Cui Xi went to Prince Yong’an’s palace with Li Zong’s message.
He had been to the Yong’an Palace many times. All throughout the year, the palace was lifeless, empty and deserted. But things were different today. The door of the palace was open, and the servants were moving boxes and objects back and forth. Anyone looking inside would be able to see that the palace was decorated in reds and various colors, looking very festive.
The caretaker recognized him and hurriedly greeted him when he saw his figure. He invited Cui Xi to sit in the hall and then went to the back to announce his arrival.
Li Fengqi was feeding the falcons with Ye Yunting. When he heard the announcement. He raised his eyebrows. “Li Zong finally dares to see me.” He turned to Ye Yunting and said, “Let’s go, let’s see what tricks he’s going to use.”
The two of them went to the front hall. When Cui Xi saw them, and came out to greet them with a smile. “Wangye and Wangfei look well.”
Li Fengqi nodded coolly, but it was Ye Yunting who remembered his previous advice and politely answered, “I wonder what Cui-Changshi came here for?”
“I’m here to report good news.” Cui Xi tucked his hands into his wide sleeves and said, smiling, “His Majesty heard that Yong’an-Wang wanted to make up for his wedding banquet, and when he thought about previous simple arrangement for your wedding, he specially gave many rewards to make up for it. I came here to invite the two of you to the imperial palace to catch up with His Majesty and receive your reward along the way.”
This sounded nice, but with Li Zong’s temperament, no one actually believed that he summoned them into the imperial palace just to grant rewards.
Ye Yunting and Li Fengqi exchanged a look, and then responded, “Then I will ask Cui-Changshi to sit down for a moment while Wangye and I change our clothes. Then, we will follow you into the palace.”
Cui Xi had no problem with drinking tea in the front hall and waiting for them to change.
Ye Yunting pushed Li Fengqi back to the main room. He first took out Li Fengqi’s clothes and placed them beside the bed so that he could change into them. Then he took clothes for himself and went behind the screen.
Courtiers and their families were required to wear formal attire when entering the imperial palace for an audience. With Li Fengqi’s status, there was no need to be so grand, but he still had to mind his face and not just enter the palace in ordinary clothes. Ye Yunting changed into a smoky blue quilted brocade robe with dark cloud and thunder patterns. As he was adjusting his belt, he heard Li Fengqi suddenly call for him from outside: “Young Master.”
“What’s wrong?” Ye Yunting went out from behind the screen and saw Li Fengqi with his eyes lowered. He had changed his clothes, but his belt was not fastened, the ties around his waist were still off, and his collar was loose and half-open.
“It’s very complicated to put on these clothes, so I have to trouble the young master to help me,” Li Fengqi said.
Ye Yunting stepped forward and saw that his garments had several layers, and that the jade buttons on the waistband were also very delicate and complicated. Before, it was Wu Geng who would wait on him as he changed clothes. But today, Wu Geng was not around. Not thinking much about it, Ye Yunting nodded and squatted in front of him, reaching out to fasten the complicated ties for him one by one. He lowered his head, and his thin white fingers twisted the laces and weaved in and out, which was extremely pleasing to the eye.
Once the ties were fastened, he put on the waist band. “Wangye, open your arms wide.” Ye Yunting picked up the waist band and turned sideways with one hand passing behind him.
Li Fengqi spread his arms and looked down at him. He saw how close Ye Yunting was to his chest, his whole body almost snuggled into his arms, as if he was throwing himself into his embrace. But in the span of just a few breaths, Ye Yunting had adjusted the waist band, withdrew, and began to study the delicate jade buttons.
Li Fengqi sighed regretfully in his heart, his eyes lingering on Ye Yunting’s narrow and thin waist. His waist was lean and willowy, his waistline slender, fitting perfectly in Li Fengqi’s arms.
Ye Yunting was completely oblivious and was still fiddling with the waist band. He found it quite reasonable that Li Fengqi didn’t know how to put on the waist band because he himself didn’t know how to do it, either. The jade buttons at both ends of the waist band were each carved into the shape of a four-clawed coiled dragon. If they were put together, they would look like two coiled dragons intimately intertwined. But he didn’t know how to buckle them together. No matter how Ye Yunting tried, he couldn’t get them attached.
