Chapter 83: Ingratiating
Inside the hall, there were whispers; outside, the sound of rain was gradually tapering off.
Gu Zhen’s brow darkened. He cast a cold glance to his side before striding in.
“Your Majesty, this…”
Wu Mao’s heart skipped a beat under that gaze. He mentally cried out injustice—His Majesty had ordered not to tell Her Highness about Master Lu, so he hadn’t dared to utter half a syllable! Who knew where Her Highness had heard it from!
The sudden sound of footsteps interrupted the conversation between the two in the hall.
No screen was set up in front of the couch today. Zhao Yiyi glanced up slightly and saw the man striding in.
Yunzhu followed her gaze and looked back. After a brief pause, she tactfully retreated.
“It’s already this hour; why haven’t you gotten up yet?” Gu Zhen asked with a light chuckle. He walked to the edge of the couch and took the book from her hand. “You didn’t even open the window, just reading like this.”
Zhao Yiyi glanced at him lazily, then turned her body to face the inner side, saying indifferently, “It’s cold today; I can’t get up. What is Your Majesty doing here? No morning court?”
“What morning court? Look at the time; I’ve already returned from morning court.”
Knowing she was angry, Gu Zhen’s voice softened further. He reached out to turn her body upright, his voice gentle. “Get up and have breakfast first. You’re already awake; sleeping all the time isn’t good for your health.”
Zhao Yiyi lowered her eyelashes, staring at the snow-green brocade quilt embroidered with grapes and vines. “I don’t really want to eat.”
Saying this, she shifted, appearing as if she was about to lie back down.
Afraid she would hurt her stomach by sleeping like this, Gu Zhen hurriedly reached out to hold her, whispering, “I haven’t had breakfast yet either. Eat with me, won’t you?”
Zhao Yiyi’s face grew colder. She pushed him and said, “Do whatever you want to do. Why drag me along? I already said I don’t want to eat.”
In her anger, she spoke without much reservation. Annoyed, she shoved him straight on, using almost all her strength.
“What you want to do has nothing to do with me. Anyway, you never took how I felt to heart. You never asked a single question all these years. Now you say things about keeping my matters in your heart—who knows where you kept them? Why come and provoke me now?”
Gu Zhen grabbed her hand as she shoved. Veins pulsed at his temples. It took several moments of restraint to suppress his rising emotions. “Yiyi, I didn’t know that was you. It was too long ago; how could I clearly remember things from my youth?”
Zhao Yiyi was dizzy with anger. Tears welled up in her eyes unconsciously as she said aggrievedly, “But I always remembered.”
So, I was the only one who remembered these past events.
No matter how beautiful, without someone to share the memory, it always felt like a piece was missing.
“At the Winter Solstice banquet that day, the Late Emperor asked you to play pitch-pot with me. I recognized you at a glance. I greeted you, spoke to you, but you kept holding yourself aloof, refusing to pay me any attention.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand a few times, her voice laced with dejection. “I thought it was because we were at a banquet and it was inconvenient for you to speak to me. It turns out you simply didn’t recognize me.”
Her murmuring voice grew lower and lower, until the last few words were almost inaudible.
Gu Zhen’s heart felt as if it had been fiercely stabbed.
It hurt, terribly.
Between the two of them now, it was impossible to tell who was hurting more.
His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. He used the pad of his finger to wipe away the tear spilling from the corner of her eye, but the more he wiped, the more flowed out, like an endless stream. Yet, he dared not use too much force, fearing he would hurt her. They sat quietly for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her, lowering his head to lightly peck the corner of her eye. “It was my fault. I forgot those old events. But no one ever mentioned it to me, and no one ever told me about seeing you for the first time back then.”
Gu Zhen took her hand, rubbing it gently a few times before whispering, “Yiyi, it’s been so long. When you refuse to pay attention to me, I feel terrible too.”
Zhao Yiyi knew she shouldn’t dwell on such things.
After all, he might not have even known who she was back then.
