Although Tian Qi managed to momentarily put to rest his suspicions, once back at the palace, Ji Heng recalled Ji Zheng’s reaction when he saw him in the theatre. He obviously looked guilty. Ji Heng was worried about this, but if people were to insist there was something going on between his brother and Tian Qi, he would not believe it.

Regardless of Tian Qi’s and Ji Zheng’s ident.i.ties, Ji Heng was confident in his charm as a man. Since Tian Qi already admitted to liking men, he must like men with a masculine appearance. His younger brother is more beautiful than a woman and has a warm temper, hence cannot be considered very masculine.

… what was it with these thoughts? Ji Heng was shocked for a moment, as he found his thoughts in disarray. He looked up at Tian Qi. This small pervert was calm, but his lips were in a straight line, revealing that he was feeling aggrieved. His pace seemed to be too fast for the little pervert, his forehead covered in sweat. Some of the sweat gathered at the corner of his eyes. Because he did not wipe it off in time, his eyes became itchy. Whilst finally rubbing his eyes, the drops of sweat slipped on his eyelashes, scattering into tiny little water pearls, like the crystal dew hanging on thick pine branches. As his eyelids twitched, the dewdrops reflected the sunlight, making them look like tears. This sight made him think of raindrops on a pear blossom, betraying his desire to wipe them off.

raindrops on a pear blossom – idiom = tear-stained face of a beauty

Whilst being distracted by his thoughts, Ji Heng raised his finger to Tian Qi’s face. Realising what he was about to do, he quickly retracted his hand uncomfortably and complained “What is going on again? Am I so terrible? You’re so scared of me and don’t even dare to wipe your sweat?”

Tian Qi hurriedly grabbed her handkerchief and wiped her face, not daring to lift her face to look at Ji Heng.

Ji Heng looked at the handkerchief she was using and suddenly remember another matter “What about the handkerchief I gave you the other day?”

“Eh?” Tian Qi’s mind was blank.

Ji Heng fixed his sight on him as his eyes narrowed “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do. I lent you my handkerchief a couple of days ago and you haven’t returned it. It’s an imperial object and you still dare to hide it.”

Tian Qi knew she couldn’t get out of this one, so she answered with a bitter face “To answer Your Majesty, your handkerchief was dirtied by this servant, so this servant didn’t dare to return such a tarnished item to sully the Emperor’s body.” What a stingy Emperor, not forgetting even about one little handkerchief. When he gave her the handkerchief, it was natural to a.s.sume the item was rewarded to her, and now he has the nerve to ask to be returned. Besides, she actually lost the handkerchief. She couldn’t find it even after looking for a long time. She was really distressed over it, as it was a good quality item that she could sell for a good price.

Tian Qi, however, was not aware that the reason the Emperor asked for the item to be returned was because Ji Heng thought Tian Qi wanted to keep his handkerchief, a personal belonging. Thinking of the little pervert holding his handkerchief whilst having lewd thoughts made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. If it was a beautiful woman it would have been fine, but the person was an eunuch. When all is said and done, before his very eyes, the eunuch still decided to act shameless. Ji Heng snorted and decided it’s better he doesn’t bother with the matter anymore. He has to keep in mind his ident.i.ty as an Emperor and not scramble over a handkerchief with an eunuch. That would be extremely outrageous.

Ji Heng spent his afternoon in a daze. He seemed to have caught a glimpse of a mysterious emotion in him, but as soon as he thought he was getting close to understanding it, he couldn’t grasp its meaning.

The next day, Ji Heng called Ji Zheng into the Yang Xin Palace. Although the rumours were fake, his younger brother was already sixteen (16) years old and it was time for him to get a wife. There were women in the family who saved him from conflicts by advising him to lead an idle life without stirring any trouble. Ji Heng was aware of it. An elder brother was like a father, and even though he was only twenty three (23) years old, his mind was that of a thirty two (32) years old.

