Chapter 356 – Requesting a Visit (2)
“Did the emperor know the princess would visit Gui Fei Lu, so he asked Eunuch Fu to invite her over?” Qian Lan asked in a low voice.
Xu Huiru was startled, just now it seemed… It was Fude who invited Lu Yaoyao to the palace.
“It seems the emperor knows quite a lot about what occurs in the harem.” Otherwise, how could he know that Lu Yaoyao was going to see Lu Wushuang.
Qianlan comforted her. “Your Grace, perhaps the emperor only became nostalgic for the sake of Marquis Anyang and the princess. You are the emperor’s most beloved concubine these days.”
Xu Huiru smiled slightly. Yes, Marquis Anyang returned victoriously and was injured on the way. Naturally, he would be highly valued by the emperor. Lu Wushuang is Lu Lingzhi’s younger sister. The reason the emperor would express concern for her now is because of her elder brother.
When she thought of it this way, the unhappiness in Xu Huiru’s heart was finally relieved. But she still had some inexplicable signs of anxiety about Lu Yaoyao being granted entry to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.
As for this Third Miss Lu, she was not worried at all. After all, she had a handle on her. As long as the emperor and empress dowager found out she was similar to Ye Zhen, they would naturally try not to get close to her.
Unaware of the cursing and dissatisfaction in Xu Huiru’s heart, Ye Zhen followed Eunuch Fu into the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Last time, because of Mo Rongzhan’s eyes, this was the place where her soul had lingered the longest.
“Yaoyao, come here.” Mo Rongzhan was wearing a dark blue home-styled, casual clothing, sitting leisurely on the brick bed near the window. Seeing Ye Zhen come in, he waved to her with a smile.
There was a small table already placed on the bed. On it was a white jade Go board with an endgame, it looked like the game had yet to finish.
Ye Zhen moved slightly and looked up at Mo Rongzhan’s clear eyes. “Your Majesty, Xianfei is outside, won’t you see her?”
“I said before, the concubines in the harem are not allowed to come to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, what for is she here?” Mo Rongzhan said lightly, pointing to the seat opposite. “Sit down.”
Ye Zhen glanced at him. She remembered that Lu Wushuang used to come to the Palace of Heavenly Purity often. Why had he not said that his concubines could not come back then?
“Do you want me to see her?” Mo Rongzhan raised his eyes to look at her beautiful face. His own heart accelerated, and the extravagantly beautiful picture of her from last night resurfaced in his mind.
“Whichever concubine the emperor desires to see, how can this imperial sister intervene?” Ye Zhen said lightly, “If I win you today, can I go to the library pagoda?”
Mo Rongzhan said with a smile on his face, “If you can solve this endgame, I will let you go to the library tomorrow.”
With that, Ye Zhen looked at the endgame on the Go board with bright eyes.
♚
Ye Zhen carefully observed the placement of the pieces on the Go board, frowning a bit. The game drew to a close with a ‘thousand-storey treasure pavilion’ situation. The board displayed a five-six step formation, which was extremely complicated to navigate. She was treading a narrow balance between offence and defence. The situation so precarious a single mistake would tip the odds against her.
Sure enough, Mo Rongzhan was really not an easy person, so how could she easily enter the Library Pagoda?
“What?” Seeing her furrowed forehead, the corner of Mo Rongzhan’s mouth slightly tilted upwards as he said, “Even if you can’t solve this, zhen won’t force it.”
“If I can’t solve it, are you still willing to let me enter the Library Pagoda?” Ye Zhen asked without looking up.
“No emperor has ever gone back on their words. How could zhen not mean what zhen has said?” Mo Rongzhan’s voice was low. As his gaze fell on her slightly pouting pink lips, his mouth dried up. Picking up the teacup, he took a big sip of the tea, trying to quench his thirst.
Ye Zhen snorted softly. Since that was the case, then she still had to solve the end game.
She tried to make a move, but the game changed the next moment. And no matter how she moved forward, she was faced with a dead end.
Time passed, yet Ye Zhen was still unable to see the way to solve this game of Go.
“Drink your tea,” Mo Rongzhan said, unable to stop himself from feeling distressed when he saw her knitted brows, as he sent a cup of tea to her hand. “The reason why the end game cannot be solved is that sometimes people’s ideas are fixed. They worry too much that in the end, they hold themselves back.”
Ye Zhen paused for a moment before taking the teacup from his hand, she then raised her head questioningly. “Have you solved this particular Go game?”
Mo Rongzhan nodded his head gently, and said, “It’s solved. That is why zhen asked you to try it. Zhen used half a day to break through the tie.”
“I may not be able to solve it in a day.” As she sipped the tea, Ye Zhen turned her head to look outside the window, only to find that it was already dark.
“It’s dark, I have to leave now. I’ll go back and think about how to disentangle it. When I do, I’ll come back and show it,” Ye Zhen said as she put down the teacup, silently saying to herself that she didn’t want to hinder him from spoiling his concubines.
However, Mo Rongzhan was enjoying the time alone with her, so how could he let her leave just like this? “Do you still want to go out of the imperial palace today?”
