Chapter 81: Pitch-Pot
The jade pendant was woven with five-colored silk threads, its long tassels trailing down to rest upon the low couch.
Zhao Yiyi frowned slightly, shifting to move away from the jade piece, only to realize he had already tied it securely to her waist.
“Your Majesty?” She reached out to undo the knot, but her hand was immediately pressed down by a large, sudden palm.
His palm was warm and slightly calloused. As it gently covered the back of her hand, she felt a jolt run through her, like an electric current. She tried to pull away, but his hand was large enough to completely envelope hers.
It wasn’t just calloused; it felt slightly rough, ticklish against her skin.
Zhao Yiyi lowered her head and caught sight of the patch of skin on his palm that had only recently healed.
Gu Zhen leaned in close, pressing down on her hand with gentle insistence. He let out a soft chuckle. “Why untie it? It took me quite the effort to win it back.”
The scent of aloeswood engulfed her, surrounding her with his presence. Zhao Yiyi’s face flushed slightly, but she forcefully withdrew her hand and flicked the tassel with annoyance. “It’s just a single jade pendant. Why did you insist on taking it back? Besides, when you went over there earlier, didn’t you say you wanted it for yourself?”
Gu Zhen’s phoenix eyes dimmed slightly. He remained silent for a long time before reaching out to tuck a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. He replied softly, “Though it is just a pendant, it was the birthday gift I gave you. I didn’t wish for it to fall into anyone else’s hands. I wanted to win it back simply to give it to you.” He paused, then added, “To give it to you, and only you.”
He remembered the past, and he remembered the words she had once said.
He kept them etched in his heart, daring not to forget.
His Yiyi did not like to share things with others. She never said it aloud, but she cared about it more than anyone.
The stray hair didn’t behave under his touch; instead, his gentle brushing caused one or two strands to stick up stubbornly. That short, defiant lock of hair was conspicuously visible.
She was just like that—even her hair radiated stubbornness.
But Gu Zhen knew deeply that he had long since fallen for it.
As for when exactly he had fallen, he didn’t know. He only knew that by the time he realized it, he was already in so deep that there was no way to extricate himself. He could only struggle and struggle, hoping she might turn her head once more to look at him.
“Yiyi,” Gu Zhen couldn’t help but call her name. His voice was pitched low, his tone softening several degrees. He reached out, attempting to hold her slender hand once again.
Zhao Yiyi pursed her pale, cherry-colored lips and remained silent. Strictly speaking, she was indeed somewhat in the wrong regarding this matter.
But the jade pendant she had taken off herself had returned to her in less than half a day. Thinking about it was enough to make one dizzy with anger.
“I had just given it to them as a prize, and you ran over to win it back. Those who don’t know the truth will think I couldn’t bear to part with a jade pendant and insisted on retrieving it. How could Your Majesty make things so difficult for me?”
As she spoke, she began to feel aggrieved. Her almond eyes misted over, and she looked at him with a mix of anger and resentment, unable to stop herself from complaining.
The thought that after today, the entire city of Luoyang would be spreading rumors about the Empress being stingy made the corners of Zhao Yiyi’s eyes turn red with anger, and she shoved the man hard.
Gu Zhen looked at her hair, slightly messy from sleep. It was a bit disheveled, yet it did nothing to detract from her delicate beauty.
After watching her for a moment, he laughed softly. “Rest assured. I have already bestowed rewards upon everyone in Yiyi’s name. Since they received rewards, who would dare say you are stingy?”
“If they must discuss it, they should discuss me—how the Emperor wouldn’t even let go of one of the Empress’s jade pendants.”
Zhao Yiyi glared at him. “You know that, too?”
A tenderness gathered in Gu Zhen’s eyes. He extended his arm to pull her halfway into his embrace. In his deep phoenix eyes, there was a rare smile. “I act openly and aboveboard. I won this jade pendant fair and square—who asked them to be less skilled than me? Does the Empress forbid even this?”
Half of her face was buried against his solid, broad chest. With her ear pressed against him, she could even hear the powerful beating of his heart, radiating outward beat by beat, like the affection he was trying to convey.
“You always have so many excuses,” Zhao Yiyi muttered, her voice muffled. She pressed one hand gently against his chest and pushed slightly, leaning back to look up at him.
Gu Zhen lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers, and laughed low in his throat. “Sure enough, this jade pendant looks better when Yiyi wears it.”
