Chapter 503: Arrival in Capital City 4
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The news of the eunuch from the imperial palace visiting the Head Grand Secretariat’s residence quickly reached the ears of many. Upon receiving the report, Zhu Shen immediately informed Li Ruoxuan of the matter. Hearing this, Li Ruoxuan smiled coyly, and his expression showed no surprise at all. Instead, he seemed like he had been expecting it.
After Li Ruoxuan waved his hand to signal Zhu Shen to leave, he walked leisurely into the Jingwu Courtyard.
Jingwu Courtyard was the courtyard arranged for Qi Qingyao. As he entered the central hall, he waited for a while before seeing a refreshed Qi Qingyao exiting her bedroom after having just had her bath and changing her attire. Her hair was still mildly wet.
It was clear that she had not yet applied any makeup on her face, nor was she wearing any luxurious clothing, or even any rouge or face powder. However, Li Ruoxuan felt like she was prettier than those finely dressed young women in Northern Liang who smelled of powder. It made his heart skip a beat, and he could not help but sneer.
“Why have you come out looking like this? Do you intend on taking this opportunity to flirt with me?”
“Tsk.” Qi Qingyao patted her hair dry with a cotton towel. Upon hearing what he had said, she angrily placed the towel on her head and responded with a half-smile, “Sir, don’t misunderstand. It’s because I heard the maids in your residence whispering about the State Preceptor visiting my courtyard. I’m now staying at your house, I wouldn’t dare to be tardy—so I hurriedly changed my clothes and came to meet you before I even had the chance to dry my hair. Who would’ve thought that my love and respect would be regarded as preparing to take the opportunity to flirt with you? What an absurd misunderstanding.”
Li Ruoxuan said, “Hmph!”
Qi Qingyao grabbed a piece of fruit from the tea tray and ate it as she asked, “What’s up? Tell me.”
Li Ruoxuan stared silently at this unruly little lady and her lazy stance, as though she did not care about him at all. He felt that this world had gone crazy. If any high-ranking officials outside witnessed this scene, they would be left so utterly dumbfounded that they would believe that the sun rose from the west too.
No one could be so casual in front of the ruthless and heartless State Preceptor.
However, only this woman was not bothered one bit.
Li Ruoxuan held his forehead and said, “What you said earlier was quite right.”
“What did I say?” Qi Qingyao was eating her fruit and thinking about going to the brothel that night!
Li Ruoxuan started the conversation leisurely. “You said that since I like you, I have to be sincere—so I allowed you to stay in my residence as well. That’s considered sincerity, right?”
“Yes.” Qi Qingyao agreed casually.
Li Ruoxuan stroked his chin and smiled very amusedly. “My second act of sincerity is to deliver to you some special news.”
“I’m all ears.” Qi Qingyao was still mildly languid.
Li Ruoxuan said impa.s.sively, “The empress summoned the Head Grand Secretariat to come to the palace and be presented to the empress.”
Qi Qingyao responded in confusion, “What does this news have to do with me, and what kind of sincerity is this?”
“I told you that someone from the countryside like you wouldn’t know of the disputes in the imperial court, nor understand the situation in the Capital.” Li Ruoxuan pretended to sneer sarcastically. Then he casually said, “Let me break it down for you.”
Seeing that Li Ruoxuan was going to tell her the secrets of the imperial court, Qi Qingyao hurriedly pretended to curry favor with him and handed a washed red date from the tea tray to Li Ruoxuan’s mouth, “Sir, have a date!~~”
Li Ruoxuan was taken aback and opened his mouth.
Qi Qingyao stuffed the red date from her hand into his mouth.
The second he bit into the red date, he glanced at Qi Qingyao strangely. He spoke softly while eating.
“Let’s not talk about the capital—let’s first discuss the empress.”
Qi Qingyao nodded.
Li Ruoxuan said rather meaningfully, “Why didn’t… the empress invite me, the State Preceptor? Instead, she invited the Head Grand Secretariat to the palace to meet Her Majesty first. Do you really not understand the meaning of this?”
Qi Qingyao thought about it for a while and said with good reason, “She values and trusts Jiang Yeqian more?”
Li Ruoxuan’s eyelids were half-closed. He said, “Yes, but that’s not entirely correct.”
Qi Qingyao stuffed another red date into his mouth and urged, “Don’t keep me guessing!”
Li Ruoxuan ate the date and responded calmly, “Both Jiang Yeqian and I are valued and trusted by the empress—but there are still some differences between us.” After a pause, he said with difficulty, “We entered the Capital together, but the empress first asked to see the Head Grand Secretariat alone…”
Seeing that he was stumbling over his words, Qi Qingyao said in frustration, “You’ve been talking for a long time but haven’t said a single sh*t of anything important. It’s a shame that I’m treating you to these dates!”
These were clearly his dates—who was treating who now? Li Ruoxuan said dumbfoundedly, “The empress is probably very unhappy with his resignation.”
Qi Qingyao sighed. She said while rubbing between her brows, “Having a backbone means leaving at a young age. If I was the empress, I’d be unhappy as well.”
Li Ruoxuan agreed with her. He suddenly asked, “What do you think of Jiang Yeqian’s appearance?”
Qi Qingyao was stunned for a moment. After a while, she hesitantly asked, “Why are you asking me this? Are you match-making?”
“From a bystander’s perspective.” Li Ruoxuan chuckled.
Qi Qingyao cautiously said, “Objectively speaking, he looks good.”
