In the imperial city, the several battle scars on the front square of the palace hall had been repaired overnight and restored to their original state.
Outside Taihua Hall, hundreds of court officials dressed in various court robes streamed out from the Thousand-Step Corridor. In groups of three or five along the way, they discussed the strategies for dealing with the case of King Wu from the previous day.
Behind Taihua Hall, a hundred-man honor guard surrounded an imperial carriage of the Emperor and headed towards Changle Palace.
On the imperial carriage, the Empress of the Great Wei Dynasty, wearing a dragon robe with black and red patterns, placed her left leg on her right leg, revealing her red palace shoes and fair ankles. She propped her elbow on the armrest and supported her side face, sitting in a slightly lazy posture. Her majestic and proud figure exuded a unique domineering air as if she was ruling the world.
The twelve jade tassels hanging down from the crown obscured the Empress's peerlessly beautiful and tender face. Her eyes, which were so profound in the court that they seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, were now a bit distracted.
The rebellion of the feudal prince was a major event, but with the strength of King Wu, he couldn't cause much trouble at all. With a reasonable pretext, it was just a matter of a flick of the finger to crush him, and in the eyes of the Empress, it was not a big deal at all.
Last night, she was saved by a man in a heroic way, and she was also seen taking a bath by him. For a woman, this was a big deal. But the Empress was not an innocent little girl and was not so shy and distracted because of this.
At this moment, she was distracted, thinking about how to break the current situation.
King Wu was not the only one in the Great Wei with ulterior motives. There were the Beiliang forces eyeing covetously from the outside, and the various princes with sinister intentions inside. There were countless rebels of different sizes, such as the Green Bandits and the Pingtian Sect. The situation could be described as being surrounded by powerful enemies.
But the Empress had never regarded these as difficulties. From the day she, as a woman, took this position, she knew that she had the ability to eliminate all the disasters within her sight, leaving only a prosperous and peaceful world without war for future generations.
But achieving all this required time, and she could only accomplish everything she desired in her heart if she was alive. The predicament she faced was her own body.
If she wanted to live a long life, she had to find a way to locate the five lost Minglong Diagrams and cure the physical flaws caused by her touching the forbidden.
But it was impossible for her to run around the world looking for the Minglong Diagrams herself.
Although her Master, True Person Xuanji, was powerful and was secretly helping her search, luck was more important than strength when it came to finding the Minglong Diagrams.
First, one needed extremely good luck to discover the slightest clue. Then, one had to rely on excellent investigation and tracking abilities to find its whereabouts. Finally, one had to use peerless martial arts to snatch it.
Among these three points, the aspect of strength was actually the simplest condition.
Yejingtang seemed to meet these three conditions, but obviously, he didn't have a reason to go through fire and water for his sister-in-law.
If she wanted to assign this important task to him, she had to find a way to get closer to him and establish a deep relationship beyond that between a monarch and a subject.
But after what happened yesterday, if she tried to get closer, she might end up in the imperial bed.
What would be established was not a pure friendship, but a very strange relationship.
As the majestic Empress, capturing a man's heart with the beauty trap and making him work for her was not her style of doing things.
As an emperor, one should use absolute charisma to make one's subordinates swear to loyalty and submission.
Yesterday, when she stabbed Duke Cao down with one spear, that peerless grace had already made Yejingtang show admiration and amazement in his eyes.
But he didn't hold on for more than a few breaths, and his image was completely ruined on the spot. Even things that were not a problem were discovered.
A phoenix without feathers was not as good as a chicken, and a tiger without fur definitely didn't look majestic and imposing either.
How could she make Yejingtang respect and submit to her...
Sitting on the imperial carriage, the Empress didn't know what she was thinking randomly. Just as she returned to Chengan Hall, she heard the voice of the palace maid Hongyu coming from inside the hall:
"Empress Dowager, His Majesty has already returned. You should change your clothes first. It's almost noon..."
...
The Empress came back to her senses, stepped down from the imperial carriage, asked the palace servants to retreat, and slowly entered the hall.
The hall was empty. The palace servants had already been driven out by the Empress Dowager. In the bedroom facing the lake, Hongyu stood in front of the imperial bed and gently persuaded.
The Empress Dowager sat upright at the edge of the imperial bed with her hands folded around her waist. Her expression was very vivid - her cheeks were puffed out, and her big eyes were misty, obviously very angry!
The Empress knew the reason. She hadn't woken up naturally this morning but was awakened by the Empress Dowager who had been startled from a nightmare. The Empress Dowager had kicked her off the imperial bed.
Then the Empress Dowager curled up in the corner of the bed, hugging her knees, looking as if she had been humiliated, and didn't dare to say what had happened.
Judging from her reaction, the Empress guessed that even if Yejingtang had really done something last night, the Empress Dowager would have to swallow her bitterness and not dare to say it out.
Afraid that the Empress Dowager would do something foolish, the Empress specially explained to her that Yejingtang had been called by her and that she had a secret errand to assign to him, asking the Empress Dowager not to take it to heart.
