The General Seized Her by Force - Chapter 4

When Li Chu arrived at the palace gate, a celestial official was already waiting for her. The leader was Chunfeng, one of the two most capable assistants by the Emperor’s side.

Chunfeng and Chunyu were the two people who had been by the Emperor’s side ever since she was still in the Prince’s residence.

Li Chu pulled on the reins to dismount and bowed to Chunfeng, her tone very courteous, “Why did I trouble you to come out to welcome me personally?”

Chunfeng turned slightly to avoid her formal bow, bowing his head and chuckling, “If it were anyone else, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle you.”

Though not yet forty, this fair-faced official was already as smooth and seasoned as someone over sixty.

Li Chu played dumb, “…Uncle Feng, you really love to joke!”

What was he saying? She wasn’t some unruly, rampaging wild horse.

Chunfeng smiled.

Li Chu tossed her riding crop to her attendant Guan Lu and followed Chunfeng into the palace.

After she had taken her parents’ ashes back to the ancestral home in Pingjiang to be buried when she was six, and before she went to the border to stand on her own, she had lived in the palace for nearly two years.

Her martial arts skills were taught not only by her parents and uncle but also personally by the Emperor.

Back then, having just lost her parents and been thrust into a new environment, she would spend her days covered in bruises from training, and at night, she would lie under the quilt,忍忍 (enduring) the pain in silence. It was Chunfeng who would sneak in, crouch by her bedside, and use exotic snacks to coax her into eating.

Li Chu walked with her hands behind her back, pacing around Chunfeng with light steps, before reaching out to tug at his wide sleeve without hesitation, “Uncle Feng still dotes on me; you’ve hidden snacks for me again.”

Chunfeng’s eyes widened. While glancing left and right, he reached up to gently pat Li Chu’s head, reminding her to mind her station, “You are a General now, after all.”

Li Chu replied, “Generals need to eat, too.”

She looked up at him, her tone pathetic, “I was in such a rush to return to the capital that I haven’t had a single drop of water or grain since last night.”

Chunfeng shot her a reproachful look, but he pulled out the oil-paper package he had hidden in his sleeve—which had been prepared for her all along.

He maintained a composed and serious expression on the surface, but his actions avoided the small eunuchs behind them as he opened the paper, “Just eat one piece. The Emperor has also prepared food for you.”

Li Chu really did take only one piece. As she chewed the pastry, she kept talking, “The gifts I prepared for you are still on the way. I returned to the capital in a hurry, traveling light, so I didn’t bring anything.”

Chunfeng tucked the oil-paper package back into his sleeve and looked Li Chu over, “What haven’t the Emperor and us seen? Do you think we care about your scraps? …These past two years, with the war breaking out again, were you injured?”

Li Chu boasted, “They were all defeated by my hand; how could they hurt me?”

Chunfeng made a disgusted sound, his tone cynical and mocking, “General Li is truly mighty.”

Li Chu acted as if she couldn’t hear the sarcasm in his voice. She lifted her chin and brushed the crumbs off her hands, maintaining a dignified air as she said, “It’s alright, just so-so. Compared to the average person, I’m a bit better.”

Chunfeng: “…”

Did she think he was praising her? Why, at such a young age, was she already so hard of hearing that she couldn’t distinguish a compliment from an insult?

Chunfeng felt that he was getting old and could no longer win a battle of wits against Li Chu, so after leading her to the Imperial Study, he pushed her inside.

The morning court session had already ended, and the Emperor was handling official business in the Imperial Study.

Hearing the commotion at the door, she set down the vermilion brush in her hand and looked ahead.

As soon as Li Chu entered, she met a pair of imposing phoenix eyes fixed directly upon her.

Li Chu’s gaze quickly swept across the Imperial Study. Seeing that neither Chancellor Chu nor Minister Pei were present, she immediately reigned in her personality, stepped forward with proper decorum, and bowed solemnly, “Subject Li Chu, pays respects to the Emperor.”

Among the elders in the family, there are always the kind-hearted ones whom children like best, and the stern ones whom children fear most. Chunfeng and Minister Pei were the kind ones, while the Emperor was the stern one.

Especially since every time Li Chu saw the Emperor, she was reminded of the memories of being unilaterally “beaten” at age six; she suddenly felt aches appearing all over her body.

The Emperor, named Jiang Hua, ascended the throne at thirty and was now forty-three. Before sitting on the dragon throne, she had spent many years as the Wuxiu Eldest Princess. The majesty of a ruler was already ingrained in her, and because she was a woman of few words who rarely smiled, the Emperor’s true heart was unfathomable.

Jiang Hua picked up her brush again, “Rise. Come here.”

Li Chu obediently scrambled up and walked over slowly, asking as she went, “The morning court just ended; why is Minister Pei not here?”

Minister Pei, Pei Jing, was also the current Empress, the consort whom Jiang Hua had taken in when she was still the Wuxiu Eldest Princess.

Jiang Hua looked down as she annotated the memorials, “The results of the Palace Examination were posted today. The Ministry of Rites is busy with many affairs, and she cannot get away.”

Li Chu realized suddenly; no wonder the streets were unusually crowded with pedestrians this morning.

