Chapter 38
Chapter 38: The Worry in My Chest Finally Died
The young sovereign arrived in a rush, dressed in ice-blue, tall and elegant, his steps urgent as he strode into Noble Consort’s Yao Chi Palace.
“Qingqing,” he demanded, breath still uneven, “why did you summon the Marchioness here?”
A sheen of sweat glimmered on his forehead.
Then his gaze caught on the familiar figure seated inside.
Gu Nan Xi, turned slightly to the side, looked up at him. Her eyes flashed with shock first—then with something complicated enough to make the air feel heavier.
The young sovereign stopped at once and, by reflex, straightened his robe, smoothing away the wrinkles his hurried walk had made.
Noble Consort Tong, who had been watching him like a hawk, sneered. “Oh? What day is it, that His Majesty—who usually can’t be bothered to behave—suddenly remembers his appearance?”
The sarcasm was so obvious that even Gu Nan Xi couldn’t miss it.
Gu Nan Xi followed Noble Consort Tong’s gaze to the young sovereign still standing by the entrance.
He was handsome and upright, his aura unmistakably imperial. His clothes were neat. Even the yellow shoes on his feet were spotless.
He didn’t look at all like the disheveled man Noble Consort Tong was trying to paint.
The young sovereign went stiff, as if being scolded. “What nonsense is that? Since when have I not watched my manners?”
Noble Consort Tong gave a cold laugh, but her eyes were already red.
Gu Nan Xi pulled her gaze away and shouted in her mind, kind mother system, plot. Now. How did the original owner hook her fish?
The kind mother system played dead.
The young sovereign saw Gu Nan Xi stop looking at him and finally dared to shuffle inside—so nervous he didn’t even realize he’d started moving the same arm and leg together.
Behind him, his personal palace attendant lowered his head so far it nearly pressed to his chest, too terrified to say a word.
Noble Consort Tong refused to lose face. The moment the young sovereign sat down, she pressed in close.
The young sovereign jolted as if burned and sprang away—so far it was ridiculous, a full eight meters between them.
He even scolded with an absurdly proper tone, “As a noble consort, you should be dignified and restrained. Watch your manners.”
Then, as if checking an exam proctor’s reaction, he stole a glance at Gu Nan Xi. Seeing no response, he quietly exhaled.
That glance was enough.
Noble Consort Tong’s control shattered. She twisted, furious, and pointed a lacquered fingertip straight at the sovereign’s face. “Fine. Fine, Zhao. You’re sleeping with a minister’s wife—that’s one thing. But you still dare treat me like this?”
The sovereign’s face went bloodless. Instinctively, he turned toward Gu Nan Xi, panic clear in his eyes. “I didn’t! She’s talking nonsense! Don’t frame me!”
Noble Consort Tong snapped like a bristling cat, lips bright red, words firing like arrows. “Capital is full of eyes. Who doesn’t know you have an affair with Madam Marquis Yong Chang?!”
With who?
Madam Marquis Yong Chang?
The young sovereign had been halfway to standing, but at those words he sank back down like a man whose execution had been postponed. He let out a huge breath, wiped sweat off his forehead, and visibly relaxed. “Qingqing, Madam Marquis Yong Chang is generous. She doesn’t want to argue with you. Stop making a scene.”
His reaction stunned Noble Consort Tong—and even Gu Nan Xi couldn’t help casting him another look.
This sovereign’s attitude toward her felt… wrong.
Not like a lover.
More like a student who’d run into the discipline director.
Gu Nan Xi’s heart thudded uneasily. Did the original owner and the emperor really play such a bizarre game?
Noble Consort Tong stared at him, baffled, then tried again. “I wasn’t making it up. You used to love cats. Wasn’t it because a cat scratched Gu Nan Xi that you never kept cats again?”
The young sovereign looked almost amused. “You’re overthinking. The imperial physician told me my nose was always stuffed because of shed fur. So the Empress Dowager forbade me from keeping cats.”
Noble Consort Tong’s suspicion didn’t fade. “Then why do you reward others with pearls and jade, but gave Gu Nan Xi a crystal hairpin? Wasn’t it your way of telling her to stay pure and untouched?”
The young sovereign lunged and clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified. “What kind of wild filth are you saying?”
Then, still holding her like a ticking bomb, he turned to Gu Nan Xi and forced a flattering smile. “Noble Consort Tong is young and ignorant. Someone must have fooled her. That’s why she dared to be disrespectful to you.”
“Disrespectful?” Gu Nan Xi repeated, slow.
A noble consort being “disrespectful” to a sub-third-rank imperial patent… The scene was growing stranger by the breath.
The young sovereign mistook her tone for anger. With his free hand, he scratched Noble Consort Tong’s palm and threw frantic looks at her. Who said it? Who fed you this nonsense? Speak.
Noble Consort Tong yanked her gaze between the two of them, suspicion piling into paranoia.
Were they acting? Playing some kind of game?
Gu Nan Xi watched the sovereign’s panic and stiffness and felt an outrageous guess crawl up her spine.
She set her pastry down with deliberate care and looked straight at him. “Lover?”
Noble Consort Tong’s eyes widened. With a furious huff, she flung off the sovereign’s hand, gathered her skirts, and stormed out of Yao Chi Palace.
She was going to find the Empress Dowager and complain.
The young sovereign’s eyes followed her, but his body remained rooted, as if he’d been nailed to the floor.
Gu Nan Xi leaned back, calm as ever. “Lover, pour me tea. I ate too many pastries. I’m thirsty.”
The palace maids and eunuchs went pale, heads snapping up in shock—then immediately dropping again as if they’d seen a ghost.
The sovereign’s personal palace attendant, however, moved with practiced speed. In a blink he had tea prepared and placed into the sovereign’s hands like a lifeline.
The young sovereign made a pained face, took the teacup, and rinsed it with hot water like someone who’d done it a thousand times. Under his breath, he even recited, “Green tea can’t be steeped too long or you lose the freshness. Black tea needs boiling water or it turns sour…”
Then he grumbled, barely loud enough to hear, “Who would’ve thought that even after I became the emperor, I’d still be making tea for you?”
He poured Gu Nan Xi a full cup.
Gu Nan Xi drank it in one gulp. It tasted even more bitter than bitter melon.
Please, she thought, don’t let my guess be right.
She set the cup down and said mildly, “Lover, say something sweet.”
The young sovereign’s face turned bright red. He stood before her and begged in a small voice, “Sister Nan Xi… spare me.”
Gu Nan Xi’s mind went blank.
Sister Nan Xi.
What kind of “sister” was that supposed to be?
She poured herself another cup of tea, using the motion to steady herself. “Oh? What did you do wrong?”
The young sovereign peeked at her expression, cautious as a frightened animal. “I failed to manage Noble Consort, and she disturbed your peace?”
“And?” Gu Nan Xi asked.
He thought hard, then offered uncertainly, “Nothing else?”
Gu Nan Xi’s gaze sharpened. “Then what about the rumors in Capital about you and me?”
The young sovereign blinked, genuinely surprised. “Those rumors started from your household. I thought you had some plan, so I didn’t dare interfere. I only had people keep the palace under control so the rumors wouldn’t reach Noble Consort’s ears.”
“And as for Dragon-Martial Grand General…” He shook his head, half laughing. “That’s just street gossip adding oil to fire.”
Gu Nan Xi’s lips twitched into a smile.
The worry hanging in her chest finally died.