Then the Empress Dowager couldn't hold it in anymore. She complained to the Empress with a wronged look, accusing Yejingtang of his violent behavior and demanding that Yejingtang be summoned to the palace for interrogation.
The Empress definitely didn't agree and politely declined and evaded. Then the Empress Dowager got angry. She had been sitting here all morning, neither eating nor changing her clothes, looking as if she was going on a hunger strike.
The Empress entered the bedroom, spread her arms, and let Hongyu untie her dragon robe and crown. She said softly:
"It's already noon. Empress Dowager, go and have a meal. Don't starve yourself."
The Empress Dowager got up and drove Hongyu out. She helped the Empress untie her clothes and looked very wronged:
"How can I have the mood to eat? Yejingtang sneaked in. Even if he was secretly summoned by His Majesty, after discovering me, he shouldn't have covered my mouth and knocked me out... I am the majestic Empress Dowager. His Majesty actually ignores such an unruly behavior. If it were Liren, she would definitely stand up for me and seek justice..."
The Empress soothed: "I have already reprimanded him. He was afraid of alarming the palace servants, so he had no choice but to knock out the Empress Dowager with a pressure point strike."
The Empress Dowager didn't think so. After hesitating for a while, she said in a low voice:
"Even if it was out of necessity, I still have to ask clearly what he did, right? When he knocked me out, His Majesty wasn't present. There were only me and him in the room. If he did something to me, no one would know at all... Since he dared to knock out the Empress Dowager in such an unruly manner, he might as well have kissed me or touched me by the way..."
The Empress Dowager became more and more wronged and outrageous as she spoke.
The Empress was asleep at that time and actually didn't know if Yejingtang had done anything. But judging from Yejingtang's attitude towards her, he wouldn't do such unruly things. She softly explained:
"He knocked out the Empress Dowager, and I returned right away. He didn't have time to offend the Empress Dowager."
The Empress Dowager raised her hand and poked the Empress twice on the collarbone:
"Isn't this an offense? Is this a place where a man can touch? And when he covered my mouth, he covered it so tightly..."
The Empress tied the belt of her red dress and helplessly compromised: "It was my oversight that made the Empress Dowager受惊. How do you want to punish him, Empress Dowager?"
The Empress Dowager's red lips opened and closed slightly. She really wanted to vent her anger, but thinking of the day before yesterday when Yejingtang took her on an adventure in the tunnel and protected her with all his might, she couldn't bring herself to order a flogging...
"He is His Majesty's... no, he is Liren's something. His Majesty summoned him in the middle of the night..."
The Empress raised her hand slightly and looked solemn:
"This matter concerns the fortune of the Great Wei Dynasty. Empress Dowager, please don't spread it. If I were interested in Yejingtang, I could just openly summon him to the palace to accompany me. Since I can confer the title of 'Prince Equal to the Emperor' on Liren, how could Liren let her sister be disappointed and heartbroken because she couldn't get what she wanted?"
The Empress Dowager thought about it. With the Empress's character, if she wanted to sleep with Yejingtang, there was really no need to do it secretly. She continued:
"He is His Majesty's favored minister. If I punish him, wouldn't it put His Majesty in a difficult position? I won't hold it against him for this matter. But His Majesty has to let him know that it's me who didn't punish him, not that His Majesty protected him. Tell him that this sort of thing must not happen again."
The Empress nodded slightly: "I will inform him. In the future, I will forbid him from setting foot in Fushou Palace and ask him to avoid the Empress Dowager in advance when he sees her, so as not to make the Empress Dowager angry when she sees him."
?
The Empress Dowager thought that if the Empress said this, she wouldn't be able to see Yejingtang for the rest of her life. Although she didn't have any special feelings, this was completely unnecessary.
"No need. I will just pretend that this never happened."
The Empress Dowager's expression softened a bit, and she changed the topic:
"By the way, when will True Person Xuanji come? His Majesty has been busy with government affairs all the time. Liren recently wishes she could follow Yejingtang from morning till night. She promised to come and pick me up yesterday but turned around and forgot, not even giving a greeting..."
"True Person Xuanji comes every year in the autumn. It's already June, so it's coming soon. When True Person Xuanji comes, I will ask her to accompany the Empress Dowager to have a good time outside for a while. You can even go on an incognito tour of Wutong Street in the middle of the night."
The Empress Dowager looked forward to the carefree time with her best friend coming every year. Hearing this, she even dissipated some of her anger from yesterday:
"His Majesty should urge her. She has been cultivating immortality on Yuxu Mountain for years, and I haven't seen her achieve anything. It's the same to meditate in the capital."
"Got it."
...
———
It was noon. The scorching sun in the midsummer of June instantly turned Yun'an City into an oven, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the street.
Yejingtang rode his horse along the shade of the trees by the street, covering Niaoniao's eyes with his hand, and was still studying the Wind Listening Palm.
The Wind Listening Palm used the sense of touch to perceive subtle fluctuations, and it was not only useful for people.
