It was well and good that the emperor listened to some of what the Chancellor said, but if he came to obey the Chancellor unquestioningly in the future, that would be a disaster.
Since ancient times, imperial power and chancellor’s power had always waxed as the other waned — the two had never coexisted peacefully. The Chancellor was the emperor’s greatest aide and, at the same time, his greatest potential threat. Eunuch Qin worried greatly that if things continued like this, the emperor would lose all wariness toward Chancellor Hua, and that would spell trouble.
The imperial carriage moved along the palace road. He was weighing how to bring the matter up with the emperor when he heard the sovereign ask, “What’s that purple thing over there?”
Following the direction he pointed, Eunuch Qin said, “Reporting to Your Majesty, those are newly introduced flowers called bellflowers. They’re in bloom right now.”
Most flowers were red, yellow, or white; purple ones were rare. Yuwen Jie’s interest was piqued, and he had the carriage stopped, gazing at the flowerbed from a distance for a while, then said, “Looks rather interesting. Pick a couple and take them to the Chancellor, let him guess what flower it is.”
“…Yes.” Eunuch Qin bowed and waved for an attendant to go do it.
With this interruption, he forgot what he’d meant to bring up, and could only rack his brain as he followed the emperor onward.
Yong’an Hall had originally been where Hua Liuying lived when she was still a Noble Consort. It wasn’t clear what the Empress Dowager meant by placing Hua Xunyue there.
When Yuwen Jie entered, he saw the person kneeling obediently on the floor, dressed in bedchamber gauze, hair coiled into a conch-shell bun, her voice melodious as she greeted him. “This humble woman kowtows to Your Majesty.”
“Rise.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Hua Xunyue’s heart was a mix of excitement and nerves — finally, this heaven-sent opportunity had arrived, and no matter what, she had to make a good showing and win the emperor’s favor.
But entering the palace, she’d seen quite a few other consorts, and objectively speaking, they were all more beautiful than her. What was she to do?
Clutching her handkerchief, her eyes darting about, not sure what to do, she heard the emperor say, “Lift your head.”
With the emperor saying so, she had no other choice, and could only lift her chin, smiling.
This face was perfectly ordinary — not even as delicate as the maid attending beside her. Hua Jinghua really was an honest one — even toward his own sister he’d shown no mercy, calling wild grass wild grass, neither belittling nor exaggerating, precisely accurate, no shortchanging.
A smile suddenly touched Yuwen Jie’s eyes.
Hua Xunyue trembled with surprise, joy welling up inside her instantly. Rumor had it the emperor rarely smiled — and now he was actually giving her an expression like this?!
Was heaven favoring her?
Eunuch Qin pressed his lips together — he understood perfectly well why the emperor was smiling — and stepped forward at once. “This servant will attend Your Majesty in changing.”
Yuwen Jie nodded and rose to his feet; Hua Xunyue naturally stood as well, waiting joyfully to the side.
Many in the palace had told her that attending the emperor’s bedchamber would be an especially different experience. She’d been looking forward to it the whole time — what kind of different experience would it be?
As it turned out, after the emperor finished changing, he went straight to the main bed and lay down, while the chief eunuch made up a bed for her on the couch to the side, saying, “His Majesty is too fatigued today. You may simply accompany him in rest — no need to disturb him.”
What? Hua Xunyue was stunned.
She’d come here to attend the emperor’s bedchamber, and yet she could only sleep on the couch outside, not allowed to share his bed or disturb him?!
What was the meaning of this? Putting on a show for whom?
Hua Xunyue was furious, her body trembling slightly with anger, but she didn’t dare say anything, choking back tears as she agreed, gritting her teeth as she climbed onto the couch.
Unwillingly, she glanced once more at the bed — the emperor had already quietly fallen asleep, and Eunuch Qin stood guard by the bedside, showing no sign of intending to withdraw.
Her sense of grievance grew even deeper. Hua Xunyue buried herself under the blanket and cried for half an hour, touching the bedchamber gauze on her body, feeling utterly humiliated.
Why was this happening? Was it because her looks were too plain, and the emperor simply had no interest in her?
While she suffered on her side, Yuwen Jie in fact slept very well. Perhaps he really was tired, because he drifted into dreams almost immediately.
He dreamed of a flowerbed full of blossoms in every color, and as he admired them carefully, he saw Hua Jinghua stand up with a head full of bellflowers, grinning foolishly at him.
The dream was utterly nonsensical, and yet his mood was excellent as he watched that fool grinning and grinning, running circles around him with a head crowned in flowers.
