Although he could not go to the Northern Frontier to play just yet, Fang Youcheng invited Bai Ruofeng to the Eastern Palace first, listing countless delicacies prepared by the private kitchen and boasting that as long as Bai Ruofeng came, he would have the kitchen prepare all their signature dishes. The styles would be novel, and he patted his chest to guarantee that the imperial cuisine would certainly not be inferior to the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.
Unable to resist such warm hospitality, Bai Ruofeng, whose stomach was easily conquered, hesitated for only two seconds before happily following him.
Fang Youcheng kept his word, ordering the kitchen to prepare a lavish table of dishes to entertain his guest, and even specially summoned palace musicians and dancers to perform before the food was served.
Bai Ruofeng had seen street performances like breaking large stones on chests, and each time he had found them breathtaking. The exquisite dance music inside the palace, however, was a completely different style.
Only a single musician played a tune while several dancers twirled gracefully in the middle of the hall, occasionally bending backward or performing vertical splits in the air. Their long water sleeves fluttered, their bodies were flexible, and their dance skills were superb. At the banquet, Bai Ruofeng’s eyes shone with excitement, and he clapped and cheered. When he grew excited, he leaned over to Fang Youcheng’s side to ask him the name of the dance tune.
Fang Youcheng whispered a name, but Bai Ruofeng did not hear it clearly. He hurriedly leaned his ear closer, tugging at the other’s clothes and begging him to say it again. Fang Youcheng gave him a slight push, stubbornly acting mischievous and refusing to say it a second time. The corners of his lips curved upward uncontrollably as Bai Ruofeng shook him back and forth like a reed in the wind by the pond, yet he thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The dancers’ postures reminded Fang Youcheng of something. He looked at the sky outside and said, “You watch for a moment, I am going out for a bit.”
Bai Ruofeng grabbed the person who had just stood up and pulled him back down, tugging at his sleeve to ask, “Where are you going?”
Bai Ruofeng’s question was far too casual, as if certain that Fang Youcheng would answer. Yet Fang Youcheng, who had never been questioned by anyone before and had never deigned to inform others of his whereabouts, paused, feeling a kind of intimacy that belonged only between friends. His gaze grew slightly warm, and he told the truth, “I am going to have someone investigate that woman.”
“Oh right! If you had not mentioned it, I would have forgotten.” Bai Ruofeng suddenly remembered that such a matter existed. He immediately let go of his hand and even pushed him outward a bit, saying, “Go on, go on. Remember to urge the kitchen when you return.”
Fang Youcheng felt a sense of being used and then discarded. He looked incredulously at Bai Ruofeng’s waist and abdomen, which had already flattened, and asked, “Are you that hungry?”
“Of course.” Bai Ruofeng nodded proudly. “My physical energy is consumed quickly, hurry up and go.” He shooed Fang Youcheng out of his seat like driving ducks.
Did this fellow still know anything about respect and subordination? Fang Youcheng raised the corners of his lips, then shook his head, slapped his forehead, and muttered to himself, Must my brain be broken?
He got up and went outside the main hall, letting out a whistle. Soon, hidden guards dressed in palace servant attire hurried over.
These hidden guards were originally orphans adopted by the Empress during a secret imperial tour. Later, they served as martial arts practice companions for Fang Youcheng. Eventually, when Fang Youcheng found himself short of manpower, he found good masters for these people and trained them into his own exclusive hidden guards. Because the Empress’s given name contained the character for Tang, he bestowed the surname Tang upon the guards.
“Go and investigate that group of people from the Drunken Immortal Pavilion today,” Fang Youcheng commanded, knowing that the other party had been following him and understood his meaning. He hesitated for a mere few seconds, his expression turning unusually cold. Fang Youcheng made a slicing motion across his neck, “If the situation becomes critical, execution is permitted before reporting.”
The thieves of Northern Yue were not worthy of pity.
The moment Fang Youcheng stepped back into the hall, Bai Ruofeng’s gaze accurately swept over him. Across the distance, Fang Youcheng inexplicably detected a look of eager anticipation on that face, burning hot enough to scorch him.
Bai Ruofeng raised an eyebrow, silently conveying a message: Did you urge the kitchen for me?
Fang Youcheng paused upon receiving the message, sighed helplessly, and silently turned around to go urge the kitchen himself since he had just taken his step back.
At that moment, Chunfu ran in hurriedly. Not seeing clearly for a moment, he instinctively headed toward the upper seat.