Whilst bestowing a wife to Ji Zheng was an easy matter, it was hard to persuade him to accept it. Xiao w.a.n.gYe was a good looking man with a good family background.

Last year, someone from Beijing compiled a list with the most beautiful men and Ji Zheng ranked first. This made him famous, so many girls wanted to have a peek at him. DaQi dynasty was more open than the previous dynasties. Since the founding Emperor was a woman, the customs have allowed women to become more lively and bold. Some officials who were happy to pick Ji Zheng as their son-in-law would let their daughters wear a disguise and try to get close to him in an attempt to ascertain whether they are attracted to each other. According to unofficial statistics, his popularity is just under 100%.

However, the royal family had many concerns when it comes to marriage. Needless to say, the bride’s family background has to be worthy of the son-in-law, but it couldn"t be too powerful either. That way he couldn"t use the wife’s parents" home to build up too much power. Even if Ji Heng doesn’t believe that Ji Zheng would do that. They also have to take into consideration the girl’s reputation, her temperament. Once he considered every aspect about them, he’d be left with only 2-3 people. Another matter to be considered was the other party’s motive. It would be best if the girl loved Ji Zheng, rather than use him for his riches.

In fact, the biggest problem was that Ji Zheng did not want to be married.

Ji Heng didn’t take long to discover this. For example, he told him about a certain official’s daughter, beautiful, talented and with a good personality. A good choice. Ji Zheng followed on and praised the beauty, finding her very suitable to be by the side of a king. However, he cannot bear to let other people suffer. Another example, Ji Heng told Ji Zheng it was about time for him to get married. Ji Zheng asked why he left the Central Palace (ZhongGong – the Empress’ Palace) empty for so many years. The Emperor couldn"t be left without an Empress.

The Emperor began to question whether it might be true that Ah Zheng does not like women. Teenagers were hotblooded, how could they be without a woman for even one day? How could they control their desire when they offered themselves to them? Hence he faintly sized up this younger brother of his and asked “The two beauties zhenbestowed to you a few days ago were not suited to your tastes?”

This was a good question. As the only witness, Tian Qi felt speechless for Ji Zheng.

Ji Zheng’s reply was very slow “Elder brother Emperor ‘s favour, don’t dare to decline. Chen Di is only rotten gra.s.s in the middle of the mud, does not dare to sully the ZhaoYang jade.”

Chen Di – chen = subject; di = younger brother

Although the words were polite, Tian Qi could hear the meaning behind them. Ji Zheng was dissatisfied: you may not have been ashamed to give me your women, but I couldn"t help but panic.

Tian Qi secretly looked at Ji Heng and, as expected, found that the Emperor was not in a good mood. She was worried about Ji Zheng. Xiao w.a.n.gYe was a good person and treated her well. But even if she wanted to help him, she was powerless.

Ji Heng’s gaze drooped. He didn’t say anything, rather letting Tian Qi hand him several reports to read.

Holding the reports, Tian Qi saw the signature at the top of the first page was “Director of the Minister of Rights, Sun CongRui” and felt the corner of her lips raise.

All of a sudden, Ji Zheng looked rough. He put the reports on the table and, when he looked up, his face was no longer calm, rather somewhat impatient, and he stood up “Older brother Emperor, Chen Di has been wronged!”

Ji Heng looked at him without saying a word.

Tian Qi saw the situation took a turn for the worse, and a.s.sumed that Sun CongRui smeared w.a.n.gYe‘s reputation. She just didn’t know what bad things he could have accused him of.

Ji Zheng had already guessed the cause of the matter and tried to explain “That day, it was Zheng ShaoFeng who opened his mouth without thinking and tried to make a joke. Unexpectedly, Sun Fan took his words at face value without realising it wasn’t true. After that, he even went back and spread that nonsense, causing never-ending trouble. Although Chen Di is usually idle, but I’ve always lived clean and honest. I’m not into the shady business of raising men as pets.”

