The palace maid stammered and could not get a word out.
Aunt Yun said, “She has an urgent need and wants to go relieve herself. Noble Consort, please show some leniency.”
Noble Consort Yan shot her eyes sideways. “Hold it in for this Empress!”
Qi Yue did not speak. She sat down in the pavilion, and Aunt Yun had someone come over to put on her outer robe, then gather up her hair and finally secure it with a golden hairpin.
Noble Consort Yan sneered. “Your Majesty the Empress, so you can wear clothes after all? Just now you were running around in only your undergarments. If one didn’t know better, one would think no one had taught you—”
Before she could finish, Qi Yue lifted her head. Those pitch-black eyes stared straight at Noble Consort Yan’s face.
Noble Consort Yan swallowed.
She felt that the Empress’s gaze was indescribably strange. The little girl was too beautiful, so beautiful she gave off an unreal feeling; even her eyes did not seem like the eyes of a living person. That stare was cold and eerie, like some emotionless, enchanting demon.
At that moment, Li Yi arrived.
He glanced at Noble Consort Yan, then at Tian Shuyi kneeling on the ground, and said, “What happened? What sort of matter is so important that you had to have Me come personally?”
Noble Consort Yan hastily plastered on a smile and looked carefully at Li Yi. “Your Majesty, just now this concubine saw the Empress improperly dressed, wearing only an inner garment, with her hair loose. What kind of sight is that? The Empress is already ten this year. Even children from ordinary households know the rules by now, let alone the mother of a nation?”
Only then did Li Yi see Qi Yue.
The instant Qi Yue saw Li Yi, her eyes brightened, curving ever so slightly, and the corners of her lips lifted too.
Li Yi walked over. “Empress, is what Noble Consort says true?”
Qi Yue nodded and pointed at Tian Shuyi. “This concubine wanted the butterfly. She snatched this concubine’s butterfly, and also wanted to hit this concubine.”
After thinking for a moment, Qi Yue gestured again. “That blue butterfly, this big, very pretty. This concubine liked it very much.”
Her eyes were bright and sparkling, her smile sweet, as if it could melt a person’s heart.
Li Yi patted Qi Yue’s head. “Wait a moment. I will punish her later, and have someone catch a butterfly for you as well, all right?”
Qi Yue wrapped her arms around Li Yi’s arm and looked up at him. “Your Majesty, really?”
Li Yi was very tall. Only by lifting her face hard could Qi Yue see his handsome features. Qi Yue liked looking at Li Yi. She thought Li Yi was good-looking.
“The Son of Heaven does not speak empty words. Empress, it is hot here. Go back to Zhengyang Palace first. In the evening, I will have someone send you a butterfly.” Li Yi laughed softly. “Be good.”
Qi Yue hopped down from the stone stool, took Aunt Yun’s hand, and bounced out of the pavilion.
Noble Consort Yan stepped forward and grabbed Li Yi’s sleeve, saying softly and coquettishly, “Your Majesty… how can you spoil the Empress so much?”
“Because she is the Empress, the mistress of the harem, the mother of the nation. Even if she truly does something wrong, I can tolerate it.” Li Yi’s expression turned cold. Noble Consort Yan slowly loosened her fingers and knelt down, not daring to raise her head.
Li Yi’s narrow eyes swept over Tian Shuyi and Noble Consort Yan. “The one who insulted the Empress will have one year’s stipend deducted and her green placard removed. As for the Noble Consort, making a scene, overstepping her station, and showing disrespect to one above her—confine her to her quarters for one month and reflect properly in the palace.”
Noble Consort Yan’s face changed at once. She pouted aggrievedly. “Your Majesty, this concubine did not do anything wrong. Why am I being punished—”
“I say you are wrong, and you are wrong.”
Li Yi turned and left.
Only after that tall figure disappeared did Noble Consort Yan have someone help her up in bitter indignation. She bit her lip. “The Empress is nothing but a wild little girl, relying on the Empress Dowager’s favor to act outrageously. Just wait until the Empress Dowager dies—let me see who will protect you then!”
The palace maid lowered her voice. “Noble Consort, you should speak more softly.”
Noble Consort Yan suddenly covered her mouth.
She almost forgot. The harem now belonged to Empress Dowager Qi. If she said the wrong thing and it reached Empress Dowager Qi’s ears, she really could be torn apart by her.
That Empress Dowager, who appeared so gentle and kind, with a beautiful face and a frail figure, was in truth more vicious in her bones than any other woman.
On the way back to the palace, Qi Yue was extraordinarily obedient.
Aunt Yun bent slightly as she walked, teaching Qi Yue all the way. “Your Majesty the Empress, you are the mother of the nation and are meant to set the example for all under heaven. You cannot run around the palace at will, and you absolutely cannot take off your outer robe and dash about in just your inner garment.”
Qi Yue’s dark eyes were fixed on the road ahead, and she said nothing.
Seeing that Qi Yue was not upset, Aunt Yun continued, “Even if this servant helps you cover it up, it will not stay hidden for long. Sooner or later, it will reach the Empress Dowager’s ears. Once she hears, she will surely be angry with you.”
