Everyone must form friendships.
Whom one befriends may be counted as another great bond under heaven, second only to marriage itself.
Tuan Yun had never expected that, as an outsider, after entering Shengjing for only two or three years, he would one day gain a truly kindred friend. Ever since his audience at court with Consort Miao, Her Ladyship had summoned Tuan Yun into the palace every few days. As time passed, the two gradually became inseparable confidants, speaking freely of anything and everything.
Today was yet another arranged meeting.
He arrived at just the right moment, there was “juicy gossip.”
Tuan Yun sat obediently on a stone stool at the center of the pavilion and listened for a while. It turned out that Consort Miao’s former husband, the prince, had taken concubines in his fief. Worse still, not just one, three or four at once and every single one bore a faint resemblance to Consort Miao herself.
The emperor was so furious he practically jumped in place. Upon hearing the news, he immediately dispatched two Tianshu Guards overnight, bearing the imperial verbal decree, to go slap that younger brother across the face.
A slap delivered across a thousand li.
It was Tuan Yun’s first time hearing of such a thing. He listened as he ate, polishing off several pieces of pastry without even realizing it.
Consort Miao’s romantic history was, in truth, a well known anecdote among Shengjing’s elite circles. At first, Tuan Yun had known little of the details but later it became impossible not to know. His husband was not only the Chief Commander of the Tianshu Guards but also one of the driving forces behind the whole affair. Ever since Tuan Yun had been by his side, the stories he heard in a single evening exceeded what he had heard in an entire year before.
So what exactly was Consort Miao’s past?
Put simply, it was another variation of the all too common tale: love betrayed, just with fewer twists than Tuan Yun’s own experience.
In her earlier years, Consort Miao and her former husband had been a heavenly matched pair, a talented man and a beautiful woman, deeply devoted to one another. They lived together for two or three years in harmony.
Then one day, the man’s heart changed. He suddenly brought back a delicate, gentle courtesan and insisted on taking her as a beloved concubine. Consort Miao would not allow it and conflict arose between them.
The conflict escalated again and again, until the former husband stubbornly resolved to elevate the courtesan to the rank of secondary consort, all to “teach Consort Miao a lesson” for her supposed lack of virtue and excessive jealousy.
“What man under heaven does not take concubines? Why are you the only one who cannot tolerate it? I insist on making her a secondary consort, to teach you a lesson.”
The prince had his arguments prepared and delivered them righteously.
At that time, the emperor and the prince were still on decent terms. As royal brothers, theirs was a relationship that neither flared hot nor froze cold. At previous palace banquets, the emperor had seen Consort Miao before. Aside from noting her tall, radiant beauty, he had formed no particular impression.
Yet fate works in curious ways. On the very day the prince and Consort Miao completely fell out, the emperor, dressed in plain clothes and traveling incognito, visited his brother’s residence without alerting anyone. There, he witnessed an astonishing scene: Consort Miao, sleeves rolled up, slapping her former husband all the way from the boudoir into the main hall.
Unwilling to accept humiliation and already resigned to the consequences, she lashed out without restraint. Every person who stepped forward to break it up received a slap from her hand.
The emperor watched as that beautiful, fierce woman struck left and right, majestic and unstoppable, like the Queen Mother of the West descending to the mortal realm. In that instant, enlightenment struck him like a bolt of golden light. For the first time, he truly saw this sister in law of his.
And once he saw her, it was over.
It was like clouds parting to reveal the sun, like encountering a sky full of radiant clouds. His soul was seized, his spirit thrown into chaos, he fell headlong and without hope of recovery.
No ordinary woman, she was a celestial maiden.
Consort Miao stormed straight into the emperor’s heart. On the spot, under the pretense of “breaking up the fight,” the emperor coaxed her into his own traveling palace. As for Consort Miao, leaving the prince for the emperor, she found the emperor handsome, in the prime of youth, openly admiring and infatuated with her.
With Cui Jianying handling every potential aftereffect, her elevation from princess consort to imperial consort came as naturally as water flowing downhill. The former husband’s courtesan had not even completed the formal rites to enter the household when, on Consort Miao’s side, the seal of the noble consort was already raised high.
Yet people are fickle creatures and wealthy, idle men are especially prone to such ailments. When the former husband still had Consort Miao, he was perpetually dissatisfied, always wanting more women. Once he lost her, he found he loved no one else at all, spending his days yearning for his former wife.
The emperor did not harbor the same deep malice toward this younger brother as Cui Jianying did. After marrying the man’s former wife and bringing her back to the capital, he offered some compensatory rewards and the relationship was not entirely torn apart.
But when it came to Consort Miao, the emperor had his own distinct set of principles.
“As the elder brother, I covet your wife, does that not simply prove that we brothers see eye to eye, that we are both men of discernment? And yet you, as the younger brother, still dare to harbor thoughts about my future empress, hm? I think you are courting death.”
