Xie Wenzhao stood in place, and the scene before his eyes was truly too fantastical for him—it was so much so that he even thought he was actually dreaming, which was why he would see such an illogical and bizarre matter.
Yet after being frightened to this extent, why had he still not woken up from this dream? This was truly a huge joke full of malice played on him by the heavens.
The sound of the qin was like a mountain spring trickling down, merging into a winding river, galloping and surging through wind and rain, crossing jagged boulders, circling majestic mountains, not resting for a single moment, and finally merging into that boundless ocean—the sound of the qin rang clearly and powerfully, full of endless strength.
Yet the more this was so, the more Xie Wenzhao collapsed.
How could it be His Majesty? How could it possibly be His Majesty?
Xie Wenzhao consoled himself, perhaps in this world there was not only one person who could play such a qin melody. But even if the same person played the same song, each time the presentation would not be entirely the same.
What he heard today and what he heard years ago in Xuzhou were not exactly the same either, but he could just feel that this qin music came from the hands of the same person.
In fact, he had never personally seen Meng Yu play the qin before his eyes.
But that still could not be His Majesty!
Xie Wenzhao felt like he was going mad.
He stood stiffly where he was—the joy that had filled his heart when he first heard the qin sound had all disappeared without a trace, replaced instead by endless confusion and panic.
When the piece ended, Meng Fu stopped her hand, and when she raised her head, she saw Xie Wenzhao standing not far away.
Why had Xie Wenzhao come?
After the qin sound stopped, Xie Wenzhao’s mood also slightly calmed. No matter what, he could not be disrespectful in front of His Majesty. Since he had already been discovered by the emperor, he could not sneak away quietly.
His mind was still somewhat muddled at this point; he had not yet figured out what he should do next. The scene before his eyes was completely different from what he had imagined earlier.
However, years of habit were still useful in such times. When he saw the emperor look over in his direction, he immediately knelt down and said, “Your servant Xie Wenzhao pays respects to Your Majesty.”
Meng Fu did not speak, but turned her head to glance at Li Yue. Li Yue was still wearing a veiled hat on his head, so others could not see the expression beneath it. But Meng Fu felt that His Majesty now seemed a bit displeased.
His Majesty was certainly displeased. Why was it that no matter where they went, they would run into this idiot Xie Wenzhao? How inauspicious! Just earlier at Baima Temple, he really should’ve listened to that bald monk Huaiming and taken the chance to offer a stick of incense to the Bodhisattva.
But this Bodhisattva was really too petty. Wasn’t it just one stick of incense? Why must they throw Xie Wenzhao over here to block his eyes!
“You—how are you here?” Meng Fu withdrew her gaze and asked.
Xie Wenzhao replied, “Replying to Your Majesty, today this servant had agreed with a friend to come to Baima Temple to offer incense. While walking halfway up the mountain, I was drawn by the sound of the qin and came to this place. This servant did not know that Your Majesty was here. I have disturbed the imperial presence—may Your Majesty forgive.”
Meng Fu gave a sound of acknowledgement. She found it strange—these days Xie Wenzhao had been holed up in the marquis manor looking over account books until his throat was hoarse, and that was fine. But why did he sound so choked while speaking now, as if he were going to cry in the next moment?
Li Yue sneered and said, “A friend? What friend? Could it be a friend with the surname Meng?”
Xie Wenzhao instantly realized that the friend with the surname Meng referred to by the other party was Meng Yu. The moment he thought of Meng Yu, Xie Wenzhao’s heart was fiercely twisted, and he even overlooked the fact that the voice beside his ear was actually very familiar.
He could not doubt Meng Yu, and His Majesty also could not possibly be that person from Xuzhou all those years ago.
But…
Xie Wenzhao felt inexplicably uneasy in his heart. He just felt as if he might have made a very big mistake. Only if he got a definite answer from Meng Yu could he feel at ease.
How should he ask Meng Yu?
Meng Yu had already stopped playing the qin for his sake. If he rashly questioned her, he might hurt her feelings.
Xie Wenzhao felt as though there were many skeins of thread stuffed inside his head—those thread ends were tangled together, and he could not find the beginning, even less the end.
His thoughts were chaotic, but he still had to honestly answer Li Yue’s question. He said, “It is not so.”
This was not the first time he had seen this veiled girl at His Majesty’s side. Until now, he still didn’t know the identity of this girl, but she dared to speak freely before His Majesty, which showed her position in His Majesty’s heart was not ordinary. Xie Wenzhao clearly understood in his heart that he could not afford to offend such a person.
“That really is rare,” the girl sighed. This voice, in Xie Wenzhao’s ears, was incomparably grating.
