Chapter 398 – Shameful!
Shameful!
At this moment, the Emperor hated that he could not slap himself across the face twice. After doing his best to pretend, in the end, that act had been for the Empress’ group? The one that he really wanted to keep it a secret from would end up exposing it due to such a careless mistake. How could this possibly be good?
Seeing him in a daze and imperial concubine Yun, who had already arrived outside the door, not come in, Zhang Yuan also became frantic. He quickly prodded the Emperor and quietly reminded him: “Your Majesty, imperial concubine Yun may end up returning. Quickly chase after her!”
Unfortunately, when they left the hall, all they saw was imperial concubine Yun’s clothing flying away.
The Emperor gritted his teeth. Without giving an care to his appearance, and caring even less about the rumor that he had spread about falling unconscious, he immediately gave chase.
Imperial concubine Yun sat on a sedan carried by four people that were adept in qinggong. These were people that could go many steps without needing to touch the ground, as they rushed toward Winter Moon Palace.
The Emperor had also personally gone onto the battlefield when he was young. He had great abilities, but how could the hard-working people of the battlefield compete with the experts of Jiang Hu capable of using qinggong? He already believed that he was running extremely fast; however, he was still pulled away from by the people ahead.
The Emperor did not give up, continuing to give chase to the best of his abilities. Behind him, Zhang Yuan also gasped for air while following far behind. Feng Yu Heng, however, remained inside Heavenly Hall. She had already helped the Emperor in every way that she could. What remained was for the Emperor to do what he could. While walking to the front hall to see Xuan TianMing, she began thinking to herself. She only hoped that imperial concubine Yun would not blame her for helping the Emperor this time!
From Heavenly Hall to Winter Moon Palace, the Emperor gave chase for the time of two sticks of incense. Seeing imperial concubine Yun’s sedan carried into Winter Moon Palace’s gates, he gritted his teeth and put some force into his legs, rushing straight at the closing gates.
However, he was still a step too slow.
The gates closed, catching a corner of his clothes. The Emperor was awkwardly locked outside like this. He could neither go in nor leave.
He tried tugging on his sleeves but could not pull them out. The Emperor laughed: “Beloved, if you were thinking of Us, just say it. Just holding onto my sleeve like this is no good. It’s already been so many years. If people see this, it will become a joke.”
There was no movement inside.
The Emperor did not become discouraged, continuing to say: “Beloved, We know that We are in your heart, else you would not have gone to Heavenly Hall. We did trick you, but it was just to see you! It was a lie told with good intentions, good intentions.”
There were still no movements inside.
The Emperor began to sweat a little, “That uh, beloved, can you open the door so we can speak inside? In any case, We are still the ruler of the country. Just standing here at the entrance is not too appropriate.”
Winter Moon Palace was completely silent. Only the sound of the wind could be heard blowing through the trees. There was not another sound.
At this time, Zhang Yuan also caught up, gasping for air. Upon seeing the Emperor’s disheveled appearance, he felt a little uneasy, thus he shouted loudly at the gate: “Imperial concubine Yun, his Majesty was indeed given a scare today. It’s just that you arrived at the perfect time. This person has already arrived at the entrance of your palace. In any case, at least invite him in for a cup of tea! Imperial concubine! Did you hear it?”
The Emperor listened to the things that Zhang Yuan shouted and felt a little regretful, quickly tugging at him, scolding: “What are you shouting for?”
Zhang Yuan resentfully said: “They are such bullies.” While saying this, he helped the Emperor tug at his sleeve, but the gate of Winter Moon Palace was shut too tight. No matter what, it could not be pulled out.
The Emperor scolded him: “What’s it matter to you? We enjoy being bullied. What of it?”
Zhang Yuan said: “This servant just worries that you will eat a loss!”
The Emperor rolled his eyes, consoling himself: “If there’s a loss, there’s a loss. After all these years, I have become accustomed to it. Right,” He looked back and asked Zhang Yuan, “Where’s A-Heng? Did she not follow us?”
Zhang Yuan said: “Your Majesty! County princess calls you father Emperor, and she also must call imperial concubine Yun imperial concubine mother. Just now, she has already helped you once, but you messed up the act. If she came now, how could she explain to imperial concubine Yun in the future?”
The Emperor thought about it and also reached this conclusion, but he was truly unable to accept that he had messed up the act. Helplessly sighing, he said to himself: “Is there really no way of remedying this situation?”
Zhang Yuan stomped his feet: “Your Majesty, since things have already become like this, it’s already too late to remedy the situation. How about you gather some courage this time. This servant will protect you as you charge through this door! Is it not just Winter Moon Palace? It’s not like it’s a dragon’s den. It has already been a stalemate for over ten years. How can you not go in?”
The Emperor’s nose nearly became crooked from the anger. Why did his damn eunuch not grow a brain? If it was forcefully entering, he would have done it many years ago. Would there have been any need to wait until today?
Before he could scold Zhang Yuan, at this time, the sound of footsteps came from all sides. It was as though a large number of people and horses were endlessly running. Not long later, a group of imperial guards rushed about on all sides, appearing a little disoriented.
The Emperor wiped away some sweat and asked Zhang Yuan: “What happened? There should not have bee a coup, right?”
Zhang Yuan was helpless, “Your Majesty, can you think about something positive?”
Thus the Emperor changed the wording: “Could it be that someone wishes to usurp me?”
Was there any difference?
Zhang Yuan took a few steps toward the small path and called an imperial guard over, asking: “What happened?”
