Yun Yi’s head was stuck full of golden hairpins, her neck wrapped in layers of gold chains. The jade bracelets that had once covered her arms were nowhere to be seen, replaced entirely by heavy gold ornaments.
She craned her neck stiffly, dragging her steps. The weight of all that gold nearly crushed her small frame.
Xiao Zhi casually glanced toward the door without expression.
Minister Yan, standing outside with his hands behind his back, felt the emperor’s scrutiny and hurriedly tucked his sleeve to wipe dust off a shelf, pretending to be very busy.
“All done choosing? I’ll have someone send them over.”
Yun Yi spun around energetically and suddenly flashed her ten fingers.
Each finger was stacked with gold rings, layer upon layer—nearly a hundred in total.
“I’m Thanos!” She was suddenly rich! Her heart rate spiked to two hundred, barely containing her excitement.
“Keep your voice down,” the emperor said, his brow furrowing.
Was that a good look?
Her brows knitted together as she urged him, “Quick, lift up your robe!”
The emperor: “?”
“If I don’t take all this off soon, I’ll get heavy metal poisoning!”
Minister Yan peeked in and saw the emperor and that eunuch colluding like partners in crime, openly looting the treasury. The emperor pulled up the hem of his dragon robe, forming it into a pouch, while the young eunuch removed the ill-gotten gains one by one and dropped them into the makeshift bag.
What a relief! Yun Yi breathed in deeply the scent of money, satisfied. Her gaze swept over the upper shelves and suddenly stopped.
It was a thin, gold foil mask, engraved with a double-dragon-head totem. Amidst all the finely crafted gold pieces, it looked rather shabby.
Logically speaking, a double dragon would violate the emperor’s taboo. Even a single mountain couldn’t accommodate two tigers, let alone the entire realm?
The late emperor had refused to have this item melted down, simply because this gold had been refined from a meteorite.
“Like that mask? Take it.” The emperor moved to help her “procure” it.
The half-piece of gold foil unearthed in Xiao Family Village suddenly forced its way into Yun Yi’s mind, merging with the one before her.
She had always thought that pattern depicted a four-legged lizard.
But it turned out to be a dragon.
A rare, double-headed dragon.
That meant…
Yun Yi raised her head and looked deeply at Xiao Zhi.
The dream is real.
Did I really travel through time to your era?
Xiao Zhi didn’t quite understand. He only felt that this girl seemed to have something on her mind, like a mountain bandit who couldn’t move after spotting a priceless treasure.
Being uncharacteristically patient, he instructed Wang Delan to take away the large bundle of jade and gold items.
“Really not taking it?” Xiao Zhi removed the half-piece of gold foil, holding it between his fingers.
Yun Yi shook her head. “Antiques belong to all of humanity.”
Ha, this brat has suddenly become so benevolent. Xiao Zhi couldn’t figure out what she was thinking. He pressed his fingernail against the mask and, with the fluid strokes of a drifting dragon, traced a few lines.
“I’ll mark it for you,” he said calmly. “If you ever want it, just come and take it.”
Yun Yi stared blankly at the small cloud Xiao Zhi had casually drawn, deeply shaken for a long time.
.
Having just come out of the washroom, Yun Yi wound her way through the maze-like bedchamber when she suddenly heard the emperor’s scolding voice.
She leaned out to look. Wang Delan and Yu Lian’er were already kneeling on the ground.
“Who gave her the eunuch clothes?”
“Your servant did not, Your Majesty! You are most wise!”
“Was it you?”
“Your servant is wronged…”
“I stole them.” A clear, crisp voice broke in.
All the eunuchs and palace maids in the room wore expressions that said, Oh, merciful Guanyin Bodhisattva, you’ve finally come.
“Was the silver I gave you not enough to spend? You actually resorted to stealing eunuch clothes?” Xiao Zhi was exasperated at her wasted potential.
“Cosplay. You wouldn’t understand.”
Xiao Zhi truly didn’t understand, but he guessed it had something to do with “dressing up.”
The emperor wanted to add a few more reprimands: “If you had stolen a palace maid’s clothes, I wouldn’t even—”
“Is that any way to talk to your savior?” Yun Yi sat down behind the imperial desk, pushing aside the documents as if they were an eyesore. Resting her chin on one hand, she showed no fear of him whatsoever.
Xiao Zhi stared at the soft, fair cheek squished to one side. After a moment, he ground out, “Fine. You’re something else.” She had already learned to cash in on the favor of saving his life.