It must have been the stress of the day that made him have such an idiotic dream.
Waking the next morning, Yuwen Jie looked at Eunuch Qin by the bedside, and his first words were, “Did the Chancellor guess what flower that was?”
Eunuch Qin’s expression was complicated as he nodded. “The Chancellor is widely learned and guessed it. Your Majesty should get up and change first.”
“Mm.”
A smile still in his eyes, Yuwen Jie turned his head and saw the pitiful Hua Xunyue still kneeling on the floor.
“You’re the third young lady of the Hua residence, yes?” the emperor said. “Gentle and lovable — I’ll grant you the title of Consort Shu.”
Hua Xunyue was shocked, looking up at the emperor in disbelief, too stunned to react for a moment.
She hadn’t even made it onto the dragon bed, and yet the moment he woke up, the emperor granted her the title of Consort Shu?! One of the Four Great Consorts! That put her directly above her second sister!
Once she recovered herself, Hua Xunyue laughed until she nearly hiccuped. “This concubine thanks Your Majesty for the great honor!”
Yuwen Jie nodded and strode out of Yong’an Hall.
A burst of cheering erupted behind him not long after. Eunuch Qin studied His Majesty’s expression and asked quietly, “So Yong’an Hall now belongs to Consort Shu?”
“Let her have it,” the emperor said. “None of the other palaces are vacant anyway.”
“Yes.”
Once the news spread, the harem erupted into an uproar — some watching for a good show, some stirring the pot, some coming to offer congratulations. Hua Xunyue was kept busy with it all, but didn’t forget to go pay her respects to the Empress Dowager.
Compared to the commotion in the harem, the outer court was much quieter. Hua Chun slept her fill and went along to morning court, staying an hour before returning with the emperor to the Purple Dawn Hall to handle affairs as usual.
“His Majesty seems to be in good spirits,” He Chang’an said. “Is there something to be happy about?”
He paused, then added, “Could it be that the third young lady of the Hua family has won His Majesty’s heart?”
“No,” Yuwen Jie said flatly. “I simply think the weather is fine.”
Hua Chun paused, quietly looking up at the thick clouds gathering overhead.
Whatever makes you happy, Your Majesty.
“Judging by this, it really does resemble what Jinghua described yesterday,” He Chang’an said with a smile. “You must have fallen for someone.”
“Hm?” Yuwen Jie’s brow lifted slightly, and he glanced at Hua Chun, then at He Chang’an. “What’s this about?”
Why did it always feel like there was something between these two he didn’t know about?
“It’s just — yesterday I asked Jinghua what it takes to count as liking someone,” He Chang’an explained with a smile. “What Jinghua said made a lot of sense — when you have someone in your heart, you feel happier.”
“What kind of criterion is that?” Yuwen Jie said, unconvinced. “I’m happy being with you too — does that make you the one in my heart?”
He Chang’an laughed, stepping lightly aside, and shook his head. “That’s not the same at all. There’s more to it than that. How did that saying go? ‘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.’ Has Your Majesty ever felt that way about anyone?”
The smile in his eyes slowly faded, and Yuwen Jie’s expression darkened.
The bellflowers in the nearby flowerbed were in full bloom, and a breeze passed through, rippling a wave of purple.
“That counts as falling for someone? Nonsense!”
“Why get so worked up about it?” He Chang’an looked at him curiously. “It was just a passing remark. The specifics probably vary case by case. You’d also need to dream about her often, think about her often, for it to really count. Isn’t that right, Jinghua?”
“That’s right,” Hua Chun said, her attention entirely on He Chang’an’s face, not paying much notice to the emperor’s expression, still smiling cheerfully. “Everyone’s kind of liking is different — it’s not like the same criteria apply to everybody.”
The emperor’s expression turned quite grim, and his stride lengthened, leaving the two of them far behind.
“Huh?” He Chang’an watched him, baffled, then looked blankly at Hua Chun. “What’s gotten into him now?”
Hua Chun shrugged innocently. “I have no idea either. Isn’t His Majesty’s mood always this unpredictable? You should be used to it by now.”
“True enough.” He Chang’an chuckled, then pulled a small oil-paper packet from inside his robe. “Your mother asked me to pass this along — some dried fish snacks. She was worried you wouldn’t be used to the food in the palace.”
Her eyes lit up, and Hua Chun happily took the oil-paper packet. “Thank you so much.”
Though she had no trouble at all with palace food, being able to eat something this familiar still made her happy.
