Chapter 58 My Love-Brained Nephew

The emperor sat on the throne, his face majestic. The kind aunt who had been there all along was nowhere to be seen. Seeing this, Shen Yan'an knew that she could not be willful again, so she silently behaved herself.

The Emperor asked Chi Zhao, "Whose child are you, and who is your teacher? You have learned such excellent martial arts skills."

She thought to herself that, given her nephew's discerning eye in taking a liking to her at a glance, his status must be quite high.

Perhaps she was someone's illegitimate daughter or second daughter, which is why she had never seen her before.

But to her surprise, the other person spoke, which startled her.

“I am a guard in Prince Qing’s mansion. I have never learned martial arts from anyone. I have taught myself.”

Shen Yan'an whispered admiringly, "You're so amazing! You're self-taught and you can already fight my mother. Given time, my mother will definitely be no match for you."

Chi Zhao:......

Oh no, my mother-in-law's anger is building up.

Shen Huaiyu was simply fed up with this.

She glared angrily at Chi Zhao, then at her son who was siding with outsiders, her eyes practically spitting fire. Shen Yan'an shrank back in fear, feeling extremely resentful.

"Why are you being so fierce? It's true, you're getting old, but Chi Zhao is still young!"

Shen Huaiyu: ...

Emperor: That makes a lot of sense!

Currently, the only military general in the Feng Dynasty capable of leading independently is Shen Huaiyu.

It's not enough, not nearly enough.

When Shen Huaiyu was young, she fought for her in many battles and suffered many injuries. Now she suffers from illness for years. Sometimes she can't bear to see her good sister still have to lead troops into battle, but if Shen Huaiyu doesn't lead troops, no one else can take her place.

Her mother, the Empress, once favored civil officials over military ones, which has led to the current decline of military generals in the Phoenix Dynasty.

She was different from her mother, who was a ruler who maintained the status quo, while she was a ruler who expanded the territory. She only wanted to expand the territory and turn every inch of land within her sight into the territory of the Phoenix Dynasty.

Having few military generals makes things really difficult.

Seeing his wife so angry, Prince Qing's brows remained furrowed, and he was extremely displeased. "You brat, your behavior is getting more and more outrageous! I just remember where I've seen this woman before. Are you the stable girl in my household?!"

The last time he saw her coming out of his son's yard, he even asked her who she was!

Upon hearing that she was a stable girl, Prince Qing was even more confused, but the Emperor didn't care about that and inquired about the number of people in her family.

Chi Zhao answered each question, saying that her parents had died early and she was all alone at home, so she had no choice but to become a stable girl at Prince Qing's mansion.

Her parents died young, that's good! Now she's the daughter-in-law of the Prince Qing's mansion, practically family.

The emperor knew Shen Yan'an's temperament; if he liked someone, he wouldn't care what others said unless he himself changed his mind.

It's fine if the person he likes doesn't like him back, but if they do like him too...

Huaiyu probably can't stop them.

Chi Zhao felt very guilty in front of Prince Qing and his wife, and kept his head down, not daring to say a word.

She was actually a little afraid of being assassinated.

Princess Qing's gaze was almost murderous.

Fortunately, after asking a few more questions, the Emperor dismissed her, saying that he would wait until they returned to the capital to discuss and reward her merits.

As soon as Chi Zhao left, Shen Yan'an couldn't sit still anymore. He felt like he had a nail in his butt and couldn't sit still.

Her big eyes blinked eagerly, staring longingly at the doorway, in the direction her beloved had gone.

Prince Qing gave a heavy snort.

Since it wasn't his own son who liked the stable girl, the emperor wasn't too angry. He even smiled and asked how the two of them met.

It's truly unbelievable that a mere horsewoman possesses such formidable martial arts skills; perhaps she was planted by another country.

But if it were another country that had intervened, she could have easily taken advantage of the chaos to kill her just now.

With her death, none of the princesses below her have grown up to be capable of turning the tide, and the Phoenix Dynasty is doomed.

But then Chi Zhao saved her again.

The Emperor asked a few more questions, then waved for Shen Yan'an to leave as well.

In his haste, Prince Qing was about to follow behind when he was stopped. "Hey, let the children handle their own affairs."

Prince Qing gave a cold look, as if to say, "It's not like you're in a hurry to marry off your son yourself."

Prince Qing is the Emperor's younger brother, and there are some things he can't say directly, so he stepped forward and said, "If your brother fell in love with a palace servant who tends the horses, would you still say such things?"

The Emperor choked, but that was not the case. Unless the other party could repeatedly achieve military merits, she would break their legs.

Prince Qing snorted coldly and turned away, ignoring everyone.

