Chapter 15 Chapter 15-Saved a White-Eyed Wolf
In July, the ministers of the previous dynasty suddenly and unanimously asked Li Siyan to establish a queen, saying that the position of queen had been vacant for a long time, and that the world was peaceful now, so a virtuous and virtuous woman should be chosen as the queen.
I happened to hear this memorial when I went to court with him. I thought to myself, these old villains are really interesting. They can't wait to send their daughters to the bed of the dog emperor. It's really unlucky to have such a father. Li Siyan is not a good man. How can I be happy if I marry him?
I thought that Li Siyan would remain unmoved by such meaningless urging, but in August, he actually began to consider the issue of the queen's election. In the middle, he even called Xia Fugui over to ask him a question, which made Xia Fugui flattered.
That day, Xia Fugui had just walked out of the study room when I, who was squatting nearby, immediately pulled him to a secluded corner and asked, "What did Li Siyan ask you?"
Xia Fugui wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear: "He asked me about the time when I sent him steamed buns in the palace."
My eyes widened. "Did you tell me that the girl who delivered the steamed buns with you was mine?"
Xia Fugui felt extremely aggrieved: "How dare I, aunt? If His Majesty knew, I would be accused of concealing the truth. So I just said that I was a young lady I met by chance and we didn't exchange names."
I patted his shoulders wildly and praised him, "Fugui'er is really smart. What you said is absolutely foolproof. Let him track it down slowly on his own. It would be a miracle if he finds me. Hahahahahahahahahahaha..."
Xia Fugui whispered, "You're still laughing! We're committing the crime of deceiving the emperor, and we're punishable by death."
I said arrogantly: "If you want to kill me, kill me first. What are you afraid of?"
Xia Fugui touched his big head dejectedly.
After seeing Xia Fugui off, I went into the imperial study to work with a refreshed mind.
In addition to Xia Fugui, Li Siyan also met with the Shangshu Ling, the Zuo Xiang and the messengers sent by the two Jiedushi today. The business was very busy and there were many things to record. I sat down at my small desk, wrote a big stroke, and buried my head in work.
Half a day later, Li Siyan finally sent away his group of middle-aged and elderly ministers. The sun was setting, and I was packing up my pens and ink to get off work. Halfway through, Li Siyan suddenly called me over.
I immediately refused, saying, "No one serving in the inner palace is allowed near the imperial desk. Your Majesty, if you have anything to say, please tell me directly."
Li Siyan didn't care about privacy at all and said casually: "It doesn't matter. You never follow the rules anyway, so it's okay for you to come to my desk."
I wrinkled my nose. It's true that I don't really follow the palace rules and regulations, but when it comes to military secrets, political documents and the like, I would never dare to overstep the boundaries.
However, Li Siyan didn't have the patience to wait for me to hesitate. He simply grabbed my sleeve, pulled me to his desk and said, "Come here when I tell you to."
I tripped and fell on his mat with a thud, landing on my face and almost breaking my nose. I let out a cry.
The culprit, the Dog Emperor, was stunned for a moment, then quickly grabbed me by the back of my collar and lifted me up. After walking around to the front to confirm that my face was not injured, he said nonchalantly, "You are so stupid. Be more careful next time."
I'd been carried around by the dog emperor so many times before that I just rubbed my nose and asked listlessly, "Your Majesty, you took so much trouble to pull me here. What do you want me to see?"
Li Siyan took another cushion and sat down next to me. As he rose and fell, the faint scent of mint drink on his body drifted into my nose.
I wasn't used to being so close to him, so I moved a little to the side uncomfortably.
He noticed I was trying to move away from him, snorted, grabbed the cushion I was sitting on, and pulled me back, saying dissatisfiedly, "With your poor eyesight, how can you see clearly sitting so far away? Come here."
I was thinking to myself, what the hell kind of amazing treasure do you want me to see? Why are you making such a grand scene?
I couldn't help but steal a glance at his desk, and when I saw it, I found that my eyes were glued to his desk.
There were several exquisite scrolls of beauties placed among the memorials, with their names written in small regular script in the lower left corner.
Wow!
I blinked and immediately understood what this was doing.
Isn’t it the emperor’s selection of concubines that gossipmongers love to watch the most?
Li Siyan fiddled with the scrolls and said calmly, "The rumor of the queen selection was just spread last month, and today the portrait has been delivered to the case. Qingfu is really efficient."
There was a lot of pride in his words.
I asked tentatively, "You called me here so you can take a look at me too?"
Li Siyan glanced at me and said, "What else are you here for? To be a paperweight?"
This beauty lover suddenly became excited and carefully opened the scroll. Wow, there were so many beauties. I was dazzled by them and my saliva was flowing out.
