Huaiming smiled understandingly and said to Li Yue, “Don’t be so irritable, anger harms the body. What’s more, this isn’t even your body right now. You should restrain yourself more.”
Li Yue glared at him.
Huaiming didn’t mind. He smilingly looked at Meng Fu, then said to Li Yue, “Look at this young lady, she’s much calmer than you. You might as well take this chance to change your temper.”
Meng Fu wasn’t exactly not anxious, just that she had always been used to hiding her emotions. Moreover, getting angry right now was useless.
Li Yue let out a cold laugh and said, “My temper isn’t good?”
Huaiming: “……”
Does this His Majesty have some kind of misunderstanding about himself? That dog-like temper of his could be called good?
Huaiming sincerely asked, “Are you seriously asking that question?”
Li Yue said, “Then ask her.”
Li Yue and Huaiming both looked toward Meng Fu. That “You fart” that Li Yue had just said was still echoing in Meng Fu’s ears. Opposite her, Master Huaiming was full of anticipation, waiting for Meng Fu to speak up righteously and help His Majesty gain a deeper understanding of himself. Meng Fu averted her gaze and, against her conscience, said: “His Majesty’s temper is, of course, extremely good.”
Li Yue proudly raised his chin.
Huaiming: “……”
Huaiming was speechless. Could it be this girl swapped into His Majesty’s body and got infected by him?
“Does Master have a way to switch the two of us back?” Meng Fu asked.
Huaiming said, “Don’t worry, Benefactor. When the time comes, you’ll naturally switch back.”
Li Yue hated most when Huaiming played riddles with him, and asked: “When exactly is the so-called ‘time comes’?”
Huaiming slightly smiled, raised his right hand, lifted his index finger, and pointed upward. Li Yue followed the direction of his finger and only saw the colored painting on the stone room’s ceiling.
Have to say, he really hated Huaiming acting like this.
Li Yue asked, “Go up and we can switch?”
Huaiming gave a mysterious smile, blinked at Li Yue, and said: “Heaven knows.”
Li Yue, face stiff, said to Huaiming: “Don’t think just because we’re at Baima Temple now, I wouldn’t dare make a move.”
Back then when Huaiming went to the Northern Frontier, he’d also fought with Li Yue. At the time, he’d been beaten black and blue by this His Majesty, but now was not back then. He was still the same him, but His Majesty was no longer the same His Majesty.
He shrugged, his eyes carrying five parts mischief, and said: “But with the way you are now, it’s not convenient to fight with this poor monk, right?”
Li Yue: “……”
So mad.
He turned to look at Meng Fu.
Meng Fu: “……”
His Majesty’s expression really looked like he wanted to have a big fight with Master Huaiming.
She tried her best to be tactful and said, “Your Majesty, my body is not in very good condition. The final outcome may not be very satisfactory.”
Meng Fu’s words were not unreasonable. Li Yue also understood in his heart, but he was still looking at Meng Fu. He saw an apologetic smile on his own face, but it looked more like a tightly fitting mask—truly strange.
Meng Fu saw that Li Yue kept looking at her and thought he hadn’t given up yet, that he was definitely going to beat up Master Huaiming today. Meng Fu said:
“If you really must make a move, then discuss it with Master Huaiming. When the fight starts later, try not to hit the face.”
Now that Li Yue was, after all, the Marchioness of Xuanping, if others were to see him black and blue, who knows what kind of gossip would spread. After all, the imagination of the common folk had always been very rich.
“No fight,” Li Yue turned his head, then squinted his eyes and stared at Huaiming. He always felt this bald-head was hiding something from him, but Huaiming only shook his head.
“This poor monk didn’t speak falsely. For you two, this isn’t a bad thing,” Huaiming smiled and sniffed hard, saying to Li Yue, “For example, there’s a good thing right now—this poor monk smells the scent of jujube paste pastry.”
“Hmm?” Li Yue looked at Huaiming in confusion. What kind of good thing was this? This kind of pastry shouldn’t be something a great monk of Baima Temple would care so much about.
Meng Fu placed the food box she’d been carrying in her hand onto the table and opened it, saying to Li Yue: “Yesterday, the Empress Dowager made some jujube paste pastries. She said you loved them the most as a child, so I brought you some today. I don’t know if you’ll like them.”
Before Li Yue could speak, Huaiming already revealed a delighted expression and said: “Ah, then this poor monk must give them a taste. This poor monk has never tasted the Empress Dowager’s cooking before!”
Li Yue gave him a glare and said: “Did I say I’d let you eat?”
Huaiming said: “Your Majesty, it’s not appropriate to come to our temple empty-handed, is it? You didn’t give us incense money—so shouldn’t this poor monk at least get a piece of the jujube pastry? Isn’t this a bit unreasonable otherwise?”
Li Yue didn’t want to argue with him. He picked up a piece of jujube pastry from the food box and asked Meng Fu: “Why would Mother suddenly think of making this?”
Meng Fu shook her head: “I don’t know either. Last night, the Empress Dowager kept asking me if the taste was the same as before. I couldn’t answer directly, so I could only say yes. The Empress Dowager said, if Your Majesty likes it, she’ll make it for you often in the future.”
When outside the palace, Meng Fu had often heard people say that the current Emperor and the Empress Dowager were on bad terms. But from the Empress Dowager’s attitude, it didn’t seem as bad as outsiders said.
