Chapter 282: Waking Up 3
The bead curtain swayed slightly, and the corner of the black clothes flashed and disappeared behind the bead curtain.
All the officials held their breath, and those standing near the front could vaguely hear muffled conversations coming from behind the curtain.
"Did you choke?" It was Emperor Zhaoning's rare gentle voice.
"Pea yellow... cough cough, it's too dry..." The woman in the back hall said this, causing another burst of coughing.
An old minister gasped, this was clearly the Queen's voice.
All the officials looked at each other in bewilderment, and some had already begun to wipe their sweat secretly.
The front hall and the back hall are separated by a pearl curtain. What is the difference between this and ruling from behind the curtain?
Impeachment! Must impeachment!
Pei Jing patted Jiang Fei's back and said, "Drink slowly."
"If you go slower, you'll choke to death. I'd rather choke to death."
"What are you talking about dying? Are you trying to piss me off to death?"
The officials heard Emperor Zhaoning's voice become deeper, with a hint of doting reproach.
"Alright, alright." Jiang Fei muttered softly, "Go quickly, everyone is waiting."
The official who had leaned forward to listen quickly stood up straight, and saw Emperor Zhaoning come out from behind the curtain. He sat back on the throne without changing his expression, and said, "Continue."
The entire front hall was silent.
The official who had just made an impassioned speech opened his mouth and forgot what he was talking about.
Finally, Lu An was the one who got the idea and quickly sang loudly: "The Jiangzhou prefect falsely reported the number of acres of reclaimed land—"
"Investigate." Pei Jing tapped the armrest with his fingertips. "Tell the Censorate to conduct a thorough investigation. If it's true, he'll be dismissed and investigated."
Several censors looked at each other. They had previously said they wanted to impeach, but now they glanced around, seeming to be trying to pass the buck to each other.
Censor Zhao leaned over to the censor next to him and said in a voice as low as a mosquito's hum, "You go. You're in charge of disciplinary cases, so you have the right to say this."
Censor Qian shook his head like a rattle. "That's the Empress, the apple of His Majesty's eye. If I speak up, wouldn't I be walking into a trap? I won't go."
If you really want to impeach the queen for interfering in government affairs, you must first consider whether you are strong enough to do so.
Censor Zhao choked and turned to look at Censor Sun.
Before he could speak, Censor Sun shrank back and said, "Master Zhao, please don't look at me."
Just as several imperial censors were exchanging glances and passing the buck to each other, there was movement behind the pearl curtain.
A delicate hand reached out from under the curtain and quietly pushed the empty dessert plate outward.
Then a smaller plate was brought out with a few candied fruits on it, which were obviously leftovers.
Pei Jing caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye, and the corners of his lips raised slightly.
He coughed lightly, "My dear ministers, do you have anything important to report?"
After asking this question, the front hall became even quieter.
Pei Jing glanced around the hall and saw all the officials bowing their heads in silence. He then stood up and said, "Dismiss the court."
As all the officials knelt to see him off, they saw the emperor walking quickly towards the pearl curtain, and a hand immediately reached out from inside to grab his sleeve.
As the curtains swayed, the queen could vaguely be seen looking up and saying something. The emperor lowered his head and listened with an indulgent smile in his eyes, then he went through the bead curtain.
Duan Jiu looked at the emperor's receding back and silently changed his hope of "finishing the memorials today" to "it would be nice to be able to attend the court tomorrow."
The old officials walked out, shaking their heads and sighing, while the young officials all smiled secretly and exchanged glances.
The imperial censors who had just given in to each other gathered in the corridor outside the palace.
"Why didn't you say anything in the palace just now?"
Censor Qian looked around and said, "Well, there's no need to nitpick. Look at the past few months since Your Majesty ascended the throne. The land reclamation case has been thoroughly investigated, and the grain transport scandals have been rectified. How has he handled state affairs so wisely? Why bother to use this matter to cause trouble for the Emperor?"
