And so half a quarter-hour passed. In that utterly oppressive atmosphere, a person’s inner endurance was tested to the extreme. Yet the anticipated explosion did not come. She saw Emperor Lintian’s eyes brimming with fury, but hidden deep within them was a trace of helplessness not easily perceived.
Emperor Lintian’s face was as deep and dark as the sea. Suddenly, he turned toward the Ninth Prince at the side. The Ninth Prince’s body stiffened, and he hurriedly lowered his head, crying inwardly that things were not good—his imperial father had set his sights on him! Sure enough, before he could even begin to worry, Emperor Lintian’s low, dignified voice rang out from above. “Old Nine, you and Commander Xiang will go to Prince Li’s residence together to deliver the summons. No matter what method you use, you must bring him to court! If you accomplish this, We shall reward you handsomely. If you fail, you need not attend court again in the future.”
The Ninth Prince’s eyes suddenly lit up at those words. Yet the very next sentence froze the smile on his lips. Emperor Lintian added, “You can go to the northern suburbs and guard the imperial mausoleum for Us for the rest of your life!”
The Ninth Prince’s mouth fell open in shock. Although he was the only person who could enter Prince Li’s residence without needing to be announced, if he angered Seventh Brother because of this, he would have no good days ahead of him. And the miserable life of guarding the imperial mausoleum was no life for a human being; asking him to stay there for a lifetime—he might as well be beheaded with one stroke! He could not help blurting out, “Ah? Imperial Father...” But he had barely opened his mouth before Emperor Lintian’s blade-sharp, piercing gaze killed the rest of his words. He forced the corners of his mouth to twitch and said with utmost helplessness, “This son obeys the decree.”
Having received the decree, he inwardly lamented without end. With a worried frown, he turned around. At the instant he brushed past Man Yao, he saw her standing there calmly, her clear, serene eyes behind the beaded curtain as if not even a matter as great as the heavens could stir the slightest ripple in them. Irritation rose in his heart, and he glared at her fiercely, thinking to himself that this woman had put him in a dilemma, yet she looked as though none of it had anything to do with her. Truly hateful. Eldest Princess Rongle—this grudge was now settled!
Man Yao received his gaze and merely smiled casually. In the end, the one watching the show had watched himself into it.
Only then did the officials let out a breath. The Ninth Prince had always been very close to Prince Li; with him going, there should probably be no problem.
Emperor Lintian’s expression softened considerably, and he began chatting with Man Yao, asking her about the customs and scenery of Qiyun. Man Yao answered each question in turn, neither forcing perfunctory replies nor indulging in endless boasting. She grasped the proper measure in her words extremely well, and Emperor Lintian smiled in satisfaction and nodded.
In this way, before they knew it, half an hour had passed. Suddenly, a flurry of footsteps came from outside the great hall. It should be that Prince Li with the enormous airs arriving at last!
Man Yao did not look back, but she noticed Emperor Lintian’s expression abruptly change. The corners of his mouth, which had just been smiling, visibly twitched. His originally deep expression now showed anger plainly, and the harmonious, pleasant atmosphere in the great hall plummeted to freezing point.
Even the fine motes of dust in the light breeze seemed to come from the underworld. In an instant, an eerie chill filled the hall, exuding a strange aura that seeped straight into the depths of the heart, making one shiver.
Gasps sounded by her ear. She saw the expressions on the faces of the civil and military officials and the princes constantly changing, rich and varied to the extreme. Whether their eyes were large or small, whether their faces handsome or ugly, in short, every single one of them had their eyes wide open, their eyeballs nearly falling to the floor. The emotions in those eyes—was it shock? Anger? Terror? Disbelief? And there were even some who, courting death, showed admiration!
She could not help feeling puzzled. What sort of scene could make the emperor of Lintian and all his ministers produce such abundant expressions in a single instant? She could not resist turning her head to look. First she saw the Ninth Prince stepping into the hall, his handsome face wearing a stiff smile, as if someone had forcibly tugged the corners of his mouth upward. His gaze flickered as though he were avoiding the emperor seated high above, and he advanced at an extremely slow pace with a stiff scalp, just like a fish on a chopping block that clearly saw the bright blade raised above its head yet still had no choice but to flop forward, because behind it was a scalding pot of boiling oil.
Her gaze passed over him and looked toward the man behind him—the legendary man of unparalleled intelligence, yet eccentric and wildly arrogant. At once, like those officials, she widened her eyes in great surprise.
This was Prince Li—Zongzheng Wuyou?!
He had come, yes, but to dare attend court in such a manner as he did was absolutely unprecedented throughout the ages. He could be called the first person from ancient times to the present!
Emperor Lintian shot to his feet, his imperial countenance furious as he shouted, “Bastard! Attending court like this—what propriety is there in it? In your eyes, is there still Us at all?”
The Ninth Prince hurriedly knelt and replied in a small voice, “Imperial Father, it was you who said with your own mouth that no matter what method was used, as long as Seventh Brother could be brought to court...”
“Shut your mouth!” Blue veins bulged at Emperor Lintian’s temples. He pointed at the Ninth Prince, looking as though only kicking him out of the palace would relieve his anger.
The Ninth Prince trembled from the shout and quickly lowered his head, no longer daring to utter a sound. The officials were also so frightened that they shuddered, shrinking their necks and not even daring to breathe loudly.
