He had originally thought that two or three months would be enough.
The Empress Dowager said: “How is half a year long? If Aijia were to say, waiting a full year would be best.”
After a year, everyone would have long forgotten about Meng Fu’s divorce from Xie Wenzhao. Ideally, by that time Xie Wenzhao would’ve already taken another wife. Even if people knew that the Emperor and Meng Fu were together, they wouldn’t associate it with the idea of a ruler taking a minister’s wife. Though half a year wasn’t as long as a year, it could more or less pass.
Fortunately, the two of them had hidden things well previously, and no one had noticed. The Empress Dowager even considered arranging a banquet to let everyone know that Li Yue and Meng Fu weren’t familiar with each other yet—but she wasn’t too confident in her son’s acting skills. If at that time he couldn’t stop staring at Meng Fu, it would backfire. This matter still needed to be carefully pondered.
Li Yue truly didn’t want Meng Fu to hear any gossip about herself. He turned and asked Meng Fu: “A’Fu, what do you think?”
Meng Fu nodded: “I think what the Empress Dowager said is right. This matter should be delayed a bit. Your Majesty, aren’t you still busy with the matter of military officials entering the court? Let’s talk about it again after this busy period.”
She also happened to want to finish the book she was writing. Yesterday, after taking three manuscripts to the publishing house, the owner immediately accepted them and urged her to write more quickly.
Li Yue gave a soft “mn” and nodded: “What A’Fu says makes sense.”
The Empress Dowager: “……”
Is this really her son? Could he have been possessed?
Even when Meng Fu and Li Yue had swapped bodies, the Empress Dowager hadn’t thought this far—but now she was starting to suspect.
The Empress Dowager shook her head, took a sip of tea to calm herself, then comforted Li Yue: “Don’t worry. Aijia will frequently summon A’Fu into the palace.”
“A’Fu coming back and forth every day like this is very tiring too,” said Li Yue.
The Empress Dowager: “……”
She said to Li Yue: “You’re healthy. Then you go out of the palace to visit A’Fu.”
She was only saying it casually—who would’ve thought Li Yue would actually reply seriously: “I happen to be planning to buy the house next to A’Fu’s.”
Meng Fu lifted her eyes and looked at Li Yue. Li Yue, seeing her gaze, smiled at her.
Had she known earlier, she should’ve chosen a residence closer to the imperial palace. But if it were too close, more people who knew her and Li Yue would be around—which wouldn’t be a good thing either.
Ninth Prince sat on a stool, holding an apple in his hands. Since they had entered, he had tilted his small head, glancing now at Li Yue, now at Meng Fu, his brows slightly furrowed, his large eyes filled with confusion.
When the others stopped talking, Ninth Prince jumped off the stool, ran over to Meng Fu, and handed her the apple in his hands, saying in a crisp voice: “For you.”
Meng Fu took the apple offered by the little prince and smiled: “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Compared to the first time she had seen him, the little prince was doing much better now. Not only could he speak, he could also use simple sentences to express his thoughts. He was gradually becoming aware of his own existence and integrating himself into his vast and complicated world.
The Empress Dowager, seeing this, smiled and said: “He really does like you.”
After Meng Fu and Li Yue left, all the smile on the Empress Dowager’s face disappeared. She turned and said to the surrounding palace attendants: “Tell all the palace servants to keep their mouths shut. If Aijia hears even half a word of something that shouldn’t be said, their heads will roll.”
Back then, after the late emperor passed away, Li Yue directly released over half of the palace servants, and even the imperial concubines—whether they had children or not—were also all sent out of the palace. Li Yue even allowed them to remarry outside the palace. Most of the palace concubines did not dare harbor the thought of marrying again, but there were also some young girls who had only been sent into the palace a year or two before the late emperor’s death and had never even seen the late emperor’s face. One of them wished to marry her childhood sweetheart, but her family wouldn’t allow it. Li Yue simply sent over a dowry, and those people obediently shut their mouths. It’s said that the young couple now lives quite well, and afterward, a few more couples gradually followed.
If the late emperor, from down in the Nine Springs [a poetic euphemism for the afterlife], knew that his concubines had remarried, who knows whether the grass before his tomb would grow even greener. [a sarcastic metaphor implying cuckoldry or dishonor.]
Since His Majesty ascended the throne, the harem has remained empty. Without the vexing matters of jealous rivalry, there have been far fewer troubles and disputes, making everything much easier to manage.
The Empress Dowager picked up the Ninth Prince and let out a long sigh. In her youth, she too had wished to find someone who would hold her dearly in his heart.
But the late emperor only loved her youthful beauty. After Li Yue was sent to the northern frontier, Imperial Physician He also married. The two of them never saw each other again.
She did not have that blessing. She hoped Meng Fu would obtain a complete and happy ending.
That afternoon, Meng Fu stayed at the Zichen Hall. Li Yue summoned Meng Yanxing into the palace to ask how his writing of Male Virtue《男德》was coming along. Now, whenever Li Yue looked at Meng Yanxing, he found him increasingly displeasing. After reading the first few chapters of Male Virtue, he became even angrier and was about to reprimand him—when a small sound came from behind the screen where Meng Fu was. Li Yue then found an excuse to leave and went into the inner hall to talk with Meng Fu for a while. When he came back out, his face still wore an angry expression toward Meng Yanxing, but he didn’t scold him much. Even so, what he said didn’t make Meng Yanxing feel any better.
