When Emperor Jingren woke up the next day, he was alone in bed. When the queen came back from changing clothes and lay beside him last night, Emperor Jingren knew a little bit, but he didn't intend to have anything happen with anyone at that time, so he just fell asleep. He originally planned to get up early in the morning and be intimate with the queen, but when he woke up, the queen was not by his side.
He looked at the time and saw that there was still some time before he went to court. He was worried and could not sleep well at night. He could only fall asleep in the early morning, which resulted in him having to be woken up every day before going to court. Who would have thought that he slept very soundly last night and woke up this morning after a full sleep, much earlier than usual.
Seeing the emperor wake up, Xia He hurried to find the queen, but Emperor Jingren waved his hand and said, "No need. The queen said yesterday that she would dance with a spear in the morning. I want to go and see."
After helping Emperor Jingren change his clothes and wash his face, Xia He led him to the small martial arts arena in the backyard of Qifeng Palace. It was originally a back garden, where the previous empresses would plant flowers and fish, punish palace maids and eunuchs, and plot against others. But when it came to the current empress Xiao Jinyi, she pulled out the flowers and filled the pond, turning the back garden into a small martial arts arena. The palace servants who used to take care of flowers, birds, insects, fish, and clean the back garden were not driven away. The empress chose those who were physically fit and young to fight with her, and those who were skeletal continued to be responsible for cleaning the martial arts arena.
As soon as Emperor Jingren arrived at the back garden, he saw a pair of palace maids and eunuchs in tight clothes, sweating profusely, holding long spears and nine-section whips to fight with the unarmed empress. The two men were not very old, but their skills were agile, not much different from some of the guards of wealthy families, while the empress calmly dealt with it with one hand.
The queen was dressed in a white outfit, and her hair was not in a complicated and dignified hairstyle as usual, but simply tied up high, looking very refreshing. She was agile, like a nimble cheetah shuttling back and forth between the whip shadows and the gun tips, her long hair sometimes flew to her shoulders, covering half of her face, and sometimes flew back to reveal her whole handsome face, which was extraordinary and handsome.
Emperor Jingren: “…”
When Emperor Jingren was in a daze, the Queen saw him at a glance and immediately stopped playing with the two children. She took the weapons from the two children and threw them. The two weapons were hung on the weapon rack exactly. The Queen jumped in front of Emperor Jingren and smiled at him, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for making a fool of myself."
Emperor Jingren: "...Jin Yi is so dashing and heroic, I like him very much."
Yes, he really likes it, but...
Emperor Jingren rarely controlled his eyes, and violated the principle of "do not look at what is indecent", and could not help looking at the queen's chest. The tight clothes were fitted, and there was a slight bulge there, although it was a little but small, but still there. While he breathed a sigh of relief, Emperor Jingren actually felt a little regretful. It would have been great if the queen was not a woman. People like Xiao Jinyi should not be confined in the palace and waste their lives, but should fight for the country on the battlefield. It was the identity of the queen that restricted her steps.
But now that things have come to this, Emperor Jingren couldn't say that it was the palace that restricted you. He could only nod and say, "If the Queen likes it, you don't have to stick to this small back garden. Chaocheng Palace is very close to Qifeng Palace, and not many people live there. If the Queen likes it, you can change it. Palace servants who are suitable for martial arts training can also go there. Although it's a bit hard, if ordinary people in the palace have skills, the palace will be safer."
After hearing his words, the queen could no longer maintain her calm expression, and looked at Emperor Jingren in surprise. As an emperor, Emperor Jingren was too good to this seemingly plain queen. In the harem, no one could shake the queen's position. The beautiful Shufei and the illustrious Defei could not even enter the door of the Purple Palace when the emperor was injured. This was because no matter how much Emperor Jingren liked these concubines, they were just concubines, and there was only one queen, Xiao Jinyi. He almost responded to the queen's requests... No, it should be that the queen didn't even need to ask, as long as it didn't violate the palace rules, Emperor Jingren would take the initiative to ask.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." After being surprised for a moment, the Queen returned to her previous calm demeanor. She bowed to Emperor Jingren and simply thanked him. Emperor Jingren did not require her to perform a grand ceremony, so she did not do so.