Another stretch of eerie silence fell. Under the emperor’s towering rage, everyone in the entire hall became a frightened bird, except Man Yao, who remained composed. She looked at the person lying on an ebony couch-chair carried by eight imperial guards, head covered and sleeping soundly. Amid Emperor Lintian’s angry roar, he showed not the slightest sign of waking. She could not help laughing inwardly, admiring this person’s first-rate ability to sleep.
Prince Li, Zongzheng Wuyou—he truly acted eccentrically and was arrogant to the extreme. Just think: without his permission, who would dare carry him out of Prince Li’s residence in such a flamboyant manner?
Emperor Lintian strode down from the dragon throne. Seeing that the person on the couch showed no reaction whatsoever, he was beside himself with rage.
“Wuyou, you are already in court, yet you still dare be so impudent? Hurry up and roll yourself up for Us!” Emperor Lintian swept away the brocade quilt covering Zongzheng Wuyou. With a flick of his hand, the dark red quilt seemed to grow wings, flying straight out of the hall and vanishing in the blink of an eye. Yet in the next moment, as Emperor Lintian looked at the scene on the couch, he froze where he stood, his gaze complicated, his expression dazed. The boundless fury that had previously surrounded him miraculously scattered with a boom, leaving not a trace.
Man Yao found it strange, and along with the gazes of the whole court of civil and military officials, she looked toward the man on the couch. Just that one glance was enough to still time and congeal the air.
The man on the ebony couch-chair wore a white brocade robe of subtly patterned silk, with a long, narrow belt of black jade and gold thread fastened at his waist. His sleeping posture was elegant, his aura pure. His black hair fell lightly, unbound, spilling over the edge of the ebony couch-chair, lifted gently by the faint breeze, as though it wished to carry him away from this filthy mortal world. His face was like crown jade, his brows like blue-edged blades, his nose straight and handsome. His long, narrow phoenix eyes were closed, and his thick lashes, under a strand of orange-yellow light filtering in through the latticed window at one side of the hall, cast faint blue shadows upon his eyelids, perfectly granting this pure and nearly flawless face a touch of reality.
Zongzheng Wuyou had been carried into the great hall just like that, sleeping deeply. His pure, sweet face looked as if he were sound asleep in his mother’s arms, utterly defenseless.
Man Yao stared in a daze. The gazes of the surrounding officials were also filled with astonishment, as though this were the first time they had seen Prince Li like this. Man Yao had lived two lives and seen countless beautiful men. She had thought that among men in this world, none could surpass her imperial brother’s noble elegance as the ultimate peak. Yet never had she felt unable to move her eyes away like this. What she found even more unexpected was that a man as eccentric and arrogant as Zongzheng Wuyou should have such a pure and perfect face, unstained by the smoke and dust of the mortal world, yet without making anyone mistake him for a woman in the slightest.
She could not help wondering what sort of eyes could be worthy of such peerless features. Would they be dazzlingly pure, gathered from the radiance of heaven and earth? Or clear as an immortal’s, bewitching the world? Or perhaps as wise as a god’s, leaving everything in the world nowhere to hide before him? She guessed involuntarily. Yet she was wrong—all wrong, and terribly wrong!
When Zongzheng Wuyou’s tightly closed eyes slowly opened, everyone shivered from the bottom of their hearts. Those eyes, those eyes... were as wicked and wanton as Yama walking out from the eighteenth level of hell. If she had not seen it with her own eyes, Man Yao would never have believed that there could be a person under heaven who could fuse two utterly different auras—evil and pure perfection—to such an extreme.
He swept his gaze around, then slowly sat up, one hand resting on his bent knee. His posture was languid, his face expressionless. Passing over Emperor Lintian, he cast his gaze directly upon Man Yao, whose face was veiled by the beaded curtain.
“You are Qiyun’s Eldest Princess Rongle?” he asked, his voice icy, his gaze wicked and unrestrained.
Under his expressionless stare, Man Yao instinctively felt her blood swiftly congeal. So there could be such a difference between a person with eyes closed and eyes open. It was truly incomprehensible. Man Yao steadied herself and was just about to greet him politely when she saw him suddenly curl his lips, turn toward Emperor Lintian with mockery in his eyes, and laugh lazily. “Your Majesty’s taste is becoming more and more peculiar. I had no interest in the beauties you bestowed upon me the previous times, and this time you have actually found an old woman who cannot marry even at twenty and possesses neither virtue nor looks, and want me to take her back as my wife! Are you in such a hurry to stuff a woman into my arms?”
The vicious words, spoken in a contemptuous tone full of ridicule, caused everyone’s expressions to change drastically, their hearts filled with horror.
Xiao Sha’s gaze sharpened, and he was about to stride forward when Man Yao sensed his intention and quickly raised her hand to stop him.
An old woman who could not marry even at twenty and possessed neither virtue nor looks? This Zongzheng Wuyou’s mouth was indeed venomous enough! By comparison, the Ninth Prince could be considered courteous. Man Yao sneered inwardly, yet her face remained incomparably calm. When everyone looked over with worried gazes, thinking she would react, she instead lowered her hand, stood quietly in place, and said nothing, did nothing.
Emperor Lintian’s brows drew together, and he rebuked, “Wuyou! You must not be rude to the princess! The princess is an envoy of peace between our two nations and has come from afar. You were already discourteous for failing to leave the city to welcome her yesterday; how can you speak such nonsense today and disgrace your status? Quickly apologize to the princess.”
Zongzheng Wuyou gave a cold snort and turned his head away, as if he had not heard.