“Bring Zhen over,” Meng Fu said.
“Where does Your Majesty want to go?” Gao Xi had just said this when he realized he had asked a very stupid question. He had just told His Majesty where the wife of the Marquis of Xuanping was, and now they were going out—where else could His Majesty be going?
He quickly said, “It was this servant who spoke too much.”
Meng Fu left Linde Hall following Gao Xi. The people in the hall, upon seeing His Majesty leave, immediately leaned toward one another and began whispering. Until now, they still didn’t know why His Majesty had held a banquet in Linde Hall today, nor why he suddenly left in the middle of the banquet.
His Majesty’s thoughts are becoming harder and harder to guess.
Xie Wenzhao sat in his own seat, listening to the surrounding officials discussing the Emperor, and felt even more uneasy in his heart. Why had Meng Fu gone out for so long and still not returned? Could it be that she really regarded the imperial palace as her own home?
Meng Fu left Linde Hall and headed straight for the Imperial Garden. Gao Xi followed behind, secretly sighing in his heart: what exactly is going on between His Majesty and the wife of the Marquis of Xuanping? How is it that he hadn’t heard a single rumor about it?
The shadows of the trees swayed; faint fragrance drifted. The moon floated atop the calm surface of the water, and with a gentle blow from the evening breeze, it shattered. The small pavilion that Gao Xi had spoken of was not far away. Meng Fu stopped walking, and by the light of the lantern and moon, she could faintly see a woman sitting inside the pavilion.
Meng Fu instructed Gao Xi to stay where he was and not let anyone else approach. Then she walked over alone.
As she followed the pebble path beneath her feet all the way to the stone steps of the pavilion, the woman sitting in the pavilion seemed to have heard a sound. She stood up and turned around.
And so Meng Fu saw “herself” standing in front of her.
The moonlight was as gentle as water, flowing down the flying eaves of the pavilion, spilling over the golden-speckled hem of the skirt.
Meng Fu stepped onto the stone steps beneath her feet and walked into the pavilion, calling out: “Your Majesty?”
Li Yue gave an “mm” sound in response, then turned around and sat back down on the stone bench.
Meng Fu stood facing him. A day had already passed, and she still felt that all of this was so unbelievable—that this emperor really had become herself.
By reason, upon seeing the Emperor, she should kneel and kowtow. But the problem was, she was now using Li Yue’s body. If she were to salute herself like this… however one thought about it, the scene just didn’t seem right.
Meng Fu didn’t know much about this Emperor. She immediately decided to throw the question back to Li Yue, asking, “Should I salute you?”
Li Yue waved his hand and said, “Enough of that, what time is it now, and you’re still talking about salutes?”
Fortunately, he had indeed swapped bodies with this lady—things weren’t all bad.
But thinking about Meng Fu’s identity and the situation with the Marquis of Xuanping’s residence, Li Yue felt that it wasn’t all that good either.
Meng Fu stood in place. Seeing him frown one moment and glare the next, with facial expressions changing so richly—she herself might not make that many expressions in an entire year. After a while, Li Yue’s expression returned to normal. Meng Fu lowered her head slightly and carefully asked, “Do you know what’s going on with us?”
“I don’t know,” Li Yue said.
His expression was very foul. If he knew who did this, that person’s head would have already relocated. If he were using his own appearance right now, he would definitely be imposing and intimidating. But now, using Meng Fu’s body—when Meng Fu saw “herself” looking so puffed-up with anger, it actually looked a little… cute.
“What do you plan to do next?” Meng Fu asked in a soft voice.
Li Yue gave her a somewhat strange glance. When Meng Fu spoke, it was always unhurried and gentle. Now that she was using his body, she still spoke in that way.
He had never spoken in that tone in his entire life. Listening to it was weird—it felt off no matter how you looked at it.
Now that Meng Fu had become him, for the sake of maintaining national stability, this matter definitely couldn’t be allowed to leak out further. So she had to obediently stay in the palace and act as him to handle government affairs.
