The Odd One Out in the Xiling Royal Family

The two of them had drunk a pot of wine, and both were a little tipsy.

"Eh, why do I feel like there was something I had to do?"

Gao Miling felt certain she had forgotten something and racked her brains trying to remember.

Di Qingyu leaned lazily against her and yawned. "What, have you got your eye on someone else's cleaver?"

After entering the palace, Gao Miling had been bored with nothing to do, so she had taken up cooking this past year. At first, though, everything she made was hard to swallow and made people want to vomit. She blamed the kitchen cleaver and asked Di Qingyu to find her cleavers used by Xiling's famous chefs.

"What are you talking about?" Gao Miling gave her shoulder a light slap. Then inspiration finally struck, and the fright sobered her up considerably. "Oh! I remember now! Father told you to go see him once you got back. He said he hadn't seen hide nor hair of you for days. It seemed like something urgent."

After a pause, she looked at Di Qingyu sympathetically. "And Father didn't look too happy at the time. Take care! If all else fails, just faint on the ground. Father has a knife for a tongue but a heart of tofu, after all."

"When did he tell you to have me go see him?" Di Qingyu's throat tightened as she listened, and the wine in her hand suddenly lost its appeal.

"I think... three days ago."

Gao Miling guiltily averted her eyes. Her mind sometimes worked a little slowly, and she had only remembered the matter when she saw Di Qingyu today.

"I've already been back for two days. You think my life's been too comfortable, is that it?"

Di Qingyu gave Gao Miling a look that was hard to put into words, her expression helpless. That old man had a fierce temper. He must have known she was back, yet she hadn't gone to see him. Wouldn't he be nursing a fire, waiting for her to put it out?

Knowing she had messed things up, Gao Miling hesitated. "How about... I go with you and take the scolding too?"

She was rather afraid of her old man as well. She was a child of his old age; he had been in his forties when she was born. With that generation gap between them, the sight of his cold face made her tremble.

"Forget it. If you go, he'll think I've brought a shield along and probably get even angrier." Di Qingyu stopped drinking and hurried to her feet, patting her backside as she prepared to leave. "All right, keep drinking. I'm off to get scolded."

Seeing that she was leaving, Gao Miling didn't dare stop her and felt terribly guilty. "Then be careful. Remember to put some padding under your knees."

Di Qingyu picked up her fur cloak and draped it over her shoulders. "Don't worry. If all else fails, I'll just lie down on the ground. I'm off."

With that, she hurried away with Chunzhi as if her backside were on fire.

Gao Miling let out a long sigh. Coming back to herself, she instructed a palace maid, "Make preparations and serve up the pot of soup from earlier. I'm going to visit His Majesty."

It was time for her to show her face before the emperor again and put on a display of how favored she was as his noble consort, enough to make the empress die of anger.

"Yes..." The palace maid's mouth twitched. Her Ladyship was going to torment His Majesty again.

"Master, we've arrived at the Grand Tutor's residence."

A carriage slowly came to a stop on a secluded road. On its left stood a magnificent, imposing residence, though it had a somewhat desolate air.

Di Qingyu got out of the carriage alone. "You can stay and wait for me in the carriage."

"Yes," Chunzhi and the other two replied.

As soon as the guards at the gate saw Di Qingyu, they hurried forward to greet her with smiles.

"Sixth Princess, the Grand Tutor has already instructed us. If you came, you were to go straight to his study to see him."

Di Qingyu nodded calmly. "Sorry for the trouble."

She stepped into the Grand Tutor's residence in a long, pale-blue dress, with the same fluffy fur cloak shielding her from the wind and a pot of wine in her hand.

Di Qingyu made her way to the study along the familiar route at an unhurried pace. Her retreating figure looked bleak, with the forlorn air of someone going to meet the King of Hell.

The Grand Tutor's residence looked magnificent and imposing from the outside, but its interior could not have been simpler. There were only a few flowers and plants, and even the pond had been drained. There were few servants, either. No one would have thought it was the residence of the reigning dynasty's first-rank Grand Tutor.

Before Di Qingyu reached the study, she ran into someone.

"Greetings, Sixth Princess."

This was Gao Qian's eldest son, Gao Shen, thirty-seven years old. He currently held the post of Minister of Personnel, overseeing the assessment, appointment, and dismissal of officials.

Di Qingyu stopped and raised her hands in a respectful salute. "Lord Gao."

Gao Shen lowered his eyes and saw the wine pot in her hand, and understood. "Sixth Princess, you've come to see my father, haven't you? He's in his study now."

Di Qingyu smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

Just as Gao Shen was about to leave, Di Qingyu suddenly spoke.