Yuwen Jie had probably only tried it once before, and that time it hadn’t even been very clean — this was a good chance to butter him up a bit more. It wouldn’t be wasted either, given how kind he’d been to her lately.
With that thought, Hua Chun didn’t share the dried fish with He Chang’an, tucking it straight into her sleeve, and returned to the Purple Dawn Hall.
After another busy afternoon, once He Chang’an had left the palace, seeing that it wasn’t yet time for dinner, Hua Chun sidled up to the emperor with a fawning expression. “Your Majesty, do you smell anything nice?”
Yuwen Jie’s face looked a bit pale, as though he were quite unwell, and he said flatly, “No.”
“Hehe!” Hua Chun whipped out the dried fish, opened the oil paper, and held it up to him with both hands. “Look at this! My mother had Second Brother bring it. Does Your Majesty remember?”
Yuwen Jie frowned.
The spicy smell reminded him of that rainy night — the heavy scent of rain mixed with earth in his nostrils, the fragrance of dried fish, and the faint, lingering scent of milk on someone’s body. Lowering his eyes, he could still picture that person’s fair, slender neck.
His throat moved slightly, and Yuwen Jie roughly shoved Hua Chun away, sending the dried fish scattering across the floor.
“Hey?”
Perhaps she’d grown too used to being treated gently, because Hua Chun stumbled from the push, staring in utter bewilderment at the fish tumbling everywhere.
Then she got angry.
You could waste anything, but not food! So many common people didn’t even have meat to eat, and he’d gone and knocked over a whole packet of dried fish?!
Brows knitting tightly, Hua Chun gritted her teeth and bent down to pick up every last piece of fish herself, then hugged the oil paper packet, shot the emperor a look, and moved far away from him to sulk and eat in a corner alone.
This man was truly impossible to get along with — never one to talk things through, no one ever knew what he was thinking, clear skies one moment and a raging storm the next, and if you weren’t careful you’d end up pressing your warm face against his cold backside. Who could stand that?
Sure, he was the emperor, he was mighty, his territory, his rules, but shouldn’t he still treat people like people? He was the one who’d softened his attitude first, which was why she’d dared to treat him like a friend — and then he turns right around and treats her like a servant again. A person needs some time to adjust psychologically too, doesn’t he?
Fuming, Hua Chun forced herself to eat the entire packet of dried fish, and at the end wiped her mouth fiercely.
Yuwen Jie sat where he was without moving, watching Hua Jinghua’s actions from the corner of his eye, yet he didn’t want to deal with it, a wave of aversion rising up from deep within him.
“Your Majesty?” Watching the emperor’s complexion, Eunuch Qin grew worried. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Yuwen Jie said, eyes closed. “You don’t need to concern yourself with me.”
How could he not be concerned? Eunuch Qin grew anxious and waved for someone to go fetch the imperial physician. The emperor’s lips had gone pale — he must be coming down with something.
Hua Chun finished the dried fish and went back to reading memorials at the desk, not sparing the emperor another glance.
She felt she couldn’t be friends with someone who disrespected food! Someone who didn’t respect people could only be a coworker at most — being sworn siblings was just a title in name only.
Still fuming, she felt Eunuch Qin gently tap her hand.
Hua Chun looked up to see him with an anxious expression, gesturing for her to look at the emperor.
What now? Hua Chun looked bewildered, glanced sideways, and — good grief — his face was ghostly pale, like something out of a nightmare.
Startled, Hua Chun immediately forgot she’d just been angry and rushed over, reaching out to feel the emperor’s forehead.
“He’s running a fever.”
Yuwen Jie pressed his lips together, apparently not expecting her to be so bold, and immediately, displeased, swatted her hand away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Fine, fine, I won’t touch you,” she said, her tone softening, coaxing him like a child. “I know sick people are always cranky. Calm down first, and let’s have the physician take a look.”
The emperor said grimly, “I am not sick!”
Hua Chun looked left and right, then simply grabbed a mirror and held it up in front of him, wearing a “see for yourself” expression.
Yuwen Jie lowered his eyes, caught sight of his own complexion, frowned, fell silent for a moment as if sulking at someone, then extended his wrist.
Eunuch Qin let out a breath of relief and quickly had the physician check his pulse.
So the emperor could get sick too! Hua Chun stopped being angry and watched curiously from the side.
Yuwen Jie was such a towering, imposing man, built like some wild beast, that she’d assumed someone that strong would surely have an iron constitution — she hadn’t expected that once he fell ill, he’d turn into such a delicate, pale-faced thing.