WMSG Chapter 72
by VolareChapter 72: Temperament May Change
Gong Xunwu knelt on the ground, his expression firm and allowing no room for discussion. The Empress Dowager doted on her youngest son, a child born to her in her old age, whom she treasured even more than her eldest son. He was not only proof of her favor, but also filled the void left by her fading beauty.
The Empress Dowager was taken aback by the palm print on Gong Xunwu’s face and forgot what was important. She sincerely asked, “Did your imperial brother hit you?”
The Junzhu not only respected and loved the Empress Dowager, but also revered her. However, she couldn’t help but say, “Does Mother think I hit him?”
“You child…” The Empress Dowager almost couldn’t handle these troublesome children. “You’re overthinking it. Mother didn’t mean that at all. Yue’er, come here.”
The Junzhu hoped that Ye Yueshen would go over and take the opportunity to act cute and plead for pity, but Ye Yueshen stood still, even taking a small step behind the Junzhu. “Empress Dowager, there is some distance between Zhaoyang Palace and Heyun Palace. News might not travel so quickly. If you are willing to let Yueshen go over after you know what happened in Zhaoyang Palace, then Yueshen will go.”
His coldness was not only unsympathetic but also lacked a desire to survive. He had no reverence for these nobles.
“Mother,” the Junzhu knelt down. “Mother, I gave birth to three children. When it came to Yue’er, the imperial physician said it was a daughter, and you also said that my belly was round, so it must be a daughter. I had people make a lot of clothes, all with the brocade and silk you bestowed upon me, which I was never willing to cut before. Later, I gave birth to Yue’er. Although he wasn’t a daughter, he was a child I looked forward to with all my heart. To be boastful, even the princesses in the palace can’t compare to how delicately I raise my son.”
“Yueshen is naturally a golden branch and jade leaf,” Gong Xunwu echoed.
The Junzhu and the Empress Dowager looked at him at the same time. The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes, signaling him to shut up, while the Junzhu glared at him without concealment.
“Mother,” the Junzhu crawled forward and tugged at the Empress Dowager’s sleeve. “I beg Mother to stand up for me and to uphold justice for Yue’er.”
Gong Xunwu’s provocation of Ye Yueshen was completely unexpected. From the moment she found out, the Empress Dowager had been worrying about the confrontation she would face today. However, being stared at by the adopted daughter she had raised for so many years, the platitudes were stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t say them for a moment.
“Ying’er,” the Empress Dowager rarely called the Junzhu by her childhood name. She reached out and tightly grasped the Junzhu’s hand, her voice trembling slightly. “Ying’er, what do you want?”
Ye Yueshen was a little scared. He was afraid that this was a sign that the Empress Dowager was about to get angry. This wording sounded like a question of whether the other party was ungrateful, but the Empress Dowager’s eyes were very gentle.
Ye Yueshen was uncertain. He also stepped forward and knelt next to the Junzhu. Gong Xunwu’s face became very unsightly. With the situation developing to this point, it was impossible for him not to regret it.
However, he didn’t regret provoking Ye Yueshen. He only regretted that their beginning wasn’t happy. If he had known that he would fall in love so uncontrollably, he should have been more humble and diligent, and shouldn’t have shown his strength to Ye Yueshen.
“You don’t want Qi Wang to pester Yue’er anymore? Mother promises you,” the Empress Dowager patted the Junzhu’s hand.
Gong Xunwu stopped kneeling and stood up abruptly, staring at the Empress Dowager without saying a word.
The Empress Dowager ignored his gaze and continued to say to the Junzhu, “You want Mother to punish Qi Wang? Mother also agrees, but this matter cannot be publicized. It’s not good for Qi Wang, the royal family, or even Yue’er and your reputation. Just wait until nightfall and have himya at Heyun Palace and beat him with thirty big boards. If you’re not in a hurry to go home, you can stay here and watch the excitement.”
“I accept the beating,” Gong Xunwu said. “But don’t say it’s Mother, no one can interfere in my affairs with Yueshen. There is no room for discussion on this point.”
The Junzhu aggrievedly clenched the Empress Dowager’s hand and begged, “Mother! Mother…”
The Empress Dowager closed her eyes. She really couldn’t control Qi Wang.
