Chapter 120: Xiao Yu is summoned back to the capital and promoted to the rank of Second-Rank Imperial Censor...
The capital city was only slightly warmer than Jicheng in early February, and the howling wind was still cold. The day Luo Fu returned happened to be a cloudy day.
At the Marquis of Zhongyi's residence, Madam Deng guessed that her youngest daughter-in-law would be returning soon. Since the end of the first lunar month, she would occasionally bring Cheng'er to stroll around the gate. If she didn't see her mother, Cheng'er would pout and brew tears. Madam Deng had no choice but to agree to take her granddaughter to the market to buy delicious food and fun toys. After a while, Madam Deng noticed her granddaughter's cleverness, but she was willing to indulge her, and each time she pretended that she really couldn't do anything about her granddaughter.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lin teased his mother, saying, "We three brothers won't compare ourselves to our niece, but even when Ying'er was little, Mother never pampered her like this."
Madam Deng: "Ying'er has met a successful and good father, while Cheng'er can hardly even remember what her father looks like. How can you compare them?"
Xiao Lin: "Are you deliberately trying to belittle me? The third brother is just far away. He's a third-rank official now, while I'm only a fourth-rank official. He's much more successful than me."
Madam Deng threw a feather duster at her son. She wasn't short of money, so what use were her sons becoming high-ranking officials? All she wanted was for her family to be reunited!
On the sixth day, Cheng'er again took her grandmother out to pick up her mother. When they arrived at the gate of the Marquis's mansion, six-year-old Cheng'er looked around but did not see her mother's carriage. The little girl looked up at her grandmother pitifully.
Mrs. Deng hugged her granddaughter tightly, patted her head and coaxed, "Your mother will definitely not be back until tomorrow. Come on, Grandma will take Tuan'er to buy some delicious food."
Cheng-jie smiled happily, and the grandmother and granddaughter moved to the side to wait for the servants to prepare the carriage.
The carriage was quickly prepared, and just as the grandfather and grandson were about to get in, a carriage guarded by eight guards turned from the east end of the alley.
People from the same alley rarely arrange so many guards when they go out to visit relatives. At least, Chengjie had only seen such a lineup when she sent her mother to visit her father last December. So, Chengjie counted the number of guards and knew that the person in the car was her mother!
"Mother! Mother is back!"
She pulled away from her grandmother's hand and ran like a little bird toward the carriage.
Ping An poked his head out of the car window and waved happily to the young lady.
The carriage stopped in front of someone's house. Cheng'er jumped up to get in the carriage. Just as Deng was about to help her granddaughter up, two coughs suddenly came from inside. Immediately, Luo Fu covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and lifted the carriage curtain with the other. She looked at her daughter guiltily and then explained to her mother-in-law, "My daughter-in-law caught a cold a couple of days ago and hasn't fully recovered yet. It's better not to let Tuan'er get in the carriage. I'm afraid she'll pass on her illness."
“I’m not afraid of Mother’s illness!” Cheng’er said, clinging to the window frame.
Luo Fu touched her daughter's little hands and face, and coaxed her softly, "Let's go home first. There's plenty of space at home. When we get home, Mom will hug you all together."
After saying that, he turned his head and coughed twice.
Cheng'er was sensible and stopped bothering her mother.
Deng's heart ached because her youngest daughter-in-law had become thin and ill. She hurriedly instructed Steward Zhao, who had come out to greet her, to arrange for a servant to fetch a doctor. After Luo Fu got out of the carriage, Deng immediately told Ping An to help her back to Shensi Hall to lie down. Before long, Yang Yanzhen and Li Huaiyun arrived after hearing the news. Seeing Luo Fu's haggard appearance, they couldn't help but feel sorry for her and show her concern.
Cheng'er obediently nestled against her mother's waist, facing her mother's back, so that her mother wouldn't have to worry about her breathing in the coughing air.
Luo Fu stroked her daughter's head with one hand while telling her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law about what she had seen and heard in the past two months. She also told her mother-in-law not to worry about Xiao Yu, saying that everything was going well for Xiao Yu in Ji City.
When the doctor arrived, he examined Luo Fu and, after a thorough examination, determined that her symptoms were mild. He prescribed a mild remedy for colds and instructed Luo Fu to drink it for three days. He also told her to rest well and avoid overexertion.
After the doctor left, Luo Fu persuaded her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law to leave. She then sent people to deliver the specialties she had brought from Jicheng to the Princess, Princess Shun, Princess Qi, and her sister, along with a message that she would personally visit them after her cold had healed. Princess Qi was just a polite gesture because they often played cards together, and the two of them did not have a deep personal relationship.
As for the eldest princess, Luo Fu also asked her to convey her apologies to Empress Xie if she went to the palace soon.
Before entering the palace, Kangping visited the Marquis's residence and saw Luo Fu's sickly appearance. Kangping sighed, "Is it worth it to put yourself through this for just a few days of reunion?"
Luo Fu didn't explain further, but smiled and told Ping An to go and get the snow-covered portrait that Xiao Yu had given her.
