Song Pu quickly caught on.
“You… are you saying I’m stupid?”
“What I mean is that being too clever is not necessarily a good thing. The more you know and the more you speculate, the more dangerous it becomes. Being a little muddle-headed like you actually works in your favour.”
He smiled as he spoke. His voice was as warm and gentle as his eyes, as though it had been soaked in spring water, carrying a faint coolness.
Song Pu asked humbly, “Could you give me a little more guidance?”
Shen Yonghe looked at him. “Are you afraid of His Majesty?”
Song Pu answered cautiously, “His Majesty is majestic and extraordinary. It is only natural that ordinary people feel awe towards him. I am no different.”
Shen Yonghe nodded. “That is good. I cannot say much more. In the future you must be careful. Even if you hear him say something when he loses control of himself, you must forget it immediately. Do not keep it in your mind, and it is best not to ask about it either.”
As he spoke he lowered his gaze. “In truth, some matters are not exactly secrets. But His Majesty cannot bear for others to mention them. Duke Song will most likely never speak of such things to you either. You should simply be careful from now on.”
If Song Pu were still the same inconspicuous and timid person as before, Shen Yonghe would not worry about him. Tantai Yi had summoned them into the palace not merely to torment them. If things had remained as before, at most Song Pu would irritate him and receive a few neither serious nor light beatings.
Yet from what Chang Jiangming and the others had said, Song Pu now seemed like an entirely different person, able to speak eloquently before Tantai Yi. Though he was not quite like Shen Yonghe himself, having such a loose tongue was still dangerous, and it worried him.
Song Pu understood the hint within his words and silently nodded.
If that was the reason, it was hardly surprising. The dog emperor was exactly the sort of person who would do such a thing. Only he could speak of it, while others could not. Yet he would reveal things in an uncontrollable moment, force people to hear it, and then, once he realised what he had said, grow ashamed and furious and beat them until their faces were ruined.
Tsk. What a bastard.
Looking again at Shen Yonghe, Song Pu could not help seeing him as a victim. The more he looked, the more regret he felt.
Yet there was no way he could seek justice for him. Shen Yonghe’s relationship with the dog emperor had actually been fairly good, and even he had ended up like this. Song Pu had only managed to keep himself safe by flattering the emperor to his satisfaction. If he ever truly angered him, he did not dare imagine the consequences.
He was terribly afraid of pain.
*
The sun was bright that day, and the palace had begun to grow lively.
Before Tantai Yi ascended the throne, there had been more than two thousand palace maids and over a thousand eunuchs within the imperial palace. Now only a little more than five hundred palace maids remained. For such an enormous imperial city, that was truly far too few.
However, Tantai Yi had not yet established any consorts. The true masters of the palace were only himself, the Empress Dowager and a few dowager consorts. Naturally there was little need for attendants. Moreover, no women served at Tantai Yi’s side. All matters, great and small, were handled solely by Cao Xi.
Now the palace was about to welcome one hundred and eight young women. They would bring fresh blood and vitality to this ageing, lifeless place. Perhaps some of them would even become the emperor’s concubines. If that happened, the remaining palace maids and eunuchs would have the chance to serve under them.
Because of this, a lively excitement could be felt in the air.
Entering the imperial city through the Xuanwu Gate, Song Pu noticed that the eunuchs and palace maids he passed all had a faint flush on their faces. It was the glow of relief and joy, and their eyes carried a spark of hope. Seeing these young men and women, most no older than twenty, Song Pu felt he understood his situation far more clearly.
The rules of this world were cruel. The class divisions were strict and rigid, so rigid that even several generations shedding blood might not break them. After all, in real history it had taken more than two thousand years to overturn the feudal system.
And now he had ended up in a dynasty that did not exist in any history at all.
Song Pu did not even possess any special advantage that allowed him to foresee the future. Although he had read the novel, a vulgar fellow like him had only focused on the melodramatic “sister-in-law romance” aspect. The rest of the background he had merely skimmed.
Now he had even forgotten the heroine’s name. He only remembered that her surname was Lin. He did recall that Prince Gong, the male lead, called her Qingqing, which sounded terribly cloying.
Song Pu pulled himself out of these wandering thoughts. His mood wavered for a moment, but he forced himself to settle.
He had already boarded the dog emperor’s ship. Still, if an opportunity arose in the future, he could observe Prince Gong’s ship and see how it fared. If it looked promising and the timing was right, he could simply abandon the dog emperor and find another patron.
That way he would no longer have to rack his brains inventing endless compliments for him.
Once he had this plan in mind, Song Pu suddenly felt as though life held some hope again. Like the palace maids and eunuchs around him, his face carried a faint glow and his eyes shone brightly. He looked to be in an excellent mood.
When he arrived before Tantai Yi, the emperor immediately noticed the joy radiating from him.
Raising an eyebrow slightly, he asked, “Has some happy event occurred in Minister Song’s household? Why do you look so cheerful?”
Song Pu beamed at him and answered naturally.
“It is simply because I may see Your Majesty again. When I do not see Your Majesty for a single day, it feels like three autumns. Even during one day of rest I grow restless and impatient to return to the palace. Today I deliberately arrived early in the hope of being the first to see Your Majesty. Now that I behold Your Majesty in such radiant splendour, my heart is filled with genuine joy. Fortunately I came early. The first sight I see today is Your Majesty in all your heroic magnificence, and I am delighted beyond words. I only wish to treasure this sight for the rest of my life.”
Tantai Yi fell silent. He clasped his hands behind his back and fixed his long, narrow eyes firmly upon Song Pu’s face.
He was far taller than Song Pu. Song Pu did not know his exact height, but he estimated that Tantai Yi must be around one hundred and eighty-seven or eighty-eight centimetres. His build was slender rather than broad, which made him appear even taller.
Song Pu’s body, on the other hand, had probably not finished growing yet. He was only a little over one hundred and seventy centimetres tall. He had never measured it precisely since he did not particularly care about height.
But now, with Tantai Yi looking down at him from above, Song Pu suddenly felt as though he were several heads shorter. He could not help growing nervous.
“Why does Your Majesty keep looking at me? Have I said something displeasing?” Song Pu glanced back uneasily, then lowered his head. A trace of grievance crept into his voice.
Tantai Yi did not answer. He was still recalling what Song Pu had said earlier.
Before this he would not have thought much of it. Yet after Uncle Qin’s remarks about male consorts, hearing such a heartfelt confession from Song Pu made it feel as though something had scratched sharply across the tip of his heart. A shiver ran down his back.
It even provoked a rather absurd reaction.
He bit the tip of his tongue, letting the pain distract him, and slowly replied, “I was merely surprised by what Minister Song said.”
Song Pu had not realised in the slightest what kind of reaction he had stirred up. Hearing Tantai Yi’s answer, he looked innocent and puzzled.
“Why? Every word I spoke was the truth. Does Your Majesty not believe me?”
Tantai Yi said, “I believe you. It is only that I invited you to enter the palace and you refused. Why torment yourself like this?”
Author’s Note:
Ah-Pu: Another one has gone mad.jpg
To be fair, throughout history there were quite a few rulers and ministers whose relationships seemed rather suspicious, yet they were supposedly completely innocent. Truly, when a straight man flirts, it can be a weapon sharp enough to kill.
