Your Majesty is Poisonous – Chapter 135
by Little PandaThe Empress Dowager Refuses
After fussing over Yao Xi for ages, how could Wan Bi’s arms not be sore? She’d only carried Yao Xi a couple of steps before losing the strength to tease her, and had to set her down gently. “Let’s take a palanquin back.”
Yao Xi snickered. She’d thought Her Highness’s energy was truly inexhaustible!
“No! I want Your Highness to carry me back!” Yao Xi’s feet were already on the ground, but her arms remained locked around the Empress Dowager’s neck, being a shameless brat. This was payback! Her Highness had deliberately carried her through the crowd. That wasn’t a display of affection — it was a public parade of humiliation! She’d been so mortified she’d wanted to gouge out her own eyes.
But she was only wheedling the Empress Dowager. She knew full well that Her Highness couldn’t afford to tire herself these days.
Wan Bi thought Yao Xi was too tired to stand, and pinched her cheek with a pang of tenderness. “All right, all right. But let this bereaved one rest a moment first.” Carrying Yao Xi all the way back to the palace was impossible, but carrying her into the palanquin was doable.
“I was joking. I can walk on my own.” Yao Xi massaged the Empress Dowager’s arm for her. “Your Highness is always like this too — clearly exhausted but still pushing yourself to tease people.”
They’d barely sat down by the roadside when the palanquin arrived. The weather was fair today, the sun making them drowsy, and once inside the cool, shaded palanquin, drowsiness came easily. Yao Xi fell asleep against the Empress Dowager’s shoulder before they’d even reached the palace.
Wan Bi was also desperately tired. She’d slept less than Yao Xi last night, and her body was still weak. But with Yao Xi leaning against her asleep, if she didn’t reach out to steady her, the jolting palanquin would surely bump and bruise her. So she endured the whole journey without daring to close her eyes.
Back at the palace, Wan Bi still had no rest.
She carried Yao Xi from the palanquin to the warm pavilion, ordered water brought, and personally cleaned Yao Xi’s body. After tucking the quilt around her, Wan Bi could finally sink into the horseshoe-back armchair in the warm pavilion and sip some hot tea to catch her breath. Perhaps from exhaustion, her body felt hollow, cold sweat beading ceaselessly on her forehead.
There was one benefit, at least — after all that, she wasn’t sleepy at all anymore.
Wan Bi sat wearily in the chair, gazing fondly at Yao Xi’s soundly sleeping form on the bed for a while. Once she’d caught her breath, she rose and headed to Lanye Pool. She needed to bathe and sleep quickly, or else by the time Yao Xi woke up rested, she’d be fighting drowsiness again, and they’d miss their chance together.
Lately she felt more and more that time spent sleeping was a waste. Even if she used those extra moments just to look at Yao Xi a few more times, or say a few more words to her — life and death were matters of fate. She’d once had nothing she couldn’t let go of, figuring that when her allotted time came, it came. Now she had someone she couldn’t let go of, and suddenly she’d grown afraid of passing time.
Wan Bi bathed with a heavy heart, drowsiness creeping back, and was about to return to the warm pavilion when a palace maid stationed outside Lanye Pool reported, “Your Highness, the matter you ordered investigated has results.”
“So soon?” Wan Bi was somewhat startled, instantly alert. Yesterday she’d ordered someone to look into which households near the capital had giant banyan trees in their courtyards — trees so large it took several people to encircle them. She hadn’t expected news this quickly. “Speak. What did you find?”
The palace maid said, “We slave-girls didn’t know exactly how large the banyan tree Your Highness is looking for should be, so we recorded every household with a tree bigger than one person’s embrace.” Large trees were conspicuous — no need for careful inquiry. A glance from afar was enough to tell whose courtyard had a towering tree.
“How many households?” Wan Bi frowned. Yao Xi’s origins might soon be revealed, and she was actually a little nervous. If they found Yao Xi’s biological parents, she owed it to Yao Xi — emotionally and logically — to let her know. Whether to reunite would be Yao Xi’s own decision.
“Seventeen households.” The palace maid presented a booklet. “Your Highness, please review. Which gate, which household, how many people, and the height of the tree are all recorded inside.”
Wan Bi didn’t take the booklet. Even if she looked, she wouldn’t recognize the courtyard from Yao Xi’s memory. “Have painters paint these seventeen residences. Front gate, front courtyard, rear courtyard — all of it. And the banyan tree should have its own separate painting.”
“This slave-girl obeys.”
That palace maid had barely withdrawn with the booklet when another arrived to relay a message. “Your Highness, His Majesty has come. He says he wishes to share the midday meal with you.”