“You had a fight?” Li Yue asked again.
Xie Wenzhao didn’t know why the other party was so curious about the matter between him and Meng Yu. He replied, “We have not. She is merely the younger sister of this subject’s wife. This subject is not close with her.”
Li Yue sneered. Only now did Xie Wenzhao remember that Meng Yu was his sister-in-law?
He had wanted to jab at Xie Wenzhao a few more times but felt it was boring. Xie Wenzhao’s skin was as thick as a city wall—might as well let him leave quickly.
Seeing that His Majesty didn’t seem to have anything else to ask, Meng Fu said, “You may withdraw.”
“This subject takes his leave.” After kowtowing, Xie Wenzhao rose and retreated.
As he bent at the waist and backed away, he couldn’t help but secretly lift his head to glance at the qin within the pavilion. Afterward, his whole person became even more dazed and listless, to the point where he didn’t notice the ground beneath his feet, stumbled, and almost fell onto the stone.
Meng Fu stared at Xie Wenzhao’s silhouette for a moment. Only when he completely disappeared from her line of sight did she withdraw her gaze. Why was Xie Wenzhao so strange today? Could it be he’d looked at too many account books and seen something wrong?
Li Yue saw that Meng Fu kept looking at Xie Wenzhao and suddenly had a strange thought rise in his heart: how about he go up the mountain in a bit and make up that stick of incense to the Bodhisattva?
Meng Fu lowered her head to look at the ancient qin before her when she suddenly heard Li Yue call her name: “Meng Fu.”
She raised her head and responded, “Your Majesty.”
Li Yue looked at her. Through a layer of white gauze, the distance between him and Meng Fu seemed to stretch farther. Li Yue pressed his lips together, not quite sure whether those words should be spoken, or how they should be spoken.
Meng Fu tilted her head slightly. She found it strange that His Majesty did not speak. This emperor had always been decisive in handling matters—what kind of thing would make him hesitate like this, unable to speak?
In an instant, Meng Fu guessed countless frightening possibilities, even including the emperor telling her that he was terminally ill and wouldn’t live much longer. Fortunately, things hadn’t reached that dire state. The emperor merely asked her: “Have you ever thought of divorcing Xie Wenzhao?”
Meng Fu was stunned.
She had not expected that what the emperor wanted to ask her would be this matter.
Divorce…
After a long time, she shook her head and said to Li Yue, “My family wouldn’t agree.”
Li Yue frowned. If Meng Fu didn’t want to divorce, then fine—but why was her first thought that her family wouldn’t agree? Li Yue asked, “Why do you need to consider your family? What about you? What do you think?”
Meng Fu’s lips moved slightly. She didn’t know how to explain it to His Majesty.
“Meng Fu,” with no one around, Li Yue straightforwardly lifted the veil from atop his head and looked directly into her eyes. Reflected in her eyes was Meng Fu’s own face. He asked again, “What about you?”
“Me?”
Meng Fu couldn’t answer Li Yue’s question right away.
She always felt as though she could accept anything—but whenever she had a moment of idleness, she still couldn’t control her thoughts. She wasn’t really as accepting of her predestined fate as she thought she was. In truth, she had a little bit of unwillingness.
As for exactly what she was unwilling about, Meng Fu herself couldn’t quite say.
“I…” Meng Fu thought for a long time, yet still didn’t know how to speak to Li Yue.
She slightly lowered her head, her thick eyelashes like a small fan, casting a small curved shadow underneath. She said, “I don’t know yet, Your Majesty.”
Li Yue was just about to speak when Meng Fu raised her head again. She looked back into His Majesty’s eyes, and in the eyes that belonged to herself, she saw His Majesty. She said softly, “Let me think about it, Your Majesty.”
Being looked at like that by her, Li Yue somehow felt his heart suddenly soften. The words that had reached his lips could no longer be spoken. He let out a long breath and said to Meng Fu in a softened tone, “Take your time. There’s no hurry.”
Li Yue himself was startled after saying that. He blinked, and a bit of doubt revealed itself in his expression—was this something that could come out of his mouth?
If the ministers in the court or those few concubines in Xie Wenzhao’s back courtyard were to hear him speak like this, wouldn’t they immediately check whether their ancestral graves had caught fire?
After all, for something like this to happen, a little green smoke from the ancestral grave probably wouldn’t be enough. [Note: “祖坟冒青烟” (ancestral grave emits green smoke) is a saying meaning ‘extremely good fortune or something incredibly rare and lucky happening.’]
In recent days, Li Yue had prepared many words for this matter—now all of them were useless. It wasn’t that he wanted to persuade her to divorce, he just hoped she wouldn’t continue living bitterly like she used to.