Blocked by a wave of Fang Youcheng’s hand, he finally saw that his master was standing right at the entrance of the hall.
Chunfu cried out anxiously, “Your Highness, the Empress has arrived! The Empress’s sedan chair is heading toward the Eastern Palace!”
The Empress was coming. Bai Ruofeng was unconcerned, tossing the fruit in his hand and taking a bite of his apple, only to see Fang Youcheng’s previously helpless expression instantly tense up as he ran over and pulled him up. Wearing a bewildered expression with an apple bite still in his mouth and his cheeks puffed out, Bai Ruofeng was pushed right out the door by Fang Youcheng.
Bai Ruofeng protested, “What are you doing? If the Empress comes, she comes, I have not done anything wrong here. Is it a crime to listen to a tune and watch a dance?”
Fang Youcheng shoved the apple from Bai Ruofeng’s hand right into his mouth. Bai Ruofeng immediately glared at him.
“My mother has something to discuss with me, let us meet another day. You should return to your residence first.” Finishing crisply and cleanly, Fang Youcheng pressed both hands on Bai Ruofeng’s shoulders, forcefully spinning him one hundred eighty degrees to face outward, and called over Chunfu, instructing earnestly, “Escort Lord Bai out of the palace gates.”
“Hmph!” Munching loudly on his apple with puffed cheeks, Bai Ruofeng strode out the door. As he walked, he caught the fragrance drifting from the private kitchen, turned around, and asked with lingering reluctance, “Can I really not stay for a meal before leaving? It is all already cooked…”
“Next time, I will definitely treat you next time,” Fang Youcheng said with a solemn and certain expression.
Full of anticipation and expecting to eat a legendary imperial feast, Bai Ruofeng felt slightly dissatisfied. Without lingering, he walked out with his head held high, while Chunfu trotted closely and respectfully behind him.
Shortly after leaving the Eastern Palace, the vermilion palace gates came into view. Bai Ruofeng’s eyes rolled, and he waved at Chunfu, saying with a smiling expression, “You can head back first. I need to go to the Imperial Study to retrieve my coursework. His Highness still needs you to serve by his side, so do not bother running back and forth with me.”
Seeing Chunfu still hesitating, he added, “What is there to fear? This young master is the Crown Prince’s study companion, and I have walked this path for several days. Could I possibly not recognize the way!”
Preoccupied with worry, Chunfu hurriedly bowed to him and said, “Then, then this servant will not accompany you further, please walk slowly, Lord Bai.” With that, he turned around and hurried back.
These people were all acting strangely; it was just going to see one’s own birth mother. Leaning against the white jade railing, Bai Ruofeng finished an apple with loud crunches, swallowing even the core at the end. He clapped his hands, put them behind his back, and strolled leisurely back toward the Eastern Palace.
The dishes were almost ready, it would be such a waste not to eat them. Besides, the journey back to his residence was still long, so it would be better to sneak back into the Eastern Palace and hide so he would not run into the Empress. Once the Empress left, he could just show his face again. Surely the Empress was not going to stay overnight, right?
Tsk tsk tsk, Bai Ruofeng shook his head, thinking the Crown Prince was still not clever enough.
He retraced his steps back to the Eastern Palace and easily bypassed the servants to run back into the main hall. Although the imperial palace covered a vast area, most structures were only one story high. The wooden framework of the roof took up nearly half of the room’s height.
Bai Ruofeng had studied the roofs in this world, and at that moment, he expertly hung from the crossbeams and shuttled across the roof, playing the role of a gentleman on the beams.
Curiously, the previously lively hall was now completely quiet and desolate. The musicians and servants had all been dismissed.
In the small parlor, the Empress sat in the position of honor dressed in plain white mourning clothes. Her expression was cold and striking, her temperament melancholic, and judging by her appearance she looked extremely young, resembling the fairy in the painting that the Emperor had once shown to Bai Ruofeng down to the last detail.
The personal maid she brought served by her side, while the Crown Prince knelt squarely in the middle of the small parlor. Two guards stood on either side of the Crown Prince, and Chunfu cowered in the spot closest to the hall entrance.
Why did a dignified Crown Prince look like a criminal? Bai Ruofeng scratched his side with his crooked finger, the relaxed expression on his face vanishing and turning into deep confusion and caution.
At that moment, another maid entered carrying a full basin of water.
As soon as she entered, the Empress raised her chin toward Fang Youcheng and said concisely, “Pour.”
