I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 60

The beads scattered with a clatter, falling everywhere.

Xiao Qianxue exclaimed in alarm and hurriedly crouched to pick them up, gathering the pearls. Wei Ying first picked up the Dongzhu she had removed from the golden crown today, dusted off the dirt, and carefully placed it back in the box.

Looking down, some beads had already fallen into the cracks between the floor tiles, stained with mud and dust, no longer shining with their original brilliance.

Gong Beinu took a step back, looking guilty, and shouted, “It’s just a box of broken beads! Why are you all so overreacting? I can just compensate you if I have to!”

Wei Ying glanced at her calmly, then pulled Xiao Qianxue up, who was still picking up the scattered beads from the floor.

Xiao Qianxue said, “Yingying, I’ll pick them up. There are still so many on the floor.”

Wei Ying handed her a towel. “Wipe your hands. They’re filthy.” Then she looked at the stunned girl standing there and smiled. “You pick up the beads yourself.”

Gong Beinu didn’t react immediately. “What?”

Wei Ying cleaned Xiao Qianxue’s dirt-covered hands until they were spotless, without another glance at Gong Beinu. “Whoever drops the beads must pick them up. Is that so hard to understand?”

Gong Beinu’s face puffed up in fury. All her life, no one had ever been so fierce with her—not even her sister or father. And now this woman, this sickly country girl, actually dared to lecture her like this.

“It’s just knocking over a box of beads. Why are you so fierce? Besides, it was you who kept talking about that thing first!” She glared, puffed up like a round little balloon. “If you hadn’t spread that around, I wouldn’t even have come here!”

Xiao Qianxue carefully glanced at the girl whose eyes seemed about to pop out, then at Wei Ying, who was still smiling. Sensing trouble, she put the towel back in the water basin and whispered, “I’ll do it. I’ll pick them up. They’re all here, so none should be lost.”

Gong Beinu scoffed, “Even if they get lost, I’ll return them. It’s just a few broken beads!”

Xiao Qianxue thought that perhaps she really couldn’t compensate for them—it was, after all, a Dongzhu taken from the emperor’s golden crown.

She carefully looked at Wei Ying and bent down to pick up the beads again but was stopped.

Wei Ying, eyes curved in a smile, looked at Gong Beinu and softly said, “Did we talk nonsense?”

Gong Beinu, feeling guilty under her gaze, deflated and muttered, “Well… we shouldn’t have said it everywhere.”

Wei Ying continued, “So, after doing something, you don’t even have the courage to take responsibility?”

Gong Beinu: puffed up like a pufferfish!

“Duan Wei Ying, how dare you! I am a Jieyu now, and you speak to me like this?”

Wei Ying smiled, leisurely lying back in her bamboo chair. She drew a “Contrary to Wish” card from the system and, holding it with good humor, asked politely, “Jieyu, could you please pick up the Dongzhu on the floor?”

Gong Beinu: “No! What do you think I am? I won’t do servant work!”

But as she said this, she honestly squatted down and began pulling the beads from the floor tiles’ cracks.

Xiao Qianxue froze, dumbfounded. “Jieyu?”

Unexpectedly, though the Jieyu said she wouldn’t, her actions were honest.

Wei Ying held her teacup, lying back in the bamboo chair, watching Gong Beinu pick up the beads begrudgingly. She sipped her tea and glanced at Xiao Qianxue. “Qianxue, sit down and have some tea.”

Xiao Qianxue slowly sat on the nearby bamboo chair. “Yingying, is this really okay?”

Wei Ying blinked. “What’s the problem?”

Xiao Qianxue: “She’s crying.”

Gong Beinu, half-kneeling on the floor, pulled two beads from the floor cracks and put them back in the box. Her cheeks were red, tears rolling down onto the tiles. She bit her lip until it went pale.

All her life, no one had dared treat her like this! She was certain they were using some sort of sorcery again. Last time, she had even helped Wei Ying speak up. Oh no, she must have been blinded by greed.

