Completely unaware of the contradictions in her words, Lady Ye Guifei picks up her tea cup, raises her pinky adorned with a gold armor ring, takes a sip of almond goat milk, and elegantly wipes her mouth with a handkerchief.
After setting down the cup, Lady Ye Guifei looks up and meets the complex gaze of Hua Ling, which is becoming even more complicated.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Hua Ling pouts in distress; however, as soon as his face contorts in a pout, the pain causes him to grit his teeth. He quickly returns to his expressionless state. "It's nothing. I just want to see if you are really my birth mother... no, whether I am really born to you."
"You should be grateful that you are my birth child." Lady Ye Guifei casually tosses the expensive robe of clouds and cranes to the floor and steps on it without a care, leaning back. "If I weren't convinced that you really came from my belly, you wouldn't even know how deep your grave would be."
Hua Ling: ... Very well, indeed he is her own flesh and blood.
Taking the healing medicine that was placed on the table, Hua Ling applies it to himself while muttering softly, "Do not let others talk about 'death' constantly, yet casually say it yourself. Indeed, it is difficult to raise women and villains." Rarely citing a piece of literature, he feels proud of himself for having attended the Imperial Study, even boasting, "Mother, do you want me to recite 'Li Sao' for you? After reciting it, remember to tell me the real reason, don't try to deceive me."
Not able to clearly hear Hua Ling's muttering, Lady Ye Guifei does catch his following words.
Lady Ye Guifei retrieves a book from her sleeve that hasn't slipped out despite intense movements. She waves it in front of Hua Ling, "Are you sure?"
Sitting slouched over the table, Hua Ling, still able to see the characters on the book's page despite the carvings on the sandalwood table, sees the words 'Li Sao.'
With something to compare to, Hua Ling's plan to make up a recitation on the spot to deceive Lady Ye Guifei is shattered even before it emerges.
Under Lady Ye Guifei's gaze, which is calm and devoid of any emotion, Hua Ling, who usually doesn't understand the situation, firmly shakes his head, "No, no, I was joking."
Lady Ye Guifei chuckles lightly, runs her gold-armored pinky over the book in her hand, and opens the book in front of Hua Ling, revealing a completely blank page. "My dear son, do you think I would have anything other than official documents here? How could an inscrutable book like 'Li Sao,' with many unreadable characters, appear in my hands? This is an empty shell."
Hua Ling's expression gradually becomes stiff, and correspondingly, Lady Ye Guifei's smile becomes increasingly significant. She even starts laughing at Hua Ling directly in front of him, slapping the table, "Hahaha, your expression is as funny as ever!"
"Hahaha! Very funny!"
"...Hahaha."
Hua Ling, with an expressionless face, looks at Lady Ye Guifei, who is laughing so hard that she is shaking and nearly falling off the soft couch. Hua Ling doesn't find it funny at all and feels very embarrassed. However, thinking about whether the Emperor, who perhaps calms his heart through reviewing documents, in the Ganqing Palace or whether the Emperor, who is always thick-skinned, Hua Ling feels that there really isn't anything to worry about.
Truly, there's nothing to worry about.
Quietly watching the Empress Yi opposite, who was immersed in her own emotions as she smiled, until Ho Ling finished eating all the pastries and started considering whether to have more brought up, Empress Yi, who was laughing until tears came out, finally stopped laughing.
Looking at her son, who had been teased by her to the point where he didn't know what expression to show, the faint smile that had already dissipated once again filled Empress Yi's eyes, even showing a tendency to spread to the corners of her eyes.
Why was Ho Ling beaten?
Empress Yi had considered telling him the true reason, but after giving Ho Ling a good beating, she changed her mind and decided to use humor to evade the issue.
When Ho Ling was providing relief and gaining reputation in Yanchi County, the Emperor, in addition to handling state affairs, did not forget to clear obstacles for Ho Ling in advance. During the palace upheaval, the so-called illness of the Emperor's eldest son, Ho Jian, was three parts true and seven parts fake. Although he was relieved of some of it by Ho Ling, who made him vomit blood, Ho Jian, who was originally calculated as a prince, had his own hidden injuries. He did not know if he could live to a ripe old age. So, while the Crown Prince was absent and there were no constraints, Ho Jian, who did not spare his son and was even more ruthless to others, enacted a rather substantial plan of action.
When the Crown Prince returned, the Emperor found an opportunity to give Ho Ling a good beating to express his dissatisfaction with the Crown Prince, to give certain people hope, and to prevent others who were scared by him from acting rashly.
Empress Yi, who knew more than Ho Ling, easily guessed the reason for the Emperor's loss of control. As for why she chose to deal with Ho Ling in this way, Empress Yi, who had a complicated relationship with the Emperor regarding Ho Ling, said, "I understand."
After all, her son was so vexing, so vexing that it made her wish he would remain that way forever.
Empress Yi leaned against the window with one hand supporting her face, her eyes curved with laughter.