"Lord Gao, the spring examination will be held next year. Might I ask whether the Ministry of Personnel or the Ministry of Rites will be in charge this year?"

It was no secret, and given Di Qingyu's status, Gao Shen answered directly.

"Your Highness, His Majesty intends to transfer responsibility for conducting the imperial examinations from the Ministry of Personnel to the Ministry of Rites starting this year. The Ministry of Personnel will mainly be responsible for selecting and managing officials. The imperial decree will probably be issued in the next few days."

"Thank you for telling me, Lord Gao."

"You're too polite, Princess." Gao Shen then left.

Di Qingyu's long, sharply defined fox eyes half closed. After pondering for a few seconds, she too turned and continued toward the study.

At the study door, Di Qingyu raised her hand and knocked lightly three times.

"Teacher, it's your student, Di Qingyu."

"Get in here." A deep voice came from inside.

"..."

This little old man is in quite a temper today. Listening to the sounds inside, Di Qingyu somewhat regretted coming at the wrong time, but she thought better of it. If she came any later, he would probably be even angrier.

Di Qingyu pushed the door open, walked in meekly, and closed it behind her.

She first placed the wine on the desk. "Teacher, this is some exquisite wine I recently acquired. I haven't even tasted it yet, and I've brought it to you first as a token of respect."

"So you still remember to come. It's been so many days since I last saw you, I was beginning to think you'd retired to the mountains."

At the head of the inner study sat an old man with a slightly graying beard, sharp eyes, and the bearing of a scholar. He wore a simple dark-brown robe of coarse cloth and sat in a bamboo rocking chair. Even the study contained few decorative objects, only books, calligraphy, and paintings. It was exceedingly plain.

This man was the reigning Grand Tutor, Gao Qian, who had served Di Yunqian ever since his days as crown prince.

"If I retired to the mountains, wouldn't you be so angry you'd run into the deep woods, drag me out, and give me a scolding?" Di Qingyu shrugged and sat down on her own without waiting for the old man to offer her a seat.

"Who would dare scold you? You're quite formidable now. I heard you just talked back to all the ladies of the harem this morning. If I scolded you, you might run off and complain to the emperor." Gao Qian gave a quiet snort, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Di Qingyu looked up, her tone full of praise. "It seems you're better informed than ever, Teacher. Your imposing presence hasn't diminished since your younger days."

She was responding to his sarcastic remarks just now.

"You little brat, you really have grown bold!" Gao Qian grew somewhat angry at her flippant manner. He grabbed a book from in front of him and hurled it at Di Qingyu.

Still seated, Di Qingyu simply turned her chair and swung around with it.

Bang!

She dodged the book, which struck the floor. There wasn't much force behind it, and it didn't make much noise.

Clearly, the old man had only been trying to scare her.

Seeing her dodge, Gao Qian had largely lost his anger. He bristled his beard, glared, and gave a muffled grunt.

"Hmph. Look at you. Right now you're just a fox borrowing the tiger's might, relying on His Majesty's authority to throw your weight around. Once His Majesty's favor fades, won't all those people you've offended rush to swallow you whole and flay you alive, one by one?"

Ever since Di Qingyu had gained the emperor's favor by taking an arrow for him at last year's Mid-Autumn banquet, she had treated people gently for the first month, offending no one and growing close to no one. But later, when a child of an influential family provoked her, she actually took matters into her own hands and taught them a lesson.

When she saw the other party calling for backup, and knew she couldn't win, she simply lay down on the ground and played dead.

Well, that alerted the emperor, who hurriedly asked what had happened. Someone had indeed been rude first, so the emperor severely punished that person.

After that, Di Qingyu became increasingly arrogant and showed no restraint. If she saw something she disliked, she talked back directly. She even occasionally accepted a bribe and pleaded on someone's behalf right under the emperor's nose.

No one knew how many people in Xiling liked her, but those who disliked her or had been offended by her could be said to line up in a long queue.

The young masters and misses of influential families were one thing. Some ministers couldn't stand the way Di Qingyu behaved as a princess and repeatedly submitted memorials impeaching her. When she found out, she went straight to their homes and used her tongue to argue with them over whether the people she had taught a lesson had been in the wrong, relying on her skill at sophistry to pester the ministers beyond endurance.

Yet she was a princess, and they couldn't drive her away and openly fall out with her. So the ministers withdrew their memorials, and from then on, no one at court had so little to do as to speak against her.

In any case, she hadn't murdered anyone, set fires, or harmed the common people. She was just a domineering princess; it would be fine once she married. There was no need to offend the royal family over her.

In short, Di Qingyu was an odd one out in the Xiling royal family: no one could provoke her, scold her, or avoid her. Yet she had neither power nor influence and relied solely on the emperor's indulgence. She was a true eccentric.