Gong Xunwu reached out to help Ye Yueshen, but Ye Yueshen coldly brushed his hand away. He then took a soft cushion from the couch next to him and placed it under Ye Yueshen’s knees. “You can’t stand kneeling for too long.”
The Junzhu wanted to cut him with a knife, and the Empress Dowager couldn’t bear it any longer. “How far are you going to take this!”
“I’m not making trouble,” Gong Xunwu was just as indifferent when he was being unreasonable.
In the end, they broke up unhappily. The Empress Dowager’s attitude was biased towards the Junzhu in terms of both emotion and reason, but Gong Xunwu’s skin was too thick and he was impervious to reason. He admitted when he was scolded, but he wouldn’t change when asked to. Beating him was of little use other than to vent anger.
When the Junzhu took Ye Yueshen away, she silently shed tears in the carriage. Ye Yueshen, on the other hand, was the calm one, but he felt even worse seeing the Junzhu so sad, and his fingers were constantly pinching his leg through his clothes.
Later, the Junzhu took his hand, and he woke up from his dream and let go.
“Mother,” Ye Yueshen said, his eyes red. “Am I very useless?”
The Junzhu was taken aback and quickly hugged him. “How could my son be useless?”
“I did something wrong,” Ye Yueshen murmured. If he hadn’t been scared by Gong Xunwu when he fought back against Du Ruxiang, things wouldn’t have been like this.
Examining himself after being hurt had become a solid habit. “It must be my fault. Otherwise, there are so many people in the world with good looks. Why did Qi Wang single me out?”
“Yue’er!” The Junzhu looked at him seriously. “Who told you these nonsense words? My son has suffered a great grievance. Who dares to blame you? Tell me, and I’ll slap him in the face and ask him why he was singled out too?”
The grievances of the past eighteen years had almost all been endured like this. When he was bullied by naughty classmates at school, he would return home dirty and injured. The relatives he was boarding with were unwilling to stand up for him and would instead blame him.
Ye Yueshen gave a soft “mm” and then rested his head on the Junzhu’s shoulder, shedding a string of tears.
After returning home, Ye Yueshen shut himself in his room. Ye Yuanshen and Ye Lingshen both came to see him, but they were not allowed to enter. The Junzhu did not ask them to disturb Ye Yueshen.
During the days when Ye Yueshen was depressed and silent, the palace was in turmoil. It took some effort to verify the matter between Consort Yu and the Crown Prince. In fact, under the Emperor’s instructions, Gong Xunwu forged letters and deceived both sides. The Emperor hid in the dark and listened for a while before appearing to catch the two of them.
In this matter, Gong Xunwu could see that Ye Yueshen did not want to accidentally hurt Consort Yu, so he slightly shifted the blame to the Crown Prince.
However, he himself had no pity for Consort Yu. However, the assassins caught in the Marquis’s mansion had traces of “Warm fragrance of the tent” (Account Warming Incense), and Consort Yu was not completely unaware of what the Crown Prince had done. As for how much she was involved, just the Crown Prince’s close attendants couldn’t help but reveal a lot under torture.
When people are alone, they can’t help but recall the past. Those moments when they were powerless at the time would be harshly examined by the current self, and then they would fall into endless regret and entanglement.
Ye Yueshen’s spirit became extremely fragile in the daily bedridden silence. The big and small events of his previous life lined up and crowded into his dreams, making him unable to help but wonder when he was awake, was everything he had now really worthy?
Then he fell into endless self-disgust. He looked at the exquisitely furnished bedroom in a daze, giving rise to a sense of unease of occupying a magpie’s nest.
Sometimes he would also think of Gong Xunwu. Gong Xunwu behaved as if he could not be taught at Heyun Palace, but he did not really pester him. Perhaps he had already let go under the persuasion of the Emperor and Empress Dowager.
Ye Yueshen couldn’t help but bite the edge of the pillow when he thought of this.
In fact, Gong Xunwu had always shown that he was very persistent towards him in his words, but there were not many truly persistent behaviors.
Ye Yueshen didn’t know if he should breathe a sigh of relief or feel an unspeakable sense of loss.
One night, Ye Yueshen had the servants forcibly open the door. Ye Yueshen was sitting on the small heated brick bed in a daze at the time, watching the door bolt bend and fall off the door.
