Part 2
First, for her reputation; second, she didn’t want to give anyone a chance to guess her true feelings.
It was late at night when Zhao Duanduan finally fell asleep. Zhao Yiyi sat by the couch for a while but didn’t return to bed. Instead, she draped an outer robe over her shoulders and went out.
Coming into the palace today, Zhao Duanduan had brought Zhao A-Huang along. Zhao A-Huang, also a night owl, was running around the courtyard chasing fallen leaves.
After months apart, it had grown much larger, nearing adulthood. Its limbs were agile and its movements nimble; its pouncing form made one marvel that it was indeed a slender hound.
Zhao Yiyi reached out to call it, and Zhao A-Huang obediently came over.
She bent down to rub its head, laughing softly. “What do you eat every day to grow so well?”
Zhao A-Huang tilted its head to look at her. Just as it was about to bark in response, she silenced it.
After whispering a few words to the dog, she started to straighten up.
“What are you saying? Not sleeping in the middle of the night, standing here in the cold wind.” A clear, mellow voice suddenly spoke, followed by footsteps approaching from a distance.
Zhao Yiyi turned her head abruptly. Her expression shifted several times before she snatched her hand back. Her cheeks flushed, and she averted her gaze, pretending nothing was wrong. Her smile vanished, replaced by her usual indifference.
“Why has Your Majesty come?” she asked.
Gu Zhen didn’t answer. He simply looked down at Zhao A-Huang and said ambiguously, “Didn’t you want to return it to Zhen before?”
Zhao Yiyi averted her eyes nonchalantly. “Is that so? It’s been so long, this consort doesn’t remember clearly.”
Gu Zhen stepped closer, laughing low. “Really?”
His powerful, chilling presence breathed against her ear. Zhao Yiyi frowned and moved away, asking again, “It is late. What is Your Majesty doing here?”
Autumn in Luoyang brought piercingly cold winds. It was better during the day with the sun, but at night, the howling wind could easily knock someone down.
Zhao Yiyi was dressed thinly underneath, wearing only a slightly thicker cloak over her shoulders. Blown by the cold wind, she looked frail, as if her clothes were too heavy for her.
Gu Zhen frowned and pulled her to a sheltered spot. After sitting down under the rose trellis, he smiled slightly and spoke softly. “Regarding your sister’s background, Zhen has some leads.”
Zhao Yiyi was stunned. She grabbed him anxiously. “Which family is it? Is it one this consort knows?”
Glancing inadvertently at the corner of his robe she was gripping, Gu Zhen looked up at her and whispered, “It is one the Empress knows. But Zhen is still verifying. Once confirmed, Zhen will tell you.”
Her heart pounding, Zhao Yiyi felt a mix of happiness and bitterness.
She couldn’t help asking, “If it is indeed the family Your Majesty thinks… will that family treat Duanduan well?”
Her slender hand remained on his robe, unmoving. Gu Zhen glanced away without comment, not reminding her.
Seeing he remained silent for a long time, Zhao Yiyi grew annoyed. She pushed him lightly, frowning. “Your Majesty?”
She had already decided. If that family treated Duanduan poorly, refused to acknowledge a long-lost daughter, or smiled to her face while mistreating her in secret, she would take Duanduan back to prevent her from being bullied outside.
Gu Zhen raised an eyebrow, reversed his grip to hold her slender hand, pondered for a long while, and replied softly, ” Zhen thinks they will.”
Today was the sixteenth; the moon was rounder than the night before, though a drifting cloud obscured the sky’s colors.
Zhao Yiyi looked up for a moment before realizing belatedly that her left hand was still being held by him. She quickly pulled it back.
” Zhen heard that your father was injured today?” Watching her reaction, Gu Zhen only smiled, showing no anger, and asked instead.
Zhao Yiyi replied, “Yes, he tripped over a threshold and seems to have broken his leg. This consort is very worried and has already sent a physician.”
She lowered her head with a desolate expression, staring listlessly at the green bricks on the ground. She looked extremely worried, but in reality, her apricot eyes held no ripple of emotion.
