That same night, when Dong Feng returned to the Duke’s Residence, he received an oral decree from the palace:
His Majesty had instructed him to go to the Imperial Academy to study for half a year and cultivate his moral character.
…
After entering the archery range, Meng Fu followed Li Yue for a lap around the area to familiarize herself with the various kinds of bows and arrows. Her memory was good—she remembered everything His Majesty had said—but when it came time for hands-on practice, her lack of talent became painfully obvious.
Missed the target.
Missed again.
And missed once more.
She finally hit something—but it wasn’t the one she was aiming for.
His Majesty stood to the side, full of worry. He tried to imagine what Meng Fu would look like hunting on horseback, and the more he imagined, the more worried he became.
Meng Fu turned her head and saw His Majesty resting his chin on his hand in silence. She asked, “Your Majesty, what’s wrong?”
Li Yue looked up at the still perfectly intact target in the distance and sighed: “Your Majesty would like to save a little face, after all.”
Meng Fu was instantly amused by him.
Li Yue walked over and gave her a not-so-forceful glare: “Still laughing.”
He came to stand behind Meng Fu. Since they had a bit of a height difference, he had to jump slightly to align his line of sight with hers in order to pinpoint where her problem was.
Meng Fu couldn’t help turning to look, and she saw His Majesty bouncing up and down behind her. The white gauze of the veil on his hat fluttered up and down with each jump. She quickly looked away and turned her head forward again, trying hard to suppress her laughter—afraid that if His Majesty saw her laughing, he’d get even more annoyed.
Once he figured out where the problem was, Li Yue raised his hand to hold Meng Fu’s wrist and guided the arrow toward the distant target.
Meng Fu stood still. His Majesty was very close to her—so close that their bodies were nearly touching. She could feel his breath brush past her cheek. For a moment, she didn’t know what this feeling was. In that instant, she suddenly remembered the river lantern she had released on Xun River at age thirteen, floating away into the distance.
Meng Fu calmed her heart. She heard His Majesty’s low voice speak beside her ear: “Release.”
She let go of her hand. The arrow flew at a sharp speed and struck directly at the red bullseye of the target.
Meng Fu hadn’t expected that she could actually hit the bullseye. She turned around, her face full of joy and admiration as she looked at Li Yue.
Li Yue, under her gaze, felt his cheeks heat up. He let go of her wrist, his eyes drifting to another direction, and waved his hand modestly:
“Just a petty skill.”
Meng Fu glanced at the arrows she had previously shot to the ground and fell silent.
Li Yue stepped back a little and said to her: “Try to get a feel for it again.”
Meng Fu really didn’t have any innate talent, but she was good at imitating. Plus, with Li Yue coming over now and then to guide her, although her arrows still didn’t hit the bullseye again, at least they could touch the edge of the target.
The hidden guards, crouched in the shadows, watched the scene unfold and suddenly felt… a little full.
[Note: This is a humorous line—“full” here implies they were fed with fluff or sweetness, like witnessing something romantic.]
Back then, they had seen His Majesty have young ladies lead his horse, or stand in front of him when things went wrong. At that time, they’d secretly mocked His Majesty for not knowing how to win a girl’s heart. But now, they didn’t mock anymore—they began to deeply analyze the intentions behind His Majesty’s actions.
Does His Majesty not know how to shoot arrows? Does he need someone else to teach him archery?
Back then, it was they who saw things too one-sidedly, too shallowly—His Majesty was the truly clever one.
He was intentionally playing weak in front of the girl to close the distance between them. Didn’t they see? The Marchioness of Xuanping had already stepped in to instruct him several times!
No wonder His Majesty was able to seduce someone else’s wife and make her his own!
If they had even a third of His Majesty’s skill, they wouldn’t still be single to this day.
Several secret guards let out a synchronized sigh.
—
Close to dusk, Meng Fu and Li Yue came out of the archery range. Li Yue said: “By the way, someone from the Meng residence came this morning, saying your mother is seriously ill and asking if you could return for a visit. Should I go?”
Meng Fu was stunned for a moment. It had been a long time since she last contacted the Meng family. She pressed her lips together and said to Li Yue: “If you have the time, then go take a look.”
Li Yue asked: “If I go to the Meng residence, will it arouse their suspicion?”
In the past, His Majesty had never worried about such things. Perhaps now he had something on his mind, which was why he was starting to be cautious.
Meng Fu thought for a moment, then said to Li Yue: “It shouldn’t. Take Qingping with you. If anything happens, just ask her.”
Meng Fu understood clearly—whether it was the servants of the Meng family or her parents, none of them knew her better than Qingping did. If even Qingping hadn’t discovered she wasn’t herself, then others were even less likely to notice.
