The Perilous Palace Dream - Chapter 109
Chapter 109
After that single slap, the entire courtyard fell into a deathly silence.
The maidservants kept their heads pressed low.
Without waiting for the Grand Tutor’s command, Steward Liu simply waved his hand, and everyone filed out in an orderly fashion, clearing the scene entirely.
The Grand Tutor slowly turned his face back, staring gloomily at the small woman who had dared to “disturb the earth on the head of a guardian deity.”
(T/N:It means recklessly provoking someone so powerful and dangerous that even a tiny insult usually results in a death sentence.)
Having not seen her for a few days, her claws had certainly grown sharp.
To raise a hand and strike someone…had the dignified Princess become a common village shrew? Even if she had grown a temper, she should have considered whether the person she was hitting was someone who could be struck!
However, when his dagger-like gaze fell upon the little shrew’s face, he realized that her large eyes were brimming with tears.
Without even a blink, they poured out all at once.
Before long, her tender face was drenched in moisture, making it look as though she were the one who had been slapped!
As if that one palm strike was not enough to vent her anger, her tiny fists began to fly, raining down on his chest like raindrops.
“Why did you bother coming back? If you had truly perished, it would have saved me so much worry!”
The sorrow and attachment wrapped within those words acted like a heavy punch, striking the Grand Tutor’s defenseless heart.
At this moment, the slap on his face felt as refreshing as a spring breeze.
He swept his iron arms around her, pulling the thrashing little figure tightly against his chest.
He rubbed his chin affectionately against her wet, smooth cheek.
“If this Marquis did not return, wouldn’t my Little Guo’er be utterly heartbroken?”
Nie Qinglin had been provoked by the Grand Tutor into an emotional state she could not control.
Ever since she attained the age of reason, she had never expressed her inner feelings so vividly.
It was like a mountain flood bursting through a dam, the gates impossible to close.
In her momentary excess of force…and because the Grand Tutor was already struggling to maintain his balance—the two of them tumbled to the ground together.
The god-like man had now fallen into the dust, his white clothes stained and disheveled.
The medicine’s potency was already peaking, and this heavy fall brought a bone-piercing pain.
Perhaps that pain showed on his face, for the “heroine” in his arms finally ceased her assault.
She sobbed and shouted toward the door, “Someone, come and help the Grand Tutor up!”
But even after calling three times, the courtyard remained silent.
Not a soul came.
The scene of the Grand Tutor being slapped by a weak woman was a secret of the Great Wei that absolutely could not be leaked! Knowing the Grand Tutor’s vengeful and pride-heavy nature, Nanny Shan and the others had cleared out every last servant.
Unless the Grand Tutor personally summoned them, they would never show up to seek trouble for themselves.
Since no one came, the Dragon Pearl had to exert her own strength to prop the Grand Tutor up.
Yet the man who had been full of vigor moments ago now seemed quite weak and limp, pressing his entire weight against her.
Nie Qinglin dragged his tall frame along, laboring until she finally got him into the house.
Fortunately, because the Grand Tutor had been practicing his walking lately, the thresholds in the courtyard had been removed, making the path smooth.
When she finally managed to place his large body onto the bed, the Grand Tutor’s hand suddenly tightened, pulling Little Guo’er onto the bed with him.
With a roll, he pressed her delicate body beneath his.
“When I was thrown into the sea, the wind and waves were fierce. Seawater poured into my mouth and nose. I truly thought I would be buried at the bottom of the ocean. But then I thought of the Princess still facing the perils of the court. If I never returned, what would become of my Guo’er? So, I hung onto that breath of life and fought with all my might to swim ashore.”
The Grand Tutor spoke nonchalantly, but how could one not imagine the brutality of the battle that left a man of his high martial skill so heavily wounded?
At the thought, Nie Qinglin’s small hand slowly traced the Grand Tutor’s face.
What madness had possessed her earlier to strike him so hard?
How could the Grand Tutor not know what was in her heart? He lightly held her soft hand.
“It was just a scratch from a cat’s paw, it doesn’t hurt. But the fact that Guo’er is so angry proves your heart is concerned for your husband. It would be better to hit me a few more times. I deserve it. To have such a minor injury and still not be fully healed… hearing Nanny Shan say the Princess has been in low spirits these past days, your husband was also uneasy. I planned to go to the palace to see you in a few days anyway.”
Nie Qinglin’s face turned red at his repeated use of the word “husband.”
