Chapter 38 How Deep the Sea Is Xuanye and Empress Hesheli are indeed young...

Although Xuanye and Empress Hesheli were a young couple, he was too young when he got married. Although he had a vague feeling about the words "like" and "love", that feeling was far worse than what he has now.

"Yu'er, I'm so grateful to have met you at this age. Not too old, not too young, just right." Xuanye wrapped his arms around Xiu Yu, looking at the sunlight streaming through the nearby woods. He said, "If it were earlier, I would have been a little naive. If it were later..."

"If it were too late, perhaps you and I would never have met." Xiu Yu rested her head on Xuanye's shoulder, enjoying the rare quiet and stillness. "Fate is truly marvelous. Who could have imagined that we would meet for the first time on the streets of the capital? In fact, I've thought that perhaps I wouldn't have the chance to meet you until a long time after entering the palace. Or perhaps we wouldn't have the chance to meet at all."

Xuanye said, "Even if I hadn't met you on the street, I would have found you immediately once you entered the palace. Can you trust me?"

Xiu Yu raised her eyebrows slightly, glanced back at Xuanye, and said, "The situation has already become what it is now. No matter what you say, I have no way to refute it. What difference does it make whether I believe it or not?"

This is what makes Xiu Yu different from others. If it were any other woman in his palace, her response would generally be something like, "Your Majesty, I believe everything you say!" He's so used to hearing "I believe everything you say," and when faced with someone as special as Xiu Yu, how could he not like her?

"While what you said is true, what I just said was entirely sincere." Xuanye continued to confess his heart: "I've told you more than once that the feeling I had when I first saw you was indescribable. Even though you were wearing men's clothes, I could tell at a glance that you were the one I was looking for."

Xiu Yu jokingly said, "Why doesn't Your Majesty just be a good emperor of the Qing Dynasty? Instead, he's out in the streets of the capital looking for someone? Who are you looking for?"

"Looking for you." Xuanye raised his left arm and gently tapped Xiuyu's nose with his left index finger. "I know you probably won't believe me no matter how many times I say it, but it's true. I don't know why I have such thoughts, but I am sure that they are not only related to your appearance."

"Okay." Xiu Yu had lived two lives, but she had never experienced love at first sight. She had always thought such feelings only existed in storybooks. Now, someone actually said these words to her, and that person was the current emperor. To be honest, the feeling in her heart was a little unreal. But whether it was true or not was actually irrelevant. Sometimes, "sounding good" was also very important.

Xuanye knew Xiuyu was a practical and rational girl, and she certainly didn't believe what he had just said. But whether she believed him or not didn't really matter. As long as she stayed by his side, he would be at ease.

When Xuanye's right hand stopped shaking when he raised it, Xiu Yu said, "We should go back. You left in such a hurry that you probably didn't bring your bird gun with you, did you?"

"If I don't carry that thing with me, wouldn't it be a bit foolish?" Xuanye laughed at himself. "It's a good thing! You should carry one with you later."

Xiu Yu tilted her head and asked Xuanye, "How can I become the emperor's concubine? Besides the monthly salary, will he also give me a bird gun?"

"Of course other people don't have it!" Xuanye pinched Xiuyu's cheek, pulled her up, and said, "But you are not other people. You must have what other people don't have!"

Xiu Yu knew that she had to be cautious and self-protective in the harem, but she still wanted the bird gun. "Well, if you give me the bird gun, do you want to record it?"

"Yes." Xuanye held Xiuyu's hand with his left hand and the reins of the horse Xiuyu rode with his right hand, and replied, "There are so many people and things in the palace. If we don't keep records, we might not even know how we lost something."

Xiu Yu nodded: "That's indeed the truth. Then if you give me this, if others know about it..."

"If you know, then you know." Xuanye said nonchalantly, "I want to give someone something, and I'm afraid of being found out?"

"Of course you're not afraid." Xiu Yu murmured, his eyes looking towards the blue sky in the distance.

Xuanye knew what Xiuyu was thinking, so he held her hand even tighter. "Don't worry, I will protect you and will never let you suffer any injustice in the palace."

Xiu Yu curled her lips and said, "You only have a pair of eyes and a pair of hands. You have so many things to deal with in the past dynasty, how can you take care of the harem?"

As expected, the hunting trip in the southern suburbs was about to end, and Xiu Yu went to the woods to hunt again on a whim. When he came back, his arm was injured.

When the imperial physician was bandaging Xiu Yu, Xuanye's brows were always furrowed.

Xiu Yu really didn't want the atmosphere to be so depressing, so she joked, "It was just an accident. I'll be more careful next time."

"Next time we go hunting, you can't leave my side. Remember that?" Xuanye dismissed the servants who were accompanying him, then took Xiuyu's hand and said, "I'm sorry you're hurt."

Xiu Yu pursed her lips, trying not to laugh, and then said, "I'm very happy that you feel sorry for me."

