Thinking of the last time, Lian Hua couldn’t help but hiss softly and shudder. His Majesty knew too well how to deal with her, aware of her shyness, he punished her in that manner—such a scoundrel, such a rogue!
In her heart, Lian Hua ended her indignant grumbling with puffed cheeks, unconsciously pouting.
The Emperor, who had been watching her all along, heard her hiss and couldn’t help but look towards her, raised an eyebrow and asked with confusion, "What’s wrong?"
Why such an expression, who has bothered her? Wasn’t she just praising his storytelling?
"Ah?" Lian Hua came to her senses and cursed herself for forgetting to maintain her composure, trying to divert the topic she said, "Oh, Your Majesty, where have we reached in the story? Are we almost there...?"
The Emperor felt something was amiss and recalled the recent behavior of his Little Concubine, coming to a stop.
After thinking for a moment, he pursued the matter, "Between my storytelling and Sister Zhaoyi, who is better?"
That little rascal is too good at deceiving, asking her opinion again. He also wanted to know the answer to this question—if he was good at storytelling, she needed to say just how good it was.
It was exactly the situation she had feared. She’d barely managed to deflect his previous question when she was caught off-guard by this counterattack. Lian Hua felt as if she had swallowed an egg, her mouth agape, her eyes wide, clueless about what to do next.
His Majesty was really making it difficult for her. This question was even harder than the last.
The Emperor’s eyelid twitched, and he asked with increased emphasis, "Hmm?"
He thought, such an obvious matter, why is she having such difficulty answering? Was it out of consideration for Xu Rongying’s feelings?
Lian Hua thought, with such an obvious answer, why was he still asking her? It was difficult for her—she had to consider His Majesty’s feelings and couldn’t speak the truth.
Seeing His Majesty staring at her intently, she swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "You, you and Sister Zhaoyi are incomparable..."
"What?" The Emperor doubted he had heard correctly.
Lian Hua quickly gestured with her free hand and corrected herself, "No no, what I mean is, each has their own merit, it’s not the kind of merit that can be compared side by side..."
The Emperor frowned, clearly unsatisfied.
Lian Hua gulped nervously, not understanding why His Majesty became so unreasonable whenever Sister Zhaoyi was brought up. It had been the same the last time.
But she knew that if she couldn’t come up with a proper explanation now, she might have a hard time when she got back.
So she started tiptoeing around compliments, "Sister tells all these amusing stories, while Your Majesty’s stories are...uh...very thought-provoking..."
She was telling the truth—Sister Zhaoyi picked interesting stories, while His Majesty’s, recalling the lessons he summarized, she was sure were without mistake.
The Emperor nodded in agreement, it was clear who was superior, and she indeed had not wasted his time—she had listened and his effort had been effective. Yet, was that all?
He raised an eyebrow, as if to say, is that it?
Lian Hua swallowed hard again, "Also, they... educate through entertainment, spur to greater insights..."
The Emperor lightly scratched her nose, correcting her, "It’s ’whip and spur insights into the mind.’
Lian Hua was startled, thinking she had misspoken. When she realized it was not that mistake, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She couldn’t help but use her trump card, shaking the Emperor’s hand and cooing, "Your Majesty, all in all, you speak with such profound meaning, You know I am not good with words in this regard, please let me off the hook, shall we not talk about it anymore, please~"
Then she repeatedly called out with a whine, "His Majesty," "Your Majesty."
Her entreaties softened the Emperor’s heart completely, and he couldn’t help but laugh, pinching her cheek and involuntarily kissed her, saying, "Alright, we won’t talk about this anymore, in the future I will explain more to you."
Lian Hua thought her ploy had succeeded and was about to burst into a smile, but the latter part of his sentence filled her with dismay as if she had reaped what she had sown.
She weakly replied, "Then I will have to trouble Your Majesty, if you have some free time before bed, to explain things to me..."
This remark clearly limited the time for explanations to before sleep, she wanted no other times!
The Emperor nodded in agreement, feeling very pleased; his Little Concubine was just so considerate, understanding that he was too busy during the day. Very good, he thought, he would punish her less, and if her performance was good later on, he might not punish her at all.
The Emperor’s eyes briefly drifted to her belly, and an idea struck him, "Nannan, once the child is born, I will definitely set aside time every day to tell stories to him, just like your father did with you, how about that?"
Lian Hua smiled stiffly, nodding vigorously while smiling, agreeing that His Majesty was right, His Majesty’s every word was right. It was fine to trouble the baby in her belly, just don’t trouble its mother.
She couldn’t help but sympathetically touch her belly and silently apologized in her heart: Baby, I am sorry, it’s not that your Imperial Consort Mother won’t help you, she really can’t do much to save herself, Your Imperial Father is doing this for your own good, be patient in the future, listen more, and after you’ve had enough, your mother will take you to play to make it up to you...
Seeing her so cooperative, the Emperor laughed with pleasure. Since he had brought up her father, he had a question he had wanted to ask for a long time but had been afraid she would overthink it; now was the perfect time to ask.
Before asking, though, he decided to suggest something to her, "Nannan, call me Brother Zhao in private from now on, how does that sound?"
Lian Hua asked in surprise, "Hmm? Is your name Zhao, Your Majesty?"
She knew the family name was Yuchi, but the names of His Majesty were normally a taboo subject, and she had never concerned herself with the affairs of the former court, so she was not clear about His Majesty’s personal name.
"Mmm," the Emperor nodded, looking at her affectionately. He had wanted her to call him that for a long time, but he had never mentioned it to her before.
His Little Concubine was so close to him; many people called him His Majesty, but only one would call him Brother Zhao, and from then on, under the whole sky, only she could address him that way.
Lian Hua couldn’t help but pull back her right hand and bowed her head to write it herself. After two strokes, she couldn’t write it out, so she raised her head and asked, "Your Majesty, which ’Zhao’ is it?"
The Emperor smiled, pulled her hand over, and wrote it out for her, stroke by stroke, explaining, "’The splendor of youth fades, but the sun shines forever bright. As spring vigor surges, all things grow swiftly.’ My ’Zhao’ character comes from this."
It meant the alternation of seasons, the arrival of spring, the sun shining bright and glorious, and all things thriving and growing vibrantly.
Although he was not favored by the Late Emperor, the name he was given carried great hopes, symbolizing that the Yuchi Clan’s territory would shine and thrive like the sun forever.
"Zhao, Yuchi Zhao, Brother Zhao." Lian Hua couldn’t help but repeat it to herself several times in her heart, looking up at the Emperor with shining eyes and saying, "Your Majesty, your name is so nice."
It was much better than hers; her name was just Lian Hua, too simple.
After she learned to read, a fellow student with the last name He, who didn’t get along with her, once made fun of her name. She returned home in a sulk and pleaded with her parents to change it.
But her father said she couldn’t change it, and her mother also said she couldn’t change it, and they explained the origin of her name to her. She half understood it at the time, and it seemed so impressive that she let it go.
Later, when the classmate who made fun of her wanted to do so again, she explained it to him in a mild manner. The kid didn’t understand either and still wanted to laugh at her, so she beat him up.
When this was reported to her parents, it was the only time she could remember that her mother said the beating was well done, but after that, it no longer had the same effect.