The main hall of the Zhou residence was filled with kneeling figures, extending all the way to the outer courtyard.
Among them was a pregnant woman about to give birth, supported by her maidservant, her belly heavy as she too prepared to kneel.
“Get up, get up—pregnant women come first!” Yun Yi went to help her up.
She shot a glare in another direction, her tone utterly arrogant: “Don’t you know to respect the elderly and care for the young? Sitting in the priority seat at such a young age?”
The pregnant woman looked terrified, glancing uneasily at the man in the armchair.
Those kneeling below lowered their heads even further.
The man rose slowly, leaving the armchair for the pregnant woman. “Have a seat.”
“…” Trembling, she sat down in the “priority seat.”
“Minister Zhou, the Zhou household should pay more attention to the care of women and children.”
Imperial Physician Zhou, with his entire household kneeling, said: “This old minister will remember Your Majesty’s instruction.”
In the corner of everyone’s vision, beside the Emperor’s robe, bloomed a flower like rosy clouds.
Yun Yi was wearing an old dress of the Zhou family’s eldest daughter-in-law—when she had first married into the Zhou family, she had a slender figure, and the ruqun fit Yun Yi perfectly.
Her sleeve was grasped by Xiao Zhi, so she could only use her other hand to lift the hem, her steps so quick she seemed about to take flight.
“Where are we going?”
“To take you around.”
.
The Emperor was traveling incognito.
The two didn’t take a carriage, but strolled leisurely through the streets.
After walking a while, Yun Yi found that the beads on her embroidered shoes had gotten clogged with mud.
She waved casually like hailing a cab and called over a coachman by the roadside. Xiao Zhi followed her into the carriage.
The carriage was small, without any refined incense. The curtain was tied at a small corner with a cord, revealing the outside—the most bustling Jinfang Street in the capital.
The smell of barbecue wafted through the air.
The pork shop owner had slaughtered a pig yesterday and distributed the meat to the locals, but still found it insufficient. Today, he slaughtered a small pig and set up a charcoal grill at the shop entrance. The glossy grilled meat curled at the edges with a golden, crispy crust.
The carriage stopped in front of the shop.
The young man and woman stepped out one after another.
The shop assistant came forward and handed a skewer of grilled meat to the young lady.
Yun Yi took it with a smile, her eyes darting toward Xiao Zhi: Pay up.
As Emperor, he carried no money on him. All the funds were with the assistant squad, who hadn’t caught up yet. Xiao Zhi could only say softly: “I don’t have any silver.”
The shop assistant quickly explained: “Our master’s son just passed the imperial examinations—the owner is overjoyed, no charge!”
Xiao Zhi thanked him.
Yun Yi bit into her skewer, chewing happily: “…Free food is the best!”
Xiao Zhi didn’t know what she meant, but her expression looked every bit like a true tyrant.
Fortunately, Wang Delan, disguised as a servant, had caught up. At a single look from Xiao Zhi, Wang Delan immediately offered up a large silver ingot.
Seeing Xiao Zhi’s extraordinary bearing, the shop owner politely declined the money.
“Honored sir, I, Wang, am a butcher by trade. This shop still lacks an elegant name. If you could grace it with a name, this favor—”
Xiao Zhi reached out and pulled back the girl who had wandered off to the sugar-figure stall next door.
“Help the owner think of a shop name.”
Yun Yi’s head was buzzing, her heart and eyes full of sugar figures. She said offhandedly: “Qingbei Meat Shop.”
The owner: “…?”
Qingbei—what did that mean?
Xiao Zhi looked at him deeply: “That’s it. If you don’t use it…” I’ll kill your whole family.
Just then, the successful candidate arrived with his wife and child. The wife was holding a child that looked like a little monkey.
The wife smiled: “Husband, the name Qingbei Meat Shop isn’t bad.”
The candidate: “Get me a brush—I’ll write it up right now. Thank you, honored sir, for the name!”
.
The two strolled on, sweeping through the streets in a shopping spree.
Yun Yi held a sugar figure shaped like a mountain bird in her mouth, the sweetness seeping into her heart. Her gaze fell ahead.
A crowd had gathered to watch something.
What was that?
“Let’s go see.” Xiao Zhi lightly grasped her wrist, and the two wove through the bustling street like two fish, cutting against the current of people.
Yun Yi: “Slow down—my sugar figure!”
Xiao Zhi took the sugar figure from her and raised it high.
Today, he was an Emperor with a strong sense of service.
At the center of the crowd was a peddler carrying a novel treasure-basket of wares—all sorts of little trinkets, fascinating to behold.
Most of the onlookers were women with children.
“Mother, I want a windmill!”
“Mother! Clay figurines, clay figurines!”
