Chapter 39 After the Marriage "Your Majesty, were you doing this on purpose?"
Zhangjia Village, on the outskirts of Jinling (Nanjing)
An ordinary-looking man hurried past, his expression cold and aloof, and finally stopped in front of a desolate and dilapidated courtyard.
He learned through painstaking inquiries in the city that the Xie family had moved north to the capital last winter. Only one old woman who served them, due to her age and frailty, received money and was settled in Zhangjia Village to reunite with her children.
I can only hope that this old woman contains information that my master wants to know...
He knocked and waited a moment, then the rickety wooden door opened from the inside, and a simply dressed old woman stepped out.
Old woman: "You are..."
The man nodded and bowed slightly, then clasped his hands in a fist and asked in a low voice, "I want to inquire about someone."
The old woman hid the silver in her sleeve, lifted her eyelids, and asked with a hint of greed, "Who are you asking about?"
The man smiled honestly, seemingly a little embarrassed: "Old man, you used to live at the Xie residence, right? I was Cui Xu's classmate. We haven't seen each other for many years. I happened to be passing through Jinling and wanted to pay my respects, but the place was deserted... I asked the neighbors and learned that Young Master Cui had passed away, and his father-in-law's family had gone to the capital. I couldn't even find a place to offer incense, so I wandered around and ended up asking you here."
The old woman paused for a moment, then suddenly let out a strange laugh.
The man suddenly realized something and tried to retreat quickly, but his body was no match for the speed of the dagger. After the sound of tearing cloth, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. Before he could even bend down, the dagger was embedded in his body and he fell silent.
The old woman at the door straightened up inch by inch, tearing away her disguise to reveal a young and beautiful face. She smiled and approached the black-clad man who had stepped back into the courtyard, carrying a long sword and with a face covered in burns.
"Li Zhu, His Majesty guessed correctly. Sure enough, someone came to inquire about the Lady. It was worth it for us to pretend here for so long, just waiting for the fish to take the bait."
There was indeed a wet nurse serving the Xie family in the past, but she fell ill after leaving the Xie family and returning home. Her children were unfilial; not only did they not serve her, they also absconded with the money and moved away from Zhangjia Village without a trace. In the end, it was she and Li Zhu who paid for the old woman's burial.
As for the Lady's "deceased husband" Cui Xu—that person is not fictional, and there is indeed an identity with the same name. However, he died young and had few relatives. His living relatives are now far away and have long since left the fifth degree of kinship. They probably don't even remember that there was such a person as Cui Xu. Therefore, how he gets married and how he dies is up to the Lady.
The Empress always plans ten steps ahead for every one step she takes. To ensure the Empress's identity is absolutely secure, she and Li Zhu are waiting here to clean up the mess.
Some things are a mix of truth and falsehood. As time goes by and the Empress's position is secure, even falsehoods can be made to seem true. When that time comes, anyone who asks will simply say that the Empress came from Jinling.
Li Zhu squinted and searched the lifeless person on the ground, but found nothing useful. "I wonder who sent this person..."
"It doesn't matter who it is, the Lord knows everything. In all these years, I have never seen the Lord make a mistake." The beautiful woman, Qiu Shisan Niang, said lazily.
“Indeed,” Li Zhu raised his arm and released the carrier pigeon in his hand, his voice hoarse. “Now that we’ve swept away the tails here, Thirteen Sister, it’s time for us to return to the capital.”
The beautiful woman chuckled, exuding charm, "It's good to be back in the capital. It'll allow me to witness the majesty of my mistress. Those two little maids, Shi Cui and Wan Bi, are so lucky to have the opportunity to serve by her side. We two, on the other hand, haven't even seen her..."
Li Zhu: "There will definitely be an opportunity this time when I return to the capital."
"I hope so."
Qiu Shisan Niang shrugged, saying this, but she didn't quite believe it in her heart—people like her and Li Zhu are people that ordinary people would avoid like the plague, so even the noble and precious mistress would probably stay far away from them.
After all, Li Zhu was disfigured, had a murder charge against her, and had previously worked as a prostitute and killed her husband with her own hands...
Qiu Shisan Niang smiled casually and said, "Then let's pack up and head back to the capital."
Now, all of the "past" of the mistress in Jinling has been completely arranged, and everyone in the neighborhood knows that Xie Jingxuan, the master of the house, has a beautiful and kind granddaughter.
Although her husband died early and she remained secluded at home, she possessed both virtue and talent. After following Xie Jingxuan to the capital, she happily married the current emperor and, as a widow, took charge of the imperial seal, thus becoming the empress of the country.
This is a well-known story in Nanjing.
As for the reclusive Xie woman, although she initially left no impression, over time her image gradually became vivid and lifelike through word of mouth among the people, enough to depict a reasonable, righteous, and dignified widow.
