[Huyou (忽悠): literally “to cajole, bluff, or fool,” but often used in a humorous or light context to describe sweet-talking or persuasion. Not translated here for authenticity, but understood as a thematic pun.]
After Meng Fu finished speaking, she suddenly realized that what she had just said seemed to be somewhat inappropriate. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something more, but as soon as she looked up, she saw that His Majesty’s cheeks were slightly tinged with red, his expression seemed a bit…
…Rippling?
Meng Fu also didn’t know if her description was accurate or not, but for the moment couldn’t think of any better word.
However, His Majesty like this was quite cute. Meng Fu had never seen such an expression on her own face before.
She gently called him once: “Your Majesty?”
Li Yue was still immersed in that sentence just now spoken by Meng Fu — “I like it very much.”
It was only when he heard Meng Fu speak that he returned to his senses. He shook his head and said, “It’s nothing,” then picked up the tea in front of him, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.
Meng Fu didn’t press the matter further, picked up the imperial brush, and began reviewing the memorials in front of her. The sunlight was leisurely, flowing along with the tip of her brush, as if a thin layer of golden powder had been scattered within the cinnabar-red ink.
Li Yue, with nothing to do, walked over and sat beside her, helping her grind ink.
Grinding ink wasn’t particularly fun, but right now, Li Yue was doing it quite happily, even finding some enjoyment in it.
After the ink was ground, Li Yue had nothing else to do. Meng Fu was still reading the memorials. When she lowered her head, strands of hair fell from her temples and landed on the stone table.
Whenever she turned the pages, those two strands of hair moved back and forth like little fish in water, swimming with her actions.
Li Yue had never noticed before that he could be such a boring person — just watching strands of hair, and yet seeing flowers bloom from them.
It was his own hair. Touching it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Li Yue, while observing Meng Fu’s expression, picked up a lock of hair.
Perhaps Meng Fu was too engrossed in reading the memorials, as she didn’t notice at all.
With nothing better to do, Li Yue actually started counting the hairs in his hand.
He counted for a while, then heard the sound of Meng Fu switching to a new memorial. His mind wavered, and just like that, he forgot the number he had counted to.
He sighed inwardly, planning to start over — but just as he began again, he suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Li Yue felt that recently, he had become a bit perverted.
This isn’t good. It’s really not good.
His Majesty decided he needed to find something proper to do.
He saw Meng Fu finish reading another memorial, and softly called to her: “A’Fu?”
Meng Fu looked up at Li Yue, waiting for His Majesty to speak — but His Majesty didn’t say anything again.
For a moment, Meng Fu wasn’t sure if she’d just imagined hearing things. She lowered her head and opened the memorial in her hands.
After a while, she heard His Majesty call her again: “A’Fu?”
Meng Fu didn’t react, so His Majesty called her again: “A’Fu ah…”
Meng Fu let out a soft sigh. In her heart, she wasn’t actually annoyed.
In fact, she quite liked His Majesty calling her that. But when she raised her head, she still deliberately put on a helpless expression and said to Li Yue:
“Your Majesty, what exactly do you want to say?”
“Nothing.”
Li Yue raised his hand to rub his nose. He himself realized that perhaps there really was something wrong with him. He really had become perverted. He needed to find an imperial physician to take a look at him sometime.
He smiled and said, “I just wanted to call you.”
He didn’t hide his thoughts at all. Meng Fu, on the other hand, felt a bit embarrassed.
Countless emotions intertwined in her heart — joy, sorrow.
Meng Fu had always been clever, and now she could vaguely see through her own feelings.
But to her, this was not a good thing.
At this moment, the sunlight was just right. The shadows of the trees swayed gently. The air seemed to be filled with a cloying sweetness.
In the curve of His Majesty’s eyes was a pool of clear autumn water, and in that water was her reflection.
The atmosphere was very good. Too good.
So good that one could get drunk without drinking — but such a moment was not appropriate now.
Meng Fu simply raised her hand and pushed the memorial in front of her over to Li Yue. She said to Li Yue, “Your Majesty, since you’re not writing the book, then help take a look at the memorials.”
In the marquis manor, Li Yue kept pushing around the responsibility of managing the household, but when it came to his own work, he accepted it quite readily. He immediately nodded and said, “Alright, alright, I’m on it.”
Even His Majesty himself didn’t realize it — his tone still carried a trace of coaxing.
Meng Fu was sensitive, so naturally she wouldn’t fail to pick up on it.
For a moment, Meng Fu’s heart was a bit unsettled. She lowered her head, only then noticing that her hair was wound around Li Yue’s right index finger.
Li Yue followed her gaze and gave a guilty cough. Staring straight ahead while spouting nonsense, he said to Meng Fu, “…I just saw that this strand of hair had some split ends.”
Meng Fu knew full well he wasn’t telling the truth, but she still went along with him and said, “It does look like there are some split ends.”
“Yes.” Li Yue nodded seriously.
Meow?
Meow meow meow?
Just as Li Yue’s words fell, a few soft cat meows came from behind him, as if asking where the split ends were.
Meng Fu turned her head and saw Guifei slowly stepping out from behind the rockery in a dignified four-square stride.
Unhurried, it walked to her side.
And while Meng Fu had turned her head, Li Yue quickly let go of the strand of hair wrapped around his finger, and couldn’t help but complain: “What kind of damn meow is that?”