Time passed, and she resolved to give these two lawless women a good lesson later.

She silently drew circles in her mind, feeling distressed at her hands, touching the cold, damp earth, her tears flowing. All her life, she had never done such a thing.

It’s all their fault, she thought. How hateful!

Wei Ying, holding her tea, smiled and softly asked, “Jieyu, are you ready?”

Gong Beinu didn’t answer. Xiao Qianxue asked on her behalf, “Ready for what?”

Wei Ying: “Wei Ying’s little moral lesson is about to begin.”

As a skilled “White Moonlight,” Wei Ying had dealt with many unruly children. To tame them, besides patient care and endless nurturing, a certain firm approach was necessary. Moral education was essential.

Taming unruly children was her specialty!

After the allotted time, Gong Beinu still crouched on the floor, dazed.

Wei Ying raised an eyebrow. “So, do you know you were wrong?”

Gong Beinu bit her lip, tears swirling in her eyes, stubbornly saying nothing, but continued picking up the beads.

Xiao Qianxue, after hearing Wei Ying’s little lesson, also became dazed. “Yingying…”

Wei Ying sipped tea, smoothing her throat. “What?”

Xiao Qianxue: “Just now, you reminded me of my old teacher.”

Even her teacher didn’t manipulate minds as skillfully as this.

Wei Ying smiled and set down her teacup. “I’ve met too many unruly children.” She glanced at the box, noticing the beads were mostly gathered. Gong Beinu lowered her head and placed the box on the table. “All here.”

Wei Ying picked up the wet towel. “Wipe your hands.”

Gong Beinu, her eyes red, glared at Wei Ying, stretching out her dirty hands.

Her hands, always accustomed to wealth and luxury, had never been so dirty, her fair fingers now stained with mud, her nails gray.

Gong Beinu pouted. So unfair! She wanted to cry.

Wei Ying bowed her head and patiently wiped her hands clean, removing the dirt and revealing smooth skin.

The Dongzhu were mostly collected. Any missing ones could be found later. The main thing was that this wealthy young lady had endured a little hardship.

Thinking this, Wei Ying looked up and met the girl’s reddened eyes, unable to help smiling.

Gong Beinu’s hair flared. “What are you smiling at?”

Wei Ying pointed to her cheek. “It’s dirty here.”

Gong Beinu instinctively touched her face, pouting, crying and threatening, “Just you wait! I’ll get back at you!”

“All right, all right, get your revenge,” Wei Ying said, fetching a new basin of clean water and a fresh handkerchief. “Come, I’ll wipe it for you.”

Xiao Qianxue continued staring in disbelief.

She had thought, given Gong Beinu’s personality, she would retaliate with her dirty little hands. But instead…

Wei Ying gently wiped Gong Beinu with the handkerchief.

Gong Beinu pouted. “Dirty!”

Wei Ying opened the pristine white cloth. “Not dirty. It’s brand new, just for you.” She finished wiping her, then placed both the handkerchief and the Dongzhu into the water for cleaning.

Gong Beinu: “Hmph.”

Wei Ying tilted her head. “So, do you understand your mistake now?”

Gong Beinu pouted, tears streaming, finally growling, “Duan Wei Ying, are you never going to stop?”

Wei Ying laughed, ruffling her hair. “Knowing you were wrong means being obedient. Here, some sweets the Xianfei just made. Take them back and try them?”

Gong Beinu: “Hmph! Do I even care? You wait. This isn’t over!”

She stormed off, nearly tripping over the threshold.

Wei Ying set aside the sweets, washed and dried the beads, and put them back into the wooden box. Once done, she realized Xiao Qianxue was still frozen, staring like a stone.

“What is it?” She pinched Xiao Qianxue’s cheek, looking her in the eye. “Why are you staring at me?”

Xiao Qianxue snapped back to reality, marveling, “Wow—Yingying, how did you do it? You actually made Gong Beinu pick up the Dongzhu!”

Wei Ying calmly sipped her tea. “It was her own mistake. She should handle it herself.”

