Chapter 119
Lin Qingyu considered this matter for several months. During this period of time, news that the emperor wanted to make Prime Minister Lin empress spread among the civil and military officials. Everyone’s reaction was different but generally speaking, the military officials turned silent upon hearing it while the civil officials cried.
The military officials only knew that Prime Minister Lin was General Gu’s widow and that he was about to remarry after being a widow for a year and a half. Oh, you say this is General Gu’s own last wish? And that Prime Minister Lin also didn’t want to remarry? Oh, that’s all right then.
The civil servants wondered if the emperor’s mental disease had relapsed, wanting to actually appoint a man as empress; and not just any man, but one who’d been widowed twice. But obviously, His Majesty wasn’t insane, otherwise, how could he have made such a harsh and decisive judgement regarding the governor of Liang Zhou, Qian Xiyuan’s corruption case? Not only did he have Qian Xiyuan beheaded but he also made an example of him, ordering all officials above the fourth rank in the capital to go to the execution ground to watch the sentence being carried out.
So the problem must be Lin Qingyu. Relying on his appearance, it was not enough that this person seduced Gu Fuzhou back then, he even dared to covet the position of empress! Such outrageous behavior!
One courageous old minister forced his way into the General’s Mansion, pointed his finger at Lin Qingyu and cursed at him. Unexpectedly, Lin Qingyu, instead of getting angry, smiled and invited the old man into the mansion. He served him tea and said: “To be honest, I do not wish to remarry. Unfortunately, going against an Imperial decree means death. Why don’t you go and dissuade the emperor for me? ”
The old minister: “…”
Therefore, a group of veteran minister came crying to Qinzheng Hall. “Your Majesty, you must not! A male wife goes against the natural order. A male empress would bring disaster upon our country and the people! Insisting upon having your own way, you doom the Xiao family line!”
Jiang Xing raised his head from the mountain of scrolls and raised his eyebrows. “Are you done?”
The old minister was so agitated that his whole face went flushed. He added, “…You doom the country, the nation and its people!”
Jiang Xing didn’t get angry. You could even say he was gentle and polite, “Once you’ve finished what you want to say, go back quickly. I’m busy.”
The old minister shouted, voice now hoarse, “Your Majesty!”
Jiang Xing said again, “That Zhen will make Prime Minister Lin empress is not up for discussion with you. I am only informing you all. Come and have a drink with me when you have time.”
The old minister covered his chest with his hand and almost vomited blood: “… Your Majesty!!!”
“Also, the Empress Dowager has already agreed to this matter. She is getting along in years. Do not bother her.”
The old ministers: “…”
Wu Youyuan, far in the Northwest, learning of this, cut off the arm of the Xixia prince to congratulate the empress. Back then, Gu Fuzhou had also been about his age when he took the life of Xixia’s crown prince and made a name for himself on the battlefield.
——The young man’s epic of youthful righteous ardor has just begun.
The Dayu’s first male empress was also the first male empress in history. How exactly they were to form this marriage was a problem. The crowning of an empress was inherently complex and complicated. The officials of the Ministry of Rites had to formulate a new sequence of processes. This dragged on for another half year, until the old ministers couldn’t help but feel numb to the matter. In the end, Lin Qingyu, who didn’t really wish to remarry, was “forced” to nod in assent.
In the second year of the emperor’s reign, the emperor wed his empress. It was announced to every corner of the nation and there was universal rejoicing.
Lin Qingyu once again put on a wedding dress for Jiang Xing. Counting the previous three times, this was the fourth time. Marrying the emperor was different from marrying any others. Jiang Xing knew that he didn’t like complicated things, so he specially chose a simple and solemn wedding dress for him the last time they were married. But this time, he needed to wear the dress embroidered with the pair of phoenixes flying together. The Shangfu Bureau had spent half a year working on it. He had to don on his phoenix coronet specially fashioned for a man. On his forehead, a phoenix feather huadian had to be painted. He must sit on a palanquin with eight carriers and be carried from the imperial palace’s main gate to within the palace.
His crowning as empress was held in Hua’e Tower. It was held with great strength and impetus, displaying the bearing of royalty. The first snow had just melted, but the upper floor of Hua’e Tower was filled with flowers. But no matter how many flowers competed to be most beautiful, when the emperor and empress walk up the steps, hand in hand, everything was relegated to being the foil to set off their beauty.
