At first he’d thought it was rather good — even if the man had grown even more milky-mannered, at least it no longer made him feel awkward. After all, he himself had no interest in men, nor any intention of taking to cut sleeves, and being stared at by a man all day certainly wasn’t comfortable.
But hearing today, out of nowhere, that he was to be married, the Emperor found something not quite sitting right within him.
The feeling had nothing to do with romantic affection — it was more a kind of habit. He’d grown used to Hua Jinghua devoting his entire heart and mind to him every day — revising memorials, arguing with him, going to every length to get him to heed his advice. Even though there was a chance the man had cut-sleeve tendencies, which the Emperor found distasteful, he had to admit Hua Jinghua was a most capable Prime Minister.
Marriage shouldn’t make any real difference, surely — but young and vigorous as he was, full of hot blood, might he not become distracted by a woman?
A jumble of thoughts crowded his mind, and Yuwen Jie stared at Huo Consort, lost in thought.
Hua Liuying couldn’t quite read the Emperor’s mind, but she knew the Emperor didn’t like her elder brother. After mulling it over for a moment, she murmured quietly, “Actually, this humble consort thinks Elder Brother’s marriage might just be for show.”
“Hm?” Yuwen Jie came back to himself and lowered his eyes to look at her.
Hua Liuying said, “When this humble consort was young, living in the Hua residence, I never once saw Elder Brother grow close to any woman. Plenty of people in the household thought Elder Brother had… peculiar tastes, that he didn’t care for women. As the years passed with him still unmarried, more and more people began to gossip. This humble consort thinks that his marrying now carries no small amount of pretense in it.”
The Emperor paused slightly, his gaze deepening as he looked at the woman before him.
He liked clever people, and disliked those with so little sense. It seemed that even now, Huo Consort still didn’t understand why she’d been demoted last time — it wasn’t simply that she had slandered the sitting Prime Minister, but that for her own selfish desires, she’d shown no regard at all for her own elder brother. A woman like that struck him as frightening.
And now, Hua Liuying still showed not the slightest sign of improvement.
The Emperor rose, no longer looking at her, and turned to walk out.
Hua Liuying panicked, clearly sensing the Emperor was angry with her again — but why? She had clearly only gone along with what the Emperor wanted, speaking ill of Hua Jinghua as she thought he’d always liked to hear. So why did it seem lately that nothing she said could please him anymore?
The Emperor’s heart truly was impossible to fathom — truly, utterly impossible to fathom!
Watching helplessly as the dragon robe vanished out the door, Hua Liuying finally came to her senses and burst once more into loud weeping.
She truly hated Hua Jinghua to the bone. If not for him, everything would be fine — without him, she’d surely still be living happily by the Emperor’s side, surely able to bring the Hua family even more glory! It was all because of him that her mother was so unhappy, and that she herself had ended up confined alone in the cold palace.
Hua Jinghua ought to have died long ago!
The Emperor returned by carriage to Zichen Hall. He didn’t keep dwelling on the matter of Hua Jinghua, but somehow, inexplicably, he couldn’t sleep all night.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, Yuwen Jie was already seated in the audience hall.
The civil and military officials were still chatting and laughing on their way to the Xuanzheng Hall, but the moment they stepped in and saw the figure seated up above, every one of them was stunned, thinking they had arrived late, and hurried in a panic to their places in the two columns, trembling with fear.
The Emperor’s face showed not a ripple of expression, his gaze fixed intently on the entrance.
Hua Chun had risen a bit late that day. For some reason, the several elder officials who usually came to fetch her hadn’t come these past few days; passing them on the road, she saw them from a distance, but they didn’t come over to greet her either.
The whole way there she pondered the reason. If it was about the disaster relief matter — the case had already been dismissed, and no one’s actual interests had been harmed. Given how they’d always supported Prime Minister Hua before, it seemed unlikely there’d still be any lingering resentment. And even if there were some resentment, it shouldn’t have led to them keeping their distance — after all, they still needed her as a shield, didn’t they?
So she truly couldn’t figure out why.
Head lowered, Hua Chun stepped into the Xuanzheng Hall and felt the atmosphere was somehow different from usual. She looked up — the Emperor was already seated up above?
She glanced back at the still-gray sky outside — she felt certain she wasn’t late. So what was going on?
Bracing herself, Hua Chun took her place in line without a word.
“Everyone is present.” Yuwen Jie said. “If there is business, present it.”
The memorials Hua Chun had received the day before weren’t especially numerous, and the important ones had already been reported, so she thought today’s morning court likely wouldn’t be particularly eventful.
But, unexpectedly, the moment the Emperor’s words fell, Li Zhongtang stepped forward and reported, “Your servant reports: the disaster relief has been arranged. The relief silver is already en route, with a supervising official accompanying it, and no corruption has occurred. The people of the capital praise it widely.”
Hua Chun blinked in surprise and glanced at him.
Was this remark meant to slight her?
Grand Tutor Tang glanced her way and gave a slight shake of his head, then also stepped forward. “The Six Ministries council has concluded, recommending three officials for key posts. The list is here for Your Majesty’s review.”
These were all matters that ought to have been written up as memorials and passed through the Prime Minister to reach the Emperor — but this time, both of them had bypassed her entirely and reported directly at court.
The atmosphere in the hall grew a little awkward; even Yuwen Jie noticed it. It seemed Hua Jinghua was being frozen out.
