The Reticent Blade-Chapter 185 - Pear Blossoms Bloom (Part Eight)

The next day, Wang Lihua stayed in bed until the afternoon. In truth, she had been awake for a while, but she stared blankly at the ceiling without getting up. She couldn’t quite place her emotions. She had thought she would feel anger, but she didn’t... perhaps joy? However, she felt none of that either.

Wang Lihua lifted the blanket and climbed out of bed. One embroidered shoe had fallen under the bed, and the other near the door. Balancing on one foot, she hopped to the door to retrieve the other shoe. Just as she was about to bend down, the door creaked open from the outside.

Startled, Wang Lihua quickly looked up and saw a palace maid gently pushing the door open. The maid curtsied, saying, "Seeing that milady had not risen yet, I did not disturb you earlier. Your meal is ready, and I have come to escort you."

Wang Lihua was still a bit dazed and simply nodded absentmindedly.

"Then, allow me to assist you in getting dressed, milady." The maid tilted her head slightly and gestured to someone outside.

In response, another maid entered, holding a set of clothing in her arms.

"Changing clothes again?" Wang Lihua asked instinctively, then suddenly realized something. She widened her eyes at the maid. "Wait... what did you just call me?"

"Milady?" The maid was a bit puzzled, worried that she had used the wrong form of address.

"I..." Wang Lihua opened her mouth to say something, but then remembered the absurd events of the previous night and closed her mouth again. As the Emperor’s woman... what else would they call her?

Thinking this, Wang Lihua’s cheeks turned pink, but then anger suddenly flared up.

"Take that dress away! I’m not changing!"

"This..." The maid looked troubled and said with a pained expression, "My lady, please don’t make things difficult for us servants. These are His Majesty’s orders... The Emperor said that milady would surely like this dress..." After speaking, she quickly signaled to the maid holding the dress.

The maid holding the dress quickly unfurled it, revealing a simple yet elegant white gown before Wang Lihua’s eyes.

In a daze, Wang Lihua looked over the dress carefully. The dress was pure white, unadorned except for a few delicate pear blossoms embroidered in silver thread along the hem and sleeve edges. It was a truly refined and elegant garment.

The first maid stepped closer, her face full of envy as she whispered, "Milady is truly blessed. It’s said that His Majesty personally altered this dress..."

"Him?" Wang Lihua’s gaze remained fixed on the dress, but she couldn’t help but scoff, "He did alterations? If Chen Kaiming sewed a single stitch, the sun must be rising from the west."

The maids instantly froze in terror, staring at Wang Lihua in shock.

"Ahem..." Embarrassed by the maids’ stares, Wang Lihua realized she had misspoken again. She closed her eyes, refusing to look at the dress, and waved her hand dismissively.

"I’m not wearing it. Who wants that tyrant’s things?"

Hiss—

The maids collectively drew sharp breaths. Each word she uttered could easily cost the maids their lives. At that moment, they all wished they were deaf, looking at Wang Lihua as if she were crazy.

The first maid managed to keep her composure. She gritted her teeth, stepped forward, and whispered into Wang Lihua’s ear, "His Majesty... the Emperor said that if milady does not change her clothes... then... then His Majesty will come to change them for you himself."

Wang Lihua’s breath caught, and in the next moment, her entire face flushed bright red. She gritted her teeth and muttered, "That damnable tyrant!"

Thud—

One of the maids finally collapsed under the mental strain, fainting to the floor.

***

The Emperor was going to choose an Empress.

Yue Dou felt the world was changing too quickly. He even considered emulating the old eunuch who served the previous emperor, who would throw himself at the emperor’s feet at the slightest potential misstep and shout, "Your Majesty! Think thrice!"

No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t do that. Despite their master-servant relationship, Yue Dou was Chen Kaiming's childhood friend and did not wish to stop him from finding happiness.

When they first met, Chen Kaiming was ten when Yue Dou was only five, and they had been good friends ever since then.

And at this moment, the Emperor sat on the throne, with Yue Dou standing behind him, and rows of ministers kneeling below the hall.

Yue Dou glanced at the person on the throne, he hadn’t seen Chen Kaiming smile so happily in years.

"Your Majesty! The matter of choosing an Empress is of great importance and cannot be handled so hastily!" the Vice Minister of Rites, who was also among those kneeling, protested.

"Please rise, my loyal ministers," Chen Kaiming declared, gesturing for them to stand. His smile did not waver in the slightest. "The matter of choosing an empress has been carefully considered by me, how can you call it hasty?"

The ministers remained kneeling, not one rose. Yue Dou pursed his lips, he had anticipated this reaction. He then looked at the seat closest to the throne, where the Imperial Teacher, Fan Shaolin, the only one seated in the hall besides Chen Kaiming, dozed off in his stool.

That old man is truly shrewd, he knows that keeping out of this matter was the wisest choice, Yue Dou thought to himself.

An elder minister who had served the previous Emperor slowly rose and tremulously said, "Your Majesty. Without a crown prince, how can an Empress be chosen?"

Chen Kaiming nodded, addressing the elder minister.

