Grand Tutor Tang didn’t get to speak with Hua Chun for very long before he was put back onto the prisoner’s cart and taken away. Hua Chun ran back to He Chang’an’s side, her eyes bright with energy as she looked at him. “It’s settled. Let’s head back.”

“Mm.” He Chang’an nodded, and without thinking reached out to pat the head of the person in front of him.

Hua Chun froze, and looking up, saw that He Chang’an’s eyes were as gentle as water, glimmering with a light that could only be called “fond.”

She used to think Hua Jinghua was her idol, but now that her idol had turned into an idol of the female persuasion, the new leading idol could only be He Chang’an. This man carried himself with such elegance, his features handsome and refined, and more importantly he was gentle with people and could see right through worldly affairs — he gave her a tremendously dependable feeling.

But her idol treated her like his son.

This feeling… was truly maddening…

They rode back to the palace together in the carriage, and He Chang’an asked her, “How did it feel, getting married?”

Hua Chun nodded honestly. “Pretty good. From now on there’s someone who’ll keep the lamp lit at night waiting for me to come home.”

“Oh?” His brow lifted slightly. He Chang’an said, “Is Qing Niao taking good care of you? Attending to you properly?”

What did he mean by “attending to”? Hua Chun lowered her head and pretended not to understand. “Very properly. Second Brother needn’t worry so much.”

“Then I can rest easy.” He Chang’an laughed. “This should thoroughly put an end to those rumors about you preferring men. Once you have a fat baby boy next year, the Hua family will finally have an heir.”

He really was just like her mother, even bringing up the matter of descendants.

Whenever she ran into someone this naggy, Hua Chun only wanted to do one thing — throw her arm around the person’s shoulder and, grinning cheekily, turn the question back on him. “What about you, Second Brother?”

“Hm?” He Chang’an blinked.

“Aren’t you thinking about taking a proper wife yet? Having your little brother produce an heir before you do would be improper.”

He Chang’an fell silent, then let out a long sigh. “I’m not in a hurry.”

“How can you not be in a hurry?” Hua Chun grew anxious. “With genes as good as yours, you can’t just let them go to waste in the long river of history! You have to marry a beautiful girl and have lots of children, for the benefit of future generations!”

“…What?” He Chang’an looked blank. Genes?

“What I mean is,” Hua Chun gave a couple of dry laughs and quickly backpedaled, “with your good looks, if you have lots of kids, they’ll surely all be good-looking too.”

“What use is good looks?” A trace of melancholy crossed his brow. “A true confidant is hard to find. Having only a fine appearance just attracts shallow people. In the end you never win real sincerity.”

Huh? He seemed to have some real worries. Hua Chun blinked. “Second Brother, have you never met someone you liked?”

“No.” He Chang’an turned to look at her and asked, “What kind of person counts as someone you like?”

That question was far too profound. Hua Chun lowered her head and thought hard for a while, digging through her memory for some inspirational-sounding line, then said with a deeply thoughtful expression, “The person you like is the one who makes you feel that she alone is a view worth savoring above all others.”

He Chang’an shot her a sideways glance. “Explain it more plainly.”

“It’s that being with her makes you happier than being with anyone else. When you don’t see her you miss her, you often dream about her, and when you spot her from far away you can’t take your eyes off her.” Hua Chun thought a moment more and added, “Here’s another way to put it — if you’re out and about and see something interesting, and the first person you think of wanting to share it with is her, then you’ve fallen for her.”

That simple? He Chang’an thought about it for a long while, looking a bit lost, then smiled and nodded. “I understand now.”

“Good that you understand. Find me a sister-in-law soon,” Hua Chun said, chuckling, and turned her head away.

Her heart was bleeding! With her current awkward identity, even her idol had to be handed off to someone else — truly, disasters brought on by heaven can still be survived, but disasters brought on by oneself cannot.

Still, it would be a good thing if He Chang’an married soon, so she wouldn’t have to keep watching something she could see but never have, drooling uselessly onto her pillow.

Perhaps some knot in his heart had come undone, because He Chang’an was in an excellent mood, and all the way back to the palace he chatted and laughed with Hua Chun. It looked as though rainbows hung over both their heads, the mood between them warm and easy.

But the moment they stepped into the Purple Dawn Hall, they found the emperor staring grimly into a mirror. Hearing them enter, he set down what was in his hands and glared at them with a darkened face. “Back only now?”

The rainbow over their heads instantly turned to storm clouds. Hua Chun bowed along with He Chang’an, then pressed her lips together and went to stand beside the emperor.

“We were delayed a while on the road,” she said. “Shall I read the memorials to you now, Your Majesty?”

