Imperial Concubine Yun’s Request

  When he left, Xuan Tian Ming also brought Feng Yu Heng with him. Xuan Tian Hua saw this and did not ask. The three got in the imperial carriage that was waiting outside.

  The guard that had come with the message also got on the carriage. When everyone was seated properly, he immediately said: “His Majesty came again. This time, it’s different from before. He brought a large amount of clothing, saying that he would be living there for an extended period of time. He would be living there until imperial concubine Yun returns to the imperial palace.”


  “Nonsense!” Xuan Tian Ming’s anger surged forth, “If he doesn’t go back, what will they do about court? Will they not be holding court? Will it be sealed?”


  The guard said: “His Majesty said to have your Highness the seventh prince and your Highness the ninth prince to take care of the court’s matters. The jade seal has been left in Heavenly Hall. Your Highnesses may use it as you please.”


  This time, the two princes were very much of one mind in saying: “Not going!”


  They then looked at each other and fell silent. Only when the imperial carriage arrived at the Chun Palace’s entrance did they find the gates closed shut. A pair of guards were standing outside looking very serious.

  When the group got out of the carriage and entered the palace, a servant immediately went forward to receive them. The three were brought directly to the courtyard where Xuan Tian Hua lived. Upon entering the courtyard, they found the Emperor and Zhang Yuan sitting in the yard while discussing something. The Emperor spoke with a bright smile, while Zhang Yuan had his head turned, not wanting to look at him.

  Xuan Tian Hua was the first to step forward. Without worrying about saluting, he directly asked in a loud voice: “Why has father Emperor come again?”


  The Emperor was very unhappy: “What is it? Can this great one not come to your palace? Do not forget that this palace was given to you by this great one. It’s good enough that I don’t ask for money from you. What’s wrong with me coming to live here for a few days? What’s wrong?”


  Xuan Tian Hua felt that this old man really was getting more and more unreasonable, but he could not fight him head-on. He could only try his best to advise him: “Imperial concubine mother is living here and has already troubled son a great deal. This Chun Palace ended up adding ten more layers of guards. If you say that you’re also coming, son might as well not even sleep and personally stand guard for you two.”


  “Then just stand guard.” The Emperor talked big, “Thinking of when you were young, your imperial concubine mother took care of you night after night without sleeping. If you began coughing or began sweating, she would feel even worse than you. What is it, now that you’ve grown up, it can’t be that you’ll protect her?”


  “Those are different matters.” Xuan Tian Hua continued to advise him: “You are the Emperor and attend to numerous affairs each day. How could you spend all day thinking about the inner palace’s matters? The duty handed down by the family’s ancestors of taking care of Da Shun Country requires you to personally handle it. If you say that you will come to live in the Chun Palace, how can you take care of the matters of the country?”


  “If everything is left to this great one to do personally, what did We raise you two for?” The Emperor glared at them while saying: “I finally managed to develop you two into people, yet you don’t even know how to handle a report? We are giving you two an opportunity. Supervise the country, do you understand supervising the country? Only by having you two learn how to take care of the world can We feel at ease when We are no longer here.”


  Xuan Tian Ming truly could not bear to continue listening. The more that was said the less proper it became, thus he quickly stepped forward and grabbed his arm without giving any room for explanation: “Move, I’ll send you back to the palace.”


  “Hah!” The Emperor did not think that old ninth would go ahead and do this. He lost his balance and really was picked up. But this old Emperor could be considered as being unyielding. Upon reacting, he reached back and grabbed a tree to the side. There was not just one arm that grabbed it, as even a leg wrapped around the tree. He loudly shouted: “Let go! Let go of me! How dare you, if this great one says I won’t leave, I will not leave. Aside from the Chun Palace, I won’t go anywhere!”


  Xuan Tian Ming let go and turned back around to look at him, asking in a heavy voice: “What exactly are you wanting to do?”