In fact, at this time, as a wife, she should be intimate with her husband as encouragement, but Emperor Jingren did not need this, and the Queen did not intend to shamelessly kiss Emperor Jingren in front of the palace maids and eunuchs with her face covered in sweat, so both of them acted in a businesslike manner, one thanked the Emperor and the other said you're welcome, as if it was just a very ordinary little thing.
After breakfast, the empress sent Emperor Jingren off to attend court and returned to her room. Xia He followed behind her with her head lowered and eyes lowered, not saying a word. Soon, the glass lamp that Emperor Jingren had promised was delivered. The empress looked at the lamp for a while and suddenly said to Xia He, "I originally planned to come here to live a lazy life. When someone succeeds, I will leave here and live my life as I want in the future."
Xia He had cold sweat on her forehead, and she lowered her head even deeper, saying, "Me, me too."
"Okay, don't think I don't know. When the emperor was unconscious, you were planning to light incense." The queen said, "If you had lit incense, given the emperor's personality, he would probably make you a noble after he woke up, which would make things easier for you in the future. It's just that I've been following the emperor all the time, so you couldn't light incense. The same goes for Doctor Chen. He's been staring at me viciously because I ruined his plans at that time."
"I, I won't dare to do it again." Xia He said tremblingly.
The Queen sighed softly and said, "Actually, I don't care what you do. It doesn't matter how you light incense, but he has a head injury. If he has those messy dreams again, it will be bad for his brain. Of course, Doctor Chen is helpless. With his status, he only has a chance to see patients. If he doesn't seize it, he may never have another chance in the future."
"Then..." Xia He raised her head with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. She knelt down and kowtowed, saying to the queen, "I really need money. Please help me, Queen!"
"No." The queen's calm face turned cold, and her eyes were sharp. "Order the people from the Ministry of Justice to go to each palace and search out all these incense. I will not allow you to light incense again in the future."
"You are so immoral!" Xia He raised her head suddenly and said, "We all started from the same point and we all rely on our own abilities. Why do you deprive us of our rights?"
"Because I'm the queen, second only to the emperor and above everyone else," Xiao Jinyi said majestically.
Xia He's accusations and struggles were ineffective. Not everyone in the harem was like them, otherwise there would have been chaos. The queen held great power. As long as she gave an order, saying that the Imperial Hospital had confirmed that this kind of incense from a foreign land was harmful to the body, she could take away everyone's incense. Even Emperor Jingren would not be alarmed, because this little thing was not worth the emperor's trouble.
Emperor Jingren, who was handling state affairs in the imperial study after court dismissal, had no idea that an unknown struggle was taking place in the palace. He was in a particularly good spirits today, and he reviewed all the memorials that had been piled up in recent days in one go, and finally decided to deal with the matter of the palace maid.
He was not satisfied with the information that Jinyiwei had found out last time, so he asked them to check again. The secret guards from Concubine Shu sent news that except for the word "square dance" which was a little unclear, there was nothing wrong with the rest. Emperor Jingren was sure that Concubine Shu was not someone else pretending to be her, but her stunning beauty was something that no one could pretend to be.
"Square dance... why?" Emperor Jingren asked Eunuch Lian who was serving him.
Eunuch Lian's face froze. He put the teacup on the desk and thought for a long time before saying, "Dancing in the square?"
"In public?" Emperor Jingren frowned. "Could it be the kind of Yangko dance that people do in the streets during the New Year? It does look a bit similar."
Eunuch Lian wiped his sweat, smiled and nodded: "That should be it."
Emperor Jingren sighed, "You are a beautiful woman, but... Tell someone to tell Concubine Shu that even if you like it, the palace should not dance these folk dances, and it is better to concentrate on studying dance skills."
"As you command."
Eunuch Lian went out and called over a cute little eunuch with a chubby face. He gritted his teeth and said to him, "Hurry up and tell that fool Concubine Shu to stop dancing in the square and learn some dancing instead. Don't embarrass yourself by showing it off!"
The young eunuch was also shocked. He didn't expect that someone would dare to do square dance in front of Emperor Jingren. He couldn't understand why Concubine Shu didn't light incense.
Inside the gate, Emperor Jingren continued to read the report from the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei commander-in-chief and the Imperial Guard commander Yan Xu guaranteed with their lives that Su Huailing really had no martial arts skills.
As soon as Eunuch Lian entered the room, he saw Emperor Jingren frowning and saying, "Tell Yan Xu to come see me."