She whispered, “Who is my husband? Being gone for so long, perhaps you became the son-in-law of the Dragon King in his underwater palace?”
The Grand Tutor looked at the charming figure beneath him and could no longer resist.
He leaned down over her bright lips, kissing her deeply for a long while.
The taste on his tongue was the dream-like sweetness he had longed for.
When their lips finally parted, both were dazed and breathless.
The Grand Tutor felt that the pain in his legs was nothing compared to the “uprising” occurring three inches below his navel.
He reached out to pull at the Princess’s clothes, murmuring nonsense.
“The Princess must personally verify my innocence with her imperial body.”
How could Nie Qinglin withstand such roguish behavior? She clutched her collar and said urgently, “You are injured! Why can’t you be well-behaved? Do you truly want to torment yourself until both legs are useless?”
Seeing that he couldn’t pull off her top, the Grand Tutor shifted his attack to her lower garments.
Hearing the Princess’s mockery, he had a sudden realization.
He said, “I am too heavily injured to serve the Princess thoroughly. I ask the Princess to have pity on your humble servant and make things easy. Why not sit astride me and ‘whip the horse’ into a gallop?”
Such crude, blunt words could only come from a wastrel of the military camps like the Grand Tutor.
Just hearing it made the Princess feel as though molten iron had been poured into her ears.
She was so ashamed and annoyed that she tried to push him away to get up.
But how could the Grand Tutor let go? He felt a secret regret that he had been too focused on maintaining his masculine pride.
He hadn’t realized that showing his injured weakness would have instead provoked Guo’er’s true feelings, causing him to miss out on so much “pity” from the beauty.
He felt so frustrated that he briefly considered whether he should just break his leg bones again to let them regrow.
While making these calculations, he used kisses and tender words to coax the beauty amidst the layers of curtains.
He undid her silken robes, removed her golden hairpins, and let her waist-length black hair fall loose.
Amidst fragrant skin and trembling snow-white flesh, she mounted the “steed,” and they embarked together on a frenzied journey through the waves.
The mere thought that Little Guo’er actually had him in her heart made the experience feel as fresh as the first time he had held her.
He wished for nothing more than to drown in the red waves of the silk quilts.
By the next day, the Grand Tutor held the beauty and slept until the sun was high in the sky.
When he finally woke up feeling refreshed and called for water and towels, Nanny Shan led the maidservants into the inner chamber.
Because of the previous day’s events, she had been worried all night about how the Grand Tutor might punish the Princess.
When she had retreated the evening before, she had heard her old comrade Steward Liu vividly describe the Grand Tutor’s thunderous methods of dealing with wives and concubines in his own residence.
Forget a slap—any woman who even slightly offended the Grand Tutor’s dignity was punished without mercy! There was once a concubine who tried too hard to win favor.
During a night of service, she secretly left a hickey on the Grand Tutor’s neck.
This led to the Grand Tutor being mocked by his guests the next day, which infuriated him so much that he made the concubine kneel in the courtyard for a full hour.
By the time she was allowed to stand, her legs were so numb and her knees so swollen that ever since, she looked at the Grand Tutor like a mouse seeing a vicious cat, her desire to “compete for favor” completely extinguished.
This story made Nanny Shan’s heart sink.
Although the Princess had acted out before and hurt the Grand Tutor’s pride, those incidents happened without witnesses.
It was one thing for the Grand Tutor to show mercy to a young, delicate girl in private.
But yesterday, a whole courtyard of people had stood there and watched him get slapped across the face.
Even a common master of a household would never allow a wife or concubine to be so overbearing.
The little Princess had not eaten or slept well for days and her body was fragile.
She could only hope the Grand Tutor would be lenient toward her youthful willfulness.
However, when Nanny Shan brought the water into the inner room, it was quiet.
The Dragon Pearl’s spirit had finally relaxed, and after a night of “riding the horse” with the Grand Tutor, she was sleeping so deeply she didn’t know where she was.
When the Grand Tutor got up, she simply kept her eyes closed, stubbornly staying in bed and moping about having a dry throat.
Hearing this, the Grand Tutor didn’t even wait for the maidservants to serve.
He got out of bed himself, used a chair for support to pour a cup of tea, and laboriously brought the cup back to the bed.
He half-reclined, supporting the Princess’s neck as he fed her a sip of tea.
That little ancestor was someone accustomed to being served.
After taking a sip, she simply tilted her head and went straight back to sleep.