“Haa—” Wan Bi yawned behind her hand. “Go out and tell His Majesty that this bereaved one has already retired.” She’d eaten all sorts of odds and ends while strolling with Yao Xi and wasn’t hungry at all, but she was so drowsy she could barely stand. She didn’t want to see anyone right now — she just wanted to return to the warm pavilion, hold her girl, and sleep soundly. Whatever the matter, it could wait until she’d caught up on her rest.
The palace maid, hearing the Empress Dowager’s command, still stood in place and said uneasily, “This slave-girl deserves death. I’ve already told His Majesty that Your Highness is bathing at Lanye Pool.” When His Majesty asked where the Empress Dowager was, without Your Highness’s decree she dared not deceive the emperor, and could only answer truthfully.
Wan Bi had no choice but to fight through her drowsiness and hurry to the main hall, planning to personally send Emperor Ming Cheng away. She wasn’t much in the mood to talk to the emperor today. Feng Qian, that dead child, was always threatening to slap Yao Xi’s face — not a shred of leniency. Unfilial!
“Has the Directorate of Imperial Meals run out of people, or have all the cooks at Qianqing Palace died? His Majesty comes here to mooch a meal.” Afraid of waking Yao Xi, Wan Bi needled Emperor Ming Cheng in a low voice. “What terrible timing. This bereaved one isn’t serving a meal today. His Majesty, please return.”
Emperor Ming Cheng wasn’t in the mood to trade barbs with Wan Bi. He waved the palace attendants away, walked to a chair in silence, and sat down — his movements so slow he seemed a soulless husk.
Wan Bi took one look at Emperor Ming Cheng’s distracted state and knew something had happened. She’d noticed his odd demeanor when they’d bumped into each other at the street market earlier, but hadn’t thought much of it. The emperor had just been publicly thrashed by the Sun girl at the bookstore, and since he liked her, he probably had to swallow his anger. Of course his face would look terrible.
“What’s the matter?” Wan Bi sat beside Emperor Ming Cheng and noticed something even more alarming — Feng Qian’s eyes were frighteningly red. He’d clearly been crying hard. The emperor did cry, but only after drinking. The last time she’d seen him weep sober was when he’d mistakenly believed he’d done something terrible to her in a drunken stupor and was racked with remorse. The time before that was when the Late Emperor passed away…
“This bereaved one thought you were quite pleased when you conferred the title of consort on Sun Yan,” Wan Bi said softly.
At the sound of Sun Yan’s name, Emperor Ming Cheng’s partially calmed mood plunged back into inescapable sorrow. Coming to share the midday meal with the Empress Dowager was merely a side errand. His main purpose was to ask the people at Longyi Palace whether Sun Yan had truly left the palace. The answer was yes. Was Sun Yan that desperate to flee from him?
“She’s gone.” Emperor Ming Cheng’s tears welled up again. He looked at Wan Bi and wept bitterly. “In her heart, I’m just a selfish, overbearing, frivolous, rude man. She said there was absolutely no possibility of us being together in this lifetime — she’d rather die. Empress Dowager, I have truly never been this sad before.”
“Perhaps His Majesty has simply never been rejected like this before?” Wan Bi took out a handkerchief and wiped Emperor Ming Cheng’s tears, then said with a sudden twinge of guilt, “Could the Sun girl have seen this bereaved one’s bad temper and thought this bereaved one would make a wicked mother-in-law, and so refused to enter the palace?”
Emperor Ming Cheng shook his head and relayed to Wan Bi everything Sun Yan had told him, word for word.
After hearing it all, Wan Bi actually felt a few more shades of goodwill toward Sun Yan. She looked at Emperor Ming Cheng with disdain. “You have the same problem as your Imperial Father. Impatience. Pursuing a girl isn’t storming a fortress or conquering territory. There’s no reason to force someone into submission, and no so-called end goal. Is marriage an end goal? Of course not — that’s when life just begins! And His Majesty liking the Sun girl is His Majesty’s own business, but she’s entitled to not reciprocate.”
“Then what does the Empress Dowager think I should do? I don’t presume to hope for a life with her — I only beg that she won’t avoid me forever. I don’t know where she’ll go after leaving the palace, and I’m afraid of giving offense, so I dare not send people to search for her openly. Will I truly never see her again?” Emperor Ming Cheng said in despair.
Sun Yan had been wrong about one thing: she wasn’t merely a dream planted in his heart during his youth, but the first person he had genuinely fallen in love with. When it came to rejection, Jieyu Lan had rejected him too, had ignored him too, yet he hadn’t felt the heartache he felt today. He had appreciated and doted on other women, but it was different. Those people had drawn near after he became the Son of Heaven of Daxing, and he couldn’t tell true affection from false flattery, so he treated them all equally — enjoying their beauty and attentions without daring to offer a shred of genuine feeling.
