Chapter 41 : You Are Not Her

This is embarrassing.

The imperial physician immediately knelt down to apologize, and just then someone from the palace arrived.

Song Ruoer merely smiled faintly and asked the imperial physician to go and prepare medicine for Zhou.

The imperial physician wiped the sweat from his brow and hurried away.

Song Ruoer and Yue Shaozhi headed to the front courtyard to meet the palace maid.

“Your Highness, Regent, and Princess, His Majesty has issued an order for the Princess to enter the palace.”

Song Ruoer looked at Yue Shaozhi in confusion.

Yue Shaozhi asked the palace servant, “What is this about?”

The palace servant, clearly troubled, replied, “Reporting to the Regent, His Majesty has locked himself in Tongtian Tower and insists on seeing the Princess.”

Yue Shaozhi frowned and said to Song Ruoer, “I’ll go with you.”

Hearing that, Song Ruoer felt a sense of relief.

It was her first summons to the palace, and she was quite curious why the young emperor wanted to see her.

Outside the door, the palace servant called out, “Your Majesty, the Princess is here. Will you open the door?”

Song Ruoer heard footsteps from within, and soon the door opened a crack.

A figure peeked out from behind the door to look at her.

“She’s not the one! She’s not my aunt!”

The young emperor slammed the door shut in a rage, startling Song Ruoer.

What’s with this kid?

The palace servant said anxiously, “Your Majesty, didn’t you say you wanted to see the Regent Princess? She’s here.”

“No! No! You stupid servant, she’s not the one I wanted to see!”

The palace servant wiped the sweat from his forehead. He didn’t dare to look at Yue Shaozhi, so he could only bow his head and continue to plead, “Your Majesty, the Princess is here. Please don’t make a scene and come out.”

“No! Go away! I want to see Aunt Huang!”

By now, Song Ruoer understood that the “Aunt” the young emperor was referring to was Song Ying.

Yue Shaozhi narrowed his eyes and called out sternly, “Your Majesty.”

The young emperor instinctively trembled at the sound of Yue Shaozhi’s voice.

He slowly opened the door again, just a crack, peeking at Yue Shaozhi’s intimidating presence, then shrank back and murmured, “Uncle…”

Yue Shaozhi said, “Your Majesty, there is a limit to how much nonsense should be tolerated.”

The little emperor was clearly afraid of him. Hearing that, he lowered his head like a child who had been caught misbehaving and muttered, “I just don’t want to see her…”

He wanted to see Song Ying. He was lonely. Song Ying used to bring him fun little things, tell him stories about the outside world. He was tired of endless study and gossip behind his back.

He just wanted to talk to Song Ying, she was the only one in the palace who ever truly listened to him.

The atmosphere became awkward. Song Ruoer glanced at Yue Shaozhi, then at the little emperor hiding behind the door crack.

She clenched her fists quietly, took a small step forward, and spoke gently: “Your Majesty, may I come in?”

The little emperor glared at her. “No, you’re not her. I only recognize Song Ying. She is my aunt and my older sister.”

He had gotten used to calling Song Ying ” Aunt,” and in his tantrum had completely forgotten she’d been replaced.

When he saw Song Ruoer, he realized he had called the wrong person but he was the emperor. Even if he was wrong, it had to be someone else’s fault.

It was the servants’ fault for not understanding him properly.

A flash of coldness passed through Yue Shaozhi’s eyes. But then someone gently grabbed his hand. He looked down and saw Song Ruoer shaking her head at him.

Then, Song Ruoer walked toward the door and said, “Your Majesty, would you like to see Sister Ying? Why don’t I go get her for you right now?”

The door opened again, this time revealing half of the young emperor’s face. He looked at Song Ruoer suspiciously. “Really?”

Song Ruoer nodded. “If Your Majesty doesn’t believe me, you can send someone to go with me.”

The little emperor secretly glanced at Yue Shaozhi in the distance, then quickly shut the door again. A voice came from inside: “Fubao, go with the Princess to fetch Sister.”

Fubao: “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Yu Liang whispered into Yue Shaozhi’s ear, “Miss Song has injured her foot.”

Yue Shaozhi was slightly surprised, but in the end, he didn’t stop Song Ruoer from going to see Song Ying.

Song Ying was applying a newly developed ointment to her injured ankle and said to Faer, “If this ointment works well, everyone will have a bottle in the future.”

Faer was full of confidence. “Miss, if you made it, it’ll definitely work!”

Just then, Xiaomi ran in, panting. “Miss, this is bad the Regent Princess is here, and there are people from the palace too.”

Both Song Ying and Faer were stunned.

“Faer, help me over.”

Song Ruoer finally entered Xiaohanju. As she waited, she looked around. Although this courtyard wasn’t as grand as the Marquis’s mansion, it was neatly decorated, and every detail reflected the owner’s care and thought.

The courtyard was filled with Ji Yuefang flowers. She and Zhou both liked this flower, but in the Marquis’s mansion, only Song Ying had them planted in her courtyard.

This flower wasn’t rare. Song Ruoer had once planted a few in her own courtyard, but when Song Jinzhuo found out, he scolded her harshly.

It was then she and Zhou realized, Song Jinzhuo was still thinking about Han.

Hearing footsteps, Song Ruoer came back to her senses and saw Song Ying slowly walking toward her with Faer’s support.

“Sister, what happened to you?” Song Ruoer stepped forward.

Song Ying quickly stopped her. “Don’t. The Princess is now in delicate condition, and I’m a cripple at the moment. I’d better not affect the health of the baby in your belly.”

Song Ruoer pursed her lips a few times. “Sister, I’m actually fine.”

Song Ying shook her head and turned to ask the palace servant Fubao, “Eunuch Fubao, what does His Majesty want?”

Fubao replied, “Miss Song, His Majesty misses you and wishes to see you.”

Song Ying pointed at her foot. “Eunuch, as you can see, I’m injured and can’t go. Please let His Majesty know I’ll visit him once my foot has healed.”

Fubao looked troubled. “Miss Song, His Majesty is in a terrible mood right now. He refuses to leave the Tongtian Pavilion unless he sees you. You see…”

Song Ruoer glanced at Fubao, and he immediately fell silent.

“Sister, focus on recovering first. Eunuch, let’s go.”

Fubao looked at Song Ying hopefully, but she only lowered her head and stared at her injured foot.

At last, Fubao sighed and followed Song Ruoer out.

As Faer helped Song Ying back to her room, she asked worriedly, “Miss, will the young emperor be angry if you don’t go?”

Song Ying replied, “No. Whoever is the Regent Princess can go and coax him.”

Faer pouted. “But from what I can see, His Majesty really likes you. Every time he sees you, it’s like he’s seeing his own mother.”

Faer felt sorry for the little emperor. He was born to a palace maid. Though the Empress Dowager treated him well, there was no real blood tie. And now, he was under the tight control of the regent… being emperor wasn’t easy.

Seeing the pity in Faer’s eyes, Song Ying sighed. “This is the royal family…”

If that child could learn a thing or two from Yue Shaozhi, maybe he could reclaim a bit of authority in the future. But all he knew how to do was throw tantrums… that was going to be difficult.

When the little emperor heard that Song Ruoer hadn’t brought Song Ying back, he was furious and shouted through the door, “Liar! I’ll never trust you again!”

Fubao quickly explained, “Your Majesty, it’s not that the Princess didn’t bring Miss Song. Miss Song hurt her foot and can’t come.”

“Sister is injured?”

Song Ruoer took a straw tiger out from her sleeve and said gently, “Your Majesty, don’t be angry. Although my sister couldn’t come, she asked me to bring you a gift.”