Chapter 75 Wearing the "No on the carriage, no in the water, Your Majesty..."
Steaming mist rises from the surface of the hot spring, blurring all boundaries.
The thin shirt Su Panyue wore when she went into the water was nowhere to be found. The warm spring water soaked her whole body, and her long, dark hair was draped behind her, some of it sticking to her smooth back, and some floating on the water's surface, swaying gently with the ripples.
The man who was with her had disappeared; only by getting closer could she see a blurry figure underwater.
Although she was being supported, Su Panyue felt as if she were drowning, becoming a piece of duckweed in the water, swaying with the earth beneath her.
She kicked him lightly, but didn't use her strength, only cursing inwardly that this man had an unusually large lung capacity.
A moment later, Xie Lanzhou emerged from the water, looked at the blush on Su Panyue's face, and licked his lips as if he was still savoring the moment.
Su Panyue gasped for breath, her body limp as she tried to move towards the edge of the pool.
Xie Lanzhou reached out and took her arm, saying in a low voice, "I'll go get it."
"What are you taking?" Su Panyue didn't immediately understand what he was talking about. She just looked at him with some confusion as he quickly approached the poolside, picked up something from the side, and then quickly returned.
The mist obscured her view, so she couldn't see clearly until Xie Lanzhou returned. She then realized that he was holding yesterday's fish maw.
Remembering the purpose he mentioned, Su Panyue raised her hand to splash water on him, her eyes sparkling as she watched him approach step by step.
Xie Lanzhou wiped the water off his face and said in a good mood, "Thank you for washing my face, my wife."
His reminder made Su Panyue realize that there was something on his face and lips. She coughed awkwardly and turned her head away, not wanting to look at him.
Xie Lanzhou reached out and hugged her tightly.
"Wait! We can't do this in the water." Su Panyue braced herself against him with both hands, trying to maintain the distance between them.
"Not on the carriage, not in the water, Your Majesty the Empress has quite the airs," Xie Lanzhou said jokingly, his arm around her not loosening at all.
Hearing him address her as "Your Majesty the Empress," Su Panyue became interested and lowered her voice to feign authority, saying, "So what? Do you dare disobey my orders?"
Xie Lanzhou smiled and said, "Of course I wouldn't dare. Then this humble subject can only respectfully obey." With that, he lifted her up and carried her on his shoulder, parting the spring water as he walked towards the hot spring pool.
When they reached the edge of the pool, Su Panyue gently kicked him, saying, "Put me down."
"Your humble servant obeys the decree," Xie Lanzhou said with a smile, still playing the role of a subject, obediently putting her down, but his hands were still restlessly placed in places they shouldn't be.
Su Panyue stood in the water. The water level at the edge of the hot spring pool was noticeably lower than that inside, barely reaching her waist.
However, the water was too shallow for Xie Lanzhou, barely covering his thighs, leaving the rest of his body completely exposed.
He asked in a low voice, "Are you ready?"
Su Panyue glanced down, swallowed, and nodded slightly.
"Then I'll trouble Your Majesty to put it on for me," Xie Lanzhou said, handing over the fish-shaped brace.
Su Panyue reached out and took it, then looked at it hesitantly, quite doubting whether it was reliable or not.
A blush had spread from her face to the tips of her ears. She tried for a long time but couldn't get it right, muttering to herself, "Isn't this too small..."
As they spoke, things seemed to get even worse.
Su Panyue frowned in annoyance: "It was already impossible to wear it, and you still made me... were you doing this on purpose?!"
Xie Lanzhou's forehead was also covered in sweat, which slid down his cheeks. Although he wasn't as flushed as Su Panyue, he was not much better off. However, it wasn't because he was shy, but simply because he was holding it in.
"Your Majesty, this is the biggest fish I've ever found in the river. Who would have thought it wouldn't be good enough?"
Seeing his restrained expression, Su Panyue finally sighed and whispered, "Then let's do it. Can you control yourself one last time?"