The emperor was furious.
Everyone held their breath.
Terrified the tyrant might lash out and punish Miss Yun. They were coarse-skinned servants, able to withstand a beating, but Miss Yun’s delicate skin—how could it endure such punishment?
A long moment passed.
Then the emperor, his face dark, said, “Go bring some honeyed pear meat.”
The servants grew even more terrified: “…?”
What kind of new punishment was this? Forcing someone to eat fruit preserves until they burst?
.
The next day, at court.
Wang Delan attended to the emperor as usual.
But today was especially strange. Minister Yue kept glancing at him.
Wang Delan’s scalp prickled under his gaze. He had no quarrel with Minister Yue, nor did his ancestors have any grievances with the Yue family’s forebears.
As for the next generation…
The Wang family’s line had long since ended. Minister Yue had only a legitimate daughter.
There would never be any connection in the future either.
The previous day, Yue Minye had received word that the emperor was acting very close with his personal eunuch.
Not only were their interactions intimate, but the emperor had even let the eunuch ride in his imperial carriage!
The source of the news wasn’t necessarily reliable. It was merely a craftsman squatting on a roof, laying bricks while renovating the emperor’s old residence, who had glimpsed it from afar.
After court, the emperor went to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager as usual.
It was normally a matter of a single cup of tea’s time. This mother and son, not related by blood, simply went through the motions.
Yet today, the Empress Dowager adopted an attitude that suggested she wouldn’t let the emperor leave.
“Does the Empress Dowager have instructions?”
“Your Majesty,” the Empress Dowager weighed her words, “Yue Minye’s legitimate daughter has completed her coming-of-age ceremony. I intend to have her come to the palace to watch a play.”
Such a trivial matter.
“The Empress Dowager may decide.”
“Your Majesty, occupied all day with state affairs, should also rest your eyes. Watch the play along with me.”
“I do not enjoy operatic plays.”
“Then what does Your Majesty like? I will arrange it.”
The Empress Dowager took a sip of tea. As the lid met the cup, her gaze swept toward Wang Delan, casting him a meaningful look.
Wang Delan’s brain spun furiously: When? Where? Had he offended Her Majesty the Empress Dowager?
The emperor swept his sleeve and left, leaving the Empress Dowager not a shred of face.
The Empress Dowager was displeased: “This emperor grows increasingly obstinate.”
Fifth Prince Xiao Li, who had come to visit his mother, said, “Mother, let him be obstinate. We’ll do what we need to do.”
The Empress Dowager understood immediately: “That Northern Di envoy?”
Xiao Li: “The household guards at Cen Ni’s mansion are quite skilled. My men only managed to determine which courtyard the envoy is staying in. They’re forcing down two bowls of medicine a day on him. The fact that he’s not dead yet is a testament to his luck.”
The Empress Dowager: “That boy absolutely cannot be allowed to live.”
Xiao Li: “I will act quickly.”
The Empress Dowager added, “There are rumors that the emperor has a taste for male favorites and is doting on that personal eunuch of his. No wonder he’s been reluctant to take anyone into his harem.”
Xiao Li’s eyes lit up: “A taste for males is good! I’ll send him some more actors. The more debauched he is, the better for us.”
The Empress Dowager shot him a sidelong glance and suddenly felt that her son was missing a screw.
“And how many years would that take? Will you wait until you’re fifty and know the will of Heaven before you sit in that chair?”
Xiao Li fell silent.
In matters of strategy, he was far beneath his mother. Without ruthless cunning, she could never have emerged from the bloody, corpse-strewn harem struggles to sit firmly on the throne as Empress Dowager.
“Find a way to get the emperor to come watch the play,” the Empress Dowager said, her plan already formed.
If Yue Minye’s legitimate daughter entered the emperor’s harem, she would inevitably discover the emperor’s preference for men. Yue Minye, a powerful figure at court, would then rally the ministers to attack the emperor’s conduct.
Once the matter escalated, that dragon throne might not remain steady.
When the time was ripe, Fifth Prince Xiao Li would ascend smoothly, and his title of Imperial Prince Zhao would naturally be changed to “Emperor Zhao.”
As for accusations of seizing the palace by force, they would be rebranded as a righteous act, simply following Heaven’s will and the people’s hearts.
.
All the gold, silver, and jewels she had picked from the treasury were packed away by Yun Yi.
