Chapter 357 – Will You Crown Her Empress?
“I’ll go visit Cining Palace first as Empress Dowager said she will look for me,” Ye Zhen said.
“Imperial Mother has just sent someone here. She knows that you’re playing Go here, so it doesn’t matter. You can just solve the game and go back,” Mo Rongzhan said casually, pretending to be indifferent even as he was trying to convince her to stay.
Ye Zhen glanced at him and said, “Won’t that interfere with Your Imperial Majesty’s time?”
Mo Rongzhan raised his eyebrow and asked, “Interfering zhen’s what?”
“Don’t you need to appease Xu Xianfei who was driven away by you today?” Ye Zhen asked as she retook her seat. Isn’t Xu Huiru his favorite concubine nowadays?
“In your mind, is zhen a muddle-headed emperor immersed in women’s charms?” Mo Rongzhan asked, voice cooling down slightly in displeasure.
Ye Zhen propped her chin with one hand and continued to stare at the Go game before her, eyes lidded as she replied in a cold voice, “How would I know? Anyway, aren’t you going to see Gui Fei Lu ? She has said she is ill and wants to see you.”
The moment Lu Wushuang was mentioned, Mo Rongzhan’s eyes sank. “If she’s sick, why doesn’t she summon the imperial physician over? Why is she asking for zhen? Could it be that she thinks zhen is able of curing her illness?”
Ye Zhen couldn’t help herself from raising her head and looked at him in all seriousness. “Are all emperors this fickle?”
“You think zhen is fickle?” Mo Rongzhan’s tone became slightly colder than before. In his opinion, he felt that he was still too affectionate. Otherwise, why would he still keep her constantly on his mind? Even when he was aware that she was unwilling to be with him, he still went to see her in the middle of the night, disregarding his identity. If this was not him being an affectionate person, then why would he do such a thing?
“A few months ago, you still doted on Gui Fei Lu so much, yet you have forgotten to care for her even though it isn’t that long ago since there are new people in the harem. Could it be that this isn’t considered being fickle?” Ye Zhen chuckled aloud. Which man did not have three wives and four concubines? Which man did not know how to embrace one on the left while cherishing others on the right? As an emperor, perhaps he knew this better than other men.
Mo Rongzhan’s thin lips were pursed tightly in consternation as his eyes darkened. He looked at her and said, “The person zhen wishes to dote on is not Gui Fei Lu. However, she pretended to be that girl and replaced her. It is only recently that zhen discovered the truth. If it isn’t due to not wanting to alarm people and the loyalty of the Lu Family, zhen will not let her be in her position as an imperial consort.”
A strange light flitted past Ye Zhen’s eyes, and she wondered out loud. “In that case, who do you want to dote on? Is it… the girl who saved you before?”
Mo Rongzhan looked out of the window indifferently and began to explain. “At that time, zhen was blind and was ensnared by Ye Yisong to fall into a dry well. Zhen had temporarily lost our martial arts and was without internal force; thus, zhen could not leave the dry well. It was only after waiting for a long time that zhen got saved by a little girl. However, zhen couldn’t see. Zhen had planned to find her after regaining sight, so zhen made an appointment. Alas, on the day of the appointment, zhen waited but did not see her for a long time. In the end, the only clue zhen had left was the jade ornament zhen had given her. Then, Lu Wushuang appeared with the same jade ornament and said she was the little girl who saved me.”
“She said that and you simply believed her words just like that?” Ye Zhen was somewhat indignant when she heard this. Is he truly that stupid?
Mo Rongzhan could see that she was scolding him in her heart and could only smile helplessly. “It wasn’t just because of that, but she knew exactly what had happened that year. Only zhen and that little girl knew those things. If Lu Wushuang wasn’t that little girl, then how would she know?”
“How did you realize that she isn’t that little girl then?” Ye Zhen asked again. This was what she was most curious about.
“Zhen went to that dry well some time back and saw something that had her name on it. Then, I finally remembered the little name she once told me,” Mo Rongzhan said, taking a deep look at her. However, he didn’t say that the little girl was also called Yaoyao. Otherwise, this little girl before him might once again let her imagination run wild.
Ye Zhen’s smile grew increasingly taunting as she said, “The fact that you can still forget her little name means that you don’t necessarily long to see her again.”
Mo Rongzhan shook his head and smiled bitterly. “In your heart, is zhen that kind of an unbearable person? Previously, zhen’s eyes were blinded by poison, and even though zhen has been cured, there were side effects that caused me to forget a lot of the past. It was only later that zhen gradually remembered the things zhen had forgotten.”
“Still, how come Gui Fei Lu has the jade ornament you gave that little girl? How can someone like her hide it from you? It looks like you’re also not too smart, Your Imperial Majesty.” Ye Zhen laughed merrily, making fun of the emperor. At the same time, her words were also aimed to make Mo Rongzhan suspicious of Lu Lingzhi.
“This is what zhen can’t figure out. Zhen can’t find that little girl, and at the same time find out why Lu Shuanger has that jade ornament. Moreover, even though it has been so long since that time, zhen has wondered from where she learned about what had transpired between that little girl and me,” Mo Rongzhan said, frowning.
At this, Ye Zhen smiled and stated, “Although she is my older paternal cousin, I have to admit that Lu Wushuang can’t do these things on her own.”
Mo Rongzhan narrowed his eyes slightly as he asked, “Yaoyao, what do you want to say?”
Only“I didn’t say anything, ah. Anyway, although the gui fei was not the one who saved you, in the end, she is still your gui fei. At the very least, she has served you. Will you really ignore her so ruthlessly? You might as well ask her where the little girl is.” Ye Zhen wanted to know what Mo Rongzhan would think if he knew that the person who saved him had been killed by a glass of poisoned wine.
“Zhen is worried that it will inadvertently alert her, she may kill the little girl before I find her.” Mo Rongzhan whispered.
“Can you guarantee that the little girl is still alive?” Ye Zhen asked indifferently. “Perhaps she’s already dead.”
Mo Rongzhan’s eyes immediately went cold as he said, “Zhen believes she is still alive.”
“And then what?” Ye Zhen looked him in the eye. “What are you going to do when you find her? Are you going to marry her and crown her your empress?”