Chapter 21 Is it true that beauty is attractive?
Anhe keenly sensed Zhao Liangxu's thoughts.
He moved next to Zhao Liangxu and whispered in her ear, "Don't do anything funny. Are you looking at me like you want to climb a tree?"
He glanced at Li Ying, who was happily picking up leaves nearby, and warned in a low voice, "Can't you understand? If you do something so dangerous in front of His Majesty, won't you pique his interest? If something happens to him, all your sentiments will be useless."
He clicked his tongue, his slightly hoarse voice like a feather landing on Zhao Liangxu's heart.
The two of them were so close that Zhao Liangxu could even sense An He's presence.
"If you really want to do these pointless things, I haven't stopped you at the An residence these past few days. There's a short-necked tree at the An residence that suits your taste. Once you get back, I won't bother with you no matter what you do."
Zhao Liangxu thought about it for a moment and thought the suggestion was good.
"That's fine, that's fine too."
She put on an act of reluctant acceptance.
What is this? Could it be that she has been wronged?
An Hezhen felt that Zhao Liangxu seemed to have no worries at all.
The An Mansion felt like her home!
An He was quite angry and determined to intimidate the audacious Zhao Liangxu.
"When His Majesty gets tired of playing, you will come with me to the Imperial Prison."
Imperial prison, a place for detaining and interrogating criminals.
Zhao Liangxu suddenly turned her head to look at him. Before she could even show her shock, her appearance was caught in An He's eyes, which hadn't had time to look away.
It's too close.
An He was worried that Li Ying would hear, so he deliberately spoke to Zhao Liangxu.
Now, Zhao Liangxu and An He suddenly stared at each other, so close that they could clearly see the fine hairs on each other's faces.
His skin was delicate and fair, like a woman's skin, but it was the skin of a eunuch.
His eyes were a deep brown, so deep that they were almost mesmerizing.
Zhao Liangxu's pupils trembled slightly, and her breath tickled An He's chin.
Anhe held her breath for a moment.
He paused for a few seconds before taking a step back, slightly flustered.
Zhao Liangxu also realized what was happening and leaned back.
Her usual immunity to Anhe had become useless at this moment.
Anhe, who used to be known for her sharp tongue, is now... Anhe.
Beauty.
Beauty?
This is insane! This is insane!
These two words popped into my mind and wouldn't go away.
Zhao Liangxu was also somewhat unsettled at this moment.
Is the term "beauty" somewhat inappropriate?
She turned her body away, no longer facing Anhe.
Fortunately, the other palace servants were busy keeping Li Ying company, and for a while no one noticed the contact between An He and Zhao Liangxu.
Zhao Liangxu was somewhat puzzled.
She glanced back at Anhe again.
His face, if not made up, was indeed quite handsome.
If she wears makeup, she has a different kind of charm.
The people who serve in the palace should ideally be those with beautiful faces.
Pshaw, pshaw, pshaw.
Zhao Liangxu felt that her mind was becoming less and less like her own.
It's all because beauty misleads people.
Zhao Liangxu ignored the slight anomaly and insisted on attributing today's strangeness to An He's fault.
He was indeed good-looking, and she was momentarily captivated by him due to her lack of vigilance.
Let's put this matter on hold for today...
What the hell!
Zhao Liangxu felt that she had never been so excited since she transmigrated.
She is definitely not normal right now.
Could it be...?
Has she fallen for Anhe?
The word "like" popped into her mind, lingered on her tongue, and was then gently uttered by Zhao Liangxu.
"like......?"
Her voice was so low it was barely audible; only she could hear it.
She was lost in thought, and didn't respond even when Li Ying called her twice.
"Zhao Liangxu?"
Seeing that Zhao Liangxu was ignoring her, Li Ying shook her arm twice.
Zhao Liangxu then came to her senses.
She suppressed her thoughts and noticed that Anhe looked normal, but was no longer as close to her.
"I'm done playing. Shall we go back?"
Zhao Liangxu nodded, and the short break ended with her returning to the Qianqing Palace.
Perhaps influenced by what had just happened, Anhe said he had some things to attend to and needed to leave briefly.
Li Ying insisted that Zhao Liangxu stay and talk to him more.
Li Ying then recounted the arguments he had overheard among the ministers in the imperial court.
"Zeng Chuanbai, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and Zhang Yuan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, got into an argument in the court."
"Zeng Chuanbo said that the Vice Minister of Rites, despite holding an important position in the Ministry of Rites, could not set an example. Zhang Yuan was so angry that he shouted that he was spouting nonsense. As they argued, they mentioned that there were shortcomings in the management and assessment of the Imperial Academy. Zeng Chuanbo accused Zhang Yuan of abusing his power for personal gain, while Zhang Yuan retorted that the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was just being nosy and meddling too much."
"Upon hearing this, the supervising secretary added fuel to the fire, bringing in the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, who bluntly stated that the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy was negligent in his management."
The more Zhao Liangxu listened, the more she felt something was amiss.
As Li Ying spoke, she seemed to recall the scene and couldn't stop laughing: "They argued back and forth, and one thing led to another, and everyone got involved in the argument. They were all very considerate of their own interests, and they were all very engrossed in arguing down there."