Yuwen Jie had originally meant to say the memorials were already mostly revised, but after a moment’s thought he nodded anyway. “Go ahead.”

He Chang’an cupped his hands. “This humble subject still has matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave of the palace.”

He had essentially just served as a bodyguard on Hua Jinghua’s outing.

“Mm.” The emperor nodded.

Hua Chun quickly added in a low voice, “Second Brother, remember to stop by my residence and check on Qing Niao. Tell them I’m doing fine, so they don’t need to worry.”

He Chang’an nodded, winked at her to show he understood, then strode off with easy grace.

Those peach-blossom eyes of his practically sparkled! Hua Chun stared foolishly at his retreating back and gave a silly little laugh.

Yuwen Jie frowned at her, then went back to reflecting on himself. Should his own expression be gentler, like Chang’an’s? Otherwise he always came across as frightening, which was why Hua Jinghua kept giving him that sickeningly ingratiating look — how awkward.

But — should he smile?

Unable to resist, he pulled out his small mirror again and, looking at the person reflected in it, tried to curl his lips upward.

“Your Majesty.” Hua Chun turned her head and was met with his ferocious grimace, and jumped back in fright. “Do your teeth hurt?”

Yuwen Jie: “…”

His face darkened again, and the emperor said icily, “My teeth do not hurt. Just read the memorials.”

“…Oh.” Hua Chun obediently sat down beside him, picked up a memorial from the desk, cleared her throat, and began reciting in standard court diction.

“Alas! Our Majesty’s brilliance reaches up to Heaven and down to Earth, truly a sage ruler the likes of which comes but once in a thousand years! Whenever the people of Shu City receive His Majesty’s grace, they kneel for three days to pray for His Majesty’s blessing, wishing him a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, boundless longevity…”

Her mouth twitched. Hua Chun glanced at the cover — this was actually an urgent dispatch sent by fast relay of eight hundred li a day, and it contained not a single word of substance, nothing but flattery of the emperor.

She’d been resting for half a month, and it seemed the Secretariat hadn’t been doing much real work either — they weren’t even filtering the memorials, letting something this blatantly flattering and utterly lacking in literary merit go straight through.

She glanced at Yuwen Jie. Huh? He actually looked rather pleased listening to this?

This man really was shameless — going around saying he wanted to hear more advice and criticism, while what he loved hearing most was flattery.

“Continue.”

She picked up another one and kept reading. “This subject makes bold to memorialize: since ancient times, many emperors have favored officials of fine appearance, elevating their rank and granting them high positions. But court officials are the backbone of the government, and must never be propped up by mere decoration. The Ministry of Revenue has an official of unsightly appearance, Ji An, whose talent is immense, rivaling that of the Chancellor. May Your Majesty see clearly.”

She read through the whole memorial without missing a word, then rubbed her chin in confusion and looked at Yuwen Jie. “Is he saying I’m just a pretty face for decoration?”

He’d actually understood it that clearly? And still read it aloud to him? Quite the honest one… The emperor pressed his lips together. “Set that memorial aside. No need to act on it.”

“Why not?” Hua Chun held the memorial out to him. “It’s recommending someone of immense talent.”

Yuwen Jie tilted his head, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at her. “Anyone with genuine talent would never need to step on someone else to rise. Just from the way it uses you as a comparison, claiming the uglier man is the more talented one, it’s clear that neither the one recommending nor the one being recommended amounts to much.”

Hua Chun was struck silent for a moment.

This emperor, though not exactly a kind man, truly was a fair-minded superior who knew right from wrong. Cases of people climbing over others to get ahead were everywhere; if every superior elsewhere had eyes as sharp as his, the workplace wouldn’t have nearly so much backstabbing going on in the shadows.

Silently giving him a mental thumbs-up, Hua Chun went back to reading him memorials.

Consort Huo Zhaoyi paced outside the Purple Dawn Hall, wanting to go in but not daring to, and could only stop a young eunuch to ask, “Who is His Majesty with?”

The young eunuch answered honestly, “The Chancellor.”

The Chancellor again? Huo Zhaoyi grew anxious — these past few days the emperor had ignored everyone, staying with the Chancellor the whole time, what was going on? Even if state affairs were pressing, surely he could spare a moment to see his consorts?

She lifted her skirts to step forward, then held back, murmuring, “Never mind. I won’t be the one to stick my neck out. It should only be another day or two — once he’s done with this busy stretch, His Majesty will have free time again.”

As it turned out, the emperor stayed busy for five straight days, all of it spent with Chancellor Hua, shut away in the Purple Dawn Hall, seeing no one else.