"Hua Quan, go to the Empress's palace and invite her to the Imperial Study for a meeting," Li Qiji said directly.

Seeing the emperor's furrowed brows, Hua Quan quickly bowed to him and ran away.

----

"Your Majesty, look, the little princess can walk by herself now."

Green Flutters excitedly as she watches the little princess already walking around on the soft cushion.

Guan Zhiyue's maids have been changing frequently lately, since she has already released the older maids who used to serve her.

She got married and had children; she wasn't the type to keep someone by her side, so she preferred to find someone else.

Even if it's just constantly promoting new people.

She was happy to accept it, after all, she didn't like to hinder other people's happiness.

Now, Bilian has become the head aunt in charge of all affairs in the harem. She reviews all matters, big and small, and then reports them to the Empress, who is Guan Zhiyue.

Bilian also had twenty or thirty junior managers under her, and Guan Zhiyue provided them with official positions as female officials.

They were also divided into several ranks of official positions, which gave these female officials a strong sense of motivation.

Even the newly arrived palace maids were highly motivated, because if they did a good job...

They can also participate in the assessment and then be assigned to various positions as female officials.

This is an honor bestowed upon them by the Empress; those female officials do receive a salary.

The palace maid standing nearby didn't understand.

This led to the saying that a palace maid who didn't want to become a female official wasn't a good palace maid.

The news spread throughout the palace, even among the lowly eunuchs, that they could all become managers.

Everyone is striving towards a common goal, constantly improving their abilities to become more like female officials or male supervisors.

"His Majesty summons me to a meeting?"

"Steward Hua, are you sure you didn't hear wrong?"

Guan Zhiyue looked at Hua Quan with suspicion. In the past, Li Qiji would never let her go to the Imperial Study on her own initiative, let alone to discuss matters. What was going on today?

Hua Quan respectfully replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, that's exactly what His Majesty told me, instructing me to invite you over for a meeting."

Guan Zhiyue nodded, and then followed Hua Quan with Lü Fu.

"Did His Majesty say what it is about?" Guan Zhiyue asked Hua Quan.

Hua Quan frowned and said, "It seems to be a letter written by a prince, which is why His Majesty sent me to invite Your Majesty the Empress."

"The prince's letter... could it be that there's something wrong with the crown prince's injury?"

Hua Quan shook his head, unaware of the situation, and then fell silent. The eunuchs carrying the sedan chair quickened their pace.

When Guan Zhiyue arrived at the Imperial Study, Li Qiji had already finished reviewing many of the memorials.

Not only the Emperor was in the Imperial Study, but also her father and two brothers.

Guan Zhiyue looked at the three of them and her heart skipped a beat. Was a war about to break out?

That's unacceptable! If war breaks out, wouldn't that mean our own crown prince...?

Could it be that mermaid that Xiao Tuantuan told her about?

As she looked at the group, her mind raced with countless emotions. She bowed to Guan Hongsheng.

Then he asked, "Your Majesty, what has happened?"

Li Qiji looked up from in front of the memorial and saw that his empress had arrived. He then said, "Empress, please sit down. The three generals, please sit down as well."

"Hua Quan, serve tea. Everyone else, please leave!" Li Qiji gave his orders methodically.

The group sat down, and Li Qiji then pulled out a letter from a book and passed the first half around for everyone to read!

After reading it, Guan Zhiyue frowned. Just as Xiao Tuantuan had said, that mermaid was devouring their people.

They not only devoured the people of Nanding, but people from other countries also perished.

"This~~~"

"What are all these?"

"These are all things I've never seen before!"

"Your Majesty, please forgive my ignorance, but where did this letter come from?"

Guan Hongsheng, who had spent his entire life on the battlefield, had never seen anything so strange and unusual before.

Li Qiji uttered two words softly.

"Prince".

Upon hearing this, the three of them immediately relaxed. What kind of person was the prince?

They know perfectly well that this couldn't possibly be true; it's just an exaggeration.

Seeing that the three didn't believe him, Li Qiji looked at Guan Zhiyue, wanting to see if she believed such a thing.

"What does Your Majesty think?"

"It's better to believe it's true than not to believe it's not. I don't think the Prince would joke about something as serious as this," Guan Zhiyue said softly.

Guan Hongsheng frowned, pondering the credibility of the matter. If his daughter had said so, then it was almost certainly true.

"Your Majesty, do you intend to send troops to encircle and suppress them?" Guan Chengheng asked.

He was even a little eager to try, after all, ever since he followed the emperor in annihilating the Japanese,

They became idle, spending their days patrolling the imperial city, and had long lost their drive.

Now that such a rare monster has appeared, he must be very tempted and want to find out more about it.

"Your Majesty, why don't you allow me to lead troops to provide support?"

"Your Majesty, I am also willing to lead troops there."

The two brothers, Guan Chengzhuo and Guan Chengheng, replied in unison.

Li Qiji nodded and looked at his father-in-law, saying, "Father-in-law, what do you think?"

Guan Hongsheng was still curious about this matter when he suddenly heard the emperor call him father-in-law. Feeling a little uncomfortable, he quickly said, "I will do as Your Majesty says."

"Does my intention mean that both of my elder brothers should go?"

Guan Hongsheng understood what the emperor meant, but a general should be on the battlefield. How could one be called a general if one did not go to the battlefield?

"Father~"

"Father~"

The two brothers spoke in unison, making it difficult for Guan Hongsheng to make a decision.

Guan Zhiyue said, "I will help you. Just do what you think is best."

Of course, this was said to Li Qiji, who nodded knowingly.

He then looked at the three men and said, "Brothers, then I'll have to trouble you with this trip."

Upon hearing this, the two grinned at Guan Zhiyue, but Guan Hongsheng hesitated. This war...

Finally, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, let the young people handle their own affairs."

He's reached the age where he needs to take care of his grandchildren, so he doesn't argue with them anymore and just lets them do what they want to do.

Guan Zhiyue nodded in agreement; everyone was satisfied with the result.

----

night.

"I'll go with my eldest and second brothers too. I haven't seen Jingyu in a long time."

And this time I also want to see what a mermaid really is, and what a half-mermaid is.”

Guan Zhiyue nestled in Li Qiji's arms, whispering her story.

Li Qiji nodded and said, "I'll go with you and bring the children along. I'll also show them the outside world."

"Then who will handle the affairs in the capital?"

Li Qiji grinned, "And there's our Chief Minister Su!"

However, Su Xu, who was at the Su residence, sneezed three times!

I miss him so much!!!