Pang Huazhen withdrew his hand. Seeing that the smile on His Majesty’s face still hadn’t faded, he truly was too curious, so he opened his mouth and asked: “Your Majesty, are you happy for the Marquis of Xuanping?”
Li Yue looked at Pang Huazhen like he was a fool, and said: “Zhen is not his father, what is there for Zhen to be happy about for him.”
Pang Huazhen’s mouth twitched. Just now, His Majesty’s expression looked even happier than Old Marquis Xuanping himself. He asked: “Then what are you happy about?”
Li Yue coughed once. He straightened his expression, and very solemnly said to Pang Huazhen: “Zhen is going to have a grand wedding.”
Pang Huazhen showed a confused expression. Although earlier he had thought that perhaps His Majesty’s Hongluan Star had moved, not long after, he saw a newly-entered palace maid, carefully dressed up, deliberately bump into His Majesty. Eunuch Gao took a step forward just in time and stood in front of His Majesty. That palace maid fell on her butt to the ground, crying like pear blossoms in the rain, appearing delicate and pitiable at first glance. In the end, His Majesty directly had her dragged away.
The palace maid was truly quite good-looking. It’s said she was even the youngest granddaughter of Duke Jingguo. Duke Jingguo must be senile from age to come up with such a thing. In the end, not only did His Majesty not feel even the slightest tenderness or pity for fragrant jade, he didn’t give Duke Jingguo any face at all. On court, he harshly scolded him. Poor Duke Jingguo, already over seventy this year, knelt on the ground crying with snot and tears running all over.
His Majesty had not lost his temper in the imperial court for a long time. They gradually thought that His Majesty had truly changed his temperament. Now they finally understood—His Majesty was still that same His Majesty.
That little palace maid might not have been anything to regret, but Pang Huazhen still felt that—even if it had been someone else, His Majesty’s attitude wouldn’t have changed in the slightest. In this world, perhaps there was not a single flower that could brush against His Majesty.
Passing through a sea of ten thousand flowers, His Majesty had special avoidance techniques.
Then who was he going to have a grand wedding with? He couldn’t possibly be hosting a grand wedding all by himself, right?
Pang Huazhen felt it wasn’t entirely impossible either. He carefully tested: “…In a dream?”
Li Yue gave him a cold look and said: “Are you looking for a beating?”
Pang Huazhen saw that Li Yue’s expression didn’t look like a joke. Just as he was about to tease a few more sentences, he suddenly remembered that several months ago, the Emperor had once especially taken him out of the palace to treat a young woman. At that time, he had wondered about it for a long time, guessing what sort of relationship His Majesty had with that girl. But later, since he never saw that person appear beside His Majesty again, he had forgotten all about it.
Now he suddenly understood and lowered his voice to ask: “You have someone in your heart?”
Li Yue gave a quiet “Mm.” But Pang Huazhen still couldn’t understand—even if His Majesty had someone in his heart and was going to have a grand wedding, what did that have to do with Xie Wenzhao getting married?
And such a big matter—how had the Emperor not let slip even the slightest hint before?
With a belly full of questions, Pang Huazhen was driven out of Zichen Hall by His Majesty. Li Yue changed his clothes and took a carriage to Meng Fu’s place.
Meng Fu had heard a bit about the matter between Xie Wenzhao and Meng Yu, but this was the first time she’d heard about Meng Yanxing having a stroke. From the sound of it, Meng Yanxing’s condition seemed quite serious.
Meng Fu was held in Li Yue’s arms. Li Yue’s warm lips brushed past her earlobe. She held his hand and lowered her head in deep thought for a while. At last, she lightly sighed and said: “I should go and have a look.”
Li Yue gave a soft “Mm.” The world had always demanded more of children than it did of parents. Now that Meng Yanxing seemed on the verge of death, it was proper for Meng Fu to return to the Meng residence to take a look.
He kissed Meng Fu’s cheek and said to her: “If you want to go, then go.”
Meng Fu did not have much affection for Meng Yanxing. She only made this decision after carefully analyzing the pros and cons. This personality of hers truly was somewhat cold and indifferent.
She sent Qingping out to buy a few valuable medicinal herbs. In the afternoon, she went to the Meng residence. The servant at the gate, upon seeing her, was stunned. This was the first time Meng Fu had returned to the Meng family after separating from Xie Wenzhao. The servants in the Meng residence all knew that Meng Yanxing currently didn’t want to acknowledge this daughter. But thinking that after all, they were blood-related father and daughter, the servant didn’t know if Meng Yanxing might soften in the future. So upon seeing Meng Fu, his manner was still polite, just not daring to let her directly enter the residence.
The servant bowed and said: “Eldest Miss, this small one will first go in to report your arrival.”
The maid Qingping behind her immediately showed a look of indignation upon hearing this. But Meng Fu remained very calm, and said faintly: “Go ahead.”
The servant immediately turned and ran into the Meng residence. Qingping stomped her foot in anger, but didn’t know what she should say.
On the bed, upon hearing the servant report that Meng Fu had come, Meng Yanxing didn’t even think and directly said: “Don’t see her. Tell her to leave.”
Madam Meng, who was sitting by the bed helping Meng Yanxing drink medicine, heard this and opened her lips as if to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, said nothing in the end.
Meng Fu heard the servant’s report and was not surprised at all. She had the servant deliver the medicinal herbs inside—counted as a bit of her sentiment.
