The Emperor’s Favorite Imperial Concubine From the Northeast - Chapter 4

Ye Yang sent Mama Li away, shoved the booklet that Mama Li desperately wanted him to keep under his pillow and threw himself on the bed, thinking that life was indeed difficult.

This was only the first day, yet he was fatigued, as if he had already spent several months in this world.

He lay down and napped for a while. When he woke up again, he felt dizzy and befuddled; it should be ascribed to Yun Yang’s infirmity from the shock of falling in the water yesterday. He had suffered from the chilly wind. As the daylight was already entering the chamber, a servant reported that Yun Yang’s elder brother, Yun Lin, had arrived at the palace and was waiting to be summoned inside.

Yun Yang, after all, had been a shijun in the palace. Naturally, he was not allowed to meet his elder brother and parents at will. Kang Ning, the Chief Internal Supervisor, ordered two young eunuchs to monitor and guard outside. Ye Yang was incredibly dizzy; he leaned against the headboard of his bed and stayed there until Yun Lin would eventually come in.

Ye Yang recalled that Yun Lin was the general that Feng Luan relied on, and Yun Yang was his only younger brother—he was, understandably, genuinely fond of Yun Yang. Yet, in the novel, Yun Yang drowned. He even held Feng Luan responsible for this, afterwards becoming increasingly hateful. Ultimately, he transferred far north of the Gobi Desert, rarely returning to the capital.

However, he was not Yun Yang. Noticing Yun Lin’s distraught look, he didn’t know how to respond to it for a while, and merely bowed his head and listened to Yun Lin.

Yun Lin sat down on the edge of the bed, opening his mouth to ask casually, “who did it?”

Ye Yang, “er……”

Ye Yang was aware that Yun Lin was querying about the incident regarding Yun Yang falling in the water. In spite of the fact that he perfectly knew the individual behind this was Chu Lian, there was no conclusive evidence. He could, obviously, only whisper that he had no idea, but Yun Lin couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and ask in reply, “you can’t say that you lost your footing and fell?”

Ye Yang’s words failed him.

Yun Lin inquired again, “what about your memory loss?”

Ye Yang, “……”

When he deceived Feng Luan, he felt blameless, even taking everything for granted. But, when it came to Yun Lin, it was an entirely different matter.

Yun Lin watched as the other kept mum and sighed softly.

“I know you don’t enjoy fighting with others,” Yun Lin explained, “but, it’s just that, in this palace, a person without the Sacred Heart……”

His eyebrows wrinkled slightly, as if he had called to mind something and remained quiet. Only after a long time did he reveal a grin. He wanted to touch Ye Yang’s head, but, taking into account their current statuses, he felt it would be too much. He withdrew his hand, and spoke softly and comfortingly to the other, “you may as well live in the grandest house in the world. It doesn’t matter if you are not favored by the Sacred Heart.”

Ye Yang, “I……”

“You have a brother,” Yun Lin said in an undervoice. “Don’t be afraid, no one will dare bully you.”

Ye Yang, “……”

Ye Yang was conscience-stricken again. He regarded everything as mere events from within a novel. Not counting him, every person should’ve been dummies existing inside a book. Yet, Yun Lin’s speech was vivid and substantial, which seemed unreal?

He thought of his own younger sister and could not utter a word.

In the original story, he recalled with clarity the fate of the Yun family. Yun Yang tumbled over into the water and perished, and the Chu family got rid of those who were not part of their circle from the imperial court. Yun Lin moved away to the frontier juncture, being racked with pain. Then, Father Yun lost his position as the prime minister and returned to his place of residence, however he couldn’t bring his youngest son’s skeletal remains along with him. Thus, Mother Yun developed an illness from the grief. As to what happened next—the novel was still being serialized and there wasn’t much mentioned regarding the follow-up, but Ye Yang thought…… the Yun family must’ve not had a good ending.

