Your Majesty is Poisonous – Chapter 138
by Little PandaThe Empress Dowager Refuses
Yao Xi supported the Empress Dowager as they fought their way out of the teahouse against the crowd. She couldn’t see Her Highness’s carriage anywhere, and people kept shoving out behind them, so she had no choice but to help her onto the carriage she herself had ridden to leave the palace.
“Your Highness, are you hurt anywhere?” Yao Xi asked anxiously, straightening the head scarf that had been knocked askew by the crowd.
“I’m fine.” Wan Bi sat in the carriage, her face dark, struggling to suppress the fury in her chest. Those reckless girls in the teahouse had shoved her, trampled her, tripped her — and then had the audacity to lay their hands all over Yao Xi. Did they think the Great Xing penal code was a decoration? Did they think she was dead?
No. She couldn’t take it anymore.
Wan Bi barked toward the outside of the carriage, “Someone!”
“This slave1 is here.” A little eunuch stood guard outside the carriage, ready at Her Highness’s command.
Wan Bi wanted to order the authorities to arrest every last one of those wicked commoners2 on charges of gathering a crowd and causing a disturbance. But after a moment’s thought, she swallowed the anger back down. That girl Yao Xi still wanted to go out and tell stories. If she made a big scene of this, who would dare come cheer for Yao Xi’s performances?
“Return to the palace!” Wan Bi’s right foot — the one that had been trampled — was starting to throb. She grimaced and hissed through her teeth.
“Your Highness, are you hurt somewhere?” Yao Xi’s heart ached. She pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the sweat from Her Highness’s forehead, chiding gently, “You knew the front of the stage was the most crowded — why did you push in there? Where exactly are you hurt? Let me have a look.”
The moment Her Highness had gone down under the crowd had truly terrified her. If anything happened to Her Highness, she would die of guilt.
“This bereaved one only wanted to hear what Tao Xiaolin and you were chatting about.” Wan Bi shot Yao Xi a cold glance. “You talked for quite a while!” The little thing was brazen enough — chatting with Tao Xiaolin for that long, right in front of her!
Yao Xi burst out laughing. “If Your Highness is so bothered by Miss Tao, why did you tell me to come back tomorrow?”
“Don’t you like storytelling? Should you stop just because of Tao Xiaolin? She doesn’t have that much face.” The carriage lurched over a bump, and Wan Bi instinctively reached out to shield Yao Xi beside her. She asked sourly, “Do tell, Eunuch — what did you two talk about?”
“Nothing, really.” Yao Xi tilted her head to rest on the Empress Dowager’s shoulder. “Miss Tao wanted to thank me for the matter of the 1,000 taels of silver.”
“Oh? How? By offering herself to you?” Wan Bi pushed Yao Xi’s little head away with one finger in distaste. “Don’t cozy up to this bereaved one until you’ve explained yourself properly.”
Yao Xi laughed out loud. “Hahaha — Your Highness, what are you saying! Miss Tao meant she wants to count this teahouse as mine and split the earnings fifty-fifty3 with me.”
“That generous? This bereaved one rather thinks she believes she can’t land you without spending some silver. Tao Xiaolin doing this — doesn’t she want some kind of entanglement with you?” Wan Bi’s jealousy hadn’t faded.
Yao Xi believed Miss Tao was acting entirely out of kindness. Her Highness loved her too much, and so she felt the whole world was after her. But Yao Xi knew in her own heart — the only person in this world who truly cherished her was Her Highness. “Whatever Miss Tao is thinking, I didn’t agree to it anyway. Your Highness needn’t worry.”
Afraid the Empress Dowager still wouldn’t be at ease, Yao Xi added jokingly, “Besides, after I held Your Highness so intimately just now, everyone knows Young Master Wan Xi has a taste for male romance4. What girl would still be interested in me?”
Wan Bi recalled the scene just moments ago — Yao Xi disregarding everything, shielding her in her arms. She had curved herself slightly, leaning like a great bird against the chest of Yao Xi, who was half a head shorter than her. She was far stronger than Yao Xi, yet she had stayed silent and weak, enjoying Yao Xi’s protection.