He actually wanted to stay in the palace too, so he could help prevent Meng Fu from being bullied by those officials during court sessions. But Meng Fu was the wife of the Marquis of Xuanping—this matter wasn’t easy to handle.
If people found out he was hiding a minister’s wife in the palace, then what would the cats and dogs in the Imperial Garden think of him?
“Let’s just leave it at this for now,” Li Yue said. “You stay in the palace, I’ll still return to the Xuanping Marquis Residence. You be the Emperor, and I’ll be…”
His voice suddenly stopped, and his expression twisted somewhat hideously. He, Li Yue, had never imagined that one day he would actually become someone’s furen.
Where is Heaven’s law!
Where is Heaven’s law!
Meng Fu said, “I’m afraid I won’t do it well. I know nothing.”
Li Yue didn’t seem to mind too much that someone else was about to replace him as ruler of the world. He raised his head and glanced at Meng Fu, seeing that “his own” face carried a hint of worry. The words of instruction he was originally about to say were swallowed back down, and he said to Meng Fu, “It won’t come to that. Once you’ve straightened out those officials below, even a pig can be Emperor.”
Meng Fu was momentarily speechless. This Emperor really didn’t need to belittle himself to such an extent.
Li Yue was still looking at Meng Fu. This lady stood quietly across from him, not speaking, with few expressions on her face. There really wasn’t much resemblance between them. He couldn’t understand why it had to be the two of them who switched identities.
Li Yue withdrew his gaze and said again, “Those officials are behaving themselves quite a bit lately, and there’s not much major business in court recently. You don’t need to worry.”
Meng Fu nodded. She should be able to do a little better than a pig. Only, she thought again—pigs don’t get shoved onto the dragon throne.
“Will we stay like this forever?” she asked. She felt that if this situation lasted long, they’d at least need to think of a way to exchange information at the first moment something happened.
Li Yue said, “Don’t know. In two days, go to Baima Temple on Fengji Mountain and look for Huaiming.”
Meng Fu lowered her eyes and said softly, “Master Huaiming entered seclusion recently. Said he’d be out in three months.”
Li Yue gave a laugh and stood up. He said, “That bald donkey’s so-called seclusion? Most likely it’s because he doesn’t want to preside over next month’s Ullambana Festival [盂兰盆节 (Yulanpen Festival) – a traditional Buddhist festival held to honor ancestors and deliver souls from suffering, known in English as the Ullambana Festival.]. Don’t take his words seriously.”
Meng Fu lightly pressed her lips together and didn’t speak. As Li Yue stood up, her gaze stopped at Li Yue’s waist. Her lips parted, but she didn’t know if she should say it.
Li Yue noticed her gaze and asked, “What are you looking at me for?”
Meng Fu hesitated a little, then reached out and pointed to the waistband and long sash at Li Yue’s waist, reminding him: “You wore this wrong. That should be tucked underneath the waistband.”
“Really?” Li Yue looked down. He had dressed himself without Qingping’s help. He thought it looked alright, and Qingping hadn’t noticed either. Considering that if someone else spotted it, it might not be good for Meng Fu’s reputation, Li Yue was still willing to make the effort to adjust it.
Though he did make an effort, the result was less than ideal. After fiddling with it a few times, he ended up tying the sash into a dead knot, and it got tangled up with the long cloth, making it look even weirder—and even more noticeable. Li Yue frowned tightly and muttered, “Troublesome.”
Meng Fu truly hadn’t expected that one day she would see herself getting frustrated just because of not being able to dress properly.
But since such an outrageous thing as two people switching bodies could happen, perhaps even more unimaginable things were waiting down the road.
Seeing that His Majesty’s brows were furrowing more and more, and his expression growing more and more impatient—as if in the next second he might directly rip off the waistband and long sash—in order to prevent a bigger problem from arising, Meng Fu took a step forward and said to Li Yue, “Your Majesty, let me.”
