Chapter 40 Obsession The first character he learned to write was "Wen Miao".
“…Hmm.”
At this moment, Emperor Qianyuan, who was lying on his back on the couch with his hands still gently holding the Empress's waist and abdomen, slowly raised his eyelids.
Those deep eyes, still brimming with desire, stared straight at Wen Miao, their depths reflecting the image of a beautiful woman with a jade-like face and a hint of shyness.
"The Empress is so clever."
Emperor Qianyuan tilted his head slightly, licking Wen Miao's slightly damp temples with his lips. His voice was hoarse and deep, yet exceptionally confident, "I enjoy the feeling of being with the Empress."
He paused, then kissed Wen Miao's lower lip again, and mumbled, "I can't live without Miao Miao."
I really can't live without it.
When the dream of the goddess suddenly ended, it took Emperor Qianyuan several years to emerge from that shadow. If Wen Miao were to disappear again, Emperor Qianyuan thought he would probably not be able to get over it for the rest of his life.
Wen Miao was exhausted and weak all over, so she could only lie in Emperor Qian Yuan's arms, struggling but unable to break free. She was both ashamed and angry, "How could Your Majesty be so insidious?"
The emperor chuckled and raised his hand to stroke Wen Miao's lower back, massaging it gently to relieve the soreness.
"Is this insidious? I think it's alright. At least I've successfully kept the Empress in the Taiji Palace, which is to my satisfaction."
Wen Miao pursed her lips, her eyes reddening, and glared at the emperor while fighting off sleepiness. However, the emperor pulled her slightly to the side, pulled up the soft quilt, and covered her shoulders and neck.
Emperor Qianyuan asked, "If the Empress is still in good spirits, why don't we do it again?"
Wen Miao's eyes widened slightly. Enduring the soreness in her waist, she immediately wrapped herself in the quilt, turned her back to Emperor Qian Yuan, and whispered, "I'm going to sleep." Then she closed her eyes and ignored the beast-like creature behind her.
He's clearly in his thirties, not exactly young, yet he acts like a naive boy when it comes to sex, never seeming to get enough... He's also excessively clingy, forcing her to wet the cushion every time, it's just too shameful and reckless!
The emperor was not annoyed to see that the woman had turned her back to him and was sleeping. He simply turned to his side, propped his head up, and quietly looked at the sleeping Wen Miao with his eyes, saying softly, "May the Empress have sweet dreams."
With his back to him, Wen Miao responded in his throat. Just when Emperor Qian Yuan thought he would not get any more reply, he suddenly heard a shy, soft, and gentle voice coming from inside the soft quilt.
She said, "Your Majesty also has sweet dreams."
Emperor Qianyuan was stunned for a moment.
His fingers twitched slightly, not from pain, but from some kind of uncontrollable excitement.
I love it.
I really like it.
Miaomiao... how could she be so soft-hearted?
The candlelight flickered in the Taiji Palace. Emperor Qianyuan silently picked up a strand of soft, black hair from the bed, then held it inch by inch to his mouth and nose, carefully smelling and kissing it, rubbing his cheek against it.
...Even this was enough to make his soul tremble.
After a while, once Wen Miao's breathing had completely calmed down, Emperor Qian Yuan reached out and pulled her tightly into his arms, letting out a sigh-like gasp from deep within his nostrils, his face filled with a satisfied and greedy expression.
In fact, Wen Miao was not used to being held while sleeping, and Emperor Qian Yuan knew this. He did not want to force her, but the desire in his heart and bones was unbearable, like thousands of ants gnawing at his flesh.
Therefore, after the affair, the emperor would not rush to sleep, but would patiently wait for Wen Miao to fall into a deep sleep, and then, like a giant python, he would wrap himself around her in his arms, their body heat intertwined, until dawn.
His queen will grow accustomed to him in her dreams of embracing him again and again.
...
The wedding leave for the Emperor and Empress passed quickly, leaving Emperor Qian Yuan unsatisfied. After he officially resumed the morning court sessions, Wen Miao took the opportunity to temporarily move out of Taiji Palace and return to Fengyi Palace, which had been neglected for several days after the wedding.
