"This child will not talk about this in front of Father Emperor, Mother doesn't need to worry." he leaned into her arms, pulled An Ruolan's sleeve and gently shook it, "I haven't seen Mother for a long time. Did you miss me? I always accompanied Father Emperor but failed to come to Mother from time to time. I hope Mother won't blame me..." An Roulan held the young man sitting beside her, listened to his sentimental words, and recalled how she gently held him in her arms when he was a child. Back then, she loved him, but now...
"Mother feels very happy that you came for a visit." She smiled softly and gently pulled his hand, "Come and sit with me for a while. The snacks in the Imperial dining room are not delicious enough. I made some myself and was about to send some to your Father Emperor. Since you're here, you can try them."
"Mother made them? I can't wait, let's go!"
He held her hand and dragged her the way back to the room. An Ruolan smiled lightly. She had heard that her child was brilliant, calm, and had a noble temperament, but in front of his consort mother, he still showed such childishness. She couldn't see the things described in the rumours.
He was just a twelve-year-old child.
Letting go of her doubts and worries, she let him sit down at the table and watched him sit quietly as he waited for her to order someone to get the snacks. He had a clever and quiet look, An Ruolan could not help saying, "No wonder His Majesty favours YueEr among all the princes. To have a son like you, I'm very proud. However, it's a pity... With a sigh, she furrowed her eyebrows and her expression turned sad as she stopped talking.
Qi Mingyue took a piece of the pastry that was placed on a fine flower porcelain plate. It was of jade-clear colour, with a slightly red tint. He bit into it and the sweet, soft, and waxy texture filled his mouth. With a satisfied face, he ate the pastry and listen to her words. Seemingly casually asked, "Is there anything worrying Consort Mother? Tell your child, I can share Mother's worries."
An Ruolan smiled, "At such a young age, YueEr already knows how to care about his Mother which is really delightful. About that, it's actually nothing much." She sighed, "Your Father Emperor has always been surrounded with beauties. He has always been fickle and never gave affection to just one person. I heard that Feng Zhaoyi, who has favoured for a while, suddenly got demoted to the Cold Palace, and that Wang Meirin was also involved and changed her pavilion overnight. I don’t know the reason." When she said this, Qi Mingyue's chewing of the pastry suddenly paused. He closed his eyes and listened to her worried complaints. A Roulan continued: "His Majesty is like this, how can your mother not worry? I have even lost my favour, I don’t know what will happen in the future..." Tears filled her eyes and were on the verge of falling.
Qi Mingyue swallowed the pastry, lifted his sleeve to wipe her tears, and said softly: "Ah, how come every time your child comes to see you, you are like this? Don't cry, Mother. As long as you still regard me as your son, I promise you that as long as you're in the palace, no one can hurt you."
When his voice fell, An Ruolan's body stiffened and her heart shook. Did this child know anything? Suddenly, Qi Mingyie looked up and his eyes still held a soft smile. "What's wrong, Mother? Why are you looking at me like this? Did I say something wrong?"
An Roulan smiled, "It's nothing. After listening to YueEr's words, your consort mother feels very happy. As long as YueEr continues to be loved by your Father Emperor, your mother doesn't need to worry." She held up the small food box on the table and continued, "Take these to your Father Emperor for me. They are just like the ones you ate just now; they have all been made with Luotong flower's juice, are soft and glutinous, and also smell sweet. But I don’t know whether they are to your Father's tastes or not..."
He got up and took the box, "This child will deliver it to Father Emperor. I will also tell him that Mother made them herself."
An Ruolan nodded with a smile and watched him turn around to leave. She looked at his departing figure with a complex look in her eyes.
Qi Mingyue stepped out of the Ningxi Pavilion and started making his way to the Xuantian Palace.
Today, he first read books in the study room for a while, then went to the Imperial martial court to practice martial arts. He had to say that since he didn’t have to go to the Royal School to study, he had a leisurely life every day. He had never been so comfortable in his previous life. Born as the son of the Emperor, someone is already there to serve him since the morning. Except for bathing Father Emperor, there was also no need to do anything by himself. He was used to such relaxed days, anyone would be reluctant to let go of such a leisurely life.
