When Spring Comes - Chapter 48

Chapter 48 – Insufferable Punishment (3)

For dinner, Gong Yuhou was invited to the palace to prepare food for everyone causing He Chang’an to wonder why he had not found anyone in the Hua palace today. As soon as he stepped into the back hall of the Zǐchen Hall, he saw the exhausted Hua Jinghua slumped on the chair outside.

“Minister?” He Chang’an was delighted to see her, and walked rapidly over to see her half-closed eyes, “What’s wrong?”

Hua Chun felt like she couldn’t hear anything at all. All that was in her head was just the sound of sadness buzzing, accompanied by the suddenly dimming world, as it heavily crashed against her chest.

‘This is…so…depressing.’

He Chang’an raised his eyebrows and looked at the servant next to him. The servant understood his signal and left first.

“Emperor?” Seeing the imposing man in the dragon robe, He Chang’an was flustered and did not know what to think as he asked, “What’s going on in the front hall?”

“It’s none of your business.” Yu Wenjie said, “Some people don’t know where their limit lies; they deserve to know by exhausting all their resources, first.”

Sitting down beside him, He Chang’an said, “I saw that the Minister Hua was almost dying, what punishment did you give, your majesty?”

“None,” The emperor said solemnly, “I just didn’t offer him food for a day.”

He Chang’an was both agape and appalled,” ..And he is like that now after not eating for a day? It really hurts to see him suffer. Although I don’t know what happened, I believe Minister Hua must have done nothing wrong. On the contrary, he must have done something helpful for you, Emperor. Did I guess right?”

Yu Wenjie looked at him suspiciously, “Are you trying to justify his actions?”

“It’s not about justifying for him or not,” He Chang’an laughed, “You have not changed since you were young. Even when people do the right things for you, you just have to make people suffer if you are upset. Enough is enough. After a busy day, you should feel better about it now. You should let him eat a few bites of food to show your generosity, so as to not have trouble with the Queen Mother.”

He Chang’an was perhaps the only person who dared to say this to the emperor.

The emperor, however, snorted in disgust, looking at the dishes on the table, he subtly gave Duke Qin some signals. Duke Qin breathed a sigh of relief and immediately called someone to the front hall to get  Minister Hua there.

“I, the Minister, salute the Emperor.”

Hua Chun had already given up. It was already insufferable that she couldn’t eat, but now the emperor wanted her to watch them eat? That’s just nefarious! She was just getting ready to curse him with everything she could think of, internally, of course, but then she heard the emperor say, “ Get up, come and sit with us.”

‘Wait, what?’ Hua Chun was taken aback. She looked at the table full of delicacies.

He Chang’an smiled softly, “The Minister has worked so hard. The Emperor specially blessed you and me. This is a great glory.”

She couldn’t be more grateful for this news, if she tried. Hua Chun bowed in gratitude to Yu Wenjie. At least he still acted in a humane way to her.

Yu Wenjie also didn’t say a word. The servant next to him began to arrange the dishes, and he ate quietly.

He Chang’an didn’t plan to hang around. He pulled a stool closer to Hua Chun, and said to him, “It’s bad for your health to eat so quickly when you have been hungry for so long. Minister should take your time to eat slowly.”

“Yes,” Hua Chun nodded, looking at him very gratefully, and then picked up the chopsticks, took over the food that the servant brought and stuffed everything into her mouth, paying no heed at all to the disclaimer offered to her.

He Chang’an sighed in resignation, “ Oh, well.”

This person was not rude when she ate a meal, but she ate very fast, like a rabbit gnawing radish. She only needed two bites to finish everything in the bowl. The servant couldn’t even catch up with her eating speed and was very stressed because of this.

Yu Wenjie took the time to look at her, even more disgusted, “Minister, you should also pay attention to your appearance.”

“Huh?” Hua Chun looked up, and wiped her mouth with her hand. Great, now there was oil all over her face!

Yu Wenjie looked at this person sitting across from him astonished, the look in his eyes could no longer be summed up with disgust.

‘Didn’t she think it was dirty at all?’

He Chang’an, however, pleased by her appetite, reached out and passed his handkerchief to her: “Quickly wipe it off, please.”

“Thank you.” Looking at them in embarrassment, Hua Chun coughed slightly, and after wiping her hands, her movements finally began to seem a little elegant.

“Chang’an.” The emperor glanced at the person next to him, “Are you here for dinner or to see people?”

Hua Jinghua had eaten a bowl of rice, but he had stared at others the entire time and had laughed in amusement without eating any food from the bowl in front of him.

“Don’t you think that… Minister Hua is beautiful and graceful, Emperor?” He Chang’an touched his chin and looked at Hua Jinghua.

The emperor remained silent for what seemed like an eternity. On the other hand, Hua Chun had no idea how to react to this.

She felt as though she was molested!