Re-entering the Palace
After resting for a while, Wu Zi and Xu Yi used their spiritual power to survey their surroundings before throwing out a bell to cover the entire room. Then they walked to the center of the courtyard and began drawing an array with cinnabar, planting flags to enhance the magic…
After fiddling with it for a while, he nodded to Xu Yi: "Alright, come here and stand here. Once the formation is activated, it will teleport you to the palace. However, the opposite side of the formation is the Imperial Observatory, where you might encounter powerful figures. Just speak nicely, and they will let you go to find His Majesty."
"Then... how should I explain this properly? What if they kill me the moment they see me?" Xu Yi asked uncertainly.
"No, just say you are the Thirteenth Princess and have some shady business to discuss with His Majesty. They will let you pass."
"That simple?" Xu Yi swallowed hard. "Aren't they worried that I might harm His Majesty?"
Wu Zi rolled his eyes: "Everyone in the Imperial Observatory knows about your entanglement with His Majesty. He owes you this in the first place. Even if you went to take his life, they couldn't stop you. Besides, His Majesty has the protection of dragon energy. At most, he'll get a little injured... nothing will happen."
Is it really that simple? Xu Yi was a little skeptical, but she still nodded obediently and said, "Oh," before striding to the place Wu Zi had indicated.
As Wu Zi chanted the incantation, the array he drew on the ground began to rotate... The runes of the array spun faster and faster, and in the dizzying chaos, Xu Yi was teleported to the Imperial Observatory.
Xu Yi felt extremely dizzy and tried to vomit twice but couldn't. Once she calmed down, she realized she was surrounded by five or six people dressed as officials from the Imperial Observatory, all staring blankly at her. One said, "A vengeful ghost?" Another said, "No, no, there's no resentment." Yet another said, "They don't seem to be here to cause trouble..."
Xu Yi was a little nervous. She could clearly feel that these people possessed magical power that she could not resist, so she quickly stammered, "I, I am the Thirteenth Princess."
“Oh…” one person nodded: “The Thirteenth Princess?” Another said: “Then there’s no problem.” The last one clicked his tongue twice: “Cowardly in life, and still not tough in death…”
Xu Yi felt like a piece of merchandise being judged, and was somewhat annoyed: "What are you saying? What do you mean I'm not tough enough?"
The man exclaimed, "Oh! That's quite a statement, isn't it?"
Just as Xu Yi was about to put her hands on her hips and argue with him again, she heard a deep voice laugh twice: "Stop teasing the Thirteenth Princess. If you really tease her and cause her to harbor a huge amount of resentment, can you take responsibility?"
The person you just mocked calmly shook his head and said, "No, no..." and then left.
After everyone else had left, Xu Yi finally saw the person who had spoken so loudly. The man was dressed in the white robes of the Imperial Observatory, holding a whisk in his hand, and smiling very kindly: "Thirteenth Princess, is there something you need to do at the palace today?"
“Yes,” Xu Yi nodded, “I’m here to see my elder brother, the Emperor.”
"Oh?" The man responded with a hint of doubt in his voice, "I wonder what business the Thirteenth Princess has with His Majesty?"
Xu Yi remembered that Qu Yi had mentioned that the Imperial Observatory knew about Quhua Town, so she said directly, "I came here because of the matter of Quhua Town."
"Oh! So that's what it's about," the man stroked his beard and nodded. "The matter in Quhua Town has indeed dragged on for a long time. With the princess's intervention, it will naturally be easier to resolve. Then please take your leave, Princess." With that, he stepped aside.
Xu Yi was surprised that things went so smoothly, so she strode towards the Imperial Observatory. Just as she stepped out of the Imperial Observatory gate, she heard the old man's admonishing voice: "Since the princess is here to see His Majesty about the matter of Quhua Town, please go directly to the Imperial Study. If the princess wanders around and disturbs those she shouldn't, I will still have no choice but to take you away."
The casual words made Xu Yi's heart skip a beat. She quickly shrank back and replied, "Of course, of course."
Then they ran away like the wind...
After running for a long time, Xu Yi stopped, patted her chest, and let out a sigh of relief from the shock.
As soon as Xu Yi entered the Imperial Study, a dragon aura shot out from the plaque of the Imperial Study. After transforming into a dragon shape, it approached Xu Yi and asked, "What brings you here?" The voice was loud and far-reaching, and Xu Yi's ears were hurt from the noise. But when he saw the golden dragon, he knew that he was no match for it. He quickly suppressed his discomfort and hurriedly said, "I came for the people of Quhua Town, not to cause trouble."
He spoke very quickly, as if afraid the dragon would destroy him in the next second...
The dragon looked Xu Yi up and down with disdain, as if to say, "You think you can cause trouble?" But it didn't say it aloud; it simply retreated back onto the plaque and disappeared.
Xu Yi felt insulted, and though she was angry, she dared not vent it. She could only walk into the Imperial Study in frustration.
As soon as Xu Yi entered the imperial study, she saw the Crown Prince buried in his work, reviewing memorials behind the dragon desk. He was now dressed in a dragon robe, and although he wasn't wearing the crown he wore in court, it was still gleaming with gold and exuded nobility... The more Xu Yi thought about it, the angrier she became. She walked over and pushed all the memorials on the dragon desk to the ground, glaring angrily at the current emperor...
Unfortunately, the emperor was blind to the danger. He only saw all the memorials in front of him fly to the ground. He remained calm and ordered the eunuch next to him, whose legs were already trembling, "Go and invite the Imperial Observatory."
