Chapter 182 Extra: Pei Yu (1)
Pei Yu knew very early on that his mother hated him.
There are only two princes in the palace. The eldest prince's mother was sentenced to death for her crimes, so he was raised in Wenhua Palace. Although his mother held a high position and was the most favored in the harem, she abandoned him to the same situation as his eldest prince.
"Don't be sad, Your Highness. His Majesty wants to prevent foreign relatives from interfering in government affairs, so he does not allow the concubines to raise the children themselves."
Yue Miao saw her master staring at Concubine Jiang who was swinging on the swing not far away, and tried to comfort him.
Pei Yu pulled the corner of his lips.
He had seen his father and mother getting along with each other.
The doting and indulgence in my father's eyes could not be hidden at all. Not to mention that my mother wanted to raise him personally, even if she wanted to kill him, I'm afraid my father would not blame her at all.
He just didn't understand what he had done wrong.
Pei Yu lowered his head and looked at the lotus jade pendant hanging quietly around his waist.
This happened when he was six years old. He got excellent grades in his studies and pulled his mother's clothes to ask for a reward, which his mother casually threw to him.
The twin lotus flowers are the pattern that my father chose for my mother.
My mother was not even willing to treat him properly.
Pei Yu stared at his laughing mother for a while before turning around and leaving with Yue Miao.
*
At night, Pei Yu was reading by candlelight when he came to the part about Duke Zheng defeating Duke Duan at Yan in Zuo Zhuan.
His eyes paused and did not move away for a long time.
Until I heard a slight snoring sound in my ear.
Pei Yu tilted his head and saw Yue Miao sleeping soundly.
She was originally a maid doing rough work, her hands were covered with calluses and her body was stained with the dirty and smelly smell of toilets. If Pei Yu had not asked her to serve him half a year ago, she would have had to do rough work like this for the rest of her life.
Why her?
It was probably because of that day when I saw her protecting a cat slave in the rain. She was soaked like a drowned rat, but she still had to use her skirt to shield the water from the little beast.
Pei Yu recognized the raccoon cat. It was raised by the Queen Mother. Its fur was shiny and there was a small golden bell tied around its neck. One glance at it showed how spoiled it was and that it didn't need anyone's protection at all.
But it has shiny fur and can act coquettishly and please others, so everyone thinks it is pitiful. However, those taciturn raccoons that really need protection will hide like ghosts in places where no one can see them, and will be frozen to death and buried under the snow one winter day.
Because she was late for her mission, Yue Miao was scolded by the housekeeper when she returned to Wenhua Palace and was punished to kneel in the rain.
Pei Yu looked at her grimly through the window until she could no longer hold her kneeling position and was about to fall, then he showed mercy and ordered someone to send her an umbrella.
He thought his meaning was obvious enough, but he didn't expect that this stupid palace maid would stare at the oil-paper umbrella in confusion for a long time, then open it with trembling hands and continue to kneel under the umbrella.
Pei Yu sneered angrily and ignored her.
But afterwards, he somehow asked the Queen Mother for this palace maid to serve her.
People's fate is of different ranks. Yue Miao is good at doing rough work, but she is not good at doing the delicate work of serving him personally.
When on night watch, she would snore in the outer hall, disturbing Pei Yu's sleep. Pei Yu warned her during the day to change this bad habit, and she agreed readily, but she still did the same at night.
Pei Yu was a light sleeper who woke up easily, and he could no longer tolerate it, so he punished her to kneel and guard all night.
On the second day, Yue Miao retreated dragging her almost crippled legs.
Pei Yu himself was a person who held grudges. Once, a eunuch mocked him for not having a mother. Pei Yu heard it at the time but did not get angry. However, he found an opportunity to beat the eunuch to death afterwards.
Could this palace maid also hold a grudge like this?
After Pei Yu punished Yue Miao, he began to secretly observe her every move.
It doesn't seem so.
Yue Miao still served him so attentively, always with a smile on her face. In order to avoid snoring, she even slept standing up at night, and woke up as soon as her body tilted to one side when she fell asleep.
Pei Yu tried to find an excuse to reward her with a gold ingot, and she was so happy that she wanted to turn around and kowtow to him a few times.
So superficial.
Pei Yu didn't take a slave servant seriously. As long as she didn't annoy him, he would use her.
