Master Shen and Bao Shi both hurriedly turned around to kneel and pay respects. Shen Guiwu also knelt down. Shen Guiyan pressed her lips together and looked up at him. “Why has Your Majesty come so early?”
Gu Chaobei stepped through the door with a cheerful smile, his previously stern face seemingly forgotten elsewhere. Holding a smooth piece of warm jade in his hand, he said, “Knowing that your brother was returning today and that your eyes would surely be red from crying, I begged this fine warm jade from Mother Empress so you can use it to soothe your eyes later.”
His voice was truly gentle, surpassing even Shen Guiwu’s gentleness. If you squeezed it, you could probably wring out enough water to fill Taiye Lake.
Shen Guiyan couldn’t help but shiver, her eyes showing some alarm.
“All of you may rise.” He stepped in and put his arm around her waist, smoothly placing the warm jade into Shen Guiyan’s embrace. Then he looked at the guards at the door. “What is all this about?”
Baoshan pouted as she reported, “Just now someone tried to offend Her Ladyship. These people came to protect her.”
Gu Chaobei chuckled softly and waved his hand. “All of you may leave. Everyone in this palace is family. Who would offend Yan’er? She is the beloved of my heart—who doesn’t know this? It’s too late to protect her, so how could anyone bully her?”
Hearing this, Baoshan looked at Bao Shi smugly, then escorted the guards outside to stand watch and closed the door.
Bao Shi hadn’t recovered her senses yet. Didn’t everyone say that Shen Guiyan had fallen out of favor after her miscarriage? Why was it that when the Emperor came to Yonghe Palace, no one seemed surprised at all, as if they saw him here often?
Master Shen’s mind was like a lamp shining brightly. He bowed to the Emperor. “Your Majesty, please forgive us. My foolish wife doesn’t understand the rules and was disrespectful just now.”
“Disrespectful how?” Sitting down in a chair, Gu Chaobei asked this question curiously.
Shen Guiwu said indifferently, “Just now, this subject asked about where my birth mother Qin Shi was buried and had some conflict with Bao Shi. Your Majesty need not concern yourself with it.”
Bao Shi felt extremely uncomfortable hearing this form of address. Shen Guiwu was also supposed to call her “Mother,” but from childhood on, he would rather be beaten black and blue by her than ever call her anything but “Bao Shi.”
It infuriated her to death, yet she could never change this habit of his!
“Your Majesty, please see clearly. This subject’s wife merely said that Qin Shi was buried in the ancestral tomb, and the Noble Consort suddenly became angry and even used Your Majesty’s authority to intimidate an elder.” Bao Shi said with displeasure. “And you blame this subject’s wife for being disrespectful?”
Master Shen took a deep breath, so angry that his temples throbbed. Everyone else knew to help their own family. Now Yan’er was the Shen family’s great lucky star. If Bao Shi wasn’t grateful, that would be one thing, but instead she tried to create discord between the Emperor and Yan’er, speaking ill of Yan’er? What was going on in her head?
Bao Shi didn’t see Master Shen’s fury. She only looked at Shen Guiyan with resentment.
Shen Guiyan sat beside the Emperor and laughed lightly. The Emperor raised an eyebrow and spoke. “The Qin Shi that Madam mentioned—is that Yan’er’s birth mother?”
“Precisely.” Bao Shi said, “After all, she was a member of the Shen family. At the time she wasn’t placed in the ancestral tomb for other reasons. Later… later this subject’s wife did find her remains and had her buried in the ancestral tomb.”
“Oh?” The Emperor smiled. “Where did you find them?”
Bao Shi was startled, not expecting the Emperor to ask about this. Of course she had only been speaking for appearance’s sake. Burial in the ancestral tomb was a major undertaking.
“At… at some place in the outskirts of the city, I suppose. At the time, Qin Shi’s body was sent to the public mortuary.” Bao Shi’s gaze flickered.