The eunuch was probably terrified. He didn't react immediately when he heard the emperor speak. When he regained his senses and realized that he hadn't responded to His Majesty right away, he was startled by his own behavior before the emperor. He quickly knelt down and crawled out while saying "Yes"...
That was a complete disaster, like someone rolling away and peeing their pants...
Xu Yi was speechless... but when she turned her gaze to the emperor, her resentment was still burning. She had originally intended to knock off his crown, but as soon as she reached out, she was repelled by the emperor's yellow dragon aura. Xu Yi was furious and vented her anger on the memorials, books, and the extremely expensive set of writing materials on the dragon desk. She threw everything on the desk in the imperial study...
After Xu Yi finished venting her anger, she noticed that the emperor had already gone to a side table to drink tea... completely ignoring the unusual situation at the imperial desk...
Xu Yi was extremely indignant and rushed up to him, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws, but unfortunately the emperor couldn't see him and continued to leisurely drink his tea... In the end, Xu Yi had no choice but to vent his anger and was so exhausted that he simply plopped down on the ground next to the emperor...
So when the Director of the Imperial Observatory entered, he saw a messy imperial desk, the emperor drinking tea to the side, and Xu Yi sitting on the ground sulking...
The Imperial Censor had been in the palace for decades and had heard about the Thirteenth Princess's story. He knew that the little one was just a child until her death, so he didn't bow to His Majesty first. Instead, he walked over to Xu Yi, who was lying on the ground, touched her head, and asked her, "What's wrong? Why are you so angry?"
“He…” Xu Yi pointed at the emperor and said angrily, “He can’t see me…”
“Oh…” Jian Zheng stroked his beard and said to Xu Yi, “He is a mortal, so it’s normal that he can’t see you.”
The emperor, who was standing nearby, watched as the supervisor squatted on the ground, seemingly talking to someone, and it sounded like he was coaxing a child. So the emperor asked the supervisor, "Supervisor... who are you talking to?"
When the supervisor heard the emperor ask him, he stood up, bowed slightly, and said to the emperor, "It's the Thirteenth Princess. She's angry because Your Majesty sent her to her death beyond the Great Wall..."
Xu Yi looked at the supervisor with a puzzled expression. She didn't seem to have said that. But when she saw the Emperor's face turn pale upon hearing this, she instantly realized that this was exactly how she should speak. She gave the supervisor a thumbs-up and looked at him with admiration…
The supervisor remained calm, ignoring Xu Yi beside him, waiting for the Emperor's question. After a long while, the Emperor's face turned pale, and he asked the supervisor in a trembling voice, "Ask her... what exactly does she want..."
"Huh... so easy?" Xu Yi quickly walked up to the supervisor and said to him, "Quhua Town, have him send someone to handle the matter in Quhua Town."
The supervisor looked at Xu Yi, seemingly listening intently. He didn't move for a long time after Xu Yi finished speaking, as if he was still listening to Xu Yi. Xu Yi himself was puzzled. Could it be that his voice hadn't reached him? So he asked the supervisor again, "Did you hear it? Didn't you hear it?"
The supervisor nodded, adopting an air of sage-like wisdom: "I heard that..." Then he turned to the emperor and said, "The thirteenth princess said she was buried in a desolate mountain and has no money, so she asked Your Majesty to give her more money..."
"I didn't say that!" Xu Yi quickly interjected, "I meant Quhua Town, Quhua Town..."
“I know…this old man knows…” The eunuch gestured for Xu Yi to be quiet, then said to His Majesty, “The Thirteenth Princess died for the greater good of the people, yet she has not been properly honored in death, which is somewhat discontented…”
"Why didn't I officially recognize his name? I even bestowed upon him the title Changling. What more do I need to do to recognize his name?"
"Hey, neither of us were buried in the imperial mausoleum?" Xu Yi said with dissatisfaction, then, remembering that the emperor couldn't see him, he could only vent his frustration on the supervising official: "What did he say? What's the point of a cenotaph..."
The supervisor nodded slightly, then gestured to Xu Yi to lower his hand before continuing his conversation with the emperor: "The tomb of Princess Changling does not contain the thirteenth prince, so the thirteenth prince naturally cannot enjoy the same treatment as Princess Changling..."
The supervisor stopped talking at the right moment. After a while, the emperor scratched his head and asked the supervisor with some compromise, "Then what do you think is the most appropriate way to handle this?"
The supervisor cupped his hands in greeting: "This humble Taoist believes that what the Thirteenth Princess desires is fame, so we can simply grant her that. We can examine past records, exorcise some demons and monsters, and then tell the people that it was the Thirteenth Princess who appeared in a dream to request this. This would both enhance the Thirteenth Princess's reputation and benefit the people—truly a win-win situation..."
"Hey... that's not what I meant. What I wanted was for him to handle the situation in Quhua Town properly. Why are you talking nonsense, old man?"
The supervisor glanced at Xu Yi and relayed the message: "You little girl don't understand, so don't speak..."
Xu Yi pouted, not daring to say anything more. After all, the old man's mere presence was blindingly bright with the light of his merit... Xu Yi didn't dare to approach him at all...
The emperor frowned and thought for a long time before finally letting out a sigh of relief and agreeing: "Then... as the supervisor says, the supervisor can handle it. As for the money, the supervisor can go to the chief supervisor to get it from my private treasury..."
"Thank you, Your Majesty... Then this old man will take the Thirteenth Princess with me..."
"Go, go, go quickly, tell her not to come over all the time, she's scary..."
Hmm? So even the emperor is afraid?
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