Xiao Qianxue thought: But someone of Gong Beinu’s status shouldn’t have to admit fault. In this world, fairness doesn’t exist. Some people, even when wrong, get others to clean up their mess. And those hurt must grit their teeth and stay silent—it’s the emperor’s aunt’s niece, after all.

Wei Ying noticed Xiao Qianxue zoning out and recalled a scene from the original story, when Gong Beinu had knocked over a jewelry box belonging to the heroine—not the emperor’s Dongzhu, but her own dowry and childhood porcelain from Yunzhou.

Though not valuable, they held nostalgia for the heroine. She silently lowered her head, hiding reddened eyes, understanding the harsh palace rules.

Wei Ying thought of the girl in front of her, now like a naïve little deer, and couldn’t help touching her forehead.

Well, what could a girl she personally raised do?

Xiao Qianxue clutched her handkerchief. “Yingying, you were so skilled just now! I thought my old teacher had come from Yunzhou. Were you a teacher before entering the palace?”

Wei Ying: “Something like that. I dealt with unruly children. If I’d met someone like Gong Beinu back then…” She raised her hand. “Oh my god, I would have spanked her badly!”

Xiao Qianxue blinked. “Really? I don’t believe it.”

Yingying would never be so violent.

Thinking of Gong Beinu’s threat, she sighed. “Yingying, what revenge do you think she’ll take?”

Wei Ying shrugged. “We’ll see.”

They didn’t see Gong Beinu take revenge, but received an imperial decree: for dutifully accompanying the emperor to the summer villa, Wei Ying and Xiao Qianxue were promoted to Jieyu, while Gong Beinu was made second-rank Zhaorong—still below them.

Xiao Qianxue, receiving the decree, asked Wei Ying in confusion, “Did we really serve the emperor diligently?”

Aside from fishing and horseback riding, what else had they done?

Wei Ying thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes.”

Xiao Qianxue scratched her head. “Did I forget? Where?”

Wei Ying: “In a dream.”

Xiao Qianxue: …So cold.

The eunuch Fushou, delivering the decree, smiled kindly. The emperor also issued a second command: Wei Ying was to go to Yangxin Hall to serve the emperor in the evening.

Xiao Qianxue clutched her heart: “Wow.”

In the afternoon, Fushou brought a small sedan chair to escort Wei Ying. Though unnecessary, he had watched her grow weak but now mature alongside the emperor. Beyond the respect of a courtier, he had the care of a father.

He smiled warmly. “Your Highness, please get on the sedan.”

Xianfei handed Wei Ying a food box and reminded her a few things before leaving, then asked Fushou privately why the Empress hadn’t been accompanying the emperor lately.

With palace staff present, she didn’t speak directly. Fushou understood. “The Empress has her own affairs.”

“Her own affairs?” Xianfei frowned. Recently, the Empress had no palace matters. Could she already be preparing the Mid-Autumn banquet?

She watched the sedan leave, feeling a mix of longing and jealousy.

Dong E quietly observed, noting Xianfei’s expression. Perhaps Xianfei was jealous of the favor shown to Wei Ying and Xiao Qianxue. She planned to report this to the Empress Dowager.

Yangxin Hall, as usual, was bathed in sunset, the glazed tiles reflecting golden light.

Wei Ying entered the hall. The sandalwood table and palace lamps cast a soft yellow glow.

Yunshao, bowing slightly, her features softened by the lamplight, looked calm. Hearing the door, she raised her head and smiled at Wei Ying, standing to greet her.

Wei Ying noticed more memorials on the table than usual. Shouldn’t the emperor have called the Empress and Xianfei to help? Why was she summoned?

Yunshao held a porcelain bowl carefully. “Wei Ying, come quickly!”

Wei Ying, curious at her mysterious demeanor, approached and saw it was a bowl of sweet fermented glutinous rice with osmanthus. Though out of season, fresh osmanthus from Yizhou had been delivered by courier.

