Chapter 73 One Family’s Joy, Several Families’ Madness

“I’m happy, I’m very happy.” Qin Qing stared fixedly at Yue Guanyi’s provocative eyes.

Yue Guanyi laughed coldly: “Since Your Majesty is also happy for your subject, why not make a marriage agreement between your subject and Madam Qiu? It just so happens that the Mid-Autumn Banquet is coming up soon. Her Majesty will be inviting officials and their families to the palace to feast in the Imperial Garden. Why not announce our engagement then and let the whole world know?”

Qin Qing’s face was gloomy, covered in dark clouds, his silver teeth nearly shattered from clenching: “Fine.”

“Then your subject thanks Your Majesty.” Yue Guanyi’s expression carried the joy of a victor as he lightly pulled Qiu Shuzhi and left the oppressive Qingning Palace.

Coming out of Qingning Palace, Qiu Shuzhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. But thinking of Qin Qing’s resentful gaze, her heart still felt uneasy. Perhaps in Qin Qing’s mind, he already saw her as a heartless person toying with his feelings.

But the Empress Dowager was still the Empress Dowager after all. She must prioritize the stability of the court and was unlikely to let emotions sway her, especially since Yue Guanyi’s power rivaled hers. She also had twenty thousand Yulin troops in her hands. It was just that the two of them were destined to go their separate ways from now on.

Before she knew it, she had already followed Yue Guanyi to Fengyang Pavilion. Their intimate behavior along the way drew many sidelong glances from the palace servants, privately discussing their relationship.

The weather in August was unbearably hot, the cicadas’ cries noisy and clamorous, a scene of midsummer. Yue Guanyi held her hand, nervous sweat beading, making her palm wet and slippery. Only the lush green bamboo planted in Fengyang Pavilion could bring her a hint of cool shade.

“Your Highness, let’s rest here for a bit.” He pulled her to sit down in a hidden bamboo grove.

Palace servants rarely came here, and it was too hot inside the palace halls. It was better to hide here where it was cool and undisturbed.

“Madam Qiu… I…” His chest heaved rapidly, fingers red like cinnabar berries from nervousness. Just now he was sharp-tongued and at ease facing Qin Qing, but now alone with her, he was so tense that he suddenly didn’t know what to say.

“Let me re-tie your jade pendant for you.” He seemed to have a lot he wanted to say, a lot he wanted to ask, but in the end didn’t say anything. Even witnessing that scene between her and the Empress Dowager with his own eyes, he didn’t utter a single hurt question, instead kneeling submissively at her feet to tie their love token.

“…Alright.” She softly agreed.

Today he was still wearing his Embroidered Uniform Guard official robes. The fierce beast embroidered on his chest bared its fangs and brandished its claws with an imposing air. Anyone who saw it would feel overwhelmed, wanting to kneel and beg for mercy. But he was wearing this status-symbolizing uniform while prostrating himself at her feet.

She lowered her gaze and smiled, fingers toying with the pearl tassels hanging from his official hat: “Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Your Highness wear the jade pendant I gave you?”

Yue Guanyi’s hands suddenly froze: “No, that’s not it.”

He urgently reached into his bosom, wanting to take out the jade pendant he always carried close to his heart. But in his haste, it got caught on the inner lining’s silk threads, cutting his hand. A drop of blood seeped from inside to outside.

Yue Guanyi paid it no heed, anxiously panting as he explained: “The jade pendant you gave me, I always carry it on my person. Day and night, I never dare forget…”

He even put it over his heart to warm it with his body temperature when sleeping.

Qiu Shuzhi lifted his hand, wrapping his wound with a handkerchief: “Then why haven’t I seen you wear it?”

“Because…” Yue Guanyi lowered his gaze, dappled bamboo shadows falling over his slightly reddened eyes, making them appear dim and lusterless. “Because I thought you didn’t want outsiders to know about our relationship.”

What?

Qiu Shuzhi was stunned. She never imagined Yue Guanyi would think of her this way.

She was being intimate with him in secret while not wanting to acknowledge their relationship in public. Wasn’t that just like a scumbag woman who only slept around without commitment?

The key was that Yue Guanyi thought of her this way, yet he still willingly and obediently went along with her.