I looked at the portrait, and Li Siyan squinted his eyes and admired it with me. The two of them looked like hooligans who had just pooled their money to buy a list of the wives of the mayor of Pingkangfang and were squatting in the corner fantasizing about the mayor. Their expressions were full of vulgarity.
I thought angrily: Damn it, the dog emperor is so lucky.
Ordinary royal children, under the guidance of etiquette officials, would respect the ladies of the same class, but Li Siyan had not received any instruction from these people, so he would shamelessly give advice on the girls' appearance and temperament.
What's even more annoying is that he and I have a huge difference in aesthetic taste. He likes the pretty and cute type, while I like the cool and elegant type. We almost had a quarrel over who is prettier.
"Why do you think Li Xuyue is ugly? I think she's the most beautiful woman in Anyifang, except that she's a bit aloof. If we just look at her looks, she's probably in the top five in Chang'an City, right?"
Li Siyan's venomous tongue struck again: "First-rate? It seems you guys in Anyifang are really out of people. She has thick eyebrows and a square face, and looks like a man. I think even you are better than her."
I was secretly pleased to hear him say that, but for the sake of our neighbor, I defended Li Xuyue and said, "Your Majesty may not like her looks, but Li Xuyue is a good student. She can easily play the role of a beautiful woman. Really, why not give it a try?"
"Not interested." Li Siyan seemed to be really not interested in this kind of portrait. He picked out five portraits with his bony fingers and pointed at one with his index finger. "I have collected so many portraits, but only these five people barely meet the requirements. Take a look."
I sighed with regret. These five are all beauties among beauties. In my opinion, none of them should be taken advantage of by the dog emperor.
As he was reading, he suddenly said, "It's a good thing you entered the palace. Otherwise, with your looks and temperament, you wouldn't have been included in this list by Qingfu."
I patted my chest and said thankfully: "Fortunately, I am ugly."
Li Siyan didn't say anything, just snorted, his expression a little gloomy.
I ignored him and took a look at the five portraits he had picked out. I was immediately amused and pointed at the portrait of Wen Baibi from the Shangshu Ling family and said, "Your Majesty, you have met Mao Yanshou! I met the real Wen Baibi when I was playing polo. She was much more beautiful than this."
Li Siyan asked, "Who is Mao Yanshou?"
"Have you read Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital? Wang Qiang knows about it, right? No? Then let me tell you from the beginning..."
I explained it to him and boasted about Wen Baibi's stunning beauty, saying that she would be as beautiful as Xi Shi and Diao Chan if reborn.
"...She's truly beautiful and has a wonderful personality. I didn't bring my polo club that day, so she lent it to me. But we ran into that damned bitch Shangguan Lan that time, and our team lost miserably... Oh, by the way, they had a poetry competition together before, and Madam Wen seemed to have come in first."
Li Siyan wasn't particularly interested in Wen Baibi. Despite all my talk, he simply hummed a perfunctory "hmm" and asked me, "You rarely socialize with the ladies of Chang'an. How do you know so many anecdotes about Madam Wen?"
I was stunned for a moment, then said, "I'm a historian, so of course I know a thing or two about the family affairs of the ministers. Besides, Wen Baibi is the dream of Quan Chang'an Langjun. I have at least three friends who are secretly in love with her. Naturally, I know a lot more over time."
Seeing that he remained silent, I put down the scroll and sarcastically asked, "Your Majesty, do you suspect that I accepted favors from Minister Wen?"
Li Siyan glanced at me and gave me his usual sneer of contempt: "Not really. With your stupid brain, how could you possibly collude with the insiders and outsiders?"
I was so angry that I fell backwards. Qingfu always said that I had a broken mouth that could not say anything nice. In fact, the dog emperor was the one who had a real dog mouth that could not spit out ivory.
Li Siyan was efficient and decisive in his work. Ever since he saw the portraits that day, he had begun an intensive background check on his future wives.
In addition to routine inquiries, he also sent a group of eunuchs to check the palace's in-and-out files on a certain day nine years ago, and specifically instructed them to be very careful and not to miss any record.
That year he was about ten years old, pouring night incense in the palace, and I was about six years old, missing my mother in Anyifang.
I know that he must want to find out who the young lady who gave him a steamed bun was. Let him investigate as much as he wants. If he finds the truth about me, I will take his surname!
I entered the palace that day on a whim, sneaking in to look for my father in a water truck, so my name was not in the entry and exit records at all. No matter how hard he searched the records, he could not find a single word about Chen.
I couldn't help but recall the scene at that time.
Actually, I wanted to go to the Purple Palace at that time, but I chose the wrong time to jump off the car, and accidentally got lost and ended up in the Ye Ting.
There are many houses in Ye Ting, and they are densely packed with alleys. It was in one of these alleys that I met Xia Fugui, who was a depressed young man at the time.