It was raining outside, and the chill was seeping into the hall. Zhao Yiyi touched his clothes, however, and found them completely dry. A look of confusion crossed her eyes.
Seeming to notice her puzzlement, Gu Zhen explained in a whisper, “I warmed myself by the fire in the outer room for a while before coming in.”
He patted the person in his arms. “Alright, you should have slept enough. Get up and eat first. You can sleep again after the meal.”
Dinner had already been laid out, steaming hot. The moment they stepped out of the sleeping quarters, a savory aroma assailed their noses.
Gu Zhen filled a bowl of soup for her, but Zhao Yiyi was thinking of Zhao Duanduan, her brows knitting slightly.
“Where is Duanduan?” she asked softly. “Did Your Majesty see her during the pitch-pot game earlier?”
Thinking of Zhao Duanduan’s red-rimmed eyes, Gu Zhen felt a sudden, inexplicable twinge of guilt. His hand holding the chopsticks paused, but his expression remained unchanged as he said, “She played quite well. Few people could beat her.” She was just dragged down miserably by Jiang Jiayan, that’s all.
Zhao Yiyi relaxed slightly, her eyes curving into a smile. “She still has a child’s temperament. One moment she acts like an adult, the next she’s more particular than anyone. She said she wanted this jade pendant today, but unexpectedly, it was snatched away by Your Majesty. Later, I’ll likely have to comfort her quite a bit before she settles down.”
Whatever she said, Gu Zhen agreed to it all, showing not a hint of impatience or displeasure.
But the more he acted this way, the more irritable Zhao Yiyi became. A ball of fire nestled in her heart, desperate for release.
When she heard him agree softly yet again, she finally couldn’t hold back. She slammed her chopsticks down, clenching her fists tightly to suppress the anger in her heart.
In the end, she couldn’t suppress it. “What is the meaning of this, Your Majesty? If you don’t want to talk, then don’t talk. Why be so perfunctory? And why force yourself like this?”
Gu Zhen was stunned. He looked at her helplessly, unable to force a single word from his throat for a long time.
He wanted to say he wasn’t, wanted to explain it to her, but he didn’t know where to start.
With the past lying between them, many words seemed pale and powerless when facing her.
“This jade pendant was not something I asked for. Your Majesty insisted on winning it back and giving it to me, and I accepted it.” Zhao Yiyi stared at him, her voice growing colder. “Does Your Majesty think I don’t know your temperament? Why put on this act?”
Gu Zhen’s eyes darkened, and a bitterness spread through his heart. He whispered, “But you don’t like the way I used to be.”
She retorted, “Is Your Majesty agreeing sincerely, or are you just placating me?”
Gu Zhen panicked, explaining urgently, “Yiyi, I wasn’t… I wasn’t being perfunctory.”
At this moment, he finally understood that when one is no longer loved, everything one does is wrong.
In the past, when his temper was bad, when he was dismissive and evasive, sometimes with his annoyance written plainly on his face, Yiyi still liked him. Now, he had restrained his temper, softened his attitude, and even changed his disposition.
But Yiyi didn’t like it.
Gu Zhen had never realized as clearly as he did today that Yiyi truly didn’t care about him anymore.
So much so that nothing he did was right. Nothing he did could please her; instead, it was perceived as having ulterior motives.
Zhao Yiyi stared at him fixedly for a moment before suddenly asking, “Before Your Majesty went to retrieve that jade, did you ask me a single question? Did you ask if I wanted it?”
Gu Zhen curled his fingertips, his voice tinged with a chill. “It was my fault. I acted privately without asking your thoughts. Don’t be angry.”
Zhao Yiyi wasn’t actually that angry about the pendant.
But there was a nameless fire gathering in her heart, making her feel terribly uncomfortable.
“You always bully people like this.” She bit her lip lightly, looking at him with annoyance.
Seeing her tone soften slightly, Gu Zhen’s heart relaxed a bit. He took her hand, and meeting little resistance, his courage grew. He held her hand firmly in his palm.
“I was wrong today,” he apologized in a lowered voice, sounding a bit aggrieved himself. “But in the future, Yiyi, don’t give my things to others, alright?”
He took Zhao Yiyi’s hand and pressed it gently against his heart, whispering, “It hurts in here, too.”
That time in the past, when Yiyi gave his inlaid treasure gold bracelet to someone else, he hadn’t felt pain, only surprise.
Thinking back on it now, it was surprisingly unbearable.
