“I just wanted to find Elder Sister and persuade her a bit more, but I saw…” Meng Yu didn’t finish her sentence and stopped speaking, putting on the appearance of a slip of the tongue.
“Saw what?” Meng Yanxing frowned and asked.
Meng Yu bit her lip. She had only seen the backs of the two people, but she could be certain that the one walking beside Meng Fu definitely wasn’t Xie Wenzhao. She spoke softly: “I saw Elder Sister leaving together with a strange man.”
Meng Yanxing felt a wave of darkness in front of his eyes when he heard this. He shot up to his feet with a whoosh, but failed to steady himself and fell back into the seat with a thump. He gave a cold laugh: “No wonder, no wonder she suddenly wanted to divorce Xie Wenzhao. She really, really—”
He repeated “really” for a while, but never finished the sentence.
Meng Yu quickly stepped forward and patted Meng Yanxing on the back, coaxing: “Father, don’t be angry anymore. Elder Sister just got muddled for a moment. Maybe she’ll regret it after a few days.”
Meng Yanxing snorted coldly: “Regret? What use is regret? She thinks that if she regrets, Xie Wenzhao will still want her? She’s completely disgraced the face of the Meng family!”
He paused, then turned to ask Meng Yu: “Did anyone else see this matter?”
Meng Yu shook her head: “Probably not.”
“You mustn’t mention this to anyone,” Meng Yanxing warned her.
Meng Yu knew clearly in her heart that after Meng Fu divorced Xie Wenzhao, it would be difficult for her to marry into a proper official household again. But she didn’t care—she only wanted to outshine Meng Fu, and that was enough. Besides, if this matter really spread out, it wouldn’t be good for her own reputation either.
Meng Yanxing saw her nod but still didn’t feel at ease. His trust in this younger daughter was no longer what it once was. He looked at Meng Yu sharply and asked: “And what was going on between you and Xie Wenzhao before? You met him in private? He gave you a bangle?”
Meng Yanxing wasn’t a fool. He understood clearly what Meng Fu’s earlier words meant. It was just that at the time, all his attention was on the divorce between Meng Fu and Xie Wenzhao, so he hadn’t dealt with it. Now that Meng Fu was gone, it was time to properly question this younger daughter.
“I…” Meng Yu clung to Meng Yanxing’s arm, acting spoiled as she said, “Father, back then your daughter was still young, didn’t understand things.”
This tactic had always worked well for Meng Yu in the past. No matter what mistake she made, Meng Yanxing would let her off lightly. Only this time, Meng Yu miscalculated—Meng Yanxing’s expression never eased.
“Meng Yu, you were young then, but now you’re not.” Meng Yanxing let out a long sigh, his expression heavy, as though he had made some major decision. He said, “Back then your mother spoiled you, neglected to discipline you. That was my failing as a father. You’ve long passed the age to be married. It’s time to be married off. I can’t continue indulging your temperament like this—you’ll need to properly learn the rules before getting married.”
He had spent all these years carefully cultivating Meng Fu, yet in the end it had come to this. And Meng Yu’s temperament was wild and hard to control—who knew what outrageous things she might do in the future? If people started saying that the Meng family raised two daughters and neither turned out right, then he, Meng Yanxing, would truly become a joke.
Meng Yanxing said in a deep voice: “Starting tomorrow, I will properly instruct you and find you a husband to marry as soon as possible.”
In the past, Meng Yu had always envied how Meng Fu was valued by their father. Now that Meng Yanxing was finally willing to direct his attention to her, Meng Yu suddenly, inexplicably, felt a few traces of fear arise in her heart.
What happened in the Meng family had nothing to do with Meng Fu anymore. She and Li Yue came to a restaurant in the capital that wasn’t particularly well-known. The food here leaned more toward the northern frontier’s flavor profile. From the few meals she had shared with His Majesty before, Meng Fu felt that His Majesty should like it here.
Li Yue sat across from her and asked: “What plans do you have for the future?”
Meng Fu replied: “I want to first find a place to settle down in the capital and move the clothes and other things from the Marquis’s residence over.”
Li Yue nodded and said: “Just so happens I’m free today. In a bit, I’ll go with you to take a look.”
“Then many thanks, Your Majesty,” Meng Fu didn’t decline. She asked: “Right, what did Divine Physician Pang say about Your Majesty’s illness?”
“Ah…” Li Yue on the opposite side got stuck at once. His gaze wandered, and he raised his hand only to not know where to put it. After a while, he said, “That…”
Meng Fu let out a light sigh: “Don’t tell me… you didn’t even call Divine Physician Pang?”
Li Yue put his hand down, sat upright obediently, and admitted his mistake sweetly: “I forgot.”
Meng Fu lifted her hand to press at her forehead and said to Li Yue: “I’m going to be angered to death by you.”
