The emperor’s southern inspection did not mean that he could stop handling state affairs. On the contrary, those important memorials had to be sent from the capital to Jiangning by urgent relay, and after the emperor reviewed them, they were sent back to the capital by urgent relay.
These past two days, it had been snowing, and the inspection Kangxi had originally planned had to be put on hold because of the weather.
Thinking that he had to have dinner with Cao Yue, Kangxi hurried and rushed, finally finishing the memorials before the evening meal, and then made his way to the West Garden without wasting a moment.
As a result, just as he arrived at the West Garden, before Liang Jiugong had even finished announcing him, Kangxi was the first to sharply spot the three people kneeling in the courtyard.
Liang Jiugong hurried to ask before Kangxi could speak: “Why are you kneeling here?”
Right now it was the bitterest cold of winter. The teaching mama and the others had been kneeling outside for quite a while, and their faces were already pale with cold. When they answered Liang Jiugong, even their teeth were chattering: “It… it was this servant… us who made Concubine Zhao unhappy.”
In the end, the teaching mama had resentment in her heart because Cao Yue had embarrassed her, so at this moment, in front of Kangxi, she deliberately said such vague words.
The other two people did not have as much status as the teaching mama, so naturally whatever the teaching mama said was what they said.
Seeing that the three of them were all saying the same thing, Liang Jiugong quietly looked at Kangxi’s expression.
Kangxi was perfectly clear about the little thoughts hidden in the teaching mama’s words. His narrow phoenix eyes narrowed slightly, and with a sweep of his sleeve he stepped up onto the stairs: “Since Concubine Zhao made you kneel, then kneel you shall.”
No matter what the truth really was, today was after all the day he conferred the title of Concubine Zhao on her, and he could not possibly make her lose face in front of a few servants on a day like this.
The teaching mama’s already pale face took on an even more ashen color, and she was filled with regret, repeatedly muttering that it was over.
Liang Jiugong noticed the teaching mama’s expression and gave a faint sneer inwardly. Self-inflicted suffering, no one else to blame. No matter how much standing a servant had in front of the emperor, master and servant were still master and servant in the end.
This was Kangxi’s second time coming to the West Garden, but it was the first time he had stepped into Cao Yue’s boudoir.
Once inside, Kangxi did not hurry to look for Cao Yue. Instead, he looked around at the layout of the room. On the east side there was a small study. The books on the shelves numbered at least a hundred, and beside the desk used for writing there was an open chest, which held many flowered letter papers that had been written on.
Kangxi casually picked up one of the pages on top. On it were the words, ‘Though there are a thousand kinds of feelings, to whom else can they be spoken?’ The delicate standard cursive that symbolized a woman’s gentleness and talent was written with considerable character.
After staring at the letter paper for a while, Kangxi folded it and tucked it into his sleeve, then turned westward. Passing the side room where a chessboard and a guwei qin were placed, then going around a four-panel screen embroidered with exquisite workmanship, he took only two steps before reaching the western warm pavilion, which was where Cao Yue most often stayed in winter when it was cold.
In the warm pavilion were still Cao Yue and her three servants, except that at this moment Cao Yue was lying on a soft couch with a wool blanket over her legs, reading a book. An Ning was sitting on a small stool, holding an embroidery hoop and embroidering flowers, while An Ping was beside the window where the light was good, setting up a table and carefully taking care of and ironing Cao Yue’s new clothes.
The three of them each had their own things to do, and the atmosphere was extraordinarily harmonious, but that harmony vanished without a trace the moment Kangxi stepped in.
The two maids nervously knelt to pay their respects. Cao Yue looked blankly at the person who had arrived, and it was not until the book in her hand fell to the ground with a dull thud that Cao Yue came back to herself. She hurriedly lifted off the wool blanket, stepped into her soft satin embroidered shoes, and curtsied to pay her respects: “May Your Majesty be at peace.”
Kangxi smiled faintly as he went forward to help Cao Yue up, and at the same time picked up the book that had fallen to the ground: “You are rather at ease.”
