The Emperor "hmm"ed and looked away, his gaze somewhat cold. For years now, he had let the Harem manage itself, and the Noble Consort was the barometer of the Harem. Since she came today, then by tomorrow everyone in the Harem would be moving in the wind.
He still had to command people to be careful and cautious, to prevent the infiltration of anything suspicious. However, with Nanny Qi in charge, there shouldn’t be any major issues.
Lian Hua uttered an "oh". His Majesty said there would be something, so there definitely was. She scratched her head; managing the storeroom was something she had no experience with. In her mind, things that weren’t needed could simply be piled up.
The Emperor looked at her, his eyes softening, touched her cheek, and said, "With Nanny Qi here, she will help you manage these. You don’t need to worry. From now on, who sends what gift, there are particularities to these things, but there is no rush. Nanny Qi will teach you slowly."
Lian Hua’s eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help but exclaim, "Wow, His Majesty, how does Grandma Qi know everything? What did she do before?"
The Emperor kissed her forehead and said, "Nanny Qi knows a lot, has done many things, and I have received many favors from her."
Lian Hua’s eyes sparkled brightly as she pulled His Majesty’s hand and walked to the bedside, sat down first, and patted the side, saying, "My lord, sit down and tell me about it."
No wonder His Majesty held Nanny Qi in such high esteem. She saw Nanny Qi in a very good light and wanted to understand Nanny Qi and to know about His Majesty and Nanny Qi’s stories, especially the stories of His Majesty’s childhood.
The Emperor looked at her curious expression, laughed, and sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms and began to slowly narrate.
He talked about Nanny Qi’s affairs, how well Nanny Qi had treated him, and some anecdotes from his childhood. Of course, these anecdotes had seemed quite boring to the former Lian Hua.
For instance, the Emperor mentioned a funny interpretation he came across while studying with the Grand Tutor, then told Lian Hua about it and laughed himself. Lian Hua listened, not fully understanding and failing to find the humor, but she laughed along with His Majesty anyway. Although she didn’t understand, she still listened with great interest.
Gradually, as the Emperor’s calm narrative continued, Lian Hua’s eyelids grew heavier, and she tried hard to stay awake to listen to His Majesty, yet her mind became increasingly groggy.
In the end, the Emperor held her, removed her shoes and outer clothing, gently laid her on the bed, and kissed her forehead. He coaxed her in her ear, "Be good, sleep," and finally, her consciousness relaxed and she drifted off into deep sleep.
Once Lian Hua was asleep, the Emperor let the curtains down on both sides, lifted them gently to look at her one last time, tucked her in more snugly, dropped the curtains, and walked out of the room.
When talking with Nanny Qi, he had spotted Cao De’s figure lurking behind a group of Young Eunuchs, playing hide and seek. He would recognize that figure even if it turned to ash; he could not hide it no matter how much he tried.
Once the hall doors were closed, the Emperor walked towards the darkness, and as he reached a corner, a shadow sprung out to attack him. The Emperor’s form shifted, and his right fist swung out, striking towards the shadow’s face.
The shadow jumped back to dodge the punch, complaining, "Ouch, Yuchi Zhao, I’ve come back from miles away to help you, and this is how you greet me?" Who else could that voice belong to if not Cao De?
Not far away, Zhang Qing heard the noise and came hurrying over with a lantern in the dark, asking from a distance, "Who is it?"
The Emperor called out, "Everyone stand down."
Zhang Qing shuddered and quickly led his men to bow and retreat far away.
After everyone had left, the Emperor turned his back, hands behind him, and snorted coldly, "It has been years since our last meeting, and yet you have grown bolder, daring to assault your sovereign. I have spared you from punishment out of consideration for our old times."
Cao De chuckled and, stepping out from around the corner, said, "I only wanted to test out His Majesty’s skills to see if sitting on the throne has dulled you. Now it seems my emperor’s blade is still sharp. I am truly relieved."
The Emperor looked at him, still with that familiar rambunctious air, and said with a smiling scold, "Always so improper. Speak, what brings you to me?"
"Oh, wasn’t it you who roamed the palace in broad daylight looking for me? How can you say it was I who sought you out?" Cao De dusted off his clothes, frowning as he had rubbed against quite a bit of dust in the dark; he would need to take a bath when he returned.
The Emperor, paying him no mind, cut straight to the point, "Cut the rubbish. Have you discovered anything?"
This fellow loved to babble; you couldn’t argue with him. The more you argued, the more spirited he became. He would not show himself during the day, only at night, and so late at that—it must be something important.
Cao De clicked his tongue and murmured, "Still so dull." After his murmuring, he finally started to speak earnestly, "Tomorrow at the court meeting, someone will bring charges against your Little Beauty. Be careful."
The Emperor had long anticipated this, although he hadn’t expected it to take three days for someone to bring the accusation. He asked, "Is there anything else you’ve found?"
Cao De stroked his chin, deep in thought, saying, "I have locked down a few potential accusers. I guess the mastermind behind this is also testing the waters, afraid to show himself and risk being dealt with by you, so he pushed a scapegoat to the front. In my estimation, this is not so straightforward; it’s just the beginning. There must be other moves in play."
The Emperor’s expression turned icy, his eyes gleaming with a cold light, "It’s just those few people after all. If they do not overstep, I can still tolerate them, but otherwise..."
The implied meaning was clear to Cao De. Over the years, those crafty old foxes had committed numerous dark deeds under the guise of their contributions to the throne. They thought the Emperor was oblivious—how naive!
In his life, Cao De had admired only one person—that was the Son of Heaven before him, Yuchi Zhao. Without Yuchi Zhao, Cao De would have been long reduced to dust and bones.
At the age of five, his mother passed away, and his father elevated a concubine to power. His cruel stepmother managed to maintain an impeccable facade. At the age of six, she schemed for traffickers to abduct him, and he was brought to the palace to become an eunuch. He had once given up hope, and if not for following Yuchi Zhao, he would have died thousands of times over.
Yuchi Zhao’s own life story was even more tragic. While Cao De had at least known his mother’s love, Yuchi Zhao had nothing but the title of Prince from birth, having struggled out of a morass of corpses and blood. It was solely by his own abilities that he reached this position—patient and strategic, possessing brilliant talents and grandeur, broad-minded with meticulous thoughts, and incomparable to these short-sighted fools.
Back when the political situation was unstable, those old foxes were merely opportunists, like reeds that swayed with the wind. Seeing Yuchi Zhao secure his position in the Eastern Palace, they pretended to turn over a new leaf and flock to the Crown Prince. Did they think nobody saw through them? They were just using each other!
Cao De dared to say that if back then Yuchi Zhao had shown even a hint of weakness or decline, those crafty old foxes would have definitely deserted him.
These fools probably thought it was still the old days, not realizing that the Emperor had begun laying out his plans in secrecy from the moment he ascended the throne, openly and covertly weakening their influence on the court politics.
With each year the political landscape grew more stable, yet these fools continued to dream of the past, aspiring to return to controlling the former court, to push someone from the Harem as Empress again, and to produce a Crown Prince of their bloodlines. Truly foolish!