Besides, ever since she married into the Xuanping Marquis Residence, she could count on one hand the number of times she returned to her natal home in a year. A few changes were within the realm of reason.
Li Yue nodded and said: “Alright, then.”
However, when he thought about how Meng Fu’s father was Meng Yanxing, Li Yue still felt a bit troubled. He didn’t get along with that old man—they had quarreled several times in the past. But after all, he was Meng Fu’s father. Once they met, he had to restrain himself.
Meng Fu glanced at him and then changed the subject: “I’m guessing that Lord Wei will likely agree tomorrow to the matter of promoting military officers to court. Has Your Majesty finalized those people yet? Do you need two more?”
Li Yue exclaimed “wah” and said to Meng Fu: “Are you showing off to me right now?”
Though that’s what he said, his eyes were full of admiring laughter.
Meng Fu smiled and said: “When you said ‘petty trick’ earlier at the archery range, I was thinking the same thing.”
Li Yue pretended to be angry and said: “Little girl, you hold grudges, huh.”
Whether His Majesty was truly angry or just pretending, Meng Fu could naturally tell at a glance. She looked back into Li Yue’s eyes, curled her lips, and very seriously said: “Of course not. I just hope you’ll feel a bit happier—and have a sweet dream tonight.”
Li Yue froze for a moment. His heart felt as though it had melted into a vat of honeyed syrup. Sunset glow poured down from the sky, and her eyes were filled with starlight.
The evening breeze carried a faint sweet scent as it drifted gently past. Unknowingly, their shadows on the ground overlapped.
After a long while, Li Yue slowly and softly said: “You too.”
He hadn’t noticed that his tone, in that moment, was gentler than ever before.
He added: “Rest early when you get back. If there are too many memorials to review and you can’t finish, have the secret guards deliver them to me. If you’re worried they might find out, just wrap them up.”
“I understand, Your Majesty,” Meng Fu replied sweetly.
—
The next day’s morning court session played out just as Meng Fu had predicted—the officials began pressing her to compromise. From that moment on, they had fully fallen into Meng Fu’s rhythm.
At first, they were opposed to granting trade rights to border generals, but since the matter didn’t touch their core interests, they didn’t dare speak too much, for fear of angering the emperor—so they grudgingly let it pass.
They instead focused all their attention on the policy of promoting military officers. They needed to secure some benefits for themselves, while also keeping the emperor pleased—otherwise, it would be impossible to negotiate the next few reforms.
Wei Jun’an proposed that military officers could be promoted to the court, but that such promotions must follow proper rules and should not be done so casually. Together with Liu Changlan and others, they rushed overnight to draft a system that looked fairly decent—this also happened to align perfectly with the intentions of Meng Fu and Li Yue, because once rules were established, it would be easier for them to promote military officers again in the future.
Meng Fu accepted their memorial but did not immediately express her stance.
Next came the two policies that His Majesty wanted to implement—sending officials to train at the northern frontier and cutting down the number of court officials. These were also the matters most closely watched by officials of all ranks in the court, because no one knew whether they might end up being the unlucky soul driven out of the imperial capital.
Wei Jun’an and Liu Changlan passionately argued to Meng Fu that presently, everyone in court held their own posts and fulfilled their own duties. If so many officials were to be cut down at once, it would surely throw the court into chaos. They earnestly begged her to revoke the imperial decree.
Since Meng Fu had already achieved her goal, she naturally didn’t insist on pressing those two matters further. However, in order to prompt Wei Jun’an and the others to fulfill His Majesty’s true intent as soon as possible, she said:
“Then for now, let it be as Beloved Minister Wei says. The matter of cutting officials will be set aside temporarily. I hope that things will indeed turn out as you say—that the court remains stable and the officials harmonious.”
Wei Jun’an immediately understood the underlying meaning behind His Majesty’s words—if they didn’t arrange the promotion of the military officers quickly and properly, the issue of cutting officials would definitely be brought up again.
But no matter what, they had really gotten His Majesty to compromise—their efforts weren’t in vain!
All the court officials simultaneously knelt down, loudly proclaiming His Majesty’s wisdom.
Of course, they also believed themselves to be quite clever.
After this whole round of work, only sixteen military officers were ultimately deemed suitable to enter court—one of third rank, three of fourth rank. The trade rights were returned to the border generals, and the rest of the officials remained untouched—this was far better than what Li Yue had originally envisioned. And the ministers under the court were likewise extremely pleased—they had actually persuaded His Majesty and eliminated nearly half of the proposed military promotions, successfully saving over a dozen colleagues!
They were amazing!
In his heart, Wei Jun’an was especially proud—His Majesty had actually ended up being maneuvered by his rhetoric!