He had been busy to the point that he did not even have time to drink an extra cup of hot tea, and all he had been thinking was that he could come over earlier and see her bustling about in order to welcome him. But it turned out that she had merely sent three servants to greet him and give him trouble, while she herself hid in the warm pavilion to rest easy.
Thinking this way, Kangxi’s mood became somewhat unpleasant.
Not only did he openly occupy Cao Yue’s soft couch, he even wore the air of someone administering a rebuke: “Did Liang Jiugong not tell you I was coming?”
Cao Yue turned to face Kangxi, her eyelashes lowered slightly: “He did.”
When she turned around, seeing that the two maids were still kneeling, she gave a light instruction: “Why are you not quickly bringing in the tea?”
The two maids lowered their heads, silently accepted the order, and quickly left the warm pavilion.
Kangxi did not stop them either. Seeing that only the two of them remained in the warm pavilion, he immediately snorted a laugh and said, “It seems my Concubine Zhao is still a master who knows how to feel for her servants.”
There was something in his words, and it made Cao Yue unable to help lifting her eyes to look directly at Kangxi. In her dark eyes there was only coolness: “If Your Majesty has something to say, you may say it directly. I am stupid and dull, and I do not understand Your Majesty’s roundabout speech.”
Cao Yue was not truly unable to understand. She was just pretending to understand while acting confused.
Speaking in a roundabout way was an imperial habit, and also the habit of great aristocratic families, because they believed that the underlying meaning of words spoken in circles was definitely not something good. Not saying it plainly was showing you respect, and it would not make someone lose face, while also leaving room and leeway for them.
As the emperor, Kangxi had to have someone respond to him even if he spoke in the most roundabout way in ordinary times, and they also had to rack their brains to explain it to him in a roundabout way.
Cao Yue was the first person he had ever seen who told him not to beat around the bush.
Kangxi smiled and followed her wishes: “Since that is so, then I’ll ask directly. Were the few servants kneeling in the courtyard the ones who made you unhappy?”
Just now he had not stood up for those few servants and tell them to get up, because he was preserving Concubine Zhao’s face in front of them, but when he was not facing the servants, he was still unhappy in his heart.
If you want to beat a dog, you have to look at its master. Those few servants were, after all, still people of the imperial presence.
Cao Yue turned her head and looked outside, cleverly hiding the sarcasm deep in her eyes: “Perhaps they were willing to kneel in the courtyard in the middle of winter. In any case, it was not I who made them kneel, so what does it have to do with me?”
Kangxi did not think Cao Yue would tell a lie to deceive him, so he was somewhat stunned. Then he remembered the teaching mama’s vague words, and an anger inexplicably rose in his heart. What a crafty old servant.
At this moment, the anger in Kangxi’s heart all turned into guilt toward Cao Yue. He reached out and took hold of Cao Yue’s cool, soft, white hand, and with a slight exertion pulled her to sit at his side. Looking at the displeased expression all over Cao Yue’s exquisitely beautiful face, he coaxed her gently:
“All right, do not be angry. I was only asking casually, I had no other meaning. Do not take it to heart, hmm?”
Being pulled so close to Kangxi, Cao Yue’s ears visibly turned pink. She awkwardly tried to pull her hand back, but could not, so she could only turn her head away and force out a cold smile: “I naturally will not take it to heart. After all, my heart is small and cannot hold many irrelevant people or irrelevant things.”
These irrelevant people and irrelevant things were obviously pointed at someone.
It was rare enough for Kangxi to coax her in a good-tempered way, but these two days he had repeatedly run into soft rebuffs from Cao Yue, and he immediately became somewhat vexed.
He extended the hand that was free and pinched Cao Yue’s chin, forcibly turning her head back so that their eyes met: “How long are you going to keep speaking to me in this sour and mocking way?”
Kangxi considered his own temper to be bad, and being able to tolerate a woman acting spoiled toward him until now had already reached the limit. Not to mention that she had repeatedly dampened his mood.
Cao Yue’s heart gave a jolt. It looked like His Majesty’s patience with her had already run out. She did not know how much tolerance Kangxi had toward other people, so she herself had not let her guard down.