"But that's meddling in government affairs!" Censor Zhao was anxious. "There's only a curtain between the back hall and the front hall. If this gets out, what will become of the public?"
Censor Qian laughed and said, "The Empress is illiterate, how can she govern?"
"You must not say such things carelessly. The Empress knows quite a few words now, and that was taught to her by the Emperor. If this gets to the Emperor's ears, you'll be in big trouble."
Censor Qian shut up awkwardly, "Forget it, forget it. The Emperor knows the situation well. As long as the government remains in order, this is just a small matter that can be ignored."
…
After Pei Jing left the court, he took Jiang Fei back to Jinghe Palace.
After a while, Duan Jiu and Lu An also arrived. Four eunuchs were carrying two boxes with sweat on their foreheads. Pei Jing knew what was inside without even opening them.
Being an emperor is good, but he is not good at reviewing memorials, which will delay his time with Xiao Cui.
Pei Jing felt a headache when he saw this. He hugged Jiang Fei and acted coquettishly for a while before starting to review the memorials.
As the weather grew colder, Jiang Fei finally understood the true meaning of Pei Jing's change of bedroom.
This imperial city has stood for hundreds of years. Hundreds of years ago when the country was founded, there was no such thing as underground dragons. The emperor's bedroom was empty and cold, and he had to rely on charcoal fires in winter.
Pei Jing knew that she was afraid of the cold, and in fact, he had started to renovate the Jinghe Hall before he ascended the throne. He installed floor heating underneath, so it was not as empty as the bedrooms of emperors of previous dynasties, and it seemed more cozy.
The two of them huddled together, one reviewing memorials while the other read a storybook to pass the time.
The palace prepared snacks, and when Jiang Fei ate something delicious, she would feed it to Pei Jing.
Pei Jing doesn't like sweet food, but Jiang Fei thought it was delicious, so he tried it too.
He strongly suspected that some of the things were not delicious to Jiang Fei, but she thought they were too unpalatable and gave the leftovers to him.
After Jiang Fei fed him for the sixth time, Pei Jing turned his head away and asked, "Are you going to eat again tonight?"
"I'll tell you when I'm hungry."
Jiang Fei handed it forward, and Pei Jing had no choice but to eat the remaining half of the dessert in her hand.
He then took advantage of the situation and pulled her onto his lap, not allowing her to move.
The candlelight danced on the silver table, making the warm light of Jinghe Hall even softer.
Pei Jing held Jiang Fei's waist with his left hand and held the red pen in his right hand over the memorial. After reading only two lines, he felt a little itchy in his fingertips.
The person in his arms was curled up on his legs, flipping through a storybook. The ends of her hair would occasionally rub against his wrist, just like a cat trying to keep warm under the eaves.
He glanced at her distractedly, and the tip of the pen slightly tilted, and the bright red ink rubbed onto the back of Jiang Fei's exposed hand.
The red spot fell on her snow-white skin, like a ripe cherry falling on the snow, so bright and dazzling.
Pei Jing's breathing suddenly became heavy, and the hand holding the pen stopped in mid-air. His eyes were fixed on the red mark, and he actually forgot the content of the memorial he was going to approve.
Jiang Fei first sensed something was wrong and raised her hand to wipe it off, but he grabbed her wrist.
The next second, Pei Jing's thumb gently stroked the red mark on the back of her hand.
The other hand had already pinched her chin and turned her around, and then a warm kiss fell on her, blocking the words that had just reached her lips.
Jiang Fei pushed his chest and hid back, muttering, "I'm reviewing memorials! What are you doing?"
Pei Jing did not relax, his lips still rubbing gently on her lower lip, his eyes fell on the tip of her nose, and then moved to her smooth eyebrows.
He suddenly loosened his hand, raised his hand to pick up the red pen on the table again, turned the pen in a circle between his fingertips, and raised it to face her eyebrows.
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