Kang Ping was a princess taught by a famous court tutor. She was not usually fond of refined things, but she had the ability to appreciate poetry, calligraphy and painting. Seeing that Xiao Yu had painted Luo Fu as if she were a fairy who had descended from heaven, and after silently reciting the poem that had touched her a few times, she looked up at Luo Fu's red face, which was three parts shy, three parts happy and three parts sick. What else could she not understand?
If Rosé thinks it's worth it, then it is.
"Fourth Sister-in-law loves painting, shall I take this to the palace for her to see?" Kangping asked.
Luo Fu glanced at the place where the poem was written, and said embarrassedly, "That's so embarrassing..."
Kang Ping: "You're still putting on an act with me. When you asked Ping An to pick up the painting, all I saw on your face was smugness."
If someone were to paint her so beautifully and then compose a poem expressing their feelings for her that might be passed down through the ages, she would proudly share it with her family and friends.
As expected, Luo Fu stopped pretending and laughed heartily.
Kangping put away the painting and went to the palace. When Empress Xie heard that Luo Fu was ill, she asked the nanny to prepare a nourishing delicacy before accompanying Kangping to appreciate the painting.
After a long while, Empress Xie sighed, "Xiao Yu has both the talent to govern the country and the demeanor of a great man. For Xiao Yu to leave behind this painting and this poem, Luo Fu's trip is a great achievement in the literary world of this dynasty."
Kang Ping: "...Then wouldn't this painting of Luo Fu be a family heirloom to be passed down?"
Empress Xie smiled and said, "It's not a family heirloom, it's a priceless treasure."
After Kangping left, Empress Xie opened the poetry collection she had compiled and copied down the poem that Xiao Yu had sent to his wife. The poem that Xiao Yu had sent to Luo Fu from Loujiang more than ten years ago was also in this collection.
After reading them, Emperor Xianping sneered at Empress Xie, "Xiao Yu has poetic talent, but he's stingy with it when it comes to love." Both poems are good, and both express his longing for his wife!
Empress Xie smiled and said, "The beauty of poetry lies in emotion. Whether it is longing for a person, longing for home, or longing for the country, as long as the emotion in it is moving, it is a good poem."
Looking at her unusually cheerful smile, Emperor Xianping suddenly felt that Xiao Yu's poem had not been written in vain.
.
In mid-February, Luo Fu recovered completely and immediately went to the palace to pay her respects to Empress Xie.
In the past, Empress Xie would have definitely looked at her close friend first, but today she noticed the painting box that Luo Fu was holding in her arms at a glance.
"What is this?" Empress Xie asked, her heart pounding.
Luo Fu said sourly, "The Princess is absolutely right. In the eyes of Her Majesty, a fairy, we mortals are not even as good as a piece of fine calligraphy or painting."
Empress Xie smiled and said, "The fact that Fu'er can come shows that you are well, so why should I offer empty words of concern? Come, sit here."
The two went to the next room.
Luo Fu didn't keep them in suspense. She opened the painting box, took out a painting, and handed it to Empress Xie with both hands: "Please give your comments, Your Majesty."
Empress Xie washed her hands before slowly unrolling the scroll. But after seeing only a corner of the painting, the appreciation and anticipation in her eyes vanished, and she even frowned.
After viewing the entire painting, Empress Xie put down the scroll and asked Luo Fu, "Who painted this?"
Luo Fu blushed and said shyly, "I drew it. It's a picture of Xiao Yu standing on the city wall to see me off when I left the city that day. I know I didn't draw it well, but Your Highness doesn't know that when I saw this scene in the carriage, I cried so much that my eyes were blurry. I thought I would draw this scene and keep it with the other paintings that Xiao Yu gave me, so that I can take them out and reminisce when I'm old."
Empress Xie: "...Then why did you ask me to give my comments?"
Luo Fu immediately leaned over and took Empress Xie's arm, pleading ingratiatingly, "Of course I want to trouble Your Majesty to help me revise the painting. Look, here is the blue sky, this area is the city wall, this purple is Xiao Yu's official robe, the white below is snow, these brown lines are cart tracks, and these are the people entering and leaving the city gate. The artistic conception is all here. With Your Majesty's painting skills, which are a thousand times better than Xiao Yu's, you should be able to paint it, right?"
Empress Xie was willing to help Luo Fu with this favor, but she only said to the purple blob on the painting, "I have only met Xiao Yu a few times, so I can't draw his features. I can only draw a distant view."
Luo Fu: "Far away is enough. I was crying so hard that I couldn't see him clearly."
Empress Xie rarely joked, "Then how can you be sure that the one on the city wall is him?"
Luo Fu: "...Prefect Du is very fat, not as dashing as him, and General Li's face is tanned, not as handsome as him."
Empress Xie: "..."
While Empress Xie frowned as she examined her clumsy work, Luo Fu took out the framed painting from the box and whispered, "This one was painted by Xiao Yu after he took me on a tour of Jicheng. Like the ones he painted in Loujiang, it allowed me and the children to appreciate the scenery of the place where he served. I was thinking, since the Loujiang paintings received the late emperor's private seal, if this one were presented to the emperor, would it also be fortunate enough to receive the emperor's private seal?"
