Meng Yu stood motionless in place. Today’s weather was clearly quite nice—spring light gentle, spring breeze warm—but in this moment, she felt cold from head to toe.
The bit of superiority in her heart dissipated without a trace, leaving only endless panic and regret. At the same time, Xie Wenzhao called to her from not far away: “Meng Yu, still not kneeling?”
Kneel?
The person before her was the current Son of Heaven, so of course she had to kneel. But seeing Meng Fu standing there perfectly fine, a myriad of unwillingness arose in Meng Yu’s heart.
Her heart seemed to fall into a vat of sour water. Even if she was unwilling, she had no choice but to obediently bend both knees.
Li Yue didn’t pay any attention to the two of them. Standing in place with his head lowered, he first allowed Meng Fu to wipe all the dust off his face. On Meng Fu’s nose tip still sat the smudge of ash he had just dabbed on. The emperor subconsciously reached out, wanting to help her wipe it off, but was glared at by Meng Fu.
The emperor showed a look of confusion—why was A’Fu disliking him again?
Then he saw his own palm full of dust, and resentfully retracted his hand. Only after Meng Fu finished wiping both his hands clean did he raise his hand to lightly scrape her nose tip and wipe away that smudge of ash.
During all this, Xie Wenzhao had been kneeling on the ground, head lowered, staring at the shadow on the floor. He didn’t know what Meng Yu had done here earlier. Since the emperor hadn’t spoken a word this whole time, Xie Wenzhao’s heart had remained tightly suspended. No matter what, Meng Yu was now his wife. Her every word and action was tied to the Marquis Xuanping’s household.
A long while passed before Xie Wenzhao opened his mouth: “Your Majesty, my humble wife did not know your identity. If she has offended you in any way, I beg Your Majesty to forgive it.”
“Offended?” Li Yue let out a cold laugh, turned, and sat down on the chair beside him. Holding Meng Fu’s hand, he asked, “A’Fu, what did she say just now?”
Meng Fu lowered her eyes to glance at the emperor. The emperor blinked at her. Then Meng Fu cooperated with him in a back-and-forth: “She praised your woodworking as being quite good.”
Upon hearing this, Xie Wenzhao let out a slight breath of relief. But before he could finish exhaling, Meng Fu continued: “She said she wanted you to go work at the marquis’ manor, and would pay you extra silver for it.”
Hearing this, Xie Wenzhao blushed on Meng Yu’s behalf. Paying extra silver to His Majesty? Even if she sold off the entire Marquis’s manor, it wouldn’t be enough for the emperor!
Meng Yu’s face turned so red it seemed like it might drip blood. She only wished she could dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it, rather than kneeling here enduring Meng Fu’s mockery.
Li Yue mocked, “I wonder how much silver this lady intends to give Zhen?”
Meng Yu couldn’t answer. When she said that earlier, she had only been speaking for momentary satisfaction. Hiring a servant—how much silver would that cost? How could she have imagined this man was the current emperor? Her tears began to fall to the ground. Xie Wenzhao knew that Meng Yu’s personality wasn’t fit to shoulder such matters, and could only speak: “A few days ago, my humble wife fell ill and her mind became somewhat muddled. If Your Majesty wishes to punish someone, please punish this official instead.”
Li Yue turned his head to look at Meng Fu. Meng Fu waved her hand. She had no desire to be further entangled with Meng Yu. Besides, Meng Yu was now the wife of Duke Xuanping, and His Majesty had just spoken about the matter of making her empress, then immediately suppressed the Duke Xuanping’s household—outsiders would inevitably speculate. His Majesty didn’t care about such reputation, but she did. She hoped that future histories would record only good things about His Majesty, with no wild speculations.
Li Yue received Meng Fu’s meaning, lowered his eyes, and said coldly: “Since the mind is unwell, take her back and treat her properly.”
Meng Yu opened her mouth to object, but Xie Wenzhao quickly spoke up: “This official will remember.”
“Withdraw.”
Once Li Yue gave the command, Xie Wenzhao quickly led Meng Yu away. Meng Yu was practically dragged out by Xie Wenzhao. Once they reached the street, she still seemed to be sleepwalking—head lowered, not watching the road, mouth constantly mumbling: “How could this happen? How could this happen?”
“Meng Yu, I don’t care what you’re really thinking inside. In the future, when you see Meng Fu, you’d best behave yourself. Today, the reason you and I walked out of there alive was because His Majesty was merciful,” Xie Wenzhao paused, then lightly sighed, “Meng Fu probably doesn’t want to acknowledge you as a sister either. You’d best avoid her from now on.”
Meng Yu seemed to be completely immersed in her own world, not hearing a word of what Xie Wenzhao was saying to her. She shook her head, saying, “Impossible. It’s fake, all fake! This must be a dream!”
Ever since childhood, in the Meng household, she had been doted on with a thousand pamperings and ten thousand indulgences. Whatever good things there were, they were always given to her first. At that time, Meng Yanxing was flourishing in the court with unmatched glory, and officials trying to curry favor with him would always speak flattering words when they saw her.
