Chapter 282 |
Chapter 282: Thoughts
“Heh.”
Emperor Liang suddenly chuckled.
He tossed the glasses in his hand aside and looked up at the officials before him. “A batch of traveling merchants from Great Wei, do you really think that?”
His words were not a reproach; there was a faint amusement hidden within them, yet it made the officials below break out in a cold sweat instantly.
One of the officials hurriedly knelt down and admitted fault, “Your servant is dull-witted, I beg Your Majesty to enlighten me!”
Emperor Liang smiled slightly at the corners of his lips, but his eyes were calm. He said nothing more to the official and simply dismissed him.
The official hesitated for a moment, then, considering his own safety, finally chose to slip away first.
After the official left, Emperor Liang stared at the glasses on the table for a long time without moving.
Hearing the old woman’s words, Emperor Liang’s expression softened a little.
He picked up the tea cup, pointed at the glasses on the table with one finger, and sighed with a smile, “Madam, do you think this batch of traveling merchants might be connected to the Great Wei Imperial Court?”
The elderly woman, whom Emperor Liang addressed as “Madam,” was dressed as a palace maid. However, unlike ordinary palace maids, although her attire looked plain and humble, the materials of her jewelry were very exquisite.
Moreover, Emperor Liang’s attitude towards her revealed an involuntary sense of relaxed intimacy.
That intimacy was like the feeling of being with a respected elder.
The elderly woman glanced at the glasses and smiled in return, “I am not clear about affairs in the court, but in this matter, it seems to me that Your Majesty may need to send someone personally to Great Wei.”
Emperor Liang lowered his head and quietly sipped his tea, seemingly deep in thought, silent for a while.
Seeing him contemplate, the elderly woman also remained quietly silent, then took a couple of steps forward and helped tidy up the somewhat messy desk.
“Madam.”
Seeing the elderly woman busying herself again, Emperor Liang put down the cup and said helplessly, “I already said, let others handle these matters. You rest.”
The elderly woman looked at Emperor Wei kindly and only smiled, without stopping her work. “These matters, Your Majesty, I have been accustomed to doing since you were young. It’s not tiring at all. If you want me to rest, I’ll have nothing to do and will feel like an invalid.”
Hearing her words, Emperor Liang shook his head helplessly. “Alright, it’s up to you then. But if you get tired, call Song Chengping.”
“I understand, Emperor, don’t worry.”
The smile on the elderly woman’s face grew a bit. While tidying Emperor Liang’s desk, she asked, “Emperor, have you decided how to proceed?”
If it were anyone else who tried to pry into the Emperor’s thoughts like this, Emperor Liang would have had them publicly beaten long ago. But with the elderly woman, he showed no irritation at all.
Emperor Liang nodded and looked again at the glasses set aside, “Madam, you are right. I do need to send someone to Great Wei to investigate the so-called Merchants’ Alliance, to find out its origins, especially these glasses…”
“I really want to know who is so capable as to make such an object.”
These glasses, worn on the face, let one see clearly far away. Who knows? Maybe they can see even further.
–
Regarding the work at court, no matter how many years passed, Wei Yu probably would never get used to it.
Although his father was a stingy man who couldn't stand to see others comfortable, as long as he was in the capital, Wei Yu not only couldn’t get a vacation, but was also forced to do tasks that didn’t belong to him. At least he had Eighth Brother!
Eighth Brother was a diligent and hardworking good child. Basically, anything Wei Yu could pack up and take back, was tossed onto Eighth Brother.
For this, Wei Yu himself was comfortable, but each time the Eighth Prince received a pile of state affairs documents, he was indeed a bit restless.
“Eighth Brother, your package has arrived, come out quickly!”
Carrying another batch of documents to the Eighth Prince’s residence, Wei Yu went straight to Eighth Brother’s study after entering.
Unfortunately, he found no one; Eighth Brother was not there.
Not seeing him, Wei Yu turned to ask the coming young attendant, “Where is Your Highness? Where did he go?”
The attendant had run all the way over, his face flushed with exertion. Hearing Wei Yu’s question, he smiled awkwardly, “Well, Ninth Highness, His Highness is not here. His Highness has gone out, and I don’t know exactly where he went!”
Gone out?
Wei Yu was skeptical, “Are you sure Your Highness went out? Not lying? Maybe he’s hiding in some courtyard and not coming out?”
Although Eighth Brother was not as much of a homebody as Wei Yu, he didn’t usually go wandering. Whenever he went out, it had to be for something unavoidable, so Wei Yu doubted the attendant’s credibility.
“I really am not lying! Ninth Highness, His Highness truly went out!”
Under Wei Yu’s continuous questioning, the attendant’s eyes darted nervously, and Wei Yu immediately caught that guilty look.
He gave a meaningful “Oh— I see.”
Wei Yu turned and immediately shouted loudly inside the mansion, “Eighth Brother, Eighth Brother! Where are you? Your younger brother is looking for you! Don’t hide and not come out, I know you’re in the mansion, come out!”
Attendant: !!
The attendant panicked, “Ninth Highness! Ninth Highness! I really am not lying, His Highness really isn’t here! Please stop shouting, His Highness really is not here…”
Wei Yu shouted while walking toward the courtyard gate, planning to look around the various courtyards in the mansion.
After all, Eighth Brother’s residence had no female family members, so Wei Yu could enter any courtyard he wanted!
The attendant was so anxious his head practically erupted like the Great Khan, hurriedly trying to follow and stop him, but Fang Sheng firmly blocked him in the back.
No matter how the attendant struggled, he couldn’t break through Fang Sheng’s blockade.
With no choice, the attendant could only despairingly watch Wei Yu swagger around the mansion, unknowingly drawing the attention of many servants along the way.
“Eighth Brother! Eighth Brother, where are you!”
The deeply called Eighth Prince was hiding in the waterside pavilion, refusing to come out.
He sat on a stone bench, listening to Ninth Brother’s calls that sometimes drew near and sometimes moved away, distressed and not knowing how many times he had sighed.
His personal attendant bent over and asked him quietly, “Your Highness, are you really not going out?”
“Why should I go out? Could it be to handle that pile of state affairs for him again?”
The Eighth Prince asked back immediately, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at the lake surface and sighed again, “Father Emperor has entrusted state affairs to Ninth Brother, not me. Since Father Emperor trusts Ninth Brother so much—even Eldest Brother and Second Brother didn’t receive such favor—I can’t just go and spoil Ninth Brother's standing in Father Emperor’s heart, do you understand?”
The attendant was somewhat conflicted.
He was also a eunuch from the palace and understood the reasoning, but to be honest, this matter was related to the future succession!
No matter how deep their brotherly love, one could not be so yielding.
Could His Highness really have no thoughts about that position at all?