Qi Yue touched her chin. Her hands were small and her fingers delicate and tender, so the gesture looked very cute.
Walking on her other side, Aunt Jing could not help laughing. “Your Majesty is quite adorable like this.”
Qi Yue walked on and did not really hear Aunt Yun and Aunt Jing’s words.
She was still thinking about Li Yi.
Li Yi—why was he so tall?
When would she grow taller? Could she grow to his shoulder? As she thought, Qi Yue could not help biting her finger.
Once she entered the palace gates, Qi Yue sat in a chair, and the palace maids served her a bowl of cool sour plum soup.
She took a sip of the sweet-and-sour soup, felt it was a little too cold, and set it aside.
Aunt Jing fetched a book for Qi Yue, and Qi Yue lowered her head to read, occasionally eating a piece of dim sum.
When Li Yi entered, he did not have anyone announce him.
Zhengyang Palace was glittering with gold and jade inside, far more splendid than the palaces of ordinary imperial consorts. It was not because Qi Yue liked it, but because Li Yi, to show his regard for the Qi clan, had specially ordered Zhengyang Palace to be renovated and decorated so magnificently.
The moment he entered, he saw Qi Yue sprawled over the desk reading a book, sometimes picking up a pastry to eat, sometimes taking a sip of sour plum soup. Her movements and manner were in the least bit graceful, but she was extremely cute.
Before Li Yi even walked over to Qi Yue, Aunt Yun knelt down. “Your Majesty!”
Qi Yue raised her head. She had just taken a sip of sour plum soup, and liquid was dripping down from the corner of her lips. She was about to use her sleeve to wipe it away when Li Yi lifted a hand and wiped it for her.
Qi Yue came down and looked up at Li Yi. “Your Majesty, why have you come?”
Li Yi bent down. In his heart, he did not approve of this childish little Empress. However, on the surface, he still had to pretend to dote on her very much.
Li Yi said, “I heard you were running around the garden today in disarray and without proper clothing. Is that true?”
Qi Yue obediently nodded.
Li Yi stroked Qi Yue’s head. “You are My Empress. As the Empress, you cannot behave like that. Otherwise, not only will others laugh at you, they will laugh at Me as well.”
Qi Yue lightly bit her lip and tilted her head to think for a while. “Laugh at Your Majesty?”
Li Yi gave a soft “Mm.”
Qi Yue seemed a little self-reproachful. She lowered her head and said nothing.
Li Yi knew that when she was living in the estate, Qi Yue had been spoiled rotten. This little girl had lost her parents from a very young age, and because of the Empress Dowager, others did not dare criticize her in the slightest. Even when she was wrong, they still had to indulge her.
Over time, she had been spoiled until her brain was a little off.
Li Yi did not really want to talk to this little Empress whose mind was somewhat questionable. But the Empress could not be beaten, could not be scolded, and would not listen to others. For some matters, he could only personally intervene.
Li Yi said again, “When the Empress reads, she should focus solely on reading. You are not allowed to eat, and not allowed to drink water. If the Empress conducts herself with elegance, then you may eat and drink. But for now, the Empress’s manner is not quite proper.”
Qi Yue obediently nodded. “This concubine will learn proper etiquette from Auntie.”
She was so obedient, and when she lifted her head to look at him, there seemed to be stars hidden in her eyes. Though Li Yi did not particularly like this little girl, in all fairness, she was a little beauty.
Li Yi squeezed Qi Yue’s palm. Her hand was very soft, very small, and felt extremely pleasant to hold.
He suddenly thought that if some concubine ever bore him a daughter, and if that daughter could be as lovable as Qi Yue, he would surely spoil her up to the heavens.
There was nothing more for him to lecture Qi Yue about. He sat in Zhengyang Palace for the time it took a stick of incense to burn, talked with Qi Yue for a while, and then prepared to leave.
Qi Yue stood at the doorway, watching that tall figure grow farther and farther away.
In truth, Qi Yue did not know what feeling of loss was supposed to be like. But now, staring at Li Yi’s back, she suddenly understood what loss felt like.
Aunt Yun did not know when she had come to stand beside Qi Yue. Looking down at her, she sighed. “Your Majesty really does like His Majesty very much.”
Qi Yue pointed at herself. “Aunt Yun, am I as good-looking as His Majesty?”
Aunt Yun knew the Empress had a deep fixation on the words “good-looking.”
The Empress wanted herself to be beautiful. Every meal she ate had to be beautiful, and when she sat down to admire the scenery, even the flowers outside the window had to be beautiful.
As if, if she were not beautiful, she would be abandoned.
Aunt Yun smiled lightly. “Of course Your Majesty is beautiful, as beautiful as His Majesty.”
Qi Yue nodded.
In her mind, Li Yi’s figure gradually surfaced. His brows and eyes. She remembered how, when they first met, he had smiled so gently at her.
Translator’s Anecdote:
The emperor says he “doesn’t like” her, the palace says she is “a bit odd,” and yet somehow he is already lecturing, wiping her lips, and mentally planning to spoil a future daughter to the heavens. Truly, the strongest love language in the palace is denial.