Fu Lai watched the Duchess cursing frantically, his brow furrowing deeply.
Duke Ming was sharp-eyed; he grabbed the Duchess, gave her a look of warning, and immediately sent a maid to escort her away.
“Please forgive her, Eunuch Fu.”
Duke Ming shifted the topic, “May I ask, Eunuch, what business do you have with that lowly concubine and the bastard son? I will send someone to call them over immediately!”
“No need to trouble yourself. I shall go there in person.”
Fu Lai was firm in his stance. Duke Ming had no choice but to lead the way. The group headed to the stables at the back of the Duke’s estate.
To one side of the stables, a small shack that let in the wind from three sides had been cleared out.
Inside, there were only dilapidated tables and stools, patched bedding, and a lopsided cabinet.
Fu Lai was filled with shock!
Duke Ming remained calm and indifferent, his voice cold and heartless. “That lowly concubine committed an error. It is already an act of mercy that I did not cast the mother and son out of the estate.”
“This… what kind of error could lead to this?”
“Eunuch Fu, this is a private matter of the Duke’s estate. Family scandals should not be aired in public.” With one sentence, Duke Ming shut down Fu Lai’s curiosity.
Just then, the residents of the stable shack returned.
The mother and son each carried a bucket filled with freshly washed laundry.
Ming Yuechang was the first to notice them!
The twelve-year-old boy was thin and sallow, his frame small and undeveloped, looking more like a seven or eight-year-old child.
Seeing his father, the Duke, there wasn’t a trace of affection or yearning in his eyes. Instead, he dropped his bucket and spread his arms wide, standing protectively in front of his birth mother with total vigilance.
“What are you doing here?!”
“…Ah, ah.” Lady Tao opened her mouth but could not speak; she was mute.
She also protected her son, her eyes filled with terror and apprehension as she stayed on guard against them.
Fu Lai’s expression was extremely complex.
Lady Tao wore a simple wooden hairpin and a coarse cloth dress, her face devoid of makeup, yet even this could not hide her startling beauty. Ming Yueni’s beauty was clearly inherited from her mother!
This mother and son were living too miserably.
No wonder Ming Yueni couldn’t let it go and had kowtowed to beg him to bring a message.
“Madame, young master, do not be afraid.”
Fu Lai showed a smiling face and proactively brought out a token. “This was entrusted to me by the Third Miss to pass to Madame. She is doing well in the palace, so there is no need to worry.”
“Mother! This is Sister’s sachet!”
Ming Yuechang snatched the sachet and held it up with both hands for Lady Tao to see.
Lady Tao touched the sachet, her eyes brimming with tears as she gazed wordlessly at Fu Lai.
Ming Yuechang asked, “When is my sister coming back?”
“Presumptuous! How undisciplined!”
Duke Ming scolded him in a fit of rage, “Having met Eunuch Fu, why have you not knelt and kowtowed yet?”
“Ah, there is no need for such formalities!”
Fu Lai waved his hand repeatedly, saying with a smile, “I only came to deliver a message. Madame, young master, please rest assured. The Third Miss is currently serving by His Majesty’s side; her future is limitless!”
Duke Ming’s expression changed drastically!
Ming Yuechang also grew anxious, rushing forward to grab Fu Lai’s sleeve and press him for answers. “Didn’t they say that once the Eldest Miss was selected as the Crown Princess, my sister would come back? Why did Sister go to serve the Emperor? Is she still coming back?”
“Ah, ah…” Lady Tao hurriedly tried to pull her son back, fearing he might offend and anger Fu Lai.
Ming Yuechang’s eyes were bloodshot, and tears were welling up—he missed his sister so much.
Seeing this, Fu Lai couldn’t help but sigh again and again.
Once one entered the palace as a servant, if they wanted to see their relatives again, they would have to become a consort and wait for the Emperor to show grace for such an opportunity.
The orphan-like mother and son were truly pitiful.
Fu Lai also wanted Ming Yueni to owe him a favor!
“Lord Duke, it is surely inappropriate for them to live here, isn’t it? If His Majesty were to ask…” Fu Lai let his voice trail off suggestively.
Duke Ming’s face turned grim. With a sweep of his sleeve, he immediately ordered the servants and maids to move Lady Tao and her son into a side courtyard.
Immediately afterward, he chased Fu Lai out the door. “Please wait, Eunuch Fu! May I ask how my daughter, Yueni, ended up serving by His Majesty’s side?”