She suddenly didn’t know what to say, only feeling some strange emotion taking root and sprouting in her heart, but she couldn’t express it in words.

“If not for me requesting marriage from the Empress Dowager today, would Your Highness have been content to keep hiding like this? Getting held and kissed by me, losing your purity, yet wholeheartedly concealing it for me, swallowing all the bitterness by yourself?”

Yue Guanyi shook his head, an indescribable light shining in his slightly darkened eyes: “No… this isn’t bitterness.”

How could being compassionately embraced and kissed by Madam Qiu be considered bitterness? Everything related to Madam Qiu was a blessing!

“…” Qiu Shuzhi lowered her eyes, silent for a long time. Suddenly, she grabbed his collar, forcing him to raise his head as her cool lips ravaged his mouth.

“Mmph—” Tears of utmost joy welled up in Yue Guanyi’s eyes, a hazy mist covering them, but unable to conceal the obsession in their depths.

He held her slender waist, knees kneeling on the cold ground, raising his body so Madam Qiu could kiss him more comfortably without bending down. His soft sweetness wildly plundered her mouth as he tried his utmost to comply with her, to please her, until a hint of ambiguous moans spilled from his lips. Only then did Qiu Shuzhi barely stop.

“Does this count as lewdness in broad daylight?” She traced his slightly reddened eyes with her slender fingers.

Yue Guanyi was endlessly abashed, his ears bright red.

She laughed softly and placed another wet kiss on the corner of his eye, gently asking: “Doesn’t Your Highness have anything you want to ask me?”

Yue Guanyi raised his head, eyes still a bit red-rimmed. He was silent for a long time before obediently shaking his head.

He didn’t want to ask anything. Right now, his only fear was that she would suddenly change her mind and not want to marry him, not allowing him to cherish the joy of being on cloud nine before plunging into the abyss of hell.

Qiu Shuzhi caressed the loose strands of hair on the back of his neck, sighing softly as if chanting: “Don’t you want to know what the Empress Dowager and I did in the room just now? What is our relationship?”

Was there even a need to wonder? Judging from Qin Qing’s smug look just now, it was clear what they did inside. But Yue Guanyi knew it was all that old widower’s coquettish seduction of Madam Qiu. Otherwise, Madam Qiu wouldn’t be interested in a man at such a tofu-dregs age.

However, Yue Guanyi didn’t say it outright. Although he regressed into an obedient dog in front of Madam Qiu, the more loyal and obedient the dog, the more jealous it was of stray dogs its owner fed and pitied outside. There was no guarantee that one day, Madam Qiu might bring those wild dogs home out of pity, vying for the affection that originally belonged to him.

If he didn’t use some tricks, sooner or later the gaze Madam Qiu lingered on him would lessen.

He lowered his head slightly with a hint of desolation, his voice like a whimper of an unloved puppy: “I want to know, but if Madam Qiu doesn’t say, I won’t ask.”

“You…” Qiu Shuzhi pulled him up from the ground and embraced him with love. What she couldn’t stand the most was Yue Guanyi’s eyes like a big dog that had been wronged, always making her feel guilty and pitying.

“The Empress Dowager and I don’t have anything…” After saying that, she felt it wasn’t quite right: “At least, I have no feelings for the Empress Dowager. Right now, my eyes and heart only have you. Don’t overthink or keep things to yourself when you feel wronged. Do you understand?”

“Mm…” Yue Guanyi hugged her tightly, making a nearly choked up sound, then whimpered like a puppy in her arms: “Madam Qiu, as long as you’re by my side, I won’t overthink.”

Yue Guanyi repeatedly reminded himself in his heart that domineering and overbearing men would only make women feel repulsed and disgusted at the mere sight of them. As long as he acted submissive and understanding, letting Madam Qiu take the initiative to pity him, it would make Madam Qiu cherish him more, and this love would last longer.

However, he deeply inhaled the cold fragrance from her body that made him obsessed and crazed, the corners of his mouth irresistibly curling up.

Since Madam Qiu was willing to marry him, things needed to speed up on the courtesan’s side.