Apart from the sound of the bead curtains clinking on the phoenix crown, Lin Qingyu could only hear the beating of his own heart. He stood beside Jiang Xing and held Jiang Xing’s hand. He could feel Jiang Xing’s hands damp with sweat.
…On the surface, he looked so calm and composed, with the bearing proper for a monarch of a country. So many people stared at Jiang Xing, looking at him as though he were divinity. Only Lin Qingyu knew that Jiang Xing was still the same boy whose palms sweated when he was nervous.
Like this, he accompanied him, walking step by step to the highest spot.
Hundreds of officials paid homage. Heaven and earth celebrated together.
From this day on, winter had another meaning to Lin Qingyu.
It was night time. The flowers were beautiful, the moon was full and the happy evening was bitterly short.
No one dared to pour the emperor wine. Having learned from his past mistake, this time, Jiang Xing came to Fengyi Palace completely sober, not a drop of wine touched his lips. Lin Qingyu had already put on a bridal veil after the ceremony proclaiming him as empress. He was now sitting quietly on their bridal bed.
The empress’ wedding dress was dignified and heavy. His body was covered tightly, only a pair of white jade-like hands were exposed; on his left ring finger was a ring engraved with a dragon pattern.
Jiang Xing breathed a sigh of relief. Lin Qingyu had been obsessed with cultivating Gu for many days. He’d been worried he would come in to see that Lin Qingyu had sent away all the officials and was silently hatching poisonous lizard eggs.
So far so good.
He twisted the ring engraved with the phoenix feather around his finger. When the official reminded him that it was time to remove the bridal veil, he raised his hand. He was about to lift away the bridal veil when he suddenly stopped, as though he didn’t want to disturb the beauty. The official called out again and only then did he regain his composure and he reached out his hand again.
The playful bridal veil was disturbed and a beautiful face like peaches and plums gradually appeared behind veil’s tassels. They locked eyes, Jiang Xing was momentarily dazed, as though drunk. He was distracted by his bright eyes, dazzled by his beauty.
They’ve been married three times. They’ve dated for three years and they’ve shared the same bed three hundred and six times. But at this moment, Lin Qingyu still made his heart flutter, bashful and at a loss.
The official reminded him that it was time to drink the wine, but he gave no response. Lin Qingyu said, “You are all dismissed.”
Hearing the sound of the door closing, Jiang Xing finally came back to his senses. Seeing Lin Qingyu’s teasing expression, he immediately tried to regain some dignity, putting on a look as though he had seen all to be seen. He said with a smile, “Beauty, you are my Laopo once again.”
Lin Qingyu raised his eyebrows. The huadian on his forehead also moved slightly. “What does laopo mean in your hometown?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Jiang Xing was a little surprised, “Laopo means wife.”
Lin Qingyu made the proper inferences. “Then that means, Laogong means husband.”
Jiang Xing smiled and said, “Exactly.”
Lin Qingyu nodded. He picked up the wine pot, poured two cups of wine and handed one of them to Jiang Xing. “Then, let’s share a drink, Laogong.”
Being called “Laogong” by this classical beauty in a wedding dress, Jiang Xing felt he must have already lived a full life. He took the wine cup and wrapping his left hand round Lin Qingyu’s right, drank the wine in one gulp.
Taking off the bridal veil, drinking wine together… they did everything a normal wedded couple should do, missing not a single step. After that, only consummating their marriage remained.
Jiang Xing was in no hurry. He wanted to admire this beauty in red for a little longer. He stood in front of Lin Qingyu, raised his chin with his hand, looked at Lin Qingyu seriously, and suddenly sighed, “What I wouldn’t give for a camera right now.”
Lin Qingyu asked, “What is a camera?”
Jiang Xing sat down beside Lin Qingyu, and began to teach him the basic principles of a camera.
Lin Qingyu listened for a while then smiled lightly and said, “It’s our third wedding night, are you sure you want to be talking about this?”
“Weren’t you the one who asked?”
“You can tell me later.” Lin Qingyu said, “If we don’t do this now, it’s going to be dawn.”
