Chapter 108 Part 1

 

Xuyu was waiting in the porch of the outer hall. At first, she could faintly hear a few roars that seemed to be coming from her father from the direction of the inner hall. Then, the sound disappeared and the inner hall returned to silence, but Pei Xiaoyuan had yet to come out.

Such silence made her feel more uneasy than her father’s roar.

She knew that her father had a bad temper, and now he was very angry. But as long as he didn’t throw things at people and just scold like he did at the beginning, then after waiting for him to calm down, Pei Xiaoyuan wouldn’t mind too much. She was still sure of this.

However, at this moment, the inner hall was silent, and it had been at least an incense stick of time. The morning light was shining, and the sky was already bright. A eunuch who was leading the court meeting could also be seen walking here. When he arrived in front of the palace gate, he spoke in a low voice to the palace guards.

“…all officials have gathered in the Tailou Courtyard, waiting for His Majesty to take his seat.”

“His Majesty summoned the Princess and Prince Consort early in the morning, but the two noble masters haven’t come out yet…” The palace guard glanced back and responded.

The eunuch then looked inside and saw the graceful figure of the princess behind a dust-proof curtain in the outer hall. He hurriedly bowed from a distance, then crossed his hands and lowered his eyes, waiting quietly by the side.

Xuyu completely lost her patience, and suddenly had a strange idea. She worried that her father might have fainted from anger, and the people inside were busy treating him, so that was why it was completely silent. She hurriedly lifted her skirt and ran to the inner hall. At this time, a figure happened to came out from inside. It was Pei Xiaoyuan. His eyebrows were solemn, as if he was thinking about something while walking. Seeing Xuyu running towards him, he quickened his pace to meet her.

“Why did you take so long to come out? What were you doing? My father is furious, isn’t he?”

Seeing him smiling, Xuyu realized that she was just imagining things. Her heart felt relieved, but she still asked those questions.

He shook his head and said that the emperor was indeed displeased at first, but after he confessed his mistakes and listened to his explanation, His Majesty’s anger gradually subsided. The emperor then took the trouble to teach him earnestly, which was why he was delayed for some time and made her wait for a long time.

“What did my father teach you?”

Xuyu couldn’t help but be a little skeptical. She couldn’t imagine that a man like her father would be willing to put down his airs and “teach” Pei Xiaoyuan?

“You know.” He refused to elaborate, only stared at her and smiled slightly.

Xuyu seemed to understand. It must be that her father wanted him to be nice to her, or else he would make him pay the consequence.

She pursed her lips and thought about the angry roars she heard at the beginning. How could her father’s “displeasure” he mentioned be as light as he said?

“Are you alright? Did Father… throw anything at you or make things difficult for you?” she asked again, looking him up and down.

“I’m really fine. His Majesty didn’t do any of that.” He responded immediately.

Xuyu breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at the eunuch who was still waiting outside the palace gate.

“Let’s go, we’ll leave the palace first, Father has other things to do here.”

She turned around first and walked out. After taking a few steps, she suddenly heard him calling her again: “Princess!”

She stopped and turned around.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then came closer and whispered, “His Majesty’s hand seems to have been burned.”

Xuyu was startled, and immediately remembered the scene where her father was holding the incense burner and was about to smash it but was stopped by her.

“Wait a moment here!”

She rushed into the inner hall.

Inside, the emperor was seated on the couch, holding up his palm, while Zhao Zhongfang stood before him, hunched over, carefully using a silver needle to pierce the blister that had formed on the emperor’s hand.

“Your Majesty, please do not touch the incense burner in the future. If the Princess knew about this, wouldn’t she feel heartbroken?” The old palace eunuch advised softly.

The emperor shook his head.

“She’s busy protecting that brat from the Pei family—she probably doesn’t even have me, this old and troublesome sack of bones, in her eyes anymore!”

“How could that be!” The old palace eunuch hastily denied, “The first person in the Princess’ heart will always be Your Majesty!”

“Be gentler! You old eunuch! Are you trying to kill Zhen with pain?”

Just then, as the emperor moved too much, Zhao Zhongfang accidentally pricked the tender flesh of his palm with the needle. Hearing the emperor hiss in pain, he quickly responded with an anxious apology.

“That was in the past, when she was little. It’s different now!”

The emperor’s voice was a little sad. “If she knew what Zhen had done, afraid she would…”

“Father!”

Xuyu ran in, the emperor raised his head and suddenly shut his mouth.

“Why are you back again?” The emperor retracted his hands and looked behind her. “Where’s Pei Er? Didn’t he already leave? You didn’t see him?”

“I did.”

Xuyu washed her hands with water, came his side, and took the silver needle from the old eunuch who was standing by: “Hand!”

The emperor paused, stretched out his hand and complained in a low voice that Pei Er was talking too much.

“I knew he was unreliable…”

The emperor muttered a few words, then shut up when he met his daughter’s gaze.

Xuyu held her father’s hand with one hand and held the needle with the other hand, carefully pricked the few remaining blisters on his palm, gently pressed them with a clean towel, absorbed the seeping blood, and then changed to the other hand to do the same. Finally, she applied a thin layer of ointment on each of his left and right palms, pursed her lips, and blew gently a few times.

“Father, are you still in pain? Do you want to bandage it?” She finally raised her eyes and asked.

The emperor had been looking down at his daughter concentrating on treating his hand injury. Later, the person was slightly distracted, and at this time he came to his senses, smiled and shook his head: “It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

He looked outside again.

“Father is really fine. Go, go! Go back quickly with your husband and have some more sleep. You two must still be sleepy after coming out so early today.”