This angry little face is exactly the same as Shen Yan'an's.

With his own people all around, and the traitors either dead or captured alive, the Emperor glanced around, dismissed a few more men, and then began to talk to Shen Huaiyu.

Among those invited back to rest was the seventh princess, who had been in poor health since childhood.

A faint smile appeared on her lips, but her emotions did not reach her eyes.

Chi Zhao, Prince Qing's Mansion.

No one knows what the Emperor and Prince Qing said, but Chi Zhao, who thought she would be severely punished, only received a glare from Prince Qing's daughter, and then... she was transferred to guard the Emperor's side.

The Emperor had a good impression of her and thought she was highly skilled in martial arts. After learning about her background, fearing that something might happen during the winter hunt, the Emperor simply transferred her to his side to guard her. He planned to give her an official position when they returned to the capital, since she had saved his life and no one would say anything.

If she truly wants to marry Shen Yan'an, she will definitely strive to gain higher official rank and serve the Feng Dynasty well.

Chi Zhao only stood outside the main hall for one day, and he saw countless people being carried out of the hall.

It was clear that the emperor had begun investigating the assassination attempt.

A new face appeared in the Imperial Guard, but she was not anyone's daughter. When the ministers who came and went saw her, they all kept quiet and dared not ask any questions.

Only when Shen Huaiyu occasionally came over and saw her would he give her a hard time and give her a hard time.

Chi Zhao didn't care; if you're going to kidnap someone's son, it's only natural to suffer some treatment.

The fact that their affair was exposed to Shen Yan'an's parents and the Emperor meant that the matter was now out in the open. He had originally arranged for the man to be his bodyguard so that he could see him every day, but now that he had become someone else's bodyguard, it was difficult for him to see him. Therefore, he couldn't stay in the courtyard for long before rushing over.

He was tall and handsome, carrying a box of pastries, smiling at his beloved from afar.

Chi Zhao naturally saw him, but simply told him to go back with a cold face.

She's used to this cold world and can't quite change it right away.

Shen Yan'an immediately became unhappy, wrinkling his nose and muttering, "You never smile, you only smile at others, you never smile at me."

Chi Zhao felt somewhat helpless after being accused, "How could I never smile at you and talk nonsense?"

"You're not smiling at me now, humph! If you keep showing favoritism like this, I'm really going to ignore you."

Xiao Junzi completely forgot that just yesterday he swore he would never argue with Chi Zhao again.

Now they throw tantrums at the slightest disagreement.

Chi Zhao lowered her voice to coax him, "Don't be silly, there's no favoritism. The Emperor is handling important matters inside. You should go back first, be good."

When Shen Yan'an was being affectionate, she never cared about saving face or keeping her voice down. The people inside weren't deaf; they had already heard her. So she casually asked, "Who's outside?"

Immediately afterwards, a maid came out, first bowed with a kind face, and then said respectfully, "Your Highness, His Majesty invites you in."

The young girl angrily snorted at her beloved, picked up the food box and went inside. She was still a little unhappy and blamed her for telling her to go back. She missed her so much and came to see her, but the girl didn't miss her at all!

The Emperor was handling state affairs inside when he saw Shen Yan'an and smiled, "You little rascal, you've never been like this before when you were clinging to Mingwei. I've only had her here for half a day, and you've already come running."

She had only meant to joke with her nephew, but Shen Yan'an reacted extremely strongly, almost jumping up. He looked towards the door in a panic and suddenly shouted, "Auntie, what are you saying? I have never liked Lu Mingwei, and I have never clung to her. I have only ever clung to Chi Zhao in my life!"

Emperor: ? ? ?

I have amnesia?

She glanced outside and saw that straight figure, and then she understood that her nephew had turned his back on her.

After all, he was her only younger brother's son, and she doted on him a lot, so she went along with her and lowered her voice, "That guy outside, is he so bad-tempered?"

Could it be that she would get angry at An'er as soon as she heard these words? Otherwise, why would An'er be so afraid?

Shen Yan'an didn't like people talking about his sweetheart, and got angry. "Chi Zhao isn't bad-tempered. She's just jealous. Although she never says it, I know it!"

For some reason, he was convinced that Chi Zhao was a very jealous person. Therefore, after falling in love with her, he wished he could erase all the things he had done in the past from everyone's memory. What about liking Lu Mingwei and chasing after Lu Mingwei? He had never done such a thing!

"If your mother hears of you protecting her like this, she will probably get angry again."

Shen Yan'an muttered something, and the Emperor raised an eyebrow to listen. It turned out to be, "I'm protecting my future wife, what's there for the Queen Mother to be angry about?"

...

Thankfully, it wasn't my son.