CH 137.1

Chapter 137.1 – Protection

The warmth between Qi Yang and Lu Qipei did not last long. Lu Qipei did not even get to wait for Qi Yang to let go, as the atmosphere that gradually grew warmer was broken by Zhi Ting’s hasty arrival.

Normally, Zhi Ting would stay away when she saw the two being intimate, but she was obviously quite anxious today, and urgently said without bothering about anything else. “Your Highness, this is bad, there seems to be something wrong in the palace. Your Highness, please enter the palace with the Prince Consort as soon as possible!”

The current monarch was the Little Emperor1. Although he was intelligent, he had never really had any contact with government affairs. He was taught by the Crown Prince for several months, but he only knew a little bit. Therefore, he had not intervened in any recent government affairs, and just let Qi Yang discuss it with a few auxiliary officials. He only listened silently from the side to learn, and asked Qi Yang in private if there’s anything he didn’t understand.

Just as she promised to the late Crown Prince that day, Qi Yang did her best for the Little Emperor. When she suddenly heard that something was happening in the palace and that the Little Emperor called for her urgently, she couldn’t care about anything else. She lifted the handkerchief that was covering her eyes and was about to leave.

Lu Qipei grabbed her and said helplessly, “Wait, Your Highness. You need to tidy up before entering the palace.”

Hearing this, Qi Yang lowered her head and finally remembered that she had just woken up, and that Lu Qipei had come to bring her hot water to wash up earlier. Right now, she couldn’t help feeling a bit awkward, and didn’t know how to react while holding the cold handkerchief.

Seeing this, Lu Qipei’s gaze softened slightly, and her previous caution gradually disappeared. She pushed Qi Yang to the dressing table and squeezed her handkerchief to clean Qi Yang’s face, while instructing Zhi Ting who had come to deliver a message to apply her makeup.

Qi Yang sat dumbfounded, letting the two of them do whatever they wanted without calling the maid that usually attended to her. The two of them quickly tidied her up, and Lu Qipei also prepared a plain long dress for her. After urging her to change clothes, she quickly walked back to the study and changed into clothes for going out. In just a quarter of an hour, she was all ready to go out.

When leaving the mansion, Lu Qipei lightly tied a pouch around Qi Yang’s waist, warning her gently, “There are so much work in the palace, I don’t know if you eat on time. There are some dried meat in this pouch, if you miss your meal and get hungry, eat some to tide your hunger.”

This was a habit of many officials in the court, especially those who work in the Court of Judicial Review like Lu Qipei. Once they start getting busy, work would appear to be endless, so it was necessary to bring some food with them. In the past, it was usually Qi Yang who would hang a pouch on Lu Qipei’s waist and remind her like this, but today it was the other way around… Lu Qipei did it pretty smoothly, but Qi Yang couldn’t help but give her another glance.

It was just a glance, but Lu Qipei seemed to understand, and pointed to her waist with a smile, “I also have one.”

The Old Emperor had passed away, and the Little Emperor was still young. Without someone in charge in the palace, it was inevitable that there would be more trouble. So after the previous Emperor passed away, Lu Qipei also placed a lot of attention to the patrols in the palace.

Before the new leader of the royal guards was chosen, she almost handled all the royal guard affairs herself. Coupled with occasionally showing up at the Court of Judicial Review, Lu Qipei’s days lately had not been easy at all.

Qi Yang looked at the two similar pouches, and her heart suddenly softened. She nodded lightly, the coldness between her eyebrows gradually melting away, and she finally revealed her soft side to her beloved. “That’s good, you also need to take care of your body.”

Lu Qipei could naturally sense the change in Qi Yang’s attitude this morning, and couldn’t help showing a surprised expression. She thought that Qi Yang would be angry for a longer time, but her attitude relaxed again in just a short period of time.

The corner of her lips couldn’t help curving into a smile that was more brilliant than Spring, and she said, “Alright, let’s go to the palace now.”

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There would always be someone who would destroy the good mood that rarely appeared. As soon as Lu Qipei and Qi Yang entered Xuanshi Hall, they saw an aggressive King Wei, the calm Three Teachers, and the Little Emperor who was somewhat at a loss.

When the Little Emperor saw Qi Yang and Lu Qipei enter the palace, his eyes lit up immediately. He called out, “Auntie, Uncle!”

Qi Yang and Lu Qipei first saluted the Little Emperor, then looked at King Wei who obviously had ill intentions before asking, “Your Majesty urgently summoned me and my Prince Consort to the palace, I wonder why?”

With Qi Yang and Lu Qipei here, the Little Emperor seemed a bit more confident and no longer had that earlier helpless look. He looked at Qi Yang with a bit of embarrassment and explained in a low voice, “Aunt has done a lot of work for this nephew, and just returned to the mansion yesterday to rest. I… I really did not want to disturb you, but Uncle King Wei came to the palace today and aggressively demanded to interrogate Uncle, so I had no choice but to summon Aunt and Uncle to the palace.”

When she heard the word “interrogate”, Qi Yang’s heart instantly skipped a bit. It was true that there were too many secrets about Lu Qipei that no one could know – her relationship with Xie Yuan, her secret female identity, and the case of Chaoyang Tower, which was almost settled. If any of them were exposed, it would be a huge matter.

But even though her heart was restless, Qi Yang didn’t show any sign of it on the surface. She just looked at King Wei with a trace of ridicule on her face, “Oh? Then, I would like to hear what my prince consort has done that made Royal Brother Wei come here to question him?”

Stabbed by her sharp gaze, King Wei’s strong momentum seemed two weaken quite a bit.

But King Wei instantly remembered what he was going to reveal today and couldn’t help feeling reassured. He looked at Qi Yang with a hint of pity and said, “Qi Yang, don’t be hardheaded. Brother is here today also for your own good.”

Qi Yang didn’t want to pay him any attention and turned to the Little Emperor, saying, “I don’t know what the Prince Consort did. Please enlighten me, Your Majesty.”

The Little Emperor looked at Qi Yang then at King Wei, then coughed lightly, also a bit biased. “Uncle King Wei suddenly entered the palace today and accused Prince Consort Lu of having ulterior motives, and that he’s a spy from Rong State.” After a slight pause, he added in a deep voice, “It’s also related to the Chaoyang Tower assassination case.”

Translator notes:

We’re getting close to the end! There’s only a few more chapters for the “main” part of the story, but don’t worry, we still have ten extra chapters afterwards to wrap things up and see more Lu Qipei x Qi Yang shenanigans.