Chapter 262 – She Looks Like Ye Zhen! (2)

“This official’s daughter shall take her leave.” Ye Zhen’s eyes touched with a flash of ridicule, she walked out of the library pagoda with her head lowered.

No one knew what was going through her mind at the moment, but one thing was certain: The way things stood now, she wouldn’t have to worry about what he would do to her in the future.

“Third Miss Lu?” Eunuch Fu, who was keeping watch outside, was a little surprised. Why is Third Miss Lu the first to leave tonight?

“Eunuch Fu.” Ye Zhen reluctantly smiled.

Before Eunuch Fu could ask anything, Mo Rongzhan’s stony voice summoned him inside. Ye Zhen just faintly smiled while Eunuch Fu nodded as a reply and heeded his master’s call.

In hindsight, she had no regret over her behaviour just then. She was never the one to dilly-dally, always brusque and decisive. Her move just then was not without consequences. For one, this could mark as her first and final visit to the library pagoda ever, and she may not be summoned to the palace as often either.

As she slowly reached the library gates, her only regret was perhaps losing the chance to read those books again. But she knew she would be just fine without them. After all, she had gained quite a bit of knowledge in the past two days, that in itself was a rare feat.

The skies had darkened, the night curfew was in place. She couldn’t leave the palace and could only find shelter at the Cining Palace. As such, her footsteps traced the path to the empress dowager’s abode.

♚

Inside the library pagoda, the temperatures had turned frigid. Despite that, Eunuch Fu was wreathed with a layer of sweat on his forehead. His anxious heart thumped loudly, any louder and he feared it would pop right out. The ever calm retainer had been tossed the hottest potato ever: his master’s question was the proverbial double-edged knife.

“You’ve seen Ye Zhen, haven’t you?” Mo Rongzhan did not turn to look at him, which made the subordinate even more burdened to answer the question that he surmised would follow the first one.

“Replying to the emperor, this servant has seen her twice.” Eunuch Fu replied in a low voice, bracing for the next question but reality proved one could never be fully prepared when facing his unpredictable master.

Mo Rongzhan’s lips formed a faint smile but never reached his eyes. His face was frosty as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. “Does Lu Yaoyao look like Ye Zhen?”

What?! Eunuch Fu’s jaw dropped in shock, eyes wide to the limit. How could the emperor know …

Seeing Eunuch Fu’s reaction, Mo Rongzhan’s eyes turned even colder. “Bring Zhen a portrait of Ye Zhen.”

Eunuch Fu did not dare ask him how he had discovered the likeness between Lu Yaoyao and Ye Zhen for he knew that as long as the latter was involved it was the emperor’s greatest taboo.

However, where could he find a portrait of Ye Zhen? At that time, when the late Qin Wang Fei’s residence was reduced to ashes by a huge fire, everything related to her was incinerated. He could only go to the Imperial Household Department to look for it. If he could not find one, he could only paint a portrait of her.

Mo Rongzhan coldly glanced at his cloak in a corner, grabbed it, and stormed out.

Eunuch Fu quickly took the cloak in his hand and did not dare to ask any questions. He immediately went to the Imperial Household Department and searched for what felt like an eternity. Yet, he found not a portrait of Ye Zhen. On the verge of giving up, resigning to make one himself, he was just about to leave when he remembered the Ye Family. It was customary for the palace to keep a record of its noble families, and it was there that he found what he was looking for.

Grabbing the portrait, Eunuch Fu hastily delivered it to the Palace of Heavenly Purity.

As Mo Rongzhan unfolded the portrait on the table a full portrait of a young girl, about twelve to thirteen years old, came into view. Dressed in a pink dress with picturesque features, lily-white skin, she bore at least 70% similarities to today’s Lu Yaoyao.

While the girl on the canvas was naturally composed and dignified, the girl who caught his fancy was clever and naїve. It was indeed a stark contrast.

As he gazed at the girl in pink, he was peeved. The dignity and elegance that she was exuding, despite being an inanimate object, was nothing but a sham in his eyes. He refused to believe it and was ever more incensed. It turns out that his original match is like this.

He sneered. If she had not insisted on marrying him, Ye Yisong would not have threatened him. He also knew that after their marriage, Ye Zhen had seldom contacted the Ye Family. Perhaps this was the sole reason he did not want her to die after he returned to the capital and became the emperor. Of course, he would not let her become his empress or even enter his inner palace. He was reconciled, he would never give the Ye Family any chance to rise again.

If she had not burned the palace of Qin Wang, she might have still been alive now. Since she did not cherish her own life, why should others care about hers?

“Burn this portrait.” Mo Rongzhan ordered in a chilly voice.

Eunuch Fu did not dare hesitate and immediately took the source of misery away. “Your Majesty, this servant shall burn the portrait right away.”

Mo Rongzhan’s eyes were frostier than frost. No one dared to mention Ye Zhen before him, not even his imperial mother. Yet, Lu Yaoyao … She was not only audacious but unafraid of death even!

It was cheap of him to dismiss Teacher Shan from the Academy for Women. But he held no remorse. He wanted to unroot any and every connection of that despicable girl he had once married. And the situation right now was evidence that he had made the right move. How else would Lu Yaoyao know she resembled Ye Zhen if not for the teacher?! He was absolutely certain now that it was that very woman who had disclosed such a crucial piece of information. It was perhaps an attempt to incite grievance and sympathy for the deceased, or the teacher was using Lu Yaoyao to attain her revenge. But in the end, he had nipped it all in the bud.

In fact, if he hadn’t insisted on Lu Yaoyao entering the palace as his imperial concubine, she certainly would not have revealed that she and Ye Zhen resembled each other. In order to refuse him, she really had thrown caution to the wind.

[T/N: throw caution to the wind- meaning doing something without fear]

Soon, head bowed, Eunuch Fu cautiously entered and said, “Your Majesty, the portrait has been burned.”

“Where is Lu Yaoyao?” Mo Rongzhan asked.

“It seems that … She went to the Cining Palace,” Eunuch Fu said, curious as to what really happened in the library pagoda and how Lu Yaoyao made the emperor suddenly want to see the portrait of Ye Zhen.

Mo Rongzhan’s eyes suffused with indifference. He didn’t want to ask her anymore. Since she didn’t want to enter the palace, he wouldn’t force her. It’s not like he had to have her!

In all this, the girl had indeed displayed her cleverness. She had accurately deduced the extent of his loathing for Ye Zhen- he would certainly not want to see anyone who even remotely resembled her what’s more her who was a spitting image.