Ever since Meng Fu was brought back to the Meng residence, Meng Yu could never avoid being compared to this elder sister. They said she was a true daughter of a distinguished family, while when it came to talking about herself, it was just a perfunctory smile.
It wasn’t that Meng Yu had never considered becoming like Meng Fu, only that she couldn’t endure Meng Yanxing’s strictness. She would fish for three days and dry the nets for two [idiom for lack of perseverance or inconsistency], and with Madam Meng shielding her, Meng Yanxing wouldn’t scold her harshly either. So in the end, what she learned was only half-baked.
What Meng Yu couldn’t accept the most was that Meng Yanxing intended for Meng Fu to become the Crown Princess. They were both daughters of the Meng family—why had her father never considered her? At that time, the most vicious thought Meng Yu had was: If only Meng Fu didn’t exist. If Meng Fu didn’t exist, then all of this should have been hers.
She didn’t want to kneel and salute Meng Fu every time she saw her in the future, but after going around in circles, she still ended up in this kind of situation.
Meng Yu seemed not yet to have woken from this terrible nightmare. She kept comforting herself, saying: “She’s a woman who’s already been married, how could the emperor possibly marry her? Sooner or later, the emperor will cast her aside!”
Xie Wenzhao frowned deeply. Seeing Meng Yu speak more and more outrageously, he shouted: “Whether His Majesty marries her or not, right now she is the person in His Majesty’s heart. If you have even half a brain, you should know what to do! If you want to seek death yourself, fine—but don’t drag the marquis manor down with you!”
If she weren’t his wife, Xie Wenzhao really would have wanted to throw her aside and leave. What had he even liked about Meng Yu back then?
Last year, when Meng Fu caused a scene in the marquis manor, he had always thought it was Heaven punishing him. But now it seemed—this was the real punishment.
After much difficulty dragging Meng Yu back to the marquis manor, Xie Wenzhao looked up and saw his superior, Minister of Revenue Qian Dongzhou, stepping out of a sedan chair.
Qian Dongzhou got up and, seeing Xie Wenzhao, greeted him: “I was just looking for you!”
This man never came to the temple without a reason. Seeing Qian Dongzhou’s radiant smile, Xie Wenzhao somehow had a bad feeling in his heart. He cupped his hands and asked, “Is there something going on in the Ministry of Revenue?”
“No, no,” Qian Dongzhou waved his hand and said to Xie Wenzhao, “It’s that His Majesty wants to establish an empress.”
He had come specifically to watch the show.
“That’s a good thing,” Xie Wenzhao forced a laugh, though a suspicion was already forming in his heart.
Qian Dongzhou even deliberately acted mysterious and asked him, “Do you know who it is?”
“I don’t,” Xie Wenzhao replied.
Qian Dongzhou wiped the smile off his face and said to Xie Wenzhao, “It’s Meng Fu.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the Marquis of Xuanping didn’t react—but the new wife he had taken just last month suddenly clutched her ears and let out a scream, then ran into the marquis manor like a madwoman.
Qian Dongzhou was startled into a shiver—what was this situation?
Terrifying.
He raised his hand to press against his own chest and asked Xie Wenzhao: “She, she, she… what’s wrong with her?”
Xie Wenzhao turned back to glance at her, instructed the servants to follow and check, then answered Qian Dongzhou: “Suffered some shock. Her mind’s not working too well at the moment.”
Qian Dongzhou looked at Xie Wenzhao with a few more degrees of sympathy. He patted Xie Wenzhao’s shoulder and said: “You’ve suffered. Better find a doctor quickly to take a look at her.”
After sending off Qian Dongzhou—who had made a special trip just to watch the joke—Xie Wenzhao found Meng Yu, who was surrounded by the servants. He instructed: “Let the madam stay quietly in Lingxiang Pavilion. Whenever she figures things out, then let her come out.”
Someone had come to the Marquis of Xuanping’s residence to deliver the message, so naturally someone also brought this good news to the Meng family.
The first to arrive at the Meng family was Assistant Minister of Personnel Li Wan. Back when the former emperor was still alive, he and Meng Yanxing had always looked down on each other. They fought endlessly every day. Since Meng Yanxing was more favored by the previous emperor, Li Wan had suffered quite a bit in front of him. Now, at long last, he had the chance to watch him fall.
As soon as he exited the noon imperial audience gate, Li Wan immediately ordered the sedan bearers to rush to the Meng residence. After the servants reported his arrival, he hurriedly rushed into Meng Yanxing’s study, shouting as he went:
“Meng old brother—Meng old brother—!”
When he recalled how, in court, His Majesty had deliberately denied that Meng Fu was Meng Yanxing’s daughter, Li Wan’s smile grew even brighter. This time, he could finally witness Meng Yanxing become a joke with his own eyes. As soon as he entered the room, he mischievously and slyly said to Meng Yanxing:
“Old Brother Meng, I’ve come to tell you some joyful news—great joyful news! Monumental joyful news!”
Meng Yanxing sat behind the writing desk, looking at the beaming Li Wan at the door, his eyes slightly narrowed.