That day, he had Chang’an invite the most famous courtesan from Drunken Immortal Brothel. Using redeeming his status as a condition, he had the courtesan teach him the skills to serve a woman, both in and out of bed, learning a whole set of flattering positions.

The courtesan feared his status and naturally imparted everything, even giving him a secret treasure – the “Frolics Handbook”. The various postures inside were numerous and made him gape in shock. Just looking at these positions made one’s face turn red.

The courtesan also said that as long as he mastered the techniques inside, even the coldest and most ruthless woman would become soft and pliant for him. He didn’t know if it would please Madam Qiu…

But just thinking that on their wedding night, he could completely give his body to Madam Qiu, belonging to her alone, and in the future he could even have his wife’s surname added before his own, his heart kept gushing forth a pleasure he couldn’t bear, like jumping into a huge honey pot with sweetness oozing from every gap and seam.

“Now I’m just looking forward to the Mid-Autumn Banquet arriving sooner so I can openly give you a status. I just don’t know if the Empress Dowager will…” She held Yue Guanyi, her expression slightly hesitant.

“Madam Qiu doesn’t need to worry.” Yue Guanyi slightly lifted his gaze to look into her deep eyes: “I will tell Her Majesty about this. Before, she always thought you and the Empress Dowager were in the same faction, so she was dissatisfied with you. If you and I get married and stand on the Yue clan’s side, she will definitely be overjoyed. By then, even if the Empress Dowager is unwilling, Her Majesty will take the initiative to announce it to the officials and their families at the Mid-Autumn Banquet.”

“Alright.” Qiu Shuzhi smiled faintly, her hand gently caressing the back of his neck.

She could already imagine the young emperor’s delighted expression upon learning the news of their marriage. This way, with the forces of the elder prince she allied with and the military power in her own hands, she could completely rival the Qin clan.

“What? You and Qiu Shuzhi?”

Inside the quiet and secluded Imperial Study, Yue Shen stood up from the dragon throne in her layers of heavy deep robes, her round apricot eyes wide open in disbelief: “When did you two…?”

“Your subject has long admired Madam Qiu. Right after the hunting grounds, we developed feelings for each other.”

There were only the two of them in the Imperial Study, but the main door was open. Yue Guanyi had no intention of deliberately preventing the news from leaking out. He hoped this news could spread through the eyes and ears of various forces throughout the capital, throughout the land of Daming, letting everyone know he was about to become Madam Qiu’s man, her rightful husband.

Yue Shen was so shocked by this sudden news that she couldn’t speak. Her hands, hidden in the heavy splendid robes, clenched tightly together. After a long time, she managed to say with difficulty: “Then congratulations to you, brother.”

Although Yue Shen and Yue Guanyi were biological siblings, they had been separated since childhood. After Yue Guanyi returned to the palace, he was always busy with his duties and power, so the two didn’t have much affection between them.

However, the forces in Yue Guanyi’s hands had always swayed between the Qin clan and the royal family. Thus, Yue Shen’s relationship with him wasn’t as tense as with the Empress Dowager.

“So you came this time to have Us bestow marriage to you and Madam Qiu at the Mid-Autumn Banquet?” She slowly sat back down, her soft white hands gripping the paper on the desk, leaving a deep crease.

“Precisely.”

She looked at Yue Guanyi in front of her, his face gloomy and ashen with a deathly air, yet also notorious. She really couldn’t imagine Qiu Shuzhi genuinely liking him. She had always thought that the Confucian scholar Qiu Shuzhi should prefer a more traditional and gentle man who stayed at home and embodied the virtues of a good wife.

Not a vicious and ruthless man like Yue Guanyi. Yue Shen vaguely felt that Qiu Shuzhi was marrying him to use his power to pave the way for her own future.

In any case, no matter how she thought about it, she absolutely couldn’t believe Qiu Shuzhi truly liked him.

Yue Shen didn’t understand what was wrong with herself. Obviously the person in front of her was her full-blooded elder brother. Obviously his marriage to Qiu Shuzhi could pull Qiu Shuzhi into the Yue clan’s faction, which would be all benefits and no harm to her. But she just couldn’t accept it, even feeling disgusted hearing Yue Guanyi and Qiu Shuzhi’s names connected together.