Meng Fu understood very well that the two of them—an unmarried man and woman—staying together here was already highly improper. Stepping forward to help like this was even more inappropriate. But if she didn’t help, they’d likely need to call a palace servant in the end, which would make things even harder to explain. Besides, from a certain angle, she was helping herself—thinking like that made it easier to accept.
Li Yue saw her stepping forward and slowly drew his hands back. He was a little unaccustomed to it.
This wasn’t his fault. Anyone seeing another version of themselves suddenly approaching would feel a little strange.
“I told Eunuch Gao to keep watch by the lakeside. There shouldn’t be any palace servants coming nearby.” These words were said for Li Yue, and also for herself. The matter of the two of them meeting here would not be known by anyone else.
Li Yue said, “There are already secret guards following you now.”
“Ah?” Meng Fu’s hand movements paused slightly.
Li Yue said, “And they have very good eyesight—each one talks a lot.”
Meng Fu: “……”
Hopefully, there won’t be rumors spreading throughout the imperial capital tomorrow about His Majesty and the wife of the Marquis of Xuanping having a private meeting in the Imperial Garden.
“But they don’t dare to speak recklessly,” Li Yue added.
Meng Fu quickly finished tidying up Li Yue’s waistband, then stepped back to put some distance between them, acting as if nothing had happened just now. She asked Li Yue, “Have you been well at the Marquis Residence?”
“Tolerable,” Li Yue said.
Meng Fu couldn’t guess for a moment just how much “okay” really meant in the Emperor’s mouth—how much was good, how much was bad. She took a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Li Yue, saying, “This is the summary I compiled today of the situations in each courtyard of the Marquis Residence. Time was short, so it’s not very detailed. I hope it can be of some help to you.”
Seeing Li Yue accept it, Meng Fu added, “Over at Ronghui Hall, there are some old servants who used to follow the late Marquis. They come to Jixue Courtyard every month to ask for a sum of silver. These days, they’re due to come again—you don’t need to give them too much.”
Li Yue made an “ah” sound and casually replied, “They probably already came today.”
Meng Fu knew how difficult those people were to deal with. They were always greedy—every time they saw her, they would open their mouths like lions. Seeing the Emperor looking so relaxed now… don’t tell her he agreed to their demands just like that? If he did, she’d have to slightly reduce the Marquis Residence’s other expenses afterward.
Meng Fu quickly ran through an adjustment plan in her mind and asked Li Yue, “How much did they ask from you?”
“Five wen,” Li Yue said.
“Five wen is indeed—” Meng Fu’s voice suddenly stopped. Her always-calm face finally showed some loss of composure, but it disappeared quickly. She asked, slightly stunned, “Five wen?”
“Mm,” Li Yue nodded, then turned around and sat down on the stone bench again, saying, “But I thought five wen was too little, so I gave them five taels. Was that too much?”
A thousand thoughts surged through Meng Fu’s heart. She couldn’t understand how this Emperor managed to send those people away with just five taels?
Or perhaps she should say—as expected of the one who governs the world—his methods were indeed more impressive than hers. She had previously worried that His Majesty might be deceived by the servants at the Marquis Residence. But now it seemed… perhaps all that worry had been unnecessary.
This Emperor, even doing all this for the first time, could still do it better than her.
She shook her head and said, “Not really.”
“That’s fine, then,” Li Yue poured himself a cup of tea. Just as he was about to drink, he suddenly remembered something he hadn’t yet told Meng Fu. He looked up and said, “Right—one other small thing happened.”
“Please speak.”
Li Yue said, “Today I scolded Xie Wenzhao.”
Meng Fu: “……”
She comforted herself silently that it was fine—there would probably be even more outrageous things happening later on. Her face instinctively put on its usual composed smile, and she replied, “…It really is a small matter.”