Chapter 542: The Thousand-Year-Old (63)

[Think about it, the Third Prince is incompetent, the female lead has been possessed, so the male lead definitely can't help the Third Prince ascend the throne, right? The First Prince is no good, the Fourth Prince is incompetent, and the male lead only likes you and is willing to assist you; you can't force him to change his mind, right? Besides, who knows if the Fourth Prince is just all show and no substance? What if he becomes a second Third Prince who discards you after using you?]

Wen Wan: "But he shouldn't have kept it from me."

[He's doing this to protect you, isn't he? If he told you, you definitely wouldn't agree. And do you know why your mother accepted your relationship so easily? Because Gu Li said he would put you in that supreme position, and only in that position will you be safe.]

Wen Yan: "..."

That's absurd! This is absolutely absurd! This system is completely biased towards the male protagonist.

"I won't listen, I won't listen, you're just spouting nonsense."

System: [...] What if they want to kill the host? This host is no longer needed.

Gu Li told Wen Wan everything he had done without hiding anything. After listening, Wen Wan could only admire Gu Li.

Because he became his own princess consort without even the emperor's knowledge, it was tantamount to deceiving the emperor. Furthermore, he used his own identity to cover up another identity, and the emperor did not suspect anything.

That makes sense, though; at first, they even wanted to kill the original owner.

In his heart, he always put himself first, and even when he surrendered to the emperor, it was only for his own benefit.

They're more cunning than a colander.

No wonder the emperor trusted her, no wonder he didn't scheme against her like he did against his other princes; it turns out there was a double agent involved.

On several occasions, he even nearly died.

Gu Li secretly saved her several times without harming her in the slightest.

Wen Wan: How can anyone be angry about this? How can anyone get angry about this?

She was genuinely angry, but she couldn't bring herself to cut ties with Gu Li completely. In reality, she just wanted to teach Gu Li a lesson so that he wouldn't keep things from her.

If he tells me the truth, it's not impossible for me to change my mind.

After thinking about it, it's indeed impossible.

If he had said from the beginning that he would push her to that position, Wen Wan might have left long ago.

But we still need to show our attitude.

Wen Wan was angry for a whole month before she finally calmed down.

During this month, Wen Wan was also busy. She had endless things to deal with every day, and her brain was about to explode. She could only sleep three or four hours a day. Even someone made of iron couldn't keep up. Besides, apart from some important matters, everything else was just trivial stuff.

They either showered her with compliments or wished the emperor a speedy recovery.

If you can't write a memorial, you don't have to; if you have nothing to report, you don't have to. But writing all this nonsense is a complete waste of Wen Wan's time.

Finally, Wen Wan directly ordered a ban on useless memorials, instructing ministers to screen them several times before submitting the important ones to her.

To prevent some ministers from having selfish motives, Wen Wan would occasionally conduct spot checks, and if she found any, she would punish them severely.

Moreover, there are multiple layers of review by several officials, with mutual supervision.

As a result, the number of memorials sent to him decreased by more than half, and they were all important matters.

Although Wen Wan was angry with Gu Li, she still needed Gu Li's help when reviewing memorials. There was no way she could handle it all by herself, and she didn't know how to solve many of the problems. In the end, she still relied on the Grand Tutor and Gu Li.

She didn't feel ashamed at all. Even a modern person wouldn't be allowed to travel back in time, right?

Wen Wan even decided that if she had the chance, she would make these people write all their memorials in vernacular Chinese. This was all in classical Chinese, and she didn't know why they were using such fancy literary language. She couldn't understand it at all, and it was simply making things difficult for her.

No wonder so many emperors didn't live long. Even with so many imperial physicians monitoring their health at all times, they still died young. They simply died from overwork.

Wen Wan would go to the emperor every day and give him all kinds of medicine, hoping he would get better as soon as possible.

He even threatened the system to get him medicine to speed up wound healing, resulting in the emperor being weak and bedridden every day.

"System, your medicine isn't ineffective, is it? Or is this emperor just putting on an act?"

System: [Perhaps it's because external injuries are harder to heal, but it's also possible they're just putting on an act; their acting is quite good.]

Wen Yan: "..."

Wen Wan used a little trick; she said she was leaving, but then she squatted down at the door and made a surprise return.

As a result, they saw the emperor drinking wine, and it was the finest osmanthus wine; Wen Wan could even smell it.

Wen Yan: "???"

Wen Wan stared accusingly at the emperor, who was also somewhat embarrassed. "Oh dear, my wound suddenly hurts. Quickly help me to bed."

Wen Wan rolled her eyes. "Father, your wound hurts, yet you can still drink alcohol? This is truly an eye-opener for me."

emperor:"……"

Afterwards, Wen Wan decisively sent all the memorials to the emperor's bedroom, then took Gu Li and ran out of the palace, leaving a message saying that she wanted to take a vacation.

emperor:"???"

By the time I found out, the person had already vanished without a trace.

He smiled helplessly. Everyone said that among his princes, the second prince was the most timid and useless, neither good at literature nor martial arts. However, in his opinion, the second prince was the bravest of all the princes.

Every single thing he did was earth-shattering. The other princes were genuinely afraid of him, but the second prince was not necessarily so.

He even dared to get angry with me. Which prince wouldn't be annoyed by that?

The emperor had no choice but to resume managing state affairs, only to discover that the second prince had indeed accomplished quite a bit during his regency, even altering the memorials submitted to the emperor.

Having reviewed and approved memorials for decades, this was the first time I'd ever experienced such ease. It made me feel like I'd been wronged by all the busy work I'd done before.

The emperor gave a wry smile.

This second prince is truly inept at reading and writing, but he has a plethora of ingenious ideas, all of which are surprisingly practical.

Wen Wan enjoyed a few days of leisurely life outside.

Finally, the emperor forced him to return to work.

The emperor took several young princes and princesses directly to the summer palace to escape the heat.

Wen Yan: "???"

Goodness, even emperors can be hands-off rulers one day. I've really learned something new.

Wen Wan also wanted to get rid of the business, but no one was willing to take it over.

The eldest and third princes have gone to guard the imperial tombs, the fourth prince is blind and recuperating, and the other princes are too young.

Wen Wan had no choice but to take the field.

Busy as a fly every day, Wen Wan suspects she would have died suddenly in this position if it weren't for Gu Li.

Fortunately, no major natural or man-made disasters occurred during this period. Even floods and droughts were rare occurrences. Otherwise, Wen Wan would have really run away and shifted the blame back to the emperor.

In this way, sometimes Wen Wan would run away and the emperor would take her place, and sometimes the emperor would run away and Wen Wan would come to work. The main strategy was to have Wen Wan come to work in shifts. As a result, the emperor became less and less willing to work, and Wen Wan became less and less willing to read memorials. The two of them mainly used a push-pull tactic.