If women hold themselves to such high standards in Female Virtue《女诫》, how can men fall behind?
And just look at how humble and low-profile Female Virtue is written—can’t Male Virtue learn something from that? As men, shouldn’t they be even more modest and humble, even stricter in their self-discipline?
Aside from parroting others’ words, what else can you do? If it’s already been written by the ancients, don’t copy it again. Write something new!
Meng Yanxing knew in his heart that what His Majesty said was reasonable. It’s just that, as a man, there was still a psychological barrier he couldn’t quite get past. After being scolded today, he repeatedly responded “yes, yes,” and went back to rewrite it. He had to compile Male Virtue and also teach Meng Yu to read Female Virtue. As he gained deeper understanding of Female Virtue, his writing of Male Virtue became more fluent—but at times he would suddenly feel that life was so meaningless. After teaching Meng Yu for two days, that feeling became even more intense.
Compared to Meng Fu, Meng Yu really wasn’t smart enough. She was also not diligent. Meng Yanxing often got so mad at her that his head would spin. Even more infuriating was when he used classical allusions to scold her, and she didn’t even understand. Recalling the days he had taught Meng Fu, Meng Yanxing couldn’t help but make comparisons between the two.
And Meng Yu, upon hearing such things, grew even more upset. Why was it that in Meng Yanxing’s eyes, she could never compare to Meng Fu? The one who had been strictly disciplined back then was Meng Fu. The one meant to marry the crown prince was Meng Fu. Yet now, Meng Fu had already been driven out of the Meng family by Meng Yanxing—why was it that she still couldn’t compare?
Meng Yu had already been full of resentment, and not long after, she overheard Meng Yanxing and Madam Meng discussing marrying her off. The person Meng Yanxing had picked was his student, who was currently still a mere commoner. Meng Yanxing said he would surely achieve great things in the future.
Meng Yu didn’t care about “the future” at all—she had no intention of marrying a commoner. Yet among the prominent families in the capital who had shown interest in her, there was only one: Xie Wenzhao. Due to the scandal of the past, Xie Wenzhao had been somewhat cold to her recently. If she wanted to become the Marchioness, she would have to find a way to win him over.
Thinking about how it was Meng Fu who had taken the initiative to divorce Xie Wenzhao, Meng Yu still felt somewhat unwilling—but she had no other choice now.
As night fell and the cold moon hung in the sky, Li Yue drove the carriage to escort Meng Fu home. He helped her down from the carriage. Seeing that no one was on the street, he held her hand and walked her into the courtyard—only to see Qingping standing there.
Qingping’s eyes widened. Her gaze fell on their interlocked hands. She really couldn’t stand it—Miss was actually really with this man…
Meng Fu felt a bit awkward under Qingping’s gaze, but she didn’t pull her hand away from Li Yue’s. On the contrary, Li Yue was still unsatisfied. He leaned in to try and steal a kiss, only for Meng Fu to give him a light tap on the shoulder before he turned to tie up the horse.
Once Li Yue had gone out, Qingping hurried over and puffed up in anger as she asked Meng Fu: “Miss, what exactly is your relationship with him?”
Meng Fu didn’t answer directly, only smiled and asked her: “What do you think, Qingping?”
Qingping could hear the fondness in Meng Fu’s tone and could also sense that her lady truly liked this man.
But surely this person wasn’t really just a coachman… right? No way, right!?
Could it be that Miss has been deceived? Could it be that it was for this man that she wanted to divorce Xuanping Marquis?
Miss has been clever all her life—how could she suddenly lose her head in this kind of matter? Even though that coachman has a good figure and looks quite decent, he’s still a coachman! If Miss really liked him, she could’ve just kept him in the Marquis’ residence—after all, the Marquis rarely goes to Jixue Courtyard anyway.
But now she actually left the Marquis’ residence for him, suffering alone outside.
The more Qingping thought about it, the more anxious she became. Her brows were tightly furrowed, and she clung to her last shred of hope as she asked Meng Fu: “So… is he really a coachman? What does his family do?”
Don’t tell me… he comes from a family of coachmen?
Just as Meng Fu was about to speak, Li Yue walked in from the other side and said to Qingping: “I’m not a coachman.”
Qingping was just about to let out a breath of relief and say that her lady couldn’t possibly have such poor judgment—when she heard Li Yue continue: “I’m a steward. I manage some small matters.”
Qingping’s features furrowed up again. What steward? A steward for which household? That didn’t sound much better than being a coachman!
And a steward who didn’t do any work in the mornings or evenings, who came specially to drive their young lady’s carriage—he must not be favored by his master. Just what kind of person is this?!
Meng Fu lifted her gaze toward Li Yue and saw His Majesty winking at her with a light smile on his lips. She didn’t expose him.
Well, he really did manage some “small” matters.