Chapter 16
The Mid-Autumn family banquet.
Noble Consort Li passed me and muttered acidly, “Vixen.”
I ignored her.
It sounded as though she were insulting Murong Su.
A little later, she inexplicably doubled back and said behind me, “A vixen who only knows how to compete for favor.”
Tsk.
I looked around.
She lifted her chin and folded her arms. “What? I wasn’t insulting you. You’re the one choosing to take offense.”
I smiled. “I haven’t said anything. What was that just now? I didn’t hear.”
She immediately lost her composure. “I said you’re a vixen!”
“I’m telling the empress dowager, His Majesty, and the empress. Just you wait!” I couldn’t resist teasing her. “His Majesty’s terribly fond of me lately. Do you think you’ll be punished?”
Once again, she didn’t know what to say. Nervous and frightened, she stammered, “You… you’re shameless.”
I beckoned lazily. She looked around and cautiously approached. “What?”
I whispered in her ear, “I’m escaping from the palace. Once it’s dark and everyone starts admiring the moon, I’m leaving. I’ll set fire to my courtyard, then while everyone’s fighting the blaze, I’ll crawl out through the dog hole by the north gate.”
At her stunned expression, I smiled and patted her shoulder. “You can all fight over his favor. I’m stepping down and leaving it to someone more deserving.”
Noble Consort Li really was a beautiful idiot.
Throughout the banquet, she was nervous and afraid, glancing at me again and again. At last, she gritted her teeth, stood, and went off somewhere.
During that time, I exchanged glances with Murong Su, Wei Qinghe, and even the alien-looking Third Prince, Murong Cheng.
The bright moon hung high. I drained my cup and left the feast.
I returned to my rooms. A moment later, the door opened.
Looking at my visitor, I asked, “What brings Your Majesty here?”
Clear moonlight slanted down. Murong Su stood in the doorway, blocking much of it. With a faint, ambiguous smile, he asked, “If you meant to leave, why tell Noble Consort Li?”
He walked in calmly and spread his hands, as though regretting my misfortune. “See? Now you can’t go.”
I sighed softly. “Nothing to be done, then.”
His smile slowly faded. He stared at me in silence.
His thoughts twisted through a thousand turns. I was entirely at ease. “I really don’t know why you changed back in my eyes. I looked at your brother today, and he was still like a monster. He gave me quite a fright.”
Murong Su said nothing. I brought out the mooncakes I’d baked and gave him one, taking another for myself.
The moon shone over a thousand miles. From ancient times to now, it had always been the same moon. Wasn’t our chance to admire it together a gift of heaven, a meeting brought about by fate?
People’s meetings and partings followed their appointed course: coming and going, over and over.
To have been brought together for a time was already a wonderful thing.
I looked at him earnestly and smiled. “I’ve thought it over. Perhaps I finally saw all of the real you, and that was why your face became clear.”
“It’s hard enough to see ourselves clearly. To understand another person completely, to see all of them, must be one of the rarest kinds of connection in the world.”
Gentle moonlight fell over him. His expression slowly softened, his eyes stirring like an autumn pool ruffled by the breeze.
I raised my cup. “Have a drink with me? For the time we’ve known each other.”
He laughed softly. Instead of lifting his cup, he broke off a small piece of mooncake and ate it slowly. “What’s the filling?”
“Stir-fried meat and flat beans.”
“Mei Anqing.” He picked up his cup and drained it. “It’s disgusting.”