This time, the emperor wanted to keep the person, but he couldn't.
On that day, the emperor's face remained expressionless, but his aura was truly chilling. He was also expressionless during the morning court session, and his gaze made the officials tremble with fear. Even the usual backtalk and arguments between civil and military officials became much milder. They wondered if the recent handling of state affairs had displeased His Majesty.
The courtiers had no idea that the reason Emperor Qianyuan was secretly angry was because the Empress was not living with him. Wen Miao, who had already moved back to Fengyi Palace, had nothing to do, so she took the initiative to inquire about the affairs of the inner palace from Luo Shi and several nannies.
She wanted to know what the Queen needed to do.
As an elder in the palace, Lady Luo immediately whispered an explanation when Wen Miao asked her questions.
According to past practice, the core duties of the empress, as the head of the inner palace and the mother of the nation, were to manage the affairs of the inner palace, supervise the concubines and palace maids, and preside over royal sacrificial activities. The appointment and removal of personnel, monthly rewards and punishments, selection of palace servants, approval of the emperor's concubines, and arrangement of palace banquets all fell under this category.
Wen Miao had only a vague understanding of the Empress's duties. After listening carefully, she also briefly browsed through some of the record books sent by Luo Shi and several other nannies.
The records of personnel expenses and palace treasury were kept in separate volumes, but they were not very clear. Wen Miao stared at them for a moment, then suddenly pointed to the volume recording palace servants and asked, "Is it convenient to look up information each time it's written like this?"
Luo paused, shook her head, and looked slightly helpless. "Your Majesty, there are many people in the palace and many of these records. At first, they were mixed up and hard to find. Later, they were divided into batches by year. I and several other nannies each managed three to five years' worth, which is better than before."
But this "better" is only slight.
Every year, there are personnel changes in the palace. New palace maids and eunuchs come in, and palace servants who have reached the age limit are allowed to leave the palace. The number of people coming and going in the huge palace is no less than the number of people serving. Even though Emperor Qian Yuan's harem has no concubines and many palaces have been empty, it does not mean that there are no palace servants to serve and clean them.
Even setting aside the Twelve Palaces of the East and West, there were also the Animal Garden, the Imperial Kitchen, the Imperial Garden, the Bell and Drum Temple, the Imperial Medical Academy, the Imperial Workshop, and so on. Which of these wasn't a place that required manpower?
Recording personnel by year can only solve the problem temporarily. However, as time goes on, changes in the positions of palace staff, such as promotions, demotions, rewards, punishments, and job changes, actually make the search more difficult.
Wen Miao paused, her fingers pausing as she flipped through the notebook, a thought suddenly popping into her mind.
She said, "Shi Cui, could you get me some pen, ink, and paper?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Wen Miao wasn't sure how talented she was before she lost her memory, but she guessed that she shouldn't have been bad—at least every time she picked up a brush, the force of her strokes was natural, her handwriting was neat and had subtle brushstrokes. Although it wasn't as sharp as Emperor Qian Yuan's own, nor as exquisite as the small regular script, it had its own style, a slightly precipitous and slender gold script.
Soon, Wen Miao sketched out interlocking squares on the spread-out Xuan paper, and in the top squares, she wrote detailed classifications such as "name," "age," "date of entry into the palace," and "transfer status."
Previously, many of the palace's account books used simple tables for classification and statistics. After reading them, Wen Miao subconsciously felt that there was another, more straightforward and convenient method. She didn't even think about it for long before she wrote down all the content.
It's as if... she was born with these skills.
Initially, Mr. Luo, who was standing to the side, was full of doubts, but as the grid and classification became clearer, a look of surprise and understanding appeared on his face.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, this..."
Wen Miao put down her brush, turned her head to look at Madam Luo, and asked softly, "Does Granny think this is feasible?"
"This servant thinks it is excellent! It is so clear that you can find everything at a glance, which is much less effort than before."
Wen Miao smiled. "As long as it's useful, that's fine."
Wen Miao was indeed not interested in personally managing the affairs of the harem, and Emperor Qian Yuan never asked her to do anything.
