As the sky gradually darkened, the snow showed a tendency to fall heavier and heavier.
Kangxi slammed his teacup down on the small table beside him with a bang, his eyes fixed heavily on Madam Sun. His thin lips moved slightly. “A marriage grant, huh? Which young master has the madam taken a liking to?”
Though his tone sounded careless, it held danger, as if if even a tiny thing went wrong, someone would lose their life the very next moment.
Madam Sun was not really so headstrong as to keep rubbing the dragon’s whiskers when she knew the emperor was unhappy. Moreover, a marriage grant was not her real purpose. So Madam Sun only said vaguely, “Your Majesty, please pardon this old servant for making a fool of herself. Right now, this old servant does not have anyone in mind. I only want to borrow this chance to ask for a favor.”
Kangxi did not care whether Madam Sun truly had a favored young master or not. Seeing that Madam Sun had changed her tune, Kangxi also restrained some of the chill and said with implied meaning, “Madam is too anxious. Madam has raised Miss Cao so outstandingly. In my opinion, she ought to have the very best destination in the world. After all, a delicate flower raised in the deep boudoir is not something just anyone can afford to raise.”
Since Ao Bai was captured, Wu Sangui was utterly defeated, and last year Taiwan was recovered as well, Kangxi already held great power in his hands, with the final say in the court. Even his imperial grandmother, who still interfered in state affairs in the earlier years, had rarely asked about court matters in these past few years. It could not be said that Kangxi was not in high spirits.
Under such circumstances, Kangxi’s imperial authority naturally grew even stronger, and he increasingly disliked people opposing his wishes.
So when he knew very well that he had feelings for Miss Cao, if someone came before him to ask him for a marriage grant, that person would definitely be dragged out and beaten with a rod. In more serious cases, they might even lose their life.
But the person before him was his wet nurse, someone who had cared for him earnestly since he was little, so he could only try his best to make his meaning clear.
After all, under all heaven and earth, besides him, who else could, who else was worthy to possess such a woman.
Madam Sun naturally understood Kangxi’s implied meaning, and she had been waiting for exactly this sentence from Kangxi.
Thus Kangxi saw that after his words fell, Madam Sun suddenly began to cry sadly: “Your Majesty, please forgive me, this old servant has been rude.”
“It’s nothing.” Kangxi tapped the tabletop with his fingertips, not holding Madam Sun’s失态 against her, but instead asking patiently, “If madam has any concerns, you may speak plainly. I am not the kind of person who is unreasonable. So long as madam’s request is not excessive, I will naturally agree.”
Madam Sun knelt on the ground with her head lowered, held up her handkerchief, and dabbed at her tears, choking out, “This old servant is only worried about Yue’er. Yue’er has had poor health since childhood because she was born premature, so this old servant and her father raised her with utmost care and precision, and only then did we raise her to adulthood. The Cao family has few people, and Yue’er is that kind of innocent temperament. This old servant is afraid… afraid that she……”
Although Madam Sun hesitated and did not finish her words, understanding flashed through Kangxi’s eyes, and he deeply related to what Madam Sun had said.
Someone who could be so unrestrained, who showed him a face the moment they saw him, really was not suited to survive in the palace.
But Cao Yue was someone he had already decided on long ago. Asking him to loosen his mouth and let Cao Yue marry wherever she wanted was absolutely impossible.
Before Kangxi could think of a good way, Madam Sun once again bowed her head in a deep salute. “Your Majesty, this old servant asks for nothing else, only that Your Majesty consider that this old servant has only one daughter under my knees, and no matter what happens in the future, please leave my little daughter a life.”
Madam Sun’s words were full of distrust toward Kangxi. Kangxi felt that he ought to be angry, but he also felt that Madam Sun’s actions were not unnecessary, and he was even moved by Madam Sun’s motherly heart, which was thinking wholeheartedly for her daughter, just as Madam Sun had once painstakingly thought for him.
Thinking of this, Kangxi naturally agreed at once. “I accept what madam has asked for today.”