The imperial guard immediately saw the Emperor’s sleeve stuck in the gate, and the corners of his lips twitched for a while. After a while, he finally managed to reply: “Replying to your Majesty, Princess Ru Jia, who had been in the imperial palace, has gone missing. His Highness the ninth prince has ordered everyone to search the palace.”
“What?” The Emperor became furious, “Fucking hell, Qian Zhou really is courting death! Both the men and women are courting death. If we don’t show them a stern countenance, it really does not work!” He ordered the soldier: “Quickly go search. Search carefully for Us. Even if you must dig them up from three feet under, find them.”
The soldier was without fear and immediately complied: “Yes!” He then quickly ran off.
The Emperor was a little frantic. He no longer thought of getting into Winter Moon Palace. Waving to Zhang Yuan, he said: “Quickly! Get a sword for Us to cut off this sleeve. We must quickly return.”
Zhang Yuan said: “You wish to cut up the robe? Isn’t that too unlucky?”
“Then what do you think should be done?”
“How about… you take off your outer clothes!” Zhang Yuan gave him an idea, “Just treat it as leaving imperial concubine Yun something to remember you by. It’s better than cutting it.”
The Emperor thought that this was how it was, thus he turned around and removed the outer clothes on his own.
“Go, go, go, we shall return to Heavenly Hall!” A certain emperor dragged his eunuch and began to walk back, but after just a few steps, he felt that something was a little off and looked down. Huh? All that remained was his white underclothes? How unsightly was this? “That, uh, let’s go this way.” He pulled Zhang Yuan to the side, and the two walked along the side roads.
Like this, they sneaked back in the direction of Heavenly Hall. Zhang Yuan thought to himself, why were they acting like criminals? Who could have known that just as he thought this, he heard someone loudly shout from the side: “Who’s there! Come out!”
Zhang Yuan thought to himself, it’s over! This time, they would lose a lot of face.
Immediately following this, the spear moved from their shoulders toward them. This scared Zhang Yuan into shouting: “Impudent!”
The imperial guards had been searching for Ru Jia and ended up here. He noticed some movement coming from the shrubs on a small path. Who knew that at the moment he moved his spear, he would hear a eunuch’s voice.
Immediately following this, they saw the Emperor’s personal eunuch, Zhang Yuan, came out with some leaves on his head. Behind him, another person wearing white stood up too.
The imperial guards were a little unable to understand what was happening. It was dark at night, and the Emperor was hiding behind Zhang Yuan. Like this, nobody was able to see anyone clearly. One of the imperial guards asked Zhang Yuan: “What is eunuch hiding here for instead of taking care of his Majesty?” He then looked back and felt that something was not quite right. This was the inner palace. How could men enter the inner palace? Could it be that it was another eunuch? Why would a eunuch be dressed like that? Countless questions came up, and the imperial guard expressed his doubts once more: “The one behind eunuch… is which eunuch?”
“My ass!” Upon hearing that he had been called a eunuch, the Emperor immediately exploded. Cursing, he walked forward and kicked the imperial guard.
The imperial guard acted on reflex and dodged back while stabbing forward with his spear. The Emperor angrily grabbed the spear and tugged it. Using some force, he caused the imperial guard to fall.
The soldiers finally managed to see clearly. How was it a eunuch, it was clearly the Emperor! Thus they kneeled and begged for forgiveness. They then heard the imperial guard that had called the Emperor a eunuch say: “This subordinate did not know that it was your Majesty that was here. Would your Majesty please spare me!”
The Emperor always took face very seriously. Otherwise, how could he bother with hiding under some brush. Who knew that they would end up being discovered. At this moment, his mind was on the verge of collapse.
The Emperor felt that he no longer had the face to see people, thus he pulled Zhang Yuan in front of him once more.
Zhang Yuan was also feeling quite ashamed, but he was the Emperor’s personal eunuch. At this sort of time, he had to stand in front of him. Thus he straightened himself out and loudly said to the imperial guards in front of them: “After his Majesty heard that Qian Zhou’s princess escaped, he prepared to catch her personally. Don’t go screaming all over the place. Dismissed, dismissed!”
The imperial guards had all kinds of criticisms. Who were they lying to? Wearing underclothes to catch someone? Was there really that much interest?
But these things were only thoughts. He was the Emperor. No matter what he wore or what he did, he was always in the right. Thus the imperial guards listened to what Zhang Yuan had said. After telling the Emperor of their departure, they all dispersed. The two then heard the imperial guards that had just dispersed shout at another group: “There is no need to search that area! His Majesty just came from Winter Moon Palace and has not had a chance to put on his clothes. Don’t go over there to cause trouble.”
Zhang Yuan immediately grabbed the Emperor’s arm: “Your Majesty, stay calm! They are your people. You absolutely must not be impulsive!”
The Emperor was puzzled, “Why would We be impulsive?”
“They said…”
“They said that We just came from Winter Moon Palace and did not have time to put on clothes. Hah! Very good, this is very good. The story that they came up with for this old one was quite entertaining. Let’s go, we are returning to Zhao He Hall.”
Zhao He Hall was his bedroom. While Qian Zhou was causing a stir, and the entire palace was searching for Ru Jia, the Emperor was actually choosing to go back to sleep!
Zhang Yuan’s eyes became a little moist, and he became a little choked up. He knew that the Emperor was escaping. He had chosen to use this lie to lie to himself. He would rather live in that lie than accept reality.
He turned around and looked at Winter Moon Palace, feeling that imperial concubine Yun was too mean. The Emperor was willing to do this much for an imperial concubine, but what was she scheming? Really… willful!”
At that time, inside Winter Moon Palace on this Summer night, imperial concubine Yun sneezed while walking. She stopped and asked a palace maid: “Say, is that old man cursing me behind my back?”