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墨書 Inktalez
That night, the He Family left Liu Fangyi behind and took the bedding to sleep with Qing Wu.
Liu Fangyi had no complaints and kept reminding them, "Qing Wu is still inexperienced. The palace can be dangerous; you must pay attention to what she needs to be careful about."
After the He Family promised one by one, Liu Fangyi still felt uneasy.
He looked at his wife and daughter, worried to the point that his hair seemed to turn gray. Finally, he lifted his robe and sat down heavily on a stool, saying, "How about we don't sleep tonight? I can talk to the girl about what to pay attention to as an official. I don't want her to go in blind and be plotted against without knowing."
Seeing his worried expression, the He Family laughed and pushed him toward the door.
"Our daughter is so clever that even Mr. Zheng praises her repeatedly. She will definitely be able to adapt. If you don't sleep, the child still needs to! Go on, don't disturb our conversation."
When his wife spoke, Liu Fangyi had no choice but to turn back three times, calling out, "Girl, don't be afraid! General Qin is not bad!"
"I know!"
With Qing Wu's shout, the door slammed shut.
Liu Fangyi sighed and returned to his own room with a heavy heart.
After the He Family closed the door, they turned around to tidy up the bedding. Once they finished changing clothes and extinguished the lamp, mother and daughter lay down together in bed.
For a while, there was silence. Finally, it was the He Family who sighed first: "Fortunately, His Majesty is kind and has allowed you to return home every tenth day. This way, we can see each other often, and I can feel more at ease."
What the He Family referred to was something Young Master Yun had told them before leaving.
At that time, unexpectedly for everyone in Liu Residence, he mentioned a detail that was not included in the imperial decree. That is, Qing Wu could take breaks like ordinary officials every ten days. If the last day of the month was nine, she could also return home.
In fact, when Huo Yun'ai announced at the Floral Banquet that Qing Wu would be appointed as a female official and walked out with her, they had discussed this detail.
They agreed that after Qing Wu got familiar with her duties during her first time in the palace, she would send someone to inform Liu Residence that she could return home every ten days. This made it seem more natural.
Clearly, after noticing that Liu Residence had very low trust in him, the Young Emperor wanted to restore some of his image in front of everyone. Therefore, he abandoned his original plan and told them this information early on.
This is indeed very effective.
Since hearing that he could often meet with Qing Wu, everyone at Liu Residence visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Anfeng even praised the Emperor's wisdom in front of Huo Yun'ai.
Huo Yun'ai did not expect the effect to be so good.
Seeing that the Liu Family was very pleased with this decision, he felt quite happy inside but didn't know how to express it. He just stared at Qing Wu, his eyes and brows filled with smiles.
Later, Liu Anzhi and Liu An Ting approached him one on each side to talk, and only then did he reluctantly shift his gaze away from Qing Wu.
Now, hearing his mother praise Huo Yun'ai for this decision again, Qing Wu held back for a moment but couldn't resist leaning against He Family and said, "Mother, the Emperor is just allowing me to come back often; why are you all so happy?"
He Family turned slightly, using the faint moonlight filtering in from outside to look at the girl beside them.
Her features were picturesque, delicate and graceful. She was also well-behaved.
He Family gently embraced her and said, "You don't understand. Normally, once a woman enters the palace, she belongs to the Emperor. Unless she reaches a certain age and is released, she cannot leave the palace. Now that the Emperor allows you to return home frequently, it shows that he regards you as a proper official rather than a member of the harem. That is a significant difference."
After her mother's roundabout explanation, Qing Wu did not fully understand.
Huo Yun'ai made this decision because she did not want her to miss her family too much.
What does this have to do with being "the Emperor's person" or "a proper official"?
She voiced her doubts. However, He Family just smiled and refused to elaborate further.
"You still don’t understand. However, the current Emperor has reached the age to marry; in the future, there will surely be many concubines by his side. You should just focus on your duties as an official and not meddle in anything else or overstep your bounds."
After hearing "the Emperor will surely have many concubines," Qing Wu felt a bit uncomfortable. But upon thinking about it, he was an emperor; that was only natural. Since she regarded him as family, she should be happy for him.
So she thought about "being family means being happy for him" dozens of times until she felt a bit more at ease and then fell asleep next to He Family.
On the morning of the first day, before dawn, Qing Wu was called up by the He Family to get dressed and groomed.
Today was the day she would enter the palace for the first time.
Previously, Uncle Yu had mentioned that he would come to pick up Qing Wu at dawn. Given this, she needed to be prepared in advance.
Mama Huang personally came to style Qing Wu's hair. The He Family continued to remind her of some details from the side.
