Chapter 36 was all burned.

If Lan Wu could simply kneel properly off Chu Mingheng's lap, he would believe she genuinely knew she was wrong.

But she refused.

Who gets punished while sitting on the emperor's lap?

Chu Mingheng felt that she was spoiled and that she hadn't been punished much, which made her so audacious.

Lan Wu took her hand out and placed it flat in front of the emperor, not knowing what to do.

The ruler pressed against her palm, and Lan Wu's breathing immediately tightened.

"Where did the book come from?" Chu Mingheng asked her.

Now that things had come to this, Lan Wu naturally confessed everything: "It was I who had someone bring it in from outside the palace."

When she feels guilty, her voice becomes low and muffled, making her sound particularly unhappy.

Chu Mingheng gently patted her palm and asked with a sneer, "You like those things?"

Before Lan Wu could answer yes or no, his voice suddenly turned cold.

"Look at those things, Lanwu, don't you know shame?"

Lan Wu blushed as she was scolded. Those were just some love stories, at most the descriptions were a bit bold. Chu Mingheng himself had done even more shameless things to her, how could he have the nerve to say such things?

"Find them yourselves and burn them all."

Chu Mingheng said this without consulting Lan Wu, but after he finished speaking, Lan Wu did not take any action.

Lan Wu stubbornly refused to move, even extending her hands outstretched and pushing them forward a little further, as if to say that if she was hit, her books could not be burned.

Chu Mingheng lowered his eyes and looked indifferently at the hand that was stubbornly reaching out, but changed his mind.

He wrapped his arm around Lan Wu's wrist, met her gaze, and asked, "Are you really looking for a fight?"

"Your Majesty..." Lan Wu called softly, "Please don't hit me."

Lan Wu's fingers hooked down, reaching up to Chu Mingheng's wrist, slowly tracing the skin like the transparent wings of a dragonfly, bringing a ticklish sensation.

She was seducing Chu Mingheng.

Chu Mingheng naturally noticed it.

As night deepened, the shadows cast on the wall intertwined. Clothes were untied, and garments fell to the ground inch by inch, until a crisp slap rang out from the bed.

"Ah!" Lan Wu tried to hide everywhere, both ashamed and angry, but Chu Mingheng held her waist and she had nowhere to escape.

Chu Mingheng did not actually use the ruler, but the slaps still brought a tingling pain to the skin, not to mention the continuous slaps.

Lan Wu covered her lips to suppress her voice and begged for mercy softly. When it didn't work, she felt frustrated and aggrieved.

It's just some storybooks. Why won't Chu Mingheng let her read them? That's all she enjoys. In her previous life, she was bullied to the point of being utterly pathetic, and in this life, she still has to listen to him.

But that was the reality; she couldn't resist the supreme imperial power and authority, so she could only try to make her life a little easier.

Lan Wu stopped crying out in pain and waited for Chu Mingheng to stop. By then, her two cleavages were already burning hot and were bright red without her even looking.

Chu Mingheng turned her over and saw that she had raised her arm to cover her face, and he could only see her bright red lips with teeth marks on them. These marks were left when Lan Wu bit her lip to keep from making a sound.

"Put your hand down," he whispered in Lan Wu's ear.

As the voice faded, Lan Wu's arm gradually fell down, revealing a tearful face.

Seeing this, Chu Mingheng clicked his tongue, lifted her chin, kissed her lips, and finally let go.

"Alright, watch if you want, but don't give anyone any leverage against you."

Lan Wu burst into tears, but Chu Mingheng separated her from her.

...

Lan Wu didn't know how she got through the whole night, and she didn't open her eyes until it was bright the next day.

Chu Mingheng had already gone to the morning court session, and the room was quiet.

Lan Wu felt a cool sensation on her buttocks, and she knew that Chu Mingheng had applied medicine to her.

She felt unwell under the covers, with a dull ache in her lower abdomen.

I wrapped myself in the blanket and closed my eyes for a while, and before I knew it, I was asleep again.

It was almost noon when Lianxi came into the hall to wake her up.

Lan Wu woke up from her nap, but she still wasn't feeling well. She sat blankly on the soft chair while the palace servants helped her wash and change her clothes.

"What day is it today?"

"Your Majesty, it is the second day of the fifth month."

Lan Wu did some mental calculations and estimated that her period was due in the next few days. No wonder her lower abdomen felt uncomfortable; she had thought it was because Chu Mingheng had been too rough with her last night and hurt her.

Lan Wu muttered to herself, her expression a mixture of emotions as she recalled the lewd things that had happened on the bed the night before.

"Your Majesty, His Majesty said—" Lianxi began to speak, but before she could finish, she saw Lanwu suddenly look up at her.

"What did His Majesty say?" Lan Wu was still a little nervous.

Lianxi quickly finished speaking: "His Majesty said he won't be coming for dinner tonight, and that Your Highness should eat by yourself."

Aren't you coming for a meal?

Lan Wu breathed a sigh of relief, meaning that Chu Mingheng would not be coming to Longyu Pavilion tonight.

He has so many concubines; even if he doesn't come to Longyu Pavilion, he can go elsewhere. She's not his exclusive favorite now.

Even though she knew it in her heart, Lan Wu still felt uncomfortable when she thought about it. She felt uncomfortable physically, and even more uncomfortable mentally.

Being an emperor must be wonderful.

But then Lan Wu thought again, at least Chu Mingheng wouldn't bother her today.

Outside the inner hall screen, as soon as Lan Wu stepped out, she saw a black wooden box on the low table of the soft couch.

"What's that?" she asked, walking over.

Upon hearing this, Lianxi looked over and said, "Your Majesty, this servant did not know. It was there this morning."

Lan Wu opened the box, saw the ruler inside, and slammed the box shut.

"When was this delivered? I didn't know." She turned around and asked Lianxi, determined to find out the details today.

Lianxi had only caught a fleeting glance and hadn't seen what was inside. But when Lanwu asked her that, she immediately snapped back to reality, thought for a moment, and remembered. She said, "This was among the things His Majesty sent when Eunuch Chen came to our palace to deliver the imperial decree. The palace servants didn't dare to place it anywhere, so they put it on the antique shelf in the inner hall."

No wonder she said she didn't see anyone talking to her. It turns out that it was delivered the day she entered Longyu Pavilion. She had a lot of things to organize that day and didn't notice these things.

"Your Majesty, is there something wrong with this?" Lianxi asked, somewhat puzzled.

Lan Wu shook her head, wanting her to lock the thing in the storeroom, but she swallowed her words as soon as they reached her lips.

If Chu Mingheng asks her for the ruler later and she can't find it, who knows what the consequences will be?

"Let's find a corner where it won't be conspicuous to put it."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The events that occurred in the Imperial Garden last night have spread this morning.

Consort Liu... oh no, now Consort Liu, she died cleanly and neatly. The next morning, the concubines went to inquire one by one and learned that it was His Majesty who ordered the execution in the Imperial Garden. They were all shocked.

Lan Wu estimated that no one would dare to walk on that road near Xu Garden for the time being.