c22 (2/2)
Fu Su was born a servant and always thought his life was worthless. Even compared to the exotic animals who lived in the Princess’s Estate, if anything happened to them, the servants life could easily be forfeited. So it was his first time experiencing someone treating him like a human being.
Everyone thought Fu Su protected the girls because of his loyalty to the Princess, but in truth it was because they treated him like a human being and didn’t throw him away when faced with danger. So he treated their lives as valuable and knew that he wanted to protect them back.
After that incident, he gained the Princess’s trust and she placed him in the Palace. Though in truth it was so he could gather information for her and report back. But he needed to thank the Princess for that, because otherwise he would be dead now after everyone in the Princess’s Estate was killed after the attempted rebellion of Shang Guan Jie and Xang Hong Yang. Because Fu Su was already in the Palace, he was spared.
Since he arrived in the Palace, he was given marginal tasks since the Princess fell out of favor. So when he was summoned a few days ago to be prepared and go to Xuan s.h.i.+ Pavilion, he was wondering why he was being placed in such an important position that every Palace servant dreamed of.
When he arrived today and saw Zhu jiejie, and learned that he was going to be her personal servant, Fu Su was so happy he thought this might be a dream. How could the Heavens be so good to him. Tonight when he went to bed, he must bow a few more times to the Heavens to express his grat.i.tude.
…………………………………………
When Yun Ge first entered the Palace, everything was new and exciting for her. Accompanied by Fu Su and Muo Cha, Yun Ge thought that the Palace wasn’t as scary as she thought, and was actually rather fun. Forget everything else, even the decorations alone in the various residences and pavilions was enough to keep her occupied for quite some time.
Wen s.h.i.+ Pavilion was painted with peppers and dirt mixed together, giving the walls a warm scent. The beams were made from cedar and the panels were made with amber. It gave off the essence of being in a green house when one entered, perfectly suited to its name.
Qing Liang Pavilion had cold jade tiles on the ground, with the bed made with precious stone and purple crystals lined the sides, which allowed this pavilion to be perfect for hot Summer days as it remained cool……………
Yun Ge played all around the entire Imperial Palace, and the places she loved the most apart from Xuan s.h.i.+ Pavilion was the two repositories. Tian Lu Ge and s.h.i.+ Zhang Ge were doc.u.ment and record keeping buildings where secret and precious texts were kept.
When Liu Fu Ling was meeting with his officials in the Great Hall and doing official work, Yun Ge squirreled herself away in the two record buildings to pa.s.s the time.
Today there were quite a few high officials who requested private meetings with the Emperor, each of them arriving one right after the other.
After dismissing Huo Guang, Liu Fu Ling looked a little tired so Yu An immediately asked the Prime Minister Tian Qian Qiu who was waiting outside to let the Emperor rest for a bit.
Liu Fu Ling sipped some tea and asked, with warmth in his eyes “Where is Yun Ge?” Yu An lit an incense and replied with a laugh “In Tian Lu Ge.” Qi Si quickly added with a smile “Ms. Yun is such an eager learner. Your servant I have never seen a well-bred lady who loves to learn so much. She is truly a lady with depth who is well matched to Your ma……….”
Yu An glared at Qi Si, so Qi Si immediately shut up. But he was confused. Didn’t Yu An teach him to learn to say things that made the Emperor happy? So what did he say wrong? He worriedly glanced at the Emperor’s expression but he didn’t seem upset and still looked rather amused, so Qi Si relaxed.
Learning? Liu Fu Ling thought about what Yun Ge was reading all day long in the book repositories and his head began to hurt.
Since she discovered that the Palace had “secret books” and “confidential journals”, she was vastly curious and took off reading. What’s worse, she insisted on talking about it with him every day after he finished his work.
“Was Emperor Qin s.h.i.+ Huang really Lu Bu Wei’s illegitimate son?”
“Did Consort Zhao love Emperor Qin more, or Lu Bu Wei more?”
“What was the real relations.h.i.+p between the celestial Emperor Huang Di and Yen Nu? And what was Yen Nu’s real relations.h.i.+p with Qi Yo? Why did Yen Nu not help Qi Yo and instead helped Huang Di? If Yen Nu really was Huang Di’s daughter, then why didn’t Huang Di reward her after she earned a great victory? Why did he instead lock her up? Do you think Yen Nu hated Huang Di?”
