Just like Pei Xiaoyuan's first audience, it was still late at night in the same palace. However, this time, the emperor did not hide in the palace behind the curtain.
He entered the back hall and saw the emperor in the room where he had waited for a long time last time. He was wearing a yellow silk cloak with cloud and crane patterns, half lying and half leaning on a large lacquered and gilded bed. In front of the bed was a table with layers of messy memorials on it. At the head of the bed, there were two large candles burning. The emperor was holding an open memorial in his hand, his eyes fixed on it, and it seemed that he was handling political affairs, but he didn't know what the memorial said. The emperor frowned and looked angry.
Pei Xiaoyuan performed the greetings and soon heard permission to stand up from above his head, so he stood up.
The emperor still sat by the table, his eyes never leaving the memorial, and Pei Xiaoyuan waited quietly beside him. After a moment, the emperor's face became increasingly livid, and suddenly with a "snap", he closed the memorial, threw it on the table, and turned to Pei Xiaoyuan, raising his eyelids coldly: "What are you looking at me for?" The words sounded unpleasant.
While waiting quietly, Pei Xiaoyuan thought of what happened in the first half of the night and couldn't help but stare at the emperor's face.
The last time he met the emperor, the light in the hall was dim, so his complexion could not be seen. Tonight, in the outer hall, the candlelight was bright, and the emperor looked like a burnt wax, older than the last time. But even so, on this face that still had some of his youthful charm, he could still catch some similarities to her.
At this point, Pei Xiaoyuan finally understood where that subtle sense of déjà vu came from when he saw the emperor's face during his last audience.
Thinking like this, he couldn't help but be distracted. Upon hearing this, he immediately looked back and said, "I dare not. I was just waiting for your instructions."
The emperor stood up from the couch, dropped his legs and sat on the edge of the couch. The mute eunuch who served him closely in the corner of the palace came up to help him put on his boots. The emperor waved his hand. The eunuch retreated quickly and silently. The emperor put his hands on his thighs, stared at Pei Xiaoyuan and said, "I summoned you in the middle of the night, do you have any complaints?"
Pei Xiaoyuan had long heard that the emperor seemed to have a reversed day and night schedule in recent years because he could not sleep at night. The medicine prescribed by the imperial physician had little effect.
"I dare not. If Your Majesty needs me, I am always at your service."
He responded appropriately, without any flattery, and without showing any sign of confusion or fear at the emperor's unreasonable criticism.
This is probably what is called a newborn calf. On the contrary, those experienced prime ministers and important officials in the court are always in fear when they come before the emperor, and dare not say a word, for fear of accidentally angering the emperor.
The emperor stared at him for a moment, and his gloomy expression gradually cleared up.
"What have you been busy with recently? You have been in office for almost two months. If I don't call you, you have nothing to report to me?"
Pei Xiaoyuan recounted yesterday's actions.
"This matter has been reported to the general. I believe that the general has made a report, so I dare not rashly enter the palace to disturb Your Majesty."
The emperor snorted coldly: "Han Kerang certainly said it. But I want to ask you again in person! With such a big commotion, thousands of troops were mobilized, and in the end, someone escaped! You just caught a few shrimp soldiers and crab generals for me to deal with?"
Although the emperor's tone was not stern, his words clearly revealed his dissatisfaction.
Pei Xiaoyuan could only kneel down again and kowtow to admit his guilt: "It is my incompetence! Please punish me, Your Majesty!"