  The Emperor spoke as if it was natural: “Stay here to accompany your imperial concubine mother. Whenever she goes back to the palace, We will also leave.”


  Xuan Tian Ming angrily gritted his teeth: “When imperial concubine mother goes back depends on when Winter Moon Palace’s repairs are completed. Instead of going back to the palace to supervise the palace, you came here to cause more trouble? Where is there any place for you to live here?”


  The Emperor pointed to Xuan Tian Hua’s bedchamber: “How is there not? I will live there!”


  Xuan Tian Hua facepalmed: “There where will son live?”


  “You two can live in Heavenly Hall!” As he spoke, he pointed to Feng Yu Heng, “This girl will also go. There are plenty of side rooms. Enough for you to stay in.”


  “Father Emperor.” Xuan Tian Hua was very powerless, “If you do this, the court will fall into chaos. Although Da Shun is currently very stable, it’s unable to endure this sort of mess. If those old officials knew that you came to hide here for imperial concubine mother, they will all pen reports saying that imperial concubine mother is a threat to the country.”


  “I’ll see who dares!” The Emperor’s gaze became fierce, “I will beat whoever dares to death.”


  Zhang Yuan rolled his eyes, “The entire court dares to. Can you have them all beaten to death? Ancestor, can we not go back to the palace? When you go back, you can mess around however you wish. In any case, you will be in the palace. If people with ulterior motives find out that you are living here or some sort of mishap occurs, how should it be handled?” The more Zhang Yuan said, the angrier he became. No longer caring that the two princes were to the side, he simply began to scold the Emperor: “As this servant sees it, there’s lacking someone above to manage you. You’ve been spoiled! If the late empress dowager was still alive, I want to see if you would dare to act so rashly!”


  The Emperor glared at Zhang Yuan: “Are you wanting to rebel? Do you know what your standing is? Who are you talking to?” After saying this, he said to Xuan Tian Ming: “Old ninth, come and hit him for me. This damn eunuch truly has no sense of standing or respect. He truly does not put this emperor in his eyes.”


  Xuan Tian Ming let out a “tsk” then rolled his eyes, “Why should I hit him? What part of what he said was wrong? Isn’t it for your own good! You don’t respect yourself, so who do you want to act humble?”


  The Emperor felt that there was nobody in this courtyard that was on his side. For a while, he felt very sorrowful. At this time, a servant ran over from the backyard. Arriving at the front, she bowed then said: “Imperial concubine Yun said that if your Majesty does not go back, she will move into the imperial daughter’s manor and will not remain here.”


  The Emperor was startled then rushed to say: “Then We will also go.”


  Feng Yu Heng begged: “Father Emperor, daughter-in-law still has not yet gotten married. If you come to your future daughter-in-law’s manor to live and word of it got out, it really would not be good!”


  The Emperor replied very naturally: “Then don’t let anyone else find out!”


  Xuan Tian Hua helplessly said: “There are no windproof walls in the world.”


  The Emperor shook his head, “I don’t care. Either way, wherever she goes, I will follow. Or if any of you has the ability to convince her to go back to the palace, that would be the best.”


  Once this was mentioned, Xuan Tian Ming really took it to heart, but it would not be too good if either he or Xuan Tian Hua went. They could only place this hope on Feng Yu Heng. The two looked toward Feng Yu Heng together until Feng Yu Heng pleaded for forgiveness: “Alright, I’ll go and see, but whether or not it will work, I cannot make any guarantees.”


  After saying this, she followed behind the servant. While walking, she began to think. Would imperial concubine Yun be more receptive of coercion or coaxing? Precisely what angle should she use to advise her?

  Just as she was thinking, the guiding servant spoke up, saying in a chatting tone: “Earlier, I heard imperial concubine say that today is the eldest young master of the Yao family’s wedding. Speaking of, today should be a day of celebration for imperial daughter.”


  Feng Yu Heng thought about it. The Yao family, for some unknown reason, imperial concubine Yun always paid close attention to the Yao family. Perhaps this could open a path. Thus she began to think about it, while her expression relaxed. She said to the servant in a very good mood: “Many thanks!”


