Of course, you're young when you're in love.
The interesting details are best left unsaid to outsiders. Ji Ying waved her hand and said, "Please sit down."
Ji Qingyou quickly waved his hand: "Your subject will not sit down. I have just returned and need to go see my elder sister to prevent her from causing any more trouble."
As he spoke, a hint of worry appeared on his handsome face. On one side was his cousin, with whom he shared similar interests and got along well, and on the other side was his own sister, born of the same mother. No matter what he did, he was in a dilemma.
If he felt this way, he felt even more sorry for his mother, who was caught in the middle. The harem was under the control of his mother, and often it was difficult to reconcile reason with emotion.
He was in a hurry to visit someone at the Jiaoyue Palace, and the emperor readily allowed him to proceed.
The purple-gold incense burner in the Imperial Study was filled with the fragrance of ambergris. The chief eunuch stood a few steps away from His Majesty, eyes downcast and seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. Ji Ying finished processing the memorials submitted by the court officials and picked up a cup of tea to relieve her fatigue.
"Is your injury getting better?"
His voice was clear and pleasant to hear. Even Wei Pingxi, with his arrogant nature, couldn't help but sigh that half of the world's most outstanding talents were concentrated in the emperor alone.
She covered her forehead: "I'm feeling better, but not completely better."
"You're running around before you're fully recovered," Ji Ying scolded playfully. "You've only just entered the palace, yet you're already quite capable of causing trouble."
“Your Majesty is being very kind,” Wei Pingxi said innocently. “It wasn’t me who started the trouble, it was the trouble that started it. Even if Your Majesty is very fond of the princess, you should consider who struck first.”
Ji Qingyao was the one who made the first move. It's not like she was in the right just because she was angry enough to vomit blood.
That's not how it works.
If we really argue it that way, wouldn't it become a matter of whoever is weaker is right? What use would the law be then? Where would justice be?
If you want to get what you want, why not just compete in shamelessness? Whoever has the thickest skin and the lowest bottom line will be invincible and smug.
Her serious and reasonable expression was quite cute. Ji Ying was just teasing her, and her expression softened upon hearing this: "Uncle apologizes on behalf of Yao'er. You are a magnanimous person, so let bygones be bygones."
"I dare not say what the princess will think once I have passed through here."
When she was a child and first entered the palace, Ji Qingyao treated her with disdain. Relying on her status as a princess, she ordered the palace servants to tear up the cloth doll her mother had sewn for her and smash the porcelain doll that the Empress had given her earlier.
Ironically, she came to visit her cousin, whom she had never met before, with two dolls, full of joy. Her cousin gave her a huge 'surprise'.
That's when the grudge was formed.
Ji Qingyao attacked first, and she attacked later. She was more capable than Ji Qingyao, but Ji Qingyao had more people.
Her two older brothers, who had entered the palace with her, watched from the sidelines as she was beaten, advising her to be sensible and not to oppose the princess.
She was unconvinced and determined to fight back.
After the fight, both of them were injured. The princess turned around and ran to the Gan Ning Palace crying to complain.
Only later did she realize why her cousin had been so hostile towards her upon their first meeting.
It was only because the Empress pointed to her portrait and praised her before she came to the capital.
The phrase "as handsome as a fairy" was said without malice, but taken to heart by Ji Qingyao, who, with her narrow-mindedness, gritted her teeth and wanted to slap her face until it swelled up.
Wei Pingxi emerged from his old memories and smiled magnanimously: "For the sake of my aunt and uncle, I won't hold it against her. I just hope she won't bother me."
She lowered her head and stroked her sleeve, suddenly feeling downcast. She said to herself with a self-deprecating laugh, "Of course, I can't afford to offend her. At most, I can only annoy her."
"Without my aunt's protection, at best I would be a rebellious and arrogant daughter of the Marquis's family, unloved by my father and brothers. How could I possibly have the ability to offend the imperial heir?"
The more she talked, the more serious it became. Ji Ying got up from the throne, wanting to comfort her but not knowing how to promise her something to make her happy.
"I won't say such things and worry my uncle." She gathered her clothes and knelt down: "I have come here today with an important request, and I hope Your Majesty will grant it."
The words that were about to come out of Ji Ying's mouth were swallowed back down, and she sat up straight again: "Go on."
Wei Pingxi took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and had the chief eunuch hand it over to His Majesty.
Ji Ying glanced at the prescription and asked, "Is this the prescription?"
"Your Majesty is wise. It is indeed a prescription, and the thing marked in red is what Pingxi is looking for."
She immediately asked for the precious medicine from the foreign lands, and knelt upright, behaving obediently.
"Approved."
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Wei Pingxi kowtowed sincerely, then smiled shyly and remained kneeling.
What else do you want?
She had rarely asked for favors in both her lives, so she couldn't help but blush slightly: "My uncle has met my concubine and knows that she is from the Liu family of Jinghe. I would like to ask for an imperial pardon for her."
The head eunuch's lips twitched: "What an outrageous demand! Miss Wei is truly not going to be polite!"
Is a royal pardon a thing you can just ask for?
He added: "You were calling him 'Your Majesty' a moment ago, but now you know to call him 'Uncle.' Uncle, Uncle, even His Majesty can't treat this niece poorly because of the Empress. Fourth Miss, you've come prepared."
First, they used the matter of Princess Jiaorong as a breakthrough point. Taking advantage of His Majesty's soft heart and feelings of pity and guilt, they did not hesitate to ask for what they deserved and took what they were entitled to.
sharp.
