Chapter 103: Endless Troubled Waters

Chapter 103: Endless Troubled Waters

The Emperor left almost uncontrollably enraged.

Watching the departing sedan, a seemingly composed Qu Gu suddenly felt weak in the knees, unsteady, and drenched in sweat, as if she had just been pulled from water.

Lü Ping'an, feeling as if he had narrowly escaped death, stood up and rushed to support Qu Gu, "Are you alright?" He then murmured softly, "I'm starting to admire the consort, daring to argue with the Emperor."

"Shut up."

Qu Gu glared at Lü Ping'an, noticing his battered forehead, and sighed, "You're brave too. Go clean your wound first, then come with me to see the consort."

Elsewhere, Yang Xin, accompanying the imperial sedan, was filled with trepidation.

From the moment the Emperor left Fuhua Palace's gate without looking back, his rage was almost palpable, making everyone around him extremely cautious not to provoke him further.

Yang Xin, who had been with the Emperor for over a decade and had managed the imperial prison for five years, rarely saw a consort anger the Emperor like this and still emerge unscathed.

Even Lü Ping'an's defiance had gone unpunished.

Once again, Yang Xin witnessed Consort Zhu's extraordinary favor.

Such intense favor for Consort Zhu was not necessarily good, especially since she never seemed to regard him highly.

Yang Xin suddenly remembered someone recently recommending to him a stunningly beautiful sixteen-year-old girl from a respectable family, with a face like a lotus and breathtaking beauty, who would undoubtedly win the Emperor's favor if she entered the palace.

He planned to meet the person first, and if she was truly stunning, he would find an appropriate opportunity to present her to the Emperor.

——

Inside Fuhua Palace.

Upon receiving the message from Lady Qu, Zhu Yan just scoffed, not surprised in the slightest. She would have been truly shocked and even terrified if the Emperor had chosen her, as it would have been too eerie.

It would have been too bizarre.

The Emperor grew up getting whatever and whoever he liked without ever needing to make a choice.

Zhu Yan hadn’t expected Lyu Ping'an to have the courage to stop the Emperor at the palace gate, so she was concerned upon seeing a wound on his forehead, advising him, "Next time you kneel, don’t do it so forcefully. Go to Physician Chen for some medicine."

"Your Highness, I’m fine, you don’t need to worry. The wound will heal in a few days once it scabs over."

"Do as I say. There isn’t a single spot on your forehead that’s unharmed. Go to Physician Chen and let her properly dress the wound." Zhu Yan was concerned that the Emperor, being petty, might later take out his anger on Lyu Ping'an. After all, in the palace, servants and eunuchs were treated as property, and the Emperor never hesitated to punish them harshly.

Lyu Ping'an's injury had to be treated as a severe one.

Zhu Yan then instructed Qiu Bai to fetch a thousand taels of silver as a reward for Lyu Ping'an's bravery in refusing the Emperor entry at the palace gate that evening. She greatly needed such loyal people around her.

The Emperor was met with a shut door.

In the following days, he did not visit Fuhua Palace again, nor did he send anyone from the imperial front. Zhu Yan enjoyed the peace, but her son Ah Ji once asked why she did not want his father to come over.

Zhu Yan told her son directly that if he wanted to see his father, he could go to Qianyuan Hall himself.

Ah Ji just pouted and said no more.

After three to five days, when Ah Ji did not return to the palace after school, Pingle, who usually accompanied him, reported that the prince had gone to Qianyuan Hall. He also brought news that the Emperor was ill.

Zhu Yan's first reaction was surprise: The Emperor can get sick?

In her memory, the Emperor only occasionally caught a minor cold during the change of seasons and rarely fell ill otherwise.

Hence, Zhu Yan firmly believed in the saying: "Good people don't live long, but troublemakers last a thousand years." Often, such troublemakers would live out their lives peacefully.

Zhu Yan really wanted to pretend she hadn't heard the news about the Emperor's illness. However, with Ping Le standing expectantly in the middle of the main hall, she reluctantly caved in for her son's sake. She turned to Qu Gu and instructed, "Go to Ruyi Pavilion and pack up all the things Tian Tian commonly uses. Personally take them to Qianyuan Hall. Also, bring several changes of clothes for him, so he can stay there and attend to the sick in peace."

It's easy to sweat in summer, so frequent changes of clothes are necessary.

Qu Gu sighed inwardly, resigned to her duty. She had thought it a perfect opportunity to persuade Zhu Yan to visit Qianyuan Hall, but Zhu Yan remained unmoved.

Later, Zhu Yan heard that her words had reached Qianyuan Hall, infuriating the Emperor so much that he gulped down two bowls of bitter medicine, miraculously curing his loss of appetite that had persisted for several days.

The very next day, the Emperor's illness had fully recovered.

Zhu Yan, drinking her own medicinal brew in Fuhua Palace, was undergoing a summer treatment for a winter ailment. The medicines prescribed by Physicians Chen and Song were for strengthening her body. Upon hearing the news, she mused not just on the Emperor's robust health, but also realized that rather than expecting evil to meet its fate, it's more practical to believe that evildoers grind each other down.

At that moment, she didn't consider herself to be the "evildoer."

At least, that's how the Emperor saw her.

"…How can she be so hateful?" the Emperor drunkenly lamented. "When she's ill, I'd scour the world for the best doctors, constantly watch over her, worrying day and night. Yet when I'm sick, she just sends our son to attend to me and doesn't even come to see me once."