Once Li Chu heard that “Uncle” Pei was not there, she became even more well-behaved. As she took the letter from her own uncle out of her bosom to hand it over, she spoke of the situation at the border, “The Xiongnu are submissive on the surface, but they are certainly dissatisfied in their hearts. They wouldn’t dare to provoke a major conflict, but they will definitely try some petty tricks to annoy people.”

“General Li said I was young and impetuous, fearing that I would not be able to restrain myself and start a fight, so he had me return to the capital first, while he remains at the border to guard it.”

Jiang Hua took the letter, opened it, and read it carefully before folding it and placing it under the memorial. “Li Zhongshen says in his letter that the Xiongnu will send people to the capital at the end of April to discuss the peace treaty between the two countries. Since he had you return to the capital, you shall stay.”

“Li Yue has already returned to the manor. You sisters haven’t seen each other for years, so I grant you a five-day leave to rest properly. After five days, go to the Ministry of War to assume your post.”

Li Yue was Li Zhongshen’s daughter and Li Chu’s younger cousin. Because she was of age, she wanted to return to the capital to discuss marriage, but after setting off from the ancestral home before the new year, she was nowhere to be seen. It was only when the steward and servants who were supposed to escort Li Yue finally arrived at the capital, looking shamefaced, that they realized Li Yue had gone missing!

In their branch of the Li family, most of the elders had died serving the country in war, so there was very little bloodline left. Li Yue going missing was no small matter.

Jiang Hua had long since granted Li Yue the title of County Princess when her mother died in battle. Upon learning she was missing, she had sent people to search from the top down. Fortunately, she was found before Li Chu returned to the capital.

Li Chu’s relentless journey day and night was partly to see for herself how her sister was doing.

With the official business finished, Jiang Hua did not keep her. She turned slightly, lifted the food box kept beside the dragon throne with one hand, and handed it over to Li Chu across the desk, which was already piled high with documents, “Eat something on your way out of the palace.”

Li Chu’s eyes lit up. She caught it in her arms with both hands, her tone becoming much lighter, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward.”

Jiang Hua said, “Five days from now, in the evening, the Ministry of Rites will hold a welcome banquet for you in the palace. Don’t eat lunch that day; we are going to Changshou Lane for a family meal.”

Li Chu replied, “Yes!”

Upon exiting the Imperial Study, Li Chu perked up again. She lifted her chin and smugly tapped the food box at Chunfeng, looking completely different from the way she had been moments ago, cowering with her tail between her legs.

Chunfeng should have escorted her out of the palace, but seeing her flamboyant appearance, he told her to get out on her own.

With no one around, it was the perfect time for Li Chu to open the box and eat to suppress her hunger.

She loved sweets, a fact the Emperor knew, so the pastries prepared for her were all sweet.

Li Chu picked up a peach-pink pastry and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth, closing her eyes and chewing contentedly while lifting her face to bathe in the spring sunlight.

When she was six, she wanted to prove that the Li family had worthy successors, and despite her young age, she was very headstrong.

Who would have thought that the stubborn girl would run into an Emperor who didn’t know how to raise a child…

After a round of grueling training, the Emperor would ask if she was in pain, and she would stubbornly insist it didn’t hurt and it was “just like that”!

Even when she collapsed on the ground, unable to rise, she would say it was because her shoes didn’t fit, which caused her to fall.

The Emperor showed no pity or reluctance on her face, letting her suffer as she should. Only in the deep of night would the Emperor have Minister Pei stand guard outside the door, while she brought in a medicine kit to rub ointment on the bruises covering her body.

The bruises had to be rubbed out to fade, and she would shriek in pain, which led to rumors in the palace that the Emperor beat children in the middle of the night, taking the opportunity to abuse the descendant of a famous general from the previous era…

The breeze brushed past, gentle and mild. The pain of those years was like a past winter; now, with spring in full bloom, it had long since passed.

Li Chu opened her eyes, her gaze soft. She lowered her head to carefully close the food box and walked out of the palace.

Guan Lu, who was squatting at the palace gate waiting for her, acted like a keen-nosed puppy. Standing up and smelling the scent, she reached out her hand, “Let me taste it for the General.”

Li Chu slapped the back of Guan Lu’s hand, making her yelp, “…If you want to eat, just say so.”

Guan Lu withdrew her hand, shaking it even though it didn’t really hurt, her skin quite thick. She opened her eyes wide and looked up at her, “General, I want to eat.”

She had said it directly.

Li Chu: “…”

Li Chu squinted at her, grumbling, “You shameless little puppy, who did you learn that from?”

Guan Lu and Haiqing both looked at her.

If they were little puppies, then the General was one too.

Li Chu pretended to be blind and reopened the food box, generously but stingily picking out two pastries that were less attractive but large in size, giving one to Guan Lu and one to Haiqing.

They were hungry too.

The pastries, though ugly, were big and filling—clearly the ones the Emperor had picked for her. The pink, soft, glutinous pastries on the side were the ones her “Uncle” Pei had chosen.

Li Chu mounted her horse with one hand, carrying the food box in the other, and said, “Let’s go home.”