But it still hurt.
Indescribable emotions surged in her heart. She turned her face away and said, “You feel terrible? And who exactly feels good?”
Thinking of those past events, how could her heart possibly feel good? She had once completely let go, moving on from those memories. But the moment she thought of them even slightly, the grievance was overwhelming, and even her chest ached.
He said he felt terrible, but she had never had it easy either.
Feeling a lump in his throat, Gu Zhen stroked her soft hair and said huskily, “My feelings for you—do you still not know them?”
Zhao Yiyi’s heart felt pricked.
The way he treated her now, holding her in his hands for fear of dropping her, taking twelve parts caution—it was ten times more intense than she had ever been. Naturally, Zhao Yiyi was aware of all this.
She gripped Gu Zhen’s sleeve, then slowly let go. “So what? I told you long ago, how can I retrieve the heartbeat of the past?”
Pressing her hand to her chest, she frowned slightly, turning her head to look at the lotus pattern on the window lattice.
Perhaps it had existed briefly, for just a moment, before being rapidly extinguished.
He always shattered all her fantasies so easily.
Zhao Yiyi smiled. Amidst his increasingly ashen expression, she spoke softly and gently, like a clear spring under the moon: “Whenever I think of remembering some of your good points, you always have a way to make me dismiss that thought completely.”
Gu Zhen’s face turned pale.
After a long time, he simply helped Zhao Yiyi up and said in a deep voice, “Eat breakfast first. I’ll let you settle the score with me slowly afterward.”
Just as she was freed from his confinement, Zhao Yiyi was about to move further away from him when her ankle was lightly grasped the next moment. His grip was perfect—encircling it completely.
Looking down, she saw Gu Zhen holding her ankle, about to put on her embroidered shoe.
Zhao Yiyi’s eyes went wide. She pulled back, trying to break free, but was met with a light scolding: “Don’t move around. I’m putting on your shoes, not doing anything else.”
“You want to do something else?” She couldn’t help but kick him, scolding him with a sullen face.
Gu Zhen had just put on one shoe when he received a kick. He merely lowered his head, held the other foot, and smiled. “If Yiyi wants to do something else, I don’t mind either.”
He was becoming more and more shameless.
Suddenly realizing this fact, Zhao Yiyi was stunned at first, then blushed and pushed him. “You are the Emperor; how can you be so shame… shame…” The words were on the tip of her tongue, wanting to scold him properly, but she couldn’t get them out.
It was just a light push, but Gu Zhen was completely unprepared. He was pushed right onto the floor, falling over entirely.
“So Yiyi still knows I am the Emperor?” Gu Zhen was so angry he wanted to laugh. He got up, held her ankle, and quickly put on the remaining shoe before saying, “Is there anyone under heaven who treats the Emperor like you do?”
Zhao Yiyi kept a cold face and refused to answer him.
Breakfast was simple: just two bowls of small wontons, along with a few pastries and side dishes.
Zhao Duanduan had already gotten up and eaten. Right now, she was bored with painting and was teasing Zhao A-Huang (the dog) under the corridor.
“Wait a few days, and I’ll take you out of the city for a walk to see the winter scenery at Longmen.” Gu Zhen picked up a piece of Guanghan cake and placed it in her bowl, his voice carrying a coaxing tone. “I heard people say there are some novel little gadgets in the Southern Market recently. I’ll take you to see them then.”
Zhao Yiyi had been eating with an indifferent expression, but upon hearing “Southern Market,” her brows relaxed. She said thoughtfully, “To recover from her injuries, Duanduan has been cooped up in the palace for so long; she should indeed go out for a walk. Little girls always like those gadgets from the Western Regions.”
Gu Zhen opened his mouth, but the words he was about to say were swallowed back after seeing her expression.
Fine, let’s just go. It’s better than Gu Qi or that Lu Xianshan.
“By the way.” Seeing the section of her neck revealed as she lowered her head to eat, he probed, “Does Yiyi know that Lu Xianshan will be coming to Luoyang soon?”
