The first glimmer of dawn seeped into the sky, and Yun Yaoyao got up early once again to head to the Xuansheng Palace for the morning court.
Her eyes were glazed, dark circles heavy under them, and she looked as if a tiny ghost was about to pop right out of her mouth!
It all traced back to the night before. To keep up her act perfectly, she had "favored" Consort Ling.
Who could have guessed that Du Luoling had been unbelievably enthusiastic this time? She had broken out into a full sweat jumping about on the dragon bed, and even earnestly suggested that Yun Yaoyao join her to work up a sweat too, so the palace maids wouldn't spot any hint of their secret.
Yun Yaoyao thought Du Luoling made a good point, and the thought that exercising the tyrant's body would only benefit herself in the end made perfect sense to her, so she joined right in.
Du Luoling kept cheering her on as they moved.
"Shake that waist fat, crunch crunch crunch! V-line abs, toned abs, I'll have them all!"
"A man who skips leg day, has nothing but a pretty face to say!"
"A woman who trains her legs, gets a perky butt and gorgeous legs!"
"You better build up some strength, to beat your ex till he can't stand!"
"Your Majesty, go! Go! Go!..."
Yun Yaoyao: "..."
If she had been a native of this ancient era, she wouldn't have gotten the references, but she was from the modern world. Hearing those slogans, she got more and more pumped as they moved, more and more excited!
Just like someone popping a pack of Xuelu candy that never lets you stop, she couldn't slow down at all!
That night, the dragon bed was nearly shaken to pieces by the two of them.
Looking back on that night now, Yun Yaoyao was full of chagrin.
Dammit, she was starting to be far too competent at being an emperor!
When she arrived at the Xuansheng Palace and took her seat on the imperial throne, the court officials began to step forward one by one to present their proposals.
The topics were all related to state affairs, or rival families taking turns impeaching each other in front of the emperor for misconduct, chaos in their inner residences, and the like.
When things got boring, she could even snack on all the juicy gossip between the families, which wasn't half bad!
As for the Du family, who was in the limelight at the moment...
Every time Du Guanliu came before Yun Yaoyao to swear his utmost loyalty, he would twist his words around to fish for benefits for himself.
For example, the Grand Canal would be completed soon, and north-south trade would need supervision, and he had a recommended candidate, blah blah blah...
Another time, he said he had found a group of bright women from the common populace who were suitable to serve as female officials, blah blah blah...
And then there was the matter that the empress position was vacant, His Majesty had no heirs yet, so it was high time to appoint an empress to bring good fortune to Yan Chi, blah blah blah...
Every time Du Guanliu brought up these proposals, Yun Yaoyao would respond with a faint smile.
"Lord Du speaks reasonably..."
"What Lord Du says is most correct..."
"This matter is of great importance, I shall consider it carefully..."
"This matter is already in progress, I know full well what I am doing..."
Her whole approach was to respond to every single sentence, yet never actually follow through on anything.
Du Guanliu wore a smile on his face, but inside he was seething with frustration.
Her attitude was warm and friendly, yet not a single benefit was granted to him. Your Majesty, you are far too hypocritical!
As the morning court was about to adjourn, Yun Yaoyao stretched out her hands which had been tucked secretly under her imperial robe, and coughed softly.
"I have recently acquired a new talented person, who presented me with a painting that I adore. Today, I shall share it with all of you to admire."
"Xiao Wuzi, bring it forth!"
Xiao Wuzi quickly respectfully carried the painting to the front of the court officials, and several other eunuchs helped slowly unroll it, revealing its content to all the ministers.
The first glance the officials took: they marveled at how realistic the painting was, the figures on it looked so lifelike they might step out of the canvas at any moment.
The second glance: wait a minute, aren't that His Majesty and Concubine Sha? And the people sitting across from them, aren't they the Gao father and son?!
The third glance: why are His Majesty and Gao Dexiang sitting together drinking and eating, both of them grinning so widely that it looks like there's something fishy going on between them...
From the ranks of the Ministry of Personnel, Gao Dexiang, who was standing right behind Du Guanliu, craned his neck to look at the painting.
The second he saw it, his first thought was that this painting was definitely done by his old friend Master Zhuang, it's so vivid!
Then he looked again, holy hell! This painting... this painting! This painting is going to get him killed!
At that moment, Gao Dexiang finally understood where that uneasy feeling he had felt the day before had come from.
Yesterday, he had led the Du Kang Tavern team to compete, following Lord Du's orders, to make sure they won the wine tasting contest, since the profits from the wine workshop were huge.
But he had lost for no reason, and because of that, Lord Du had already expressed his dissatisfaction with his competence.
His Majesty and Concubine Sha had been invited by the Immortal in the Cup Tavern, and even if they were just spectators, their presence represented the position of the Immortal in the Cup Tavern.
He, representing the Du Kang Tavern, had ended up at the same restaurant with them right after losing the contest.
The painting showed all of them getting along perfectly, toasting and drinking and eating together, and the way he looked at His Majesty in the painting was so obsequious and fawning, it looked like his gaze was about to melt all over the emperor!
But in reality, he hadn't even dared to meet His Majesty's eyes yesterday!
But none of that mattered now. This painting was clearly screaming to everyone that Gao Dexiang had defected to His Majesty, and intentionally thrown the game to make the Du Kang Tavern lose!
His Majesty was even willing to risk getting impeached by the censors for sneaking out of the palace with his beloved concubine, just to drag him into this mess!
Insidious, so insidious!
Woe is him, he knew no free meal in this world comes without a price!