Hearing her words, and seeing her shy and timid appearance, Xie Lanzhou's veins throbbed, and he could no longer restrain himself, responding softly with an "okay."
Water splashed up, and Su Panyue was lifted into the air in his arms, just like in the carriage.
"Didn't you say you liked it this way?" The man's deep voice was particularly clear in my ear.
Su Panyue didn't have time to answer, so she hooked her legs around his back, trying to ease the pressure.
Unfortunately, it was all in vain.
The surface of the hot spring water rippled violently, producing a series of sounds like fine, dense drumbeats, in sync with a heartbeat.
Just then, a gust of wind rose, and snowflakes suddenly began to fall from the sky, melting on the hot spring and landing on the overlapping figures of people.
Su Panyue looked up at the sky and could see the snow falling all around her, but she didn't feel cold at all. Instead, she felt incredibly hot.
Of course, there are people who are hotter than her.
Whether it was water droplets formed from melting snowflakes or sweat from the man, they slid down the lines of his strong, well-defined muscles and dripped onto her body.
She rubbed her hand against Xie Lanzhou with a hint of disgust, but he just chuckled and worked even harder.
After a moment, he spoke, "It'll be fine in the water." Xie Lanzhou then carried her back into the water.
Su Panyue's feet couldn't touch the bottom of the pool, and she was suspended in the water, relying on him to hold her so that she wouldn't sink.
After floating in the water for an unknown amount of time, she was finally pulled back to the shore of the pool.
Xie Lanzhou sighed contentedly and scooped up a ladle of water to wash himself clean.
Then he took a clean towel, dried Su Panyue, wrapped it in the fox fur, and carried her into the house.
The room was already warm with charcoal burning, making it cozy and inviting.
He carried Su Panyue to the bed and gently laid her down. She sank into the soft bedding and quickly became drowsy. Just before falling asleep, something seemed to gently land on her cheek. Su Panyue hummed softly and drifted off to sleep.
Xie Lanzhou tucked her clothes in, helped her put them on, and then went to the courtyard to pick up the clothes that the two of them had left by the hot spring.
Of all the clothes, only his underpants were relatively intact; the rest were just a few scraps of cloth, which he burned to ashes.
After tidying up, Xie Lanzhou went back into the house.
He extinguished most of the candles in the room, walked to the bedside, and looked down at Su Panyue, who was still sleeping very restlessly in her sleep, taking up most of the bed. He couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips into a smile.
She had worked very hard today, and Xie Lanzhou didn't want to wake her. He quietly lay down on the edge of the bed, and even though he was lying on his side with half of his body sticking out, he had a satisfied and doting expression on his face.
He reached out and touched the back of her hand that was exposed; the delicate, silky touch made him feel a little distracted.
The next instant, a leg came flying at him. Caught off guard, he instinctively dodged backward and fell to the ground.
So the next morning, Su Panyue saw a bruise on Xie Lanzhou's forehead.
She leaned closer to examine it, puzzled. "What happened? I don't remember slapping you yesterday..."
Yesterday, Xie Lanzhou initially cooperated with her by calling her "Your Majesty the Empress" repeatedly, making her very happy. However, gradually, it seemed that his penis started to have its own ideas and began to penetrate her without listening to anything.
In her anger, Su Panyue scratched and clawed at his back, leaving some marks, but he couldn't bear to damage his face in the slightest, let alone cause such bruises.
Xie Lanzhou interrupted her thoughts, saying, "I was accidentally injured while practicing martial arts this morning, but it's nothing."
Su Panyue didn't suspect anything and nodded with a hint of heartache, "Let Uncle Gui get you some medicine, apply some medicine and take good care of it, don't let it leave a scar." After all, she really liked this face.
Of course, she didn't say the last sentence, because Xie Lanzhou was clearly pleased with her concern, and lowered his eyes and pursed his lips.
After getting ready, Su Panyue pulled Xie Lanzhou to find Uncle Gui to get the medicine.
Uncle Gui glanced at him and laughed, saying, "If you've done too many bad things, you'd better be careful when you walk at night."