Nanny Shan stood to the side with a wooden expression, holding a wet towel.
Through the bed curtains, she watched the Grand Tutor staring at the Princess’s sleeping face with treasure-like devotion.
Her heart felt an inexplicable ache, realizing she had worried far too much the night before.
A few more days passed, and the Grand Tutor—who had been hidden from view—finally made his official return to court, causing all rumors to collapse.
The official story was that the Grand Tutor had accidentally fallen from his horse while inspecting the camps and broken his leg, requiring more time to recuperate.
In the blink of an eye, the Winter Solstice arrived.
According to the customs of the Great Wei, this was a day to eat “charming ears” (dumplings) and drink deer-blood wine.
Among the common folk, although they couldn’t afford deer-blood wine, families would gather in harmony.
The wealthy would spend money on fatty meat for dumpling filling, while the poor would chop vegetables for a vegetarian version.
In the court and palace, the protocols were much more elaborate.
The Emperor would invite officials to a banquet in the palace.
The noble ladies of the various manors and the Emperor’s concubines would make dumplings together.
At nightfall, they would gather around stoves for a deer feast, drinking fresh deer-blood wine to dispel the cold and pray for strength during the winter.
A buck would also be personally slaughtered for the Emperor and the ministers to enjoy.
On the morning of the Winter Solstice, eunuchs and maids had already tidied the Hall of Kind Peace, setting up rows of long tables and preparing flour and meat fillings.
As the sun rose, the ladies from the various noble houses entered the palace.
They kneaded dough and mixed fillings, chatting about family matters while making dumplings.
The hall was very lively.
Empress Shen and several wives of the ministers surrounded a long table, but their table was much quieter.
According to the Grand Tutor’s original wishes, Empress Shen certainly could not be allowed to stay.
However, because of Nie Qinglin’s repeated pleas, she was temporarily spared but remained under soft house arrest.
But since the officials now shared a tacit understanding that the Emperor and Princess Yong’an were the same person, whether or not to kill Empress Shen was no longer critical.
The Grand Tutor felt it wasn’t worth making the Dragon Pearl unhappy over such a small matter, so he had loosened the restrictions on her.
Empress Shen had been ignorant of the truth at first.
But after her house arrest was eased, people from the Shen family came to visit.
She then learned the truth—that she had actually married a Princess.
It was like a bolt from the blue.
She could not accept the fact that her beloved was a woman.
For a time, her tears soaked her pillow every night.
Even today, despite a thick layer of powder, she could not hide her swollen eyes.
Nie Qinglin came today dressed in female attire to make dumplings.
Arriving at the Hall of Kind Peace, she hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.
The entrance of Princess Yong’an was like a tiger entering a sheepfold.
Everyone in the hall lowered their heads and busied themselves with their work.
There was no longer a sound.
The young ladies and noblewomen could not imagine that this peerlessly beautiful Princess was actually the Emperor.
The shock in their hearts had shattered any desire for gossip.
Thinking of the complicated links between the Emperor, the Princess, and the Grand Tutor, they knew that saying one wrong word could lead their entire families into an abyss.
Nie Qinglin smiled bitterly to herself.
She really hadn’t wanted it to be like this.
Seeing everyone as silent as cicadas in winter made her feel uncomfortable.
Especially since Empress Shen was here, she felt unable to face her.
The only person she truly felt guilty toward was this Empress who had trusted and wholeheartedly cared for the “Emperor.”
Seeing Nie Qinglin enter, Empress Shen was also at a loss, her face turning red.
She thought of how she had previously displayed her love and respect for the Emperor without reservation in front of this “Sister-in-law”.
She was nearly dying of shame.
However, looking at the bright face of Princess Yong’an—which was identical to the Emperor’s—and the gentle gaze directed toward her, her heart suddenly settled.
She felt that her troubles of the past few days were just self-inflicted.
Princess or Emperor, they were the same gentle person.
Even those eyes were the same handsome, pleasing eyes.
If she wanted to forever protect that bit of tenderness that had cared for her, what did it matter if the person was a man or a woman? This was the person she admired and loved with all her heart!
Thinking this way, Empress Shen’s gaze toward Princess Yong’an became fervent once again.
It was so intense that Nie Qinglin felt too ashamed to look up.
She picked a table far away from the Empress and sat down.
However, this was a hardship for the ladies at the Princess’s table.
They nervously pinched their dumplings, not daring to take a single loud breath.
