[Suggested song for this Chapter: New Ho by Austin Farwell]
The Emperor turned on his side so he could watch ili play the guqin through the white gauze of his bed curtains.
It was indeed a pleasant and peaceful scene. The beautiful young girl playing the priceless instrunt with such an openness and delightful passion as to be worthy of challenging the great masters, those n who played with such technical brilliance but without her pure, unadulterated joy.
She played as though her hands were a natural extension of the lody she heard in her head, effortless and graceful, caring not a whit about minor errors nor perfect timing, but solely focussed on the simple beauty of the lody.
The fluffy cream dog blended into the white fox fur rug, and the gauze curtain overlaid the scene with a soft sheen, so that it looked for all the world like a giant white bear slept alongside a fairy, just like a picture from a folk tale.
As he started to drift, he tried to rember to have the pair painted, just like this. He couldn’t wait to see Old Master Tang’s eyes when he saw the scene, and then to watch how the old goat would interpret it in his art.
Before long, the Emperor’s eyes started to flutter until he could no longer keep them open, despite his desire to continue to gaze on that peaceful, fantastical sight.
Feng Bao’s watchful eyes noted the mont that his Master drifted off to sleep, and he was absolutely delighted with himself for having this excellent idea.
He had been beside himself with his Master’s growing problem with insomnia. The increasing strength of the concoctions of the palace physicians were making his Lord difficult to rouse and woolly-headed the following day.
More and more, Miss i’s effect on his Lord reminded him of the old days when Empress Xu was still alive. She had been a childhood friend and sweetheart of the Emperor, and it was only around her that he was ever truly relaxed.
Not for the first ti, he wondered when his Master would take the girl into his harem. It really seed an inevitability now; the pair were becoming so close.
Likely Miss i did not realise it herself, but the easy interactions she had with the Emperor were unlike those he had with any other woman in the palace.
He allowed the girl to continue to play on, wishing for her to play until his Master entered a phase of deep and peaceful sleep.
After playing for an hour, and growing weary, ili looked to Feng Bao. He motioned to her to keep on playing, and she nodded and struck up yet another gentle tune.
After another half-an-hour, her fingers and back were growing stiff, and her playing was becoming slower and slower, as she started to grow sleepy herself.
She stopped for a short minute, thinking to rest briefly on the mat, and then to carry on playing for His Majesty.
It was to just this picture that the Emperor awoke, feeling more rested than he had in months.
Tricky was fast asleep, curled up in his fur blanket and quietly snoring. ili lay slumped on the mat, still fully dressed in her court lady attire, asleep just as she had fallen. A strand of hair had co loose and lay adorably across her cheek.
"Majesty," Feng Bao stepped forward smoothly, intending to awaken Miss i and remove her from the bed chamber now that his Lord was well-rested.
"Shh," the Emperor hushed him.
He walked over to the girl carrying a folded blanket, and gently lifted her tired head, placing it on the soft blanket.
"Bring a satin quilt," he quietly ordered Feng Bao.
The Emperor spread the quilt across the sleeping girl to cover her from the chill. He gently tucked the strand of loose hair behind her ear. She stirred in her sleep, but didn’t wake.
He chuckled quietly, leaving for his dressing room with Feng Bao.
"Leave her until she wakes naturally," he ordered. "She’s earned the rest."
"Very good, Master," Feng Bao bowed with a delighted twinkle in his eye, heading off to tell the servants of the changed arrangents for His Majesty’s morning preparations.
Even the Crown Prince noticed his Father’s extra energy and dry humour in court that morning. His spies had reported that Court Lady i had played the guqin for the Emperor until the early hours of the morning, and that she had not re-erged from the Emperor’s bedroom, even now.
There was no way that this unusual event and his Emperor Father’s chipper mood were unrelated.
He would prefer that his Father didn’t touch the girl, but so long as she remained in the palace, in whatever capacity that might be, aside from marriage to his brother of course, he would be satisfied.
"Your Majesty," said the Pri Minister, "I have so unfortunate news to report".
"Go ahead, Pri Minister Li," waved the Emperor, determined that nothing should upset him today while his mood was so buoyant.
"Your Majesty will recall that there appeared to be so discrepancies in the Treasury holdings which Your Majesty tasked to investigate with the help of Feng Bao and the Eastern Depot. Unhappily, I have to report that the discrepancy is real, and it’s very large. It appears that as many as one hundred thousand taels of silver are missing, Majesty."
The Pri Minister bowed his head, extending out a morial for Feng Bao to collect and hand to the Emperor. Audible gasps could be heard across the officials.
"Emperor Father!" called the Crown Prince, "that can’t be right! Please Father, I urge you to investigate this thoroughly!"
The Crown Prince was in charge of the Treasury, so this was very bad news for him.
The Emperor’s good mood was instantly dashed to pieces.
Now that his second son had allied himself by marriage to the Pri Minister, they were angling for the removal of his eldest son!
He only had himself to bla... That alliance was a monster of his own making, which he should have predicted.
In trying to save the Crown Prince from the machinations of the Li family in his harem, he had inadvertently created a legitimate rival for the succession.
He knew full well that his eldest son was far from perfect, but surely he hadn’t been involved in embezzling a sum of that magnitude...
God help him if he had, because nothing could save him!
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