After Huo Yun'ai left, Qing Wu discussed some details about the Floral Banquet with her mother and brothers. With Zheng Ning back, they also brought up this matter, and everyone realized that His Majesty wanted Qing Wu to enter the palace to protect her.
Due to the incident regarding "Eleven Returns Home," everyone had already changed their views on the emperor. Hearing this news added a bit more fondness for the young ruler.
However, although the He Family claimed not to care, some concerns still lingered in their hearts.
During a break in her grooming, her mother kept reminding her: "Daughter, once you enter the palace, you must be very cautious. Serving the emperor is like accompanying a tiger; any mistake could become a fatal weakness."
Looking at her exceptionally beautiful daughter, she thought about how the emperor was at an age full of vigor and couldn't help but feel worried. She quickly added, "Remember, you must not get too close to His Majesty."
Qing Wu glanced at her mother and saw the worry etched on her face, so she quickly responded softly.
Not long after hastily finishing breakfast, someone came to report that the carriage from the palace had arrived.
The He Family immediately turned red-eyed; they hurriedly turned away and discreetly wiped their tears with handkerchiefs.
Her father and three brothers continuously comforted their mother.
Liu Fangyi was patting his wife's back while complaining, "Yesterday I tried to talk with our girl properly, but you wouldn't allow it. Now that we are not fully prepared and you're worried, it's too late."
As everyone was getting ready to send Qing Wu off, unexpectedly, Uncle Yu entered the courtyard to personally welcome her.
Liu Fangyi quickly said, "We can just send our daughter off shortly; how can we trouble Eunuch Yu?"
Uncle Yu smiled and replied, "Young Lady Liu is still young; His Majesty specifically instructed us to take good care of her. Naturally, we must follow His Majesty's wishes." He then asked, "May I ask who the young lady plans to bring along to serve her?"
He Family did not expect that Qing Wu could bring someone along.
Uncle Yu said, "You can bring one person, and only one. No more than that."
According to He Family, it would be best if both Danqing and Peach Silk could enter the palace to serve. After all, they had been taking care of Qing Wu since she was little and were already familiar with her. Now hearing that Uncle Yu would only allow one person to accompany her, after much thought, they ultimately chose Dou Mama.
Although Dou Mama was a bit strict and sometimes seemed unapproachable, she genuinely cared for Qing Wu. Her heart was solely focused on Qing Wu, never thinking of anyone else.
With her accompanying, there was peace of mind.
When Dou Mama heard this, she did not say much. She went back to her room to pack for a moment and only took a small bundle before following along.
When Qing Wu arrived, Huo Yun'ai was still discussing state affairs with the officials.
Qing Wu began to consider what she should do during this time.
Although she had entered the palace several times before, only a few trusted individuals knew about it due to the cover provided by Uncle Yu and Qin Shuying. The ordinary Maids were unaware.
Now entering the palace again as a "female official," it was naturally different from before. The Maids needed to get acquainted, and daily affairs had to be familiarized with; everything was quite trivial.
Qing Wu asked Uncle Yu, since there was nothing pressing, should she meet the Maids in the palace first?
Uncle Yu dared not make such decisions lightly.
If the young lady became tired and the emperor held him accountable, that would be troublesome.
After thinking it over, Uncle Yu led Qing Wu to Huo Yun'ai's sleeping quarters. "Miss, why don't you wait here for a moment?"
Previously, when Qing Wu came, many times she had been in this sleeping quarters. It was familiar, and moreover, this place was not easily accessible to others, preventing too many idle people from disturbing her.
The items in the sleeping quarters were almost all arranged by Uncle Yu himself. Others could not move them casually.
However, now that Qing Wu was inside, Uncle Yu felt at ease.
He left Qing Wu alone inside and had Dou Mama guard the door while he went to wait at the entrance of Huo Yun'ai's study for the emperor.
Qing Wu sat there for a while, having nothing to do, so she went to the table by the window. She intended to find a book to read, but unexpectedly, she caught sight of a half-folded piece of paper with a few words on it.
Vaguely, it seemed to be all about the word "mist."
Curious, Qing Wu thought that she shouldn't casually move someone else's belongings. However, since Huo Yun'ai had already left things in her sleeping quarters without guarding them, she felt free to look through them, as long as she returned everything afterward. Unable to resist, she pulled out two pages and examined them closely.
As a result, the pages were densely filled with the word "mist"—her name.
"Sometimes I miss you so much that I can't sleep. I get up and write your name; it makes my heart feel a little better."
The voice of a young man suddenly rang in her ears, startling her and almost causing her to fall. The paper in her hands slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground.
Huo Yun'ai ignored the papers and reached out to embrace her, pulling her into his arms. Seeing her panicked expression, he couldn't help but chuckle softly and placed a light kiss on her forehead.
"Now that I can see you often, there's no need to continue writing these words."
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