Chapter 58: The Emperor’s Heart

The sky in March is like an actor’s face. The dark clouds dissipate as quickly as they gather. Just moments ago, the sky was overcast, but now it’s a clear blue.

Pei Yuanshao squinted his eyes, dazzled by the sudden brightness.

Outside the imperial study, palace servants were kneeling on the ground.

He stepped past everyone and entered the imperial study, which was empty.

The imperial desk was piled with two feet of memorials.

The bookshelves that originally held books had been replaced by dozens of birdcages.

Inside the birdcages were bird nests woven with dry grass, plump grains of rice, and palm-sized soft cushions.

It seemed that birds were indeed treated better than humans.

Pei Yuanshao squinted, his face expressionless as he glanced at the kneeling female attendant. She was the personal maid serving by the empress’s side.

She was also his confidant planted by the empress’s side.

First to protect, and second… to prevent… sibling rivalry.

Three years ago, to give an explanation to Grand Tutor Jia, he had used a cicada shell escape plan, ordering people to set fire to Kunning Palace and let the former emperor’s consort escape from the palace. Since then, the relationship between his imperial sister and him could never return to what it was before.

He was so clever, understanding what the emperor’s estrangement and wariness meant!

Not for seizing power, but to leave himself a way out. Having lived two lifetimes, he had to make some progress, and couldn’t end up having someone else collect his corpse again.

The hall was quiet for a moment, and Pei Yuanshao’s smile completely disappeared.

Lady Jiang knelt lower, her body trembling.

He pulled out the red whip from his waist, the tail of the whip sweeping across the antique shelf, hooking a birdcage. He pursed his lips and asked coldly, “Who put this here?”

Pei Yuanshao’s words were half-hidden, only saying half. But the kneeling Lady Jiang quickly understood the meaning behind his words.

She composed herself for a moment, bowing her head respectfully and replied: “Grand Tutor Yu sent over a few parrots a few days ago. They are red-headed parrots from the southern barbarian lands. They have already been trained and can speak amusingly. It’s quite fun…”

Before she could finish, Pei Yuanshao coldly snorted, “If the imperial censors saw this scene in the study, Fifth Sister can forget about taking personal control of the government next year! There are countless precedents in history where even when empresses personally ruled, the affairs of state were still controlled by the ministers assisting the country.”

Pei Yuanshao slapped his hand on the pile of memorials in the imperial study, his ink-black eyes full of severity.

“Yu Qinglan is simply getting out of hand!”

At this moment, he was angry not only at Grand Tutor Yu’s ulterior motives but also at Ming Xing.

As a ruler, the most taboo thing is to indulge in playthings and neglect government affairs, being lazy and incompetent.

He had always thought that Fifth Sister was only weak and mediocre by nature, but if she worked hard, she could make up for her shortcomings. He taught her the art of ruling hand in hand, waiting for the day she would personally rule, taking back the military power, and be able to cope with the treacherous court.

But in these few years, after he helped the viscount’s consort escape from the palace, Fifth Sister had become estranged from him.

She seemed close to him, listening to his every word. But she would no longer tell him her innermost thoughts.

Three years ago, Ming Xing fell in love with tending to flowers, plants, insects, and birds. All the memorials in the imperial study were moved by her to the Mingde Palace of the Long Imperial Consort.

If it weren’t for her coming of age soon, he would have angrily forced her to review the memorials…

Pei Yuanshao supported himself with one hand on the imperial desk, disappointment left in his eyes. Being the elder meant to snatch.

But he forgot that he had become a sharp weapon, while the person behind him didn’t even have the courage to pick up a weapon.

The talk of family, country, and the world under heaven should be extremely laughable.

—

Imperial Garden.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the sky brightened.

Clusters of flowers bloomed in vibrant colors, with a wide variety of species.

Empress Ming Xing had a wooden bucket by her feet, using a wooden ladle to water the flowers and plants skillfully.

Not far from the emperor dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe were various parrots. The parrots’ thin, sharp voices chirped:

“Long live the empress, long live, long live for ten thousand years!”

“Long live the Jia emperor’s consort, long live, long live for a thousand years!”

…

Pei Yuanshao’s steps forward paused, his eyes confused. Jia emperor’s consort… His imperial sister hadn’t given up, ah. All the people of the Pei family were infatuated types.

But what use was infatuation? Little sister couldn’t protect him!

The eldest son of the Jia family, Viscount Jia, had a gentle personality and pure thoughts. When little sister was young, she fell in love with this boy at first sight. She cried and wanted to marry him.

For the sake of Grand Tutor Jia assisting him in governing the country, he knelt before Master Jia, asking for his only son for his fifth sister.

But in the inner palace, intrigues and schemes were endless. Grand Tutor Yu and Jing Huan joined forces and could easily scheme against him.

Forcing Grand Tutor Jia to resign and retire, just to protect the Jia family and his young son.

If he hadn’t planned that big fire, using the golden cicada shedding its shell trick to let the viscount out of the palace, how could he and his imperial sister face the loyalty of the Grand Tutor all these years?

Pei Yuanshao tilted his head back, the sunlight piercing his eyes, his long curled eyelashes trembling uncontrollably.

He stepped forward, walking up close, the corners of his lips without their usual smile, his gaze falling on the parrots at Empress Ming Xing’s feet. He recalled: “The viscount used to like parrots when he was outside the palace. I remember he could talk to parrots tirelessly for an entire day!”

Empress Ming Xing’s water-pouring action paused. She turned around, the contented expression on her face completely gone.

Putting down the gourd ladle, she asked in return: “Imperial Brother, you suddenly came to the palace, is there any urgent matter?”

Pei Yuanshao didn’t answer. He crouched down, picked up a birdcage, his slender fingers fiddling with the parrot’s flat beak.

The parrot wasn’t shy, its beak holding onto his rounded fingertip.

It chirped: “Tastes bad! Tastes bad!”

Pei Yuanshao curled his lips, lightly tapping the parrot’s crest, chuckling: “Look, it can’t even distinguish food! Apart from being amusing, this bird is probably just a plaything.”