"Minister Li speaks reasonably; I will do my best."

Minister Li was taken aback, realizing that Chen Kaiming had nothing further to say. He opened his mouth to speak, but Chen Kaiming waved his hand dismissively, rose from his throne, and said boldly, "If you all enjoy kneeling, then kneel as you please. My decision to choose an Empress is final! Let’s see who dares interfere! That’s all. Dismissed."

With those decisive words, the ministers were left speechless.

That night, Chen Kaiming found himself barred from Wang Lihua’s door.

"Wang Lihua, what are you doing now?" Chen Kaiming stood outside, laughing in exasperation.

Wang Lihua leaned against the door inside, ignoring him.

"If you don’t open the door, I’ll have the room dismantled!" Chen Kaiming shouted from outside.

The door creaked open from the inside.

Wang Lihua’s eyes were red.

"You..." Chen Kaiming’s hand was still raised as if to knock, but he froze upon seeing her appearance.

"Chen Kaiming, will you still have me executed?" Wang Lihua asked softly.

Chen Kaiming’s eyes widened as he stammered, "Of course not..."

"Then let me go..." Wang Lihua sniffled. "I want to go home."

The smile on Chen Kaiming’s face slowly faded, and his expression darkened.

"Home... your parents are both gone. Where would you go? To Qizhou? What’s left for you there?"

Wang Lihua was silent for a while, then shook her head.

"The house may be gone, but my homeland remains. Just as this is your home, with red walls, golden tiles, and palace pavilions. I, too, have my own home. A place with flowing streams, small bridges, and pear trees blooming like snow. It may not compare to this place... but it is my home."

"I..." Chen Kaiming paused, lowering his head as he managed to say, "I want you to stay."

Wang Lihua lowered her eyes and softly said, "Please let me go."

Chen Kaiming said nothing more. He stood there for a while, but in the end, he turned and walked away without a word.

The next day, Wang Lihua boarded a carriage and left the imperial city.

There was a single carriage, a single driver, and a single Wang Lihua.

As the carriage passed through the towering gates of the imperial city, Wang Lihua lifted the curtain to look back, but Chen Kaiming was nowhere in sight. Feeling a pang of disappointment, she lowered the curtain and sat back down.

The carriage swayed gently, and the movement made Wang Lihua feel restless. It felt as if the road stretched on endlessly. The journey felt longer than the day she had been brought into the city, yet somehow, they still hadn’t left Tianjing.

Wang Lihua impatiently pulled back the curtain and asked, "Driver, why haven’t we—"

Her voice trailed off as she took in the scene before her, forgetting to finish her question.

The streets of the capital looked completely different from the day she had first arrived. Alongside the roads, pear trees had been carefully planted, their branches laden with blooming pear blossoms, creating a landscape of white flowers like a sea of snow as far as the eye could see.

Wang Lihua felt as though she could smell the familiar scent of pear blossoms and found herself momentarily entranced.

Several children ran by, playing and picking up fallen pear blossoms to throw at one another. Wang Lihua suddenly snapped out of her daze. How could there be pear blossoms in August and September?

Looking closer, she was astonished to realize that the white flowers on the pear trees lining the capital’s streets were not real blossoms but countless paper flowers that were meticulously cut out to resemble pear blossoms. The paper flowers were so skillfully crafted that they looked almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

As she looked at the endless pear trees, Wang Lihua murmured, "That foolish tyrant..."

Outside the capital, at the Ten-Mile Pavilion.

Chen Kaiming stood outside the pavilion, looking into the distance, but he still couldn’t see the carriage. He seemed to be speaking to Yue Dou behind him, or perhaps to himself, "Ah Dou, do you think she's not interested in me because I am much older than her? I mean... I’m thirty-nine, and she’s only seventeen..."

Yue Dou pursed his lips, not daring to respond to the question. He glanced toward the capital and saw the faint outline of a carriage in the distance. He quietly reminded him, "Your Majesty, Miss Wang is here."

"Where?" Chen Kaiming started in surprise, squinting to see, but he saw nothing.

Due to martial arts training, Yue Dou had much better eyesight than Chen Kaiming, and he replied, "Almost here. It won’t be long now."

Sure enough, before long, a carriage came slowly into view. Chen Kaiming saw the driver tilt his head, as if receiving instructions from the person inside. Then, the carriage stopped in front of the pavilion.

Chen Kaiming unconsciously took a step forward, softly calling out, "Lihua..."

The curtain lifted, and a woman dressed in a white dress nimbly jumped out, walking directly toward Chen Kaiming.

Before Chen Kaiming could speak, she raised her brows and said, "Tyrant, look at what you’ve done! Wasting people’s time and money is something you’re well-versed in."

Chen Kaiming froze for a moment, then laughed. "Wang Lihua, if you’re willing to stay, I’ll make you a high-ranking official... What do you think?"

Wang Lihua scoffed, "How about Emperor?"

Chen Kaiming laughed proudly.

"Something like that."

"Oh?" Wang Lihua’s eyes sparkled as she tilted her head to look at him.

"Be my Empress."

On that day, pear blossoms bloomed across Tianjing.