All the b.l.o.o.d.y politics, all the dynasty ending warfare, all the fight for supremacy, when all that history got to Yun Ge, she turned everything into matters of love and lost.
He wondered what she was reading right now?
Liu Fu Ling snapped out of his daze and then realized that his exhaustion from meeting with Huo Guang was now gone. He was about to order Tian Qian Qiu brought in when he saw an eunuch poke his head in and summon Yu An. After Yu An spoke with him, he hurried inside and said something to Liu Fu Ling while looking very concerned.
Liu Fu Ling listened to what Yu An said, and after a moment of silence, calmly said “Have Tian Qian Qiu come in!”
Yu An was stunned. Did this mean the Emperor wasn’t going to do anything about it? He lowered his head and summoned Tian Qian Qiu.
Yun Ge was reading a story about Fu Su Gong Zhi’s travel experiences, which included poems he composed. When reading it, Yun Ge was pleasantly enthralled by it. She thought about Gong Zhi living such a full live, but in the end he killed himself. She sighed at the sadness of it all.
She suddenly felt someone standing behind her and she laughingly said “You’re done already? Come help me figure out what this poem means? It reads like a love poem written by Gong Zhi! I wonder which lady he wrote it for…………”
When she turned around, her eyes met Meng Jue’s completely disbelieving cold piercing gaze as he said “It really is you!”
Yun Ge’s smile froze on her face and her body shrank back. After being apart for half a year, he was thinner, which made his face more angular and lessened some of his previous gentle aura.
Yun Ge stared at him, her body unable to move, her lips unable to say a word. Only her heart felt like needles were p.r.i.c.king it, slowly and surely it p.r.i.c.ked time and time again. Each stab went in slowly and painfully, but it was an invisible wound that left no blood but all the pain she felt. Even her lungs started to hurt, so much so that she started to cough.
Because she was well taken care of these days, it had been awhile since she had such a violent coughing fit. But the coughing woke her up from her shocked state so she stood up and prepared to leave.
She took two steps when she was pulled into Meng Jue’s embrace. His one hand traveled down her back helping her smooth her coughing, while the other hand took her pulse from her wrist.
After a few moments, Meng Jue looked less upset and in his eyes was a deep pain “I didn’t know you endured so much torment. Let me take you home right away, I’ll find a way to cure your cough.”
Meng Jue’s healing skills were exceptional and Yun Ge’s cough was back under control and her chest felt better. But she was still weak so when she tried to push Meng Jue away, she had no strength.
Meng Jue’s fingers caressed her cheek “Bing Yi is already a father, Xu Ping Jun gave birth to a son. Don’t you want to go visit them?” Yun Ge stopped moving and after some time, she smiled “That’s great.”
Meng Jue smiled “As the future husband to the boy’s aunt, I already gave him a money present for his one month celebration. As the aunt, you haven’t done anything yet.”
Yun Ge smiled bitterly “Meng Jue, you are you, and I am me. I’ve returned your hair pin to you. Whether you marry a Ms. Huo or a Ms. w.a.n.g, it has nothing to do with me.”
Meng Jue tenderly said “Yun Ge, even though I was in and out of the Huo Estate often during those days, and there was a lot of gossip, but I never intended to marry Huo Cheng Jun. I also never told Huo Cheng Jun that I would marry her.”
Yun Ge coldly laughed “Right! You never intended to marry her! Then who was it hugging her in public? Who was it that was so tender and intimate with her? If you didn’t intend to marry her, and you still treated her that way, then its even more heartless then if you did intend to marry her. Is it that you see every woman as only whether she has any advantageous value for you to use?”
Meng Jue never could have thought that Yun Ge had witnessed him with Huo Cheng Jun. His face turned white “Yun Ge, I have my reasons that I cannot explain.”
Yun Ge said “Meng Jue, you and I don’t place importance on the same things. And we do things completely differently. You need to go seek the things you want. What happened between us……let’s just treat it like it never happened………….”
Meng Jue pulled Yun Ge’s chin and kissed her, silencing her words “Yun Ge, no matter how you think of me, I’ve never not kept a promise. Since I made a promise to you that I will marry you, then I will follow through with that promise. I will marry you, you are who I want.”