It was spring, and a large basin of cold water was splashed directly onto the Crown Prince. The water cascaded down from his head and face, soaking his bright yellow crown prince robes completely through and sticking them to his body.
After finishing the splashing, the maid went back out out of sheer habit to fetch another full basin and placed it in front of the Crown Prince.
Fang Youcheng pressed his lips tightly together, his gaze fixed on his own disheveled reflection in the water basin, uttering not a single word.
The Empress asked, “Youcheng, you have been avoiding this palace these past few days under the pretext of studying state affairs. This palace thought you were determined to become a good emperor, but it turns out you sneaked out of the palace to play on a rainy day?”
“Since you yourself are not afraid of the discomfort of getting soaked in the rain, then this palace will not pity you either.”
Bai Ruofeng gradually realized that something was amiss. In the rumors he had heard, the Emperor and Empress were deeply affectionate, and only the Crown Prince was young and wayward. Yet looking at the way this mother and son interacted now, everything reeked of bizarreness.
In a corner where no one noticed, Chunfu turned pale with fright. Sensing that the situation was wrong, he skillfully slipped away from the hall entrance and ran toward the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
“When have you ever pitied me?” A look of sarcasm appeared on Fang Youcheng’s pale face.
These words clearly caused the already cold-faced Empress to slam her table and stand up, pointing at him and scolding angrily, “You still dare to talk back? Fang Youcheng, who do you think I am staying in the palace for? Is everything I do not for your sake? But what about you? Have you ever understood my painstaking efforts even a fraction?”
Fang Youcheng remained silent for a long moment, turning a deaf ear to her words with only deep exhaustion written across his face. He retorted, “Speak. You never visit unless there is a reason, what madness are you here to unleash at my place again?”
This tone did not sound like it was addressed to the mother who gave birth to and raised him, but rather to an unliked outsider.
Furious, the Empress breathed heavily in large gasps. Gone was her previous delicate appearance, her features even twisting into a somewhat ferocious look. The maid beside her hurriedly supported her, and she gritted her teeth at Fang Youcheng, “I will only ask you one question: Was it you who forcibly snatched an ordinary woman in front of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion today!”
Forcibly snatched a woman? Bai Ruofeng was puzzled. How could that be called a forced snatch? That was clearly acting righteously to capture a thief! Whom did the Empress hear these words from?
He thought Fang Youcheng would give a proper explanation; it was just a matter of a single sentence, and once explained it would be over. He never expected Fang Youcheng to admit it cleanly and directly, “It is.”
Silence lingered within the small parlor for a long time, as if low pressure kept condensing, brewing a massive thundercloud. The Empress laughed out of extreme anger, her expression sinister and her phoenix eyes filled with murderous intent, “Fang Youcheng, you wicked spawn, I should have strangled you to death the moment you were born.”
Fang Youcheng raised his eyes, his pitch-black gaze looking at her silently, harboring numbness and indifference, and perhaps some pity that Bai Ruofeng could not understand. “Then you should have strangled me to death sooner.”
“You think I dare not?” the Empress raged. And the fact that Fang Youcheng did not even put her in his eyes while kneeling clearly further enraged the Empress. She commanded the two guards, “Hold him down!”
Obeying the order, the two guards pinned down each of Fang Youcheng’s arms. Struggling, Fang Youcheng was nevertheless firmly pressed against the floor.
Red blood cells seeped into Fang Youcheng’s eyeballs as he said fiercely, “Duan Tang, if you have the guts, kill me. Otherwise sooner or later, I will make you, this crazy woman, I will make you…” He bit down hard on his lower lip until it split, droplets of blood trickling down. His gaze clearly revealed hatred, yet for a long time he could not utter the rest of the words from his mouth, only staring at the Empress with eyes split at the corners.
That gaze greatly provoked the Empress. “What will you do to me?” Shocked, the Empress took a step backward in disbelief, stumbling as she grabbed the back of a chair for support. “Fang Youcheng, you actually spoke such words to me.”
Silent tears fell. The original anger vanished completely, and the Empress raised her handkerchief to cover her face, sobbing continuously. Heartbroken to the extreme, she mourned pitifully, “My son, my son!”
For a moment, only the woman’s weeping filled the small parlor.
The Empress was crying? Bai Ruofeng tilted his head. He switched from a squatting position to sitting cross-legged on the crossbeam, feeling that the situation was truly bizarre and uncanny, to the point where he could barely comprehend it. Yet deep down he felt that once things had developed to this point, what obstacles could ordinary mother and son possibly not overcome?
