Chapter 16#
Chapter 16#
The weather outside the palace was exceptionally fine, the sky as clear as if it had been washed, with blue sky and white clouds looking like something from a painting. There was neither snow nor rain; winter was finally coming to a complete end.
Lin Fei drove the carriage back to the Lin Manor from the palace gates. He hadn’t been able to pick up Lin Huaiyu; he had come alone, and he was returning alone.
As the figure receded into the distance, De Fu withdrew his gaze, let out a soft sigh, and turned back.
Inside Qinchun Palace, a thin figure leaned against the bedside. The brewed medicine sat to the side, untouched.
De Fu kindly advised, “Master Lin, your health is poor. You should drink the medicine and take care of yourself.”
Lin Huaiyu merely glanced at the sky and asked De Fu, “Has Xiao Fei left the palace?”
De Fu nodded. “Yes.”
Lin Huaiyu said nothing more. Seeing that he couldn’t be persuaded, De Fu had no choice but to withdraw.
After all, even the Emperor was helpless against this man. How could a servant like him have the ability to make Lin Huaiyu listen?
However, if Master Lin didn’t drink the medicine, there would inevitably be another argument when the Emperor returned and saw it.
When Su Yang entered the room, he indeed saw the now-cold medicine at a glance. His expression remained unchanged as he walked to the bedside, his tone somewhat cool. “I’ve heard that cold medicine tastes even worse. Does Teacher want to try it?”
Lin Huaiyu didn’t spare even a glance for the bowl of medicine. He simply looked at Su Yang and asked, “Is Your Majesty about to appoint an Empress?”
Hearing Lin Huaiyu question him, Su Yang quirked his lips, a trace of a smile touching his features. “Does Teacher care about this very much?”
There was not a hint of a smile in Lin Huaiyu’s eyes. They held neither joy nor sorrow, pleasure nor pain, as if he were merely inquiring about some matters from the morning court session.
He sat up a bit straighter and said seriously, “If Your Majesty truly intends to appoint an Empress, then it is time for me to leave the palace. I am, after all, an external official. It would be inappropriate for me to remain here once the Empress moves into the back palace. I ask for Your Majesty’s permission.”
The smile in Su Yang’s eyes instantly faded, leaving only the curve of his lips, which now appeared somewhat cold. “So you’ve brought this up again. Fine, then I shall tell you: there is nothing inappropriate about you being in the back palace. I have said it long ago—you are my plaything. Even with an Empress in the future, it won’t affect your presence here.”
Lin Huaiyu looked at Su Yang in disbelief. After a long silence, he asked, “Who is the Empress?”
“Oh, Teacher doesn’t know yet.” Su Yang smiled again. He liked seeing Lin Huaiyu care; he wanted Lin Huaiyu to care about him. “The Empress is, naturally, the legitimate daughter of Great General Bai, Bai Jianqing.”
As expected.
In truth, Lin Huaiyu had already guessed it would be Bai Jianqing when he heard from Lin Fei that Su Yang was appointing an Empress.
Before he could speak, Su Yang, seeing Lin Huaiyu’s lowered gaze and cold expression, suddenly felt angry again.
Yet he had to pretend not to care, provoking Lin Huaiyu: “I remember Teacher’s evaluation of Bai Jianqing was quite high. Since she can catch Teacher’s eye and gain your favor, she must be quite good, wouldn’t Teacher say?”
Lin Huaiyu could hear the sarcasm in Su Yang’s tone and couldn’t help but frown. “What does it have to do with me? As for the appointment of the Empress, it’s fine as long as Your Majesty likes her.”
Su Yang hated it when Lin Huaiyu reverted to that indifferent manner. He was about to appoint an Empress; how could this person still act as if it didn’t matter?
He retracted his smile and leaned closer to Lin Huaiyu, saying viciously, “Teacher is my teacher, after all, and can be considered my elder. Why don’t you handle the Empress’s investiture ceremony? At that time, Teacher can preside over the ceremony for the Empress and me, witnessing my grand wedding. How about it?”
Lin Huaiyu’s face was pale. The light from the window hit his face, making his fair skin appear almost transparent. He said coldly, “I am unwell. Your Majesty should leave the wedding to the Ministry of Rites. I shall not participate.”