This issue weighed on him like a massive boulder, oppressively heavy on his chest.

Coupled with Zhu Yan's recent unreasonable behavior, despite his rage, he couldn't bring himself to punish her. In the end, he was left with nothing but a heart full of grievances.

In his twenty-some years of life, he had never felt so stifled.

If it were anyone else acting so unreasonably, he would have swiftly imposed punishment, demotion, dispossession, or even death. But when it came to Zhu Yan, the thought of her – the woman he had cherished for five to six years, the one he had spent so much effort to please – made him reluctant to act.

He regretted it the afternoon following the night he had punished her.

Apart from Zhu Yan, he had never coaxed any other woman, nor did any other woman require his consolation.

That day, he felt particularly aggrieved.

So, after discussing matters with his ministers, he kept Linghu You behind, pulling him to the Guanxian Pavilion, located to the right outside Qianyuan Hall, to drink with him.

"Even a stone, if I kept it in my pocket for six years, would have become smooth and warm. But she is even colder than a stone," the Emperor complained, lifting his empty wine cup for Linghu You to refill. "Heartless is one thing, but now she's become extremely jealous, even trying to control me..."

"Your Majesty, I drink to your health."

Linghu You wished he could cover his ears; he had no desire to hear these things. As a favored minister, he was willing to help the Emperor with state affairs but definitely not with harem matters, especially not with the Emperor’s love-hate relationship with Empress Yuan. This was the second time the Emperor had vented to him about Empress Yuan's jealousy.

The last time was when Empress Yuan was still known as Lady Zhu.

Last year, Linghu You was relieved that the Emperor was rational.

Now, he saw the Emperor sinking deeper and should have realized it earlier, especially after that secret edict at the end of the year, where the Emperor ordered Empress Yuan to be buried with him, denying even the empress dowager and the successor empress from entering the imperial tomb. The Emperor’s extraordinary favor for Empress Yuan was clear.

This was not a good sign for the country.

He was just relieved that in the dynasty's history, even the most favored concubines were only posthumously honored as empresses and nothing more. Otherwise, he would now worry about the Emperor deposing the current empress to make Empress Yuan his empress.

In truth, as long as it did not involve deposing or appointing an empress, the Emperor's choices in his harem were of no concern to the courtiers, as they had no impact on state affairs.

The Emperor and his minister clinked cups and emptied the wine in them.

Linghu You hurriedly refilled the Emperor's cup and drank a few more himself. He had not expected the Emperor to become so talkative when drunk. He needed to get himself drunk too, lest the Emperor sober up and hold him accountable the next day.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop the Emperor from speaking.

"Linghu, I ask you, your wife was known to be jealous too. How could you accept her not allowing you to take concubines?" The Emperor asked, supporting his dizzy head and staring at Linghu You.

Among all his high officials, only Linghu You had no concubines. After his wife, Lady Yang, passed away, he never remarried or took any concubines.

So, the Emperor couldn’t understand how Linghu You managed it.

"Your Majesty, Lady Yang never forbade me from taking concubines."

Linghu You downed another cup of clear wine. Mentioning his late wife Lady Yang and recalling her virtues, he felt the need to set the record straight, "Lady Yang and I had a loving and respectful marriage. It was my choice not to take concubines. I did not want to bring a stranger into our relationship. Of the thousands of choices available, I chose only one."

"Princess Xiangyang recently mentioned to me that she wishes to marry you."

Hearing the Emperor bring up Princess Xiangyang, Linghu You felt a chill and sobered up a bit, quickly responding, "Your Majesty, I shall not remarry in this lifetime. Lady Yang and I pledged ourselves to each other for eternity."

He was born into a once prosperous but now declined Linghu family.

Despite a troubled childhood, he achieved scholarly success at a young age and smoothly progressed in his official career. By the time he was thirty, he had earned the Emperor's favor and held a central government position, with no need for the added prestige of marrying a princess.

He didn’t care about having heirs and had even decided to establish his daughter as the head of her own household.

The only regret in his life was Lady Yang's untimely death.

"Your wife is gone, and remarrying won't interfere with the eternal vow you made to her," the Emperor couldn't understand Linghu's stubbornness on this matter.

However, regarding Princess Xiangyang, as a brother, the Emperor could understand Linghu's refusal.

After all, any man daring to marry Princess Xiangyang would indeed be commendable for his courage.

Linghu You was somewhat displeased. How could the Emperor suggest he remarry? The Emperor had previously agreed not to bring up this matter again. Remembering Lady Yang, his sadness deepened, amplified by the alcohol.

Gaining a bit of courage, he advised the Emperor, "Your Majesty, since you favor Empress Yuan, why not choose her alone among the many? Wouldn’t that resolve Empress Yuan’s jealousy?"

"With fewer women, it would save a lot of trouble," Linghu You added, recalling his colleague Hua Guang from the Ministry, who had numerous wives and concubines, leading to huge expenses and frequent quarrels with his main wife, Lady Chen.

The Emperor shook his head, "Aside from Zhu Yan, no one can trouble me." None of the others posed any real challenge.

Hearing this, Linghu You wanted to suggest that the Emperor simply ignore Empress Yuan.

His last bit of rationality stopped him from saying it impulsively.

"Your Majesty, Minister Qiu’s household also has no concubines," he said, not wanting to delve into the Emperor's personal affairs. He had no control over the situation and sensed this wouldn't be the last time such a discussion would happen, so he decided to share the burden with someone else.

Author's note:

"Today's update~~"