Fu Yu’s focus wasn’t on the mention of marriage but on the three words: “wronged me.” She thought to herself, What’s this? Is marrying me such a grievance? I’m the one who feels wronged, having to put up with your aloof and indifferent personality.
A surge of pride, with nowhere to vent, turned into words: “Then how about I endure a little grievance too?”
Qing Yao glanced at her upon hearing this. “Are you feeling wronged as well?”
Fu Yu replied, “Just a little.”
Qing Yao walked ahead toward the main hall, saying as she went, “Everything in the Realm of Fusheng is but an illusion, not to be taken seriously.”
Following beside her, Fu Yu seemed to understand. So the reason Qing Yao was indifferent to marriage was that she believed everything here was false and would vanish once they left. It didn’t matter to her. If they could persuade the emperor and empress to revoke the decree, fine; if not, it made no difference, she simply didn’t care.
…
As for this dramatic arranged marriage, Fu Yu seemed to have run out of ideas. After returning to the princess’s residence, she spent the day idly like a salted fish.
The next morning, as soon as she woke up, she began to wonder whether she should go to the palace again to discuss the matter with the empress. After all, both she and Qing Yao felt somewhat “wronged.”
But before she could decide to head to the palace, a messenger arrived, saying the empress had summoned her to the palace because someone of great importance to her had arrived.
Fu Yu asked who it was.
The eunuch who came said he didn’t know.
Puzzled, Fu Yu followed the eunuch into the palace.
At the palace gate, she happened to encounter Qing Yao’s carriage. Fu Yu quickly opened the carriage door and greeted her excitedly.
Qing Yao lifted the curtain slightly and saw her junior sister smiling brightly, waving at her. The morning light behind Fu Yu cast a soft, warm, multicolored glow over her and her carriage, evoking a sense of earthly warmth.
“Are you heading to the palace too, Senior Sister?”
“Mm.”
Fu Yu vaguely guessed something. “Which palace are you going to, Senior Sister?”
Qing Yao replied, “Fengyi Palace.”
Fu Yu thought to herself, So she was summoned by the empress too.
Then, the person in the palace who was important to her, was it someone both she and Qing Yao knew? Who could it be?
Their carriages entered the palace gate one after the other and arrived together at Fengyi Palace.
Upon entering the inner hall, aside from the empress and a few palace maids, there was no one else in sight.
Fu Yu was inwardly perplexed.
Seeing her daughter and Qing Yao paying their respects together, the empress was delighted. Both were exceptionally beautiful, and standing side by side, they looked incredibly well-matched. The empress was overjoyed, this arranged pairing pleased her even more than the match with Li Hanlin.
After some pleasantries, Fu Yu asked the empress, “Mother, who did you summon us to see?”
The empress smiled mysteriously. “You’ll find out soon.” She then sent someone to fetch the person from the inner chamber.
Fu Yu gazed curiously toward the direction of the inner chamber’s gauze partition, while Qing Yao idly sipped her tea, looking utterly bored.
A long while passed, and still, no one emerged.
Fu Yu thought to herself, Who could this be, with such airs, daring to keep the empress of a nation waiting like this?
After another moment, there was finally some movement behind the partition.
Fu Yu focused her gaze and silently instructed Xiao Mei: Pay close attention. Quickly compare the person’s information and tell me immediately. I don’t want to embarrass myself if the empress asks me to address someone and I can’t recall who they are.
This felt just like when she was a child and her parents would tell her to call this uncle or that aunt, those uncles and aunts weren’t seen often, so who could remember them all? But if you didn’t call them or called them by the wrong name, it would be an extremely awkward situation.
The first to emerge was the maid who had gone to fetch the person, followed shortly by a woman in purple robes who walked out slowly.
Fu Yu focused her gaze and, oh, she saw nothing at all.
Because the woman was actually wearing a deep purple veil hat, and the veil was longer than usual, almost reaching her waist. Forget her face, even her hands were invisible.
Her deep purple robes were embroidered with black floral patterns, and Fu Yu thought she looked rather like a walking giant purple sweet potato.
As soon as the woman appeared in everyone’s line of sight, she paused mid-step, then took half a step back. Fortunately, the maid guiding her called out to her, and she retracted that half-step.
Fu Yu keenly noticed this subtle anomaly and found it quite intriguing. Was this person afraid of something? Although her upper body was concealed, Fu Yu could still sense the woman’s hesitant and timid steps.
The woman was seated in the place of honor, and the Empress smiled kindly at Fu Yu and Qing Yao, saying, “Why are you two still standing there? Hurry up and greet her.”
Fu Yu stole a glance at Qing Yao and saw that she had already stood up, bowing respectfully as she said, “Master.”
Fu Yu quickly followed suit, standing up and bowing as she called out, “Master.”
Inwardly, she thought: Xiao Mei, is this their master? What kind of quirk does this master have, wearing a veil hat to cover her face? What’s the matter? Is she afraid to show her face? Disfigured?
Xiao Mei: [So it’s the master. This is Qing Cheng Jushi, who practices cultivation at Mount Emei in Western Shu. She’s considered an accomplished master in the mortal realm. This master is highly skilled in martial arts and knows many spells, excelling at exorcising demons and capturing spirits. However, as the saying goes, nobody’s perfect, this Qing Cheng Jushi… suffers from extreme anthropophobia. In terms of your world’s vocabulary, she has severe social anxiety.]
Fu Yu was quite surprised. Social anxiety? No wonder she wore a veil hat.
Under the veil, Qing Cheng noticed her two disciples still bowing respectfully and knew it was time to tell them to rise.
She opened her mouth, hesitated, opened it again, and hesitated once more. Then she began to grow nervous, breaking into a sweat. After a long moment, she finally managed to say in a hoarse voice, “Rise.”
Only then did Fu Yu and Qing Yao sit back down.
The Empress smiled and said, “Your master has some important matters to attend to in the capital recently, so I invited her to the palace for a visit, giving you two little disciples a chance to meet her. Oh, I forgot to tell your master.” The Empress turned to Qing Cheng and said, “These two disciples of yours were just betrothed the day before yesterday. They were about to write a letter to Mount Emei to inform you and invite you to come down for their wedding celebration someday.”
Qing Cheng had heard a little about the betrothal before arriving. Now that the Empress had mentioned it personally, as the master of the two children, she felt she ought to offer her congratulations. She took a deep breath and heard her own voice say, “Congratulations on our happy union.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, everyone stared at her in astonishment.
Well, faced with everyone’s gazes, she grew even more nervous. Realizing she had misspoken, she hurriedly corrected herself: “No need to thank me.”
Fu Yu: ?
Qing Yao: ?
Empress: ?