A look of heartache appeared on Gu Zhen’s face. He gazed at her for a while before saying, “Yiyi, Zhen knows you and he are not on good terms, that you have been like fire and water for years… With Zhen, you don’t need to pretend.”
Zhao Yiyi’s hand resting on the stone table stiffened slightly. She curled her fingers but didn’t reply.
“No need to force yourself to care for him, and no need to wrong yourself.” Gu Zhen gently stroked her hair, then tentatively tried to take her hand again.
She pulled it back after all.
He whispered, ” Zhen said I would support you in the future and wouldn’t let you suffer any grievances.” He paused, looking up at her, enunciating every word, “No matter who it is, no one can make you suffer even half a grievance.”
Zhao Yiyi looked at him blankly. The bright moonlight reflected in her watery eyes, flowing with a clear radiance.
A moonlit night, autumn birds crying.
The clouds drifted away, revealing the obscured moon, casting a soft light on the green bricks.
Zhao Yiyi turned her head away slightly, biting her lip, refusing to speak.
After a long time, she said, “But he is ultimately this consort’s father. How can this consort not pretend a little? In the eyes of outsiders, how can children speak of their parents’ faults?” Since he already knew, saying the rest became much easier.
But there was a tremor of tears in her voice.
She was in pain—pain from having such a father.
In the past at banquets, there were always ill-intentioned people mentioning how the Zhao family cared for Lady Xu and her daughter, causing her to lose face completely.
But that person happened to be her father. In every confrontation, she had to weigh her words carefully, trying her best not to let others find fault.
Even sending Zhao Weimin to Lanruo Temple, she used the excuse of her grandmother appearing in a dream.
Her heart felt increasingly distressed, trembling at its tip. Zhao Yiyi gasped short breaths, her palm tightening gently. Despite her restraint, tears fell unexpectedly.
She bit her lip tightly, refusing to make a sound. She wanted to wipe away the tears, harboring a hope that as long as she didn’t wipe them, he wouldn’t see.
Gu Zhen turned her shoulders to face him. She was clearly suffering terribly, tears falling uncontrollably, biting her lip until it almost bled, yet she refused to make a sound.
Forced to look up, Zhao Yiyi struggled free and looked away at a cassia tree in the corner.
The cassia was blooming brightly, its subtle fragrance pervading the air, scattered petals covering the ground.
Gu Zhen suddenly reached out and pulled Zhao Yiyi into his arms, patting her frail shoulder. He whispered, “Yiyi, even if he is your father, you are the Empress— Zhen’s Empress.”
Soothing her trembling body, he added, “If it is inconvenient for you to do something, why not tell Zhen and let Zhen do it? Just like what the Marquis of Hejian did this time—isn’t it good?”
“Your Majesty knew?” Zhao Yiyi asked suddenly, her voice hoarse.
Gu Zhen laughed. “Naturally Zhen knew. Lanruo Temple is close to Luoyang; the report came by fast horse. Zhen knew even sooner than you. Have you thought about how to punish him?”
Zhao Yiyi’s voice was muffled. “I haven’t decided yet.” Taking this opportunity, she indeed needed to punish the Marquis of Hejian to prevent him from acting privately in her name in the future.
But she hadn’t decided how to punish him or what reason to use.
“Acting without authorization is one; injuring your father is two. Just punish him on these two counts.” Gu Zhen patted her back gently, his voice warm and soft.
Sensing the person in his arms calming down slightly, Gu Zhen gently pushed her away, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye with his thumb. He chuckled, “Look, your face is all streaked with tears.”
Zhao Yiyi frowned in displeasure. Her face, already unhappy, looked even worse.
Gu Zhen panicked momentarily, whispering a few coaxing words, then asked gently, “Since you detest him, why didn’t you tell Zhen sooner?”
“Would telling Your Majesty sooner have been useful?” Zhao Yiyi retorted abruptly.
Just this one sentence left Gu Zhen speechless.
She smiled and said, “In the past, did Your Majesty ever seriously listen to anything this consort said?”
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