Part 2
Zhao Yiyi kept her head down, placing the Go stones back into their bowls one by one, pretending she hadn’t heard.
But Yunzhu knew she had heard every word. She continued, “Although His Majesty took action against Your Majesty’s family, he still preserved their title. Of the others who were punished in the same batch, some had their homes confiscated. In comparison, the punishment for Your Majesty’s family is not severe. Perhaps it was because of Your Majesty that he showed leniency.”
“No, you have it backward.” Zhao Yiyi’s movements suddenly stilled. Unable to hide the bitterness in her heart, she said, “It is likely because it is my family that they met with such a disaster.”
Her father had clearly been used by him as an example to warn others.
Yunzhu was instantly speechless. After a long moment, she said, “This slave knows that Your Majesty is worried about Lord A’Chen and the Second Miss. Since His Majesty intends to reconcile, why doesn’t Your Majesty ask him for some favor for them?”
Zhao Yiyi didn’t speak.
Should she go and beg him?
If it had been earlier, she might have. But after what happened that day, she only felt fear.
To beg him once would not only fail to gain any forgiveness, but would also result in her dignity being trampled into the dust. The moment she thought of that day, of how everyone in Jiaofang Palace had heard his reprimand, her body trembled with discomfort.
It was the first time Yunzhu realized that the Empress, who was usually so gentle, proper, and graceful, could also be so stubborn. She had thought that Her Majesty cared so much for the Emperor that she would compromise on everything for his sake, but she hadn’t expected Her Majesty’s temper to be so strong.
Since she couldn’t persuade her, she didn’t try anymore. Just as she was about to put away the box and help the Empress to bed, a sudden commotion came from outside.
A palace attendant entered and reported, “Your Majesty, His Majesty is here.”
Yunzhu’s face lit up with joy, and she called out urgently, “Your Majesty, His Majesty is here! As expected, His Majesty is…”
Zhao Yiyi stood up abruptly. Yunzhu smiled, thinking to herself that Her Majesty truly did have the Emperor in her heart, but then she saw… the Empress walked through several doorways, all the way from the inner study back to the bedchamber.
Zhao Yiyi lay down on the bed, pulled the covers over herself, and said in a muffled voice, “Just say I’m asleep.”
Yunzhu was aghast. “Your Majesty, this…”
“Just go!” Zhao Yiyi pushed her, her urgent voice tinged with a sob.
She hid her body under the brocade quilt, suddenly feeling utterly wronged. They had been married for over two years, yet in his heart, she was still nothing. It turned out that all those occasional moments of warmth and consideration in the past were fake.
Grandfather had once told her that a person’s life is but a few short decades, and one should find things that bring them joy. If something made her unhappy, she could give it up, so as not to waste this fleeting time.
Liking him was so bitter, and she was not happy at all.
Then I don’t want to like him anymore, Zhao Yiyi thought.
The threads of affection, spun into a cocoon over a long time—from now on, she would pull away her love for him, bit by bit, unraveling it, thread by thread.
Would that make her happy?
Would she not be so miserable?
The hall was quiet. No one could answer her. The people who could answer her questions were long gone. Even her only two comforts, Duanduan and A’Chen, were not by her side.
When she no longer liked him, when she faced his cold words again, she probably wouldn’t be so sad.
“Just go!” Not hearing Yunzhu move, Zhao Yiyi urged her again, more insistently.
Hearing the tremor in her voice, Yunzhu dared not delay any longer. She hurried out and bowed to the Emperor in front of the hall. “Your Majesty… Ten thousand blessings to Your Majesty. Her Majesty… has already retired for the night.”
Hearing that the Empress was already asleep, Gu Zhen’s expression showed a flicker of surprise, then he curled his lips into a smile.
Her temper was really getting quite big. Just because she was blocked outside Zichen Palace that one time, after all these days, she still had to get her revenge.
The excuse the palace attendant had given that time was that he had retired for the night. This time, her pretext was exactly the same.
“Really asleep?” The Emperor raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips. “Then why did I see the lights on in the study just now?”
Yunzhu’s heart trembled. Just as she was about to reply, she saw that the Emperor had already strode into the hall. She tried to stop him but was pulled back by Wu Mao.