  Very quickly, they arrived at imperial concubine Yun’s bedchamber. The servant pushed the door open for Feng Yu Heng to enter. She then stood outside with the other servants. When Feng Yu Heng entered the room, imperial concubine Yun was seated next to the table, drinking tea. This tea was accompanied by the chocolates that Feng Yu Heng had provided before. She even came up with the idea of melting the chocolates inside her tea. Upon seeing Feng Yu Heng arrive, she waved to her: “A-Heng, come over here. Drinking tea like this is very delicious. Try it.”


  Feng Yu Heng thought of how there were still two bags of cocoa powder inside her space, thus she thought that she would bring those out for imperial concubine Yun at a later time. But she had not come to drink tea at this time. She changed her thoughts and said: “Today was Yao Shu’s wedding. That would be my grandfather’s eldest grandson. He married the young miss of the first wife from left prime minister Lu’s manor. During the celebration, some stuff happened, and A-Heng thought to come and tell imperial concubine mother about it for the sake of relieving your boredom.”


  At first, imperial concubine Yun had a rather indifferent expression; however, her brow slightly furrowed upon hearing that something happened during the Yao family’s wedding. She immediately asked: “What exactly happened?” After thinking a bit, she began to think deeply: “Left prime minister? Wasn’t the former left prime minister your father? What, is there a new left prime minister?”


  Feng Yu Heng nodded, “A-Heng also found out about it after returning to the capital. That young miss of the first wife is the second young miss of the left prime minister’s manor. She has already married into the Yao family today. It’s just……” She did not hide anything, telling imperial concubine Yun about everything that had happened during the day. She was not worried that imperial concubine Yun might expose it because although imperial concubine Yun had a good personality, it was only good to her own people. To other people, she was a bit of a recluse. The people that she could interact with were extremely few. Moreover, everyone in the court knew about today’s matters. With so many people that were participating in the banquet watching, even if they wanted to hide it, it could not remain hidden. Only Lu Yao being a virgin could be considered a secret; however, she trusted that imperial concubine Yun would know what was important.

  Sure enough, this topic was a very good gap. After hearing this, imperial concubine Yun’s expression became dark, as she remained silent for a long while; however, she said: “Yao Xian’s grandson, how could he tolerate being bullied like this by someone else.”


  Feng Yu Heng immediately followed it up by saying: “This is one thing. Secondly, the left prime minister’s manor raised such a pair of siblings, yet they had the nerve to send that sort of daughter into the Yao family. It seems that the Lu family’s thoughts are not much better than the previous Feng Jin Yuan’s. With this sort of person sitting in the left prime minister’s position, A-Heng is worried that the court will fall into chaos.”


  Imperial concubine Yun snorted coldly, putting down the cup of tea in her hands: “I wonder if that old man still has any daring and is able to tidy things up or not.”


  Feng Yu Heng continued: “Regardless of whether or not he can tidy them up, father Emperor needs to be in court himself to tidy them up, but he is currently preparing to stay in the Chun Palace and refuse to leave. Daughter-in-law is truly worried. If it continues like this, the court will begin to worry.”


  Imperial concubine Yun was startled then managed to react: “You came to advise this One to go back?”


  Feng Yu Heng gently sighed and nodded, “Yes, and I hope that imperial concubine mother will consider the bigger picture. We can’t do anything about father Emperor, and we can only ask imperial concubine mother to not…… not lower yourself to his level.”


  Imperial concubine Yun thought to herself for a while and did not reply immediately. She just made a request to Feng Yu Heng: “This One can go back if you want, but there is something that you must help me accomplish.”


  Feng Yu Heng quickly said: “Imperial concubine mother, please speak. As long as A-Heng is capable, it will definitely be done.”


  “Un.” Imperial concubine Yun nodded and paused before saying: “This One wants to see Yao Xian.”