Yet in his heart, there were still some unclear and indescribable feelings interfering with his reason, making him a little unsure of what exactly he was doing.
Li Yue suddenly stood up and walked several circles around the stone table in the pavilion. Finally, he stopped and said to Meng Fu, “Later, come up the mountain with me again.”
Meng Fu instinctively asked, “Did Your Majesty forget something up there?”
Li Yue said, “No, I need to offer a stick of incense to the Bodhisattva.”
Meng Fu: “…”
So when Master Huaiming at Baima Temple tried to persuade His Majesty earlier to offer incense, why didn’t His Majesty listen?
His Majesty really is so rebellious.
Meng Fu followed Li Yue up the mountain. Huaiming, dressed in a red kasaya, stood in front of the Mahavira Hall. Seeing them come up again, he first nodded at Meng Fu, then gave Li Yue a meaningful smile.
That smile made Li Yue feel an intense urge to roll up his sleeves and spar with him.
But considering that he hadn’t yet switched to the heaviest stone lock for training, Li Yue decided to endure for now.
Coming down from Fengji Mountain, Li Yue didn’t plan to return to the marquis manor. Since he had just offered incense to the Bodhisattva, the incense couldn’t be offered in vain. He turned back and said to Meng Fu, “Let’s go.”
Meng Fu asked, “Where are you going?”
Li Yue didn’t answer Meng Fu’s question, only said: “You’ll know when we get there.”
Meng Fu hesitated and said, “There are still some memorials to the throne that haven’t been dealt with in the palace.”
Li Yue said, “When we get back, let the secret guards deliver them to me.”
Meng Fu looked back and said, “Isn’t that inappropriate?”
If the secret guards saw that His Majesty had even the memorials sent out, wouldn’t they gossip for three days and nights? Even if His Majesty didn’t mind, he should at least consider the mental health of the secret guards.
“No problem,” Li Yue said with confidence, “even if they know, they’ll have to keep it in.”
Meng Fu still didn’t want to make such a big fuss, but she didn’t say anything more. She figured at worst, she’d just sleep a little less tonight.
Li Yue brought her to the western outskirts of the capital. Here, a polo match was being held. Meng Fu rarely watched this kind of sport. Before marriage, she mostly participated in poetry gatherings and tea parties with girls of her age. After marrying into the Xuanping Marquis Manor, she had to deal with all sorts of social banquets.
She thought His Majesty brought her here simply to watch a polo match together. Who would’ve thought that after the match ended, His Majesty actually personally got on the field.
Meng Fu sat among the crowd. Cheers came in waves to her ears. Players from both teams had already come onto the field. His Majesty had changed into another set of attire, the same as his teammates, yet Meng Fu still spotted him at a glance among so many people.
He rode a white horse, wielded a mallet in hand, galloped across the field—valiant and heroic, full of vitality. The small polo ball was struck by the mallet, drawing an arc through the air and landing into the opponent’s goal. Instantly, the field erupted with shrill screams.
Perhaps the sunlight today was too dazzling, but Meng Fu saw a seven-colored halo enshrouding Li Yue’s entire person—he seemed to be glowing.
Meng Fu raised her hand and clapped along with the crowd around her.
Li Yue seemed to sense something. He suddenly turned his head and beamed a radiant smile in her direction.
The cheering in her ears grew even louder than before, and the motion of Meng Fu’s clapping paused for a moment.
After this polo match ended, the sky also darkened. The crowd gradually dispersed. Meng Fu was led by the secret guards to the back of the mountain—there was an open plain there. Li Yue, riding his horse, trotted over to her. He had already changed back into his previous attire, and stopped in front of Meng Fu, lowering his head to ask her: “Do you know how to ride a horse?”
Meng Fu shook her head.
Li Yue jumped down from the horse, patted its back lightly, and said to Meng Fu: “Get on.”
Meng Fu turned her head and looked at him in puzzlement.
Li Yue explained: “In a few days, the autumn hunt will begin. If you can’t ride a horse, how will that work? Today it’s getting late. I’ll take you around for a few laps. Next time, if there’s time, I’ll teach you again.”
Meng Fu nodded. With Li Yue’s help, she mounted the horse.
The secret guards hiding behind the mountain rocks had twisted expressions on their faces. This scene was just too hard for them to bear. Wasn’t it supposed to be His Majesty leading the lady to ride the horse? How could they let the lady stand below and hold the reins for him?
And even after all this, the face of the Lady of Xuanping Marquis wasn’t even showing a hint of anger. What a good temper.
Where is His Majesty’s bottom line! Where is his humanity! Where can such a girl even be found!
Not until nightfall completely fell did the two part ways, each returning to where they were supposed to go.