He’d been used and deceived by the women around him, including even his own Mother Consort. Even Wan Bi, who had weathered every storm at his side and was now patiently comforting him, was kind to him with an ulterior motive — though it was one he could understand and accept.
The only person who had ever been unconditionally good to him, in his entire life, was Sun Yan.
Wan Bi said with certainty, “She won’t. She is Longyi’s younger female cousin. She might avoid you for the rest of her life, but can she avoid Longyi for the rest of her life too? Just don’t be so impatient that you scare her off again the next time you meet.”
Emperor Ming Cheng clenched his fist in frustration and slammed it hard against the table. He regretted his foolish talk of taking Sun Yan as a consort. She’d been staying in the palace perfectly well, and being able to see her and talk to her from time to time had been enough. He was the one who had driven Sun Yan away.
Wan Bi seized Emperor Ming Cheng’s arm and hissed under her breath, “What are you doing?!”
Emperor Ming Cheng looked at Wan Bi and showed a gentle smile. Right now, the only one whose heart ached for him, who tolerated him, who never abandoned him — truly that was only Wan Bi, this wench. “Don’t worry, Empress Dowager. It doesn’t hurt.”
“Yao Xi just fell asleep. Can you keep it down!” Wan Bi didn’t care whether Emperor Ming Cheng was in pain or not. A grown man in his thirties — was he going to fracture a bone hitting a table?
Emperor Ming Cheng’s mouth drooped. A grown daughter can’t be kept at home! Wan Bi had truly changed. Her eyes and heart held only that dead eunuch, Yao Xi, and her care for him was nothing like before. “Empress Dowager, have some restraint. Don’t spoil him excessively. Has he no hands? He needs the Empress Dowager to carry his things. Has he no feet? He needs the Empress Dowager to carry him around. Empress Dowager, are you keeping a slug as a male favorite?”
“This bereaved one is happy to! Yao Xi was thoroughly frightened by you today. Either treat her more gently from now on, or come here less often.” Wan Bi pushed Emperor Ming Cheng toward the door as she spoke.
Emperor Ming Cheng’s battered heart took another stab.
Yao Xi was as good as her word. She truly never brought up going outside the palace to tell stories again, staying obediently at the Empress Dowager’s side. The two of them talked and laughed, strolled and browsed, and the day passed quickly.
Wan Bi was finally spared the torment of those two shichen1, but as perceptive as she was, she truly couldn’t ignore the change in Yao Xi. Of course Yao Xi was happy, sticking close to her side — she’d simply lost the spirited buoyancy of the previous two days.
“Xiao Yaozi.” After the evening meal, Wan Bi and Yao Xi sat talking in the study. She glanced at Yao Xi. “You really don’t plan to tell stories inside the palace? I’m sure many people would come to listen.”
“Hm?” Yao Xi looked up from her book, bewildered, and smiled. “Better not. I’m Your Highness’s person — who wouldn’t come to support me? I’m afraid that if I really told stories in the palace, people who didn’t want to listen would feel obligated to show up for Your Highness’s sake, and that would just cause trouble for everyone.”
Wan Bi understood. Outside the palace, the audience came for Yao Xi. Inside the palace, the audience might come because they feared offending her. What Yao Xi wanted wasn’t a false street, but genuine listeners for her stories.
“By the way. This bereaved one must go to Qianqing Palace tomorrow to discuss matters with His Majesty. It will take at least half the day. You may stay here, or go find Longyi for a drink, or even go outside the palace to play. Just be back in time to share the evening meal with this bereaved one.” Wan Bi gazed at Yao Xi with a smile. She and Yao Xi together wished they could split one day into two — saying this hadn’t been easy.
“Your Highness doesn’t need me along to serve?” Yao Xi asked, puzzled.
“No need.” Wan Bi stole a glance at Yao Xi and caught the brief flash of joy that crossed her face. Wan Bi thought of yesterday, when Yao Xi had stood at the entrance of the street market, thrown herself into her arms, and cried that she’d never go out again… So the silly girl had silently given up so much, for her sake. If she hadn’t brought it up, Yao Xi certainly would never have said a word.
Wan Bi’s nose suddenly stung. Was it truly because she was getting older? She was growing more and more sentimental.
Yao Xi read for a while, then suddenly shut her book, dropped to the floor for no apparent reason, and started doing push-ups.
Wan Bi, still in her sentimental mood, was utterly baffled. “What are you doing?”
Yao Xi grinned goofily at the Empress Dowager and kept going. Hmph! You’ll find out in a few days, Your Highness.
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