Lady suggested a chess game to test Attendant Lady Xi’s depth.
The Emperor always had a fondness for intelligent women. If a woman wasn’t smart enough, it was better for her to speak less, not reveal her foolishness, and serve as a beautiful ornament.
Evidently, Attendant Lady Xi spoke a lot.
Lady thus guessed she was particularly clever and wanted to probe her through the game.
"You’re a poor chess player, so stop showing off in front of Lady." Xie Zhixing raised his hand, rubbing his brow.
"How am I a poor chess player?"
Yun Jiao widened her eyes, "Don’t forget, Your Majesty, you were defeated by me."
"Ha."
Xie Zhixing was a bit embarrassed.
After speaking, Yun Jiao just remembered this person was the Emperor and quickly tried to remedy the situation, "But at that time, I had dressed up carefully, and being in a room alone with the Emperor, a spark could lead to a wildfire; it’s normal for such temptations to affect one’s thinking."
Xie Zhixing: ...
If he had fire then, it was surely anger.
"Such beauty tricks are useless on me."
Lady smiled faintly, patiently waiting until Yun Jiao had enough rest, then each of them sat down to play.
Seeing this, Xie Zhixing paused his pen.
Lady was a reputable lady meticulously trained by the entire Ji Family, skilled in everything from music to chess, literature, and painting. Even facing the Emperor, she could hold her ground in a match.
In the first game, Yun Jiao suffered a crushing defeat.
Lady looked at her gently, "Attendant Lady Xi doesn’t need to let me win because of rank differences."
Xie Zhixing, having watched the entire process, thought to himself she wasn’t letting her win.
This was her true level.
Yun Jiao rolled up her wide sleeves, "Then I’ll get serious!"
Lady chuckled lightly, "Alright."
Xie Zhixing silently set aside the scroll and practiced his calligraphy.
As he expected, just as he finished one stroke, he was pulled back two seconds.
A character for "eternity" was trapped in an endless cycle, impossible to escape.
Once Xie Zhixing wrote the character for eternity seventeen times, Lady’s gaze towards Yun Jiao changed from disdain, to surprise, then doubt, and finally shock!
In the first round, Attendant Lady Xi’s moves were clumsy and confused.
It seemed like she was setting up a strategy at one moment, only to overthrow her own efforts the next, with many abandoned moves and inconsistent planning. Sometimes she’d stubbornly pursue a useless point, only to fall into a trap, losing ground step by step. If it weren’t for Attendant Lady Xi saying that the Emperor was her defeated subordinate and the Emperor’s tacit acknowledgment of that, Lady would have thought she was a beginner who had only learned chess for a few days, and a not very bright one at that.
But in the second round, Attendant Lady Xi seemed like a different person.
Her moves remained casual, but she placed them in the spots where Lady found it hardest to respond, those bright and clear deer-like eyes, as if pierced through all of Lady’s strategies, making her feel naked and exposed as a child before Attendant Lady Xi!
Lady kept a smile but felt increasingly unsettled inside.
Her gaze towards Attendant Lady Xi shifted significantly.
Judging a person by their chess, this one might truly be a hidden genius, and she had underestimated her!
"Let’s have another game," Lady said.
After three more games, looking at the white pieces on the board, completely outmatched, Lady couldn’t help but sigh deeply, "It’s me who’s not skilled enough; Attendant Lady Xi’s chess ability is astonishing, probably far above mine. I feel quite weary after five matches with Attendant Lady Xi and would like to rest a bit."
Seizing the opportunity during the pause, Lady rose and excused herself, intending to return to her carriage to rest.
Hesitating for a moment, she decided against reclining in front of the two of them.
Thus, she had to temporarily step out of the competition.
"Alright, Ying Lu, escort Lady back to her carriage. If there’s anything else you need, tell him."
"I thank the Emperor," Lady curtsied and took her leave.
She needed to go back and sort out her thoughts thoroughly.
Attendant Lady Xi was far more intelligent and unfathomable than she had imagined.
...
As soon as Lady left, Yun Jiao rolled back onto the couch.
This manner of doing things made the Emperor also find her a bit unfathomable.
He resumed handling official documents but kept half his attention on Yun Jiao, observing what she was up to—she took out a small bronze mirror from her sleeve, examining her fair and tender face. After a while, her rosy lips curled into a slight smile, and she began to roll back and forth once more.
Sitting improperly, standing improperly, even sleeping without any posture!
After some rolling, Yun Jiao looked up and asked, "Your Majesty, do you have anything to pass the time with?"
She noticed many boxes behind the Emperor.
Seeing her curiosity, Xie Zhixing let her go through them herself.
Yun Jiao wasn’t shy, walked over excitedly, and opened the first box with the air of opening a mystery box—unreviewed memorials.
The second box was filled with countless scrolls.
The third box, filled with heaps of account books.
Yun Jiao thought to herself that this mystery box was best left unopened.
"These are the things I use to pass the time."
Xie Zhixing said, "The second box doesn’t contain anything too important; you can look at it if you’re bored."
Empress Haotian had set the precedent of assisting in court affairs in the harem, so unless it was a confidential document, there was no harm in letting the concubines see it. With permission granted, Yun Jiao casually picked up a volume and sat beside Xie Zhixing to read.
After finishing two documents, Xie Zhixing turned to look.
She had already closed her eyes and was sleeping soundly.
Not only that, but her little head was also slowly tipping over, eventually resting on his shoulder.
"..."
What was the use of a time-reversal ability granted by heaven?
Xie Zhixing couldn’t help but sigh once more.
When Yun Jiao woke up, Ying Lu cleverly brought her a set of Russian nesting dolls to pass the time. She took them apart and lined them up, but a jolt from the carriage sent her looking all over the Emperor’s carriage for the heads, rummaging for both the big head and the little head.
The late Emperor used to say that mundane affairs best reveal one’s ability to solve problems.
Xie Zhixing then watched her pick up the big head and place it on the desk, then dive back down to continue searching for the small head.
"Did you find it?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I found it!"
Yun Jiao raised her head to reply, completely forgetting she was under the desk, bumping it with her head and shaking it. She fell back holding her head and in pain. The head on the desk also rolled down, stopping right in front of her.
The smile on the painted nesting doll was full of mockery.
"Wah wah wah wah..."
Yun Jiao’s eyes brimmed with tears for a while.
Perhaps she was too dazed from the hit, she didn’t recall that she could rewind time.
Xie Zhixing sighed again, setting aside the scrolls, picking her up from the carpet, parting the hair at her nape, and instructing, "Bring some medicinal wine." He poured the wine into his palm to warm it and gently pressed onto the swollen spot she hit. She tugged at the Emperor’s sleeve, crying softly, "Your Majesty..."
"Hmm?"
Seeing she had something to say, Xie Zhixing bent down to listen.
Yun Jiao, eyes brimming with tears, pointed to the bump on the back of her head, "Look, a skyscraper starting from flat ground."
Xie Zhixing reasonably suspected she had bumped herself silly.
Meanwhile, outside the carriage, guards on horseback were exchanging amused smiles upon hearing Attendant Lady Xi’s cries of pain and sobs from inside.