Beneath her palm lay his beating heart. Zhao Yiyi was momentarily stunned, words caught in her throat. She turned her head away and said, “I did forget today. But even if I remembered, must Your Majesty be so domineering?” She frowned delicately. “Did Your Majesty never do such things in the past?”
Gu Zhen instantly went mute.
The two looked at each other for a moment before finally dropping the subject and bowing their heads to eat. For the remaining half-hour, no more words were spoken.
Zhao Yiyi didn’t want to speak, and Gu Zhen didn’t dare to speak, afraid that saying too much would make her angry again.
After the meal, Gu Zhen went to wash up.
Rain poured down outside, the water falling from the eaves in continuous streams. Zhao Yiyi sat quietly for a long time before wandering around the hall.
She had been sleepy earlier and hadn’t observed closely. Now, looking up, she realized a zither had been placed in the inner hall. Beside the zither was a small beast-head incense burner. Though no incense was burning, the lingering scent from the burner felt vaguely familiar.
He was not someone skilled in music—at least, based on Zhao Yiyi’s understanding of him over the years, that was the case.
It had been the better part of a year since she last visited Zichen Hall. The furnishings seemed both familiar and strange.
But she clearly remembered there had never been a zither here.
Let alone Zichen Hall, even the Eastern Palace had never housed a zither.
And this zither wasn’t hung up; it was placed on a zither table, clearly played by its owner not long ago.
“Why is there a zither here?” Zhao Yiyi raised an eyebrow, asking curiously.
Wu Mao replied, “After returning from Chang’an, Your Majesty ordered this zither to be brought to Zichen Hall. He often takes it down to wipe it clean. He even specially went to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to fetch several scrolls of zither scores.”
Zhao Yiyi looked at the flowing water patterns on the zither’s body, then glanced out the window at the cypress leaves falling with the rain.
Her gaze shifted, landing on a lacquered pot placed in the corner.
She let out a mocking laugh. He practiced secretly all day; no wonder he crushed everyone effortlessly.
“And when did that arrive?” Zhao Yiyi pointed, asking Wu Mao.
Wu Mao said, “That was also placed there after returning from Chang’an.”
Zhao Yiyi smiled, then suddenly stepped forward, heading for the exit.
Wu Mao was startled. He followed behind, wanting to stop her, but didn’t know how to speak up.
Just as he was pacing anxiously, a clear, mellow voice sounded from afar: “Where does Yiyi want to go?”
The Emperor had just finished bathing. His body still carried the scent of moisture. He wore a dark outer robe over his sleeping garments and walked in with a smile.
Seeing the Emperor arrive, Wu Mao secretly breathed a sigh of relief and quietly retreated.
Zhao Yiyi ignored him and continued walking outward. “It’s getting late. I want to go back.”
Just as she took a step, she was tightly embraced from behind, as if he wanted to knead her into his very chest.
“Don’t go.” Gu Zhen buried his face in the crook of her neck, his voice trembling. “Yiyi, please don’t go.”
“The rain is so heavy. What if you get soaked?”
There was urgency in his voice. He held her tighter, refusing to let go even a little.
Holding her, he said many things.
He kept apologizing, kept soothing her, until finally, one couldn’t distinguish exactly what he was saying.
“Your Majesty went to bathe, not to drink, correct?” Zhao Yiyi said, straining her patience, but ultimately holding back her temper.
Gu Zhen’s heart was in a panic. His breath was filled with her fragrance, and he couldn’t help but say, “Yiyi, I just… I’m just afraid you’ll leave, afraid you’ll leave me behind.”
The two remained in a stalemate for a long time. The rain outside did not let up; rather, it showed signs of intensifying.
Gu Zhen fetched the lacquered pot, wanting to play pitch-pot with her.
“I still remember, at the Winter Solstice banquet back then, Yiyi lost an arrow to me. You once whispered to me that next time, you would definitely win it back.”
It was precisely because of that sentence that he had been slightly surprised, and thus remembered the young lady.
It was a pity there was no next time.
Gu Zhen smiled and asked her, “At our first meeting, Yiyi lost to me once. Today, I’ll let you win it back. How about that?”
Zhao Yiyi tilted her head, asking with great interest, “Does Your Majesty truly think that was the first time you saw me?”
Translator’s Note:
- Pitch-pot (Touhu): An ancient Chinese game that requires players to throw arrows into a pot from a set distance. It was a popular game among the literati and nobility during banquets.
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