Li Yue nodded and took a bite. He smiled lightly, but then rather awkwardly pressed down the corners of his lifted lips. He said: “What is she doing making this? Just have the palace cooks take care of it.”
Li Yue’s words sounded as if he didn’t care who made the jujube pastries, but Meng Fu could clearly sense the happiness in his tone.
Meng Fu immediately realized that the relationship between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager was much better than she had heard.
Although Li Yue had just said the jujube pastries weren’t for Huaiming, he still let Huaiming eat along. Huaiming ate two pieces, and under Li Yue’s murderous gaze, picked up a third. Only after letting out a burp did he stop eating and said: “Let me apologize for the loss of decorum.”
Li Yue coldly laughed: “It’s fine. Not like it’s the first time.”
“Then this poor monk will take his leave first,” said Huaiming.
His brows and eyes drooped, palms pressed together, and he once again looked somewhat like a proper high monk.
Once Huaiming left, only Meng Fu and Li Yue were left in the stone chamber.
Li Yue finished the jujube pastry. Meng Fu poured a bowl of tea and placed it in front of him, asking: “Your Majesty, what do you plan to do next?”
“What to do?” He let out a sigh. Huaiming had nagged endlessly for most of the day and hadn’t revealed even a single useful piece of information. He looked at Meng Fu and said, rather defeated,
“Cold tossed, I guess.” [凉拌吧 — literally means “cold tossed” like in food, but in slang, it implies “do nothing,” “leave it,” or “just let it be.”]
“Ah?”
Li Yue picked up the tea bowl, drained the tea in one gulp, smacked his lips, and said to Meng Fu: “Speaking of which, the cold-tossed pig trotters at Yunxi Tower in the capital are pretty good. Let’s go together later.”
Meng Fu didn’t understand how the topic suddenly jumped to cold-tossed pig trotters. Also, hadn’t His Majesty just eaten half a plate of jujube pastries? He could really eat?
But she had rushed to Baima Temple right after early court and hadn’t eaten until now.
Meng Fu hesitated and said: “This doesn’t seem very appropriate.”
“What’s not appropriate about it?”
Meng Fu reminded him: “You are now the Marchioness of Xuanping.”
Li Yue widened his eyes in shock and said: “The Marchioness of Xuanping can’t eat cold-tossed pig trotters?”
“……” Meng Fu smiled and said, “The Marchioness of Xuanping probably shouldn’t eat cold-tossed pig trotters with an unfamiliar man, right?”
Li Yue corrected her: “We two don’t really count as unfamiliar, do we?”
They had even swapped bodies—if you looked at it seriously, there probably wasn’t anyone in the world more intimately acquainted than the two of them.
Meng Fu knew that His Majesty did things without sticking to trivial formalities, but the rest of the world wasn’t like him. People often seized on the smallest details and made a big fuss. And when living in this secular world, there was no way to completely detach from the opinions of others. Meng Fu said to Li Yue: “Then I’ll go make some arrangements.”
Through her connection with Master Huaiming, Meng Fu could direct a few people in Baima Temple. She sent a young monk to inform Qingping, saying that “the Madam had a chance encounter with a master while offering incense and gained an insight, and will need some time to fully comprehend it,” so Qingping and the others should return to the residence first. Then she found a veiled hat and placed it on Li Yue, so others wouldn’t be able to see his face.
It was Li Yue’s first time wearing such a thing. Looking out through the layer of white gauze, he frowned and said: “So strange.”
Meng Fu said to him: “You can take it off once we arrive at Yunxi Tower.”
To eat delicious cold-tossed pig trotters, Li Yue decided to endure this brief discomfort. He borrowed a horse from Huaiming, and personally rode with Meng Fu down the mountain into the city.
The hidden guards were utterly stunned at the sight.
What was going on with His Majesty? At a time like this, shouldn’t he be the one riding the horse with the young lady seated behind him? Why was it the other way around?
Although their Majesty had always had a rather unique style of doing things, this was just too unique!
Once they reached Yunxi Tower, Li Yue asked for a private room and brought Meng Fu to the third floor. After ordering the food, he took off the veiled hat from his head.
Meng Fu felt that since opportunities to meet like this were rare, they ought to make good use of the time. She asked: “Your Majesty, why don’t we talk again about what we should be paying attention to next?”
Li Yue felt there really wasn’t much for him to take note of on his end. He said to Meng Fu: “The Xuanping Marquis Manor has been doing quite well lately. The concubines and servants in the household are all behaving, and Xie Wenzhao has become much more obedient too.”
Meng Fu said: “The hidden guards told me all this. Your Majesty, you’re truly amazing.”
Far more capable than she was—it made her suspect whether all the management skills she’d learned in the past had been learned in vain.
Li Yue, being so directly praised, felt a little unaccustomed to it. He gave a light cough, looked away, and modestly said: “Just average.”
Meng Fu, in fact, still had other concerns. The daily expenses at the Marquis Manor were too high, and there wasn’t much silver in the accounts. The old madam did have a few shops in her hands, but she held onto them tightly and simply wasn’t willing to release them. If something happened, it might be hard to make ends meet. But judging from His Majesty’s temperament, he probably wouldn’t care about such trivial matters.
Forget it. In any case, it might not even be her who would need to worry when the time comes.