After several failures, Ye Yunting’s cheeks reddened and he said with some embarrassment: “These jade buttons are very delicate, and I don’t know how clasp them. Wangye, you’d better call a maid.”
Li Fengqi, who was still in his own reverie, came back to his senses, waved his hand and said, “No need. I don’t like people getting close to me.” After saying this, he lowered his head, pinched the two ends of the waist band, brought them together lightly, and buckled them close.
He casually looked at Ye Yunting: “Is the Young Master ready?”
Ye Yunting:? ? ?
Li Fengqi could do it himself? Then why ask him for help?
Perhaps his eyes lingered on the waist for too long. Li Fengqi finally realized what he was doing. He put a hand on the waist band, coughed lightly, pretended not to notice Ye Yunting’s puzzled gaze, and urged him to go.
Ye Yunting had no choice but to suppress his questions, and left with him.
*
The three of them took the sedan chair and headed towards the imperial palace. When they arrived in front of the palace gate, they had to get off the sedan chair and go on foot. But it was winter now, and the two of them were of high status. Naturally, they didn’t need to walk; they could take the palace sedan chair instead.
The two sedan chairs had already been waiting at the side. After seeing the two people getting off the sedan, the leader bowed and came forward to greet them: “His Majesty has specially ordered us to welcome Wangye and Wangfei.”
After saying that, he turned sideways and made a “please” gesture.
The sedan chairs could only seat one person each. Although they were exquisite and luxurious, they weren’t spacious. There was a crossbar in front, which was supposed to help the palace people in lifting the sedan chair, but now it was blocking Li Fengqi’s wheelchair.
Li Fengqi had difficulty with both legs and could only rely on a wheelchair to move around. For his convenience, the carriages and sedan chairs in the palace were specially modified by craftsmen to make them larger and more spacious. Li Fengqi’s wheelchair could enter them directly, and he could get up and down by his own strength without having to rely on the help of others.
But now, the crossbar in front of the sedan chair was blocking Li Fengqi’s wheelchair from more than three feet away from the sedan chair’s seat. It was impossible for him to go up on his own.
The palace attendants carrying the sedan chair bowed and stood with their heads lowered, obviously intending to stand by and watch.
This must be Li Zong’s order.
Cui Xi understood the emperor’s intention and watched the show with his hands folded.
Li Fengqi rested his hands on the armrests of his wheelchair, his eyes coldly passing over the crowd, and met Ye Yunting who was walking towards him.
He straightened his waist and smiled at Ye Yunting. There was no hint of humiliation or gloom in his expression. “Thank you for the trouble, Wangfei.”
“Why does Wangye have to be so polite to me?” Ye Yunting returned the smile, picked him up, and walked to the sedan chair.
“Lower the sedan chair.” Facing these palace people who were deliberately making things difficult, Ye Yunting put away his gentle smile and coldly gave a command.
The palace people who had been standing with their hands hanging down hurriedly lowered the crossbar of the sedan chair to make it easier for him to pass.
Ye Yunting stepped over the crossbar and placed Li Fengqi on the sedan chair. He quickly glanced at Li Fengqi and saw that his expression was no different from the usual. He straightened his mussed-up clothes and gently pressed the back of his hand. Don’t get angry.
This incident must have been deliberately arranged by Li Zong.
He knew that Li Fengqi’s legs were impaired, so he deliberately sent a sedan chair over, but also told the palace officials to stand by and watch, just to see Li Fengqi make a fool of himself. He was reminding Li Fengqi that he was merely a cripple with handicapped legs.
The method was very crude, but very effective.
If Li Fengqi hadn’t had greater mental fortitude than others and candidly asked him for help, today’s scene might have been very ugly. Afterwards, everyone would realize that although Prince Yong’an survived by luck, he was no longer the powerful Beizhao God of War that he used to be.
Beauties still grew old, and heroes eventually came to their twilight.
It was a person’s intentions instead of only his actions that should be judged1; that was all.
Ye Yunting lowered his eyes and sat on the sedan chair, suppressing the anger welling up in his heart.
The palace attendants lifted the sedan chairs and walked slowly to the deer garden.
…
After arriving at the deer garden, it was still Ye Yunting who carried the person down.
He was worried that Li Zong would still try some dirty tricks, so rather than following the example of the palace attendants, he pushed Li Fengqi inside with his own hands.