Gu Chaobei and Shen Guiyan simultaneously let out cold laughs. Never mind Bao Shi—even Shen Guiwu was startled and looked at the two of them in surprise.
Shen Guiyan spoke. “Qin Shi’s grave is at Luoxia Mountain. His Majesty personally built it back then. It’s not at some place in the outskirts of the city.”
Shen Shiqing trembled, looking up at Gu Chaobei in disbelief. Shen Guiwu also hadn’t expected this.
The Emperor personally built the grave?
“Mm, back then I was just a bastard son of the Prime Minister’s residence. To win a beauty’s favor, I generously buried Qin Shi at Luoxia Mountain. Afterward, I took Yan’er to visit, and when we returned I was even punished.”
Speaking of past events, the Emperor only felt they were interesting memories, but Master Shen and Bao Shi were shocked to their core.
The crime of deceiving the Emperor—with every word Bao Shi spoke, she was committing the crime of deceiving the Emperor!
“Your Majesty, please forgive this subject’s wife… this subject’s wife misspoke. Perhaps the wrong person was buried in the ancestral tomb. This subject’s wife will return and immediately…” Bao Shi kowtowed repeatedly in panic. Master Shen also knelt down over there, trembling slightly.
“Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, what are you doing?” Gu Chaobei showed no anger at all. Instead, he smiled as he personally helped both of them up. “We’re all family. It was just a slip of the tongue. What’s there that can’t be forgiven? Now that I value the Shen family highly, Father-in-law must have noticed. Why be so frightened by such a small matter?”
Shen Guiwu observed quietly, only feeling that the smile on this Emperor’s face was completely insincere. When he looked at the Shen family couple, there was no trace of mirth in his eyes. Only when he turned to look at Shen Guiyan did his expression become somewhat genuine.
This was truly interesting.
It seemed Yan’er was playing the strict one, coming in and scaring the Shen family elders thoroughly. The Emperor rushed over to play the lenient one, calling them father-in-law and mother-in-law, saying they were all family, giving plenty of warm concern, moving the two elders so much.
Their coordination was quite good.
“I have prepared a banquet and song and dance. It’s rare for your family to gather together, so don’t be so restrained.” Gu Chaobei smiled. “Let’s dine in the courtyard.”
Bao Shi still hadn’t recovered, but Master Shen had already pinched her hard, his eyes full of warning. She quickly restrained herself and bowed in acceptance.
Shen Guiyan walked a few steps slower. Shen Guiwu came up and said softly, “The Emperor is truly sincere toward you.”
Shen Guiyan pressed her lips together. She knew that. This rogue had seemed sincere toward her from long ago. Unfortunately, while his sincerity was genuine, he wouldn’t compromise for her, nor would he place her above everything else.
This was also good—it proved he was a valiant emperor. It was just that such an emperor, she couldn’t depend on as a husband. Because there was no way to depend on him.
Everyone took their seats, and dancing girls came up to perform. Shen Guiyan raised an eyebrow and asked Gu Chaobei in a low voice, “Why do all these dancers look like… has Your Majesty recently developed this taste?”
The youngest-looking dancer had already passed her twentieth year, and the oldest was probably in her thirties. But though past her prime, she still retained her charm.
Where had he found this middle-aged and elderly song and dance troupe?
Gu Chaobei smiled with an evil expression on his face, half covering it with his sleeve as he said in a low voice, “What kind does your father like?”
Shen Guiyan: “…”
So he was selecting concubines for Father? But what kind of temperament did Bao Shi have? She understood that best. Her heart was so small, she couldn’t tolerate many people.
However, seeing Gu Chaobei’s eyes so fervent, Shen Guiyan still casually pointed out two delicate-looking ones.
Her own father’s temperament—as his daughter, she understood it fairly well. Through observation, she found that the two Shen Guiyan pointed out were indeed correct. Master Shen looked at them and nodded in approval.
