Then he sighed and added: “Her Majesty the Empress truly has a kind heart.”
Wei Jun’an had originally wanted to mock Liu Changlan, but he had to agree with that statement. He nodded and said: “That’s true.”
—
Inside the Zichen Hall, the kind-hearted Empress and the Emperor who had sulked for quite a while went back together to the rear hall to prepare for their meal. Taking advantage of the moment when the palace attendants weren’t looking, she tiptoed and kissed the corner of Li Yue’s lips, saying to him: “There shouldn’t be any more ministers visiting this afternoon.”
Li Yue was slightly comforted and said with a sigh: “I’m sick of them. Don’t they have anything serious to do day after day? If this continues, after court disperses every day, I might as well have them go sweep the streets for an hour. At least it would be doing something useful for the common people.”
But to the officials of the court, the Empress appearing in the front hall to summon officials along with the Emperor was already a very serious matter.
Meng Fu knew His Majesty was just saying it casually, so she didn’t argue—she simply asked: “Just now, why did you even snap your brush?”
His Majesty sat down and pulled Meng Fu onto his lap, saying to her: “I am angry.”
Meng Fu thought for a moment and said, “Even if you’re angry, there’s no need to break the brush.”
His Majesty righteously said: “Isn’t this to show that I’m very angry?”
To express the pent-up anger in his heart, he had even deliberately used internal force so that the crack sound would be especially crisp and loud. At that moment, Liu Changlan had indeed been startled into a shiver.
Meng Fu: “…”
She let out a soft sigh and lifted her hand. That light yellow sleeve was splattered with several drops of ink—big and small, like a blossom of ink-colored plum flowers. Even her arm had been splattered, making her skin appear especially fair. Just now, when she was talking to Liu Changlan in the front hall, she had to be cautious so he wouldn’t see it.
“Next time, before you break a brush, could you give me a little warning?” After saying this, Meng Fu lowered her sleeve and got up to walk toward the back.
Li Yue hurried after her and asked, “Is A’Fu angry?”
What could Meng Fu possibly be angry about? She was just going to change clothes.
But before she could speak, His Majesty planted a heavy kiss on her cheek. Meng Fu immediately understood—His Majesty was taking the opportunity to steal a kiss. After kissing her, his eyes sparkled as he asked her, “Still angry?”
Meng Fu knew what answer he wanted, so she played along and said with a straight face: “Still angry!”
“It’s all my fault, it’s I who was wrong,” His Majesty apologized to Meng Fu with an expression of utmost sincerity—but not following any normal routine—and then said, “Then let me help A’Fu change clothes.”
Meng Fu sighed inwardly. His Majesty’s acting right now was really terrible. Just look at how far up the corners of his mouth had already lifted.
Was he apologizing or celebrating?
Meng Fu asked him: “Aren’t you going to eat?”
His Majesty thickened his skin, leaned in close to Meng Fu’s ear, and whispered: “I want to eat A’Fu.”
After saying this, His Majesty once again fiercely spat at himself inside: he really was a lecherous muddle-headed ruler!
The two of them messed around in the inner chamber for a while. Another large portion of the hour passed. They hastily had lunch and returned to the front hall to continue handling memorials.
As Meng Fu had said, no ministers came to request an audience that afternoon.
Originally, the civil and military officials were firmly opposed to the Empress remaining in the front hall. But after a few days, no one brought it up again—as if they all agreed with His Majesty’s decision.
Occasionally, when someone brought it up in conversation, an official would say with a solemn face: “His Majesty toils for the country every day. We ministers ought to do more to relieve His Majesty’s burdens and not let him worry further.”
Colleagues would nod in agreement: “Yes, yes.”
“Her Majesty the Empress bears the virtue of a mother to the world, always kind and approachable. She and His Majesty are a heaven-matched pair.”
The colleagues echoed again: “Indeed, indeed.”
“So now that His Majesty is unwell and should avoid agitation, we can’t persuade him otherwise. Then Her Majesty the Empress really should accompany His Majesty more in the front hall so that His Majesty can recover sooner.”
Colleagues again chimed in with approval: “Quite right, quite right.”
A few officials were still quietly muttering that this matter didn’t conform to ritual law and rules of propriety. But they didn’t dare speak out anymore. They felt that if they kept objecting, it would seem like they were being unreasonable, insensitive, and completely unconcerned with His Majesty’s health.
Such a big hat being put on someone’s head—who would dare take it?
Besides, His Majesty liked Her Majesty the Empress so much—if they offended the Empress, and she made a complaint about them in front of the Emperor, how could they come out of it well?
Wasn’t the Empress just sitting in the front hall? What’s the big deal? And Her Majesty spoke so pleasantly, often helping them avoid a lot of His Majesty’s scolding.