(ಥ﹏ಥ)
Up ahead, Du Guanliu turned around, staring at him darkly, his voice dripping with danger: "No wonder Vice Minister Gao lost the contest. It turns out you've already hopped to a higher branch, haven't you?"
Cold sweat dripped down Gao Dexiang's forehead. He plastered a smile on his face and hurried to explain: "Lord Du, it's not what you saw, it's all a misunderstanding, I can explain..."
Du Guanliu gave a cold snort: "Oh? This painting was personally painted by your old friend Master Zhuang, wasn't it, Vice Minister Gao?"
Gao Dexiang was wailing inside: "Lord Du, please listen to me, what happened yesterday was..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a group of pro-emperor officials crowded over, looking at him with obvious relief. Some grabbed Vice Minister Gao's hands, others patted his shoulders, saying.
"Vice Minister Gao has been doing great things in secret, privately showing his loyalty to His Majesty."
"Vice Minister Gao's official career is going to soar to new heights. You know, the last person who managed to cling tightly to His Majesty's thighs is already a Minister now!"
Those words were like stabbing knives right into Du Guanliu's heart, his gaze grew even more suspicious and sharp.
Gao Dexiang was soaked in cold sweat, he almost wanted to grab Du Guanliu's court robe right there and swear his loyalty to him: "I didn't, I didn't do that, Lord Du, please listen to me explain!"
At that moment, Darkened, twisted Yan Qinghong also butted in. He stared at Gao Dexiang sinisterly, fanning the flames.
"Your eyes are darting all over, your words are incoherent, and you keep tugging at your collar. Anyone can tell you're lying."
"Vice Minister Gao, Vice Minister Gao, I never thought you would betray and side with His Majesty..."
Gao Dexiang was furious and flustered: "Minister Yan, don't spout nonsense and slander me!"
Yan Qinghong's gaze was cold as ice, his voice as eerie as a vengeful ghost coming for its life: "Whether I'm talking nonsense or not, you know it perfectly well in your own heart..."
Gao Dexiang shuddered, and decided not to argue with Yan Qinghong. The man right now looked like a vengeful ghost crawling out of a dark ditch, far too terrifying to mess with.
He broke free from the encirclement of the pro-emperor officials, scurried over to Du Guanliu's side, and fawned on him: "What happened yesterday was like this..."
At the same time, several censors had already drafted their remonstrances in their heads. They darted forward in a rush.
Some threw themselves at the pillars, some drew their swords, some banged their heads hard on the ground, all of them speaking through tears, their words earnest and impassioned.
"Your Majesty, this subject must speak up! Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, your life is tied to the entire Yan Chi nation, how could you sneak out of the private palace!"
"The capital is full of endless dangers, if anything happens to Your Majesty..."
"Your Majesty, you must never leave the palace privately again..."
Gao Dexiang seized the gap when everyone else's attention was drawn away by the imperial censors, and quickly added his explanation, "This official had no idea at the time that the person sitting behind that screen was Your Majesty..."
Just as Gao Dexiang's explanation was starting to soften Du Guanliu's expression, another person suddenly darted out from the line of officials nearby, cutting everyone else off.
Gao Chongguang planted his hands on his hips and single-handedly argued down five imperial censors at once.
"His Majesty is burdened with state affairs every single day. What's wrong with him going outside the palace to unwind once? Did he eat rice from your homes?"
"You all keep saying you're acting for His Majesty's good, so stop just flapping your lips! Go and do something actually useful for once!"
"Censor Yuan, from what I've heard, you still had the leisure to go listen to a ballad performance yesterday. How come His Majesty can't even go out of the palace to watch a wine-drinking contest? Are you implying His Majesty isn't worthy of that little joy?"
"His Majesty's trip out of the palace this time was an invitation from our Gao family. That means His Majesty didn't just go there to watch people drink competitively. He went to show care for the common people, and even more, to strengthen the bond between the sovereign and his subjects!"
"Get it?"
Gao Dexiang, who had been just about to smooth things over and appease Du Guanliu, almost spat out a mouthful of old blood the second he heard those words.
You unfilial brat! You reckless boy who would throw your own father under the bus just to curry favor with His Majesty!
With those words out there, wouldn't everyone now take it as a hard fact that there was some unspeakable secret between Gao Dexiang and His Majesty behind everyone's backs?
And to make things worse, Gao Chongguang's motor-mouth was running so fast that no one could even get a word in to stop him, they could only stand there and listen to him ramble on nonstop.
Over in the Ministry of Personnel's line of officials, Du Guanliu's face turned completely dark, and he directly turned his head away, refusing to even look at Gao Dexiang anymore.
In the grand imperial court, the pro-emperor faction looked on with pleased expressions, as if thinking this young man was really showing great promise. Meanwhile, the Du Faction stared at Gao Dexiang with seething resentment, as if he was some backstabbing little traitor who dared to betray his own superior.
Gao Dexiang felt like two whole streams of broadband-speed tears were streaming down his face in his heart. From start to finish, all he had ever done was get dragged into having one single meal with His Majesty against his will!
He was so wronged! He was even more wronged than the legendary wronged soul Dou E!
Up on the imperial throne, Yun Yaoyao was trying so hard not to burst into laughter that she was shaking. She threw Gao Chongguang an approving look, thinking to herself that this little mascot of hers was actually pretty useful.
When her gaze fell on Gao Dexiang, all sorts of mischievous schemes bubbled up in her mind nonstop. This was exactly the plan Yun Yaoyao had come up with early on to deal with Gao Dexiang: a scheme to sow discord between him and Du Guanliu.
