Chapter 101 Jealousy
Yang Manyan froze when she heard this. The scene of her pestering a man under the influence of the drug that night appeared in front of her eyes, and her face immediately turned red.
"No way!" She was embarrassed and annoyed.
"Why?" The emperor let go of her and pressed his palms on her shoulders again. He leaned down and forced her to look at him.
At noon, the scorching sun shines through the large glazed windows and shines on the golden brick floor of the inner hall. The light and shadows are mottled and shimmering, and the room is transparent and bright.
Yang Manyan had no choice but to patiently explain what happened yesterday.
After hearing the reason, the emperor's eyes darkened, seeming a little disappointed.
There have been a lot of affairs in the court recently, and he has been busy with all kinds of things, so naturally he has no time to pay attention to the progress of the search for the treasure box key.
The crown prince position has been decided for many years, and it has no impact on who the prince's biological mother is, so he doesn't care too much.
Yang Manyan asked cautiously again: "Your Majesty, do you know what Empress Xu meant by that? Did the late emperor place anything in Xuanguang Pavilion?"
The emperor frowned slightly, "When the previous emperor was in power, I did not leave the palace and still lived in Xuanguang Pavilion. However, during those four years, I was training in the suburban guard post under an assumed name. During that time, I have no idea whether the previous emperor had entered Xuanguang Pavilion."
"As for Xu, I have no connection with her at all."
As he spoke, he pulled Yang Manyan back to sit at the desk, then took her hand in his backhand and intertwined their fingers.
Yang Manyan looked up in surprise, "Father, have you ever been trained in a military camp?"
The emperor hummed, and then said calmly, "At that time, I was young and inexperienced, and I started out as a soldier."
Yang Manyan's eyes were filled with astonishment. He really couldn't imagine what it would be like for such a majestic emperor to be a servant.
But she didn't know that the young man who had been under house arrest in Xuanguang Pavilion for many years was tall but skinny when he first arrived at the military camp, which was very different from his current tall and sturdy physique.
Seeing her dazed look, the emperor just found it funny and said, "I will take you to Xuanguang Pavilion and look for any clues."
He didn't like outsiders entering Xuanguang Pavilion, so naturally he wouldn't let his subordinates go in to search, so he simply led Yang Manyan there himself.
Normally, he would only let the eunuch Chang Ying, who was in charge of the affairs, go and clean up the place personally every once in a while, and would not let anyone else do it.
Yang Manyan's eyes lit up when he heard that. "Then why don't we go there now? If we go any later, it will be difficult to search when it gets dark."
The emperor felt sour in his heart and raised his hand to pinch her chin, "You care so much about Zi'an's affairs, why don't you care about my affairs?"
Yang Manyan curled her lips and said, "I come to the Palace of Heavenly Purity every day to help you sort out the memorials, rain or shine, so why don't you take it seriously?"
The emperor was speechless for a moment and really could not refute.
She was the only one in the world who dared to give him the cold shoulder in person, but he was happy to accept it.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have said that."
"But the Qianqing Palace is indeed a little far from the Eastern Palace. I plan to move to the Yanqi Palace after I finish this work."
Yanqi Palace is located on the easternmost side of the Six Eastern Palaces, just north of the Eastern Palace, separated only by the Baoshan Gate.
Since Yang Manyan refused to live in the Kunning Palace which was close to the Qianqing Palace, he had no choice but to move to a palace close to the Eastern Palace.
Yang Manyan also thought it was good.
No matter what time or how many times she came to the Qianqing Palace every day, there were countless eyes staring at her. She would feel more at ease if she moved to the inner court.
Immediately, the two of them got up and moved to Xuanguang Pavilion.
After several expansions and renovations, the Imperial Garden located directly north of the Imperial Palace covers a vast area and includes many pavilions, and Xuanguang Pavilion is one of them.
Because the six palaces were empty, the number of palace maids and eunuchs was also fewer than in the previous dynasty. It was early summer, and although the imperial garden was full of colorful flowers, there was no one there.
Standing in front of the half-worn carved wooden door, the emperor paused for a moment, emotions surging in his dark eyes, and then he pushed the door open with force.
When he stepped into Xuanguang Pavilion again, Yang Manyan discovered that this place was very small, not even half the size of an ordinary side hall.
Fortunately, the furniture inside was fully available, even the bedding in the bunk bed was neatly arranged, and the desks and bookshelves were spotless.
But if she were to be imprisoned here for years, with only a glimpse of daylight through the small latticed window, she felt suffocated just thinking about it.
She also vaguely understood why the emperor designated this place as a forbidden area in the palace and came here to sit alone in the dead of night.
"Your Majesty..." Yang Manyan called him softly, grabbing his sleeve with bright yellow dragon pattern, his eyelashes slightly wet.
The sky was clear and the air was fresh. The windows were slightly open, and a breeze blew in from the gaps, bringing with it the refreshing fragrance of flowers.
The emperor was silent for a moment, "Are you feeling sorry for me?"
"There's nothing to be sad about. I'm the ruler of the world, rich as a behemoth. If there's anything I lack, it's a queen." He whispered teasingly.
Yang Manyan burst into laughter and said angrily, "Your Majesty, do you want to marry someone else as your queen?"
The emperor's heart softened, and he loved her cute look when she was acting like a spoiled brat.
The setting sun cast a shadow over his chiseled face, making his facial features look even more heroic and tough.
"What nonsense." He lowered his head and kissed her forehead, "There can be no one else but you as my queen."
Thinking of the time when his wedding night with Yang Manyan in Kunning Palace was interrupted at the beginning of the year, a trace of gloom flashed across his eyes.
Yang Manyan bit his lower lip and hurriedly changed the subject, "Your Majesty, where do you think the late emperor is most likely to have hidden the key to the treasure box?"
After pondering for a moment, the emperor looked at the bookshelf on the wall and slowly said, "The late emperor would come to Xuanguang Pavilion to visit me on the 18th of every month, and he would bring some books every time."
"Are these books still the same old ones?" Yang Manyan also looked at the bookshelf.
The emperor nodded slightly. "All the objects in the room are preserved from the past, and the locations of these books have not been changed."
Yang Manyan blinked, walked straight to the bookshelf, and looked up and down.
This ebony bookshelf is ten feet high and twenty feet wide, taking up almost the entire wall. It contains the Four Books and Five Classics, legal history, agricultural policy, water conservancy and humanities.
Yang Manyan casually flipped through a few books, but his face was confused and he had no idea at all.
In a flash, an idea came to her mind. She put the book back in its place and took a few steps back.
"What's wrong?" The emperor raised his eyebrows.
After hesitating for a while, Yang Manyan asked, "Has Your Majesty ever read the Book of Changes?"
The emperor frowned slightly, "I read it many years ago."
"These books are arranged very neatly, with each layer aligned to the exact height, exactly six layers. Doesn't it look like the first hexagram 'Qian' in the Book of Changes?"
As he spoke, Yang Manyan squatted down and pulled out the seventh book from the bottom, which happened to be the "Book of Changes".
She tapped the floor and wall where the books were a few more times, and sure enough, there was a crisp "dong dong" sound from the ground, and it turned out to be hollow.
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