“Isn’t that just as well? It’ll make those crazy girls give up early, so they won’t go hurting you again with their recklessness.” Wan Bi said with some regret, “Pity it was only an embrace…”
“What does Your Highness mean by that?” Yao Xi didn’t understand. Two grown men walking arm in arm in public was already outrageous enough. She had also promised to go tell stories at the teahouse tomorrow, and she still didn’t know how she would face everyone.
Wan Bi pulled Yao Xi into her arms and said suggestively, “At the very least, you could have given this bereaved one a kiss in front of those brats.” She leaned in as if to kiss her.
Yao Xi stared in alarm as the Empress Dowager’s thickly bearded face drew closer and closer, and a wave of panic rose inside her… She knew perfectly well that this was Her Highness, but the disguise was so convincing that she felt the distinct discomfort of being groped by a strange man.
“Don’t!” Yao Xi raised a hand to block the Empress Dowager’s mouth, shrinking back in dismay. She loved Her Highness, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it! “Your Highness, take the beard off first. I’m afraid it’ll prick me.” Yao Xi found a perfectly reasonable excuse.
“It’s stuck on too tightly. It’ll need a hot compress for a while before it comes off.” Wan Bi hooked Yao Xi by the neck, pulling her close, and insistently puckered her lips to kiss her. “But this bereaved one can’t wait until we’re back at the palace — what then?”
“No!” Yao Xi deployed her trump card. “Your Highness, please stop teasing, won’t you? My body still aches terribly.” She hugged her own arm, looking pitiful, and squeezed out a tiny glimmer of tears, blinking her large eyes pleadingly at Her Highness to let her off.
Wan Bi wasn’t stupid. Yao Xi had been full of energy ever since leaving the palace. She might genuinely be sore, but too sore to accept a kiss? Impossible. “Could it be you find this bereaved one repulsive?” Wan Bi stroked the luxuriant, flowing beard on her face.
“Your Highness overthinks.” Yao Xi couldn’t even bear to look closely at Her Highness, for fear of offending her eyes. Her Highness had gone to great lengths not to be recognized — she had pasted on a full, genuine beard.
“Oh? Then kiss this bereaved one.” Wan Bi puckered her rosy lips playfully.
Unable to refuse, Yao Xi closed her eyes and leaned in… pecking perfunctorily before bouncing right back. Worried that Her Highness would tease her again, Yao Xi hurriedly changed the subject. “Didn’t Your Highness go to Qianqing Palace to discuss matters with His Majesty? How did you end up at the teahouse?”
“The Emperor wasn’t there.” Having finished teasing Yao Xi, Wan Bi casually peeled the beard off her face. “This bereaved one also wanted to see how you were faring outside the palace, so this bereaved one came by. Who knew you’d be so popular — no wonder you’re always itching to slip out of the palace.”
“Isn’t Your Highness afraid of running into assassins?” Yao Xi felt a lingering fear at the thought. “You said I shouldn’t give up storytelling because of Miss Tao — but what if I wanted to give it up for Your Highness?”
If she stayed put in the palace, Her Highness would never have thought of going out. The world outside was vast, and Her Highness had so many enemies — no amount of guards could guarantee her safety. Yao Xi loved the atmosphere of the teahouse and relished being fawned over, but none of that was worth a fraction of Her Highness’s safety.
Wan Bi took Yao Xi’s hand and said softly with a smile, “Silly girl. This bereaved one used to leave the palace often too. Even if you never stepped outside for the rest of your life, this bereaved one would still go out when feeling restless. Do whatever you want to do, properly and honestly. Don’t wrong yourself for this bereaved one’s sake — this bereaved one has no wish to owe you that kind of debt.”
“Mm-hm.” Yao Xi agreed aloud, but in her heart she had already made up her mind. She would go to the teahouse tomorrow to give the audience a proper farewell, and after that, she would never go again. She had spent enough time at Her Highness’s side to pick up a thing or two. For instance: don’t focus on what a person says — think about why they’re saying it.