Thinking this way, the hundred officials felt much more at ease. How wonderful! Why didn’t Her Majesty come earlier!
The court and the inner palace were actually not all that different. Those stubborn old fogeys who treated ancestral rules as life itself couldn’t last long here—His Majesty had long since removed them all.
Seeing that the officials were becoming more and more accepting of her, Meng Fu observed the situation for a few days and felt it was time to add more firewood to the flames.
So, on the ninth day of the seventh lunar month in the fourth year of Xihe, when the officials arrived at the Xuanzheng Hall in the morning, they were startled to find an additional phoenix-headed chair in the hall.
The officials immediately felt a vague sense of foreboding, but also thought their suspicions were too far-fetched, so they didn’t dare to speak carelessly.
When they saw Gao Xi coming, they hurried over and asked him, “Eunuch Gao, why is there an extra chair up there?”
Gao Xi directly told the truth and said to them, “Later, Her Majesty the Empress will come with His Majesty.”
Wei Jun’an, who stood at the front, instinctively retorted, “How can this be! How can the Empress attend court?”
It was already absurd enough for the Empress to accompany the Emperor in summoning officials in the front hall of the Zichen Hall—and now she was going to listen to court matters in the Xuanzheng Hall too? That was going way too far, wasn’t it?
Gao Xi pretended to sigh and said to Wei Jun’an: “You all have seen how angry His Majesty has been these days. The imperial physicians already advised His Majesty to avoid getting worked up, but once he’s in court, no one can stop him from flying into a rage.”
Just last month, there was a flood disaster in Jiangnan. The court dispatched large amounts of relief grain and funds, but nearly half were embezzled by local officials. Some even took the opportunity to intentionally raise rice prices—officials and merchants colluding to pocket the disaster relief. His Majesty flew into a rage, sending multiple imperial envoys to cross-monitor and thoroughly investigate, uprooting the corrupt officials. When His Majesty later received the reports from the envoys, he got angry again. Each time he uttered the word “Kill,” the officials below felt a chill around their necks.
Wei Jun’an furrowed his brows—was Eunuch Gao implying they were incompetent? But with His Majesty’s temper, who could persuade him?
Oh—sometimes, Her Majesty the Empress could.
Gao Xi took in the expressions of the officials before him and continued, smiling with narrowed eyes: “Besides, Her Majesty is just accompanying His Majesty—she won’t interfere in government affairs.”
Wei Jun’an felt a little tempted. He glanced back at his colleagues and asked Gao Xi, “Is that true?”
Gao Xi nodded, speaking cryptically: “If the lords require it to be so.”
Of course, they needed Her Majesty not to interfere in government! If she just sat silently beside His Majesty, they could accept that.
After all, she had already listened to court affairs in the front hall. Coming to the Xuanzheng Hall wasn’t much different.
As long as she didn’t interfere in state affairs!
Wei Jun’an and the others exchanged glances, already forming their thoughts. Although Her Majesty was truly a fine person, matters of the country and family weren’t things a woman should meddle in. If the Empress tried to open her mouth and intervene in politics, they simply wouldn’t respond.
Just then, a palace servant outside suddenly raised their voice and called out:
“His Majesty and Her Majesty have arrived—!”
Inside the Xuanzheng Hall, the hundred officials all knelt and called out:
“May Our Sovereign live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand ten-thousand years—!”
After a brief pause, they continued: “May Her Majesty the Empress live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years—!”
Meng Fu and Li Yue stepped up the stone steps one by one. Last summer, she too had walked this path countless times—but back then, she was the Emperor.
Li Yue suddenly stopped. He held Meng Fu’s hand, as if he had something to say. Gao Xi came forward and asked, “Your Majesty, is something not right?”
Li Yue looked back at the hundred officials below and said in a low voice: “Starting tomorrow, let them all shout long live together.”
The officials kneeling on the ground really hadn’t expected that this was what His Majesty wanted to say. They looked at each other—one after another—not knowing how to open their mouths.
From ancient times to the present, there had never been such a thing as shouting “long live” for the Empress.
If someone else had said this, they all would have submitted a memorial to the Emperor saying the Empress was trying to rebel. But since it was His Majesty who said it—there was nothing they could do.
But Li Yue was very clear in his own heart: “Thousand years”? “Ten thousand years”? So many emperors were recorded in the history books, but he had never seen a single one who lived to a hundred.
Still, calling out “ten thousand years” together sounded smoother to the ear.
Li Yue turned his head to look at Meng Fu beside him.
Golden sunlight filled the great hall, and the glazed bead curtains swayed gently with the wind.
Meng Fu gripped Li Yue’s hand tightly, turned her head, and smiled at him.