Holding back a breath, her eyes instantly turned red. She tried to break free of Kangxi’s hand pinching her chin, but in the end it was to no avail: “What is Your Majesty saying? I do not understand.”
The man’s grip was very strong, and coupled with the fact that Cao Yue struggled for a moment, two red marks from being pinched quickly appeared on her chin.
Seeing this, Kangxi unconsciously eased his strength by two parts. Cao Yue took the chance to violently break free of Kangxi’s hand, slide off the soft couch, and following that, kneel down: “Offending Your Majesty and making you angry is my fault. I am guilty. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”
The atmosphere in the warm pavilion suddenly became tense. An Ning and An Ping had prepared tea and were waiting outside the screen, and hearing the movement inside, it was as if nails had been driven into their feet, making them unable to move even half a step.
Cao Yue knelt on the ground and forcefully endured the pressure Kangxi was placing on her.
At this critical moment, she absolutely had to steady herself and not show weakness. Whoever spoke first would be at a disadvantage, and it would be difficult to turn the situation around later.
No one knew how long it had been when Cao Yue heard a light sigh come from above her head: “Whether I am an ordinary young master or the Son of Heaven, am I not still the man who played the qin with you in the peach grove that day? Whether I am of one identity or another, is it really that important in your heart?”
Kangxi helplessly rubbed his temple. He truly did not understand the thoughts of the woman in front of him.
Or rather, he actually understood in his heart, but he just wanted to force Cao Yue to admit the words she had said last night in front of him.
Cao Yue looked at Kangxi in shock, the slight redness in her eyes filled with alarm and unease, as if she wanted to ask how Kangxi could say such a thing.
Kangxi awkwardly turned the cloud-patterned thumb ring on his thumb: “I accidentally heard it last night.”
Describing eavesdropping in such a fresh and refined way was something only thick-skinned Kangxi could say.
Cao Yue was stunned for a moment. Then two lines of clear tears slid down her cheeks, her face full of pearly tears: “Since Your Majesty heard it, then you should know what I seek in my heart. What I want is only a simple and free life.”
Tears blurred her vision. Cao Yue closed her eyes, and the tears were all forced out of the corners of her eyes: “But you are the emperor, so it is destined that what I seek is only a vain hope.”
Cao Yue indirectly admitted what she had said last night, and that softened Kangxi’s heart.
Looking at the marks on both sides of the woman’s chin in front of him, and at her sorrowful tear-streaked appearance, Kangxi unconsciously forgot the anger he had felt at the start, and in its place was pity for the beauty’s grief.
He leaned forward and helped her up, drawing her to his side, and gently wiped the tear stains from Cao Yue’s face with his thumb: “Do not cry anymore. Clearly, in my eyes you are not stupid, so why are you so dead set on one thing? If you insist on going into a dead end and cannot get out, the one who is put in a difficult position is not yourself?”
“Since you like simplicity and freedom, then I grant that when you and I are together in private, you may treat me as an ordinary young master. Would that be all right?”
Cao Yue seemed to be moved by his words, her eyes carrying joy yet also a little worry: “B-but the teaching mama said that the emperor is the emperor, and that I must hold reverence for Your Majesty, obey everything, and not go against it…”
She was not the kind of person who repaid kindness with kindness for grievances. Since that teaching mama had first tried to give her problems, then she would repay it tooth for tooth, and only hoped that a mere servant like her could withstand it.
Kangxi snorted. “It’s just the words of a servant. There is no need to keep them in your heart. You only need to remember what I say.”
What reverence, what obedience? If Concubine Zhao also became no different from the ordinary imperial consorts in the harem, then what would be the point?
After a clearly conflicted moment, Cao Yue finally nodded hesitantly: “This consort will listen to Your Majesty.”
After all, His Majesty had already said this much. She could not possibly refuse to come down the steps, otherwise if she truly angered him, the one who would suffer loss would still be her.
The tense atmosphere in the warm pavilion dissipated. The two people outside the screen could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Quickly changing to a fresh cup of tea in the tea room, they brought it back. When they came to offer the tea, they saw that their young lady’s attitude toward the emperor had changed from distant to somewhat closer.