Yue Shen quickly closed her eyes to cover the myriad of emotions in her apricot eyes. The paper in her hand was almost crumpled from her tight grip. She even felt the Yue Guanyi in front of her was extremely nauseating and loathsome, as if he had snatched away a secretly treasured jewel of hers and purposely flaunted it in front of her. Her heart felt like it was stirred into mush, with a deep emptiness gouged out, leaving her breathless.

“Rest assured, brother. Your royal sister will naturally assist you in your lifelong event,” Yue Shen said hoarsely after taking a deep breath.

“Brother’s lifelong event? Could it be that brother has his eye on some talented young man?” Qin Zhengya walked in with a bowl of bird’s nest soup, a smile on his face.

Ever since he was reminded by Cai Er to put on airs as a noble young master of the Qin clan in front of Yue Shen, although Yue Shen still disliked him, she no longer dared to directly reprimand him.

On the other hand, Qin Zhengya gradually learned how to be an empress. Especially after Concubine Jing’s death sounded the alarm for him, he was no longer the little white rabbit that anyone could bully. Even the Empress Dowager was very satisfied with him and had him keep a close eye on Yue Shen’s every move. Just now, he used the excuse of delivering bird’s nest soup to check on Yue Shen.

Who knew that as soon as he reached the door, he vaguely heard about Yue Guanyi’s lifelong event and couldn’t help but wonder what kind of woman could conquer this venomous living Yama in front of him.

Yue Shen suppressed a bitter smile: “You know that person, Qiu Shuzhi.”

“Crash—” The bird’s nest bowl spilled, flowing all over the table, and the porcelain bowl even rolled to the ground, making a clear shattering sound.

Qin Zhengya hurriedly cleaned it up with a handkerchief, an unnatural smile on his face: “Sorry, I accidentally spilled the bird’s nest.”

Yue Guanyi smiled faintly, his eyes deep and dark: “It’s nothing. The Empress still remembers to think of Her Majesty at this time. Truly a harmonious couple, a blessing for Daming.”

A harmonious couple?

Qin Zhengya smiled bitterly. He squatted on the ground, picking up the sharp broken porcelain pieces, but his mind was full of Qiu Shuzhi’s cold and gentle face, his heart filled with indescribable sourness and complexity.

“Brother likes Madam Qiu. Does Madam Qiu reciprocate your feelings?” He asked with a dry voice, as if harboring a hidden fluke, hoping to get a negative answer.

Hoping that this was all just Yue Guanyi’s one-sided wishful thinking, that Madam Qiu definitely didn’t like him and even wished to stay far away from this fierce and evil man.

Yue Guanyi smiled, watching his reaction with even deeper eyes, his voice cold: “Of course. Madam Qiu even personally proposed in front of the Empress Dowager.”

Madam Qiu? How intimate!

Qin Zhengya unconsciously clenched the porcelain pieces, his heart feeling like it was brutally scalded by a branding iron, an intense burning pain surging through his body.

“Brother and Madam Qiu are a talented woman and a handsome man, a match made in heaven. We plan to announce their marriage at the Mid-Autumn Banquet. Oh right, the Empress is in charge of hosting this banquet, right?”

The darkness in Qin Zhengya’s eyes grew deeper and heavier: “Yes.”

Yue Shen slowly smiled: “Then the Empress better do a good job.”

At the banquet he hosted, announcing Yue Guanyi’s marriage, making him tailor Yue Guanyi’s wedding clothes, and even matchmaking his marriage with Madam Qiu.

Why!

Why could this man!

Qin Zhengya’s eyes were filled with a darkness thicker and more intense than the night, raging flames burning wildly in his heart, burning the last bit of softness into scorched earth.

He had always been kind-hearted, so timid that he didn’t dare to hurt even a bug since childhood. But Yue Guanyi committed all sorts of evil deeds, his hands stained with who knows how much blood. Why could such a person obtain a good match like Madam Qiu? Why could he attain the happiness he didn’t even dare to dream of?

Why was he trapped in this palace that devoured people without spitting out their bones, burying his love that he could never speak of, until his old age and death!

Why!

