Meng Fu stood in place, maintaining a smile, trying her best not to let herself show an overly surprised expression. She asked softly, “Your Majesty, just now you said you wanted to write what?”
“‘Virtue for Men’, of course.”
While speaking, Li Yue had already dipped the brush tip in ink, and on the paper, wrote down the two large characters “Nan De.” [男德, literally “Male Virtue”; a satirical inversion of “女德” (Female Virtue), a Confucian ideal traditionally used to regulate women’s behavior]
Meng Fu: “……”
What kind of stimulation did His Majesty suffer at the Meng residence today?
After Li Yue finished writing these two characters, he put down the brush, raised his head, and asked Meng Fu: “Right, you had Nanny Chen find me to enter the palace for what matter?”
“It’s not really anything. I just worried that you might have been wronged at the Meng residence, so I entrusted Nanny Chen to go and take a look,” Meng Fu said.
Meng Yanxing and Madam Meng were, after all, her parents. Although His Majesty had always acted with little restraint, he still cared about her in his heart, so after arriving at the Meng residence he definitely wouldn’t go too far. But once His Majesty’s temper is restrained, as a woman, one is easily put at a disadvantage.
Reality was not far off from her expectations, otherwise His Majesty wouldn’t be sitting here wanting to compile a book titled Male Virtue.
Originally, Meng Fu had planned to let Gao Xi go, but everyone knew Gao Xi was someone at His Majesty’s side. If he went to the Meng residence to fetch Meng Fu into the palace, it would definitely arouse many unnecessary speculations. So Meng Fu found Nanny Chen instead. The Empress Dowager smiled and didn’t ask much, just nodded and agreed. Meng Fu knew the Empress Dowager must have misunderstood something but didn’t explain.
This sort of thing couldn’t be explained— the more one explains, the more it arouses suspicion. Later, when she and His Majesty return to their respective places, there probably won’t be any further connection, and at that time, these misunderstandings would naturally disappear.
Thinking of this, Meng Fu unexpectedly felt a bit of disappointment in her heart.
Sensing her own emotional fluctuation, Meng Fu was absentminded for a moment.
Opposite her, Li Yue was completely unaware of what Meng Fu was thinking at this moment. He was raising his thumb toward Meng Fu, thanking her for saving his life.
Meng Fu gave a small smile, then sat down across from him, and asked him: “How is my mother’s illness?”
Li Yue said, “She looks quite energetic, even knows how to protect her own.”
They had talked for so long, yet Madam Meng had only said that Meng Yu was wronged and had shallow fortune, just wouldn’t admit that the little daughter she spoiled and raised could have done wrong. Who knew what Meng Yu said in front of Madam Meng— even if Madam Meng really believed her youngest daughter to be naïve and innocent, so be it. But she actually didn’t even worry that she might be deceived by Xie Wenzhao.
Li Yue thought about it— there was nothing to worry about, after all, that fool Xie Wenzhao was the one bound to be deceived.
Meng Fu now lowered her head and, upon seeing those two large characters “Nan De” on the white paper in front of His Majesty, almost couldn’t help laughing. But she didn’t dare laugh too obviously, so she covered her mouth and let out a low cough, then asked Li Yue: “So what exactly happened to you?”
Li Yue gave a cold snort and said: “That old woman at the Marquis Manor went to complain to Meng Yanxing, saying I don’t manage the household. Then Meng Yanxing wanted to teach me how to be a proper wife— laughable. Has he ever been anyone’s wife? What can he teach me? Naturally, he couldn’t win in an argument with me, so in shame and anger he locked me in the Fufeng Pavilion, and even had a few servants read Nü Jie outside.”
Li Yue opened his mouth and wanted to fiercely curse, but upon seeing Meng Fu across from him, he felt he couldn’t speak too unpleasantly in front of a young lady.
What great progress this was! His Majesty actually knew to mind his image in front of a lady!
Li Yue held back, only showing a face full of disgust as he said: “Who the hell wrote such disgusting stuff— disgusting people is one thing, but there are actually idiots who treat this crap as holy doctrine to civilize the masses. Wasn’t he born from a woman? If that book is really so good, how come those scholars don’t read it? Why isn’t Nü Jie included in the imperial exams?”
Meng Fu lowered her head. She was someone who grew up reading these books. Her father always said these were the books a proper noble, well-bred young lady should study. After marrying, not only did she have to be obedient to her husband’s family, but her every word and action represented the face of the Meng family.
Yet now, His Majesty was telling her these books were disgusting.
Indeed, there was a bit of that.
Indeed… it was very disgusting.
Meng Fu’s lips curved slightly, but there was not much of a smile on her face.