Xie Lanzhou gave him a cold look, took the medicine and handed it to Su Panyue, "You apply the medicine for me."
Su Panyue was naturally willing, but Gui Bo couldn't stand the two of them being so lovey-dovey, so he shook his head and left.
After having lunch at the residence, the group continued their journey.
Once they left the town, the road ahead was much smoother; they only needed to follow the official road to return to the capital.
Now that they were sure it was safe, they slowed down their journey and started sightseeing more like tourists.
With Su Panyue around, there's always endless fun to be had.
Today they built a snowman at the foot of Changbai Mountain, and tomorrow they will go ice skating on the endless lake. In short, the journey back was easy and enjoyable.
The journey there took three days, but the return trip took a full week to reach the capital.
The Imperial Guards had already sent men to guard the city gates to welcome her. Su Panyue lifted the curtain to look and found that in less than a month, the streets here had been completely transformed.
Vendors of all sizes have resumed business, making it more lively than before, and the people coming and going are visibly more joyful.
Seeing the Imperial Guards clearing the way, some quick-witted individuals realized what was happening and knelt down, kowtowing: "Greetings, Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!"
Subsequently, more and more people joined in, spontaneously kneeling on both sides of the road.
Seeing this, Su Panyue was both surprised and curious. Logically speaking, even ordinary people would not accept the change of dynasty so quickly, let alone be so convinced.
She tilted her head and asked Xie Lanzhou, "What happened?"
Xie Lanzhou said calmly, "Ordinary people don't care who becomes emperor; what they care more about is whether the emperor can bring them good fortune."
"Before I left, I ordered that the people be exempted from taxes for a year. In addition, the number of soldiers in Qi and Lu is already more than enough, so there is no need to conscript able-bodied men for corvée labor. The people will naturally be happy to see this happen."
Su Panyue nodded in agreement, "It is truly a great blessing for the people to have such a good emperor as you."
Xie Lanzhou curled his lips, but didn't mention the fate of those who swore to defy him.
The two returned to the Lu Kingdom's palace this time. During the month they were away, the craftsmen of the Imperial Household Department had already repaired and cleaned the entire palace.
Even the palace servants inside were replaced, and there was no trace of the State of Lu left inside or out.
Upon returning, Su Panyue immediately took Xie Lanzhou to see the secret passage through which she had escaped.
The secret passage was so well hidden that even the palace servants who were doing the repairs didn't notice it. Xie Lanzhou glanced at it and then had it completely sealed off.
Su Panyue pouted with great regret.
"What? You still want to escape from here?" Xie Lanzhou asked seemingly casually.
Su Panyue shook her head, "Of course not, with food, drink and servants to wait on me, why would I run away!"
Xie Lanzhou nodded. "I still have official duties to attend to. You should rest first."
After saying this, he left the bedchamber and went straight to the Imperial Study.
Sukiyaki, who hadn't seen him for a long time, excitedly greeted him: "Your Majesty, this servant pays respects! Your Majesty has finally returned."
Xie Lanzhou waved his hand to make him stand up: "Bring me an imperial edict and grind ink for me."
Shouxi agreed, marveling at His Majesty's dedication to the people. He had just returned from a long journey and immediately began attending to official duties, demonstrating his utmost diligence.
After he retrieved the empty imperial edict and prepared the ink.
Then they saw the diligent emperor pick up his brush and write four large characters on the imperial edict: "Edict Conferring the Title of Empress".
Then came a lengthy discourse of several hundred words praising the empress's virtuous character and refinement. He only stopped writing when he was almost out of space for the imperial edict, and then stamped it with the imperial seal.
Shouxi habitually prepared to accept the imperial edict, but Xie Lanzhou put it away himself.
"When does Your Majesty plan to hold the investiture ceremony?" Shouxi asked hesitantly, withdrawing his hand awkwardly.
Xie Lanzhou did not answer, but gently shook his head, because he did not know when, and this matter still needed to be discussed with Su Panyue.
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Author's Note: Countdown to completion! [doge emoji with rose in hand]
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