He only knew that his legitimate daughter had made a mistake; he never expected that the concubine-born daughter he cared nothing about would actually enter the Chen Palace!
Fu Lai smiled but said nothing, boarding his carriage and leaving directly.
He left Duke Ming lost in thought. Upon returning to the inner quarters, the Duke told the Duchess about the matter.
“It must be that little wench seducing His Majesty! That cheap girl actually wants to fly up a branch and become a phoenix? Pui!”
“What are you angry for? This is a good thing!” Duke Ming’s eyes were full of calculation. “If Yueni can whisper in his ear and make His Majesty change his mind to let Lan’er become the Crown Princess, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
As soon as the Duchess heard this, her expression shifted instantly.
She slapped the table in excitement. “Good! I will go to the palace to find her tomorrow!”
…
Fu Lai returned to the palace.
Ming Yueni went outside the Imperial Study. She didn’t dare go in and could only hover and look around from a short distance away.
Inside the room.
Fu Lai knelt and reported everything in detail.
When the Great General of Loyal State heard the imperial edict, he was overjoyed and held a grand banquet to celebrate.
The Duke’s estate was the opposite.
After a pause, Fu Lai still spoke of Lady Tao and her son.
“She did, after all, bear a son and a daughter for the Lord Duke, yet she lives even worse than the lowliest slave. It is truly pitiful.”
“Only today did this servant understand why Ming Yueni said the Eldest Miss of the Duke’s estate wanted to beat her to death.”
Fu Lai let out long sighs.
Beichen Yuan sat behind the desk, lost in thought for a long time.
That little kitten was truly pitiful and heart-wrenching.
If she left the Chen Palace, he feared she would be torn apart and swallowed by wolves and tigers until not even a scrap was left.
She used tactics only because she wanted to gain his protection.
Both pitiful and cute.
Beichen Yuan felt a stir of compassion.
“Pass my oral decree: transfer Ming Yueni to the Imperial Study to serve tea and grind ink. Also, have some new clothes made for her.”
“This servant obeys!”
Fu Lai’s face blossomed with a smile.
He was delighted in his heart; he had placed the right bet this time!
Turning to leave, Fu Lai saw Ming Yueni and beamed, opening his mouth to congratulate her first. “His Majesty has issued an oral decree for you to serve in the Imperial Study from now on. You must grasp this opportunity well!”
“Mhm, mhm.”
Ming Yueni was extremely perfunctory. In her heart, she only cared about one thing and hurriedly pressed him, “Eunuch Fu, did you see my mother and brother?”
Fu Lai nodded. “I saw them! Rest assured, your mother and brother have already moved into a side courtyard.”
Ming Yueni breathed a sigh of relief, and her face instantly broke into a brilliant, radiant, and incredibly beautiful smile.
It came from the bottom of her heart. With one smile, she was enchantingly beautiful; a hundred flowers could not compare to her loveliness.
Even an eunuch like Fu Lai was dazed by the sight.
The next second!
A sharp, piercing, and terrifying gaze landed on Fu Lai’s back, making him shiver with cold.
Fu Lai looked closely—it was His Majesty!
Beichen Yuan’s eyes were as dark as a deep wintry pool, staring at them frostily.
Smiling so brightly at a eunuch—it was truly an eyesore.
“Your Majesty!”
Seeing him, Ming Yueni was as joyful as a bird, racing to Beichen Yuan’s side.
Her face was like a hibiscus, shy and timid.
Her watery, lingering eyes, filled with threads of seductive affection, looked up at him fervently as she bowed.
“Your Majesty is so kind!”
“This servant will definitely serve Your Majesty well from now on!”
The corner of Beichen Yuan’s mouth curled up imperceptibly.
In just that one moment, his face returned to the unfathomable majesty of an Emperor. He looked down, staring intently at Ming Yueni.
“Answer me.”
Beichen Yuan’s cold eyes were deep and sharp, scrutinizing every tiny expression on her face as he asked, “What is ‘so big’? What did you see?”
Ming Yueni was thin-skinned; her face instantly turned the color of dripping blood.
“Why are your ears red?” Beichen Yuan asked intentionally, even reaching out to pinch them. They were soft and delicate; he found it hard to let go.
Kneading Ming Yueni’s earlobe, his voice was deep as he guided her: “Tell me the truth. I grant you permission to speak without taboo.”