Her Highness said one thing, but she didn’t actually want her to leave the palace. She simply didn’t want to be a shackle around her. Yao Xi could hear that clearly.
Back at the palace, Wan Bi found a palace maid standing outside the main hall, holding a thick stack of paintings.
“Your Highness.” The palace maid presented the paintings with both hands.
“Mm. Put them on the table.” Wan Bi took Yao Xi’s hand and stepped into the main hall. Her people had always been efficient. She had ordered them to find which residences in the capital had giant banyan trees, and overnight they had tracked down all seventeen. She had then summoned painters to depict each estate, and within days that too was done.
The palace maid set the paintings down respectfully, backed out, and closed the hall doors behind her.
“What are these paintings?” Yao Xi was a little nervous. She was afraid Her Highness was still jealous of Miss Tao and was about to make a grand show of selecting male favorites to spite her.
With the great doors shut, the hall grew dim. Wan Bi lit a candle stand and moved it beside the paintings. “Xiao Yaozi, come over and see if any of these paintings look familiar to you.”
She had instructed that the paintings be shuffled out of order, with only a number marked on the back — one number per household. If Yao Xi didn’t find any familiar, or if the ones she did recognize came from different residences, then it would mean Yao Xi had simply had a dream. But if Yao Xi could pick out the front courtyard, back courtyard, banyan tree, and rooms of one particular estate from a large pile of paintings — that would be far more than just a dream.
Yao Xi walked over and looked, and the weight in her heart lifted. Thank goodness — Her Highness wasn’t showing her portraits of handsome men, but various houses and courtyards.
“These are…” Yao Xi didn’t understand why the Empress Dowager was showing her this.
“Didn’t you say you dreamed about a courtyard? See if any of these match. After you’ve looked, this bereaved one will tell you why.” Until she had a definitive answer, Wan Bi didn’t want to tell Yao Xi that she was not the Sun family’s biological daughter. If she couldn’t find Yao Xi’s biological parents, why bring it all to light and make the child sad?
Yao Xi looked at the Empress Dowager suspiciously. Was Her Highness going to interpret her dream? She still had doubts, but her hands were already flipping through the paintings of their own accord. Suddenly, Yao Xi stopped. She stared straight at the giant banyan tree on the paper before her, as if something deep in her mind had been touched.
“This banyan tree…” Yao Xi said in shock. “It’s exactly like the one in my dream.” She clearly remembered the twisted, gnarled shape of the banyan tree’s roots in her dream — it was identical to this one. How was that possible? Was the courtyard from her dream a real place? Were those increasingly vivid dreams truly Sun Xibao’s memories?
Wan Bi moved that painting aside and said to Yao Xi, “Keep looking. Any others that look familiar?”
Yao Xi continued through the paintings and picked out a few more — some she was certain of, others less so. Some matched the scenes from her dreams almost exactly, while others had changed somewhat.
Wan Bi picked up the paintings Yao Xi had selected and checked the numbers on the back.
Number nine… Number nine… Number nine…
All of them were number nine.
She picked up the booklet that the palace maid had brought along with the paintings, wanting to check which household number nine was. Her eyes ran down the list, and her fingertip stopped on the name of Prince Kang, Feng Qing.
Feng Qing… the youngest brother of the Late Emperor, the nineteenth uncle of the current Emperor.
The house from Yao Xi’s memories belonged to Feng Qing? Could Yao Xi be Feng Qing’s daughter? Then wouldn’t Yao Xi be her niece???
No!!!
Footnotes
- A self-deprecating term used by eunuchs and servants when addressing royalty or superiors in imperial China.
- A derogatory term used by the ruling class in imperial China for unruly or troublesome commoners who defied authority.
- A traditional Chinese abacus phrase meaning to divide profits or costs equally between two parties.
- A classical Chinese term for male homosexuality, originating from the story of Lord Longyang during the Warring States period.
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