Gu Jiangli chuckled and said, "Your Majesty has learned to make fun of people now."

As she spoke, she nestled into the emperor's arms.

The emperor's personality is now very different from his previous cold demeanor.

Although he still occasionally has a cold expression, whenever he is facing her, there is always a faint halo of gentleness surrounding him.

The emperor and she grew more and more like an old married couple, their relationship natural and happy.

Gu Jiangli thought for a moment, then suddenly spoke:

"Your Majesty, Chen'er has grown up and has his own abilities now. Has Your Majesty ever thought of adding another source of laughter to Yun Guang Palace?"

The emperor immediately understood the meaning behind her words and said earnestly:

"Li'er, pregnancy and childbirth are too hard. I don't want you to suffer like that again."

Gu Jiangli understood the emperor's concerns.

The fact that he had almost died was a lingering thought in the emperor's mind that he could not completely forget.

For the past three years, he would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night, only to be able to fall back asleep peacefully after holding her tightly in his arms.

He is prone to nightmares.

I often dream that I will never see you again.

Therefore, he was afraid to face the prospect of having another child, which is why when he made Chen'er the crown prince, he directly stated that he would only have Chen'er as his child in the future.

Deep down, he didn't want to suffer the pain of childbirth again.

So for so long, she has never mentioned having another child.

However, she still hoped that the emperor would have more than one son; at least a son and a daughter would make the family more complete.

Gu Jiangli spoke up to persuade him:

“I know what Your Majesty is worried about, but things are different now. I am now the Empress, and no one will dare to harm me.”

"Moreover, with His Majesty and Chen'er, even if I give birth again, I won't suffer much."

The emperor was still somewhat worried.

"Li'er, with you and Chen'er, I have enough for this life."

Gu Jiangli smiled and took out a copper coin from his sleeve.

“Your Majesty, our ideas differ, so let’s leave it to fate. The front has the four characters ‘Kaiyuan Tongbao’ on it, and the back has a silver moon pattern. If I toss the coin and it lands with the four characters on the front, it means that Heaven thinks Your Majesty has enough for one child, Chen’er.”

"But if the landing pattern is a silver moon, it means that Heaven believes you are destined to have a second child in this life. What do you think?"

The emperor had no choice but to nod.

Gu Jiangli smiled and tossed the copper coin high into the air.

The copper coin spun several times in the air, but Gu Jiangli didn't catch it with his hands. Instead, he let it fall to the ground and roll towards the table leg a little further away.

Gu Jiangli gestured to the emperor with his eyes, "Your Majesty, please go and see the result of my coin toss."

The emperor took a deep breath, got up, walked to the foot of the table, squatted down, and did not pick up the copper coin immediately, but squatted there and looked at it for a long time.

Seeing the emperor's behavior, Gu Jiangli knew what the answer was.

So he said, "It seems that Your Majesty is destined to have more than one child, Chen'er."

The emperor fell into deep thought and slowly stood up.

He sighed, seemingly helpless, and then smiled:

"Li'er, no matter what, the Silver Moon Mark will face upwards. You've made up your mind, haven't you?"

Gu Jiangli was not surprised that the emperor could see through her trick.

If you get some foreign matter on the side of the coin with the lettering, the heavier side will definitely touch the ground first.

"If you choose to stop moving forward because of the dangers I have encountered in the past, then your nightmares will not end."

The emperor's eyes deepened, which Gu Jiangli perceived as deep affection.

He didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly.

Gu Jiangli breathed a sigh of relief; she could finally reassure the emperor about her pregnancy.

————

More than a month later, on the occasion of the emperor's birthday, Chen'er presented the emperor with a map of the palace.

Although the emperor had prepared himself mentally, he was still shocked when he saw the map presented by Chen'er and heard him explain in detail the shortcomings in the palace's defenses.

On the map, any places that Chen'er thought were missing were clearly recorded on the right side of the picture.

"Chen'er, did you do all of this by yourself?" the emperor asked with some surprise.

"Yes, Father, I carefully walked through every part of the palace and made this map by measuring with my feet and a ruler."

“These missing parts may not be complete, but they are all the shortcomings that I can see.”

"Actually, at first, I just wanted to draw a map of the entire palace. Later, I discovered these shortcomings in the process, so I thought I could let Father Emperor know so that I could make timely corrections and put Father Emperor and Mother Emperor at ease."

The emperor was absolutely fascinated by that map, looking at it again and again.

Gu Jiangli also curiously stuck her head over.

This glance shocked Gu Jiangli even more.

The originally messy and simple lines are now neatly arranged on the paper.

Each building and palace path was carefully marked.

The exchange points for the guards' patrols were also marked, making it easy to see which area was the most heavily guarded and which was the least guarded.

Even the ratio of this map to the actual palace was written by Chen'er in the lower right corner.

This is a very complete map with excellent details.

In just one month, how could a three-year-old child have accomplished this on their own?

That's amazing.

The emperor, not wanting to miss a single detail, admired the work for a long time before finally speaking:

"Chen'er, you are very thoughtful. This map is truly amazing. It is the most delightful gift your father has ever received. Your father will now put your suggestion into practice so that everyone can see how capable you are."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!