He turned to look at the Ningxi Pavilion behind him, then turned back around and yawned. The warm summer wind made people sleepy. He planned to go back to take a nap.
He squinted and walked along the road. All the way towards the palace, servants paid respects to him but showed a strange look. He felt that it was unusual and scanned the area only to realize he had somehow arrived at a strange place.
A pavilion stood tall and did not appear inferior to his Consort Mother's Ningxi Pavilion. Instead, it appeared even more peaceful and elegant. The outer courtyard was surrounded by Luotong flowers, the blooming red flowers had still-unopened flower buds mixed in. They held such depth that at first glance, people's attention would be taken away by its intense colour.
He couldn't help but stop. In addition to the Xuantian Palace which was at the very centre, the palaces where ministers dealt with official duties were outwards, and the inward part was mostly the pavilions where the concubines and royal children lived. He had already been to the most important palaces both inside and outside the palace, but the pavilion in front of him seemed quite imposing yet he hadn't ever heard anyone mention it. It also looked a bit deserted.
He wondered which concubine's palace this was and why was the front of the door so clean when there were neither servants bustling around nor any human voices. There was such quietness there that he suspected no one actually lived inside. However, the presence of blooming Luotong flowers in the courtyard signified that it was not unattended.
At this time, the sun was just right. He felt drowsy and hot because of staying under the sun for such a long time. He slightly loosened some of his clothes and briskly walked to the door.
Just as he arrived in front of the door, someone unexpectedly came out quietly, "Her Highness asked me to ask you, who are you and why did you come to Ranxin Pavilion?" The questioner looked like a maid. She looked pretty and her big eyes appeared very smart. She watched him seriously.
Looking up at the window upstairs, he could see a woman sitting in front of the window. The screen covered half of her face which made him unable to see her clearly. He smiled at her slightly before saying to the maid: "When I left Ningxi Pavilion, I might have taken the wrong path. I saw Luotong flowers blooming outside the courtyard, and grew curious. I have been walking for a while and feel a little thirsty. Can I go in for a seat?"
"It turned out to be His Second Highness, this slave did not know, please forgive this slave. The Empress is resting upstairs, but since His Highness has come, of course, you are invited to come in and sit down. This slave will serve you tea." Then she led him inside.
When he heard that it was the Empress' residence, Qi Mingyue was shocked. He hadn't expected to accidentally reach the Empress' Ranxin Pavilion. He had heard that Empress Jiang Yao held no favour, was eccentric, and rarely appeared. Mostly, upon seeing the attendant, some information about their lord can be inferred. But on seeing this maid, he couldn't gather anything about her being the rumoured weird Empress' maid.
As he walked in, he saw that the decoration in the house was very luxurious, indeed in line with the status of the Empress, but a few seemingly expensive commodities were just lying around at random and did not seem to be particularly cherished by their owner. There were paintings and calligraphy hanging on the wall and a guqin on the side with several books were thrown on the top. At first glance, it looked like a mess. Qi Mingyue felt that there was chaos everywhere. As soon as he walked in, he felt a sense of leisure and laziness. Such a relaxed atmosphere made his previous drowsiness rise again.
"Your Highness is tired? I'm afraid my abruptness might scare you but if you wish, you can sleep here." Someone unexpectedly spoke behind him and there was a sound of flapping wings.
He turned to look behind himself, the Empress was wearing an apricot yellow-coloured dress that appeared light and ordinary. Her hair was not done luxuriously and wasn't in a complicated hairstyle like other imperial concubines, there were no expensive accessories in them, either. Instead, it was just casually tied. On her wrist was an armour-like wrist guard and on it, a black eagle with sharp eyes and beak was perched. It was staring at him and appeared as if it would fly up at the slightest movement.
Qi Mingyue looked at the smiling woman standing in front and found that she did not appear particularly outstanding. She was Empress Jiang Yao? It was said that she was strange, indeed, it was very strange to be in the palace with such a look. Moreover, her appearance was not outstanding. According to the preferences of his Father Emperor, it was really strange that he let her ascend to this position.
