Chapter 1515: 1510: What is Qin Muyan Hiding?
Chapter 1515: Chapter 1510: What is Qin Muyan Hiding?
Qin Muyan took a step back, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes, “I had no idea you still possessed such strength.”
Lately, the secret reports he had been collecting all suggested that Chu Yihan was gravely ill, on the brink of death, or that his health was declining day by day. In the nine provinces, there were quite a few with ambitious designs on the Great Cheng Dynasty, all wanting to take advantage of Chu Yihan’s absence to deal with his young son.
But to Qin Muyan, those who harbored disloyalty towards the Great Cheng Dynasty and plotted to cause trouble were merely wasting their efforts.
Chu Yihan was like this, and so was his royal court; even if a young child sat upon the dragon throne, the realm would undoubtedly remain stable.
Chu Yihan’s clash with Qin Muyan thus served as a greeting, albeit with a layer of veil covering his face, which gave Qin Muyan ample opportunity to mock him along the way.
Qin Muyan was a man of the Great Wei Dynasty, naturally more robust and boisterous, unlike Chu Yihan’s delicate complexion. Watching his womanly demeanor, Qin Muyan laughed at him throughout the journey.
Chu Yihan did not engage with him, simply holding Su Yingxue’s hand the entire way.
Ignoring Qin Muyan’s sporadic comments.
Qin Muyan lodged them in Baohua Palace, situated in the front hall close to where he conducted his political affairs, and specially held a palace banquet in their honor.
However, at the palace banquet, Su Yingxue did not see her grandmother or Aunt Qin Ge.
Qin Muyan’s letter did not mention them, and she assumed they were both safe. But their absence at the banquet weighed heavily on Su Yingxue’s heart, and without waiting for the banquet to end, she became impatient and tugged at Chu Yihan’s sleeve, “Hubby, neither grandmother nor aunt is here. Has something happened?”
Chu Yihan surveyed the surroundings and indeed did not see the places for the Empress Dowager and the Eldest Princess. However, Qin Muyan and his ministers were enjoying the banquet in a harmonious atmosphere, which did not seem like they were covering up any incident.
He held Su Yingxue’s hand and reassured her, “Perhaps Qin Muyan has his reasons. Let’s wait until after the banquet to see him.”
Su Yingxue restrained herself and waited until the banquet concluded.
Qin Muyan seemed overly excited today, drinking quite a bit at the banquet. When Su Yingxue and Chu Yihan sought him out after the banquet ended, he had already been assisted by palace maids back to his chamber to rest.
Wei Jue, who had been with Qin Muyan for many years, came to reply to Su Yingxue, “The emperor is a bit drunk. I fear he will not be able to meet with the two of you tonight. The emperor has ordered to entertain you both tomorrow at Chonghua Palace. Please rest early this evening.”
Wei Jue was familiar to Su Yingxue, and she believed his words when he spoke them; Qin Muyan was indeed drunk.
However, Chu Yihan remarked, “Your emperor hasn’t touched much alcohol this year, has he?”
A flash of surprise crossed Wei Jue’s eyes, then he quickly concealed it, “The emperor has many state affairs to attend to, thus he has cut down on drinking. Pardon the laughter.”
“It’s fine. Tomorrow I shall drink merrily with him.”
Chu Yihan spoke softly, and after finishing, he walked off with Su Yingxue.
After they left, Wei Jue let out a sigh of relief and immediately turned towards the direction of Qin Muyan’s chambers.
Su Yingxue let out a long sigh, “Things are indeed different from before. Now that cousin has become the emperor, he’s not as easygoing as he used to be.”
Last time she came to the Great Wei Dynasty, Qin Muyan was but the Scarlet Flame King, and the relatives in the palace treated her with great kindness, especially her cousin Qin Rulie, who seemed eager to present her with the very best of what the Great Wei Imperial Palace had to offer.
They always said she was the princess of the Great Wei Dynasty, their cherished pearl.
Now upon her return, everyone still called her princess, and addressed Chu Yihan as the son-in-law of the Emperor.
But that sense of intimacy from the old days, that she could strut around the palace, was gone.
“It’s not that your cousin is difficult to get along with. Rather, the changes over the past year have been so great that even the palace walls have been rebuilt.”
Chu Yihan led Su Yingxue to the wall, and when she touched it, she indeed found that the palace wall was newly built.
With changes afoot in the imperial palace and disturbances in the royal court, the Great Wei Dynasty seemed as if it had been scorched to ash by fire and was now rebuilt anew; surely, there must be many unusual aspects.
Qin Muyan had changed, too.
That’s what she thought, but Chu Yihan had noticed even more, “Three months ago, Qin Muyan sent a letter requesting your presence to treat his beloved consort who had fallen ill. The journey here took us almost two months, arriving at this capital city. Logically, if Qin Muyan truly cherished his imperial consort, he would have immediately taken you to see her right after our arrival, yet not a word about it was mentioned throughout the dinner.”
Su Yingxue tilted her head thoughtfully, “Yes, cousin, if he truly cared for that consort, given his personality, he would have rushed us into the palace to see that consort right at the city gate!”
But Qin Muyan did not mention it, and instead got himself drunk on wine, making it difficult for them to approach and talk to him. It seemed as though…he was deliberately hiding something!
With this thought in mind, Su Yingxue felt increasingly that there was something weird about the Great Wei Imperial Palace!
She originally had no intention of meddling in the affairs of Qin Muyan’s palace, but she was worried about her grandmother and aunt!
She no longer had the opportunity to see her cousin again, and she did not want to lose the chance to see the remaining members of her family.
So, she thought of extracting some information from the palace staff, to at least find out something.
However, after her casual chat with the palace maids serving her, she concluded, “The maids in this palace, even the most senior ones, have only entered the palace in the past month; they know nothing of what happened before and there’s no point in asking.”
Under the candlelight, Chu Yihan held a white jade cup inlaid with gold patterns, continuously stroking it with his fingers. His eyes were as deep as an endless abyss. Su Yingxue pursed her lips and said, “Are you reflecting on the maids’ conversation just now?”
Chu Yihan, with his excellent hearing, could have easily heard her entire conversation with the maid in the courtyard, and he always seemed to think more deeply than she did.
So she sat beside him, silently watching him.
With her hands propping up her chin, the more Su Yingxue observed Chu Yihan, the more she felt that there was no other man as handsome as him in the world.
The candlelight danced in his eyes, the shadows flitting across his long, lifted eyelashes, fluttering like a butterfly.
Chu Yihan, having been stared at by Su Yingxue for a long time, tapped his fingers on the table, “The maid mentioned earlier that our accommodation today was personally arranged by Qin Muyan, but such matters are usually handled by the empress. When you attempted to fish for information earlier, you also inquired about the empress. The maid mentioned that the empress follows the customs of the Great Wei Dynasty…”
“What about the customs of the Great Wei Dynasty? Once cousin married, the empress would naturally be from the Great Wei Dynasty,” Su Yingxue puffed her cheeks.
Chu Yihan tapped the table heavily, “No, that’s not right. When Qin Muyan was married before, he took the young princess of Beiling City as his Princess. He also wrote to you saying that he and his Princess were very much in love. Unless his Princess had died, how could the new Queen possibly be from the Great Wei Dynasty?”