After His Majesty finished complaining, he stopped speaking. The imperial garden suddenly became quiet, only the occasional rustling sound of wind stirring the tree leaves could be heard. He inexplicably felt a bit flustered, lowered his voice, and asked Meng Fu: “Why aren’t you talking? Are you angry?”
“What would I be angry about?” Meng Fu lifted her head, that slightly gloomy face suddenly blossomed into a smile. She said to Li Yue, “I was thinking, if you’re really that angry, you could just ban the book.”
Li Yue thought seriously for a moment, then shook his head and said: “Just banning it is useless. Those officials below would definitely make a fuss, and we can’t go confiscate people’s homes just because someone privately keeps a copy of Nü Jie, right? I’m going to write a Nan De now, let them take it back and study it well.”
At first, Li Yue writing Nan De and having Meng Yanxing copy it was merely an act of momentary anger. But the more he thought about it, the more he felt this method was really quite good. He supported his chin with his hand, and with a tone carrying a bit of boastfulness, asked Meng Fu: “Would you say this counts as a kind of compromise and balance?”
They were unwilling to abandon Nü Jie, but once they had to learn Nan De alongside it, they’d understand that there’s really no need for this sort of book to still exist in the world.
Meng Fu pressed her lips into a light smile, her tone carrying admiration: “It counts, Your Majesty. This idea of yours is very good.”
“It’s just so-so,” Li Yue actually became modest. He was pondering how to write a stunning opening for this book of his, when suddenly remembered there was another matter he hadn’t asked Meng Fu. He opened his mouth and said, “By the way, Madam Meng told me some things from the past. She said that back then a servant saw you meeting with Xie Wenzhao in private, so they arranged your engagement with him. Originally, they had wanted to marry you to the late crown prince.”
Meng Fu was momentarily stunned. She stared slightly wide-eyed, half-opening her lips, and looked toward Li Yue opposite her.
This emperor was really too direct. If it were anyone else bringing up this kind of matter, they would certainly circle around seven or eight bends before finally getting the sentence out. But he just asked it straight.
But then again, His Majesty had always had this kind of personality.
Meng Fu shook her head and replied: “No, I never met with him privately.”
Before marrying Xie Wenzhao, she had only met him once at a poetry gathering. At the time, Xie Wenzhao in her eyes was no different from other noble sons.
Li Yue inexplicably felt very happy. He said proudly: “I just knew it wasn’t true.”
But after speaking, he suddenly felt a bit of heartache. When the Meng family chose a husband for Meng Yu, they practically investigated eight generations of the man’s ancestors. If there was even a slight imperfection, they would immediately change the candidate. Yet when it came to Meng Fu, it was handled so carelessly. No one even asked her before fixing the engagement.
Li Yue really wanted to know how this little girl Meng Fu had grown up in the Meng residence. But it seemed now was not the time to talk about it. He said: “…They also said they found a bracelet that Xie Wenzhao gave you in your room.”
Meng Fu didn’t have many pieces of jewelry. As for bracelets like that, she had never worn one. She shook her head and said: “I’ve never seen it.”
Li Yue nodded and gave his conclusion: “I think this matter must be related to Meng Yu.”
As Li Yue spoke, he carefully observed Meng Fu’s expression. On her face, there was no sadness, no anger— as if this matter had nothing to do with her at all.
Li Yue didn’t really like the way she looked right now.
Meng Fu said calmly: “Perhaps. It’s all in the past. There’s nothing worth fussing over anymore. Actually, to me, it doesn’t make any difference whom I marry.”
The late crown prince or Xie Wenzhao—
What difference would there be?
“How can you say it doesn’t matter? You can’t consider someone a good citizen just because a thief spent the whole night and didn’t manage to steal anything. Besides, if you never experienced the other choice, how can you know there’s no difference? Not marrying Xie Wenzhao doesn’t necessarily mean you would have married the former crown prince. It’s also possible that…” Li Yue slightly lowered his voice. He pressed his lips together and continued, “Anyway, there were many other possibilities. I’ll go back and ask about this properly.”
Meng Fu’s eyelids slightly lowered. She said to Li Yue: “Your Majesty, there’s no need. You mustn’t go to the Meng household again.”
If His Majesty were to get locked into the Fufeng Pavilion by Meng Yanxing again, she’d have to think of a way to get him out. She really couldn’t keep troubling Nanny Chen each time.
Li Yue, unaware of what Meng Fu was thinking, merely assumed that she still didn’t care about such things. He furrowed his brows slightly. His expression looked a little stern, and in his heart, aside from a strange kind of frustration, there were also many tangled emotions he couldn’t quite explain.
For a moment, he couldn’t understand what exactly he wanted. But he did know—he didn’t like Meng Fu’s answer.