Why, though? Could it be that because he himself had always shown such open dislike for the man, everyone else had followed suit and grown to dislike him too?
Watching the young man below to the right, whose expression had turned somewhat awkward, the Emperor pressed his lips together, feeling for the first time that the man was truly blameless in this.
Still, he had no intention of helping him with anything — everything would depend entirely on his own abilities.
“Bring it up, then.”
Seeing that the Emperor had nothing further to say, the officials below grew somewhat more emboldened, and one after another began speaking up freely, so that this morning court unexpectedly ran a full four hours.
Hua Chun didn’t say a single word throughout. At first she felt somewhat awkward, not understanding the reason, but afterward she came to terms with it — officialdom, after all, was also a place where the strong preyed on the weak, and forming factions was never really the right path. She would simply do her own duty well; as for the rest, it wasn’t something she could control.
In this world, the role of Prime Minister was rather like that of a class monitor — collecting memorials, reporting the state of the court to the Emperor. It shouldn’t have been difficult, in principle, but Hua Jinghua had always been far too conscientious, taking everything upon his own shoulders, blocking back any improper memorials himself — just like a class monitor helping the whole class with their homework. Such a devoted, tireless Prime Minister truly was hard to come by.
But it seemed they had no intention of appreciating it.
Since they didn’t appreciate it, she was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet instead. Once court ended, she left the palace cheerfully, off to go build rapport with Qing Niao.
“Li Zhongtang.” Grand Tutor Tang caught up with the man ahead of him, looking somewhat concerned. “Are we really doing the right thing here?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Li Zhongtang said. “You saw it yourself — hand all that authority to that green young whippersnapper, and he’ll go about doing things that harm everyone’s interests without a second thought. He ought to be taught a lesson.”
“But…” Grand Tutor Tang frowned, muttering. “Isn’t this a bit much? The Prime Minister has also been wholeheartedly devoted to the state. Doing this to him — I fear it will chill his heart.”
“It won’t.” Li Zhongtang said. “You’ve seen how long the Emperor has treated him coldly, and he’s shown no reaction at all. Besides, holding a position as high as Prime Minister — what is there left to be chilled about? Set your mind at ease.”
Was that really so? Grand Tutor Tang fell silent.
The court officials, too, had their own circles. He, Li Zhongtang, and General Meng were all part of the pro-Emperor faction, but for some reason, this time Li Zhongtang and General Meng had actually begun to target the Prime Minister, holding a private meeting and deciding to give the Prime Minister a bit of a warning.
Everyone was doing it for the Emperor’s sake, he told himself, and so he didn’t press the matter any further, leaving the palace together with the others.
Hua Chun had just stepped down from her palanquin when she saw Qing Niao waiting for her at the gate of the Hua residence.
She had to admit, Qing Niao really was an exceptionally well-behaved girl — never one for many words, always following at her side with the eyes of a kitten looking up at its master, doing whatever she was told without question.
Toward a girl like that, Hua Chun had never had much resistance; she found herself wanting to dote on her like a little sister.
“It’s so hot out — why did you come out to wait?” Asking this gently, Hua Chun found herself momentarily struck by the illusion that she really was a man, half-tempted to flex her arm and admire her own biceps.
Qing Niao smiled at her — not a coquettish smile, but a warm, familiar one, the kind between close friends — and said softly, “It’s just that the weather is so hot today, my lord’s mood might not be very good, so I came to wait at the gate, to take you back and have some sweet lotus-seed and white fungus soup.”
What a remarkable girl, to even sense her mood might be off today. Hua Chun smiled and followed her inside.
As for her mood — pretending it was fine would be a lie; after all, anyone who’d been frozen out like that would feel some sting. But it wasn’t enough to leave her unable to eat or sleep — after all, what others thought was their own business, and how she conducted herself was hers to decide. She couldn’t very well abandon her own principles just to fall in line with them and become an ordinary Prime Minister.
Then she wouldn’t be the protagonist anymore.
When it came to the matter of being “the protagonist,” Hua Chun still held quite firmly to the idea — after all, protagonists had plot armor, and that was far too precious a thing to give up! So she was determined to keep to Hua Jinghua’s own style, and be a good Prime Minister.
“I should have some free time coming up.” After finishing the soup, Hua Chun looked at Qing Niao somewhat hesitantly. “Do you still have any family?”
Qing Niao was taken aback, looked at her steadily, then shook her head. “No more. My parents both passed away long ago.”
Such a poor girl. Hua Chun pressed her lips together. “Then… how about marrying me?”—it wouldn’t necessarily involve a wedding night either…”
“Yes.”
Before she’d even finished speaking, the girl had already agreed.
Hua Chun was a little stunned, looking at her. “What I mean is marriage — meaning you’d belong only to me from now on, the kind with a proper wedding ceremony.”
“I understand, my lord.” Qing Niao smiled, her eyes clear and untroubled. “Without you, my lord, I would never have been able to escape that pit of fire. So whatever my lord wishes of me, I am willing.”
How could a girl from ancient times be so pure and endearing? Hua Chun’s heart nearly melted, and she felt even guiltier. “There’s a chance… we won’t be able to consummate the marriage. I… I don’t have much interest in women.”
Slightly startled, Qing Niao gave a soft laugh, her eyes curving into crescents. “It’s all right. I understand that my lord is being kind, wanting to spare me a lifetime of security — that’s why you’ve resorted to this.”