In the past, when Niaoniao's eyes were covered, it would shake its head. But today, it found that no matter how it shook, Lord Ye's hand followed.
After failing to shake it off several times, it also aroused Niaoniao's fighting spirit!
Niaoniao first remained motionless, and then suddenly stretched out its head. It even made a false alarm of "Jiji!" to interfere with Yejingtang's attention and then launched a sneak attack. It could be said that it had an extremely high level of comprehension.
Teasing Niaoniao, Yejingtang first came to Ranfang Street.
The reconstruction of Ranfang Street was quite fast. Now it could be said to be completely new, but it was still under decoration, and no merchants had moved in yet.
Yejingtang came to the depths of Shuanggui Lane. After not coming back for a few days, the yard hadn't changed much.
Although they were about to move to a larger house, Miss Luo hoped to keep the place where the two of them first met and where they opened the melon. This yard was still bought, and the items inside remained untouched, so that they could come back with Miss Luo in the future to recall the past.
Yejingtang opened the door of the main room, took down the "Peddler Buying Chickens Painting" hanging on the wall. Thinking of the painter of this painting whom he had just offended yesterday, he felt a bit of pressure. After carefully rolling it up, he took a few daily items and returned to Tianshui Bridge.
Sanniang helped him purchase the house. She must have had some personal motives. The new house was only half a small street away from the Pei family mansion, very close. It was next to the Nanxun River. To the east was the riverside viewing corridor, and in the front was a small pedestrian street leading to the stone bridge. There were willows shading the surroundings, and the environment was extremely elegant.
Yejingtang led the horse to the front door. He could see that there were many employees of Tianshui Bridge inside the house, busily going back and forth, cleaning or placing furniture.
To satisfy Miss Luo, the house was in the style of Jiangzhou. The garden was on the east side, and most of the buildings were on the west side. The layout was compact. The back residence was divided into four small courtyards. There was also a two-story embroidery building for the young lady to live in on the east side. Judging by appearance, it would be no problem to accommodate dozens of people, including the master and the maids.
This was Yejingtang's first time coming here. He really didn't expect that Sanniang had acquired such a large house in the expensive capital. After walking around inside, he finally found Sanniang in the large garden on the east side.
In the middle of the garden was a small lake, with a small stone bridge on it. After crossing the stone bridge was a pavilion. The original east wall, because it faced the river, was built into a row of houses. Inside were buildings such as the viewing corridor.
Sanniang sat at the small stone table in the pavilion. There were account books in front of her, and she was carefully checking them. Xiuhe was helping her beside her, looking like the mistress of the house.
Yejingtang crossed the small bridge and came to the pavilion. He smiled and said, "Sanniang, this house is probably a bit too big. There are only three of us, including me and Miss Luo. Just cleaning it would tire the two of them out."
Pei Xiangjun saw that Yejingtang had come. Remembering what happened last night, her face was still as hot as fire. She turned slightly, buried herself in calculating the accounts with a demure and dignified look, and said in a calm tone:
"Who knows how many girls you will bring back in the future? If it's not big enough, what will you do if you can't fit in the future?"
Xiuhe was quite enthusiastic. Holding a small round fan, she got up and asked Yejingtang to sit down, and helped him fan the wind beside him. She smiled and said:
"Master will live here in the future. There's no need for you to clean it yourself. There are plenty of maids in the house. They think highly of Master because you're kind and approachable, and they all want to come and serve you. They're drawing lots now, and only those who are drawn can come. I'll be Master's housekeeper in the future. Master won't mind, right?"
Yejingtang looked at the lively and lovely Xiuhe, who was as happy as if she had just taken up a new position, and found it a bit funny:
"How could I mind? But if you leave, what will Sanniang do?"
Xiuhe sat down beside him and said boldly: "The capable should do more. I'll run between the two places now. When Sanniang moves in..."
"Xiuhe!"
Pei Xiangjun raised her eyes and looked at Xiuhe, looking like she was ready to discipline her.
Xiuhe blinked her eyes, realized she had said the wrong thing, put down the fan and got up, saying: "Well... I'll go outside and have a look. Master, you can talk first." Then she ran away.
Yejingtang picked up the fan and fanned the wind for Sanniang, who was sitting sideways on the stone bench. Looking up, he could see that Sanniang had applied the lip rouge that was very attractive to men, her hairpin was neatly arranged, and she was also wearing the sparrow tail hairpin he gave her. Although she looked very serious while writing, her eyes would glance at him from time to time and then quickly look away. She obviously had something on her mind.
After looking around the garden a few times, Yejingtang said: "The house is too big. It feels strange to live in it with few people. Why don't you move in too, Sanniang?"
Pei Xiangjun's eyelashes flickered. She glanced at Yejingtang, not sure what Yejingtang meant, and her heart felt a bit complicated.
Last night, she fell headfirst into Jingtang's arms while being naked and even sat on his face. Although she was embarrassed, she could still understand it and just regarded it as an accident.
But before she fell, she and the vixen were talking about very private matters. She said everything that should and shouldn