Chapter 125: Do You Have No Ambition At All?

"I forbid you from taking the stage to perform!"

Qin Zhiyi rejected her without a second thought. "Don't you even think about getting up there to wreak havoc on others!"

"Why?" Shen Fuyu raised an eyebrow. "Are you jealous, Your Majesty? Do you want to hide me away so no one else can see me?"

Qin Zhiyi: "...Stop being so narcissistic."

"I think if we ever go to war, I should just send you to the front lines. You might be able to talk the enemy commander to death with that mouth of yours!"

Tsk!

Shen Fuyu pouted. "I don't want to! I want to perform on stage!"

"Don't even dream of it!" Qin Zhiyi refused sternly. "I have a responsibility to all the people under heaven!"

He had suffered enough from hearing her play the pipa, the suona, and singing all by himself. He could not allow others to be subjected to music of such hellish quality; it was his instinct as an emperor to protect his subjects.

Shen Fuyu was incredibly disappointed.

She wanted to perform! He was so stingy!

In the modern era, everyone loved people who were proactive! After all, if someone took the initiative to go first, they wouldn't have to be forced into signing up for a performance.

It was impossible to reason with ancient people!

By the time the Mid-Autumn banquet began, Shen Fuyu was green with envy toward Cui Yingsu.

As a sister about to be brought into the harem, why was Cui Yingsu allowed to perform while she wasn't? This was targeted! It was unfair!

"These dances are the same every year; there's no novelty at all. Boring, so boring!"

There were many new faces in the palace. The elderly Prince Ping and his young wife, who was in her twenties, sat in a very prominent position.

The young princess consort was clearly dissatisfied with Prince Ping’s constant ogling of the beautiful women, and while she looked unhappy, she dared not show it openly.

"Your Ladyship, that looks truly strange—an old man with a young wife," Green Tea whispered in Shen Fuyu’s ear.

"Prince Ping is the late Emperor’s own brother," Shen Fuyu glanced at her. "But he has no grand ambitions; he’s just a man of leisure. His young wife is a second marriage, taken from a family of modest standing."

A glimmer seemed to flash in Green Tea's eyes.

Shen Fuyu rolled her eyes at her and lowered her voice: "Do you have absolutely no ambition at all?"

Prince Ping was already an old man! Couldn't she have enough ambition to try and climb into the bed of a younger man?

It was simply unwatchable!

There were not many members of the Great Xun royal family present. Of the people from the late Emperor's generation, besides Prince Ping, there was only Prince Bin, and apart from them, only the Grand Princess Ningde, who looked even older than the Empress Dowager.

As for Qin Zhiyi’s generation, the infighting had been much fiercer. Besides an old acquaintance, Qin Zhiqing, the Grand Princess Zhaoxi was absent due to "poor health," and there was only the very low-profile Grand Princess Zhaowen, who had just come of age and was currently in the process of choosing a husband.

Most others were just various dukes, heirs, and princesses who were quite distant relatives to Qin Zhiyi.

"Looking around, everyone here is royal kin. Green Tea, don't blame me for not warning you: most beautiful young concubines are buried in the same coffin when their master dies. But if you really like Prince Ping, I can take it upon myself to send you over." Shen Fuyu had an idea—perhaps she should just send Green Tea away? The girl was nearing the end of her usefulness anyway.

"Your Majesty, I toast you."

At that moment, Consort Shu smiled gracefully, raised her wine cup, and looked at Qin Zhiyi with a slight blush.

Qin Zhiyi drank a cup, giving her some face.

"Younger Sister Xianfei used to be so attached to His Majesty, but she’s quite quiet today," Consort Shu said with a smile toward Shen Fuyu after sitting down.

"Naturally, one shouldn't act like that in public." Shen Fuyu was speechless; she was in a very, very bad mood today. "Consort Shu, even if you are happy, you shouldn't ask such brainless questions. While sharing a drink with His Majesty is pleasant, wine is wine, after all—it's not some miraculous elixir for hair growth."

Consort Shu’s eyes widened, and she was too angry to respond further to Shen Fuyu. This wench was subtly and openly insulting her, saying she wasn't a proper person, and mocking her hair! How could she be so brazen?

The frustration was stuck in Consort Shu’s chest, impossible to swallow.

Shen Fuyu looked at the food on the table and the dancers in the center of the hall. She was so annoyed!

Because of her fake pregnancy, the big, roe-filled crab that belonged to her was gone! The fine wine that belonged to her was gone!

Even the talent show that belonged to her was gone!

Whether it was the people or the food, she craved them all! She wanted them!

One had to understand that in ancient times, it was very rare to eat a crab of such size. When she was reborn in the past, she didn't always get to be a noble lady; in difficult times, the herbs in her space tasted better than the plain boiled greens in front of her, let alone crab.

It’s so unfair, boo-hoo!

"Watching these same dancers year after year, I'm getting a bit tired of it," the Empress Dowager said, looking at the now-empty floor after the dancers retreated. She smiled slightly at Qin Zhiyi. "I assume you are tired of it too, Emperor?"

"Mother is right," Qin Zhiyi nodded slightly. "It is indeed a bit dull to have the same thing every year."

The hall fell silent. The ethereal sound of a clay ocarina gradually emerged, accompanied by the chiming of bells and stones, filling the entire palace. A young girl in a moon-white dancing dress appeared from afar, graceful and light, like a fairy about to ascend to the heavens. The gentle beauty of the moon was displayed to the fullest. Her water sleeves moved as lightly as clouds; though she stood on the ground, she seemed to be drifting in the air, mesmerizing the audience to the point of forgetting themselves. They dared not even reach out, fearing it was all a dream that would shatter at a touch. Everyone in the hall held their breath, stunned by the girl's dance.

The melody turned, now rapid, now slow. As the moon waxed and waned, people always pinned their thoughts upon it, and so the moon was imbued with emotion—the seven human passions, the joys and sorrows of life—all captured within the girl's dance.

As the song ended, the audience was pulled back from their reverie.

"Bravo!"

The applause came from the heart. The girl moved lightly on her feet, slowly stepped forward, and knelt.

"Remove your veil and let everyone see you." The Empress Dowager was very satisfied with Cui Yingsu's performance, while also glancing at Qin Zhiyi. She knew her son best; Cui Yingsu was a girl she had carefully selected, with no flaws in any regard, and Qin Zhiyi would surely like her.

Cui Yingsu slowly removed her veil. Her eyes, sparkling like stars, seemed to speak, and when she opened her mouth, her voice was as crisp as an oriole's: "Your servant, Cui Yingsu, pays her respects to the Empress Dowager, His Majesty, and Her Majesty the Empress, and greetings to all the other ladies."

"A beauty from Mother's maternal clan, truly one in a thousand," Jing Lanxi said with a soft smile. "What does Your Majesty think?"

"Hmm, not bad," Qin Zhiyi nodded. "To possess such exquisite dancing skills at such a young age is indeed rare."

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty." Cui Yingsu smiled faintly, though her gaze drifted slightly toward Shen Fuyu.

"Emperor, with such a beauty, one should pluck the flower while it is ready," the Empress Dowager reminded him at the right moment. "I wonder what rank you intend to bestow upon her?"