Xia Fugui had just been scolded by his master, and he was huddled in a corner like a stray dog, licking his wounds and muttering things like "Don't bully the poor young man." The six-year-old me sheepishly walked over and asked, "Brother? Do you know where this is? I'm lost. Can you take me out?"
Xia Fugui looked up at me blankly for a few seconds, his eyes settling on my beautiful white silk skirt. He asked blankly, "Who are you? How did you get into the palace?"
Of course I couldn't tell the truth. I just said that my father and I were separated and asked him to take me to Zichen Palace so that I could find my father.
Purple Palace, Father.
Xia Fugui suddenly jumped up in a very excited manner, like a madman.
"Which palace are you from? Where do you live? I...I will take the princess out!"
He tried his best to suppress the impulse in his heart and spoke carefully.
I quickly shook my head and said, "You're mistaken. I'm not a princess. My father is a historian. I came to the palace today to fill in for the attendant!"
Xia Fugui's shoulders suddenly drooped, unable to hide his disappointment.
However, although Fugui'er is a little snobbish, he has a good heart. Even though I am not a princess, but just the daughter of an editor, he agreed to send me to the Zichen Palace.
He was afraid that I was hungry, so he gave me a steamed bun that he had left over from lunch.
I held the cold, hard steamed bun in my hand, convinced that my brother was lying to me when he said that people in the palace ate delicacies from land and sea. It was obvious that people in the palace didn't live as well as we did and had only cold steamed buns to eat.
But Xia Fugui seemed very sincere, and I felt embarrassed to offend him, so I walked all the way with the steamed bun in hand until...
Until I first faced the scene of a fight and bullying among eunuchs.
Four or five, no, about six or seven young eunuchs were surrounding and beating a man, cursing and swearing. The leading eunuch had a fierce face and held a long stick in his hand. He hit the man hard, cursing as he beat him, "You little bastard, how dare you steal my credit! Don't think I'm afraid of you just because you've adopted a palace maid as your godmother!"
The boy who was beaten was only about ten years old, tall and thin, with messy black hair. He looked so miserable, but his eyes were still fierce and bright, reminding me of the wolf cubs caught during the hunting in Furong Garden.
He was beaten so hard, but he didn't make a sound. He just held his head and neck and looked for an opportunity. Suddenly, he knocked down a eunuch in front of him, snatched his stick, turned around and swung it at the leader.
The leading eunuch was hit with a stick and screamed in pain, then ordered the rest of the men to beat him even more viciously.
I was stunned for a moment, then my innate sense of justice surged forward, and I angrily shouted, "How dare you hit me! If you do that again, I'll report you to the police!"
Report to the police? Xia Fugui almost stumbled and quickly pulled me back to persuade me: "Good girl, this is none of your business. They often bully Yan Lang, and this time is no exception."
I turned my head in disbelief. "What? Six of them fighting one? And they're always bullying people? They'll beat him to death!"
The little girl's voice was clear and sharp, and my aura naturally carried the righteousness of a family of historians, which frightened the group of eunuchs so much that they actually stopped and looked at me with frowns.
I said arrogantly, "You go!"
The head eunuch saw that I was dressed brightly and looked arrogant, and for a moment he was unsure of my identity. He softened his expression and asked Xia Fugui, "Excuse me, young lady, who are you?"
Xia Fugui was about to speak when I keenly sensed that my father's status might not be enough to scare them. So I imitated the way my aunt scolded the servants, put my hands on my hips and cursed arrogantly: "Bah, you dog slaves! How dare you know my identity! Get out of here!"
This trick was very effective. Most people in the palace bullied the weak and feared the strong. When they saw my arrogant attitude, they really thought I was of noble status. They apologized to me one after another and scattered like birds and beasts.
Xia Fugui was also stunned by me and asked hesitantly, "Then... then shall we leave or not?"
He turned around to look at the young man in the corner who was beaten black and blue and was struggling to stand up.
After being severely beaten, his head was broken, the corner of his mouth was swollen, his leg bones seemed to be injured, and there was a big swelling on his ankle.
But even so, he still tried to straighten his body, glanced gloomily in the direction of Xia Fugui and me, and then slowly dragged his injured leg into the house.
He must be in great pain, his cheeks were clenched tightly and his body was trembling slightly.
Of course I wouldn't just sit there and watch. I'm the most righteous and kindhearted young lady in Chang'an. I immediately pulled Xia Fugui over and asked with concern, "How are you? Are you in pain? Let me call a doctor for you!"
The young man stopped, lowered his eyes and stared at me coldly, frowning slightly.
Xia Fugui reminded me quietly: "Young lady, you don't know that we in the palace have been injured and have to fend for ourselves. We don't have money to hire a doctor."
I said, "But I have money. I will lend it to him."
"No need." The young man turned around with difficulty and said coldly.
Xia Fugui sighed: "Yanlang, you are too stubborn. Just let them beat you up to calm down. Why fight back? I think you should call a doctor..."