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Becoming aware of his silence, Yun Lin was under the impression that he disliked talking about such things. Therefore, he cleared his throat and deliberately picked a casual topic of conversation, saying, “Ah Yang, what books have you been reading lately?”

Yun Yang had a sickly body and frequently read books that required no deep thought or concentration when he was bored stupid at home. Yun Lin used to engage in discussion about this subject with him, but now, when Ye Yang attempted to reply, his mind drifted to the ‘Pictures of Secret Shows’ brought by Mama Li. He was tongue-tied for a moment before he spoke haltingly, “s……some miscellaneous books.”

“A few days ago, father found several lost ancient books,” Yun Lin added. “I asked someone to bring them to the palace tomorrow. The palace is a monotonous place, you can read them to relieve your boredom.”

Ye Yang nodded stiffly.

Yun Lin exchanged a few words with him again; realizing he’d been staying for too long—Ye Yang was ill, after all—he moved to get up and leave, in order to let Ye Yang rest. Ye Yang did the same to see him off, and as a consequence of his ailment, he felt light-headed and almost collapsed once he rolled out of his bed. Yun Lin quickly supported him, and remarked, “you are unwell. There’s no need to see me out.”

Before he could answer, Ye Yang stepped on the corner of his quilt and almost shifted it entirely off the bed. The soft pillow, which was half-propped up on the headboard, was dragged to the floor by the quilt, along with one particular object he had hidden under it before sleeping yesterday.

Pictures of Secret Shows

Ye Yang, “……”

He was appalled and wanted to kick the book away, but Yun Lin was holding his arm. He was so dizzy and weak he couldn’t move an inch. Yun Lin set his eyes on the book that had fallen on the ground, reached out and picked it. He asked him cheerfully, “is this the book you’ve been reading these days?”

Ye Yang wanted to stretch out his arm and snatch it back, but Yun Lin had already opened the book.

Ye Yang lost his tongue.

In an instant, Yun Lin’s smile froze and glanced at him.

Ye Yang, “……”

Yun Lin, “……”

Ye Yang, “Elder Brother, let me explain.”

“Is this the miscellaneous book you read?” Yun Lin quizzed with a trembling voice. “Ah Yang, tell me the truth! Is this what His Majesty forced you to read? Did he take advantage of you?”

Ye Yang, “……eh?”

Wait a minute, things seem to be moving in the wrong direction.

Yun Lin hurled the book to the floor, angrily swearing like a pirate.

“Filthy emperor!”

……

Ye Yang never would’ve imagined that the blame would be pinned on Feng Luan.

He observed that Yun Lin was irate, obviously dissatisfied with Feng Luan for compelling his innocent and polite younger brother to look at this kind of vulgar and lubricious illustrated book. As a brother, he believed he could understand Yun Lin’s feelings, but he still remembered that, just outside the chamber, there were two little eunuchs sent by Feng Luan to guard the entrance—they should be able to listen to everything they uttered.

And yet, Yun Lin called Feng Luan a ‘filthy emperor’.

No matter in which dynasty or generation, this was, unmistakably, treachery. The title of the novel did mention the tyrant; indeed, Feng Luan did have six relations who refused to acknowledge the seriousness of their own actions for causing massacres. He was anxious that Yun Lin’s words would be caught by others. At roughly the same time that Yun Lin scolded loudly, he hurriedly raised his voice to drown out Yun Lin’s words.

“Eldest Brother!” He cried out. “Con……congratulations on your active duty military marriage! The wedding has been managed by the army, how innovative! What a joyous event! So exciting!”

He grabbed Yun Lin’s arm, slightly exerting himself, and gestured with his eyes to hint that his words and actions were quite dangerous at the moment.

Yun Lin, “……”

Yun Lin was no fool.

In his fit of anger, he rebuked him; although he knew that Feng Luan would not punish him for his admonishing, he could not, of course, talk nonsense as he pleased. He shut his mouth and was a tad irritated. Once he gazed at Ye Yang again, he noticed him taking in gulps of air, as if he were making a difficult decision.

