Chapter 30: Imperial Edict

Editor: Asada

As soon as he heard the milky voice of YinYin, Wei Jue sat by his Dragon bed and didn’t bother about the little dumpling anymore. “Go and rest.”

The illiterate girl did not understand but she did not dare to ask her father for the fear of angering him, so she asked the system: “Uncle system, what is rest?”

The system said powerlessly: ” Sleep, it means that your father told you to go and sleep! “

The little dumpling reached out and grabbed the corners of her father’s clothing, looked up with her small face, reached out her hands towards his forehead. “Only if father sleeps too!”

Wei Jue twisted his eyebrows and thought hard, maybe he should ask Lin Yi to send this little girl out of the palace to be raised. Maybe he should only bring people into the palace to raise her. This was very annoying.

But the little dumpling saw her father like this, she very cleverly, pounced on the man’s face in a timely manner, when he was not noticing. The little dumpling gave a peck on dad’s face with a loud voice.

Like a mouse who stole cheese, she squinted her eyes contentedly and in a happy little voice she said, “This is a good night kiss. It’s expressing love to Daddy. YinYin loves Daddy!”

The little dumpling was very happy. She was holding her little fingers and was twirling them around. “I heard this once that before we go to bed at night, people who get a good night kiss will have a very happy life!”

The little dumpling knew that happiness meant a good life. She hoped that her father would have a good life. Her father was always frowning and unhappy. His face was always dark and everyone was afraid of him. But Yinyin thought that the long haired daddy was a bit pitiful, just like a lonely dog she has seen before.

The dog was big and black, it was the uncrowned king of the dogs and cats in that city. All the cats and dogs are afraid of it. Yinyin thought that it was very pitiful. No one wanted to play with it like her.

When Yinyin was sometimes picking up the bottle, she would grit her teeth and share the little food she had with it. She also gave him the name ‘Big Wang’.

At first, Big Wang didn’t want to play with her. He would also bark at her fiercely, but later he became willing to communicate with her. He would follow her around when she went out.

When Yinyin went out to pick up bottles, she would always be made fun of by other children who were coming back from school. Big Wang would protect her fiercely and bark at those children who bully her. As such the fierce and tall Big Wang, had become the most feared demon in the nearby community.

YinYin thought, quietly raising the corners of her mouth, her small face in the dim palace lamp appeared warm and soft, Wei Jue stretched out his hand, pulled on her face, “Go to sleep.”

The night was dark, and the palace was quiet again. The man who was lying on the bed smiled gently and talked to himself, “Is this a blessing?”

Born in the royal family, he was doomed to be ruthless and lonely for then lifetime. Even when he was young, he didn’t dare to think of the word happiness.

If that three-year-old doesn’t know how to worry about herself, she would at most stay here for another two days.

Mr. Xiao Yuzi opened the curtains, took the emperor’s Dragon Robe and waited. Last night, he was almost scared to death by the scene. The little princess ran into the emperor’s palace instead of sleeping.

It was the emperor who called for people to come in and carry the little princess out to sleep. At that time, the little princess had already fallen asleep. She was sleeping soundly. The palace maid carefully carried her out and did not dare to even breathe.

The little princess sneaked out from under their eyes. Fortunately, nothing happened. If she had slipped out of the Palace door, it would have been a big deal. She had been caught by Duan Fei and suffered a lot before. He would not want to be fired making way for another Chief Eunuch again.

The sky was still foggy, and the emperor didn’t have breakfast since the beginning of his reign. He rinsed his mouth and simply drank a cup of tea to wake him up, and then he had to go out.

The palace maids waiting outside were trembling in tension.

The little dumpling was still dozing off, her eyes could hardly open. When she saw the visitor standing in front of her, she was dazzled and looked around her. There was a little nasal sound in her milky voice: “Daddy!”

The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty had come to the court meeting ahead of time as usual and stood in a proper line because the emperor could not bear to see disordered and disordered things. The courtiers had already understood this and stood quietly. After a while, the little eunuch said loudly, “His Majesty has arrived!”

“Today’s meeting begins!”

After doing the customary greetings to the emperor, the courtiers raised their heads. The emperor was already sitting on the Dragon chair in the JinLuan hall. The courtiers eyes became wide. What was the matter with the dumpling in his arms?

The little dumpling slept late last night. This morning, she reluctantly got up to block her father’s way. She could easily trust her father so she can sleep at ease.

At this time, she was curled up in the emperor’s arms, her brow was wrinkled, her little claws were tightly holding her father’s lapel, her nose seemed to be sniffing, and she had fallen asleep peacefully.

Mr. Xiao Yuzi stood behind the emperor and saw all this clearly. He also saw the shocked faces of ministers. He covered his expressions and thoughts without any trace. God knew that he was almost scared to death by the emperor.

The little princess was just three years old, young and ignorant. The emperor brought her back from outside the palace. It was hard for her to not stick to the emperor. Once she woke up, she started to look for the emperor and asked him to hold her but the emperor also let her do that. As soon as she had arrived, she had brought such a big events with her.

Mr. Xiao Yuzi looked at the emperor’s tall and straight back and was silent, he finally came to terms with this situation. He was the master of the world(1) after all ….and he is the one who makes the rules, he has the final say.

From yesterday till today, he had experienced too many things. It was acceptable for the palace workers to have so many ups and downs in their hearts in a single night, but the ministers were not able to bear them so well.