Zhao Yiyi nodded. “I know.”
Feeling a lump in his throat, Gu Zhen asked, “Where did Yiyi hear that from?” It couldn’t be that she and Lu Xianshan were still exchanging letters, right?
“Cousin Lu has a very good relationship with A-Chen and interacts with him a lot in private. Naturally, he told A-Chen about it.” Zhao Yiyi glanced at him sideways and said coolly, “Why does Your Majesty ask so much? They say: ‘If you aren’t deaf or mute, you can’t be a mother-in-law.’ By the same logic, asking too clearly makes it impossible to be husband and wife. When someone else lived in the palace back then, didn’t I stay out of it just the same?”
Blocked by her neither lightly nor heavily, Gu Zhen choked. Although that past event hadn’t been his intention, it was true that he hadn’t cared about it or considered Yiyi’s feelings, allowing that person to live in the palace. Listening to her speech, he said helplessly, “I was being meddlesome.”
Zhao Yiyi smiled. “Why is Your Majesty like this? I never said that.”
She hadn’t said it, but wasn’t that exactly what her words implied?
Gu Zhen was somewhat annoyed, but he couldn’t bear to lose his temper with her. He had to hold it all back before saying, “Aside from you, who have I ever cared about? I don’t even remember clearly what she looked like. Why do you love to think blindly like this? How can I compare to Yiyi, who has such a childhood sweetheart of a cousin?”
Even these words came out.
Zhao Yiyi didn’t want to humor him. She said softly, ” Whatever Your Majesty says.”
Gu Zhen was so angry his head hurt. His face was pulled tight. He stared at her for a good long while before he barely felt a little better.
“It was my fault for speaking,” he finally huffed coldly.
When coming out of Yande Hall, Wu Mao followed behind and whispered, “Your Majesty, Her Highness just said that Your Majesty shouldn’t come tomorrow. She wants to take the Princess out of the palace to play.”
Gu Zhen responded coldly with an affirmative sound, then added, “Have people follow closely; let there be no mishaps.” Thinking of Zhao Duanduan, he suddenly had a headache. “She’s such a big girl, yet she still lives with the Empress. It’s somewhat inappropriate.”
“By the way, Grand Princess Runan just submitted a memorial. She wants to hand over the two salt pools the Late Emperor bestowed upon her to the Imperial Court.”
Runan was deeply favored by the Late Emperor and had received countless rewards, including two salt pools in the Shannan Circuit. Submitting this memorial now, she ostensibly claimed she had no merit to the state and was unworthy of possessing them.
Gu Zhen just smiled.
This was because she saw his attitude toward Yiyi, combined with the reinstatement of Zhao Yuan’s official post. Thinking there was hope for her son’s reinstatement, she rushed to lower her head first.
“Since she is willing to return them to the Court, let her wish be granted. Order someone to take over.” Gu Zhen’s voice was indifferent. He suppressed his restlessness and didn’t continue.
Glancing to the side, Wu Mao lowered his voice. “Your Majesty, forgive this servant for speaking frankly. The Princess living there can coax Her Highness into being happy, which is much better than Her Highness living alone. Your Majesty is the Princess’s own brother. If you manage things well with the Princess, won’t things be much easier with Her Highness?”
Gu Zhen understood now. This was telling him to ingratiate himself with Zhao Duanduan so she would put in a few good words for him.
His steps paused suddenly. After pondering for a long time, he said, “Go inquire about Jiangdu’s preferences. Pick some things and send them to her.”
He never thought that one day, there would be a time when he needed to curry favor with others.
📖 Advance Access: Complete Novel
- Option 1: Note your email on PayPal/Ko-fi.
- Option 2: Email proof to beezzzreads@gmail.com.
- Option 3: Comment below.
Recommended Reads
![Accidentally Turned a Tragic Romance Plotline into a Sweet and Pampering One [Transmigration]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ACCIDENTALLY.png)