Cui Xi followed beside him and laughed when he saw this: “Wangfei treats Wangye with great consideration.”
“Wangye treats me the same way, I’m just returning the favor.” Ye Yunting said calmly.
“Returning the favor?” Cui Xi savored these words for a while and seemed to agree. “Only someone like the Wangfei deserves to use those words.” He didn’t know who he was talking about: “They’re good words, and they’re being used in a dirty way by those people..”
What he said was strange, and Ye Yunting couldn’t understand it.
Cui Xi’s temperament was unpredictable and extremely difficult to figure out. Ye Yunting couldn’t guess whether the other party was a friend or a foe, so he simply didn’t take his words to heart. He just ignored them and pushed Li Fengqi forward.
After passing through the corridor, he arrived at the garden.
Although it was called the deer garden, it was not only for raising deer. There were also many rare and precious animals, flowers and plants.
“His Majesty is at the menagerie. Please follow me.” The person leading the way was a young chamberlain, who led them to the menagerie.
When they arrived, they could hear the roar of wild beasts before seeing anyone.
Ye Yunting followed the chamberlain in and saw a huge iron cage placed in the square in the middle of the menagerie. In the cage, a wolf and a tiger were fighting together bloodily.
Emperor Li Zong was sitting on a high platform, holding tea and watching with gusto, as if he had not noticed their arrival. It wasn’t until the chamberlain announced that he looked over with a sideways glance and said, “Prince Yong’an is here.”
Li Fengqi looked at him from a distance with a very mild expression on his face. “You finally dare to see me? Have you figured out how to deal with me after so many days?”
Li Zong’s expression changed slightly. He stood up, waved away the palace attendants, then stepped down from the high platform and approached Li Fengqi. “Why can’t I understand what Yong’an-Wang said? I summoned you to the palace today because I acquired a new wolf king, and I want you to come and take a look.”
He pointed to the giant cage in the center and said, “I have raised this white tiger for many years and it has never been defeated. This wolf king is a new offering, and it is said to be unrivaled in valor. I want to see if it’s my tiger or this wolf king who’s stronger.”
Ye Yunting looked into the cage and saw that the white tiger was fat and strong, with sharp teeth; the wolf king however was so thin that only a strong skeleton remained. He didn’t know how long this fight had been going on. The white tiger was still calm and relaxed, while the wolf king was already panting and its fur was soaked with blood.
“Who does Yong’an-Wang think will win?” Li Zong asked with a smile.
“The wolf king.” Li Fengqi only glanced at it then looked away.
Li Zong’s smile remained unchanged. “I’m afraid Prince Yong’an has forgotten that you personally captured this white tiger and gave it to me. It’s extremely ferocious and has never been defeated.”
“You actually remember this.” Li Fengqi raised his eyes to look at him, seemingly smiling.
“Of course I remember.” Li Zong turned around with his hands behind his back and saw that the white tiger’s claws added a new wound to the wolf king. He narrowed his eyes and said, “There are very few people who treat me well. Everything Prince Yong’an has done, I remember in my heart.”
Li Fengqi snorted and did not answer his words, instead saying, “This white tiger has been raised to be useless. I will make a bet with Your Majesty. If it loses, the fur on its body will go to me. How about it?”
“What if it wins?” Li Zong abruptly turned around and stared at him closely.
“It can’t win.” Li Fengqi smiled calmly: “Didn’t Your Majesty say that since I personally captured it, no one knows it better than me.”
He seemed to be talking about the white tiger, but also seemed to take this opportunity to talk about someone else.
===Author’s Notes===
The author has something to say:
77: I can’t, I’m just pretending.
Tingting:? ? ?
===Translator’s Notes===
Not gonna lie, them palace attendants messing with Li Fengqi’s mobility pissed me off. Assholes. >.<
- 杀人诛心, literally “murder kills the heart” (or so deepl translates). According to here, it refers to condemning/criticizing a person’s motivations or purpose rather than just their behavior. ↩︎
If you like this story, please consider supporting the author here.
And if you're enjoying this translation, please considering sending a tip via Ko-fi. :D
lol love the dressing up mischief
ReplyDeleteLi Fengqi sure is loving it, too 😅
DeleteQiqi: *looking up at MC, arms open* Wife, hug.
ReplyDelete