“This book…… I was not forced by him,” Ye Yang’s voice sounded unnatural. “It was me that……”

He was unable to continue.

With Yun Lin’s character, he was overwrought that Yun Lin would rush to make Feng Luan become troublesome. He had to put an end to this. What he ought to do was to lay the blame on himself.

Ye Yang lowered his voice.

“This matter has nothing to do with His Majesty,” rejoined Ye Yang, “Brother, this……this is about his and my……”

Yun Lin turned rigid.

Suppressing his emotions, Ye Yang forced himself to act charmingly and bashfully, squeezing out the following words:

“……marital bliss.”

Yun Lin, “……”

……

Feng Luan concluded handling the matters concerning the imperial court. Before returning to the palace for his meal, he spotted the Head Court Lady, who was sent by the Empress Dowager, standing unshakable and motionless by the door. Immediately, she asked him to choose an imperial concubine to spend the night with.

Feng Luan had a headache.

He was fumbling to find an excuse to decline today, when he saw Kang Ning winking and making signs at him outside the door, as if he wished to tell something to him privately.

Kang Ning had been by his side since childhood. He trusted Kang Ning with all of his heart. Considering that it might be something of great importance, he ordered Kang Ning to come forth, wanting to listen to him.

He woke up early last night and, not having properly rested, which was something habitual for him, his head was throbbing. The imperial doctor had previously served him calming tea. He picked up the cup with his injured finger and took a sip, watching Kang Ning angrily gnash his teeth, calmly inquiring, “what is it?”

Kang Ning thought this problem was strictly confidential, so he explained under his breath to Feng Luan, “Your Majesty, it’s that Yun shijun again!”

Feng Luan, “……”

Kang Ning, “he even spread rumors about you! He said that you…… you……”

Feng Luan had a vague sense of foreboding.

“When General Yun entered the palace this morning, he found at the head of Yun shijun’s bed a…… a book.” Kang Ning spit out the word as if he had bitten his tongue. “Yun shijun stated that the book was read by His Majesty together with him.”

Feng Luan felt something was frightfully wrong. He wavered before asking, “what book was he reading?”

Kang Ning, “that kind of book that…… folk women who get married…… store……store at the bottom of a chest……”

Feng Luan looked baffled.

Kang Ning was embarrassed. “Secret…… Secret Shows……”

Feng Luan frowned, “what?”

Kang Ning, “amorous…… amorous book……”

Feng Luan couldn’t make out his words clearly.

It was rare for him to see Kang Ning acting so garrulous. Due to his pounding headache, which greatly upset him, he said dryly, “Kang Ning, zhen can’t hear you. Speak louder.”

Kang Ning was taken aback. He couldn’t comprehend why he’d command such a thing given the subject matter, but he had always unconditionally obeyed each and every order from Feng Luan. He suddenly raised his voice, closed his eyes and simply relayed everything, “Your Majesty! Yun shijun said you read with him amorous books!”

Feng Luan, “……”

Feng Luan’s hand quivered slightly as he held the cup of tea. His gaze was directed to the door, where he noticed the Head Court Lady sent by the Empress Dowager beaming at him, giving him a meaningful look, as if she understood everything.

The rest of the servants were staring at their feet, with their heads bowed, pretending to not have heard their conversation. However, according to Feng Luan’s understanding of the palace, by the afternoon, this piece of information regarding the romantic affair with Yun Yang would spread to every corner of the imperial harem.

For a long time, Feng Luan only inhaled and exhaled deeply.

“Kang Ning, go and talk to the person sent by the Empress Dowager,” he struggled to restrain himself, yet his voice still trembled a bit. He gritted his teeth and enunciated each word slowly. “Tonight. I want. Yun. Shijun. To. Come. And. Serve. Me.”