Qingyao’s eyes flickered, and she understood her father’s thoughts. She smiled faintly and said, “I don’t force him. You know, how big a piece of fat meat the other six kingdoms are. If I helped him, let alone the Fengchen Palace, even a whole country would be a reasonable request. However, I’ve always disliked being constrained, so I didn’t make such a demand. It’s just a Fengchen Palace. Would the Emperor be foolish enough not to agree?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Mu Hen was speechless. Yes, compared to a thorn, a piece of fat meat was naturally more tempting. No, it should be several pieces of fat meat placed before his eyes, and the Emperor would naturally not bother with the thorn. But if there were no turmoil in the seven kingdoms, the Emperor might try to remove this thorn.
“If, after pacifying the seven kingdoms, you wouldn’t be very dangerous.”
“At that time, all economic lifelines will be in my hands. If he dares to play dirty with me, I will disrupt his empire, and he won’t be able to be a peaceful Emperor.”
Qingyao’s tone was chilling, spoken with her usual good temper, but her voice was cold. Mu Hen couldn’t help but shiver. If this woman weren’t his daughter, he would find her terrifying. But she was his daughter, and he was very happy to have such a smart daughter.
“Alright, then Father will find you a house tomorrow.”
“Okay, then I’ll be going back.” Qingyao nodded, got up, and walked towards the door. As she was about to leave, Mu Hen suddenly remembered something and quickly called out to her, “Yao’er, the Emperor has been staying in the palace. When did you see him, and how did you manage to discuss these matters with him?”
Qingyao’s voice drifted from afar.
“A spiritual connection.”
After that, her light laughter was heard, as if everything was under her control. Mu Hen finally let out a sigh of relief. This girl could truly scare people to death. His eyes fell on the blueprints on the table, and he became interested. He picked them up and studied them carefully under the light, wondering about the immense power of these military weapons.
Qingyao led Mo You back to Qing Yuan to rest. The next morning, before she had even woken up, she heard a commotion outside, which annoyed her. It was rare to have a peaceful sleep, so who was making such a racket in the courtyard early in the morning? Moreover, in Qing Yuan, besides a few maids for rough chores, there were no other maids. Because of last night’s incident, the Prime Minister had intended to send more people over, but Qingyao had stopped him. Besides a few maids she rarely saw, all her daily needs were taken care of by Mo Chou.
At this moment, she didn’t know who was speaking loudly in the courtyard.
“Mo Chou, Mo Chou?”
Qingyao called out twice. Mo Chou rushed in from outside the door and respectfully said, “Miss, you’re awake?”
Qingyao’s expression was a little cold, but her body didn’t move. She asked faintly, “Who is outside? Why is it so noisy?”
Just as Mo Chou was about to reply, someone spoke from behind the screen, “Imperial sister-in-law, I miss you, so as soon as I heard you returned, I came to see you.”
It turned out to be Princess Murong Xingzhu. Early in the morning, while paying respects to the Emperor, she heard her imperial brother say that her imperial sister-in-law had returned to the capital, so she immediately came to visit her. It was rare that her imperial brother didn’t object.
However, as soon as Murong Xingzhu entered the room and saw Qingyao on the bed, and the shocking red marks on half of her face, she couldn’t help but exclaim angrily, “Imperial sister-in-law, your face! Which scoundrel drugged you?”
She instinctively thought it was poison or something. Xiao Yu’er, who had been held tightly by her, immediately interjected, “It was that damned Hua Wenbo who harmed Mother! If we ever catch that person, we will surely hack him into a thousand pieces and expose his corpse at the Meridian Gate for three days.”
Xiao Yu’er gritted her teeth and cursed. The princess, who was holding her, her aunt Murong Xingzhu, opened her large, watery eyes and looked at Xiao Yu’er with surprise, sighing.
“Xiao Yu’er, you’re so amazing! Auntie really admires you. How old are you this year?”