Under the light of the red candles, Jiang Xing’s eyes were so very bright. “But Baobei’s so beautiful, I don’t know where to start.”
Lin Qingyu grabbed his hand and put it on a certain part of his body. With a slight smile on the corner of his lips, “From here.”
Jiang Xing’s breathing tightened. He said with a smile, “Then I shall listen to my wife.”
Jiang Xing pushed Lin Qingyu to fall back on the swath of red.
With the strong feeling of their deep love, they locked eyes on each other. Lin Qingyu tried to raise his hand to touch the corner of Jiang Xing’s eye. “You look so good…”
“I look good?”
“En.” Lin Qingyu said softly, “You on top of me, dripping with sweat, you look so good.”
Jiang Xing paused for a moment, his eyes filled with emotions. His voice was so hoarse, he could barely speak, “You’re going to be the death of me.”
…
Waking up in the middle of the night, Lin Qingyu turned over. Before, he even opened his eyes, he heard a voice, “Qingyu, I’m here.”
Lin Qingyu slowly opened his eyes. He didn’t realize that there was no longer anyone beside him. He saw Jiang Xing sitting at the table and turned over a report in his hand. “Why did you wake up suddenly?”
Lin Qingyu blinked his eyes, making certain he hadn’t seen wrong. “What are you doing?”
Jiang Xing was full of resentment. “Reading these reports. I finally understand that my salted fish dreams went completely up in flames the moment I became emperor. From now on, I will be a donkey plodding forward with the country on my back.”
Lin Qingyu: “…You might be donkey but there’s no need for you to read reports on your wedding night, is there?”
“True.” Jiang Xing said, pained, “But I was so nervous and anxious these past few days that I couldn’t do anything. I’ve left a lot of things undone.”
Lin Qingyu wondered, “Why were you nervous and anxious?”
Jiang Xing said calmly, “You make me nervous. I was going to marry you again.”
Lin Qingyu laughed. “It’s not the first time we’ve gotten married. There was nothing to be nervous about.”
“Marrying you, no matter how many times I do it, I will definitely still be nervous. And this time, I was going to marry you with my own body, so of course the feeling is different.”
Lin Qingyu’s heart throbbed and his chest felt slightly hot. This person’s casual words could so easily make him blush and his heart skip a beat, like a young man discovering romance for the fist time. He was so capable.
“Then go ahead and finish those up. Once you’re done, come to bed.”
Jiang Xing sighed, “Alright. Go to sleep first, don’t wait up for me.”
Lin Qingyu couldn’t smell the other’s scent and feel the other’s warmth beside him. He still wasn’t used to it and so he asked, “Can you come and read those in bed?”
The corner of Jiang Xing’s lips ticked up. “If you want your husband to coax you to sleep, you can just say it.”
So Lin Qingyu said directly, “I want my husband to coax me to sleep.”
Jiang Xing went to bed with the scroll in his arms. Half lying down against the pillow, he took Lin Qingyu into his arms. “Go to sleep, Baobaei, we have to go to Ci’an Palace to pay our respects tomorrow morning.”
Lin Qingyu nodded, found a comfortable position in Jiang Xing’s arms and closed his eyes once again.
As the night darkened, Jiang Xing became more and more sleepy. He struggled to finish his reading. He then turned his head and saw the mountain of reports piled up beside him and couldn’t help feeling sad; he was still working overtime on his wedding night. Even donkeys weren’t put to work this hard —how did he fall to this level!?
The person in his arms moved slightly in his sleep. Jiang Xing looked down at him.
Lin Qingyu was pillowed against his abdomen, breathing lightly against his stomach; his long lashes casting shadows on his cheeks.
He quickly had an answer.
Because there was one thing that was more important than being salted fish.
His wish was for Lin Qingyu to be unrestrained, to be able to do what he wanted to do; even to be able to do bad things without the slightest scruple. He hoped that Lin Qingyu could freely pursue his ideals and live out the brightest and most dazzling existence.
He didn’t want Lin Qingyu to be well-behaved and sensible. He didn’t want Lin Qingyu to suppress himself for the so-called good of the country.
He wanted Lin Qingyu to be willful and happy forever.
For this reason, he was willing to be a salted fish that was not so idle.
