Two carriages traveled one after the other.
Xie Yuantang and Si Tu Yan sat in one. Both had been freshly washed and dressed, each adorned in magnificent brocade robes, looking every bit the part of imperial nobility.
If Xie Yuantang hadn’t personally witnessed how Du Wei bullied Si Tu Yan, she might have actually been deceived at this moment into thinking the imperial family treated him reasonably well.
Xie Yuantang looked at Si Tu Yan, who had been nervously picking at his fingers ever since seeing Gui Momo, and asked him in a low voice, “What are you afraid of? Are the Empress and Gui Momo not good to you?”
Si Tu Yan thought blankly for a moment, then shook his head. “She gives me new clothes and good food. She’s a good person.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“The Empress… she checks my schoolwork. If I don’t answer well, she punishes me by making me practice calligraphy. If I don’t write well, I’m not allowed to come out…”
His voice grew softer and softer. Xie Yuantang narrowed her eyes, seizing on the key words. “Not allowed to come out?”
Si Tu Yan’s face paled slightly, his fingers trembling. “The Black House… it’s very scary…”
The Black House…
Xie Yuantang’s gaze darkened.
Ever since she learned that the Empress was involved in the Chong Xi ritual, she had felt a certain aversion toward this lofty empress.
Putting everything else aside, locking a mentally impaired person in a confined space would only make him lose control even more.
This Empress…
Seeing the look on his face, Xie Yuantang took his large, cold hand in her small one. “Don’t be afraid. You won’t be going into the Black House today.”
Si Tu Yan looked at her nervously. “Really?”
“Mhm, I promise.”
Gazing into those bright, dark eyes, Si Tu Yan gradually calmed down.
Xie Yuantang’s mind raced. While comforting Si Tu Yan, she asked him, “What about your Imperial Father? Does he not help you?”
Si Tu Yan’s head drooped even lower.
“Imperial Father… is very fierce… I’m stupid, Imperial Father doesn’t like me…”
“What about the others?”
Xie Yuantang seized the opportunity to ask about the other people in the palace. She needed to understand more to be prepared.
Although Si Tu Yan couldn’t distinguish between good and bad, the purer one’s heart, the more instinctively one could sense good and evil. Xie Yuantang was more willing to trust Si Tu Yan’s instincts than the hypocrisy of adults.
Just as she had gained a rough understanding of the situation in the palace, the carriage came to a stop before the palace gates.
This was the first time Xie Yuantang had ever set foot in a place like the imperial palace.
She didn’t forget that she was just a nine-year-old girl, and she appropriately played the part of a child filled with excitement and curiosity the entire way.
“Wow, these flowers are so beautiful! Husband, let’s go pick some!”
“Oh my, what a huge rockery! Husband, let’s go climbing!”
“Wow, there’s a river too…”
Gui Momo watched the two of them jumping around and urged them impatiently, “Your Highness, Your Highness the Princess Consort, we should hurry. Her Majesty is still waiting.”
“Oh.”
Xie Yuantang replied, not missing the trace of disgust in Gui Momo’s eyes.
Beside her, Si Tu Yan quietly squeezed her fingers and whispered, “If my wife likes it, I’ll secretly bring you here.”
Xie Yuantang paused for a moment, then smiled.
When they arrived at Hui Kun Palace, she had assumed that since it was a new bride’s tea ceremony, the Emperor would also be present. To her surprise, she found only the Empress inside.
Xie Yuantang followed Si Tu Yan in paying their respects, but before they could kneel, a voice that was both benevolent and dignified stopped them. “Don’t kneel. You poor child, come here and let me have a look at you.”
Xie Yuantang subconsciously looked up, getting her first clear look at the Empress.
She appeared to be in her thirties, her features slender yet dignified. The authority in her eyes was undiminished, which made her attempts to appear benevolent seem somewhat awkward.
Xie Yuantang blinked, revealing the smile a nine-year-old girl should have, and said in a crisp voice, “Xie Yuantang greets Your Majesty, the Empress.”
If one ignored the whip marks on her face, her small face was indeed innocent and artless, bright and likable.
Empress Jiang was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected this daughter of the Xie family to have such a fine pair of eyes.
“Good child. It is all thanks to you that A-Yan was able to overcome this crisis.”
Empress Jiang patted Xie Yuantang’s arm and turned her gaze to the reserved and timid person beside her. “A-Yan, how are you feeling?”
“I… I’m fine.” Si Tu Yan gave her a bewildered look, then timidly lowered his head again.
A flicker of light crossed Empress Jiang’s eyes. She smiled and said, “It would still be best to have an imperial physician take a look. After you’ve seen your Imperial Father, I will have Shen Tai Yi examine you. When you are well, your Imperial Father and I can be at ease.”