“Mother—! I want a kite!”
Whichever child’s voice was the loudest, the peddler would aim his treasure-basket in that direction.
The crowd was packed three layers deep, both inside and out.
On the outermost edge, Yun Yi could only fret in vain.
She couldn’t exactly squeeze in among the children, could she?
“What do you want?” Xiao Zhi turned his head, still holding Yun Yi’s half-eaten sugar figure.
Yun Yi swayed left and right, her gaze slipping like a fish through the gaps in the crowd, trying to focus on the treasure-basket on the peddler’s back: “There are so many people—I can’t see clearly.”
Can’t see clearly?
As if defying her, the peddler suddenly spun his back to the other side. Yun Yi stood on tiptoe, craning her neck.
Just then, she happened to spot the butcher shop owner’s daughter-in-law.
She hoisted the little monkey-like child onto her neck. The boy sat astride his mother’s shoulders, looking immensely proud.
“Shopkeeper, my son wants a clay figurine! Let him pick one!”
“Right away!” The peddler nimbly turned around.
Xiao Zhi seemed to ponder something. He stuck the sugar figure’s bamboo stick into Yun Yi’s hair bun.
Yun Yi: “?”
The next moment, exclamations burst out. Xiao Zhi hoisted her up with both hands, effortlessly settling her onto his right shoulder.
Just then, a wave of spring breeze swept through, puffing her skirt into a bud-like curve.
Xiao Zhi pressed a hand over the “bud,” keeping the tips of her embroidered shoes from showing. His deep, resonant voice rose like a thunderclap, crashing into the ears of the women and children: “Shopkeeper—my lady wants everything!”
Yun Yi: “!”
Her hands flailed in the air, finally bracing herself on the only point of support—Xiao Zhi’s crowned hair—gripping it desperately.
At her waist, a steady palm suddenly pressed.
“Don’t worry—you won’t fall.”
“…” Was that the issue?!
Out of the corner of her eye, the women’s eyes widened as they stared at Yun Yi, hiding their smiles behind their sleeves, whispering among themselves.
Clay figurines, kites, windmills, tassels… Xiao Zhi single-handedly cleared out the treasure-basket.
“Why aren’t you happy?” Xiao Zhi saw the sugar bird still perched on her head, looking rather ridiculous, and quickly took it down.
Yun Yi had realized: someone used to being a leader has no concept of embarrassment.
She deliberately hid behind Xiao Zhi to escape those women’s burning gazes.
Xiao Zhi, unfazed, licked the bird’s wing—sweet.
“Not satisfied with the shopping? Let’s go further ahead.”
Yun Yi: “What’s fun up ahead?” Hopefully not another show designed to embarrass her.
“Want to see the flowers?”
“How about going to the theater?”
“Or maybe a boat ride?”
The Emperor, usually sparing with words, had become talkative today.
Like a tour guide enthusiastically arranging every activity for a one-day group tour.
By the time the day trip ended, she would return to her ordinary life—those souvenir photos and trinkets bought at tourist spots would all be swept into some corner of her mind, filed away as “a happy day.”
“Beijing city guide” Xiao Zhi pointed to a spot, his sleeve rising in a streak of light through the sun. Yun Yi took his forearm and ran into a hair accessory shop.
So she wanted to buy a pearl hairpin?
Such mundane things… Xiao Zhi glanced over the kingfisher-feather hairpins on the display racks—a bit rough in quality. But if she liked them, picking a few for fun wouldn’t hurt.
Seeing the distinguished bearing of the two guests, the shop assistant eagerly presented a spiral step-shaking hairpin: “Miss, this style is currently the most popular among noble ladies—”
The young man stopped that presumptuous hand, not letting the assistant come close.
“Introduce it properly.” His sharp dark eyes swept over him.
The assistant shrank his neck: this man was fierce.
Yun Yi spoke gently: “Sorry, do you have any men’s hair ribbons?”
Xiao Zhi was slightly surprised.
Her hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, and she made him sit.
In the bronze mirror was a handsome side profile—he was tilting his head, his gaze chasing after the girl.
Yun Yi unfolded a hair ribbon—smoke-blue silk embroidered with a crane pattern.
She straightened his face with her fingers. “Look in the mirror.”
In the bronze mirror, the young lady gazed intently at the young man’s hair.
Their eyes met in the reflection.
“Does it look good?” Yun Yi held up the ribbon to compare.
Those deer-like eyes looked at him serenely, without a trace of impurity—only his reflection mirrored in them.
Xiao Zhi: “It looks good.”
“Boss.” Yun Yi was in high spirits, striking the pose of a bulk buyer. “This one, that one… and give me all the colors!”
