At night, Huo Chengwang obediently brought his homework over. He had practiced writing twenty characters. Ning Shu quizzed him to see whether he really recognized those characters, then had him recite the poem he memorized.
Huo Chengwang nodded his little head to emphasize points of the poem like a true pedant as he recited. After he finished, he looked towards Ning Shu. Ning Shu nodded and praised him, “Very nice! Chengwang is amazing!”
Huo Chengwang blushed as he puffed up his chest. “This subject son knows even more!”
In all honesty, Ning Shu felt like blushing with shame. She couldn’t even write as well as a five-year-old! She was determined not to ever touch a brush here.
“Make sure to be careful when you play with the little fox, alright? Don’t go to places that are too dangerous, got it?” exhorted Ning Shu. Huo Chengwang nodded and said, “Imperial Mother, you’re the best!”
Ning Shu patted his shoulder. Originally, she was going to pat his butt, but she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was acting like a weird aunty and settled for his shoulder instead.
“Alright, go rest now,” said Ning Shu with a smile. Then she said, “Don’t let the fox injure you, got it? It’s an animal after all, it’d be bad to get scratched by it. When you wash up at night, have the wet nurse add mugwort leaf to the water, understand?”
“This subject son understands.” Huo Chengwang nodded.
Once Huo Chengwang left, Ning Shu sighed in relief. It was seriously hard to communicate with a child.
“Your Imperial Highness, today is the fifteenth. His Majesty should be coming.” Qing Zhu glanced outside. “But it’s already so late.”
Ning Shu yawned. “Wash up and go to sleep. No need to wait anymore.”
Qing Zhu looked towards Ning Shu sympathetically and tried to console her, “Your Imperial Highness, His Majesty must just be too busy.”
Busy to the point he didn’t need to sleep? Most of the time the emperor’s visit to the empress’s palace was just to sleep. It was only a few steps away after all. It was just that he didn’t want to come.
Just as Ning Shu lay down on the bed, the sharp voice of an eunuch came from outside. “His Majesty has arrived.”
So Ning Shu got up again and pulled on a layer of clothing.
Huo Qing soon walked in. Ning Shu greeted him formally, “This subject wife pays her respects to Your Majesty.”
Huo Qing had a tall and strong build, and the waist belt tugging slightly at his clothes hinted at his muscular figure. At the same time, he had strong facial features with a well-defined jawline and a perfect straight-edged nose.
“Empress is already resting?” asked Huo Qing. “Could it be that you’ve forgotten about today being the fifteenth?”
Ning Shu could sense that Huo Qing was angry even though there was no expression on his face. She was speechless. If he didn’t freakin’ want to come, just don’t come! The way he was acting as if he was forced here just made everyone annoyed.
Huo Qing had been forced here. When he went to court this morning, that damned old Xiao had presented a memorial saying that it had been too long since he had graced the inner palace.
In plain terms, that old man wanted him to go dote on his granddaughter, so Huo Qing had to shuffle over here to the empress’s palace.
As he was leaving the study, the little fox kept holding onto his leg and looked at him tearfully. Huo Qing felt really bad and had to coax the little fox for a long time so that she would let go.
When he came here and found that Ning Shu was already sleeping, he was furious and also became disgusted with her. He spread his arms and waited for Ning Shu to help him change. “Let’s just rest then.”
Ning Shu nodded. “Alright.”
From the looks of it, Huo Qing didn’t plan to tumble with her. She was relieved.