"It's none of your business!" he said fiercely, gritting his teeth.
Xia Fugui stopped talking, withdrew his hands and stood behind me.
I don't like the attitude of this young man named Yanlang. Even though he was injured so badly, I still didn't bother with him.
There happened to be a steamed bun in my hand, so I took off a small pearl flower from my hair and stuffed it into the bun, then handed it to him and said, "You don't want money, then I'll give you a steamed bun. Take it."
The young man turned his head, his brows furrowed and his eyes sinister. I snorted arrogantly, very stylishly.
Seeing that he didn't take it, I forced it into his hand. Before he could refuse, I raised my chin and said to Xia Fugui, "Didn't you say you would take me home? Let's go."
"You..." The young man's voice sounded behind him.
I turned a deaf ear and walked away with a swagger.
My second uncle once said that when doing good deeds, don’t leave your name behind, otherwise it’s easy to be harassed by shameless people. I think it makes sense and decided to listen to him.
Xia Fugui stuffed me into a backpack and smuggled me into the Zichen Palace.
My father had just gotten off a business trip. When he saw his daughter running towards him, he was shocked. Just as he was about to scold me for being naughty, my little mouth pouted and I burst into tears.
As a child, I flew into my father's arms, sobbing and tugging at his collar, saying, "Father, my brother lied to me. He deceived me! The palace is obviously not good at all. It's so big and quiet. I don't like it here..."
"...I miss my mother so much, but my brother said she will never come back."
"...Dad, you didn't come back for a few days this time. I thought you and Mom had gone somewhere very far away and didn't want Yingying anymore. I was so scared that I sneaked into the palace...
"Woo woo... Let's go home."
Dad was stunned for a moment. He patted my back with the hand that was about to teach me a lesson and whispered, "Dad misses Mom too. Yingying, don't be afraid. Dad won't leave... won't leave..."
Many years later, I recalled the past again. I remembered that my father patted my back and kept saying that he would not go to find my mother, and that he would stay with me well. But I didn’t expect that he still went, leaving me alone and locked up in the inner courtyard.
I hated myself for running into the palace that day and for meddling in Li Siyan's affairs. If I hadn't said anything and let those eunuchs beat Li Siyan to death, would my father have been able to survive and my aunt wouldn't have to be a widow?
It’s a pity that life is only once, and no one can predict the smile or malice of fate.
A few days later, Li Siyan told me that he had chosen Wen Baibi as his new queen, and a ceremony to crown her would be held next autumn to welcome her as the new mistress of the inner court.
I nodded and wrote this down in my diary.
With a smile in his eyes, he said gently, "Speaking of which, Madam Wen and I have a bit of a connection. When I was young, I was in a dangerous situation. Once, the other eunuchs ganged up on me and beat me up. Although I had the upper hand, I was still injured. Madam Wen was kind and gave me a pearl flower, asking me to take it to the doctor."
In order to enhance the credibility of the story, he even carefully took out a brocade box from the library, in which lay a small pearl flower alone.
──It’s a cheap thing with gold-plated silk and a magnolia pattern. It’s the same one I gave him back then.
I looked at this pearl flower and silently said bullshit in my heart.
It was obvious that he was beaten half to death, and I drew my sword to help him when I saw injustice, but he said that he was showing his virility, and the beauty gave me pearl flowers as medical expenses... Haha, men.
I laughed at him in my heart, but I still gave him halfhearted compliments: "Oh, Madam Wen is so kind-hearted, and a perfect match for Your Majesty. However, I think I went to the palace a few times that year, but I didn't run into Madam Wen."
Li Siyan sneered, "Why, are you trying to say that the person I met wasn't Madam Wen, but you?"
I smiled and said, "Yes, that's me."
Li Siyan said lazily: "I remember that the young lady who gave me steamed buns was gentle and amiable, and she was also a beauty. How could it be you?"
I recalled the scene when I stood with my hands on my hips and cursed, and I deeply felt that Li Siyan had a huge misunderstanding of gentleness and amiability.
I looked at him with a little more sympathy: this guy had a disordered memory and was obviously confused after being beaten.
He smiled again and said, "I checked the records of the palace entry that day. Madam Wen happened to be accompanying her mother, Princess Anping, to the palace to pay homage to the Empress Dowager. I sent someone to the Wen family to ask her about it. Although she didn't remember the details clearly, she said that it was indeed the case."
I said with a forced smile, "That's great! Congratulations, Your Majesty, on finding your former benefactor."
Li Siyan looked at me carefully and suddenly said, "What's with that expression on your face? I have a queen, aren't you happy for me?"
I opened my mouth, wanting to mock him for being so self-indulgent and too concerned about face, but after thinking carefully, why bother? Let him be deceived by Wen Baibi. As the old saying goes: A liar and a dog will be together forever.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