After returning to the palace, Meng Fu hastily ate dinner and began handling memorials to the throne. There truly were quite a few documents piled on the desk. By the time she finished reviewing them all, it was already close to the hour of zi [midnight (11 p.m.–1 a.m.)].
The candlelight flickered. The long tassels hanging beneath the palace lamps cast their shadows upon the nearby screen like a soaring ink-colored dragon. A faint incense fragrance drifted throughout the palace room. Gao Xi had already come over twice to advise her to rest. Yet Meng Fu, sitting before the long desk, had no sense of sleepiness.
She suddenly recalled the question His Majesty had asked her atop Fengji Mountain.
His Majesty asked her: What about you?
Meng Fu lifted her head and took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. What did she herself want?
Did she want to divorce Xie Wenzhao?
If she divorced Xie Wenzhao, could she bear everything she was about to face?
After leaving the marquis manor, would she return to the Meng family?
If so, what would be the difference from staying in the Xuanping Marquis Manor?
And if she left the Xuanping Marquis Manor, left the Meng family, where could she go?
What would her future be like?
Meng Fu closed her eyes. Her world sank into a patch of darkness. Within that darkness, five-colored light dots arose, shifting in size and shape, finally blending into a faint white glow.
That night, Meng Fu dreamed again. In the dream, there was His Majesty riding a white horse at the polo field in the western outskirts. There was also herself, riding a horse and galloping through the long streets of the imperial capital.
Snowflakes mixed in the wind gently brushed past her cheek. She rode her horse to the end of the long street, raised her head to look—heaven and earth were vast and boundless, and she was as small as an ant.
——
Tang Mingqi and Qi Yunjiao had discussed the matter of drilling troops for several days. He now had a deeper understanding of the ignorance of the officials in court, and truly could not hold it in any longer. He ran in front of Meng Fu and complained for more than half the day, asking her: “Your Majesty, didn’t you plan to promote some military officers before? How’s your preparation going?”
Meng Fu did not know that His Majesty had once had such a thought. Faced with General Tang’s eager expectations, she could only say, “Let Zhen consider it again.”
Tang Mingqi looked utterly disappointed.
Not long after, Meng Fu met with Li Yue at Yunxi Tower and mentioned this matter to him, asking: “Your Majesty wanted to promote some military officials into the court?”
Li Yue nodded directly and said, “I did have that plan before.”
But this matter would touch upon the interests of the entire civil official faction. Wei Jun’an, Liu Changlan, and the others would no longer oppose each other in order to win imperial favor like they had in the past—they would surely unite to resist.
Because this matter wasn’t particularly urgent and was quite thorny, Li Yue had originally intended to wait until he changed back before personally handling it.
The Da Zhou had always valued civil officials and suppressed military ones. What he wanted to do now was just correct that unhealthy trend. However, the officials in court surely would not be willing to accept it. He said to Meng Fu: “If that bunch of old men like Wei Jun’an learned of My intention, they’d probably start headbutting the pillars again. I’m thinking, maybe in the future I’ll replace all the pillars in the Xuanzheng Hall with ones made of copper, heat them red every morning, and then bring this up to them.”
Meng Fu couldn’t help but laugh, but immediately composed her expression and asked Li Yue: “Your Majesty wishes to bring balance between civil and military officials in court, is that right?”
Seeing Li Yue nod, Meng Fu said: “Then why doesn’t Your Majesty go even further?”
“Hmm?” Li Yue looked up at her, not understanding what she meant by those words.
Meng Fu asked, “How many military officers does Your Majesty intend to promote to court?”
“At least ten.”
Meng Fu nodded, lowered her head and noted down: “Then that means thirty.”
“Hmm?” He had clearly said ten people just now.
“How high a rank does Your Majesty intend to bestow them?”
“I haven’t thought of the rank yet. The highest must at least be fourth rank.” Otherwise, once they entered court, it’d be of no use.
“At least three should be third-rank ministers.” Meng Fu noted this down and continued to ask, “And then?”
Li Yue: “…Allow frontier generals to conduct trade. Regional military control should be returned to military officers.”
Meng Fu gave a sound of agreement, then said: “Pick some high-ranking civil officials in court and send them to the northern border to gain some experience. Once they return, they’ll count as military officers too.”
The northern border was a bitter and freezing land—they likely wouldn’t be willing to go.
“What else?”
Seeing that Li Yue did not speak, Meng Fu asked: “Is there no more, Your Majesty?”
“There should be no more,” Li Yue said.
Meng Fu thought for a moment, lowered her head and wrote: “Then reduce the number of civil officials in court by another fifth, and replace them with military officers.”