The princess of Gu Shu’s words had offended everyone present. Aside from the few officials from the South that were more intimate with Gu Shu, the others cast unhappy glances toward her. Even the Empress furrowed her brow.
Xuan Tian Ge snorted coldly and said: “A lowly princess of a vassal country, and not even the princess of the first wife, dares to overtly run over to Da Shun to provoke us? Hmph! You really don’t know the gravity of the situation!”
The princess of Gu Shu looked in Xuan Tian Ge’s direction and spoke completely without a care. She just continued to hold the glazed bottle, but she looked at Xuan Tian Ge with disdain: “How can this be called provocation? Gu Shu is Da Shun’s vassal country. Since we produced this sort of treasure, it’s natural that we would need to bring it for the Emperor of Da Shun to see.” After saying this, she bowed to the Emperor, “Your Majesty, please excuse me. Because this perfume was just produced, there only exists this one bottle. That is why this bottle must be brought back for the craftsmen to continue production.”
What she had said was logical and measured. The people of Da Shun could no longer say anything. Although what she had said earlier was very unflattering, now that she was speaking to the Emperor, they could not chime in. They would need to see what the Emperor said.
But after waiting a long time, they saw that the Emperor did not react much. After waiting a little while longer, they saw the Emperor sniff the air a couple times then ponder a while then sniff…
The officials were a little tangled. Could it be that the Emperor had become addicted to this thousand-fragrance perfume? This was not a good thing. Even if the thousand-fragrance perfume was good, she had very clearly said that it was just brought for Da Shun to take a look at. It was not being given to Da Shun. Even if the Emperor liked it, it would not be good to openly steal it?
The seventh princess of Gu Shu also noticed the Emperor’s actions, and she could not help but smile. Looking at the glazed bottle in her hand, she very seriously said: “Da Shun’s territory is large and abundant, but there is not much in the way of wondrous things, especially the creation of perfumes. It’s actually stuck in the era of using incense. It must be known that our Gu Shu stopped using incense for such things over 200 years ago.” She covered her mouth and giggled, saying: “It’s truly fallen too far behind.”
These words caused everyone’s faces and ears to turn red, yet there was nothing that they could do to shut her up. This was because everything that she had said was true. Da Shun was indeed very lacking in this respect.
At this time, the ninth prince, Xuan Tian Ming, suddenly spoke up from inside the group of princes: “It’s just a special skill. My Da Shun is large and has many things to handle. How could it have the spare time to research such useless things. Also, if Da Shun knew how to do everything, what would we keep vassal countries like yours for? If you like researching these things, just research them to your heart’s content. Either way, you don’t have anything else to do. Just take care of your small country and pass your days. Once you’ve finished researching it, it will be sent to our Da Shun eventually. We just need to wait for it. Da Shun’s energy is used to provide stability to the country. While you’re researching the unique perfume and thousand-fragrance perfume, we were researching steel. Princess of Gu Shu, if you don’t understand, just go back and ask your leader of Gu Shu. Is perfume important or is Da Shun’s steel more practical.”
Although the seventh princess was a girl, she was a member of Gu Shu’s imperial family. She naturally understood what the new steel meant. The arrogance brought about by the bottle of thousand-fragrance perfume had finally been suppressed.
Da Shun’s officials nodded and looked at the ninth prince with emotion. Everyone was thinking: No wonder the Emperor favors this son! Look at how he speaks. With just a few words, he defeated that princess. The other people are still just sitting there getting angry. It really is the case that without some comparison things would remain unknown. Upon running into this situation, we have come to realize the situation!
“Achoo!”
While everyone was sighing emotionally, the Emperor suddenly sneezed from the head position. This sneeze was so loud that it shook the entirety of Heavenly Hall. After this, someone figured that this was even louder than the Emperor’s shouts during his more robust years!
This sneeze caused everyone to look over. They just saw that the Emperor was repeatedly fanning the area in front of his nose with his hand. While fanning, he frowned and looked over at the eunuch Zhang Yuan, asking: “Where are those palace maids with the large fans? Quickly have someone go and find them! The more the better!” After saying this, he looked toward the princess of Gu Shu and asked in confusion: “You said that this thousand-fragrance perfume was made after many years? It’s the pride of Gu Shu? Everyone likes it?”
Gu Shu’s princess was stunned then nodded, “That’s right.” After thinking a bit, “Could it be that Your Majesty doesn’t like it?”
“Hah!” The Emperor suddenly slapped his thigh, “Blame Us. It can all be blamed on Us.” The Emperor blamed himself for a bit, “Da Shun is a large country, yet it has neglected the feelings of the vassal state’s people. It’s such that you actually carry this shitty perfume around and think of it as something good. It seems that the imperial family of a small country like Gu Shu has never seen anything like a good perfume. This is all Our mistake.”
Everyone was dazed from hearing this. The princess of Gu Shu was also confused, asking: “Your Majesty, what are you saying?”