Who can tell the difference between truth and falsehood?
...
Wen Miao was unaware of the events that had occurred in Jinling. As the Empress and in charge of the Phoenix Seal, she naturally had to manage all affairs in the palace.
However, Emperor Qianyuan did not want Wen Miao to suffer, so in addition to sending the female official Luo, he also sent several experienced and loyal nannies to do everything for Wen Miao.
Wen Miao was the only mistress in the entire harem, and everyone knew how Emperor Qian Yuan treated her. Most of the servants in the palace were clever and wouldn't act arrogantly towards the Empress's people.
Even though the palace is inevitably filled with various complex relationships and networks, the fact that the emperor's harem is empty and Emperor Qianyuan has a deep control over the palace makes these "roots" seem even more unstable. They cannot connect with the concubines or the powerful families of the previous dynasty to form a powerful force. Now, only the empress is there, so naturally, they all rush to show their loyalty and dare not have any secrets.
...Everyone wants to curry favor with the phoenix and ride the wind to success.
During the few days after their marriage, Emperor Qianyuan accompanied Wen Miao on a tour of the Great Chu Imperial Palace. Whatever Wen Miao did during the day, the emperor followed and accompanied her, displaying his clingy nature to the fullest.
As evening fell, the cunning and greedy emperor coaxed and begged her. For the first day, Wen Miao was able to sleep in the bed at Fengyi Palace, but in the following days, she inexplicably became a regular at Taiji Palace—
At night, Emperor Qian Yuan held her in his arms on the bright yellow dragon bed, their lovemaking going on endlessly. When she was so tired that she fell into a deep sleep, she naturally slept until dawn.
The emperor, who slept in with Wen Miao, enjoyed a rare moment of leisure. Sometimes he would prop his head up and wait for Wen Miao to wake up, and sometimes he would hide deep under the covers and wake Wen Miao up in his own way...
Regardless of the reason, by the time Wen Miao had fully gotten up, the sun was high in the sky. After washing and dressing, she was invited by Emperor Qian Yuan to dine in the Taiji Palace.
Wen Miao liked something every time.
The food prepared in the imperial kitchen had been arranged in advance by Xu Sheng. Emperor Qianyuan himself had no preference for any particular taste in food. When he was starving in the cold palace, he had even eaten tree bark and grass roots.
Later, when he joined the army on the Northern Expedition, the weather was freezing cold. He could eat steamed buns that had been frozen solid for several days without changing his expression. He naturally didn't pick and choose, as long as he could fill his stomach, that was enough.
Therefore, neither the chief eunuch Xu Sheng, who served the emperor, nor the palace servants in the imperial kitchen knew what the emperor preferred, but they could recite the empress's preferences by heart and change them every day.
They understood that it was better to please the gentler and kinder Empress than to curry favor with His Majesty.
As long as His Majesty is in a good mood, His Majesty will smile more that day.
After lunch, Wen Miao would usually take a walk in the Imperial Garden, and the emperor, who was on his honeymoon, would naturally accompany her.
The two walked side by side, followed by palace servants. When they got tired, they would go to the pavilion to drink tea, or feed the fish and look at the flowers in the waterside pavilion.
After digesting her food, Wen Miao would suggest returning to Fengyi Palace. Whenever this happened, Emperor Qian Yuan would nod in agreement, saying that he also had some official business to attend to and would come to find Wen Miao again at dinner time.
Everything seemed normal, and Wen Miao assumed that she would be able to stay at Fengyi Palace that night.
But when it was time for dinner, Emperor Qianyuan would open his deep eyes, which only held affection when looking at Wen Miao, and deliberately feign a sense of loneliness and melancholy, asking his empress if she could accompany him in the Wenyuan Hall to handle the remaining official business.
Everyone in the court felt that the current emperor was autocratic, but it was undeniable that from the crown prince to the emperor, Emperor Qianyuan's decisions had never been wrong. Although he became emperor in order to be worthy of the goddess of his dreams, Emperor Qianyuan had also truly devoted himself to the Great Chu and the country since taking on this role.
Only a truly good emperor can elevate Wen Miao to a high position, ensuring she never falls to the ground.
Therefore, Emperor Qianyuan was very serious about his official duties.
Wen Miao knew this too, knowing that the emperor in front of her would be working in the Wenyuan Hall. So when the other party extended that invitation that contained a subtle longing, Wen Miao thought of the cold medicine from that day, her misunderstanding, and that faint but always rippled guilt in her heart.
So Wen Miao agreed that night.
The Empress Consort arrived at the Wenyuan Hall. Behind a landscape screen, Emperor Qianyuan sat at a table, his brushstrokes flowing like a dragon, while not far away, on a couch, Wen Miao rested her chin on her hand, flipping through a book.
