Chapter 15 – Speak Well, From Now On (2)
With a faint smile, Hua Chun said, “I figured out a lot of things overnight, and I can say a hundred things. If good words can be accepted by your Majesty, why should the minister choose to utter the bad words that will anger the Emperor? So from this day on, the minister intends to turn a new lead and will speak well.”
Yu Wenjie frowned, his eyes falling onto Hua Chun’s head and all the way down to her face. There was a feeling like she had been licked by a wolf or a tiger. Hua Chun shrank her neck and subconsciously wanted to step back.
“Don’t move!” The Emperor whispered, stretching out his hands and pressing down on her shoulders.
His broad palms were like rocks, weighing her down, unshakeable. Hua Chun was a little frightened. After all, the Prime Minister was a woman. If she was caught, with the rules, what could she do?
‘The Emperor doesn’t know that the former Prime Minister – no, I am a woman, right? If there was any chance that he did… What am I supposed to do?’
Her heart was a mess, she staged in her mind a palace forbidden drama, and before she could figure out the ending, Yu Wenjie’s hand fell on the back of her neck.
‘Eh?’ Hua Chun shivered and looked blankly at the person in front of her. She felt as if the universe stopped, and it was just only him and the handsome young Emperor.
“Turn around.” Yu Wenjie said impatiently.
“…Oh.”
Turned around, Hua Chun felt that he gently touched the back of her neck and looked at it for a while.
What was he doing?
“Oh.”
After seeing enough, Yu Wenjie let go of her, returned to the desk and sat down, his eyes were full of mockery, “I did not expect to see the Prime Minister standing so straight with a sore back. Since you’re still hurt, don’t stand up, but just sit down instead.”
Was he going to keep her for a while? With so much joy in her heart, Hua Chun hurriedly moved to the next chair and sat down. She felt another pain in her buttocks, and it took a while to get used to it.
“It was said earlier that the construction for the repair of the palace must be stopped and should instead use the money for disaster relief, right?” Yu Wenjie said faintly. “It was the imperial concubine -Senior Concubine Hua who wanted the Yong-An Hall to be repaired and since the Prime Minister thought it would be inappropriate; then, he must also discuss it with the imperial concubine.”
‘What does that mean?’ Hua Chun did not react. She was a minister for foreign affairs. How can she discuss these matters with the imperial concubine? This matter should only be between the Prime Minister and the Emperor. ‘Isn’t it in the rule that most ministers can’t see the imperial concubines in the harem?’
While she was lost in her thoughts, the Emperor had sent for someone.
When the imperial concubine Senior Concubine Hua came in, Hua Chun could not help but think that she looked familiar and seemed to have seen her somewhere.
When she called her “Big Brother” affectionately, Hua Chun remembered that this magnificent imperial concubine was the second sister of Hua Chun in the first episode, the one who acquired many holy favorites in the palace. When Hua Chun was punished, she was there watching from above.
Looking at this smiling face in front of her, she must have felt at ease with the Prime Minister. And since it’s a good sign, will it destroy the mood between her and the concubine if she will discuss the palace’s repair to be stopped?
“Meet Senior Concubine Hua.” Regardless of three, seven, and twenty-one, Hua Chun decided to bow down.
Her arched hands were like fireflies, the concubine then snuggled up towards the Emperor. “I heard on the way that the Prime Minister, oh Big Brother, wanted to postpone the rebuilding of the temple.”
It’s not that Hua Chun wanted it to be fixed later, but it was the old man’s opinion – Grand Preceptor Tang’s.
However, she brought it up together with the notes given to her; it could only be carried out. “Yes.”
Giggling twice, concubine Hua looked at Yu Wenjie and said, “What can I do? My eldest brother has come to examine what must be done for the family. If the temple will not be repaired, how can the concubines continue to live?”