Li Yue pushed the teacup beside him to Meng Fu and said to her: “Calm down. I’ll summon Pang Huazhen to take a look once I return to the palace.”
Meng Fu continued asking him: “And the medicine, have you taken it?”
Li Yue nodded urgently: “Taken, taken.”
Meng Fu looked at Li Yue’s smile tinged with flattery and couldn’t tell whether His Majesty had really taken the medicine properly or not. She softly called out to him: “Your Majesty?”
“Mm?” Li Yue immediately looked at Meng Fu, his gaze meeting hers.
But Meng Fu suddenly stopped speaking.
Li Yue asked her: “Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you really angry?”
Meng Fu took a deep breath. She stared fixedly into Li Yue’s eyes and asked him: “Your Majesty, do you remember? On the Lantern Festival of the eleventh year of Wenkang, you saved a little girl by the Xun River.”
Li Yue was slightly stunned when he heard this, the hand holding the tea froze midair. Of course he remembered this incident. If not, he wouldn’t have specially had the secret guards search for that jade pendant when it was lost a while back. He just hadn’t expected that the little girl would turn out to be Meng Fu.
So she had grown up, and had turned out to be this beautiful.
On the Lantern Festival of the eleventh year of Wenkang, Li Yue had inadvertently seen his imperial consort mother hugging Imperial Physician He. This had quite an impact on his then-not-so-weak heart. He didn’t know what to do, so he decided to leave the palace to calm down. When he reached the Noon Court Gate, he was bumped into by someone from the crown prince’s faction. That person’s body wasn’t strong and fell straight to the ground. Li Yue didn’t bother with him and walked directly out of the palace.
It was on that very night that he saved Meng Fu.
And when Li Yue returned to the palace, he received a verbal decree from the late emperor via a eunuch: Third Prince Li Yue had offended the crown prince and would be punished with two months of confinement. But perhaps the late emperor still held a bit of fatherly affection—after a few days, he changed his mind, thinking that if Li Yue could apologize to the late crown prince, the confinement could be lifted.
But Li Yue, with that dog temper of his, not only refused to admit his wrongs, but even had a big quarrel with the late emperor, which nearly made the late emperor drop dead on the spot. In the end, after discussing with a few trusted ministers for two days, they simply exiled Li Yue to the northern frontier.
Li Yue had promised to teach that little girl martial arts—but in the end, naturally, he hadn’t been able to fulfill it.
He looked toward Meng Fu across from him and nodded lightly. He had originally wanted to say “how wonderful it is that we met again after so many years,” but when the words reached his lips, Li Yue felt it wasn’t so wonderful after all. If back then he hadn’t broken his promise, perhaps Meng Fu wouldn’t have suffered so much. She wouldn’t have had to endure Meng Yanxing’s discipline all these years, nor would she have married into the Marquis Xuanping’s residence.
“How wonderful,” this sentence that Li Yue did not say, was finally spoken by Meng Fu.
She wore a smile, but tears shimmered in her eyes.
As soon as Meng Fu cried, Li Yue became a bit flustered. His heart seemed to be surrounded by a ball of fire—somewhat painful, somewhat hot, and carrying an itch that was hard to describe. He softened his voice and said gently: “Alright, don’t cry anymore. It was my fault for breaking the promise. Back then I didn’t teach you. I’ll teach you now, and teach you in the future too.”
Perhaps it was destiny in the dark, circling around and around, and in the end, they still returned to the very beginning.
After Xie Wenzhao delivered the divorce certificate to the yamen, the news of the divorce between the Marquis of Xuanping and his wife spread like wildfire. In just half a day, more than half the capital and even the Empress Dowager in the palace knew about it.
Finally, the divorce was done. When the Empress Dowager heard this news, she was just about to breathe a sigh of relief—only to hear next that the Emperor had returned to the palace tonight. The Empress Dowager was startled. She didn’t dare delay and hurried straight to the Zichen Hall. She was truly afraid that just as one party got divorced, the Emperor would immediately bring the woman into the palace—this kind of thing was exactly something Li Yue would do.
When the Empress Dowager arrived at Zichen Hall, Li Yue was staring blankly at half of a double-fish jade pendant in his hand. The Empress Dowager walked over and asked him: “Emperor, weren’t you at Ju Mountain for the hunt? Why did you come back? Did something happen?”
Li Yue replied casually: “Nothing, nothing, just came back to take a look.”
The Empress Dowager didn’t believe a single word! What was there in the palace to look at?
“Oh Emperor, oh Emperor…” Seeing that Li Yue still refused to tell her the truth, the Empress Dowager sat down across from him and began earnestly advising him: “Your thoughts, this Aijia understands. But in this matter, you mustn’t be too hasty. It needs to be carefully considered over the long term.”
“Mm?” Li Yue lifted his head and looked at the Empress Dowager with a face full of confusion.
Thoughts? What thoughts?