Su Yang’s gaze darkened. He leaned in, pressing Lin Huaiyu against the bedpost with an overwhelming sense of pressure. “Even if your health is poor, you still exert yourself to manage the spring imperial examinations. Yet when it comes to me, you refuse to participate. Teacher truly doesn’t care about me at all.”
He whispered in Lin Huaiyu’s ear again, “But I insist that you go. Not only must you go, but you must also personally hand the Empress’s golden seal to my future Empress. I wonder, at such a close distance, if my future Empress will be able to see the marks on Teacher that belong solely to me?”
Lin Huaiyu glared at Su Yang.
Seeing that Lin Huaiyu’s cold composure had finally been broken by him, Su Yang curled his lips. He reached out and brushed Lin Huaiyu’s collar, moving down inch by inch as he continued, “The civil and military officials will all be present. Who would know that the grand Chancellor, the Teacher of the Son of Heaven, is a plaything beneath his elegant robes, long ago permeated by my scent? Even though you’ve been made into such a mess by me, you still have to preside over my grand wedding. Lin Huaiyu, you are truly shameless.”
Slap!
Su Yang’s head was jerked to the side by the blow. He reached up to touch his burning cheek and let out a low laugh.
Lin Huaiyu’s eyes were red with anger from Su Yang’s words. He finally couldn’t hold back and gave Su Yang a slap. Supporting himself, he got out of bed and picked up a bamboo stick of unknown use from the side. “Su Yang, when did I ever teach you to humiliate your teacher like this?”
Su Yang turned to look at Lin Huaiyu, his gaze falling on the thin stick. He quirked his lips. “Is Teacher going to hit me?”
Even in his youth, Lin Huaiyu had never hit him. Now, Lin Huaiyu was going to hit him for the sake of Bai Jianqing!
A storm seemed to be brewing in Su Yang’s eyes.
Lin Huaiyu didn’t care at all about Su Yang’s dark expression; he only wanted to properly discipline this student who had gone astray. “The appointment of an Empress is no small matter. If Your Majesty truly likes Lady Bai, I will naturally offer my blessings. But if Your Majesty is only doing this to humiliate me and doesn’t truly like her, then do not wrong her and ruin her life for nothing!”
Su Yang reached out and grabbed the bamboo stick Lin Huaiyu was pointing at him, as if seizing a sharp sword. His gaze was like a layer of frost, terrifyingly cold, and the surrounding air pressure was so high it made one breathless. In just a moment, the bamboo stick in Lin Huaiyu’s hand was snapped into two by Su Yang.
Su Yang gripped Lin Huaiyu’s wrist, as if he were going to crush it like the bamboo stick. “Lin Huaiyu, you really care about her. You would hit me for her, and even scold me for her.”
He let out a self-deprecating laugh and added, “It makes sense. Everyone is more important than me anyway. In your heart, I am a tyrant. Are you feeling particularly disappointed now, having exhausted your efforts only to teach a tyrant?”
Lin Huaiyu felt as if his hand was about to be broken by Su Yang. He frowned, enduring the pain. The half-broken bamboo stick in his hand fell to the floor and was crushed under Su Yang’s foot.
Lin Huaiyu looked at Su Yang, his eyes filled more with helplessness than disappointment. " I truly hoped you would become a wise ruler. The people of the world also need a wise ruler."
Su Yang sneered. “Indeed, Lin Huaiyu, you never cared about me. Your desire to leave has been strong from beginning to end.”
Lin Huaiyu shook his head. “Your Majesty should not have too much attachment to me. Since you are getting married, let me leave.”
Su Yang refused to let go, his grip on Lin Huaiyu’s wrist becoming even tighter. “Is Teacher jealous? If you say you don’t want me to appoint an Empress, if you say you care about me, I can stop the appointment and not marry Bai Jianqing.”
Lin Huaiyu forcefully pulled his hand away from Su Yang’s. A red mark was instantly rubbed onto his fair wrist. He let his hand hang at his side, his wide sleeve hiding the injury. “Su Yang, the appointment of an Empress is not child’s play. Do you understand at all? Once the imperial decree is issued, how can you just take it back? How would the world view Lady Bai, how would they view the Bai Manor, and how would they view you?”
A layer of madness appeared in Su Yang’s eyes. He didn’t like the way Lin Huaiyu looked at him with distance and hostility, and even less did he like how every word from Lin Huaiyu was about others. He grabbed Lin Huaiyu’s hand and threw him onto the table, his expression contorted. “I don’t care!”
