Gu Tingye was still in low spirits because he had done something he didn"t want to. Minglan then comforted him by telling him lots of funny stories. She was not good at telling jokes, so she could only tell him the embarra.s.sing things she had done in her childhood. Only at midnight did they stop chatting and rest. The next day, Minglan naturally got up late. Before she could wake up naturally, someone from the royal palace had already come to announce the imperial edict.

Danju rushed into the room anxiously. After hearing what had happened, Minglan was wide awake in fear right away. Then she climbed up from the bed and started to get dressed. If she had missed receiving imperial edict because of getting up late, she would definitely become the laughingstock of the whole capital city. Luckily, Steward Hao who worked in the outer yard was a smart guy. After he had served the tea and fine snacks and flattered the person who had come to announce the edict for a long while, Minglan finally arrived in a pearl crown and embroidered vest.

The eunuch was announcing the edict which had been issued by the Empress. Minglan who was still in a daze could only tell that she was being praised as a gentle and virtuous woman and would be given lots of things.

After the person finished announcing the edict, Minglan gave her thanks to the infinite royal graciousness. Before she had time to look at the boxes which were covered with yellow silks, she needed to offer bribes first by slipping a pure-colored silk bag into the eunuch"s arms. Inside the bag was a pair of heavy red amber bracelets inlaid with gold that she had taken out in a rush just now. She had never worn those because she found them too flashy.

The eunuch was around thirty years old, looking honest with his chubby figure. After he opened the silk bag skillfully and took a glance, a satisfied look crossed his eyes. Then he bowed to Minglan and said, “Madam, I am so flattered. I don"t deserve this.”

“It"s just a small object I found very pretty. Please don"t look down on it, Master.” Minglan smiled bashfully. This was the first time she made contact with an eunuch, so she was very careful with her words.

“Madam, that"s so kind of you. I"m not worthy of being called "Master". Just call me Tong.” The eunuch finally gave a beaming smile and put the silk bag in his sleeves.

Hearing that, Minglan knew that she hadn"t called him wrongly and got a bit relieved. In fact, some eunuchs truly didn"t like to be called eunuchs directly.

Then, Minglan said with a tenderer smile, “Thanks for coming here early in the morning, Master Tong. Have you had breakfast yet? May I ask you to have a meal here? Our cook has made porridge with the rice which has just been sent from south. It"s good to have it with the sauced venison and pickles. What do you say, Master?”

The elegant young madam said in a gentle tone with a beaming smile. Besides, she didn"t show any flattery as if she was asking her friend or family to have breakfast together. The caring tone sounded sincere.

Hearing that, Eunuch Tong had a good impression of Minglan right away. Then he said with a joyful look, “I"d love to stay. Unluckily for me, I have to return to the Royal Palace to report my work right now. I"m afraid I can not stay today. Our empress always praises you.”

Minglan said bashfully, “I am so flattered. What have I done to deserve the generous rewards?” After Minglan had uttered fawning words for a long while, she finally got to the point.

She didn"t mean to abase herself. It had been three months since she got married. She had only dealt with the affairs in her own mansion and never given financial aid to the poor, or donated to the temple to wish the country the best, or taken delight in attending the social activities among the n.o.ble madams. During her free time, she would either sleep or check the account book. Never had she thought of the royal family except for expressing her grat.i.tude to them when being rewarded.

Minglan, a lazy girl with little ambition, was suddenly rewarded generously for no reason. So she couldn"t help but wonder why.

Eunuch Tong was sensible enough to feel her doubt. Then he said with a meaningful smile, “Madam, please don"t worry. Although you don"t always socialize with others, your virtuous deeds have been widely spread. Yesterday General Gu was praised for handling affairs calmly and skillfully by His Majesty. Also, His Majesty said that Madam Gu must be capable of dealing with the family affairs so that General Gu could rest a.s.sured when taking care of government affairs.”

Minglan looked at Eunuch Tong with a respectful look in her eyes, thinking, "What a nice speech!– So I have stayed at home the whole time and my reputation is still widely spread?! It is like saying the NATO is a peace organization."

After the guards of honor which came with Eunuch Tong had left, Minglan walked back to her room laden with anxiety. Then she asked Danju to open the agilawood boxes inlaid with gold which had been awarded to her. There were rosy red, water blue, jade green and smoky gray tribute silks inside, ten bolts in each color, looking dazzling and delicate.

As Danju checked the silks, she turned around cheerfully and said, “The color is so bright. The embroidery is so beautiful. When it is not so hot, I"ll ask the master in the House of Knitting and Weaving to make some clothes with these silks. My lady, when we go back, Old Madam Sheng will be so happy to see you wearing the clothes made with those silks.”

Danju was so joyful that she even forgot to call Minglan Madam.

There was also a jade ruyi inlaid with gold threads which was transparent without any flaws. Not only that, the most precious thing was a set of sixteen jade bowls which were in water blue color as if they were carved by a whole piece of jade. Each one was only three inches wide, with nice countryside scenery patterns carved on the rims. Once being held on the open palm, the bowl would give people a sense of coolness and give off bright light that dazzled people"s eyes. Such precious things might be worth a couple of towns together.

Xiaotao looked at the jade bowls in a daze from far away. After all, if she broke one of the bowls, she could never afford to pay for it even if she sold herself. So she stood ten steps away from the bowls and stared at them, swallowing.

“You useless girl!” Danju glared at Xiaotao and put the jade bowls back on the silk mat in the box carefully with trembling fingers. Then she let out a sigh of relief and called Bisi and Qinsang to take the silks to the storeroom. Meanwhile, Danju locked the jade ruyi and the bowls in the closet.

Minglan only felt restless as if a cat was scratching her heart.

If a commander offered his soldiers ammunition for no reason, it was very possible that he wanted them to charge toward the enemy. If a boss suddenly gave rewards to his subordinates, he must want them to work harder. If a man treated a woman nicely without any reason, it was likely that he felt guilty.

Then what about the royal family? There was still some inner story she didn"t know?

“Xiaotao!” Minglan suddenly stood up and raised her voice, “Go invite Sir Gongsun.”

…

Minglan didn"t know if Gongsun Baishi would come at this hour.

Even since he had completely given up on the imperial exam, he decided to be a hermit who was only concerned about the country at home. Since he was a hermit, he needed to act like one. For example, he always got up late in the morning, leaned on the head of the bed to read, recited poems with his hair dishevelled and wrote things at midnight. He adored the famous scholars in the Wei and Jin Dynasty like Ji Kang. However, he didn"t have enough courage to be a streaker or sing in front of others" graves. The craziest thing he had done was practicing cursive calligraphy on the walls in his own yard.

The fact that he could not do anything to pay respects to his idols made him very painful.