Jiang Wan obediently followed beside Xie Changlin all the way, not asking about Guanchu on her own initiative.
“Your Eminence, you probably didn’t have time to eat earlier, right? I brought some mooncakes again—all kinds of flavors. There’s sweet bean paste, red bean, and if you don’t want something sweet, there are savory ones too.”
“Lady Chu’s skills are excellent. I learned from her, and my own skills have improved dramatically.”
After saying this, she offered one like a treasure. “Would Your Eminence like to try it?”
Thinking Xie Changlin would ignore it as he had the previous two times, Jiang Wan didn’t plan to hold it out for long. She even nearly withdrew it to stuff into her own mouth. Unexpectedly, Xie Changlin reached out and took it, giving it a small bite.
Her face immediately lit up with a smile. “How is it?”
Xie Changlin didn’t offer an evaluation, only saying, “This humble servant already ate at the banquet earlier.”
Jiang Wan was taken aback, then realized he must be referring to the dishes she had made on the table.
It wasn’t in vain that she had been busy as a dog all day yet still found time to personally cook for him in the small kitchen.
She wanted to say more, but the two had already reached the exit, where Rong Qing and Qiaoqiao stood as if facing a great enemy, their heads nearly buried in the ground.
Xie Changlin looked down at Jiang Wan without much emotion. “It’s getting late, Your Highness should return.”
“Are you busy, Your Eminence? There’s still an hour until tomorrow. I’d like to spend it with you.”
“No need.”
Normally, Jiang Wan would have left after being dismissed like this, but she could tell Xie Changlin’s mood today was exceptionally poor—distant and aloof, yet also exuding an indescribable sense of desolation.
Yes, desolation.
Jiang Wan looked at him, many words stuck in her throat.
She wanted to say, Xie Changlin, you’ve been walking this path alone for too long. The weight on your shoulders and the countless hands behind you push you forward, never allowing you to look back.
But this road is long and arduous, filled with thorns at every turn, already piercing you until you’re covered in blood. Occasionally, you can stop to rest and tend to your wounds.
In that moment, she thought of too many things, recalling the lonely figure she had seen at the banquet earlier. Unable to hold back, her eyes reddened, and she instinctively lowered her head to compose herself.
Xie Changlin stared at her reddened eyes, his brow twitching slightly, his gaze deep and heavy. He repeated, “Your Highness, please return.”
Jiang Wan forced a difficult smile. “Alright. Qiaoqiao.”
She called out, and Qiaoqiao immediately came over, handing her something.
It was a pair of clay figurines—a man in red robes with dark hair, his lips curved upward in an extremely vivid smile. In his arm, he held a young girl in a pink dress, who cradled a well-behaved white kitten.
“A Mid-Autumn Festival gift.”
Her delicate fingertip gently touched the figurine’s head. “Your Eminence, every Mid-Autumn Festival from now on, I want to celebrate reunion with you.”
After saying this, she took Xie Changlin’s hand, pressed the clay figurines firmly into it, then left with Qiaoqiao.
Xie Changlin stood in place for a long while before finally lowering his gaze to look at the object in his palm. His fingers tightened, turmoil raging in his eyes.
Just before the clay figurines were about to crack under the pressure, his hand finally relaxed its grip.
Guanchu slowly approached from behind, speaking softly, “Master.”
He glanced at Rong Qing, then his gaze fell on the clay figurines, but he said nothing.
Xie Changlin’s expression returned to indifference, making it impossible to discern any emotion. “From now on, you will remain in the palace.”
Guanchu bowed his head. “Yes.”
After Jiang Wan returned to Eternal Joy Palace, Li Dequan hurried over. “Your Majesty, the Emperor is looking for you. He has summoned you to attend him tonight.”
“?” The Empress looked disdainful. “Is he drunk?”
Li Dequan acknowledged and added, “The Emperor hasn’t drunk too much. He’s still quite sober.”
“I’m not going. Let whoever wants to go, go. Tell him not to bother me.”
Li Dequan fell to his knees with a thud, wailing as if mourning his parents. “Your Majesty, how could this servant dare to convey such words?”
Jiang Wan irritably pursed her lips, thought for a moment, and asked, “A few days ago, he didn’t summon me to attend him at all. Do you know why?”
“This servant doesn’t know either.”
“Can you actually get anything done, Li Dequan?”
Once again disdained, Li Dequan racked his brains and squeezed out an answer with a mournful face. “This servant only knows that after Lord of a Thousand Years left that night, he came to Qian’an Hall again the next day. After that, the Emperor never mentioned summoning Your Majesty again.”
Ever since the young Empress’s single sentence had stopped Nine Thousand Years from killing and indirectly saved his life, Li Dequan knew this Empress was no ordinary person. Moreover, she could handle the Emperor. For so long, Nine Thousand Years hadn’t done anything to her either. It seemed she would become someone who could walk sideways through the palace in the future.
Naturally, he dared not offend her even more. In fact, Li Dequan had recently shown subtle signs of switching sides, becoming the second bootlicker after Rong Qing.
Jiang Wan felt a lump in her throat and sighed heavily.
Xie Changlin went to see Huan Cheng the next day, probably without giving any orders. Otherwise, Huan Cheng wouldn’t have dared to send Li Dequan today.
This damned kid, since he’d been behaving for so many days, what sudden madness struck him today?
Li Dequan still didn’t leave, kneeling on the ground. “Your Majesty… the Emperor said if you’re unwilling, he’ll… he’ll have you tied up and brought over…”
Jiang Wan: “…”
Three days without a beating, and he’s tearing the roof off!
Since she wasn’t sleepy anyway, she still went to Qian’an Hall.
Huan Cheng leaned lazily on the couch, his eyes glazed, his chest exposed with his robe open, revealing the ‘spring scenery’ within.
Jiang Wan felt her eyes had been harmed. She’d have to summon an Imperial Physician tomorrow to check them.
“Your Majesty, if you don’t become a tyrant, it would be a disservice to the lewd aura you’re radiating all over.”
Huan Cheng instead laughed, his narrow eyes fixed intently on Jiang Wan. “Empress, do you like it?”
The young Emperor was handsome, with a figure enough to make one blush and heart race. In his current seductive state, any ordinary young girl would surely be unable to resist.
Unfortunately, Jiang Wan was no ordinary person. In her eyes, having lived fifteen hundred years, while the young Emperor was barely eighteen—what was he if not a child?
Moreover, this child was a great lecher, a bad seed who could kill two young girls in bed.
Her heart remained utterly unmoved; she even felt like rolling her eyes. “Your Majesty, have you lost your mind? Want to have a little creature that’ll end your life for fun?”
Huan Cheng’s expression remained unchanged, his smile even deepening. “This Emperor was bewitched some days ago, forgetting there’s something in this world called contraceptive medicine.”
Pah! Damned scumbag!
Jiang Wan casually grabbed a crystal cup and threw it at him. After throwing it, she still smiled sweetly. “This consort came here to make it clear to Your Majesty: it’s best we maintain the status quo. Otherwise, this consort cannot guarantee that one day, changing my mind, I might choose a side.”
“By then, if Your Majesty wants to force this consort to drink contraceptive medicine, it won’t be so easy.”
Huan Cheng instinctively dodged the flying object, his smile vanishing as he gritted his teeth. “Jiang Wan, why do you reject this Emperor so much?”
He considered himself not bad-looking, and as the emperor of a nation—whether he held real power or not—the position alone was enough to captivate anyone. So why did the empress he had married not even spare him a glance?
At this thought, he narrowed his eyes and darkened his expression. “Empress, do not forget, you and I are husband and wife.”