Murong Xingzhu was astonished, sticking out her little pink tongue. It was truly hard to believe that Xiao Yu’er was only a two-year-old child, yet she seemed a little strange.
When Xiao Yu’er heard her question, she casually said, “This young lady?”
Just as she was about to say “this young lady is over twenty,” Qingyao on the bed coughed. Xiao Yu’er immediately came back to her senses, touched her head, blinked her slender phoenix eyes, and said cutely, “Auntie, haven’t I already turned two? Look how old I am.”
After speaking, she deliberately twirled twice in the room. Murong Xingzhu looked at her like this, her small body dressed in a light green silk skirt, her hair styled in a princess’s bun with two pearl hairpins slanted at the side. The whole person was delicate and cute, but she was indeed a little child. It seemed she had been overthinking. However, this girl was indeed a bit formidable. xxs1
“Not bad, Xiao Yu’er looks so much like Imperial Brother,” Murong Xingzhu reached out and pinched Xiao Yu’er’s face. She then walked two steps back to Qingyao’s bedside and asked softly, “Imperial sister-in-law, why don’t I have the imperial physicians from the palace come over and examine you? Perhaps they can find a solution.”
Qingyao lazily sat up and shook her head indifferently. This ugly facial ailment, besides that man, perhaps no one else could cure it, right? Even the techniques that Wu Qing could not resolve, what capability could a mere palace imperial physician possess? However, she had already come to terms with it.
“Princess, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine.”
“Imperial sister-in-law?”
Murong Xingzhu called out again. Qingyao immediately raised a hand. She felt it was necessary to clarify this point, her expression very serious and her tone stern, “Xingzhu, I am no longer your Imperial sister-in-law. Don’t call me that from now on. You can either call me by my name or call me Sister Mu, whichever you prefer, but don’t call me Imperial sister-in-law, otherwise, I will have to pretend not to know you.”
“Imperial sister-in-law?”
Murong Xingzhu pouted. She had thought that when her Imperial sister-in-law returned, she would have forgiven her Imperial brother. She hadn’t expected that she didn’t think that way at all. Thinking of the Emperor’s recent dejection, she couldn’t help but lean towards Qingyao and say in a low voice, “Imperial sister-in-law, please forgive Imperial Brother.”
“I don’t blame him, never have. But it is a fact that I am no longer your Imperial sister-in-law. Please, Princess, don’t make things difficult for me.”
On this matter, Qingyao was very firm. She would not give up this stance.
Finally, Murong Xingzhu gave up and changed her address to Sister Mu, staying at the Mu Residence to play with Qingyao and Xiao Yu’er.
Princess Murong Xingzhu was naturally lively and naive. This time, meeting Xiao Yu’er, they were like two peas in a pod. Although there was a difference in their generation, and one was big and the other small, they surprisingly hit it off very well. Although many times the princess suspected where Xiao Yu’er’s peculiar ideas came from, she attributed it to her being too smart and didn’t think of anything else.
Prime Minister Mu went to the morning court early. After the morning court, the Emperor instructed him to stay and summoned him to the study.
“Your humble subject pays his respects to Your Majesty.”
Mu Hen respectfully greeted the Emperor. For some reason, looking at the Emperor today, he seemed to possess more frigid dominance, arrogant disdain, and loftiness than usual.
“Rise, Prime Minister Mu.”
Xian Emperor, seated on the high throne, waved his hand and spoke calmly. He had kept Mu Hen behind to inquire about how she was living in the Mu Residence and whether she was still accustomed to it.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Mu Hen stood to the side. A cold air flowed within the study, making Mu Hen cautiously vigilant. He didn’t know why the Emperor had kept him. Could it be related to Yao’er’s return to the capital? He didn’t know how the Emperor would arrange things for Yao’er. However, based on Yao’er’s words yesterday, it seemed they had some interaction, so she shouldn’t be punished.