Sending men a thousand li just to deliver a slap was already lenient. If, after being struck, he were to stir up further trouble, then imperial favor would truly become thunderous and unfathomable.
As for Consort Miao, she was not angry at all. Her ease and frankness came from the same root. Hearing that His Majesty was so furious he could barely contain himself, she laughed for quite some time. After laughing, she even had people send melons and fruit to the emperor.
When she heard that even melons and fruit failed to placate him, she played a few rounds of shuanglu with Tuan Yun and only then rose to personally seek out the emperor.
Before parting, Consort Miao did not forget to tease Tuan Yun with a few intimate remarks. “An old drama, really. If one doesn’t coax him until he’s smiling from ear to ear, he won’t know how many days he’ll sulk. Ah, in this world, you’re the only one who truly understands me.”
Tuan Yun was momentarily taken aback. Consort Miao pinched his cheek and laughed, then leaned close to his ear and whispered softly, “Tell me, between me and that one, who do you think is stronger? Say it, who’s stronger?”
She possessed a voice like a celestial maiden’s magnetic music yet what she imitated was the sulky, jealous tone of a man. Tuan Yun’s face flushed red at once. He hurriedly stood up and saw Consort Miao off.
Because of this episode, Tuan Yun remained distracted even in the carriage on the way home.
He sank into thought. Cui Jianying often enjoyed speaking in oblique, literary, faintly sour phrases yet he seemed never to have once placed himself and Ji Zhiwei side by side and asked Tuan Yun who was stronger.
Why did Cui Jianying never ask?
Tuan Yun understood the moment he returned home and saw Cui Jianying handling official affairs.
Himself.
Watching that man, hand gripping power, gazing downward with calm authority, Tuan Yun felt a sudden flash in his heart. This man, moving through the world as he did, had probably never once doubted, he was utterly certain that he surpassed Ji Zhiwei in every respect. In every possible way.
Oh my.
Tuan Yun did not wish to disturb him. He quickly reined in his wandering thoughts and returned to his room.
That evening, it was Cui Jianying who first brought up the matter.
“It’s no wonder His Majesty was angry. Who does not wish to monopolize their wife’s heart? That prince once shared tender moments with the consort. If repeated disturbances were to stir old feelings in her, it would hardly be a pleasant thing.”
“Putting myself in his place, if my cousin were to do such a thing, I would not be able to endure it either.”
Tuan Yun listened in silence. By now, his pregnancy was showing and he rarely slept comfortably at night. Cui Jianying held him at his side, speaking as he gently kneaded Tuan Yun’s swollen calves.
Those hands were large enough, adept at such a task, fitting perfectly.
“They say old husbands and wives grow weary of each other. We’ve been married only a few months, why are you already so cold toward me?”
Cui Jianying said, “From what I can see, my lady seems too lazy even to respond to me.”
“….”
Was Tuan Yun not indeed too lazy to respond? After being teased with so much acidity, he could only laugh helplessly. He looked at Cui Jianying.
Cui Jianying said, “My lady, speak freely.”
Tuan Yun replied gloomily, “My heart can hold only one man at a time. Who that is now, you clearly know.”
All things generate and restrain one another; indeed, this was an immutable law of heaven. Those words worked at once. Cui Jianying immediately stopped playing with words.
He smiled and sighed, pulling Tuan Yun into his arms.
“My lady is truly wicked, changing tactics so as not to coax me.”
Then he suddenly changed his tone. “Fortunately, I know how to coax myself. My cousin may have his merits but I possess one advantage he cannot possibly match, a sturdy body and a hard head.”
“Let alone bumping it once or twice, even if I were knocked about back and forth like firecrackers at the New Year, I would still never forget my lady, nor the two treasures in my lady’s belly.”
“…….”
That infuriatingly sharp tongue of his.
Tuan Yun simply couldn’t take it anymore. His face burning red, he turned over, burying his ears with his hands as he muttered in a low, flustered voice, urging,
“Go to sleep, go to sleep.”
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Fleurveil
[Translator]
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ChaptersChapter 1 · How can you, so crude and vulgar, be a match for me?Chapter 2 · Children don’t just appear out of thin air if you want themChapter 3 · I also grew up reading the classicsChapter 4 · I am willing to dress up as the Goddess of MercyChapter 5 · If Cousin Ji doesn’t like me, do you not like me either?Chapter 6 · He actually summoned such a YamaChapter 7 · Am I not worthy of your attention, Madam?Chapter 8 · I think Lord Cui likes you very muchChapter 9 · Dragon and phoenix twinsChapter 10 · I will never allow anyone to belittle or despise you againChapter 11 · If that’s true, then marry your wife to meChapter 12 · Well, it really is true that one thing can subdue anotherChapter 13 · Extra 1Chapter 14 · Extra 2Chapter 15 · Extra 3Chapter 16 · Extra 4