Chapter 401 The Empress's Fight for Favor
Chapter 401 The Empress's Fight for Favor
Don’t want to see me... Don’t want to see me?
The smile on Zhao Duan's face froze little by little, and a string of question marks slowly floated above his head.
No...what do you mean? Didn’t you ask me to come to the palace to see you, but now you’re gone again?
Zhao Duan held a cautious attitude and asked tentatively:
"Your Majesty is meeting guests? Or did you meet someone after returning to the palace?"
The maid serving in the bedroom shook her head and said softly:
"No, His Majesty just doesn't want to see him."
After saying this, the maid looked around with her spiritual eyes and warned carefully: "Your Majesty seems to be angry with you, my Lord."
Is Zhenbao angry?
Zhao Duan felt a little headache, but even though he lacked love experience in his previous life, with his emotional intelligence, he knew that he could not really leave since the empress was "saying one thing and thinking another".
False anger
——Tell you clearly that you are angry, and then expect you to coax you.
Really angry
——He had no chance of entering the palace at all, as he was stopped by the imperial guards at the gate.
At this time, we should exercise our subjective initiative... Zhao Duan was thinking about what to do when he happened to see a young eunuch from the imperial kitchen walking towards him with a tray in his hand.
On top is the lotus seed soup which is served every day to replenish qi and nourish blood.
"Please stay, sir!"
Zhao Duan strode forward and took the soup in the latter's confused gaze without giving the latter any chance to explain. Then, while the palace maids deliberately let him go and pretended to try to stop him, he strode into the bedroom.
The empress's bedroom was an entire courtyard, with maids on duty everywhere. Zhao Duan followed the instructions and soon arrived at a familiar door.
——The room where he stayed overnight last time after killing the State Master.
That is to say: the empress's boudoir.
"Knock knock." I knocked on the door gently, waiting to hear a cold voice saying "Come in."
Zhao Duan pushed the door open with a creaky sound, at the indulgence of several palace maids and eunuchs who pretended to be blind.
……
As winter approaches, the curtains are drawn on the door. Zhao Duan steps over the threshold carrying a tray, and a warm breeze blows on his face.
What caught his eye was still the elegant and noble "warm room" where he slept last time. The floor was covered with thick cashmere carpet. Next to the antique shelf and opposite the Arhat bed was an animal-shaped incense burner.
There was no brazier to be seen, because there were pipes under the house, and someone was burning charcoal all the time to bring in hot air from underground, which was an ancient version of floor heating.
Xu Zhenguan stood with his back to the door, holding a pair of black scissors in his hand, and was concentrating on trimming the vine of an unknown species of flower planted in the blue and white glass dragon floor vase in front of him.
From this angle, she was slightly bent over, with her round buttocks raised, a narrow waist and wide hips, and a clear upward line on her back could be vaguely seen through her casual clothes.
Her long black hair was tied up with a strand hanging down on each side. Her cuffs were slightly slipping down, and as her slender white wrist turned, the lush and green extra branches fell down with a hiss.
Zhao Duan was stunned. It was the first time he saw the empress in such a "lifelike" scene.
In the past, even when the two of them were dining and drinking alone, there was always a sense of official business between superiors and subordinates.
The empress even ate voraciously, as if she was in a hurry, as if she was either handling government affairs or on her way to govern the country.
Pruning flower branches by oneself... This kind of "entertainment" activity is very common among the noble ladies in the capital, but it is particularly rare for the empress.
"Your Majesty...the soup is here." Zhao Duan swallowed, came back to his senses and said in a low voice.
"Click——"
The scissors that were weaving between the green branches suddenly stopped. Xu Zhenguan straightened up, turned around, and looked at him expressionlessly: "Who let you in?"
Pretend, just pretend... If Your Majesty hadn't deliberately let me go, would those servants in the palace dare to let me sneak in...
Woman, your name is "hypocrisy"!
Zhao Duan complained madly in his heart, but with a humble attitude on his face:
"I happened to see the imperial kitchen delivering soup on the way. In such cold weather, I was worried that they would be slow to deliver and the heat would escape, so I dared to..."
Xu Zhenguan had a stern face and an angry look. He grabbed the sharp black scissors with his fair little hands and pointed at the door: "Get out."
Zhao Duan looked disappointed and turned back with the tray.
After taking two steps, I heard an unpleasant voice behind me: "Where are you going?"
Zhao Duan pretended to be confused and turned around: "Your Majesty, don't you want me to leave?"
"I want you to leave, but I don't want you to take the soup away..."
As Xu Zhenguan was speaking, he suddenly seemed tired. He walked to the Luohan bed in the warm hall, sat down, and said helplessly:
"Well, present it."
Zhao Duan smiled slyly, walked to the sandalwood coffee table in front of the Arhat bed, put down the tray, wiped the cups skillfully, opened the earthenware jar, filled a bowl of white and hot meat soup, and handed it over.
The empress looked at him quietly, without saying a word, just watching.
Zhao Duan blinked, tentatively scooped a little with a spoon, then gently blew away the hot air with his mouth and handed it over:
"His Majesty?"
The empress's stern face finally became more lively, but she didn't drink. Instead, she asked quietly:
"Are you guilty?"
Zhao Duan pretended to be confused.