Emperor Xianping himself said that he kept Xiao Yu in Jizhou to give him an important position, so Xiao Yu was still a favorite of the emperor. As the wife of a favorite of the emperor, Luo Fu, a woman from a humble background who had been fortunate enough to receive a seal from the late emperor and thus developed even more greed, had every right and reason to shamelessly try to ask Emperor Xianping for one as well. Whether she could get what she wanted depended on whether Emperor Xianping was willing to give it to her. In any case, if Emperor Xianping was unhappy, he would at most mock her greed, but he would not punish her for it.
Having spent a long time in the circle of imperial relatives, Luo Fu became bolder and realized that in small matters, the emperors were not as heartless as ordinary people thought.
Besides, her request for Emperor Xianping's seal was also a form of flattery towards him. Even though it was just a small act of flattery, it was enough to make Emperor Xianping angry.
Luo Fu wanted to say directly that the painting was a gift from Xiao Yu to Emperor Xianping, but the problem was that Xiao Yu wasn't that kind of person, and Emperor Xianping probably wouldn't believe it.
Empress Xie first examined the painting, and found that it indeed shared a similar artistic merit with Xiao Yu's paintings of the Loujiang landscape and the lives of ordinary people.
Empress Xie knew better than Luo Fu that Emperor Xianping also admired Xiao Yu's poetry and paintings. He was itching to see the portrait of the beauty that Xiao Yu had given to his wife, but he was too restrained by etiquette to ask.
"Keep it with me. If the Emperor is interested in seeing the painting and likes it, I'll ask him about it for you."
Luo Fu hugged Empress Xie tightly.
Empress Xie is a refined person, and Luo Fu does not want to bother her with Xiao Yu's setbacks in his official career. Poetry and painting are elegant pursuits and do not require Empress Xie to plead for Xiao Yu, so it is worth a try.
.
Without Empress Xie needing to make a special invitation, Emperor Xianping, knowing that Luo Fu had visited, came to Empress Xie's palace that afternoon when he had some free time.
Empress Xie was painting the very painting that Luo Fu had entrusted to her.
"What is this?" Emperor Xianping walked over and noticed a terrible painting that Empress Xie had placed to the side. He frowned as well.
Empress Xie smiled and pointed to the purple blob in the painting, saying, "This is Xiao Yu as depicted by Luo Fu."
Emperor Xianping: "..."
After carefully examining the smaller patch of jade above the purple one, Emperor Xianping failed to suppress his laughter and choked a few times.
Empress Xie: "Luo Fu painted the scene of Xiao Yu watching her leave from the city wall. Naturally, she felt sorrow in her eyes. However, she was not skilled in painting, so she asked me to paint it for her."
Emperor Xianping understood. He then looked at the painting that Empress Xie had only half-finished. Because it was a distant view, the blue sky, white snow, and city walls were all well-depicted, and the desolate and bleak feeling of a winter snowfall was already vividly portrayed on the paper.
"Luo Fu also brought a painting into the palace. Would Your Majesty like to take a look?" Empress Xie asked before she began to paint.
Emperor Xianping nodded.
Empress Xie brought the painting, and after Emperor Xianping finished looking at it, he guessed, "Such a fine poem doesn't seem like it was given to me."
The self-deprecating remarks amused Empress Xie, who then revealed Luo Fu's greed.
Emperor Xianping remembered the events from over a decade ago very clearly; his father had even stamped his personal seal on an ordinary portrait of Xiao Yu.
Thinking of this, Emperor Xianping became interested and sent Eunuch Xue to retrieve his private seal. He stamped it on the painting "Auspicious Snow" and then on the painting by Luo Fu, and personally inscribed it: "Xiao Yu presents this to his wife."
Empress Xie: "..."
As evening fell, Empress Xie finished her painting. Emperor Xianping sat under the lamp, looking at the solitary figure in purple robes on the city wall, whose face was obscured but whose spirit resembled that of Xiao Yu. He knew very well that Xiao Yu was reluctant to part with his wife and longed to return to the capital to reunite with his parents, wife, and children. But in a daze, Emperor Xianping seemed to meet Xiao Yu's lonely eyes.
Why would Your Majesty abandon a loyal and devoted minister?
Emperor Xianping understood that Xiao Yu had done nothing wrong during the Northern Expedition over those few months. His mistake was being careless, underestimating the enemy, and being arrogant and refusing to listen to advice.
.
On the 16th day of the second month of the eleventh year of the Xianping reign, Emperor Xianping issued an edict at court, approving the resignation of Grand Censor Fan Yan, which had been submitted the previous year. He then summoned Xiao Yu back to the capital and promoted him to Grand Censor, a second-rank official.
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Author's Note: I've become Imperial Censor Xiao again!
On the last night of 2025, thank you all for spending another year with me. Love you all! [heart][heart][heart]
P.S.: The nutrient solution expires tomorrow, please help Fu'er and her husband get some! [starry eyes]
100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow!
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