When the servant carried in the two boxes of herbs, Madam Meng was softly advising Meng Yanxing about the marriage between Meng Yu and Xie Wenzhao. She gently said: “I know you’re refusing this marriage for the sake of face, but is face more important than A’Yu’s happiness? Back then, she was confused for a moment and made a mistake. She’s suffered for it too. So many years have passed, and she’s never been able to let go of Xie Wenzhao. As parents, don’t we just want our children to live better lives?”
Meng Yanxing’s illness had only just slightly improved. When he spoke, it was accompanied by heavy, rough breathing—like pulling a bellows—huffing and puffing. He said: “Even if she can’t let go, she has to. That’s her brother-in-law!”
Madam Meng furrowed her brows and said: “That’s all in the past. A’Fu and Xie Wenzhao have already separated.”
Meng Yanxing couldn’t help raising his voice. He said: “Even if they’ve divorced, it still won’t do. My two daughters of the Meng family marrying the same man one after the other—have all the men under heaven died? Or must our Meng family cling to their Marquis residence and not let go? What will outsiders think?”
“How outsiders think is their business. It’s enough if we live our days well ourselves.” Speaking to this point, Madam Meng paused, then continued, “Actually, among large noble families, if an accident occurs, it’s also common to marry a sister as a continuation wife.”
Meng Yanxing was so angry that his hands trembled non-stop. His voice was rough and blurry like someone peeling bark off a tree. He said: “How can that be the same? I’d rather she go to a temple and become a nun than marry Xie Wenzhao!”
“You only care about your own face! And you even say such words!” Madam Meng set down the medicine bowl in her hands, turned around, her face showing a look of tears on the verge of falling.
Meng Yanxing couldn’t stand seeing her like that the most, but he didn’t want to give in either. Seeing the servant holding a box standing at the door, he vented his anger on him: “Why did you come in again? Has Meng Fu not left yet?”
Before the servant could open his mouth, Meng Yanxing continued: “Did she run into some trouble? Realized life isn’t easy after divorcing? She still has the face to return to the Meng family? If she hadn’t divorced Xie Wenzhao, would these things have happened? Now the Meng family’s face is completely lost!”
The servant opened his mouth: “Eldest Miss—”
He didn’t finish his words before being cut off by Meng Yanxing: “What Eldest Miss is there in the Meng family!”
Madam Meng turned around and gently stroked Meng Yanxing’s back, soothingly saying: “Calm down, calm down. Your health just got a little better—how can you let yourself get this worked up again?”
Then she turned to the servant at the door and said: “Tell Meng Fu to go back.”
“And these?” The servant pointed at the box in his hands.
Madam Meng said: “Have Meng Fu take them back with her.”
Not long after, the servant brought the items out. Qingping was red in the face with anger. She hadn’t expected Meng Yanxing to actually be so ruthless—even under such circumstances, he still refused to see the young miss. They had come for nothing.
Meng Fu, hearing Qingping’s complaints, didn’t speak from beginning to end. How was this considered coming for nothing?
The Meng family’s attitude toward her today was enough for outsiders to see clearly. It would’ve been better if the servants just directly threw those two boxes out.
The world always says “There are no wrong parents under the heavens,” but there are always some parents who don’t consider themselves parents.
Li Yue heard from Qingping about what happened that afternoon outside the Meng residence. He was worried Meng Fu would feel sad, so he walked over from behind and gently drew her into his arms.
Meng Fu turned her head and saw His Majesty’s face full of heartache. She smiled and said: “I’m fine. It’s all good. Judging from the servant’s attitude, Father must’ve said plenty of nasty words—goes to show his health is still decent. He can continue writing Nan De.”
Li Yue, hearing Meng Fu’s words, only held her tighter.
That evening, the palace sent someone to the Meng residence to offer regards to Meng Yanxing. Meng Yanxing was simply overjoyed at the favor. But the palace attendant had only said a few kind words before suddenly changing tone, asking: “Don’t know how Lord Meng’s Nan De is coming along? His Majesty is urgently waiting for it. If Lord Meng is unwell and can’t write, His Majesty wouldn’t make things difficult—he’s already found someone to replace you.”
Meng Yanxing, upon hearing these words, was both angry and anxious. Every single word and sentence in that Nan De was his painstaking effort. How could he hand over his hard work to someone else? And let others freely alter it?
Meng Yanxing immediately told the palace attendant that his body was fine and that he would definitely not fail His Majesty’s expectations.
As soon as the palace people left the Meng residence, Meng Yanxing had someone move all the books from his study into his bedroom. Lying on the bed, he pondered how to continue writing Nan De. Whenever he thought of a good sentence, he immediately had Madam Meng come over and help him write it down.
Madam Meng felt heartache seeing him like this, but knowing that he was doing something big, she could only take even more care of him. After a few days, she too had thinned down quite a bit.
In the blink of an eye, the year passed. Because marrying in the first month was considered inauspicious, Meng Yu and Xie Wenzhao had to postpone their wedding by a month and set it for early February. During this period, Meng Yu stayed in the Meng residence preparing her wedding clothes. Looking at the dragons and phoenixes on the dress, she felt quite emotional in her heart. After scheming everything out, in the end she was still walking back down the same old road. Had she known earlier, she might as well have obediently married Xie Wenzhao from the start.
But how could mortals foresee the future?