Xuyu said it was fine. However, the emperor kept urging her. She finally put down what she was holding, told her father not to overwork himself, to take medicine on time, and told the old eunuch not to send her off, and then she left.

The emperor looked pleased and a little sad as he watched his daughter disappear. After a moment of silence, he turned to Zhao Zhongfang.

“Help Zhen change clothes. We’ve been delayed for a while. It’s time to go to court.”

When the emperor said this, his tone was light, but the smile on his face had completely disappeared.

Pei Xiaoyuan stood quietly under the porch, waiting for her patiently. When he saw her coming out, he came forward to greet her.

“Let’s go, we’re going back.” She smiled.

The two of them walked out of Ziyun Palace. On the way, when they passed by Xuanzheng Hall where the emperor held court, they happened to meet the officials who were marching from the Tailou Courtyard to the main hall. Although the two sides were not walking on the same palace road, there was no tall building in the middle, and the distance between them was only ten zhang1 zhang = 3.3 m. Soon, everyone noticed them and stopped to look over.

The prince consort was granted leave by the emperor for his wedding, so he did not have to attend the long-awaited morning court meeting today. Everyone thought that he was still sleeping with the princess in the prince consort’s residence, but unexpectedly, they met him here.

Judging from the direction the two were coming from, they had obviously just come out of Ziyun Palace.

The last time the emperor held a court meeting was before he left for Cangshan. So much time had passed since then, and now, with a sudden summons to court, everyone was speculating about the reason behind it. Naturally, they all thought of the news that the prince consort was assassinated the day before the wedding. Now, seeing the emperor summon both the princess and prince consort before the morning court meeting, the officials were even more convinced of their suspicions. After paying their respects to the pair, they discreetly turned their gazes toward Liu Ceye.

Dressed in a deep purple robe, Liu Ceye walked at the forefront of the ranks alongside Wei Juren and a few others. When he saw the princess and prince consort emerging from Ziyun Palace, Wei Juren was momentarily taken aback but quickly regained his composure, greeting them with a polite smile like the others. Liu Ceye looked solemn, staring at the tiles on the palace road in front of him. He hesitated slightly, then soon turned as well. His gaze swept past the prince consort’s shoulder before he cupped his hands in greeting, offering a courteous smile. “Princess, Prince Consort”.

Pei Xiaoyuan returned the greeting from a distance, while Xuyu just stood still. Liu Ceye seemed not to notice, and only lowered his eyes, with a smile that became even more respectful.

Naturally, everyone also knew that his grandson had a conflict with a servant from Prince Consort Mansion in the West Market yesterday and was severely injured by Ashina. Seeing this scene, they all looked over secretly.

At this time, Xuyu took a step and continued to move forward. Pei Xiaoyuan hurriedly cupped his hands to some officials opposite him who were smiling at him and had some friendship with him. Then he also continued walking and followed the princess to leave under the stares of many people behind him.

As they were approaching a corner in front of the palace road, a voice suddenly came from behind them: “Princess, Prince Consort, please stay!”

The two stopped and turned around, and saw that it was Feng Zhenping who had caught up with them. When he came close, he saluted with a smile, and after a warm greeting and congratulations on the wedding, he asked about Pei Xiaoyuan’s injury.

“I was occupied with official duties over the past few days and had no time to attend to other matters. It was only yesterday that I learned of the news that Prince Consort had been attacked by an assassin at the banks of the Wei River outside the city the day before the wedding. I was extremely shocked and even more indignant! Who could be behind such a thing? What kind of hatred could drive someone to strike against the Prince Consort—especially right before his wedding to the Princess? Could it be that they could not bear to see this divinely ordained union come to fruition?”

His voice was not quiet, and in the silent palace, it could be heard far away. Although Liu Ceye did not turn around, his footsteps paused slightly. There was a slight commotion among the officials, and many of them turned their heads to look, and then looked at Liu Ceye in front of them.

Feng Zhenping, however, appeared entirely unperturbed. After speaking, his face showed deep concern as he continued, “After learning about it, I wanted to visit Prince Consort right away. However, knowing that Prince Consort is blessed with great fortune and surely would not fall victim to the treacherous schemes of vile men, I assumed your injuries were not severe. Moreover, as you and the Princess were newly married, it would be inappropriate to disturb rashly. Therefore, I held off and discussed the matter with Prince Kang, intending to visit in a few days. I didn’t expect to coincidently met Prince Consort in the palace this morning. But may I ask—how is your injuries?”

Many officials slowed down their pace and listened attentively to the exchange here.

Pei Xiaoyuan said that his injury was not serious. Feng Zhenping exhaled in relief, calling it a great fortune, before launching into a tirade against the vile intentions of the mastermind behind the attack. Although he did not mention any names, every word he said was clearly directed at the crown prince and Liu Ceye. The ministers who were usually friendly with both were burned with indignation but, unable to openly refute him without cause, could only swallow their anger, their expressions dark with frustration. Wei Juren was seething, barely able to maintain his composure. As he turned his head repeatedly, his gaze suddenly caught sight of Liu Ceye at the front, who had resumed walking with a blank expression. After a brief hesitation, Wei Juren clenched his jaw, suppressing his fury, and led his faction forward, choosing to withdraw first.

While Feng Zhenping was talking, he was secretly watching the movements of Liu Ceye and his factions. When he saw that they left in a huff, he lowered his voice and said, “Princess, Prince Consort, rest assured. If they have truly gone mad to this extent, then as long as we, the court officials, still understand our duty as ministers, we will never stand idly by. In today’s court session, we will make sure they do not have an easy time!”

With these words, he earnestly took his leave and quickly turned back, hurrying to rejoin the group heading toward the main hall.

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