Chapter 78 Obstacles "You really have fallen in love with me at first sight, unable to control yourself..."
On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Xie Lanzhou and Su Panyue finally arrived in the capital after a long journey.
Returning to the familiar Jingchun Palace, Su Panyue couldn't help but feel emotional. Despite having lived in Lu for over a decade, she had never felt a sense of belonging.
In the short year or so I've spent in Daqi, I've actually started to feel a bit like I'm at home. Every plant and tree in the palace feels more familiar and welcoming.
During her absence, Feiyan took over the management of Jingchun Palace. The palace's furnishings and layout remained unchanged from before she left, except that each room had been equipped with a heater, making the entire palace warm and cozy.
Before she even got close, Feiyan ran to the palace gate to greet her: "My lady! My lady, you're finally back! I've missed you so much!"
Su Panyue smiled and took her hand, "You've been working so hard lately, thank you for taking care of Jingchun Palace for me."
Feiyan smiled and shook her head, "It wasn't hard work. It was you who suffered outside, my lady. You look like you've lost weight."
Su Panyue followed her into the palace and casually asked, "During the time His Majesty and I were away, did anything happen in the palace?"
Feiyan thought for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "There were some rumors circulating in the palace recently, and I have already dealt with those who spread them."
Su Panyue tilted her head and asked, "What rumors?"
Feiyan hesitated for a long time before finally speaking under Su Panyue's urging: "There are rumors in the palace that Your Highness is a spy sent by the State of Lu to mislead His Majesty and extract information."
"Is there anything else?" Su Panyue asked.
"And, some people say that Your Highness is a concubine of the last king of Lu, and was already married before entering the palace." Fei Yan's voice grew softer and softer as she spoke.
"Don't worry, my lady, the people who spread these rumors have been punished."
Su Panyue nodded nonchalantly. It must be because Xie Lanzhou had made too much of a commotion in trying to find her, which had caught the attention of someone with ulterior motives. However, the information was a mix of truth and falsehood, and she didn't know whether it was due to a mistake in the investigation or something done on purpose.
She put the matter aside for the time being, lay back on the canopy bed to rest for a while, and only went to the imperial study when it was almost time for dinner.
Upon returning to the palace, Xie Lanzhou was summoned to the Imperial Study. There had been too many government affairs piling up recently, and many ministers claimed to have important matters to report, waiting on the palace road to discuss matters with him.
When Su Panyue arrived, Shouxi was waiting outside the door, while Eunuch Fu was serving her inside.
She asked, "Is anyone still inside discussing matters with His Majesty?"
Shouxi respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, it is the Duke inside."
Su Panyue nodded. The Duke was Xie Lanzhou's maternal grandfather and one of his few remaining relatives. It was only natural that he should let Xie Lanzhou know he was safe after returning from his expedition.
So she stood aside with her hand warmer in her hand, waiting for them to finish talking before going in.
Seeing that she was going to wait, Shouxi, being very perceptive, went to get her a chair.
As soon as he left, a thud was heard from inside, as if something had been thrown to the ground, and faint shouts could be heard.
Su Panyue was startled and couldn't help but move closer to see what was happening inside.
She was practically pressed against the door when she finally caught a few words.
"You want to make a spy from Lu the empress?!" The person with the booming voice must be the Duke.
Xie Lanzhou spoke very softly, and she couldn't hear what he said at all.
A moment later, the old Duke said, "Absolutely impossible." Before Su Panyue could react, the palace door was opened, and she, who was pressed against the door panel, was almost shaken.
He staggered a bit before regaining his balance, and when he looked up, he met the old Duke who was coming out from inside.
Since the other party was an elder, her attitude was naturally much more respectful, and she greeted them with a somewhat awkward smile.
The old Duke merely frowned, glanced at her, snorted coldly, and then turned and left.
Su Panyue stood there and sighed helplessly.
At this moment, Suki returned with a chair. "Your Majesty, please sit down."
Su Panyue waved her hand and went straight into the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Only Xie Lanzhou, who stood with his hands behind his back by the table, and Eunuch Fu, who remained silent with his head bowed, were left in the hall.
Upon seeing Su Panyue enter, Eunuch Fu greeted her as if she were his savior, saying, "Your Highness, you've arrived. This servant will take his leave now."
Su Panyue waved him away, signaling him to leave.
She then walked over to Xie Lanzhou and tilted her head to look at the man's expression. Unfortunately, she couldn't discern any emotion on his face, but Su Panyue keenly sensed his sadness.
She reached out and hugged his waist, pressed her face against his chest, and whispered, "It doesn't matter to me whether I become empress or not, really."
Xie Lanzhou hugged her back and asked in a low voice, "You heard everything?"
Su Panyue shook her head, "I only heard a little bit."
"It was some Lu soldiers who had feigned surrender and spread rumors that my grandfather overheard. I didn't expect him to react so strongly," Xie Lanzhou explained succinctly.
Then he raised his hand and touched her hair, saying gently, "But you don't need to worry about these things, I will arrange everything."
Su Panyue looked up from his embrace and said, "The ministers won't agree either."
Xie Lanzhou said calmly, "It's not important. No one can question my decision."
Su Panyue blinked, then asked, "Not even the Duke?"
Although Xie Lanzhou hadn't told her this, his attitude towards the Ji family showed that this maternal grandfather held some weight in his heart.
Xie Lanzhou indeed fell silent, and finally only said, "I will persuade him."
Su Panyue smiled but didn't say anything. She really didn't want to be an empress. She was already very happy with things as they were. But if she said that, Xie Lanzhou would definitely be unhappy, so she didn't say anything.