“Director Yun,” Wu Mao said politely, using her official title, his voice leisurely. “His Majesty is busy with state affairs. It’s not easy for him to have a moment with Her Majesty. Why must you stand in his way?”
“But…” Recalling Her Majesty’s tearful voice just now, Yunzhu hesitated.
Wu Mao cut her off. “What is there to ‘but’ about? You tell me, when has there ever been a reason to block the Emperor himself when he comes to see the Empress?”
Yunzhu could say no more. She just stretched her neck to look towards the bedchamber, a hint of worry in her eyes.
Gu Zhen strode inside and, as expected, found the hall dim, with only a single candle lit on the side. Just as he was suspecting that she was truly asleep, he heard a few faint sounds. The quilt on the bed was also rising and falling, clear signs that she was not yet asleep.
To sulk with him, she had even started to feign sleep. Such a temper. Her claws really needed to be filed down.
Gu Zhen thought idly as he slowly drew back the bed curtains, then pulled away her quilt. This time, he met with resistance, and it took a bit of effort to move it.
Zhao Yiyi had buried her face in the pillow and refused to look up at him, her hands tightly clutching the remaining corner of the quilt. “Your Majesty, this consort is tired.”
Her words were brief, but in the quiet bedchamber, the slightest sound was magnified. He still caught the unusual tremor in her voice.
The choked sound reached his ears, and his heart felt as if it had been stabbed. Gu Zhen frowned slightly, cupping her chin and forcing her to turn her head.
He was met with a beautiful face streaked with tears.
“What are you crying about?” Gu Zhen asked in a deep voice.
Zhao Yiyi shrank back, trying to escape his hold, and the tears flowed even faster.
Like a bursting dam.
With no handkerchief at hand, Gu Zhen used his sleeve to wipe her tears away carelessly, then asked again with forced patience, “What are you crying about?”
“Is this consort not even allowed to cry now?” Zhao Yiyi asked between sobs, her panicked voice tinged with a hint of despair.
What was there to ask?
Even if she told him the reason, would he care? Since he wouldn’t, then why… why did he always have to act as if he cared, giving her so much hope?
“When have I ever said that?” Gu Zhen’s brow furrowed as he looked at her, a hint of darkness appearing in his eyes, which he managed to suppress. “Tell me, what are you crying for?”
Zhao Yiyi turned her head away, her lips pressed together. “This consort is not crying.”
So she was going to be stubborn.
The pillow and quilt were soaked with her tears, there were still tear tracks on her cheeks, and her eyes were glistening, yet she insisted she wasn’t crying.
Gu Zhen was so angered he couldn’t help but laugh. He pinched her cheek. “You don’t give anyone a moment’s peace. You refuse the jewelry I send, and when I come in person, you claim you’re asleep, all while crying like this in secret. Are you deliberately trying to make me miserable, hmm?”
Zhao Yiyi turned her head slightly, unwilling to look at him.
When he had wiped her tears just now, he hadn’t controlled his strength, and her delicate face, so easily marked, had turned red from his touch. But since she had already been crying until the corners of her eyes and the tip of her nose were flushed, it wasn’t very obvious.
She had no idea that when she lowered her eyelashes like that, she was all the more alluring.
“Have you thought through what I said to you that day?” Gu Zhen withdrew his hand and asked her coolly.
Zhao Yiyi said, “This consort has thought it over.”
“Hmm?”
The man looked at her at his leisure, a rare hint of a smile gracing his features, as if waiting for her to admit her mistake.
Zhao Yiyi pinched her fingertips, forcing herself to become a little more clear-headed. The face that used to fill her heart with joy now only brought her immense pain.
She didn’t want to love him like this anymore. She didn’t want to be in such pain. Not at all.
After calming her tears slightly, she replied in a gentle voice, “This consort has reflected for several days and finds that what Your Majesty said is very right.”
A look of satisfaction appeared in Gu Zhen’s eyes. He wiped away a teardrop that had just welled up at the corner of the Empress’s eye.
In the flickering candlelight, she continued, “This consort is incompetent. I cannot manage the palace affairs well, nor can I, as Your Majesty wishes, fulfill the duties of an Empress and handle the matters within my station.”
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