So long as the Cao family did not commit some great crime of treason, he would remember today’s promise.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Then this old servant will not disturb Your Majesty any further and will take her leave first.”
Liang Jiugong stepped forward to help up the slightly trembling Madam Sun, and after escorting her out of the eastern courtyard, he returned to the warm pavilion, where he heard Kangxi suddenly let out a sigh.
Liang Jiugong changed Kangxi’s tea for a fresh hot cup and carefully asked, “Why is Your Majesty sighing?”
Kangxi picked up the teacup, used the lid to skim away the froth on the tea, and took a light sip. “Nothing. I was just感叹 that the Cao family has a mother who is wholly devoted to her.”
If his own mother were still here, would she also be like Madam Sun?
Hearing this, Liang Jiugong knew this was not something he could interrupt, so he simply kept his mouth shut.
After a while, seeing that Kangxi had no intention of continuing, Liang Jiugong then considered how to tell him about the trip to the Western Courtyard in the morning.
After hearing it, Kangxi raised an eyebrow with interest. “Oh? In the entire harem, Cao family is the first person to dare to treat my decree like that.”
Liang Jiugong lowered his head a little. One must know that when a man calls a woman by her surname, it is because deep in his heart he feels that this woman is his woman. It seemed the emperor had already recognized Miss Cao in his heart.
Looking through the thin window paper at the snowflakes drifting down outside with the wind, Kangxi asked in confusion, “I’ve always been unable to figure it out. Clearly yesterday when I was with Cao family in the peach grove, we could be considered to have talked quite happily, and when we went to the manor for our evening meal, Cao family’s attitude had also not changed. So why, after learning of my identity, did she become as distant and cold as when we first met?”
No, Cao family now treated him with the attitude of fearing to avoid him as if he were plague. If not for his identity being what it was, Cao family would probably have gone around him upon seeing him.
Liang Jiugong did not know either, so he only smiled apologetically and said nothing.
Kangxi thought about it for a long time and still could not understand it. Instead, thinking about it made his brain hurt, so he simply waved a hand and stood up to go out. “Follow me outside for a walk.”
“Yes.”
Liang Jiugong took a black cloak from the clothes rack to serve Kangxi as he put it on, then took an oil-paper umbrella from the little eunuch standing guard under the corridor and personally held the umbrella for Kangxi. The two of them did not bring any attendants, and just like that they stepped on the ground that had only just been covered with a layer of white snow, leaving behind one noble footprint after another.
As they walked, Kangxi ended up on the stone path he had taken during the day. He suddenly stopped and looked into the distance for a long while. “Does Cao family live over there?”
Liang Jiugong followed Kangxi’s gaze. “Yes, Miss Cao lives in the Western Courtyard.”
Seeing Kangxi stride without hesitation toward the Western Courtyard, Liang Jiugong hurriedly and carefully followed. In his heart, though, he silently lit a candle for Cao Yue. The emperor’s old habit of listening at walls had acted up again. He only hoped Miss Cao would get through this one properly.
Across from the artificial lake, a small figure suddenly turned around and disappeared onto a side path.
In the Western Courtyard, An Ning had just finished helping Cao Yue wash up and was about to close the room door and keep watch in the outer room when An Ping suddenly darted out in front of her, squeezed into the room, and urged An Ning to hurry and close the door.
An Ning was puzzled in her heart, but her hands did not hesitate in the least. After closing the door, seeing An Ping go straight into the inner room, she quickly said, “What are you doing? The young lady has already gone to rest.”
The answer she got was An Ping’s back.
An Ning bit her lip indignantly and followed in a huff.
Cao Yue had also studied palace etiquette for an entire day today, and her body was long since tired. It was just that she had never slept well, so at this moment she had not yet gone to bed and was leaning against the headboard reading a book.
A large patch of shadow suddenly fell onto the book. Cao Yue looked up and saw that An Ping, who had taken leave to go home, was standing right in front of her. “Why have you come back at this hour?”
