Shen Jialin held Lingling in his arms and touched the little tuft of hair on Lingling's head very familiarly. He bowed to Qi Yuning and said, "Princess."

Qi Yuning looked at Lingling in Shen Jialin's arms, then looked at Shen Jialin and said, "When did you become so familiar with my Lingling?"

Although Lingling is a child who is not afraid of strangers, she would not be so familiar with strangers. It doesn't seem like these two people just met.

Shen Jialin smiled and looked at Lingling in his arms and said, "Lingling is so cute, she and I hit it off right away."

Lingling smiled at Shen Jialin, hugged Shen Jialin's neck with both hands, and rubbed her little head against Shen Jialin's face.

Qi Yuning felt that something was wrong. You know, Lu Ze had to depend on Lingling's mood for her to do this, but Lingling was so affectionate to Shen Jialin.

Qi Yuning thought of Lingling when she was three years old. At that time, Lingling was also very familiar with Shen Jialin. As soon as she saw Shen Jialin, she called him Uncle Linlin.

Shen Nian came out of the house and gave a box to Shen Jialin.

Shen Jialin took the box and smiled faintly: "Thank you, sister. I'll leave first."

When Shen Jialin was about to let Lingling go, Lingling was reluctant to leave Shen Jialin, "Uncle Linlin!"

Qi Yuning took Lingling from Shen Jialin's arms, hugged Lingling and said, "Uncle has to go. Say goodbye to uncle."

Lingling waved to Shen Jialin and said, "See you, uncle."

After Shen Jialin left, Qi Yuning asked Shen Nian, “Does Shen Jialin come to your place often?”

Shen Nian said, "I've only been here two or three times. This time, Shen Jialin asked my stepmother and stepfather to buy a set of red coral headpieces. He didn't want my aunt to know about it, so he left it with me first and came to pick it up later."

Qi Yuning asked: "Red coral headpiece?"

"Well, my stepmother and stepfather are from Ryukyu, which produces top-grade red coral. The red coral headpiece they just wore is a rare and exquisite piece of red coral, and it is top-notch in Shengjing City."

Qi Yuning asked, "What does Shen Jialin want the red coral headpiece for? It can't be a gift for Madam Shen, right?"

Shen Nian shook his head and said, “I don’t know what it is for, but judging by the style, it’s for young girls.”

Qi Yuning sighed for Lu Baozhu and carried Lingling back to the courtyard. Lu Ze returned early today, which was a rare occasion.

Lingling saw Lu Ze and went over to him to hug him, "Daddy."

Lu Ze picked up Lingling and said, "You are so good."

Lingling leaned her head on Lu Ze's shoulder and said, "Lingling and mother will sleep together."

"No!" Lu Ze said, imitating Lingling's tone.

Lingling pouted: "I want to sleep with my mother."

"Lingling sleeps with the nurse."

Lingling refused to let Lu Ze hold her and snorted, "Lingling doesn't like Daddy anymore."

Lu Ze put Lingling down and held Qi Yuning in his arms. "Why is Lingling getting more and more clingy as she gets older?"

Lingling saw Lu Ze holding Qi Yuning, and pushed Lu Ze and said, "Mom, Lingling holds you, Daddy doesn't want to hold you."

Lu Ze deliberately angered Lingling and kissed Qi Yuning on the face, "Daddy can not only hug Mommy, but also kiss Mommy."

Lingling was almost crying because of Lu Ze. Qi Yuning pushed Lu Ze away angrily and hugged Lingling who was about to cry, "Ignore your father. He is becoming more and more childish. He doesn't know how to be the regent and take charge of the affairs of the entire Dasheng country."

Lu Ze smiled softly.

Lingling looked at Lu Ze with tears in her eyes and said, "Daddy is bad."

Lu Ze went forward and hugged Lingling and said, "Daddy will take you to play with your uncle? Is Daddy still a bad guy?"

"Not bad, Daddy is the best."

Qi Yuning was not happy to hear the word "best", but she remembered that Lingling had cried when she was asked to choose between her father and mother before, so she forced herself not to ask who was better, mother or father.

Except for not being able to accommodate Lingling at night, Lu Ze fulfilled his responsibilities as a father on weekdays. Whenever he was not busy with state affairs, he would bring Lingling into the palace.

Zhao Jie was busy with his studies and also had to learn the rules of being an emperor. The soft, sweet and innocent little Lingling brought Zhao Jie a lot of comfort.

Zhao Jie indulged Lingling and took Lingling to play on the dragon chair. Lingling was interested in the imperial seal, so Zhao Jie even took a piece of white paper and asked Lingling to stamp on it.

After Lu Ze found out, he gave Ling Ling a good lesson.

Zhao Jie chuckled and said, "Cousin, I like Lingling, please don't scold her."

Lu Ze looked at Zhao Jie and said, "Your Majesty, the rules between the monarch and his subjects must be followed. The imperial seal is not a toy. How can Ling Ling play with it casually?"

Zhao Jie said: "I am happy to let Lingling play with the jade seal at will."

When Lu Ze heard Zhao Jie call himself "I" in front of him, he said nothing more.

After two years, Zhao Jie is no longer the ignorant child, but has become a little emperor. He is no longer a coward who simply obeys Lu Ze's words.

