Emperor’s wine had no taste and began a new round of hearty drinking.
Li Yue sat below, watching until flames flared in his eyes. This Tang Mingqi, does he never stop? Back when they were in the northern frontier, how come he wasn’t this good at drinking? Could it be that over the past few years, he spent all his private money on buying alcohol?
He was thinking about how to mess this matter up next. He couldn’t possibly let them go on drinking endlessly like this. Just as he was about to call over a little eunuch again, he saw a palace maid walking toward her. Li Yue thought to himself, he hadn’t entered the palace these past few days, and yet these palace servants already understood people’s hearts so well?
That palace maid walked in front of Li Yue and said to him, “Lady Xie, the Empress Dowager requests that you come over.”
Li Yue put down the chopsticks in his hand and raised his eyes to glance at the palace maid. He felt that this “Lady Xie” sounded really unpleasant and corrected her: “Call me Lady Meng.”
A hint of confusion flashed in the palace maid’s eyes—wasn’t this the Marchioness of Xuanping? Wasn’t the Marquis of Xuanping named Xie Wenzhao?
But she had served in the palace for many years and knew that when one shouldn’t ask questions, one absolutely must not. She cooperated very well and said, “Yes, Lady Meng.”
Li Yue followed the palace maid toward the Empress Dowager’s side, thinking to himself: what did the Empress Dowager call him over for? Could it be that she had seen through his true identity?
When Li Yue arrived, he realized his guess was wrong. There was already a circle of noblewomen surrounding the Empress Dowager, chatting and laughing together—it was very lively.
Li Yue sighed inwardly—so he wasn’t the only one being called. If the others hadn’t come, they probably wouldn’t have thought of him.
Li Yue stood back a little. He still wasn’t very used to standing among so many women. Ever since he and Meng Fu swapped bodies, he hadn’t seen the Empress Dowager. Now, looking at his imperial mother’s complexion and spirit, she seemed much better than before.
When the Empress Dowager saw Li Yue coming over, she didn’t immediately summon him to her side. She waited a while, then pretended to “notice him by chance,” and waved him over.
After Li Yue walked over, the Empress Dowager asked knowingly: “This young lady is?”
Gugu Chen at the side cooperated with the Empress Dowager in the performance and introduced: “Your Highness, this is the Marchioness of Xuanping.”
The Empress Dowager smiled and said: “So very pretty—what’s your name?”
Li Yue: “……”
This was the first time in his life hearing the Empress Dowager call him pretty. Even though he knew the Empress Dowager wasn’t actually praising him, hearing it still felt awfully strange.
“Meng Fu,” Li Yue answered.
“Meng Fu,” the Empress Dowager nodded and said, “That’s a good name.”
Earlier, due to the distance, the Empress Dowager hadn’t gotten a clear look at this young lady’s appearance. Now that Li Yue had come closer, she looked carefully—indeed, this was a rare beauty. It’s just that His Majesty had seen all sorts of beauties in the palace. What was so exceptional about this young lady that the Emperor, despite her being already married, would still secretly meet her in the Imperial Garden? How much affection did she hold for the Emperor? Even if the Empress Dowager wanted to help His Majesty, she’d have to first clarify these two questions. But these were hard to ask directly—she’d have to take a roundabout approach.
Ninth Prince was standing at the Empress Dowager’s side. He tilted his head slightly and examined Li Yue, his little head full of questions. He turned to look at Meng Fu, who was still drinking with Tang Mingqi, furrowed his brows, then turned back to look at Li Yue, his face showing even more confusion. He hesitated, raised his hand, walked in front of Li Yue, and poked his sleeve.
The Empress Dowager knew Ninth Prince was actually very clever, but he rarely took the initiative to interact with people. Now he was even willing to touch a young lady he’d just met for the first time—this was truly surprising.
The Empress Dowager patted Ninth Prince’s head and smiled, saying: “Seems like Xiao Jiu really likes you.”
The noblewomen all around also looked at Li Yue with envious eyes. They had been sitting here accompanying the Empress Dowager and chatting for quite some time, but they hadn’t seen this little prince show any reaction. This Marchioness of Xuanping was clearly not simple.
Li Yue was also quite surprised. He had already learned from Meng Fu that this younger brother of his was actually very smart, but he hadn’t expected to receive such a big surprise upon entering the palace today.
He lowered his head and met the big, black, glossy eyes of Ninth Prince. In those eyes was a reflection of himself. Back when Li Yue was still in his own body, he often teased this little prince, but every time Ninth Prince saw him, he would run off like lightning—as if Li Yue might eat him. Now that he was in Meng Fu’s body, the little prince ran straight over to him upon sight.
So young, and already judging people by appearance—really not good.
There were some questions the Empress Dowager wasn’t suited to ask in front of so many people, and now that Ninth Prince had created such an opportunity, the Empress Dowager rose and said, “Aijia ate a bit too much—Marchioness of Xuanping, come accompany Aijia and Xiao Jiu for a walk in the back.”
No one present suspected that the Empress Dowager had any other intention in taking the Marchioness of Xuanping out. They were also somewhat familiar with Ninth Prince’s situation—this little prince had just shown obvious interest in the Marchioness of Xuanping, and the Empress Dowager, being a doting mother, taking the two of them for a walk now couldn’t be more normal.
Meng Fu noticed the movement on the Empress Dowager’s side. Seeing her take Li Yue away, she felt uneasy and had Eunuch Gao send someone to follow them.
Gao Xi felt as if he had already seen through everything. Unfortunately, this secret could only rot in his stomach—not only could he not speak of it to anyone, he also had to help His Majesty tie up all the loose ends that might leak information.
The Empress Dowager didn’t walk fast. Li Yue dawdled behind her, pondering what exactly the Empress Dowager had brought him out here for, while Ninth Prince kept staring at Li Yue the entire time.
Just before they arrived at the Imperial Garden, the Empress Dowager suddenly asked, “How old are you this year?”