The atmosphere changed just like that. Xuanye was amused by Xiuyu and laughed. He shook his head and sighed, "You really are 'young and ignorant of the taste of sorrow'!"

"I don't know what it's like to be sad?" Xiu Yu blinked his big eyes and said, "Your Majesty, although my father is only a captain, he has a sharp mind. Thanks to his genes, I am also quite smart. So..."

Xuanye couldn't tell what Xiuyu was up to, so he asked, "So what?"

"So, I know the feeling of sorrow." Xiu Yu lowered her eyelids, still not wanting to make her words too clear: "Your Majesty, people say 'the gates of a marquis are as deep as the sea'. So, tell me, how deep are the gates of the palace?"

Xuanye was stunned by Xiu Yu's question. How deep was the palace gate? This question hadn't crossed his mind since he became emperor. However, before he was eight years old, he had indeed thought about it.

Seeing that the imperial physician had bandaged Xiu Yu, Xuanye waved his hand and ordered the imperial physician and the servants to retreat. After hesitating for a while, Xuanye asked, "Yu'er, do you know something? Or did you hear something?" Such questions were not something that anyone would ask casually, especially since Xiu Yu was a very intelligent and insightful person.

Xiu Yu smiled and replied, "Yu'er doesn't know anything, and has never heard of anything. I..." She rolled her big eyes, lowered her eyelids, and said, "Your Majesty, do you know that I was attacked before entering the palace?"

"Oh?" Xuanye pretended to know nothing, frowning even more tightly as he asked, "Is there such a thing?"

"You really didn't know?" Xiu Yu gathered her long hair behind her and simply acted out of temper and exposed Xuanye: "That was after you and I met. If you didn't know, it would be really strange."

There was no one else in the room. Xuanye pulled Xiuyu into his arms and said with a smile, "You, are you born with a heart as deep as seven holes? When did the goddess Nuwa put Bigan's heart in you?" After laughing, he quickly became serious again: "You are absolutely right. The mansion of a marquis is as deep as the sea. The palace gate, how can it be compared to the depth of the sea! But..."

"You don't have to say it, I understand." Xiu Yu's eyes revealed a hint of helplessness, "You... are the emperor after all, not just my husband."

The moment the word "husband" came out of Xiu Yu's mouth, it penetrated Xuanye's heart. He hugged the woman in his arms tightly, experiencing a feeling he had never experienced before. Even Empress Hesheli, his childhood wife, had never said the word "husband" to him.

"Don't worry, Yu'er. I won't allow you to have a third or fourth time." Xuanye's hand around Xiu Yu gradually clenched into a fist. "Although I can't be your husband alone, you are my wife."

Xiu Yu raised her head and looked at Xuan Ye. Her mind told her that this idiotic emperor, who had long been a father, had probably said such sweet words countless times to countless women. But her emotions surpassed her mind, and she raised her head and kissed Xuan Ye's cheek.

Xuanye's heart softened even more. He simply held Xiu Yu horizontally on his legs and lowered his head to kiss her cherry-pink lips.

It was past midnight when Xiu Yu woke up from her sleep, but Xuan Ye was not around. She stood up, put on her cloak, opened the door to the warm room, and followed the light into the study.

Xuanye was frowning as he looked at the blueprint that had just been sent by the Ministry of Works, holding a red pen in his right hand. He felt it was not right to write it down, and it was even worse not to write it down.

Xiu Yu walked up to Xuanye and asked with a smile, "Is the Emperor worried?"

"What made you wake up?" Xuanye's frown relaxed immediately upon hearing Xiuyu's voice. "Is the bed too cold without me?"

"I guess so." Xiu Yu accidentally glanced at the blueprint in Xuanye's hand. The dam design immediately captured the heart of this former chief engineer. Unfortunately, her current position didn't allow her to display her talents. "The emperor wants to repair the river embankment."

"Have a seat." Xuanye moved aside to make room for Xiuyu. "Now that the Three Feudatories War has subsided, river management should indeed be put on the agenda. I don't know why, but I feel a little uncomfortable with the drawings sent by the Ministry of Works."

Xiu Yu stretched out her intact right arm and held Xuanye's right hand with her right hand. She drew a few random strokes on the drawing with the red pen and then said, "How about this? Doesn't it feel awkward?"

Xuanye couldn't help but look at Xiu Yu with curiosity: "Did you learn this from outside the Great Wall too?"

Xiu Yu smiled and said, "It's half true and half false. I've seen all the blueprints that my father brought home from the war. By analogy, I know a little bit about how to draw something that looks good."

Seeing the pride in Xiu Yu's eyes, Xuanye raised his hand and tapped her nose, saying, "Your ability to draw inferences from one instance to another is truly remarkable, isn't it? I'm afraid even the Minister of Works wouldn't be able to draw those few strokes just now. Can this be explained by 'drawing inferences from one instance to another'?"