Meng Fu glanced at the two of them and called out: “Minister Liu.”
Liu Changlan stepped forward and responded: “This humble official is here.”
Meng Fu instructed Liu Changlan to coordinate with the Six Ministries to implement the performance evaluation matters earlier.
Meanwhile, Wei Jun’an waited eagerly, hoping His Majesty would also give him instructions. But even as court ended, he never heard His Majesty call his name.
In the past, when attending court, Wei Jun’an feared being named so much that just hearing the word “Wei” would make him tremble. But now, seeing others get called while he wasn’t, he suddenly felt sour inside.
So His Majesty really was disappointed in him over the performance evaluations.
Now it seemed that Liu Changlan had received His Majesty’s favor, and the other officials under the Chancellery also became increasingly smug—this was truly fengshui turning with the wheel.
After court, Liu Changlan and Wei Jun’an loitered in a passive-aggressive manner in front of a small stall outside the palace, but suddenly saw Qi Yunjiao walking out of the Meridian Gate. He was holding a box in his hands, clearly an item bestowed by the emperor.
What was even more infuriating was that Qi Yunjiao’s expression didn’t even look happy?
Why? He received a reward from the emperor and still put on that face—Qi Yunjiao really didn’t know how to appreciate kindness!
What exactly did he do to win the emperor’s favor?
If they had seen that what Qi Yunjiao was actually holding was a copy of the Thousand Character Classic, they might not have shown such ugly expressions.
The Empress Dowager’s birthday was just around the corner. In past years, her birthday had never been officially celebrated, but this year they were suddenly planning a palace banquet, and many noblewomen were invited into the palace. Officials and their families all speculated on the deeper meaning behind this.
Quite a few people thought: His Majesty has been on the throne for years, but the Inner Palaceremained empty—there wasn’t a single person. Was the Empress Dowager now planning to select a few beautiful ladies to enter the palace for His Majesty?
This speculation wasn’t without reason. After all, His Majesty couldn’t remain unmarried forever. Back when the imperial sons were fighting fiercely over the throne, few of the emperor’s brothers were left. Even if His Majesty wanted to adopt a son, he couldn’t find a suitable candidate.
It wasn’t possible for the emperor to remain alone for life—he had a throne that needed succession.
Back then, everyone had worried for His Majesty and brought this up in court several times, only to be scolded harshly. Now that the Empress Dowager was worried, surely His Majesty wouldn’t ignore even her face.
The noblewomen entering the palace were told to be especially clever. Even if their families didn’t have girls of suitable age, they should still observe who the Empress Dowager paid attention to—and afterward, visit those households more frequently.
On the eighth day of the seventh month, the Empress Dowager’s birthday, Li Yue changed into formal attire early in the morning and headed toward the palace. As he was leaving the Marquis’ Residence, he saw Xie Wenzhao. Li Yue ignored him, but Xie Wenzhao took a deep breath and called out: “Meng Fu.”
Li Yue boarded the carriage before turning his head to look at him, asking, “What is it?”
“Even if you don’t care about your own life, don’t drag the whole Marquis Residence down with you,” Xie Wenzhao walked over and lowered his voice to warn Li Yue, “I hope that after you enter the palace, you will watch your words and actions.”
Li Yue gave him a sideways glance. “Mind your own business.”
Returning to my own home, why should I need Xie Wenzhao to nag me here?
Xie Wenzhao was about to explode. He truly wanted to help Meng Fu pretend to be ill, so she could just stay quietly in the Marquis Residence today.
Meng Fu’s health had always been not so great. How did she suddenly recover lately, but her brain went bad instead? Could this be the so-called blessing and disaster always come together?
In the Linde Hall, one by one, the court presented their birthday tributes to the Empress Dowager. At first, the Empress Dowager was still somewhat interested, but later she felt it was boring and only responded with perfunctory smiles. Once the gifts were all received, Gao Xi beside Meng Fu dragged out his voice and called: “Let the banquet—begin!”
Dozens of dancing girls flowed into the hall, fluttering gracefully to the sound of strings and flutes. While everyone was distracted by the dance, Nanny Chen walked over, pointed toward the direction of Li Yue, and whispered, “Your Ladyship, the one sitting over there is the Marchioness of Xuanping.”
It was a bit far, so the Empress Dowager squinted and could vaguely make out that the person was a beauty.
The Empress Dowager whispered: “Later, find a way to call her over so I can take a proper look.”
Nanny Chen worriedly asked: “Will His Majesty be displeased?”
The Empress Dowager glanced at Meng Fu and said, “We’re only looking, not doing anything.”
She paused, then added: “Call a few more over at the same time, so it won’t look suspicious.”
Meng Fu sat in the main seat, with the Empress Dowager at her side. Closest below her was that General Tang, beloved of the people, who had just returned from the northern frontier.