Xiao Zhi was rather puzzled. “Not going to pick a couple pieces to wear?”
“They’re too expensive. What if I bump them?” Yun Yi was busy cutting paper and didn’t look up.
“Bump them, and you get new ones.”
“How can that be?” Those jade bracelets and hairpins—every single one was Sotheby’s auction-grade! She’d die of heartbreak if she chipped one.
“What are you doing?” The emperor set down a memorial and picked up one of her paper cutouts.
“Learning shadow puppetry from Sister Lian’er.” Yu Lian’er’s grandfather had been a shadow puppeteer who traveled the streets, and she had grown up immersed in it, learning from him. Yun Yi had picked up a few basics from her.
Xiao Zhi examined the paper cutouts, vaguely making out a little play about a talented scholar and a beautiful lady.
“Getting bored staying in the palace?”
Yun Yi said, “When I’m bored, I just look at my treasures, and I’m not bored anymore!”
“…” Quite honest, at least.
“Do you like listening to opera?”
“Beijing opera? Huangmei opera? Yue opera?” One new term after another popped out of Yun Yi’s mouth.
Although Xiao Zhi didn’t understand, he vaguely felt that the operas she was talking about were something like southern drama or variety plays.
So she liked them. He nodded. “Get dressed up. Tomorrow, you’ll come with me to listen to some opera.”
Dressed up? Yun Yi kicked up a gust of wind and ran off.
Xiao Zhi regretted speaking too quickly. What he meant by “dressed up” was precisely what Yun Yi called “cosplay”?
Before his thoughts even settled, a small whirlwind swept out from the inner chamber.
Yun Yi emerged with her head full of jewels and trinkets, her hands jingling and clanking: three hairpins, five bracelets, seven necklaces, nine rings—every spot that could hold something was covered.
“How is it?” So her understanding of “dressed up” meant piling on as much jewelry as possible.
“You look like…” The emperor, who hadn’t visited the countryside in too long, searched his memory. “I recall back in the village, I once saw a grave robber. That man had dug up the tomb of a former dynasty’s chancellor…”
The great hall was vast and empty. The emperor’s voice drifted ethereally as he narrated. Yun Yi’s mind wandered a bit. Was he about to start telling The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles?
Xiao Zhi: “That grave robber’s wife wore things from the tomb just like you.”
Yun Yi turned to stone.
Seeing her like that was truly amusing, so the emperor added a few more lines: “There was a luminous pearl. It had originally been stuffed into… but his wife didn’t understand and put it right in her mouth.”
“Wang Delan,” he turned his face away, “go find a set of short eunuch’s clothes for Miss Yun to wear when she listens to the opera.”
So that’s what he meant by “dressed up.”
Yun Yi trembled with rage. “Xiao! Zhi!”
.
The opera troupe invited by the Empress Dowager was the famous “Xie Family Troupe” of the imperial capital.
The palace theater had been freshly decorated. The members of the Xie Family Troupe had already changed into their costumes and performed the grand kowtow to the emperor and the Empress Dowager.
During the late emperor’s time, everything was done with extravagance and fanfare. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he had always acted with low-key restraint.
But today was somewhat different.
Behind Xiao Zhi followed dozens of eunuchs and palace maids. Even the guards, who usually remained hidden in the shadows, had changed their usual ways and stood in two conspicuous rows flanking him.
The Empress Dowager’s face showed displeasure. Was the emperor challenging her?
Among those eunuchs, aside from Wang Delan who was a familiar face, the rest were strangers. They stood beside the imperial seat, huddled in a short row. A few of them were even shorter than the palace maids.
The palace selects its people and ends up with all sorts of misfits. The Empress Dowager tightened her grip on her cup.
“Empress Dowager.” A sweet voice sounded beside her.
Yue Minye’s precious daughter, Yue Ying, smiled at the Empress Dowager. “Which play would you like to see?”
She handed up the playbill with both hands.
The Empress Dowager said flatly, “Let the emperor choose first.”
Yue Ying glanced discreetly toward the imperial seat. Many palace attendants stood on that side, among them a slight, thin young eunuch attending to the emperor’s tea.
She couldn’t see clearly, only that the early winter sunlight fell on one person, accentuating an authoritative yet powerful silhouette.
Yue Ying quickly withdrew her gaze, her cheeks instantly flushing hot.
The Empress Dowager took in that blush and the corner of her lips twitched. “Ying’er, go give the playbill to your imperial cousin-brother the emperor.”
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