Lu Ze was quite pleased that Zhao Jie was able to stand on his own.

Lingling discovered that with Zhao Jie's support, even her father had to listen to her uncle, and she could play as she pleased in the palace.

Although Queen Mother Zhou disliked Qi Yuning and Lu Ze, Lingling was cute, well-behaved, and had a sweet mouth, so Queen Mother Zhou was extremely happy with Lingling.

When in the palace, Lingling only listened to her uncle. She sat on the dragon throne, passed the jade seal and played with it. Lingling even cut out the dragon on the imperial edict and stuck it on chopsticks while dancing with it.

Although the dragon that Lingling cut herself was crooked, no one else dared to cut the imperial edict except Lingling.

Qi Yuning was at home and heard Lu Ze talk about Lingling's rebellion in the palace, and she couldn't help but worry.

"Will Lingling be accused of contempt for the imperial power in the future for doing this?"

Qi Yuning said to Lu Ze: "It seems we still have to be prepared for any eventuality."

Lu Ze chuckled and said, "Lingling is only a little over two years old. I don't think anyone would be so nosy. But I think the little emperor is really good to Lingling. He likes Lingling very much. It's a pity that he is of a different generation than Lingling..."

Qi Yuning looked at Lu Ze and said, "What do you mean? You want Lingling to be the queen? I can tell you that Lingling will definitely not enter the harem. We don't need a queen to add icing on the cake."

Lu Ze said: "I don't want Lingling to be the queen, I just think Jie'er is so indulgent to Lingling, it would be great if Lingling's husband could do the same to her in the future, but it's a pity that they are of different generations and cannot be husband and wife.

Lingling has been so spoiled by the Lord of the World, I don’t know which boy will be worthy of our Lingling in the future.”

Qi Yuning said, "Please stop talking. I get worried when I talk about marriage. Lu Baozhu's marriage was so difficult. When Lingling from my family looks for a husband in the future, I'm afraid I'll have to rack my brains to choose."

Lu Ze smiled lightly.

…

In the third year of Kangping, it was spring, a good time to travel and enjoy the scenery.

Seeing that the spring weather was beautiful these days, Qi Yuning went to the palace to find Lu Ze, hoping that Lu Ze would take a little time off to accompany Lingling to fly a kite.

Seeing that the sun was getting warmer, Lu Ze agreed, "You didn't bring Lingling with you?"

Qi Yuning said: "Lu Baozhu took Lingling to Longhua Mountain early in the morning. It's a good opportunity for you and I to go to Longhua Mountain to find Lingling together."

Lu Ze said: "Okay."

Zhao Jie, who was standing aside, looked at Qi Yuning eagerly. Qi Yuning smiled and said, "Your Majesty, come fly a kite with us!"

Zhao Jie stood up and said, "Sister Princess is so nice."

After Lu Ze and Qi Yuning took Zhao Jie out of the palace, Zhao Jie looked greedily at everything outside the palace. Qi Yuning seemed to know why Zhao Jie doted on Lingling so much. Perhaps he envied Lingling's freedom.

When they arrived at Longhua Mountain, they paid their respects at Xianglin Temple and then went to the lake behind the mountain to look for Lingling.

There was a cruise ship on the lake behind the mountain. Qi Yuning saw from afar the backs of a young couple leaning against each other. Lingling was sitting on the bow of the boat eating mung bean cake with her mouth full of it.

Ali, who was on the shore, saw Qi Yuning and bowed, saying, "Princess."

Qi Yuning looked at the young woman in the lake and saw that she was wearing Lu Baozhu's clothes.

When Lu Baozhu heard the voice, she turned around and saw Lu Ze and Qi Yuning. She covered the man's face with her sleeves and pushed him into the lake, saying sternly, "Get out of here!"

The mountain lake stretched as far as the eye could see, but after the man got up from the lake, he turned his back to them and left.

Lu Ze signaled the secret guards to chase after him.

"Uncle, mommy, daddy!"

After the boat landed, Lingling threw herself into Zhao Jie's arms, "Uncle, Gao Gao."

Zhao Jie took the mung bean cake handed to him by Lingling and ate it.

Lu Ze looked at Lu Baozhu unhappily and asked, "Who is that man?"

Lu Baozhu said: "No comment."

Qi Yuning squatted down and asked Lingling: "Who did your aunt take you to play with just now?"

Lu Baozhu threatened Lingling, "Don't tell me, or you won't have any mung bean cakes to eat!"

Lingling said to Qi Yuning: "Mom, my aunt doesn't let me say it's Uncle Linlin, Lingling can't tell you."

Lu Baozhu: “…”

Qi Yuning looked at the red coral headdress on Lu Baozhu's head and asked, "What's going on between you and Shen Jialin?"

Lu Baozhu said, "That's it. I like him, but his mother is really annoying. I don't want to marry him. Now that they are both unmarried, what's wrong with them talking about love?"

Lu Ze frowned and said, "Aren't you afraid of losing your reputation by doing this? Are you really thinking of never getting married?"

Lu Baozhu said, "You can really support me even if you don't marry Lingling for the rest of your life, right, Lingling?"

Lingling ate the mung bean cake, and nodded with sparkling peach blossom eyes: "Yes, Lingling, give Auntie some cake."