Double Queens GL - Chapter 32

Chapter 32

“Junshen, do you want to visit Lady Zhang tonight?” Liu Hening asked Yang Zhao as he accompanied her for dinner.

“Are you driving me away again?” Yang Zhao asked, raising an eyebrow. Hening seemed to have developed an addiction to pushing him out the door.

“I just feel that Qingyu is so beautiful and lovely; it’s a waste if you don’t go,” Liu Hening said with a smile. She didn’t believe for a second that Junshen wasn’t tempted; if she were a man, she would certainly want to go.

“Does it not hurt you at all when I seek out other beauties?” Yang Zhao asked. While he did indeed want to see Zhang Qingyu, being hurried along by his own wife left him feeling a bit disgruntled.

“I like Qingyu, and you like Qingyu. Why should I be sad?” she countered.

“You… when will you ever truly understand the heart?” Yang Zhao sighed.

“I know what you mean by ‘love’—romantic passion. But if I felt that for you, I would become jealous and worried whenever you visited another woman. My heart wouldn’t be as free as it is now. Besides, you are the husband of all these women; they are all beautiful and charming, and I couldn’t bear to make them sad for my sake. As it is, I like you, but not so much that I want to hide you away. I am happy that everyone loves you. Is that not good?”

Yang Zhao was speechless. He loved her free spirit, and he knew that if she became resentful or petty like other women, she would lose the very essence he adored. He had to accept her lack of romantic love as long as she remained his.

“Then tell me truly, do you want to go to Lady Zhang? Forget about me—ask your own heart,” she pressed.

“Since you’ve praised her so much, it would be a shame to waste your efforts. I shall go tonight,” Yang Zhao said, putting on a show of reluctant compliance.

…

Zhang Qingyu was still sulking about being called an “Idiot Beauty” when Yang Zhao arrived.

She was delighted. In the palace, the Emperor’s favor meant status, rewards, and perhaps even a promotion in rank. She didn’t love him—she knew that loving an Emperor was a death sentence for one’s happiness—but she was smart enough to know that pleasing him led to a better life. She considered the women who truly fell in love with him to be the real idiots.

“Your Majesty, you’re finally here! I missed you so much,” Zhang Qingyu chirped, imitating the cloyingly sweet tone of Li Lian. She knew the Emperor liked that sugary voice, and being ambitious, she tried to learn from others’ strengths. Unfortunately, while it was a bit forced, her natural beauty made the act seem more “clumsily cute” than annoying.

“Is something wrong with your throat? Why aren’t you speaking normally?” Yang Zhao laughed.

Zhang Qingyu’s face immediately fell. Unlike Li Lian, she couldn’t hide her emotions.

“You can’t pull off Lian’er’s style,” Yang Zhao teased.

“If you like her style so much, go find her!” Zhang Qingyu snapped. She was one of the few who dared to show the Emperor her temper, and because she was so transparent, Yang Zhao found it refreshing rather than offensive.

“You have your own strengths. I like you just as you are,” he hurried to coax her.

That night, Yang Zhao stayed with her. However, the encounter ended quite abruptly. Zhang Qingyu, being single-mindedly honest and having been in the palace for a few years, blinked and asked:

“That’s it?”

As a man, Yang Zhao could not let such a challenge to his prowess go unanswered. He gritted his teeth and tried again. By the time he was done, he was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep, while the healthy, robust Zhang Qingyu thought to herself: The Emperor is really losing his touch lately.

The next morning, feeling the weight of his fatigue, Yang Zhao left Xiyu Hall and bestowed gifts upon her that were twice as generous as usual—likely as a subconscious compensation for his wounded pride. Zhang Qingyu, unaware of the blow she had dealt to his ego, was thrilled, assuming she had served him exceptionally well.

She didn’t realize that her one blunt sentence had become a psychological dagger. For a long time afterward, Yang Zhao would find himself haunted by that remark, and he stayed far away from the “Idiot Beauty.”

…

Winter Solstice

Yu Zheng and Liu Yan spent the morning preparing Liu Hening. With heavy, exquisite makeup and elaborate ceremonial robes, she looked every bit the dignified Empress of the Central Palace.

“Clothes really do make the person,” Liu Yan remarked. “As long as you don’t open your mouth, you look exactly like a proper Empress.”

“I hate this. I feel so stiff,” Liu Hening pouted.

“Just bear with it. You should learn from the Eastern Empress; she looks like she was born for these robes,” Liu Yan said.

“Yes, Huachao looks wonderful in everything,” Liu Hening agreed happily, as if she were the one being praised. “She will be the most dazzling woman at the banquet tonight.”

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Palace, Ye Guichen was also finishing her toilet.

“Your Majesty is so beautiful!” Ye Meng exclaimed. With red lips and sharp, cold brows, Ye Guichen looked like a noble flower growing on a high, unreachable peak.

“You’ve seen this face since we were children. What’s the surprise?” Ye Guichen smiled faintly.

“Your beauty is a wonder every time,” Ye Meng insisted. Then, her tone turned a bit sour. “The Central Palace has been crowded every day—tea competitions, games, making sachets… Changqing Hall is so lively while you are here working yourself to the bone.”

“She certainly knows how to pass the time,” Ye Guichen remarked coldly. She didn’t even realize how often she had been asking about the Central Palace lately. It was as if she couldn’t feel at ease unless she knew exactly what that “Little Guanyin” was up to.