Smelling the fragrant air, Wei Ying sipped. She thought of the poem, “A single horse gallops, the concubine smiles, no one knows the lychees came,” and looked up at the emperor’s expectant gaze. “I like it very much.”

Yet she wondered if she had become a dangerously influential concubine.

Yunshao made Wei Ying sit and enjoy the drink, returning to work with renewed energy, knowing she could sleep with her after finishing the memorials.

After finishing, Wei Ying walked around to aid digestion, stopping at the pile of memorials and picking one up.

It criticized the new reforms. She knew court affairs. Since Gong Hongbo returned, the old and new factions clashed more fiercely, all eyes on next year’s imperial exams.

Wherever people gathered, they were the most important. The Ministry of Personnel called young officials. Next year’s exams would fill the bureaucracy with young supporters of the emperor. Initially low-ranked, they’d gradually displace the old faction.

She put down the memorial, thinking the next year would be turbulent both in court and the harem.

Picking another memorial, she laughed. It concerned Prince Luling’s visit to the capital.

In the original story, Prince Luling caused many plot twists. Raised by the Empress Dowager, he might have ascended the throne if the emperor hadn’t intervened. The Dowager and Prince Luling were resentful, using the excuse of longing for the capital to trouble the emperor.

For Wei Ying, this was good news—her tasks could progress, and she could resume her “draws.”

While she was distracted, the emperor quietly approached. Seeing the memorial in her hands, his expression darkened. “Are you very concerned about him, Yingying?”

Wei Ying: “Huh? Who?”

Yunshao snatched the memorial, tossing it aside. “Just a shameless, despicable man.”

Wei Ying blinked. “Does the emperor have a grudge with Prince Luling?”

Qianxue had said the late emperor intended to give the throne to Prince Luling. Did the current emperor dislike his cousin?

Yunshao thought, shaking her head. “No grudge.” She glanced at the memorial. “But now, there is.”

Wei Ying studied the memorial, unusually attentive. Yunshao clenched her fists.

Continuing her walk, Wei Ying and Yunshao went side by side.

“Your Majesty, aren’t you continuing with the memorials?”

Yunshao lowered her eyes, her long lashes trembling. “I’m tired of reading; I wanted to walk.”

Wei Ying nodded. “Walking is good. One, two, three… very good. Excellent, Your Majesty!”

Yunshao remained silent, then said softly, “I’m not walking with a broken leg, forcing my body.”

Wei Ying smiled warmly. “All right, let’s walk together!”

Yunshao asked thoughtfully, “Yingying, have you had disputes with Gong Beinu?”

Wei Ying gasped. “She reported to Your Majesty?”

Yunshao’s playful smile grew, stopping to ask softly, “She cried and ran back to Nonghua Hall. Yingying… how did you discipline her?”

Wei Ying spread her hands innocently. “I did nothing. She knocked over the box first.”

Yunshao tilted her head. “Which box?”

Wei Ying explained honestly: “Not precious, just the Dongzhu the emperor gave me. She knocked them all down. I scolded her a little, gave her a lesson.”

Yunshao’s cheeks warmed. Smiling lightly, she said, “So it was because of me?” She tried to remove her golden crown to give Wei Ying the Dongzhu, but Wei Ying quickly stopped her.

“Your Majesty, I wasn’t angry about the box itself. I just wanted her to understand responsibility. She’s not a bad person—she just grew up without proper guidance. A little lesson won’t hurt.”

Wei Ying added: “Even caged canaries face cruel treatment, yet I didn’t spank her even once!”

Yunshao’s eyes reflected the lamplight, bright and gentle. “Then what would make you spank her?”

Wei Ying thought: “Depends on the situation. I do get annoyed by unruly children.”

Indeed, her job exposed her to one after another. Being a White Moonlight wasn’t easy.

Suddenly, she heard a clatter. The emperor had pushed all the memorials off the table, smiling: “Is Yingying angry now?”

Wei Ying: “Huh?”

Yunshao stretched across the table in an “or2” pose, smiling.

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