Chapter Six: An Audience with the Emperor
Dear reader friends, today a reader suggested to me not to use so many full stops instead of ellipses, the suggestion is very pertinent, so Old Mo has decided to take advantage of tomorrow's Sunday to thoroughly revise all the pseudo-full stops in the previous articles, thank you to this beautiful female reader for praising Old Mo's writing as good, and sincerely hope that reader friends can give more suggestions to Old Mo, any post that is useful to Old Mo will be marked as excellent, except for boring or brainless posts.
Yun Qi followed the eunuch, gazing at the majestic palace on the stairs in the distance. The stairs were divided into two sections, each with over a hundred layers. Although the height of each layer was not high, Yun Qi, who was already walking on the second section of stairs, could see the entire imperial palace at a glance. The Southern Kingdom's imperial palace was clearly inferior to the Forbidden City, but it still occupied a vast area, with dozens of halls and pavilions arranged in an orderly manner. Each large hall had a courtyard that was several times larger than those Yun Qi had seen in the Yang Manor. Imperial guards wearing black armor were everywhere. Even the number of stairs made him think of his own era, when he and his comrades climbed the Zhongshan Mausoleum in the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties.
After finally arriving outside the grand hall, the eunuch walking in front stopped and turned around, saying in a strange tone: "You wait out here, I'll go inside to report!"
"Oh! Master, please hurry!" Yun Qi couldn't bear the sight of this eunuch who was acting strangely, and he had an urge to kill him. The eunuch suddenly disappeared from his sight. Even the little eunuch who delivered the message for the prince last time only wore a eunuch's uniform and had pale skin, but in other aspects, he was quite normal. But this one, not only did he sound like a woman, but also walked with a feminine posture, always curling his fingers like a lily flower, even more feminine than a real woman, it really made Yun Qi feel nauseous.
The eunuch came to Zhu Zidao's side and said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Yun Qi has arrived and is now outside the door. Shall we let him in?"
Zhū Zǐ Dào is also very eager to see Yún Qī in person, as he has heard the Crown Prince introduce him. Not only did this fragrant tobacco come from him, but he also has a set of martial arts skills and is said to be extremely intelligent. As a wise ruler of his generation, Zhū Zǐ Dào immediately replied: "Summon!"
The eunuch responded with a sound, stood up straight, and shouted again in his sharp voice: "Proclaim! Yun Qi enters the palace!"
Yun Qi heard someone calling him to enter from outside, this scene was just like what he saw on TV, with some tension, he kept recalling the next segment of the show, yes, after entering, he should kneel down, knock his head, and shout "Long live my emperor, long live, long live", it should be like that, no mistake. Thinking of this, Yun Qi took a deep breath, put on a serious face, and solemnly stepped forward, lifting his feet to walk into the grand hall.
As soon as he entered the grand hall, all the civil and military officials, including Zhu Zidao on the dragon throne, looked at Yun Qi with curiosity. Although Yun Qi had changed into a servant's clothes, he was still wearing ordinary people's attire. Yun Qi found Yang Ziting in the crowd, who was also looking at him and gestured to him to pay attention to etiquette. As they approached the front of the hall, looking at the Emperor of Nanguo getting closer and closer, "Bang!" Yun Qi suddenly knelt down on both knees, raised his hands above his head, then bent down and bowed deeply, with a posture that was even more standard than standard, an absolutely perfect five-body prostration ceremony. He also shouted loudly: "Humble citizen Yun Qi pays homage to Your Majesty, long live the Emperor, long live, long live!"
The original chatter in the hall suddenly stopped after Yun Qi shouted "Long live the Emperor!" Even Zhu Zi Dao was stunned. Yun Qi, with his head down, didn't hear the emperor telling him to stand up straight and didn't dare to look up. He found it strange that the surroundings had become so quiet all of a sudden. Had he said something wrong? But he had followed the standard lines from TV dramas, how could he be wrong? There was only one possibility - his voice wasn't loud enough to show respect to the emperor. Thinking this, Yun Qi took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long long live the Emperor!"
At this moment, Yun Qi didn't notice that Yang Zi Ting's forehead had already broken out in a cold sweat, while those military generals stared at him with copper-like eyes, looking at him inexplicably. It turned out that in this era, although the emperor's power was still supreme, there was one point that differed from the emperors of Yun Qi's world - those emperors hoped to live forever and believed they could achieve immortality. As a result, when meeting with their subjects, the subjects would all hail them as "long live". In this era, every emperor clearly knew that human life lasted only a few decades, so it was impossible to seek eternal life; they only hoped to establish great achievements during their reign and maintain good health without falling ill. So, in a way, the rulers of this era were more pragmatic.
"Haha!" Zhu Zidao couldn't help but burst out laughing, he had never heard such polite words from Yun Qi's mouth before, and laughed as he asked: "Are you Yun Qi?"
Yun Qi remained in a kowtowing position, after all the Emperor had not allowed him to get up, and he did not dare to stand up either. He replied: "Yes Your Majesty, I am Yun Qi!"
Zhū Zǐ said: "This is rather awkward, get up and speak."
Yun Qi Ru Meng Da She, hurriedly stood up, let out a sigh of relief.
Zhu Zizhen asked again: "I ask you, when you paid homage to me just now, why did you say so many 'long lives'?"
Yun Qi was stunned, shouldn't he be shouting "Long live the Emperor"? That's how it's always done on TV. After a moment of thought, he could only say: "Your Majesty, I'm just a commoner and don't understand palace etiquette, I only hope that Your Majesty can live to be a hundred years old, so I had the intention of praying."
Zhū Zǐ Dào was amused by the words of Yuán Qī and smiled, saying: "Since you don't know etiquette, I won't blame you. However, I also know that as a human being, one can't escape birth, aging, illness, and death. Although I am an emperor, I am just like ordinary people. Next time, don't speak like this again."
Bright Emperor! Bright Emperor! Since ancient times, which emperor in his later years did not abandon state affairs and blindly pursue the way of longevity? Instead, after arriving in this world, the first emperor he met could say such things. This time, it coincided with Yun Qi's taste, and he naturally felt that the distance between them had narrowed a lot. At this moment, he was no longer as awkward as before: "Thank you, Your Majesty, I will definitely remember it in my heart."
Zhu Zidao continued, "I've heard that you have had some dealings with the Crown Prince, and that the fragrance you're wearing is also from your place. The Crown Prince often praises you in front of me, saying that you are cleverer than others and have excellent martial arts skills. Although I haven't seen your talents today, from what you just said, I can tell that you are a smooth talker - indeed, you truly are!"
Yun Qi's face darkened, "Are you praising me or mocking me? I couldn't hear any praise in your words at all." But the Emperor had spoken, so Yun Qi could only force a smile and pretend to be humble.
"Yun Qi, you too, I have seen you before. Go wait outside the palace for now. After the morning court is over, I still have some things to ask you."
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Yun Qi replied respectfully, turning around and visibly letting out a breath of relief, his facial muscles almost twitching, as he quickly exited the grand hall with his head hung low.