Lin Huaiyu, who had been calm and cold, was now also filled with anger. He said directly, “I care!”
Su Yang was stunned for a moment, then let out another self-deprecating laugh. “What Teacher cares about is nothing more than face, their reputations, the overall situation—what you never care about is me.”
Hearing Su Yang’s self-deprecating words, Lin Huaiyu frowned. “When have I ever not cared about you? Even if I were to die, I would still pave the way for you…”
Su Yang immediately interrupted him. “Who wants to hear your hypocritical words? If Teacher truly cared about me, you wouldn’t be so intent on leaving me, refusing to say even a single word about staying. Lin Huaiyu, you are truly a hypocrite.”
Lin Huaiyu opened his mouth but was unable to speak for a moment. For a split second, he felt as if there truly was nothing left to say between him and Su Yang.
But clearly, he still had many things to explain to Su Yang. He should be sitting with Su Yang, handling various court affairs, uprooting those corrupt officials, and teaching Su Yang everything he could in his remaining days.
Instead of… like this, daily arguments and humiliations.
Lin Huaiyu suddenly felt a bit tired. He waved his hand with a weary expression. “Enough. Do whatever you want. I can no longer teach you.”
Seeing the weariness in Lin Huaiyu’s eyes, Su Yang’s heart skipped a beat for no reason. This palpitation made him feel flustered. He hurriedly grabbed Lin Huaiyu and said, “You’re going to give up on me again, aren’t you? You don’t want me again and are going to abandon me?”
Lin Huaiyu struggled with his hand, saying irritably, “Let me go.”
“I won’t!” Su Yang stubbornly held onto Lin Huaiyu, never letting the other escape his embrace.
Lin Huaiyu was too tired to struggle further and went limp. He couldn’t win against Su Yang anyway. “Su Yang, since the decree to appoint the Empress has been issued, Lady Bai will be the person to accompany you for the rest of your life. You must treat her well. Do not be like you are toward me…”
Lin Huaiyu stopped himself. How could he compare to Bai Jianqing? Bai Jianqing was the person Su Yang admired, while he was merely someone Su Yang wanted to humiliate. How could Su Yang treat Bai Jianqing the same way he treated him?
He didn’t say anything more, but Su Yang’s face darkened again, as if covered by dark clouds. In the blink of an eye, thunder, rain, and lightning all fell, threatening to strike Lin Huaiyu until he was nothing but dust.
Su Yang straightened up, incensed. “In the end, you still care about Bai Jianqing. Lin Huaiyu, if you care about her so much, how are you going to face her at the investiture ceremony?”
As Lin Huaiyu was about to speak, Su Yang interrupted him again: “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want you to go to the ceremony anymore. I don’t want to see you and Bai Jianqing making eyes at each other in front of me!”
After saying this, he didn’t give Lin Huaiyu a chance to speak at all. He picked him up horizontally and walked toward the Imperial Study.
There were many palace servants cleaning along the paths. Fortunately, they didn’t dare look directly at the Son of Heaven and all knelt with their heads bowed. No one saw who exactly was in the Emperor’s arms; they only caught a glimpse of a wide, dragon-patterned brocade robe before kneeling.
Gasp! Just who could it be, to actually be wearing the Emperor’s robes!
No one could guess.
Lin Huaiyu was carried into the Imperial Study by Su Yang. He had been here many times. When he had pleaded for Su Yang in the past, he had also knelt outside the study with snow falling all over him. Now, he was entering this place again in this manner.
However, Su Yang had no intention of putting him down even after entering the Imperial Study. A bad premonition suddenly rose in Lin Huaiyu’s heart.
He saw Su Yang press a button on his chair. One side of the bookshelf in the Imperial Study slowly slid apart from the middle to both sides, revealing a passage to a secret room.
Lin Huaiyu couldn’t help but be shocked. He had been here for a long time and had often entered the Imperial Study after Su Yang became the Emperor, yet he never knew there was a secret room here.
The secret room was not very large, only half the size of the Imperial Study. Lin Huaiyu was thrown onto a stone bed in the corner by Su Yang. A chill instantly penetrated his robes and crawled onto his body.
Then, he heard Su Yang’s cold tone: “Teacher will stay here. When you know your mistake, I shall let you out.”