He's a remarkable person.
He was shrewd yet honest; no wonder the Empress liked him.
Because of her daughter's situation, Ji Ying did indeed feel indebted to her.
Despite years of parenting with the Empress, their daughter grew up to be the very thing they least wanted to see, a testament to the helplessness and powerlessness of parenthood.
Looking at her nephew kneeling obediently on the jade bricks, Ji Ying's mind was filled with the image of the stubborn child who had held back his tears in the Gan Ning Palace many years ago.
The little girl's lower lip was bitten and bled. She stared at him stubbornly, demanding an explanation and justice from him.
It was as if if he deliberately favored his daughter, she would lose all hope in the entire royal family.
That fragile yet resolute look in his eyes is etched in his memory to this day, and even now, thinking of it stirs a subtle emotion within him.
Ji Ying patiently asked, "May I ask you why you asked me to grant you a pardon from death?"
"Because she is too weak, I hope that even without me, she can rely on something to fight back without hesitation when she is bullied."
"They say, 'It takes a hundred years of cultivation to share a boat ride and a thousand years to share a pillow.' She was my concubine for a while, and I never mistreat my own people."
She spoke with conviction, and Ji Ying seemed to understand, looking at her with gentle and loving eyes: "You are upright and unyielding, why not seek for yourself?"
"His Majesty has said that I would rather break than bend. If I break, I break. I will not seek anything for myself!"
So you just fold it?
Ji Ying chuckled: "I remember that Marquis Yiyang is not like that."
"This humble woman will never follow his example!"
His Majesty's gentle and cheerful laughter could be heard from time to time in the Imperial Study. The eunuchs admired the Fourth Miss's ability to coax people from the bottom of their hearts.
Fifteen minutes later, Wei Pingxi, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks.
"May I ask Your Majesty, what kind of person is my mother in your heart?"
She suddenly asked about Lady Hou, and Ji Ying pondered for a moment: "Lady Wei is the Empress's younger sister. She is virtuous and kind, and is a model of womanhood."
A standard, conventional answer.
Wei Pingxi smiled and said, "This humble woman takes her leave."
She left the imperial study step by step, her back to everyone, so no one could see her furrowed brows and the sudden tension in her knuckles.
No one knew the doubts and anxieties in her heart as she headed towards the Zhehua Palace.
The Grand Eunuch Yang Ruo poured His Majesty a fresh cup of tea.
What do you think of her?
"Your Majesty, I find the Fourth Miss to be a remarkable person."
Ji Ying smiled and asked, "How wonderful?"
"Intelligent, decisive, and dignified."
“Impressive?” Ji Ying laughed. “Indeed, taking advantage of my guilt to make such a huge demand, it is indeed impressive.”
This grandeur didn't stop there; the chief eunuch didn't say anything, and His Majesty didn't ask.
"How is Yao'er?"
"The princess and the crown prince had a big fight and are now in Fushou Palace."
Ji Ying closed her eyes and sighed, "Let them make a fuss. I want to see what kind of waves are churning in these deep waters."
...
In the afternoon, the eunuch carried all the items and followed the Fourth Miss to the Zhehua Palace.
Wei Pingxi's trip was very fruitful. Seeing that she had found all the medicinal materials needed by Yu's mother, she was relieved of one worry and could also give an explanation to the beauty beside her.
She walked briskly, and as soon as she reached the entrance of Zhehua Palace, Yinding rushed out to greet her: "Miss, Aunt has been taken away by people from Fushou Palace!"
...
Fushou Palace, the Empress Dowager's bedroom.
Decades ago, when His Majesty was young, the rise and fall of the Great Yan Dynasty was in the hands of a woman surnamed Yan.
Yan Hui entered the palace as a concubine at the age of fifteen, when the empress still held power in the harem.
After ten years of ups and downs, Yan Hui rose from the rank of Consort to Empress, and forcibly dragged Yin Yun, who had a reputation for being a virtuous empress, down from the position of Empress. Empress Yin was framed and demoted to Consort by the furious late emperor.
In the same year, Yin Yun gave birth to a son in the Hehuan Palace, who became the current emperor.
The late emperor had seven sons. After Yin Yun died mysteriously, the fourth prince, Ji Ying, endured humiliation and did things that ordinary people could not do. Finally, he emerged as the ultimate winner in the power struggle among his brothers.
At that time, the fourth prince was eleven years old.
The eleven-year-old fourth prince was alone and powerless, and he regarded Yan Hui as his mother, serving as a puppet for nearly nine years.
When the young emperor came of age and married, Empress Dowager Yan ruled from behind the curtain and refused to relinquish power, leaving the people angry but unable to speak out.
But there were always those who dared to speak out.
Liu Zicheng risked the execution of his entire family by uttering a single curse on the city tower. If Ji Ying had not intervened with her imperial dignity to stop the Empress Dowager's sword from falling, the entire Liu family would likely have been slaughtered that very day.
The Empress Dowager's temperament and methods were unmatched by ordinary women. However, in the eyes of many elderly people in Fushou Palace, the Empress Dowager treated Princess Jiaorong exceptionally well.
Ji Qingyao knelt on her grandmother's lap, weeping bitterly: "Grandmother, Wei Pingxi is too much! As soon as she arrived, I became the laughingstock of the palace. If you hadn't come back, I wouldn't know where to seek justice..."
"How outrageous! Yao'er, don't cry. I will get justice for you. The Empress is biased. She's just a concubine; she can be punished, but why punish her own daughter?"