Tang Mingqi was nearing fifty this year. He had been stationed in the northern frontier for many years, his face was weathered and windblown, but his spirit was strong. When he noticed that Meng Fu was looking at him, Tang Mingqi immediately turned his head and looked back. Meng Fu instantly sensed that this General Tang had a very close relationship with His Majesty. That wasn’t surprising—after all, he had spent many years in the northern frontier alongside His Majesty.
Tang Mingqi raised his cup. He first toasted the Empress Dowager, then said to Meng Fu, “Come, Your Majesty, this humble official toasts you as well.”
Meng Fu didn’t decline. She had Gao Xi pour the wine and downed it in one go.
What she hadn’t expected was that Tang Mingqi had only toasted the Empress Dowager once, but when it came to her, he toasted three times—and with each toast, he changed his phrasing, all very smoothly, as if this kind of thing had happened often between him and Li Yue.
Meng Fu felt that His Majesty’s alcohol tolerance should be quite good. Now that the body had changed, she didn’t know whether that would affect the original drinking capacity. So after drinking three cups, she stopped.
Tang Mingqi then said: “Try this. Didn’t you write in your letter that you disliked the palace wine for being flavorless? This humble official specially brought this from the northern frontier—guaranteed to be strong!”
Though Meng Fu didn’t refuse, she only took a light sip. But Tang Mingqi and His Majesty had such a good relationship that after seeing that, he said, “You’re drinking that little? Are you raising little goldfish or something?”
Meng Fu: “……”
She said, “I still have morning court tomorrow. It’s not good to drink too much.”
“That’s only three cups! Back in the northern frontier, even three big wine jars weren’t enough for you!” Tang Mingqi’s own alcohol tolerance was decent, but once he had a bit to drink, he got excited. Now he was drunk on joy. He never imagined he’d one day be in a position to urge the emperor to drink—how rare this was! Before, it was always the emperor urging him to drink. When he got drunk and went back, his wife would scold him terribly. Those lines he used just now to coax Meng Fu were all ones he had learned from His Majesty.
Meng Fu simply signaled with her eyes for Eunuch Gao to secretly pour out the wine from the jug and replace it with plain water. Then she pretended to drink along with General Tang, as if intent on drinking together to the end. General Tang didn’t notice at all, and not long after, she was calling him “brother” like they were lifelong buddies.
Li Yue, who had been sitting in his own seat lazily picking at the dishes in front of him, looked up and happened to see the two drinking happily.
He frowned and stared at them from afar. He quickly realized that it was Tang Mingqi doing the urging, and that Meng Fu had always found it hard to reject people. So when Tang Mingqi toasted her, she didn’t decline—but looking at her expression, she did seem a little reluctant.
Li Yue immediately became displeased. He couldn’t even say why he was unhappy, but when he got unhappy, he always had to drag someone else down with him. He looked around the room—and quickly spotted Tang Mingqi’s wife.
Up front, Tang Mingqi was still urging drinks. He drank one cup after another himself, and Meng Fu soon realized this General Tang couldn’t even take care of himself anymore. After that, even salted white water in her cup could raise sharks. [能养鲨鱼 = can raise sharks – an exaggeration suggesting the water was so salty it could nourish sea creatures; i.e., she’d added so much salt no one could tell it wasn’t wine.]
Li Yue didn’t know about Meng Fu’s little tricks. He only felt that Tang Mingqi was being annoying today. He squinted his eyes—how come he never noticed this annoying habit of Tang Mingqi’s back in the northern frontier?
But then again, back in the northern frontier, Li Yue himself had been drinking cup after cup nonstop. Tang Mingqi didn’t even need to urge him—he’d down all the wine on the table by himself. Who dared try to urge him? They all had to drink a few extra cups before he even opened his mouth.
Seeing the way Tang Mingqi was going, it didn’t look like he would stop anytime soon. If Meng Fu got drunk, what then? Li Yue couldn’t very well go up and ask Tang Mingqi to drink with him instead, so he simply raised a hand to summon a young eunuch. The little eunuch was startled when he saw a noblewoman waving at him, but then Gao Xi gave him a nod, so he walked over.
Li Yue gave him a set of instructions. The little eunuch, still dazed, repeated Li Yue’s words to Gao Xi. Gao Xi looked at General Tang, still high on the moment, then glanced at Li Yue and Madam Tang, and didn’t know what to say. In the end, he just nodded.
There was someone else at the banquet who was also angry at Tang Mingqi—Madam Tang. She was glaring at him furiously, but Tang Mingqi was too absorbed in his excitement and hadn’t noticed his wife’s murderous gaze.
Madam Tang cursed inwardly. That damned man—was it just because he hasn’t had someone to drink with for a long time? Now that he’s seen His Majesty again, he’s forgotten everything else. Does he even realize where he is? Just wait until we get home—I’ll deal with him!
Not long after, a palace maid approached her. Madam Tang thought it was probably because the Empress Dowager couldn’t bear to watch anymore and wanted her to take Tang Mingqi away. But instead, she heard the maid say:
“Madam Tang, do you know that General Tang is secretly hiding private money behind your back?”