Logically speaking, emperors would always be wary of others interfering in politics, and they have always adhered to the old rule that the empress dowager should not interfere in politics. However, all of this was invalidated for Emperor Qian Yuan—or rather, this special case only applied to Wen Miao.
His memorials were always laid out openly on the table. Sometimes, he would hold Wen Miao in his arms because he was captivated by her warm fragrance. He would lean on her shoulder and, somewhat shamelessly, beg Wen Miao to read the memorials with him. Sometimes, he would even ask the Empress what she thought.
Initially, Wen Miao always avoided these things, but she could never resist the emperor's "little tricks"—
The kisses that landed on her earlobes and the back of her neck were incredibly hot. Her hands, calloused from holding a writing brush, were also chafed raw. Before long, she had no choice but to comply with Emperor Qian Yuan's wishes and reluctantly open her soft, wet eyes to look at the memorials covering the entire Great Chu.
Thus, Wen Miao was seeing and remembering all the matters concerning the Great Chu in a different way.
She knew that, with the support of the imperial court, the number and scope of private schools were growing rapidly like mushrooms after rain; she knew that the Minister of Works had spent months working alongside farmers in the suburbs of the capital, improving a batch of farming tools to facilitate plowing; she knew that the Grand Canal and water conservancy projects had been put back on the agenda, awaiting a period of reconstruction; and she also knew that the Great Chu had established more business dealings with border tribes, seemingly harboring ideas of opening commerce and venturing eastward to sea…
Even if she didn't understand something, Emperor Qian Yuan would tell her in a gentle and soft voice, as if it were a common occurrence between husband and wife, without any reservations.
Even after accomplishing certain things, the mature and steady emperor would act like a child, taking the initiative to approach Wen Miao to claim credit—he wanted to gain the empress's approval, and Wen Miao never hesitated to do so.
Wen Miao saw in these memorials contents that ordinary women in the capital and the inner quarters might never be able to access in their entire lives.
Occasionally, she would glimpse a sense of familiarity from these words, and sometimes she would feel a strange admiration for no reason. But she never revealed these emotions, only carefully hiding them deep in her mind, gradually filling in the gaps in her understanding of the Great Chu, while also increasingly seeing the unknown doubts and thoughts deep in her heart.
Gradually, accompanying Emperor Qianyuan in his work in the Wenyuan Hall in the evenings became the Empress's daily routine.
Because of his busy schedule, Emperor Qian Yuan would sometimes stay in the palace for a while longer. Behind the screen, there was a soft couch and bedding prepared. When Wen Miao was sleepy, she would take a short nap on the couch, only instructing Emperor Qian Yuan to wake her up after he had finished his official duties.
But Emperor Qianyuan never woke up the sleeping empress; in fact, he preferred Wenmiao to be fast asleep.
—He did it on purpose.
Therefore, when Wen Miao slept until dawn the next day, she opened her eyes in a daze and found herself lying in the emperor's arms. The two of them were sleeping together on the dragon bed in Taiji Palace, leaving the bed in Fengyi Palace empty all night.
Before Wen Miao could ask why the emperor hadn't summoned her last night, Emperor Qian Yuan would take the initiative to apologize, taking all the blame, and say gently and somewhat apologetically:
"I saw that the Empress was sleeping soundly and couldn't bear to wake you, so I carried you to Taiji Palace to spend the night. Empress... will you blame me?"
Will Wen Miao blame Emperor Qian Yuan?
The answer is of course not. She never saw through the emperor's hidden claws and gentle schemes. Even when she fell into a trap, she only thought that she was too sleepy and that the other party was being too considerate and cautious.
Therefore, by taking advantage of this pure goodness, Emperor Qianyuan's scheming was always successful.
Last night, Wen Miao was unable to return to the Empress's palace.
In the following nights, Wen Miao also lost her chance, and her space was quietly devoured by Emperor Qian Yuan.
By the time the somewhat slow-witted Empress realized what was happening, everything that belonged to her had already been arranged in the Taiji Palace: clothes, ornaments, shoes, and even the soft quilt on the dragon bed was imbued with the warm fragrance that was naturally present on the Empress's skin.
So, as Wen Miao lay in Emperor Qian Yuan's arms, her cheeks flushed, her neck and back covered in beads of sweat, her limbs and lower abdomen convulsing slightly, and a wave of heat rising within her, she belatedly clung to her last shred of clarity and asked the emperor:
"Your Majesty, did you do this on purpose?"
— He deliberately kept her in this Taiji Palace day and night.
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Author's Note: Oh, Your Majesty, so cunning! And Miaomiao, so oblivious!
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