From his tone, it seemed that the once-favored Guifei had now fallen out of favor.
However, Guifei had never cared about His Majesty’s affection. It didn’t even spare Li Yue a glance. With a gentle leap, it jumped onto Meng Fu’s lap, curled itself into a ball, closed its eyes, and got ready to sleep. Before long, a faint purring sound could be heard.
Meng Fu reached out and petted Guifei’s back. Seeing Li Yue staring dazedly at Guifei with a strange look in his eyes — what he was thinking at that moment, Meng Fu couldn’t guess.
She thought for a bit and asked him, “Does Your Majesty want to hold it?”
“Forget it,” Li Yue shook his head and snorted coldly, pretending to be annoyed. “This kind of treacherous concubine ought to be thrown into the Cold Palace long ago.”
[Cold Palace 冷宫: a metaphor for being banished or falling out of favor in the palace.]
Meng Fu was caught off guard and laughed. The corners of her mouth curled up as she petted Guifei again. Guifei’s fur was soft and smooth — it felt really nice.
Wasn’t this, in a way, taking liberties with Guifei right in front of His Majesty?
And the sleeping Guifei had no idea that, between just a few words exchanged by Li Yue and Meng Fu, it was about to be stripped of its consort title.
Meng Fu teased, “Really going to send her to the Cold Palace? I still want it to accompany me to bed.”
His Majesty didn’t feel he was being cuckolded at all. He laughed and said, “Since A’Fu likes it, then let it atone by meritorious service.”
He paused and added, “But if you really want to carry it back to sleep, remember to have the palace servants give it a bath first.”
Meng Fu nodded and said, “I’ll remember. Does Your Majesty really not want to touch it?”
To say he didn’t want to — that was definitely a lie. Otherwise, back then, Li Yue wouldn’t have been searching all over the imperial garden for cats.
With reserved dignity, he stretched out his hand and said, “Then I shall reluctantly give it a touch?”
Then he gave Guifei’s back a thorough rub, and even poked its soft little belly.
A satisfied smile immediately appeared on His Majesty’s face. After so many years — at last, he finally got to touch it.
Guifei was awakened by him. It lazily lifted its eyelids and glanced at Li Yue.
Thankfully, it didn’t do as it used to — bolting away the moment it saw him.
It only gave a flick of its fluffy big tail, expressing a bit of its impatience.
Li Yue knew when to stop. He withdrew his hand and said to Meng Fu, “If you get tired, just toss it off.”
It seemed the Guifei truly had lost favor — even offering her beauty couldn’t win back the emperor’s heart.
No one knew where the Crown Prince came bouncing over from.
With eyes like little black beans darting around, he sniffed at Meng Fu, then went to sniff at Li Yue.
No one knew what he discovered, but in the end, he lay obediently down beside Li Yue’s feet, his little tail wagging nonstop.
Though these little animals in the imperial garden couldn’t speak, they all seemed to have a bit of spiritual sense.
Li Yue gathered his focus and began to seriously handle the memorials in front of him.
He and Meng Fu worked together, and the stack of memorials on the table was quickly dealt with.
Since it was still early, Li Yue simply told Gao Xi to bring over the rest of them as well.
Gao Xi was practically dumbfounded when he was ordered around by Li Yue — was this Madam really this reckless? She actually dared to have him do something like this, wasn’t she afraid His Majesty would be angry?
But then he looked at His Majesty, and His Majesty was calmly sitting there, not a trace of anger on his face. It seemed he was already quite used to this sort of thing.
Gao Xi now had a new understanding of this Madam’s status in His Majesty’s heart.
He wondered why he hadn’t noticed before the private affection between His Majesty and this Madam — the feelings between the two of them had developed way too fast.
The remaining memorials were quickly dealt with as well.
As for the Guifei who had been sleeping on Meng Fu’s lap, it had long since run off — it was Li Yue who couldn’t stand the sight of it. He felt it had gotten much fatter than before, so he reached out and brushed it off Meng Fu’s lap.
From this, it seemed there really was some reason why the Guifei didn’t like His Majesty.
Li Yue organized the memorials and had Gao Xi send them back to Zichen Hall.
Then he turned back to Meng Fu and said, “Want me to take you to shoot arrows later?”
“In the palace?” Meng Fu asked.
Li Yue gave a sound of agreement and said, “To the north there’s a military training ground — there are targets there.”
Meng Fu knew that her archery skills weren’t good. In order to help His Majesty lose less face during the autumn hunt, it was necessary for her to put some effort into this matter.
Li Yue glanced at her and comforted her, saying: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. Once we’re at the hunting grounds, just do as you please. I just want you to learn more ways to protect yourself.”
Li Yue casually plucked a wildflower from the roadside and continued: “I’ve got a few small repeating crossbows in the storage room. You can practice your aim first — once you’re used to it, you can carry one with you. It’s very useful.”
Meng Fu slightly turned her head, looked off to the side, and said in a hoarse voice, “Many thanks, Your Majesty.”
Li Yue laughed and asked her, “How will you thank me?”
Meng Fu turned her head and looked steadily at Li Yue.
Though she was the wife of the Marquis of Xuanping, aside from that identity, she actually had nothing.
How was she supposed to thank this emperor?
Meng Fu softly asked, “How does Your Majesty want me to thank you?”
Li Yue had originally just wanted to tease Meng Fu, but now, being looked at like that by her, it was his own face that turned red first.