"Before climbing to the highest position, my son should live carefree and do whatever he wants."
Empress Yi, with no hint of anomaly on her face, straightened up and, while carefully wiping away the tears from the corner of her eye, she directly brought her face close to Ho Ling's and turned her head slightly to the left and right. "Check for me, has my makeup been disturbed?"
"No, you are as beautiful and captivating as ever, attracting attention and captivating the heart," Ho Ling praised with an emotionless face, prompting Empress Yi to give him a resounding slap on the shoulder. "What did you say?"
Ho Ling, startled, quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I was wrong."
Ho Ling's quick cowardice prevented Empress Yi from finding a suitable opportunity to beat him again.
Standing up and looking down at Ho Ling, who was leaning against the bedside, Empress Yi concealed all the sudden emotions that emerged from her heart and, with a calm face, naturally changed the subject. "It's your grandmother's birthday in a few days. Help me decide which of these gifts I prepared should be given."
Ten days later, it was the sixtieth birthday of the Duchess Dingguo. Ho Ling, who hated banquets, could choose not to attend any banquet, but he absolutely had to attend his own grandmother's birthday celebration, so it was only natural for Empress Yi, who could not casually leave the palace as she was not the empress, to have him help choose a gift for her.
Other than not becoming the empress and not being able to leave the palace freely, Empress Yi had no regrets. Although she was coldly treated, she was still able to give birth to Ho Ling, and the Emperor, who could not bear to mistreat her, could not give her any grievances. However, thinking about not having seen her parents for a long time, Empress Yi couldn't help but feel a bit sad, so she once again entrusted Ho Ling, "Be kind to Ye Xiao, don't always make your cousin angry, and don't always make him clean up your mess."
"At your age, you should be sensible and not always trouble your cousin."
Ho Ling: "????" No, Mother, is there any connection between missing your grandparents and asking me not to anger Ye Xiao? Why does Ye Xiao always seem to be involved without reason?
Puzzled, but Ho Ling had already become accustomed to Empress Yi's knack for changing topics—after all, he was such a person himself, not intending to delve deep and fearing being inexplicably beaten, Ho Ling obediently responded and accompanied Empress Yi as she opened her private library. Considering the preferences of his grandmother, he directly chose the five-meter-tall red coral bonsai among the gifts Empress Yi picked out.
Embellished on the chessboard-shaped giant flowerpot of red coral, various precious stones were entwined with gold thread in the shape of a chrysanthemum, and a human-sized jadeite figure stood in the shape of a pine tree in the red coral, vaguely showing the shadow of the painting "Pine and Cranes Longevity" by the Qing painter Xuangu. Of course, the most important thing was that this red coral bonsai looked grand, valuable, and eye-catching.
The power of blood ties was strong, and Empress Yi liked bright red and green colors that were eye-catching, while the Duchess of Dingguo thought that anything expensive was good and anything that looked shiny was beautiful. Ho Ling felt fortunate that Ye Xiao also held his ground in aesthetics, or else who would want to play with Ye Xiao.
Instinctively not looking at the dazzling red coral bonsai, Ho Ling stopped Empress Yi's idea of adding a few jewels to the red coral, and earnestly and sincerely said, "Mother, rest assured, Grandmother is sure to like this red coral bonsai."
"Really?" Empress Yi looked at Ho Ling askew, "Then why don't you even want to take a look at it?"
Taken aback by the question, Ho Ling hesitated and certainly couldn't tell her that it was too glaring for his eyes. He turned for a moment and quickly found a reasonable reason, "...I don't want to look at it because I fear that I'll want to claim it for myself once I see it."
Thinking along the lines of Ho Ling's logic and considering her son's usual behavior, Empress Yi easily believed Ho Ling's reason.
Just when Ho Ling relaxed, thinking that he shouldn't be inexplicably beaten, Empress Yi, who fully embodied the idea of "use and discard," grabbed Ho Ling by the collar and took him outside. "Now that you've helped me decide what gift to give, you can go back to the East Palace."
"We'll leave this bonsai here for now. I'll have it sent over on the day of the banquet when you attend."
Without giving Ho Ling any chance to speak, Empress Yi swiftly and decisively escorted him out of the Yushu Palace, so quickly that the little maids were still busy attending to Lady Lvyan, and the guards who were in the shade under the eaves were still around. Ho Ling appeared grounded outside the Yushu Palace.
With a bewildered look on his face, watching Empress Yi's departing figure, Ho Ling stood at the entrance to the Yushu Palace, rubbing his chin and getting lost in thought. What was his original purpose for coming to the Yushu Palace?
Oh, to complain about the Emperor's "lack of benevolence," and also...no, mainly to ask his mother not to vie with him for the Crown Princess and leave some private space for him and Aye.
Had he achieved his goal? It seemed that apart from being beaten and still feeling sore, all he had done was help his mother choose a gift.
So, what was the point of him coming to the Yushu Palace?
—To look for a beating?