The little dumpling was carried into the palace only yesterday. The news hadn’t got out of the palace. Even if there was a rumor, there was not enough details. Suddenly, seeing the emperor holding a child in his arms to the court, they were shocked.

The Prime Minister of the Left stepped forward, his white beard shaking violently, asked in a trembling voice, “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, who are you holding in your arms…?”

The man didn’t spoke but Mr. Xiao Yuzi was a clever man. He replied: “Your Excellency, the Prime minister, this is the Little Princess recognized by His Majesty. She is now three years old and has came to the palace for the first time so you might not recognize her. She’s very attached to the emperor.”

Then he took out an imperial edict. It was written by the Emperor last night. The eunuch read it out. His Magesty names the little princes as the heir. She will also be given the title of Son of Heaven(2), the Royal title, and will be called Wei Yinyin.

After reading the imperial edict, Mr. Xiao Yuzi looked down at the ministers stunned appearance. He smiled and folded up the imperial edict and retreated behind the emperor.

The Ministers asked, where was the princess from? What did the emperor mean when he carried her into the Jinluan hall?

They all wanted to ask, but the emperor was obviously not ready to talk about this topic, the Eunuch directly shouted: “If there is nothing else to be presented, please retire!”

Civil and military officials: “…”

Now that the matter had been settled, the ministers dared not question the emperor any more. The emperor’s golden words have been issued. How can it be changed now?

They were forced to proceed with all the official affairs to be reported but with question marks filling their heads. They saw the emperor holding the sleeping little girl in his arms and leaving the morning court. The officials couldn’t resist to look over and ponder about it. They saw a small hairy head buried in his Majesty’s arms and nothing else.

The ministers discussed the matter in a low voice.

“Master Shangshu, do you know what’s going on?”

The man in his forties or fifties, the Old Fox official minister, raised his eyebrows: “The Prime Minister doesn’t know. Why would I know?”

As soon as the Prime Minister was mentioned, several officials around him looked over. The white haired Prime Minister Zuo had tied his hands to his back. He was not listening to anyone and was lost in his own thoughts. One didn’t know what he was thinking.

“What do you think, Prime Minister?”

He was also the first one to ask the emperor about the little princess and got the reply as the imperial edict.

The old Prime Minister’s face was tense and he stepped calmly, “I don’t know.”

He pointed to a clear road: “If you want to know this, you may ask Lord Lin. Yesterday, Lord Lin followed the emperor in disguise out of the palace.”

All of a sudden everyone said in unison, “The Prime Minister is wise.”

Lin Yi didn’t take part in the morning court. He sometimes didn’t come to the court for three or four days straight. He often had to run errands for the emperor. Everyone was used to it.

So when Lord Lin appeared at the gate of the palace, he was stopped.

Several people’s carriages were parked outside the palace gate to find out what had happened.

Since the emperor ascended the throne, he was not interested in women and was cold hearted. None of the concubines in the harem were close to him, which also led to the absence of heirs. Then a cute little princess came out of nowhere. It seems that the emperor was very fond of her, and the ministers were very curious.

Who could have imagined that the emperor would hold the baby before it was born?

Lin Yi was surrounded by the group of old ministers. He wondered, why didn’t these old men go back to their mansions?

He was asked to wait a second, “Lord Lin, please tell us carefully, what’s the matter with the princess? How could a Princess appear out of the blue?”

Lin Yi was a little surprised. The emperor moved so fast that he had made a decree?

“It’s more than that. This morning, the emperor held the little princess and went to court. The little princess was sleeping in the emperor’s arms the whole time. I was not able to see her.”

Lin Yi was even more surprised than the ministers, and his eyes widened in horror, “Are you sure?”

Lin Yi could guarantee that there were few literary and martial artists in the Manchu Dynasty who knew the emperor better than him. He had walked besides the emperor since he was a child. From the former bodyguard to the present commander of the royal guards, he accompanied the emperor through many ups and downs. What kind of character did the emperor had?

“Are you kidding? How can His Majesty carry the little princess to the court? “

After getting a positive reply, Lin was not able to get back to reality for a long time, and was surrounded by questions about the origin of the little princess. The Emperor hadn’t opened his mouth about these things. Lord Lin dared not to say. He said that if he was recognized by the emperor to have gossiped. He would have to met his fate or will have to flee for his life.

The ministers were not reconciled. Later, Lin Yi was invited to have a drink in WangYueLou. Next day, he went to XiYuanLou to have a drink. When he was completely drunk, he accidentally slipped out a few rumors. Then the origin of the little dumpling was revealed.(T/N: Both are names of restaurants or brothels)

It was said that all the people in the capital knew that the emperor brought in a little princess, who was only three years old, who was brought from the street. They heard that she was a little beggar, born thin and small, and was washed up to be very beautiful and lovely. The emperor saw that the little princess was pleasing to the eye, and took her back to the palace to keep.

Some people doubted that the emperor was not such a caring and carefree person, and would he bring in a child for no reason?

Lord Lin, who was drunk, said with a slurred way, “The little princess was ragged, like a little cat, holding the emperor’s thigh, like a heel bug, so the emperor brought her back.”

Later it was known that the emperor liked to be held by the thigh and flattered, so some people dared to follow suit and were beaten and thrown out of the palace….

Manchu Dynasty’s literary and martial artists: “…”

It was the temperament of the little princess. The emperor didn’t care about other people holding his thigh!