Seeing his furrowed brows and thoughtful expression, Su Panyue took his hand and said, "Let's go, it's time for dinner. It's been a long time since we've had food from the Imperial Kitchen."
Xie Lanzhou nodded and followed her back to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The kitchen had already prepared dinner, and the dishes showed that they had put a lot of thought into it.
Seeing that Xie Lanzhou was somewhat absent-minded while eating, Su Panyue simply took over the initial task of serving him his meal.
He specifically picked out the foods she thought were delicious and put them on her plate, saying, "Your Majesty, please try this. It's delicious."
"And this too, this is delicious as well."
Xie Lanzhou looked at the mountain of food piled up in front of him and finally smiled, teasing, "So much time has passed, and you still haven't learned how to serve food?"
Upon hearing this, Su Panyue, who was nodding with satisfaction as she ate, raised an eyebrow at him and said somewhat unconvinced, "How could I not know how to serve food? You've even gained some weight since you've been with me."
Xie Lanzhou smiled and shook his head, then lowered his head to eat the food that Xie Lanzhou had put in his bowl.
Su Panyue suddenly remembered something, tilted her head and looked into his eyes, "By the way, Your Majesty, why did you choose me as your personal maid? Could it be that you had feelings for me from then on?"
"Or is it because I'm too beautiful that you got lustful at first sight?" she said, winking and giving a knowing look.
Xie Lanzhou stopped eating, looked up and thought for a moment, then smiled and asked, "Weren't you the one who fell for me first?"
Upon hearing this, Su Panyue realized that he had been able to hear her own thoughts at that time.
Although it had been a long time, she still blushed and remained silent when she recalled it.
Xie Lanzhou seemed to recall something amusing and continued, "The first time you met me, you said I was suitable to be your man. You must have been attracted to me and wanted to repay me with your body?"
"Later, you repeatedly praised my appearance and physique in your heart. I suppose you gradually fell in love with me?"
Finally, he concluded: "You have indeed fallen in love with me at first sight and are hopelessly infatuated."
Listening to his analysis, Su Panyue wished she could disappear into a crack in the ground. Was this really what she was thinking? She remembered being terrified of him back then.
So she retorted softly, "I didn't, Your Majesty must have misremembered."
Xie Lanzhou glanced at her earlobes, which were turning slightly red, and said with a smile, "Then let me help you remember."
"When we first met, you said I wasn't suited to be an emperor, but rather to be your man."
"Later, when you came to serve me, you said that I looked very handsome when I was serious and that you wanted to kiss me."
"Later, you took advantage of me being unconscious to secretly touch me."
"Dare you say you haven't had feelings for me all along?"
After Xie Lanzhou finished speaking, he looked at her with great interest, as if waiting for her reaction.
Su Panyue swallowed hard. She couldn't very well say that she was just blinded by lust and simply enjoyed indulging in her fantasies.
Under the man's hopeful gaze, she nodded with difficulty.
Xie Lanzhou smiled and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
Su Panyue immediately raised her hand to touch her face in disgust, "You didn't wipe your mouth after eating, did you smear oil on my face?"
Xie Lanzhou was speechless for a moment before replying, "I would never get oil on my lips."
Su Panyue wiped and wiped, but found no oil on her face, so she smiled sheepishly.
Taking advantage of Xie Lanzhou's momentary lapse in attention, she also kissed him on the cheek.
Undoubtedly, the man's fair face now had a suspicious sheen of oil.
Having succeeded in her scheme, Su Panyue sat back down, chuckling to herself, and didn't forget to defend herself, "It's a give-and-take situation."
Xie Lanzhou was in a good mood after receiving a personal admission from her that she had long harbored feelings for him. He didn't hold it against her and picked up his chopsticks to eat again, his upturned lips never drooping down again.
After finally managing to appease him, Su Panyue was still preoccupied with the matter of the old Duke.
Xie Lanzhou has few relatives left who truly care about him, and she really doesn't want to cause a lose-lose situation because of herself.
This was the first time she had met the old Duke today, but judging from his attitude towards her, it was definitely not just because of those rumors; there must also be someone with ulterior motives stirring things up.
It would be better to discuss things face-to-face; relying solely on Xie Lanzhou's forceful methods might backfire.
Su Panyue thought about it for a long time, and finally told Xie Lanzhou her thoughts before going to sleep.
“Your Majesty, the end of the year is approaching. Don’t you think we should hold a family banquet?” She said, habitually resting her head on the man’s chest and touching his abs.
Xie Lanzhou looked down at her, pondered for a moment, and then agreed, "Alright, but the royal family is in decline and there are not many people left."
Su Panyue closed her eyes, wanting to say that they were all killed by herself, and what was this talk about the decline of the royal family... but of course she couldn't say it out loud.
“Okay, I’ll arrange it. How about we set it for the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month?” Su Panyue asked quickly.
“Sure, you can have those female officials help you.” Xie Lanzhou replied casually, and her hands were already busy.
"Today is the first day back." Su Panyue held his hand and couldn't help but remind him, "You said you'd let me rest for a day!"
It didn't matter that his hands were held down; Xie Lanzhou still had his incredibly flexible tongue.
Su Panyue ultimately succumbed to his advances, grumbling and cursing him as a bastard who broke his promises.
Xie Lanzhou tossed the last piece of clothing under the bed, tenderly stroked the woman's peach-pink face, and adjusted his position.
Before the water dripped through the stone, he whispered in Su Panyue's ear, "You can rest, I'll do the dirty and tiring work."
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Author's note: Zhou: You just lie down and rest, leave the rest to me.
Moon: Then can you get off me?
Congee: That won't do. [Glasses]
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