Ji Heng knew a little about Zheng ShaoFeng’s behaviour, so he could put two (2) and two (2) together. It was just that Sun Fan’s reputation has always been good, so how come this was handled so badly he made him lose face? It could clearly be seen he didn’t live up to the rumours.

Although the matter about the joke was not true, Tian Qi clearly understood they had to mix some lies with the truth.

Ji Heng thought about it, then looked at Tian Qi and saw that he was unperturbed, as if nothing happened.

So Ji Heng did not say anything to Ji Zheng, but asked Tian Qi “What do you think about this?”

Unexpectedly, Tian Qi did not answer his question, instead she asked foolishly “What does the Emperor mean?”

Ji Heng glanced at Ji Zheng, bluntly pointed to the reports and stated “You have heard the discussion just now betweenzhen and Ning w.a.n.g. Which family’s daughter do you think is suited to become w.a.n.gFei?”

… Eh? How was this any of her business?

Tian Qi felt that the Emperor was making light of this. w.a.n.gYe‘s marriage was a major event (politically and socially), how could he ask an eunuch’s opinion? Wasn’t this looking down on people? The Emperor must have felt animosity towards w.a.n.gYe, but why should the two brothers’ fight involve a small eunuch as her? She cannot afford to offend any of these great masters.

Tian Qi lifted her head to look at Ji Heng, then at Ji Zheng, and found that the latter was staring at her with an earnest expression, as if she was the one who decided whom he had to marry.

Tian Qi was not stupid enough to really partic.i.p.ate in the discussion between these two brothers. So she smiled and said “w.a.n.gYe is a peerless talent, just like the Emperor. After thinking for a while, this slave cannot say who is fit to stand next to w.a.n.gYe. ” Flattering both men with one sentence wasn’t an offence. It was important to try to smooth things over. Tian Qi’s flattering skills didn’t fall short from the government’s first a.s.sistant.

Ji Zheng was stunned for a moment, then he curled his lips in a soft smile and looked at Ji Heng “Elder brother Emperor gained such a good servant. Chen Di‘s home has only clumsy and slow-witted servants. If there was even one half as clever, I would have been content.” As he finished speaking, he turned to Tian Qi and deliberately winked at him.

If this was someone else, being praised so much by Ji Zheng, Ji Heng would have bestowed them to Ji Zheng. However, Tian Qi was out of question.

Ji Heng saw there was nothing to be done about Tian Qi, neither would Ji Zheng change his mind about the matter. He found that the two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were quite slippery, and it was irritating to bother with them, so he sent them away.

After thinking for a while, he felt disgusted, and sent someone to call Tian Qi back.

On the other side, as Tian Qi and Ji Zheng walked out of Yang Xin Palace together, she glanced left and right to make sure no one was around, then softly said “w.a.n.gYe needs not think too much about this.”

Ji Zheng laughed. “Thank you for your concern, I indeed thought too much.”

Tian Qi comforted him “In fact, the Emperor isn’t targeting you, he merely” having thought about it, she gloomily said “He believes I want to seduce you…”

“Cough, cough, cough” Ji Zheng covered his mouth and coughed, yet his smile was brighter. As he was laughing, he noticed Tian Qi’s face turned red. He was also a little embarra.s.sed, his earlobes stained with a shade of red. Ji Zheng pursed his lips and hesitated for a while, then finally said “Tian Qi, actually, there is one thing I have always wanted to ask you.”

“What does w.a.n.gYe want to ask? This little one must certainly try to answer w.a.n.gYe‘s question.”

“You –“

Ji Zheng only managed to say one word, when a small eunuch rushed towards them and interrupted “Tian Qi, The Emperor is calling you back.”

Tian Qi stopped. “I understand, thank you.” Then she turned her head to look at Ji Zheng “w.a.n.gYe, please ask quickly.”

Ji Zheng shook his head “Forget it, just go back, ba?”

ba – modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise = ok? / right?

As Tian Qi ran back to Yang Xin Palace, Ji Zheng stood still and watched his silhouette slowly disappear in the distance. Then he turned around and left the palace.