Ye Yuanshen looked very pale. His voice was low and hoarse when he spoke, as if he had experienced a catastrophe. He sighed, “The Emperor summoned you to the palace.”
Ye Yueshen was stunned. “Now?”
“Yes,” Ye Yuanshen’s behavior was even a little slow and stiff. He said, “Don’t be afraid, I will accompany you.”
Ye Yueshen sensed danger in his reaction and subconsciously asked, “Why should I be afraid? Isn’t Mother accompanying me?”
The Junzhu had seen the palace eunuch who delivered the decree not long ago, and then she couldn’t bear the blow and fainted. She had just been awakened by the imperial physician’s acupuncture and couldn’t even get out of bed at this moment.
Ye Yuanshen smiled reluctantly to reassure him. “It’s not a big deal. Mother won’t go. I will accompany you.”
Ye Yueshen was silent and fell into deep thought. He had been short of energy recently, and it took him a long time to struggle mentally even for small things like bathing. He changed from once a day to once every two days, and then to once every three days. Fortunately, the end of the year was approaching, and it wasn’t a temperature that would make people sweat.
Someone outside urged him to hurry, and Ye Yueshen realized that the people from the palace hadn’t left yet.
Ye Yuanshen seemed impatient with his slow movements and couldn’t help but help him put on his outer robe and cloak.
Only the imperial study in Zhaoyang Palace was lit. Coming late at night, Ye Yueshen thought that Gong Xunwu had done something again, forcing the Emperor to summon him to the palace, probably to resolve the matter between them.
Ye Yueshen followed Ye Yuanshen into the study with the servant and unexpectedly ran into Yuan Bianyin, whom he hadn’t seen for many days since leaving the Marquis’s mansion.
Yuan Bianyin was wearing a very formal official robe. He was now the Junior Zhan Shi of the East Palace Zhan Shi’s Office. Everyone in the palace knew that he was the Crown Prince’s man. The Crown Prince had been punished for wall-facing because of him, and now he was gaining favor.
Yuan Bianyin’s eyes looked very energetic. When he looked back at Ye Yueshen, the aggressiveness in his eyes was extremely vivid.
Ye Yuanshen completely ignored him when he looked at him and led Ye Yueshen forward to pay his respects to the Emperor.
Ye Yueshen saw that sitting on the other side of the desk was Gong Xunwu. He was hidden in a place not illuminated by the candlelight, with his arms folded and his eyes calm. This was a posture that looked like he had a very low desire to express himself.
The Emperor said “Rise,” and Ye Yueshen stood up. A servant even brought chairs for him and Ye Yuanshen. Now, Yuan Bianyin was the only one standing in the entire study. He moved his feet unnaturally.
Soon the door of the study opened again. The teacher from the Ye family school was led in by a servant. He was still carrying his book box, and his eyes showed confusion and shrinking.
Ye Yuanshen stood up, and Ye Yueshen also stood up with him, politely saluting the teacher.
Yuan Bianyin bowed when he saw this.
The Emperor gave Yuan Bianyin a look, and Yuan Bianyin opened his mouth very discerningly and said to the three people who came later, “I, this official, have been with Young Master Yue day and night and know a lot about his habits. Since Young Master Yue made a mistake and was punished, he has become very different from before. Temperament may change, but…”
Yuan Bianyin took out the neatly folded rice paper from his sleeve, presented it with both hands, and handed it to the servant next to the Emperor. He looked back at Ye Yueshen and said coldly, “I, this official, believe that the Young Master Yue in front of me is not the real Young Master Yue, but an imposter.”
The Emperor just looked at Ye Yueshen. Obviously, he had already approved this statement. Gong Xunwu had a bit of a reaction. He glanced at Yuan Bianyin and then turned his gaze to Ye Yueshen.
Ye Yueshen didn’t even feel scared, but rather had a feeling of settling dust.
He looked back at his brother next to him. Ye Yuanshen’s gaze was fixed on the two pieces of rice paper handed to the Emperor, and there was no anger in his eyes at being ridiculed by this absurd statement.
Ye Yueshen could see that his brother was not surprised. The school teacher was taken aback and couldn’t help but make a little noise. “This…”