Chapter 692 - The Empress Regnant’s Enchanting Consort (24)
Due to the men’s event being beaten to death, all the court officials kneeled outside the palace gates to seek an audience.
Bai Weiwei was coldly indifferent. “If they wish to kneel, then let them kneel. If they kneel to death, then that will be the end of it.”
She was in the process of peeling crab meat for Feng Yunian.
When she came to this world plane, it happened to be in the dead of winter.
People went to fetch a basket of mitten crabs1 from Lotus Lake2.
It was said that crabs from other places were best in August and September, but in Lotus Lake, the crabs were the most delicious in winter.
Hearing that Feng Yunian liked to eat crabs, she happily peeled them for him.
It was snowing outside.
The snow’s light outlined the woman in the room as her slender, delicate fingers picked out the crab meat. Her striking features were soft and graceful.
Feng Yunian watched her, the expression in his eyes deep. But beneath those dark eyes was confusion and uneasiness.
Suddenly, a piece of crab meat was shoved into his mouth.
He froze as she smiled and gently asked: “Is it good?”
The crab meat in his mouth had no taste. Because of the poison testing, he had already lost his sense of taste.
Nothing that he ate tasted good.
But under her gentle and pampering smile, he felt that this piece of crab meat was tender and sweet.
His tongue had no sense of taste, but his heart did.
Bai Weiwei continued to keep her head lowered as she concentrated on peeling the crab meat, chatting with the petty system in the meantime.
“I said it’s not like that. If you fell on your face, then you fell. I also won’t dislike you after you become ugly, ah.”
The system continued its cold war.
“Even if you didn’t fall on your face, you’re still ugly, so you don’t need to be sad.”
The system felt that it couldn’t hold it in anymore. Bring over its Italian cannon3, so it could shoot its scum host to ashes.
“You’re ugly, and don’t I have the flourishing beauty that complements you? We’re a match made in heaven; you’re ugly with style, and I’m beautiful with class.”
The system pressed down its bomb-throwing hand. Bombs were too expensive, and it was reluctant to buy.
It couldn’t even afford to buy rice.
Bai Weiwei: “This plane is so relaxed. I only need to work hard and spoil, spoil, spoil, and I can get favorability. I don’t need to risk my life, ne.”
The system laughed strangely: “Ehehe…”
Bai Weiwei: Why do I have a bad feeling?
She stared blankly, then suddenly heard Feng Yunian’s voice. “Your Majesty, it’s snowing quite heavily outside. Is it really fine for the officials to kneel outside the palace?”
His voice was calm, but it had a trace of false pity and compassion4.
Bai Weiwei finished peeling the crab meat and placed it all on the place in front of him.
“It’s no concern if they kneel to death. My throne was built on spilled blood. If these people die, they will simply be replaced.”
She was an empress who successfully rebelled and directly founded a new dynasty.
She didn’t fear civil officials revolting.
She indifferently lifted her gaze. She was calm and confident, as though even a thousand troops and ten thousand horses could not shake her.
This sort of charm was simply breathtaking.
Feng Yunian once again felt his heart become uneasy, and he lowered his head.
He pushed down the restlessness in his heart bit by bit.
Excessively asking for affection would not lead to a right end.
Bai Weiwei seemed to honestly like him. How could he not know?
But how long could the empress’s affection last? Only power was eternal.
His eyes returned to their former indifference, but his expression softened. “I’m simply worried about Your Majesty.”
Bai Weiwei’s eyes brightened. Her previous self-confidence was swept away as she jumped up in excitement.
“You’re worried about me? I’m so happy I could kill a tiger with my bare hands.”
Feng Yunian felt his heart full of plots served as a disgusting foil to her passionate and sincere emotions.
He clenched his fingers; then, his lips hooked upwards. His eyes held a false smile. “Your Majesty, the empress’s command token does not belong in my hands5. Please take it back, ba.”
Bai Weiwei: “Does not belong in your hands? I immediately had people draft a decree. First, we will have you go through the procedure of being the head of the four consorts6 for two months. Then I will marry you, and you will become the emperor consort.”
1: 大闸蟹: Chinese mitten crabs, or Shanghai hairy crab.↩
2: 莲花湖: literally lotus flower + lake.↩
3: 意大利炮: some sort of reference to a line from the TV series “亮剑.” I think the exact line is something like “Second Battalion Commander, what about your fucking Italian cannon?!” It’s a line used when a situation is unbearable.↩
4: 悲天悯人: to bemoan the state of the universe and pity the fate of mankind.↩
5: 名不正, 言不顺: taken from “The Analects of Confucius.” Means that something (a title, degree, privilege, etc.) was illegitimately conferred.↩
6: 四妃之首: possibly based on the Song dynasty’s (970-1279) harem ranking, as out of all the other rankings listed on the Wiki page, most didn’t even have a fei ranking. The other possibility would be the Qing dynasty (1636-1911). Still, here, the fei ranking is further superseded by both the imperial noble consort and the noble consort rankings, which would imply a rather big jump in rankings (2) from fei to empress (/emperor consort). Considering that Bai Weiwei is trying to make Feng Yunian’s rise to be crowned emperor consort fairly smooth and uncontested, it wouldn’t make as much sense as the Song dynasty ranking, in which the four fei’s are directly below the empress/emperor.↩