An Ping shook her head and hurriedly knelt and sat down on the footstool, lowering her voice. “Young lady, don’t ask yet. Listen to this servant. On the way back just now, this servant saw someone heading toward the Western Courtyard. It was too dark, so this servant couldn’t see clearly. I only vaguely made out the shape, like a man, and there was also one attendant.”
An Ping did not say the guess in her heart, but Cao Yue knew that the only one who could make An Ping act as if she were facing a great enemy was probably the emperor living in the eastern courtyard.
But it was already this late. What was he coming to the Western Courtyard for?
Cao Yue threw the book aside, thought for a moment, then reached out and called over An Ning, who had just come in, and whispered a few words in their ears.
“Remember it? Later, don’t show any fear. If he doesn’t make a sound, we’ll just pretend we didn’t notice.”
The two maids looked at each other and solemnly nodded.
In the main room of the Western Courtyard, the lights swayed, but the courtyard itself was pitch-black and empty, with only two old women guarding the gate.
After Kangxi successfully intimidated the two gatekeeping old women with his identity, he brazenly stepped into the grounds of the Western Courtyard, then skillfully found the corner wall where he could eavesdrop and stood still in the corner.
“…The young lady spent the whole day today working hard to learn the rules, and her knees are all bruised purple.”
Only to hear Cao Yue say in a cold voice, “The emperor’s grace is vast and mighty. Let alone just some bruising, even if it were to cost me my life, how could I not accept it?”
“Young lady, don’t be like this. If you feel bad in your heart, just cry it out. Why do you have to torment yourself like this?”
An Ping listened in utter confusion and tugged at An Ning. “What exactly happened? How come in just two days without me by the young lady’s side, the young lady has become like this?”
An Ning, with tears in her voice, could not hold back and blurted out, “Wasn’t it all because of…”
She got to her lips, but then realized the identity of the person she was about to mention and did not dare speak recklessly, so she could only say vaguely, “In any case, the young lady is unhappy because of him.”
An Ping did not understand and was about to ask again when Cao Yue suddenly burst into tears, heartbroken. “I originally thought the one who played the jiaowei qin with me was just an ordinary young master. That was the first time I lost my composure because of someone. After leaving the peach grove, I even thought of having my older brother find out which family’s young master he was, and then… then…”
“But I never expected him to actually be the emperor.”
Cao Yue suddenly clutched An Ning’s shoulders. “An Ning, why does he have to be the emperor?”
The incoherent words were full of sorrow and incomprehension.
An Ping asked in confusion, “Could it be that the emperor is not good?”
“Of course not good.” Cao Yue suddenly raised her voice, startling the two who were secretly listening and already entranced. “I only want to spend my whole life ordinary and plain with an ordinary person, to play the qin and compare chess, brew tea and admire snow. I don’t want to, I don’t want to…”
Before she finished speaking, Cao Yue threw herself into An Ning’s arms and burst into loud sobs.
An Ping seemed to be startled by the sight of Cao Yue crying into a tearful mess. She was at a complete loss, and while wiping Cao Yue’s tears, she wracked her brains to comfort her. “Young lady, please stop crying. Be careful not to hurt your eyes. When this servant came back today, I heard Madam Hua say that the old madam has already gone to ask the emperor to grant you a marriage. Do you want to know which family’s young master it is?”
Hearing this, Cao Yue slowly stopped crying and returned to the appearance of the Cao family girl who was cold enough toward people and matters alike. “It doesn’t matter. This bit of thought in my heart should also be thrown away, so whoever it is will do.”
In the shadow by the wall, the smile in Kangxi’s eyes nearly overflowed. So that was how it was.
The servants’ comfort and persuasion in the room still continued, but Kangxi no longer wanted to listen. He turned and left.
After Kangxi left, one of the gatekeeping old women saw that Kangxi had already gone far, and hurriedly increased her speed to close the gate.
The sound of the door closing reached the room, and Cao Yue stopped sobbing. The three master and servant all let out a breath of relief at the same time.
Cao Yue touched her swollen eyes, and the sore, swollen pain was terribly uncomfortable. “I don’t know whether this round of crying was worth it or not.”
How many traces it could leave in his heart, and how much attention it could make him give.