A thank-you gift? "What thank-you gift?" Shi Mingyue raised her head and asked him.
But at this moment, her eyes were wet, and her face was covered with red spots from sunburn, making her look pitiful. Fu Yueli's heart softened, and he gently took Shi Mingyue's right hand, lowered his head and kissed her fingers, his white pupils never leaving her face for a moment.
"This is a thank you gift."
Shi Mingyue's face flushed instantly, though her face was already sunburned, so her expression didn't change. However, her ears were red. She lowered her head awkwardly, her voice a little stiff: "I understand."
Fu Yueli saw that she was obviously shy, and suddenly felt that his previous actions were not quite right. However, he was relieved when Mingyue did not show any resistance. There was a basin of cold water on the stool in front of the bed. Fu Yueli wrung out the towel and handed it to her: "Apply it on your face more often, it will heal faster."
Shi Mingyue obediently took the towel and put it on her face. Her thoughts inevitably flew far away, and she was about to return to the capital.
The two stayed for three more days before boarding a carriage with Fu Yueli back to Shangjing. A few days later, they arrived at the Shi residence. The two elders of the Shi family and Shi Mingji were there to greet them. After Fu Yueli disembarked, the three of them went to check his eyes. Apparently, the news of Fu Yueli's recovery had already reached Shangjing.
"Dad, Mom, brother." Shi Mingyue called them one by one.
Fu Yueli also called out in a gentle voice: "Father-in-law, mother-in-law, big brother."
The three of them noticed that Fu Yueli's eyes had indeed become more lively, as if she could see again. Shi Yuanshan asked, "Yueli, have your eyes been cured?"
Fu Yueli nodded slightly: "Well, father-in-law, don't doubt it."
The three of them saw that Fu Yueli was calm and composed, and later crossed the threshold by himself. It was true that his eyes had recovered. The three of them couldn't help but feel happy for Master Mingyue from the bottom of their hearts.
It was noon when he arrived at the teacher's residence. In the afternoon, someone came from the palace and asked Fu Yueli to return to the palace quickly because the emperor wanted to see him.
In the Imperial Palace, Fu Yueli met her father again. The current Emperor, Fu Xingkai, was thirty-five years old, in the prime of his life. Before Empress Lu's death, or rather, before Fu Yueli's birth, he had been a venerated and benevolent ruler. However, after Lu Wanzhen's passing, his demeanor changed, and he abandoned his one-year-old son to the Empress's hometown of Lingzhou, not returning for sixteen years. He was known for his cold heart and unfeeling nature, and now his temperament was unpredictable. Anyone who met him had to be extremely cautious, fearing that a single misstep would anger the Emperor.
But when Fu Yueli saw him, she remained expressionless, bowed as if it was a routine matter, and called him "Father".
The two things Fu Xingkai felt most sorry for in his life were his son and the deceased Lu Wanzhen. Therefore, no matter how cold Fu Yueli was to him, he always tolerated her and asked with concern, "I heard from Heng'er that your eyes have been cured. It is said that it was the work of Xu Tiandong's daughter from Taizhou?"
"yes."
Fu Xingkai was overjoyed to know that his son's eyes had recovered. He was skeptical at first, but now that Fu Yueli had come in alone and his eyes were indeed full of life, no longer as stagnant as before, he said with relief, "Okay, Li'er, as long as your eyes are cured, that's all."
Fu Yueli sneered inwardly, but said calmly, "Father, do you have any other instructions?"
Fu Xingkai said, "Your Prince Ling's Mansion is still under renovation, so it's not really appropriate for you to live in Shi Yuanshan's residence now. There are several empty palaces in the palace. I would like you to move in, and then I will let Master Huo personally teach you."
This was meant to flatter him. Fu Yueli said, "There's nothing inappropriate about it. I'm not illiterate. When I was in Lingzhou, my uncle hired a teacher to teach me Braille."
"But how can those mediocre people understand the principles of governing a country? Master Huo is a great scholar, and I feel at ease letting him teach you. You are already eighteen years old, so let's not worry about the past for now, but you must work hard in the future."
Fu Yueli lowered his head and replied, "Yes, I will remember this."
Fu Xingkai sighed: "Since you don't want to move into the palace, then you should just live in Shi Yuanshan's residence, which is not far from the Huo residence."
On the way out of the palace, Fu Yueli looked up at the azure sky. Every time he met the emperor, his heart was always empty. He blamed Fu Xingkai, blamed him for abandoning him to Lingzhou like trash, blamed him for not being able to protect his mother. He lost his mother at such a young age. As for his father, what difference did it make whether he had one or not?
My uncle recounted that when the emperor was still the crown prince, a devastating earthquake struck Lingzhou, destroying houses and causing countless casualties. A subsequent tsunami devastated the entire province. So Fu Xingkai arrived and encountered Lu Wanzhen, who was distributing grain at a resettlement site. He fell in love with her at first sight and, upon returning to the palace, petitioned the then-emperor for a marriage. For the past five dynasties since the founding of the state, emperors have favored empresses from humbler families over those of the nobility, fearing that a queen's family would become too powerful and pose a threat to the state. The then-emperor readily agreed. Fu Xingkai promised Lu Wanzhen his lifelong devotion, making her the happiest woman in Zhao State. As a result, he ascended to the throne and his harem expanded with concubines.
Fu Yueli didn't understand why he said he loved her but continued to marry other women. Why did he promise her to be the happiest woman in Zhao State, but in the end, let her die with regret?! Didn't he feel a little bit of guilt?
He had pondered this question ever since he was old enough to understand, until the day Fu Xingkai sent someone to fetch him from Lingzhou, the day he met his father for the first time. Just as he'd imagined, he looked like a heartless man, and the two exchanged a few polite words. As Fu Yueli walked out the door, he saw a young woman about his age waiting outside. Seeing him emerge, the girl glanced at him curiously. He heard the eunuchs around the emperor call the girl "noble." Seeing his son for the first time in seventeen years, could he not bear to be without a woman for even a moment?
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