Only occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would tease her with a cold face.
For example, right now.
Pei Yu called out in a deep voice: "Yue Miao."
The one who responded to him was Yue Miao's snoring.
Pei Yu let out a breath of frustration, looked around, saw a closed folding fan on the desk, and reached out to pick it up.
Yue Miao, who was sleeping soundly, felt a pain in her back, as if she had made a mistake when she first entered the palace to learn the rules and was punished with a ruler by the nanny. She woke up immediately and stared at Pei Yu with wide eyes.
"Little, little prince?"
As if she realized something, her eyes suddenly became clear, and she covered her mouth in annoyance: "Is this servant snoring again?"
Pei Yu did not answer, but read to her the story of Duke Zheng defeating Duan Yuyan that he had just read.
"At first, Duke Wu of Zheng married a woman from Shen, named Wu Jiang, who gave birth to Duke Zhuang and Gong Shuduan—"
He recited slowly, as if walking slowly on a mountain of knives, unwilling to walk to the sharpest point.
"I know! The following is: 'Duke Zhuang was born in a waking state, which frightened Lady Jiang, so she named him 'Wu Sheng', and then she hated him', right?"
Yue Miao had heard this passage hundreds of times, so she answered it fluently, looking at Pei Yu expectantly as if asking for a reward.
Pei Yu was silent for a moment, then picked up the folding fan again: "Stretch out your hand."
Yue Miao didn't understand why, but still spread out her palm.
With a dull "snap" sound, Pei Yu's fan hit her palm with obvious force, and her calloused hand turned red in an instant.
Yue Miao was in so much pain that tears were about to fall out. She quickly held her hand back and blew it, looking at the Second Prince in confusion and grievance: "Your Highness, did this servant do something wrong again?"
Pei Yu scolded with a cold face: "You are so smart, you interrupt me without thinking, and you dare to act aggrieved?"
Yue Miao was so scared that she immediately held back her tears.
Pei Yu raised the corners of his lips slightly, then quickly straightened them and ordered coldly: "You will still be on guard tonight."
Yue Miao screamed "ah" and saw Pei Yu picking up the folding fan again. She immediately put her hands behind her back and begged for mercy.
*
The weather is getting colder.
Yue Miao was becoming more and more sleepy, and every time Pei Yu got up early to go to Wenhua Hall to attend lectures, he would wake her up and ask her to change her clothes.
In fact, he could have called on Liu Gui's group of young eunuchs to serve him, but for some reason, every time Pei Yu saw Yue Miao serving him with sleepy eyes, without daring to say anything, he felt happy.
This was one of his few pastimes.
It was already dusk when Pei Yu finished his classes. There were only two princes in the palace now, so he left with his eldest brother Pei Yi.
Scholar Liu looked at them, stroking his beard, and sighed to the familiar palace servants: "When I was teaching Your Majesty, every time the princes and princesses finished school, the ladies were waiting outside the palace. Now these two princes are smarter and smarter, but they don't even have an elder who cares about them. Alas, it's really..."
Pei Yu paused slightly, and his drooping eyelashes trembled.
Pei Yi walked ahead and did not hear what Master Liu said. When he saw that his brother did not catch up, he turned around and called out, "Second brother, why don't you leave?"
Pei Yu followed silently with gloomy eyes.
When he returned to the bedroom, a young eunuch happened to be carrying a new cup of herbal tea out. He bumped into Pei Yu unexpectedly, and the cup fell to the ground and shattered. The young eunuch knelt down and kowtowed: "Your Highness, please forgive me, Your Highness, please forgive me!"
Yue Miao, who was tidying up the bed in the inner hall, heard the noise and hurried out. Seeing the situation, she exclaimed "Oh!", took out a handkerchief from her sleeve, and stepped forward to wipe the hem of Pei Yu's robe.
Pei Yu stared at the eunuch coldly, making him tremble with fear, and then he ordered in a cold voice: "Take him out and beat him until my clothes are dry."
Then you don’t want to kill people?
Yue Miao was shocked and quickly knelt down to comfort her master: "Your Highness, calm down. Xiao Yuanzi's crime does not deserve death. Please spare his life. How about giving him twenty strokes of the cane?"
Pei Yu suddenly lowered his head, a strange and unhappy light flashed in his eyes: "You want to plead for him?"
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