Countless voices screamed and wailed in his eardrums, crazily slamming against them. Even if he tried his hardest to endure, those mad shrieks still kept surging forth.

Qin Zhengya had already forgotten how he walked out of the Imperial Study. He only knew that when he came to his senses, he had walked in a daze the whole way, the porcelain pieces clutched in his hand cutting into his palm, blood flowing along the way.

“Empress, what happened to you? Quick, someone come bandage the Empress’s wound!” Cai Er saw him come out in a trance and thought Yue Shen had bullied him again. He hurriedly held his hand and called for palace servants to bandage him.

“The Empress is a precious body. You lowly slaves better be careful, or watch out, I’ll send you all to the Punishment Bureau!” Cai Er shouted sternly.

“No need!” Qin Zhengya opened his mouth hoarsely, his eyes hollow and lifeless.

“Aiya, how can that be! Consort Rong has been sent to the Cold Palace. You finally gained power after so much difficulty. This is the time you must curry favor with Her Majesty…” Cai Er schemed.

“Enough!” For the first time, Qin Zhengya angrily berated the servant who had accompanied him since entering the palace.

Who knew Cai Er didn’t hear the displeasure in Qin Zhengya’s words, still thinking Qin Zhengya was the same master as before who could be easily manipulated by him. His sharp-tongued mouth kept nagging on and on: “Empress, you can’t keep being willful. You must quickly conceive an heir. Otherwise, if some lowly concubine steals Her Majesty’s favor, becoming the second Consort Rong, your position as Empress won’t be stable—”

“Slap—” He viciously slapped Cai Er’s face twice with his bloody hand. Hatred surged in his chest like tides, devouring his reason and weakness, tearing apart his remaining kindness.

Cai Er covered his bloody face, unable to speak for a long time.

“They’re lowly, but how are you not lowly to the bone? You treat me as your chess piece to throw your weight around in the palace. Always saying it’s for my own good, but isn’t it just because you’re afraid of becoming a lowly palace slave that anyone can bully!” Qin Zhengya gritted his teeth as if gone mad, all his pent-up grievances exploding out at this moment.

There wasn’t a single person in this palace who was truly good to him. They would constantly use him, humiliate him, treat him as a pawn until squeezing out his last drop of blood.

There was only one person who would treat him well with sincere intentions, who would smile at him gently, who would protect him and cherish him.

There would never be another person like her again!

But she would soon be someone else’s wife-master, embracing another man, giving all her gentleness and care to someone else.

They would have children and grandchildren filling their home, while he could only hide in the cold depths of the palace, repeatedly calling her name in the unknowing night to relieve his uncontrollable longing.

Qin Zhengya tightly shut his eyes, tears of agony rolling down from the corners.

“Empress Dowager…” Yu Ye cautiously walked in after hearing no movement inside the hall for a long time.

The mess inside the hall was simply indescribable. After Yue Guanyi and Qiu Shuzhi left, Qin Qing threw another big fit. There was simply no place to set foot on the ground.

He inched his way in. The Empress Dowager Qin Qing leaned against the chair in decadence, his long hair disheveled, his face still bearing traces of blood, his eyes even more desolate and down-and-out, looking exactly like an abandoned husband.

There wasn’t a single intact object around him, except for the folding fan in his hand, which was completely undamaged.

Yu Ye sighed inwardly.

He had heard everything that happened inside just now loud and clear. Even in this situation, even when he was so furious that he lost his reason, the Empress Dowager still couldn’t bear to damage the things Madam Qiu gave him.

“Empress Dowager?” Yu Ye called his name again in a low voice.

Qin Qing’s lowered eyes finally moved, a dead stillness in his originally gentle eyes.

“…Do you really intend to bestow marriage to His Highness and Madam Qiu at the Mid-Autumn Banquet?” He asked, trembling with fear.

Qin Qing lowered his head, his disheveled long hair sliding off his shoulders. His eyes moved, carrying deep hidden meaning: “Why not?”

Yu Ye felt a burst of pleasant surprise in his heart: “You mean you’re preparing to let go of Madam Qiu?”

“Let go?” Qin Qing didn’t answer, the corners of his mouth curling into a hint of a cold smile instead.

How could he possibly let go.