The Empress Dowager sat rather dazedly on the chair behind her. She felt that perhaps she had misheard. How could the Emperor possibly have a secret meeting with a minister’s wife in the Imperial Garden? The Emperor, with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, didn’t seem like someone who could do such a thing.
Or perhaps what happened back then left too big of a shadow on him, causing him to become perverse under repression.
The Empress Dowager, feeling somewhat troubled, rubbed her own temples. She had never heard of the Emperor having any involvement with the Marchioness of Xuanping. His Majesty rarely left the palace; if the two really had a private affair, it was impossible that she wouldn’t have heard even a whisper in the palace. Most likely, she had just misheard.
She composed herself and lifted her head to ask Gugu Chen, “Just now, what did you say that girl was to the Marquis of Xuanping?”
Gugu Chen could understand her master’s current unwillingness to accept this fact. She herself also seemed to find it somewhat difficult to speak. But since the Empress Dowager had asked, she had no choice but to answer. Gugu Chen lowered her voice and repeated what she had just said: “Replying to Your Highness, it was the Marchioness of Xuanping.”
The Empress Dowager felt as if she couldn’t quite catch her breath at this moment. Clinging to her last bit of hope, she asked Gugu Chen, “It really was the furen?”
Gugu Chen heavily nodded. If she had not asked clearly about this matter, she wouldn’t have dared bring it before the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager didn’t understand. The Empress Dowager was greatly shocked. She had always hoped that the Emperor could find someone agreeable to accompany him sooner. She didn’t mind status—high or low—but that person couldn’t be another man’s furen.
Seeing that the Empress Dowager’s complexion was not looking well, Gugu Chen comforted, “Your Highness need not worry too much. Perhaps His Majesty just had a private matter to inquire about with that furen.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t feel the least bit comforted. What matter couldn’t he discuss with the Marquis of Xuanping, but had to ask the Marchioness instead?
There was absolutely no reason.
Seeing the Empress Dowager sit there blankly, not speaking for a long time, Gugu Chen asked, “Your Highness, then, shall we still make these pastries?”
The Empress Dowager lifted her eyes to look at the dough she had kneaded, let out a long sigh, and said to Gugu Chen, “Make them.”
But she did not rise immediately. She still sat on the chair and said feebly, “Aijia needs to rest a bit before continuing.”
A clear breeze swept across the vast palace city. Verdant leaves atop the trees floated down gently, piling up at the foot of the vermilion palace walls, with some even drifting into the pool of the Imperial Garden, sending ripples spreading across the water surface.
The sun set atop the western mountains, and the sky gradually darkened. Inside Zichen Hall, Meng Fu finally finished reading most of the memorials. She had always had a good memory, practically photographic. When she had just returned to the Meng family as a child, her father would often watch her and sigh, saying it was a pity she was a girl.
The rest of the memorials could be dealt with after dinner. Meng Fu stood up and walked outside the hall.
Eunuch Gao hurriedly followed with small quick steps and asked, “Your Majesty, where are you going?”
Meng Fu tilted her head and glanced at him, saying, “Didn’t they say the Empress Dowager had the kitchen make pastries and invited me to come taste them?”
Meng Fu hadn’t mentioned this matter all afternoon. Gao Xi thought the Emperor wasn’t planning to go. Hearing this, he immediately said, “This servant will go arrange the imperial carriage right away.”
On the way to Cining Palace, Meng Fu once again encountered the Ninth Prince. Because Li Yue had especially instructed her to take good care of this little prince, Meng Fu simply had the palace attendants carry him onto the imperial carriage, bringing him along to Cining Palace.
This little prince was already six years old this year, yet he still could not speak. He sat beside Meng Fu like a little wooden puppet, obedient and quiet, blinking his pair of jet-black eyes.
Meng Fu had no particular fondness for children. Moreover, because of her strained relationship with Xie Wenzhao, she had actually already prepared herself mentally to never have children in this lifetime. It was just unexpected that Xie Wenzhao himself was also not promising—he had already taken three concubines, yet no children had been born in the Marquis’ residence. Still, she did quite like this little prince who could not speak.
She took a handkerchief and carefully wiped the dirt from the little prince’s palms and between his fingers, then rolled up his sleeves. That’s when she saw several bruises on his small arms.
Meng Fu instinctively asked, “Where did you bump into something?”
The little prince immediately pulled his arm back and even scooted his bottom to the other side, clearly not wanting to answer Meng Fu’s question.
Meng Fu didn’t press him. But thinking back to the bruises she had just seen, she felt they didn’t look like bruises from a bump, more like pinches. But who in this palace would dare lay hands on this little prince?
Arriving at Cining Palace, Meng Fu first went to the side hall where the little prince currently resided. The palace attendants seemed to treat these little princes with a degree of respect—though who knew whether it was only because they saw the Emperor coming. However, today, Meng Fu did not see the nursemaid who usually stayed by the little prince’s side. According to the other attendants here, after that night, she fell gravely ill and still couldn’t get out of bed.
Meng Fu asked a couple more questions, then walked toward the inner hall. Scattered across the carpet in the inner hall were many books, and no one had tidied them up. She called over a palace maid to ask, and the maid said that the inner hall was usually tidied up by someone the little prince’s nursemaid arranged. Without the nursemaid’s instruction, they did not dare enter freely.
Meng Fu thought to herself that this nursemaid had a bit too much authority. She didn’t know whether the Empress Dowager was aware of this. She bent down, picked up a book from the floor, and flipped through two pages. They were full of numbers, large and small. Meng Fu looked through a few pages carefully and found that they weren’t written at random. These math problems, even if given to students preparing for the imperial exams (keju), might not be solvable.
