Chongfei Manual pt. 1

60.2

Early next morning, Zhao Jie woke up, washed his face, and rinsed his mouth. He was without any ailments as usual.

Soon after he had breakfast, as he had expected, he received Empress Chen's imperial decree that ordered him to enter the palace immediately.

He changed into a light green robe decorated with a bamboo pattern. Instead of riding a horse, he entered the palace in carriage that had a green canopy and arrived at Zhao Yang Hall's entrance. Before he even entered the hall, he could feel the deep gloomy atmosphere that was inside. He curved his lips and walked inside in a few steps. He saw Empress Chen sitting on a rosewood arhat couch. She was expressionlessly drinking tea.

Seeing that he had entered, Empress Chen put down the lid of her lotus flower pattern teacup. She looked at him without changing her expression, “You can sit down."

Zhao Jie removed his cloak and sat down across from her.

She had the palace servants bring out the items. The table was soon filled with silver longevity charms, silver waist accessories, happiness necklaces and other similar items... She deliberately asked Zhao Jie, "Last month, Duke Zhen's younger paternal cousin Duke Ding's had his first grandson. The child will be one month old in a few days. This empress was thinking about what to give the child as our first meeting gift. Help me select a gift. See which gift would be better."

The meaning in her words was obvious. Duke Ding's son was twenty-one years old this year and he already had a son. Zhao Jie was twenty-two years old and he didn't even have a wife. How could Empress Chen not feel anxious?

Zhao Jie smiled and bluntly said, "Imperial mother, just directly say the words that you want to say.”

Empress Chen glared at him. She held her teacup as she went straight to the point, "I sent you two women last night. What were you unsatisfied with? Why did you have to drive them out of your residence?"

He just knew that it was because of this. He looked up at Empress Chen's questioning eyes, "Imperial mother didn't ask about my opinion before stuffing two women at me. In your heart, is your imperial son the type of person that's so hungry that he'll eat anything indiscriminately?"

Zhao Jie not only rejecting her accusation, but also counter attacked with his own accusation. Empress Chen was stifled. Her tone wasn't as unreasonable as before when she said, "When did I have such a thought? It was only that you don't have any woman at your side and I was worried, so I though of this method."

Last night, the palace had been locked. Liu Jiang and Ye Mei stood outside the entire night with only thin clothing. When they entered the palace the next morning, they were so cold that their entire bodies were shivering. They were also scared that Empress Chen would punish them, so they didn't go back to their rooms. Early in the morning, they kowtowed and begged for mercy outside of Zhao Yang Hall. They cried until Empress Chen's heart softened. This was when Empress Chen decided to call Zhao Jie into the palace so she could carefully interrogate him.

What was he thinking? Did he actually have any interest towards women?

Seeing that he wasn't saying anything, Empress Chen was too impatient and couldn't resist adding, "You're not young anymore. If you don't marry soon, how much long are you planning on dragging this out? Dan Yang has waited five to six years for you. She's already waited until she's an old maid now. You're not anxious, but Duke Zhen and your maternal aunt are very anxious. What exactly are you thinking? What are you unsatisfied about with Dan Yang?"

(T/N: Just in case it was too long ago, Duke Zhen and Zhao Jie's maternal aunt are Gao Dan Yang's parents.)

Zhao Jie calmly said, "I only have sibling affection for her. There isn’t any romantic affection.