Gu Chaobei acted every bit the son-in-law, without a trace of airs, discussing heaven and earth and the state with Master Shen, even pulling Shen Guiwu in to drink together. After several rounds of wine, Master Shen had lost his initial trepidation and instead looked at Shen Guiyan nodding repeatedly. “You married a good man!”
Bao Shi sat alone to the side, sulking silently. Gu Chaobei smiled and said, “The dancers in my palace are all getting on in years and haven’t yet been betrothed. If Father-in-law doesn’t mind, could you help me solve this problem?”
Shen Guiwu glanced at Gu Chaobei, then at Bao Shi’s face that had suddenly turned purple. He couldn’t help but add another note mentally—this was also a very vengeful emperor. Whether people offended him or offended Yan’er, he seemed to remember them all.
Master Shen readily agreed, selecting the two most delicate-looking from among the dancers. When leaving the palace, he took them along.
From this point on, the alliance between the Shen family and the Emperor was also established.
Master Shen and Bao Shi left the palace first. As soon as Bao Shi left the palace, she wanted to drive the two dancers off the carriage. However, the drunken Master Shen suddenly seemed to sober up. Grabbing Bao Shi’s hand, he threw her off the carriage.
“As a wife, you should know how to manage the household. As the wife of a court official, you should understand reason even more and comprehend the Emperor’s intentions. Walk back on your own. Live in your own courtyard and don’t come out to embarrass yourself anymore.”
As if struck by lightning, she, the legitimate wife of Marquis Zhongjun, was thrown out onto the street just like that. No matter how she cried and shouted, the carriage ahead didn’t stop.
The common people around pointed and whispered. Bao Shi was furious to the point of madness. She ran back to the Shen residence on her own two legs, vowing to death that she would drive out those two vixens from the palace.
Shen Guiwu was still at Yonghe Palace. The remnants in the courtyard had been cleared away by the palace servants. He sat with the Emperor and his consort, gazing at the dusk in the sky.
“This subject will not let anyone know that I entered the palace today,” Shen Guiwu said.
Gu Chaobei looked at him slightly tipsy and laughed lightly. “As expected of someone recommended by General Yuwen—truly clever.”
Then he looked at Shen Guiyan beside him. “Just as clever as Yan’er.”
Shen Guiwu smiled, his gaze gentle as he looked at Shen Guiyan. “Yan’er was originally very foolish. Because she listened too much to what her tutors taught and was too honest, she was bullied for a long time. I don’t know how much cleverer she’s become since I left.”
Shen Guiyan raised her eyebrow indignantly. “Second Brother should praise me—I had the discernment to marry the right person, escaped many calamities, and made it step by step to where I am now.”
“Is that so?” Shen Guiwu smiled indulgently. “Are you no longer afraid of spiders now?”
Shen Guiyan’s expression stiffened.
“No longer afraid of screaming sounds in the middle of the night?”
Shen Guiyan leaned closer into Gu Chaobei’s embrace.
“Or are you no longer afraid of shadows in the room?”
“…” Gu Chaobei raised an eyebrow at the person in his arms. Shen Guiwu had hit the mark on everything. It turned out that Shen Guiyan, who seemed capable of anything, was afraid of so many things?
Moreover, he didn’t know about a single one.
Seeing Shen Guiyan like this, Shen Guiwu laughed. He turned to look at Gu Chaobei. “When Yan’er was little and went to sleep, she would always place a dagger by her pillow, because she said she was afraid of people climbing into her room.”
The corner of his mouth twitching slightly, Gu Chaobei nodded with a wry smile. “That thing, I have indeed experienced.”
The scar on his shoulder still hadn’t faded.
Shen Guiyan’s face reddened a bit. She coughed lightly. “I don’t do that anymore.”
From the time she married Gu Chaobei, she hadn’t done it anymore.
Shen Guiwu nodded with satisfaction. “Yan’er is stronger than anyone, but she’s not invincible. In the end, she’s still a daughter.”