In the bronze mirror, the young man touched his own head.
He wasn’t an eight-headed monster, was he?
Even after they had walked far away, Yun Yi could still hear the shop assistant calling out: “Miss, bring your young master again sometime!”
Xiao Zhi pondered something.
When they entered the shop, the assistant had been very warm toward him. But after they bought nothing but men’s hair ribbons, the assistant only paid attention to Yun Yi on their way out.
He thought to himself: Could it be that the man thought he was…
“Ah, there’s a clothing shop ahead!”
“…I’m not going.”
“Master Xiao~ Let’s go, let’s go—please?”
“…”
Xiao Zhi was dragged into the shop by the wealthy Miss Yun.
Yun Yi pointed at the clothes and ordered: “This one, that one… take them all!”
The guards’ hands were full of bundles.
They were products from all kinds of shops in the capital.
His young lady was mesmerized by all the new styles and, overwhelmed by the shopkeeper and assistants’ barrage of “Miss, this style is perfect for your young master,” had gone on a shopping frenzy.
For a moment, Wang Delan, disguised as a servant, grew anxious.
He worried inwardly: Buying so many things—His Majesty won’t use them, really won’t use them.
The two shopped from dusk until dark.
Even a martial artist’s feet were starting to ache, but this young lady, who knew no martial arts, remained light on her feet, her eyes sparkling like fireflies—clearly drunk on shopping.
“There’s a tavern ahead with good food—shall we eat there?”
Yun Yi looked ahead.
Rows of hexagonal lanterns hung from the tavern’s eaves, like a cluster of orange-red persimmons.
“Let’s eat.” Xiao Zhi just wanted to find a place to rest.
Amid the clinking of cups and toasting.
The shop assistant pushed open the private room door and brought in freshly brewed Qionghua wine.
Yun Yi grabbed the silver wine flask: “I’ll pour for the Em—”
Yu Lian’er covered her mouth, reminding her: “Miss, the young master went downstairs to pick out a cricket for you.”
Yu Lian’er propped open the carved window a crack, and a head squeezed through the gap.
From four stories up, the people below shrank to the size of miniature figurines in a display cabinet.
Xiao Zhi was intently waiting for a craftsman to weave a palm-leaf cricket. The night wind lifted his hair ribbon, carrying the gentle fragrance of fresh leaves.
Yun Yi stared fixedly, lost in thought: How she wished she had a figurine of him. Locked deep in a cabinet, for her eyes alone.
The moment Xiao Zhi stepped back into the private room, he saw Yun Yi sprawled across the table, two rosy clouds floating on her cheeks.
He dangled the cricket before her eyes: Like it?
Deep greens and light greens interwoven—the cricket was vividly lifelike, especially the red berries for eyes, gleaming brilliantly under the bright lamplight.
Wang Delan remembered the Emperor’s lesson: the craftsman had run out of red berries for the finishing touch, so the Emperor had removed his jade pendant and taken the two coral beads from the tassel knot…
Yun Yi’s eyes crossed as she fixed them on those coral eyes.
Xiao Zhi sensed something was off. His gaze swept over Yu Lian’er, who immediately dropped to her knees: “Miss—she drank too much Qionghua wine.”
The cricket’s antennae touched Yun Yi’s nose. Xiao Zhi, as if fishing, asked her: “What’s wrong with you?”
The young lady hugged the wine flask to her chest, her eyes chasing the cricket back and forth.
“I—I was testing the food for the young master… the dishes aren’t poisoned… they’re safe to eat…” She said it with such solemnity, as if she had been entrusted with a great mission. “Now reward me!”
Xiao Zhi picked up a few of her favorite dishes: “Minister Yun, what reward do you desire? Almond cake, salt-crisp chicken… is this enough?”
“Wow, you’re so stingy.” Yun Yi patted her chest, exuding a boldness as if sharing the Emperor’s fate, the flower pin in her hair trembling like butterfly wings. “At least give me an official title.”
The shop assistant stood at the door with a plate of crystal shrimp, wanting to enter but not daring to. The young lady was clearly drunk—uttering such treasonous words so lightly.
Careful, be careful!
But the young master played along perfectly, asking her: “What title do you want? Censor-in-Chief? Prime Minister? Chief Astronomer?”
The shop assistant’s legs went weak: The young lady was ignorant, but even this refined, jade-like young master was indulging her folly?
Disaster comes from careless words!
Yun Yi took a gulp of wine and propped up her dizzy head with her cat-like paws: “None of that is fun…”
Xiao Zhi toyed with the cricket, using its wings to tap her cheek: “How about I make you Emperor?”
The shop assistant’s hand trembled—the shrimp on the plate seemed to come alive, quivering violently: Outrageous!
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