Yun Ge’s chin was hurting from his grasp “You want too much, but a person only has two hands. Huo Cheng Jun is of value to you right now, but I……….I have no more useful value left to you.”
Meng Jue was stunned “Who told you I was using you?”
“I saw Uncle Ho, he said you need to call me big sister since we learned from the same master.” Yun Ge said this with a forced laugh, but her voice was quivering with tears “I might be somewhat stupid, but I’m not a complete idiot! When I first arrived in Chang An, who stole my pouches? The tune of “Cai Wei”, how much planning was concealed beneath it? Was that Gold Silver Flower hair pin for me, or for obtaining the untold wealth in Chang An? I don’t know how deep the former relations.h.i.+p of my parents were to Uncle Feng, but in the many years they haven’t seen each other, they still place value on it. But you cheapened that friends.h.i.+p into something you could use to obtain your goal. Uncle Feng and your adoptive father never got involved with the politics and power struggle in the Han court, but you are not like them. No wonder they were hesitant to hand you all the inheritance. For that reason, I became a chess piece you could use in your chess match. Now you’ve at least gotten half of what you wanted, Uncle Feng has given you everything in Chang An. With the money to pave the way, and the influence of the Huo family, you can climb as high as you want. All I hope is that you’re not in a rush to obtain your adoptive father’s wealth in Xi Yu, and not bring more disappointment and pain to him. And in that way, please leave me be.”
Meng Jue’s entire body was stiff as he stood there, unable to provide a single response or explanation. Because everything Yun Ge said was true!
His eyes stared at Yun Ge, in the depth of his eyes as beautiful as precious gems, there remained only desolation and despair as wide as the desert. His gaze pierced into Yun Ge’s chest and made her heart hurt more. She felt like a cough was coming so she pressed down on her chest, almost like she was pus.h.i.+ng all her feelings right back inside of her.
Yun Ge pulled her hand back and tried to leave, but Meng Jue held on tightly, unwilling to let go. Yun Ge pried his hand off one finger at a time, slowly but surely removing Meng Jue’s hand from hers. In Meng Jue’s eyes she could see his unspoken plea, but Yun Ge could see only darkness.
When there was only one finger remaining, she shook his hand off and then rushed away from him. When she exited the building, she saw Muo Cha and Fu Su unconscious on the ground. No wonder Meng Jue could quietly walk up behind her.
Yun Ge’s heart thundered. Meng Jue was that daring and bold. This place was the Imperial Palace!
………………………………………..
There were no more officials waiting outside of the Great Hall. Normally at this time, Liu Fu Ling would leave and head to the book repositories to pick up Yun Ge and they would return to Xuan s.h.i.+ Pavilion. But today, he ordered Yu An to bring some summons over and he started to go through official paperwork.
Yu An knew there were people secretly keeping watch, and if Yun Ge even called out once for someone, she would be protected and nothing would happen. Nevertheless, Yu An was worried. Yet the person who ought to be the most worried was instead calmly reading official doc.u.ments.
Yu An sighed. No wonder there was that old saying “The Emperor doesn’t fret, the Eunuch frets to death first.” It’s not that eunuchs are more nervous, its that Emperors have such deep thought processes. But there was still something improper about it. Despite Yun Ge not having an official t.i.tle, she still couldn’t be meeting with someone privately in the Palace.
Yu An heard footsteps coming this way and he finally relaxed. A few second later, an eunuch outside said “The Emperor is alone.”
Liu Fu Ling immediately tossed his brush down and his eyes lit up.
Yu An tried to contain his smile. So the Emperor wasn’t as calm as he appeared to be.
Yun Ge came running inside, her cheeks completely red. She ignored Yu An and immediately went and grabbed Liu Fu Ling’s hand, as if she was seeking a measure of comfort and solace in a turbulent world. Her other hand continued to press down on her chest, as if she was keeping all these things inside from spilling forth.
She smiled at Liu Fu Ling and appeared to want to say something, but before she could say anything, she started to cough. Her face was white and her cheeks extra red as she was coughing violently. Liu Fu Ling’s heart hurt and he quickly said “No need to say anything. I understand, I understand everything. If you don’t want to see him, then I won’t allow him to appear before you again. Don’t say anything, just take deep breaths and keep breathing…….”
Yu An ordered the little eunuch to go summon Dr. Zhang right away.
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