A mother’s tears often embodied the tolerance of love. Though silent, they could turn the tide of a situation.
He swung his long legs. Sobbing incessantly, the Empress pushed away the supporting maid beside her, trembling as she lunged forward until both knees hit the ground. The mother and son had almost identical phoenix eyes suffused with red—one filled with anger and resentment, the other with sorrow and grief.
The Empress reached out trembling hands. Her hands were extremely well-kept, unpainted with nail polish, and devoid of precious ornaments; looking delicate, white, and soft, they appeared completely harmless.
Just like her overall attire, walking on the streets of the capital, she looked like an unmarried noble lady rather than an Empress deep within the palace.
Bai Ruofeng paused, finally realizing what felt strange. The Empress wore no phoenix crown and no hairpins, which could still be excused as a preference for casual wear, but why was the Empress still wearing her hair styled in the loose hanging locks of an unmarried maiden even after being married for so long?
He thought the Empress was going to give Fang Youcheng an embrace.
However, the next moment, an immense burst of power erupted from the Empress’s slender frame. She raised her hand and pressed it onto the back of Fang Youcheng’s neck, forcing the Crown Prince’s entire head down into the water basin.
The situation flipped abruptly, and Bai Ruofeng held his breath in shock.
Fang Youcheng struggled frantically, but the two guards behind him loyally twisted their young master’s arms back, allowing his biological mother to press his head into the water basin while splashes flew everywhere. The Empress’s hands were as firm as rock.
Tears filled the Empress’s eyes, her face full of unbearable reluctance. “My son, this palace raised and nurtured you carefully for fourteen years, I never expected you to still be just like your father…” The next instant, her tone turned eerie and sinister, “This dirty, disgusting bloodline, let it end with you!”
Stiffened all over by the Empress’s sudden change of expression, Bai Ruofeng covered his mouth and nose, watching in shock as everything unfolded before him.
He had thought the Empress was only administering a minor punishment, but watching the movements in the water basin gradually fade from intense to weak, while the madness on the Empress’s face subsided and turned gradually indifferent as if she had finally calmed down, Bai Ruofeng realized the Empress genuinely intended to kill the Crown Prince!
He could neither sit idly by nor step forward so as not to implicate the Northern Marquis Manor. Bai Ruofeng quickly fished two copper coins out from his waist and flicked them with his fingers straight toward the brows of the two guards.
The two guards shrieked in surprise as their heads took a blow. Their first reaction was to release their grip restraining the Crown Prince and raise their hands to touch their own foreheads.
At that very instant, Fang Youcheng broke free from the water with disheveled hair, bloodshot eyes, baring his teeth like an evil ghost in the water, looking terrifying enough to devour the person before him alive. Coughing reflexively and endlessly choking, shaking the water droplets off his face, he stood up abruptly and shoved the Empress hard.
Since the Empress was already half-crouching, he failed to restrain his strength, and that retaliatory shove sent the Empress crashing against the table, shattering teacups, knocking over tables and chairs, and smashing a bloody gash into her temple against the table corner.
“Stop!” An angry roar rang out from the entrance of the main hall.
Bai Ruofeng looked up and saw a backlit figure clad in a dragon robe whose face could not be clearly made out standing at the entrance, with a flustered Chunfu trailing behind.
The Emperor had arrived. Bai Ruofeng breathed a sigh of relief.
Yet sweeping his eyes across the scene, the Emperor had eyes only for the Empress. He strode over, picked up the unconscious Empress in his arms, and walked straight out.
Passing by without even glancing at the Crown Prince who had nearly been drowned, he left behind only a cold and angry verdict: “The Crown Prince has committed insubordination and shown disrespect to the Empress. Give him ten strokes with the cane and confine him to the palace for seven days.”
Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs! Was he not here to save the Crown Prince? Bai Ruofeng could not believe it.
Trembling, Chunfu knelt down to express gratitude for the imperial grace, while the guards who followed the Emperor in dragged benches over and picked up canes. Lowering his head and coughing as if he were already accustomed to all of this, Fang Youcheng looked expressionlessly at his parents leaving before being dragged by two guards onto a long bench.
No wonder when the Emperor verbally reprimanded them earlier for delaying their studies, Fang Youcheng had said that not yet being beaten with planks did not count as much.
Unable to bear watching any longer, Bai Ruofeng gritted his teeth, turned around, and went to find an imperial physician to prepare medicine first.