Chapter 25: Huang AoTian, The Prime Minister
After everyone had calmed down a bit, Xing asked the steward to bring medicines and Xing got the medicines and squatted beside her father and started treating his hands that was wounded while hitting her Uncle Feiye.
This world is so partial, Feiye thought, I am the one who got hit and he is the one being treated.
AoTian was sitting in the chair and was trying to put his brain around everything that happened that day.
It was an usual day with him dealing with the court officials in the morning and supervising the Emperor if he had done his work and later he had to delegate duties for the ’Imperial Spring Banquet’. Even though the Emperor wanted a simple banquet with the officials, AoTian planned for the grander banquet with all the noble families attending. The last time this banquet was conducted was before the previous Emperor became sick. Usually this banquet was a means to expand the inner palace and noble families used this banquet to get marriage alliances for their daughters. Ever since the news spread about the banquet , the nobles were happy and the crisis that was about to happen was diverted as everyone wanted to prepare their daughters to enter the inner palace.
The Emperor’s approval! Well! Rijun has to take care of it!
So overall today was a great day and AoTian was happy and he picked up Rijun on his way back home.
I have a good life, he thought, my son is diligent in everything he does and is not frivolous like other young master’s and bring me no troubles although I don’t mind if he was a bit open. He used to be a sunny child but because he listened to all those rumours around him, he had become gloomy and meticulous. The only one he opens up is to that Emperor as both are peas in a pod. If only he gets a kind girl for him to marry, my worries would lessen. I and tried hard to assure him but he is still not accepting me completely. Well! As long as he is happy, I will be happy too. And that other one too, he got serious about being the Emperor now for some reason and if only he takes women, he will be settled too.
Then he suddenly thought of his second brother whom he haven’t met for a while, even though they were neighbours.So he came to his Manor along with his son and that’s when he saw that girl.
He had never spared a second glance at any woman other than Mingling and that girl was different. In the light of the setting sun, her hair looked spectacular like a rising sun itself. She seemed to be holding something and she was too close with Shengli..? I’ve never seen him with a woman before!
He was shocked to see that familiar magpies embroidered on her clothes. He still has those silk handkerchiefs Mingling would give him all embroidered with magpies saying they are a symbol of good fortune and he could identify his Mingling’s unique embroidery anywhere. As he stepped closer, he realised the clothes were the same ones he gave MingLing years back. It was the first expensive gift MingLing accepted from him and he had searched high and low to choose this dress. But why is she wearing it? Also the thing she was holding, is it really the same phoenix hairpin he gave MingLing? And she is in my brother’s house? Brother is acting weird, he knows something.. Wait.. She told him she was his daughter right? Right? And why do I have no doubts in what she is saying? I’ve always known something was not right when Ming Ling disappeared that year, just before I wrote the imperial court exams. I searched high and low for her but to no avail and all this time, she was hiding from me? She even hid our child from me? Oh MingLing! Why did you do that?
AoTian looked down at the girl crouching beside him and gently applying medicine to his hands. Her thick eyelashes was covering her eyes and he could see that she was very beautiful and serene. How could I’d have made such a beautiful person? Then realisation hit him and he felt bad about the way he previously acted.
I acted like a hooligan! She would have thought I am a bad man! Oh No! What should I do? I appeared to only care about her mother and didn’t even say a word to her. And she is calling my brother Uncle but calls me Lord Huang.Shouldn’t I be called ’father’? She must have gotten scared of me seeing me act that way. She even said she hated me! After all women are gentle right? I should let her know she shouldn’t be scared of me or hate me...