Li Ruoxuan covered the black eyepatch on his right eye and muttered, “He’s indeed good-looking—but for him and I to be on the same level, you should know how he got to where he is now. It’s just that he looks better than me, hence many oblivious young ladies from the capital fancy the Head Grand Secretariat very much—such as the daughters of ministers, young ladies of earls, and even the princess’ daughter… It’s rumored that if all the people who liked him formed a line, it would be enough to go around the imperial palace.”
“He’s the most eligible bachelor. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Why was he saying this?
Seeing at her still-naive mind, Li Ruoxuan asked calmly, “If all the women like him, how about the one in the imperial palace?”
“…” Qi Qingyao was stunned at first, then she opened her mouth wide and stared at Li Ruoxuan dumbfoundedly.
She froze for a long time.
Not a word was said.
It was not until Li Ruoxuan grabbed a red date from the tea tray and stuffed it into her mouth that she returned to her senses.
Qi Qingyao ate the date quickly and spit out the core, then said very calmly, “F*cking h.e.l.l, you mean to say that the empress likes him too?!”
“That’s why you were not summoned when you returned to the Capital, and Jiang Yeqian was summoned alone?”
…
Li Ruoxuan’s smile was very intriguing. “Having said that, take a guess at what the empress will say when he is called into the palace.”
“Wait, wait a minute! I’m a bit confused now!” Qi Qingyao felt like this was a lot for her to process. She hastily grasped a clue and said, “If the empress really likes Jiang Yeqian, and he has been in the Capital City as the Head Grand Secretariat for so many years, there’s no reason for Her Majesty to just fancy him yet not act on it.” It just did not make sense.
Li Ruoxuan casually said, “Her Majesty is still a woman, so she’s reserved and prefers to wait for the man to take the initiative.”
“Oh~~~” It made sense, but, “How do you know that the empress likes him?” Could it be that the State Preceptor also gossiped?
Li Ruoxuan said with a straight face, “Occasionally we would go to the imperial study together to discuss important matters such as military secrets. When the empress looked at me, her att.i.tude was normal. Every time she looks at him, her eyes seem to sparkle. I’m not an idiot!”
Qi Qingyao, “I heard that the two of you don’t get along, and that you’ve always wanted to kill him…” Why was that? She looked at him curiously.
Li Ruoxuan’s smile suddenly became extremely enigmatic. After a pause, he said, “Beauty jeopardizes the nation, little girl.”
“…Tsk tsk.” Qi Qingyao laughed and thought to herself, should it not be ‘male beauty jeopardizes the nation’?! Was he afraid that the empress would get caught up in it and give the country to Jiang Yeqian? Maybe he was afraid Jiang Yeqian would become the male version of Daji (TN: A mythical fox spirit and concubine of the last Shang Dynasty Emperor Zhou Xin) who would tarnish the law and order of the country, hehe~
“If I don’t nip this in the bud, one day, he will be the empress’ downfall—so he must die.” Li Ruoxuan stated calmly.
Qi Qingyao asked in confusion, “Do you still want to kill him even now?”
Li Ruoxuan shook his head and said, “Ever since he made plans to resign, I knew there was no longer a need to kill this person. He might want to have some breakthrough on his path of cultivation! Besides, him being able to resign so casually indicates that he never really reciprocated the empress’ feelings.” Also, that he was a blockhead. He had not realized that the empress liked him!
Li Ruoxuan continued, “Just now, I asked you to guess what the empress would say when he entered the palace. You’re so smart—you could definitely make one or two educated guesses.”
This was all imperial gossip. Qi Qingyao racked her brains for a long time before saying vaguely, “She’ll probably say that he had left the imperial palace for too long this time. That the empress misses him and wants to see him, so she summoned him hastily.”
“What else?” Li Ruoxuan wanted to know her thoughts. “You’re a lady, so guess with a lady’s heart.”
Qi Qingyao ate another red date and sipped her tea solemnly. Then, she made a bold guess. “Could it be that the empress had been waiting for him to confess, but he had been out of town the past few months and had even handed in his letter of resignation—causing the Empress to panic. This time, upon his return to the Capital to report his duties, the empress plans to confess her feelings for him directly and see what he has to say.”
“Continue.” Li Ruoxuan was very pleased with her train of thought.
Qi Qingyao’s eyes and brows furrowed as she said, “The empress is not young but is still unmarried and still hasn’t had any children. It’s normal for her to get anxious. She might threaten him this time!!”
“Great minds think alike.” Li Ruoxuan’s smile was very cryptic.
Qi Qingyao could not hold it in anymore. “F*ck, does that mean that Jiang Yeqian is about to rise to the top and become a phoenix?!”
“…” Could the phrase ‘rise to the top and become a phoenix’ be used when speaking about a man? Li Ruoxuan did not know whether to laugh or cry at the way she thought!
Qi Qingyao stroked her chin and muttered rather seriously, “If he marries the empress, will he be the queen in the future?”
“Pfft!”
Li Ruoxuan could not help but burst out laughing upon hearing the word ‘queen’.
He suddenly looked forward to what might happen when Jiang Yeqian visited the palace today.
If the empress really confessed her feelings and threatened him, he wondered what expression the Head Grand Secretariat would have!
He figured that he would most likely be distressed.
After all, to accompany the empress was like living with a tiger!
The empress’s confession was not something ordinary people could easily refuse.
He might be beheaded if he did not handle it well.
However, Li Ruoxuan knew exactly the kind of person Jiang Yeqian was. He had never liked anyone for so many years, and was not interested in the empress as well! Now…
Li Ruoxuan’s gaze landed on Qi Qingyao.
This little girl was clearly an unmarried single mother who did not keep to feminine principles—getting pregnant and birthing three children! However, Jiang Yeqian was very much interested in her. He was very hardcore!