The Emperor waved his hand, “Wait a bit first.” He then raised his voice and shouted for the group of palace maids with the fans, “You guys, move fasters. Come and fan this place for Us. The rest of you just fan the rest of the hall. Quickly get this terrible smell out of here. Everyone present is an official of Da Shun. If they die from the bad smell, it would not be good.” While speaking, he covered his nose and repeatedly sighed: “Princess of Gu Shu! It really isn’t Us just telling you off. Such a bad-smelling thing, you’re carrying around as though it’s something good? My word, We almost fainted from it.”
Standing at the Emperor’s side, Zhang Yuan also had an unbearable expression. With a bitter look, he said: “But of course, what sort of smell is it? It’s too disgusting.”
The two worked in perfect harmony, as the officials, madams and young misses below were all filled with questions. Even all of the imperial concubines were puzzled. The thousand-fragrance perfume smelled bad? It was overbearing? Oh, to say that it was a bit overbearing was true. After all, it was so fragrant after just opening the lid for a bit. If it was used on the body, of course, it would be overbearing. But when they smelled it now, it was not as exaggerated as the Emperor had said! In fact… it smelled extremely nice.
For a while, the people did not know what exactly the Emperor meant. But since the Emperor had spoken, they could not say that the thousand-fragrance perfume smelled good. They could only cover their noses.
Following the Emperor and Zhang Yuan’s announcements, the next person to agree was the seventh prince, Xuan Tian Hua. He simply stood up and saluted the Emperor, saying: “Father Emperor, please forgive me. Allow son to return for now until the smell in the hall has been completely dispersed.”
The Emperor nodded vigorously, “Right, right, right, quickly go. This place really is not suited to you.”
Xuan Tian Hua turned around and left. When he finally left the hall, he took an exaggerated deep breath. Everyone watched this. Although they did not think that this smelled bad, Xuan Tian Hua’s movements while taking this breath caused others to try and copy him. But they were inside the hall, and all that they could smell was the fragrance. With them taking this deep breath, there really were some madams and young misses that began to cough.
Thus the young misses that had copied him for the sake of doing the same thing as the deity-like seventh prince could no longer continue to remain seated!
Feng Zhao Lian naturally also ran out. He was even the first to follow behind him. He did not even have a chance to say anything to the Emperor. Lifting his dress, he quickly ran out. While running, he shouted: “Heavens! If I continue to stay in this hall, this great one’s throat will develop an issue!”
Thus another group of people chased after Feng Zhao Lian and went out…
However, the majority of the people still remained inside. After all, the Emperor was still present. At this moment, the seventh princess of Gu Shu was extremely embarrassed, and she could not help but frown. She began to feel a deep feeling of suspicion toward the thing in her hand.
The Emperor continued: “Seventh princess! We do not blame you. After all, a small vassal country does not have much knowledge. You believe that this stuff smells fragrant, and there’s nothing that can be done about that. It’s truly just a case of never seeing something that can be called a true perfume.”
The princess of Gu Shu could finally understand what the Emperor truly meant, but she could not help but ask: “Your Majesty means… you have seen something even more fragrant than this thousand-fragrance perfume?”
The Emperor waved his hand, “What do you mean by more fragrant? With your stuff already smelling so much, if it smelled even more, wouldn’t it just kill people! Little princess of Gu Shu! Come, come, come, We really can’t handle this smell. Right, take it further away. Listen to Us. Whether a perfume is good or bad cannot be determined based on how much it smells. That would depend on the quality. Just being fragrant is not enough. There’s also purity while also not being pungent. It should cause people’s moods to feel at ease when smelling it. It should not cause everyone to furrow their brows. Look, you frightened Our seventh son into running out to get some fresh air. Also, it’s not just a matter of whether the perfume smells good. It also lingered in the air for a long time. The color of the perfume is also very important.” As the Emperor spoke, he pointed at the glazed bottle that the palace servants were holding for the princess of Gu Shu, “Look at the one that you have. Even from so far away, We can see that the color of the liquid inside is red, right? If a liquid of this color is used on clothes, would it not dye the clothes? What is it, is Gu Shu so wealthy that you only wear your clothes once before abandoning them?”
Nobody could have expected that the Emperor, a dignified ruler of a country, would be able to talk about something that only women would use like perfume. He was also able to speak about it in a very accurate manner, and it was more than the seventh princess of Gu Shu could handle. The little girl stood in the middle of the hall with a look of surprise on her face. Looking back at her thousand-fragrance perfume, she began to question life.
On the other side, Feng Yu Heng also began to smile bitterly. She just thought that the things that the Emperor said, were they not what she had said to Imperial Concubine Yun when she had given her some perfume? That was a very expensive brand that she had brought out of her space. How could something made by the ancient people compare to that. Now that the Winter Moon Palace had been burned down, Imperial Concubine Yun and the Emperor interacted a bit more. The Emperor must have smelled the perfume that Imperial Concubine Yun used and heard this logic, thus he was able to speak today.
Also, it was not just the Emperor that said this. Even Xuan Tian Ming could not stop himself from chiming in: “Princess of Gu Shu, don’t blame Father Emperor and this prince for lecturing you. Your thousand-fragrance perfume really does smell really awful. Quickly, quickly pour it out! But you must not pour it out in Da Shun’s borders! Pour it out when you return to the South. The further away the better!”