She looked up at the little prince. The little prince stared wide-eyed at the book in her hand, seeming as if he didn’t want Meng Fu to see these things.
Meng Fu crouched down to be at eye level with the little prince and asked him, “Did you write all of these?”
The little prince did not answer her question. Instead, he took two steps back and looked at Meng Fu warily, like a frightened little beast—pitiful and cute at the same time. Meng Fu handed him the book in her hand, smiled, and said to him, “Very impressive.”
If someone else were to see Meng Fu wearing such a smile at this moment, their jaws would likely drop to the floor. Their Majesty actually showed this kind of expression—Heavens, heavens! The sun must have risen in the west!
The little prince, after taking the book handed to him, only tilted his head with a look of confusion.
Meng Fu reached out and patted his head.
The two stayed like that for quite some time. Meng Fu had very good patience. In the end, it was the little prince who couldn’t hold out. He picked up another book from the floor, took a brush, ran over to his own little table, lowered his head, and began his entertainment.
Meng Fu didn’t disturb him. She only walked lightly to his side and sat down, watching as he wrote numbers on the paper. Occasionally, he even drew diagrams to aid his calculations. Meng Fu looked at the problems in the book and mentally calculated along—her answers matched those of the little prince.
Meng Fu felt that this little prince actually understood everything in his heart, and might even be smarter than the average person. The fact that he couldn’t speak wasn’t due to a physical reason, but more likely due to a psychological obstacle that he couldn’t overcome for the time being.
The little prince at this moment was completely immersed in his own world. Meng Fu just sat there watching him calculate, not feeling bored at all.
In the blink of an eye, nearly half an hour passed. The little prince hit a bottleneck in his calculations. He scratched his head in frustration, still unable to find a way through. He jumped down from the stool and began circling around the small table, his lips puffed out in a pout. Though a bit unkind, Meng Fu still found the little prince like this to be extremely adorable—it even reminded her of that emperor.
When the little prince finished circling and returned to sit down at the table, he saw in front of him a slip of paper that read, “The answer is on the back.” He looked up and saw Meng Fu smiling at him, her brows and eyes gentle.
The little prince hesitated, then flipped the paper over and saw a few numbers left by Meng Fu. His eyes lit up instantly, and he began scribbling calculations rapidly with his brush.
Not long after, a palace attendant came to report that the Empress Dowager had come this way. The little prince quickly stepped with his two short little legs over to the cabinet against the wall, opened it, pulled out a cloth-made bunny, then ran back over with rapid little steps and handed the bunny to Meng Fu.
Meng Fu smiled and accepted the bunny, saying to the little prince, “Thank you.”
When the Empress Dowager arrived at the side hall and saw the Emperor coming out together with the Ninth Prince, she felt deeply gratified. If these two brothers could always get along like this, she felt that even if she were to die now, she could rest in peace.
The Empress Dowager was joyful. At dinnertime, she kept picking dishes and placing them into Meng Fu’s bowl, saying as she did, “Mother also made some red date pastries. They’ll be ready in a little while. Mother remembers that when you were little, you liked these the most. Mother hasn’t made them in many years. I don’t know if they still taste the same as they used to. You must try them later.”
Meng Fu said, “Thank you, Mother.”
The Empress Dowager looked kindly at Meng Fu. She didn’t know why, but she felt that today’s Emperor seemed more well-behaved than usual. She really never would have thought that one day, the word “well-behaved” could actually be associated with the Emperor.
Meng Fu felt a little uncomfortable under the Empress Dowager’s gaze. She lowered her head and ate, and the dishes piled in her bowl by the Empress Dowager were almost forming a small mountain. Then she heard the Empress Dowager ask, “Speaking of which, Your Majesty, you’re not young anymore. Is there a young lady you’re fond of?”
How would Meng Fu know whether the Emperor had someone he fancied? Li Yue hadn’t said anything to her about this. She paused her movements, looked up at the Empress Dowager, and then stayed silent.
Seeing her not respond, the Empress Dowager’s heart thudded. In the past, whenever she asked this, the Emperor always said no.
This was definitely something serious.
In the Empress Dowager’s heart, flowers were about to explode, but on her face, she didn’t show much. She asked again, “Why not hold a selection of consorts next year? Your harem can’t possibly remain empty forever.”
Meng Fu was extremely skilled at observing words and expressions, so naturally, the subtle changes on the Empress Dowager’s face didn’t escape her eyes. It was just that she couldn’t quite figure out what exactly had shocked the Empress Dowager. This matter of the consort selection (xuanxiu) had never been mentioned by His Majesty before, so Meng Fu could only say: “Let’s talk about this another day.”
They would swap back in the future, and let His Majesty decide it himself.
But in the past, whenever the Empress Dowager brought up xuanxiu in front of Li Yue, he would always bluntly say he wasn’t choosing. Yet today, his attitude actually showed some softening.
The Empress Dowager, however, couldn’t feel any happiness at all. She thought: It’s over, it’s over—most likely the matter between him and the Marchioness of Xuanping is real.
Her son’s first romantic interest turned out to be a married woman!
What would the palace servants think? What would the civil and military officials think? What would the ancestors of the Li family think?
One had to say, the Empress Dowager and Li Yue had completely different mindsets. After Li Yue and Meng Fu swapped bodies, when he was pondering whether, as the Marchioness of Xuanping, he should move into the palace, he only ever considered the feelings of the little cats and dogs in the Imperial Garden.