"If you ask me, the root cause is nothing more than the Vice Minister of Rites' failure to properly educate his son. His grandson offended someone in the capital by speaking recklessly. Although Zhang Yuan tried to cover it up, given Zeng Chuanbai's strict and meticulous nature, it was most likely that his granddaughter mentioned it, and he felt that the matter was extremely serious and thus made a fuss in the court."
Although Li Ying was telling Zhao Liangxu jokes about court affairs, Zhao Liangxu was sweating a little.
This sounds familiar.
There were both vice ministers and officials from the Imperial Academy.
Perhaps that Vice Minister of Revenue was Zhang Changfei's grandfather back then.
As for the granddaughter Li Ying mentioned, it's almost certainly Qiu Cheng.
She was one of the parties involved.
However, before that, Zhao Liangxu noticed something else.
Although Li Ying told the story as a joke, he couldn't hide the information revealed in his words.
Li Ying was not drowsy or indifferent during court sessions; on the contrary, he listened very clearly, remembered very clearly, and analyzed very clearly.
Zhao Liangxu deliberately threw out a prelude to Li Ying: "Does Your Majesty know what exactly the grandson of the Vice Minister of Rites said that offended someone?"
Li Ying indeed became interested.
What is it?
Zhao Liangxu smiled and pointed to herself: "It's me."
"It was Qiu Cheng who got angry because the grandson of the Vice Minister of Rites talked about the rumors about me at length in the teahouse."
Li Ying was momentarily dumbfounded.
“There is one more thing, Your Majesty.”
Li Ying made a gesture of listening attentively.
Zhao Liangxu changed her tone again and asked, "I see that Your Majesty is clear-headed and articulate, and observes the situation in the court quite carefully. Why does Your Majesty want to hide your talents?"
Li Ying clearly hadn't expected Zhao Liangxu to bring this up, and suddenly stood up.
"What are you talking about? What do you mean by hiding your talents? I was just listening for amusement."
Before Zhao Liangxu could say anything more, he changed the subject with a rather domineering tone:
"Since they say you're spreading rumors, it must be because your status isn't high enough. Why don't I bestow upon you the title of princess of a different surname? That way, you'll have a legitimate and respectable status in the capital, and they won't dare to gossip."
As soon as Anhe entered the main hall, he heard Li Ying's boastful words, which were full of the air of a tyrannical emperor.
His brow twitched, and he strode to Li Ying's side: "Your Majesty, this will not do!"
Why not?
An He used all sorts of persuasion, coercion, and enticement to suppress Li Ying's thoughts.
At this moment, Zhao Liangxu suddenly said, "Your Majesty's idea was a bit unrealistic, but I wonder if Your Majesty could do Liangxu a small favor?"
"you say."
An He had no idea what Zhao Liangxu was going to say. He was a bit confused by what happened in the Imperial Garden today and couldn't figure out what Zhao Liangxu was going to say.
"Of the fifteen boxes of treasures bestowed by His Majesty, some were stored away for me by Eunuch An. However, Eunuch An has been very busy these past few days and has not yet given me the key to the small storeroom. Could His Majesty please ask me for it on his behalf?"
Anhe finally understood that Zhao Liangxu was still thinking about those things.
He almost laughed out of anger.
Li Ying hesitated for a moment, then looked at An He without saying anything.
He now trusts Zhao Liangxu because, after the assassination attempt, he feels that Zhao Liangxu would not harm him.
Ke Anhe...
Thinking of Zhao Liangxu's words, he felt flustered, but still gritted his teeth and tried to speak.
Seeing this, Anhe said in advance, "There's no need for His Majesty's help. I've just been busy investigating the assassins lately and haven't had much time to worry about these things. I'll just give you the key when I get back."
He didn't let Li Ying say it aloud, but Li Ying's actions still secretly alarmed him.
During that brief lull, what exactly did Zhao Liangxu say to Li Ying?
He initially thought that Li Ying's emotional fluctuations led her to rely on Zhao Liangxu somewhat, but the only person Li Ying truly trusted was An He.
The current situation is truly baffling to him.
An He was determined to keep a close eye on Zhao Liangxu. If he was not around for a moment, Zhao Liangxu could make things develop in an unpredictable way.
An He stayed by Li Ying's side all afternoon, and Zhao Liangxu naturally accompanied her as well.
Under An He's encouragement, Li Ying began her studies.
There are many things an emperor needs to master. He sits on this throne at a young age, and not many people force him to learn imperial power tactics, but he still needs to know the necessary skills.
Li Ying, who usually doesn't like studying much, was unusually absent-minded today.
He glanced at Zhao Liangxu several times while studying, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.
Anhe and Ziran noticed it.
His probing gaze fell on Zhao Liangxu, slid over her inch by inch.
These past few days, he had unconsciously grown closer to Zhao Liangxu, which led to the situation he had during the day.
Anhe subconsciously twisted the ring on his hand, determined not to let Zhao Liangxu influence him any further.
This further affected Li Ying.
Anhe lowered her head to hide her expression.
Li Ying didn't finish his task until 7 PM. He had been watching him study all afternoon, which had taken a lot of his energy.
For a moment he forgot to look for Zhao Liangxu, and by the time he realized it, Zhao Liangxu had already been taken away by An He.
An He kept his word and took Zhao Liangxu directly to the imperial prison.
Before even entering the gates of the imperial prison, faint screams could be heard through the thick walls and reach Zhao Liangxu's ears.
A note from the author:
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Our Zhao Liangxu began to ponder: was this really love?
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