The Empress said unhappily:
"Why didn't you inform me in advance when you went to debate today? Have I been too indulgent and lenient with you, and you are getting arrogant because of my favor? You acted on such an important matter without informing me."
You said it as if it was my first time... You weren't angry before, but this time you're angry, it's a bit fake... Zhao Duan put down the porcelain bowl, feeling ashamed:
"I know my crime! However, I am not arrogant. It is because of me that Your Majesty banned Buddhism. Recently, I have been at home and have often heard believers in the city slandering Your Majesty. I feel extremely ashamed. I did not have full confidence in whether I could suppress those bald donkeys in the debate... I am worried that if I tell Your Majesty first, this matter will be implicated with Your Majesty. If I do it privately, if I am lucky enough to succeed and save Your Majesty from being slandered by the fools, I will be overjoyed.
If we are unfortunately defeated, even if the bald donkeys want to investigate, it will not implicate Your Majesty. If there is any blame at that time, I will bear it myself... If Your Majesty wants to punish me, I will accept the punishment without complaint!"
Haha... no complaints... sounds nice, but what do you think all this is?
Xu Zhenguan hummed in his heart, listened to him quietly, his expression softened, and he hummed to take advantage of the situation and said:
"It's good to know."
He paused, glared and said, "Why don't you serve the soup?"
One side is full of lies and makes up excuses;
One party gives the other a way out and forgives at the speed of light... This is also an unspoken understanding between the monarch and his subjects.
Zhao Duan was as if he had been pardoned and handed the soup to the empress.
The latter glanced at him, slightly opened her red lips, and slowly swallowed a spoonful.
Then, as if she felt that the feeding posture was too ambiguous, the empress raised her hand to take the bowl of soup and started drinking it herself.
After taking two sips, Xu Zhenguan's cheeks felt inexplicably hot when he saw Zhao Duan staring at him while he was eating.
Putting down the soup, he casually asked him to sit down and talk, then asked out of the blue:
"Tell me, what happened between you and Prajna."
Zhao Duan just pulled a low stool over from the side and sat down next to the coffee table. As soon as his butt touched the stool, he almost bounced up.
He was surprised and said:
"Your Majesty, why do you say that? I'm busy trying to avoid that shameless old nun, so how can I be involved?"
Xu Zhenguan sneered: "No?"
"Nothing to do with it!" Zhao Duan said righteously, and then couldn't help but say:
"Your Majesty, can you put down the scissors and talk?"
"..." Xu Zhenguan threw the scissors in his hand on the coffee table, moved back, leaned casually on the pillow on the Luohan bed, and said lightly:
"Then how do you explain that the so-called Buddhist teachings you proposed today are similar to the philosophy of Prajna?"
No...So you suddenly got angry for no reason today, and the core reason was this?
Zhao Duan recalled the last time the empress stayed at her house for one night and it happened that Prajna Bodhisattva came to visit.
It had been so long that he almost forgot about it, but the broad-minded empress still remembered it...
"Your Majesty, I have never had any connection with that old nun. This debate is also for the sake of fairness..."
Zhao Duan hurriedly told everyone everything he was thinking.
The reason is roughly the same as what Yuan Li guessed. This is also the method that Zhao Duan has figured out after spending the past two days at home thinking hard to maximize his interests.
Not only did he vent his anger and disgust the people of Shenlong Temple and the Western Regions, but he also made efforts in many aspects, such as weakening the authority of the temple and supporting Prajna to share the power of Xuanyin.
Although there is a big disadvantage that it may help Buddhism to advance further and spread more easily, after weighing the pros and cons, he feels that the pros outweigh the cons.
Xu Zhenguan listened quietly without interrupting.
Lying on her side on the ancient-style sofa, her hand unconsciously grabbed a pillow embroidered with a colorful phoenix and gently held it in her arms. Her beautiful eyes stared at Zhao Duan as he analyzed the situation in detail.
I hardly heard what he said. Instead, I found his anxious look in trying to distance himself from Prajna very interesting.
The slight amount of resentment in my heart also disappeared, and was replaced by a more complicated emotion.
I got angry for no apparent reason...
This kind of thing shouldn't have happened to me.
Whether it was the three years since she ascended the throne, or before that, when she was the third princess, since she reached adulthood, in the eyes of her father, brothers and sisters, the emperor and his ministers, and those uncles, she was an image of wisdom and calmness that was no less than that of a man.
If we look at it rationally, even though Zhao Duan did make some rash mistakes in his debate today, the result was ultimately good.
Therefore, from the perspective of controlling her subjects, she could have used softer and better methods to reward or criticize them.
Instead of using this childish way of being "little tempered" which is no different from that of a common little woman...
Thinking of this, Xu Zhenguan felt annoyed, wondering what he had just done. If it got out, it would be a laughing stock.
But... I just did it for some inexplicable reason, just like when I was very young and felt that I was gradually losing my father's favor, I also tried to get his attention by not eating.
Just like those concubines in the harem who were vying for favor with the emperor.
Xu Zhenguan stared blankly at the lotus seed soup in front of him, with a hint of inexplicable "distress" in his eyes.
Although I don't want to admit it, I just... seem... maybe... probably... maybe...
To the man in front of me...
“Competing for favor”...?
Thinking of this possibility, she was a little dazed.
"His Majesty?"
Until Zhao Duan's voice woke her up.
-
Next chapter will be updated before midnight
(End of this chapter)