"You are indeed worthy of being His Majesty's favourite Second Prince. I have long since heard of your extraordinary temperament and only got to see you today. It's a pity I'm not young. See, even my Little Black is not afraid." Touching the feathers of the fierce-looking black eagle, her eyes narrowed with a smile, it wasn't the reserved kind of smile seen on concubines but the free and willful kind. Black Hawk squinted. The Empress did not possess the reserved conduct and restrained character that could be found in other concubines' faces at all times. She held herself confidently and freely.
The name of the raptor, Little Black, was unique and did not suit its image at all. Qi Mingyue couldn't help but show a smile. He found a place to sit down casually, took a sip of tea, and said solemnly, "What the Empress said before is true, I am really sleepy right now."
She chuckled, "Call me Jiang Yao. What Empress? These formalities are really boring." Just like him, she found a space and sat down. Jiang Yao raised her arm and watched the black eagle fly out of the window, "I'll call you Mingyue and we won't care about those unnecessary titles. All these rules and ceremonies of the palace are really troublesome. There are rules for everything."
Her nature was indeed peculiar, not like an Empress but more like the people of Jianghu who didn't care about small things and were straightforward in conduct. She stood up, cleaned out a bamboo couch, and waved at him. "Come and sleep here. May I play the guqin for you?" She didn't wait for him to answer and made her way to the guqin. All ten of her slender fingers gently plucked the strings and made calming, deep and pleasant music sounded.
Guqin
He lay down on the bamboo couch and closed his eyes. While listening to the sound of the guqin, he felt really tired. He vaguely felt that something was wrong through his trance but he could not resist the feeling of sleepiness as his body grew heavier and he finally fell asleep.
•×•×•×•
In the Xuantian Palace, Qi Xutian looked at the palace guards kneeling on the ground and said coldly, "You said that the Second Prince went to Ningxi Pavilion, then why hasn't he returned after such a long time?"
The guard kneeling on the ground shuddered and didn't dare to raise his head. "Your Majesty, I really saw the Second Prince go to Consort An's Ningxi Pavilion, but later..." How would he know where the Second Prince went after that?
When His Majesty didn't find His Second Highness in the Palace, he grew incredibly furious, much to their alarm and fear. All of them knelt down while trembling, wishing that the Second Prince would be found soon.
At this time, Hong Qui standing on the side replied: "Replying to Your Majesty, after you went to court, Master went to practice martial arts. Later, he said that he hadn't met Consort An in a long time and then he asked this servant to change his clothes. Later, he did go to her pavilion. When I went there, I asked about him and Her Highness said that Master had already left." But somehow, he did not come back. He went there this morning and it was noon already. It was really worrying.
Qi Xutian looked at the group of people in front of him, his face was cold, but his heart was disturbed. Today, MingEr did not follow him to morning court and when he returned, he did not see MingEr's figure. He had always been accompanied by him every day and had grown used to it, it was already a habit. Now, he felt as if he had lost something important. He had never felt so frantic and unsettled before. Qi Xutian thought that MingEr might have gotten tired of living in the palace and planned to leave, it made him feel out of control and he wanted to kill everyone in front of him.
Being glared at by his bloodthirsty cold eyes, the people kneeling felt that they had stepped into the domain of the King Of Hell. Cold sweat dripped down their bodies, but the pressure and death-like aura from His Majesty still did not calm down. Instead, it kept on increasing. Some people couldn't help but pee their pants, hoping that they were dead. Death would always be faster than being the focus of His Majesty’s horrifying eyes.
Suddenly, Qi Xutian frowned, "Drag all of them outside and flog each of them fifty times." After he finished saying this, his figure flashed and disappeared in fury. The people kneeling on the ground felt like they had been granted amnesty and collapsed on the ground in relief.
Qi Xutian got a reply from a shadow guard saying that MingEr had gone to Ranxin Pavilion halfway, so he hurried all the way there. He wouldn't be able to calm down without seeing his figure in person.
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