Si Tu Yan didn’t dare to say no, only hesitating as he said, “…Can I not drink the bitter medicine?”
“Being willful again. If you don’t drink medicine for this dazed illness of yours, do you intend to be a fool for the rest of your life?”
Empress Jiang sighed, her brows furrowing as her voice became much sterner. “It was one thing for you to be mad and foolish in the past, but now you are a married man. Even if you aren’t afraid of Yuantang being ridiculed along with you, are you not afraid that you might have a fit of madness and hurt her?”
Si Tu Yan instantly stiffened, his face ashen. He stared at Xie Yuantang, rendered speechless.
Xie Yuantang blinked, looking at Empress Jiang with an innocent expression. “My husband isn’t a fool. My husband is very good, and he’s very good to me, too.”
“Is that so?”
Empress Jiang smiled meaningfully. “Then how did I hear that you were unwilling to marry Yan’er just yesterday?”
Xie Yuantang took Si Tu Yan’s hand, a guileless smile on her face as she said in a childish voice, “That’s because no one told me. I didn’t know my husband was such a good person.”
Hearing her words, Si Tu Yan’s Peach Blossom Eyes instantly sparkled. “My wife is even better!”
Empress Jiang looked at the tall and short figures, her gaze darkening for a moment before she resumed her benevolent smile. “I heard you had a bit of a dispute with the people in your residence today?”
Si Tu Yan nodded, his lips pouting. “They wouldn’t give me a steamed bun.”
“As an imperial prince, what sort of decorum is it to fight with servants over a steamed bun? They were right to discipline you.”
Empress Jiang said earnestly, “A-Yan, they are all people I have carefully selected. They are all for your own good. You must listen to them more.”
“Also, your Imperial Father is occupied with a myriad of state affairs and is extremely busy. Do not trouble him with such trivial matters, do you understand?”
Si Tu Yan nodded obediently. Xie Yuantang sneered inwardly. So that’s why they had to go through the Empress first for the tea ceremony. She was waiting for them here!
Unfortunately for her,
Xie Yuantang had no intention of letting her get her way!
Just as Empress Jiang was about to give more instructions, a eunuch’s loud announcement came from outside.
“His Majesty, the Emperor, has arrived—”
“His Excellency, the Grand Tutor, has arrived—”
The Grand Tutor?
Weren’t they serving tea to the Emperor and Empress today? Why was there a Grand Tutor?
Xie Yuantang was a little confused. Before she could ask Si Tu Yan who this Grand Tutor was, she heard footsteps from outside.
In an instant, the corner of a bright yellow robe turned into the hall, and everyone present immediately knelt.
Only after hearing the command to rise did Xie Yuantang raise her head.
The Emperor was over forty. Si Tu Yan had said he was very fierce, and he certainly looked the part. His brows were tightly knitted, and even in a relaxed state, his expression was stern and cold.
Behind him followed a middle-aged man in a long brocade robe.
His face was a sixty percent match to Si Tu Yan’s!
Xie Yuantang was a little surprised. She secretly picked at Si Tu Yan’s hand and mouthed, “Who is he?”
Si Tu Yan wrinkled his face and whispered back, “My… maternal uncle.”
Maternal uncle?
Si Tu Yan actually had a maternal uncle who was the Grand Tutor? Why hadn’t he said a single word about it in the carriage?
Was he not good to him?
In that case, wasn’t today’s tea ceremony a trap?
If that was truly the case, then she had to strike first.
Xie Yuantang’s mind raced as the two men who had entered took their seats.
As soon as they sat down, their gazes, unsurprisingly, fell not on Si Tu Yan, but on Xie Yuantang beside him.
Sensing their gazes, Xie Yuantang blinked, not the least bit timid.
She, Xie Yuantang, had run rampant in the apocalypse for decades. Besides beauty and martial strength, the one thing she didn’t lack was courage!
With her large, round eyes wide, she lifted her small face. Nine-year-old Tang Tang’s smile was soft and sweet as she said in a childish voice:
“Tang Tang pays her respects to Imperial Father and greets Uncle!”
As she spoke, she was about to kneel and bow.
Suddenly, a “gululu” sound was heard.
A dirty, wrinkled steamed bun rolled out from Xie Yuantang’s sleeve and onto the floor.
Empress Jiang felt her heart tighten. She then heard the Emperor beside her ask in a cold voice:
“What is this?”
Xie Yuantang carefully picked up the steamed bun, her voice soft and sticky, tinged with a bit of fear as she said pitifully, “Replying to Imperial Father, it is the breakfast my husband stole for Tang Tang.”