Moreover, there were quite a few palace servants as capable as Lady Luo, so Wen Miao naturally delegated power, with each level having its own responsibilities, including both laborers and managers, forming what seemed like a small company established here, which was quite orderly and harmonious.
Just as she thought of this, Wen Miao couldn't help but look bewildered.
Some completely unfamiliar words seemed to unconsciously pop into her mind again... What is a small company?
Wen Miao remained calm and quietly memorized the newly popped-up words in her mind, hoping to find some clues by flipping through the palace's books when she had the chance in the future.
Besides the records of personnel transfers, there were also records about the warehouse, accounts, and imperial products. Since it was still early and she had some free time, Wen Miao asked for the rest of the books and planned to read them all.
Regardless of the type of record book, Wen Miao only needs to read it for a short while to form a table in her mind that makes it easy to organize and summarize the records.
She had no intention of keeping anything to herself, and simply asked Shi Cui and Wan Bi to grind ink and lay out paper. In a few quick strokes, they drew several tables with slight differences in details, which she then handed over to Madam Luo and several other nannies, who were responsible for organizing and copying them.
Wen Miao spent the afternoon enjoying herself again. She couldn't recall her past memories, but sometimes her subconscious behaviors contained traces of the past, as if deciphering a mystery. She drew tables while exploring the memories hidden in her brain.
As dusk settled, Emperor Qianyuan, having finally finished his official duties for the day, hurried to Fengyi Palace, where Wen Miao was washing the ink stains off her fingers.
Emperor Qianyuan walked to Wen Miao's side and, before she could speak, grasped her hand, whose fingertips were slightly stained with dark black.
"Your Majesty?" Wen Miao asked, puzzled.
The emperor asked somewhat seriously, "May I wash the empress's hands?"
In that distant dream about the goddess, Emperor Qian Yuan, who was then a prince in the cold palace and never had enough to eat, saw little Wen Miao kneeling on a wide chair, wearing beautiful clothes, with half-length black hair, holding a brush, carefully practicing her calligraphy on paper.
The Cold Palace was filled with either insane concubines or ostracized palace maids and eunuchs. No one would teach the disgraced prince to read and write, so he could only watch and learn in his dreams.
The lovely little goddess was both a guiding light for Emperor Qian Yuan and, unintentionally, a little teacher who taught him to write.
Even back then, the first name he wrote down was Wen Miao's.
However, the young goddess in the dream also had her own troubles—
She would often accidentally get ink stains on her hands, sleeves, and occasionally even on the side of her face, making her look like a little kitten—it was both cute and funny.
The basin of water in the room was placed on a high platform, so the little goddess had to stand on tiptoe every time she washed her hands, sometimes even getting her sleeves wet, which was extremely difficult.
At that time, the prince in the cold palace, who could only admire from afar and could not touch the dream, couldn't help but think that if he were by the side of the little goddess, he could pick her up and wash her hands, without having to go through so much trouble.
However, he was born thin and frail in the cold palace. If he couldn't lift her up and even dropped her, it would be his own fault... He should be stronger and cleaner so that he would be worthy to approach the beautiful and noble little goddess in his dreams.
Someday...
He thought that day would come eventually.
Now, the obsession that had haunted his dreams for so many years has given Emperor Qianyuan a way to realize it.
During the brief moment of Wen Miao's stunned silence, the emperor asked again.
Wen Miao nodded, thinking it was just a small matter, unaware that it was a longing that Emperor Qian Yuan had kept hidden in his heart for several years.
Inside the Phoenix Palace, a delicate basin was filled with warm water. Wen Miao stood in front of it, while Emperor Qian Yuan's arms passed through her waist and abdomen from behind, lifting the sleeves of Wen Miao's forearms, which were decorated with phoenix patterns, and then carefully taking her fair and smooth hands into the water.
Emperor Qian Yuan's movements were very meticulous. In the bronze mirror, Wen Miao could only see the emperor's drooping eyelashes and the small shadow that fell under his eyes. He looked serious and focused as he gently lathered up his soap.
After washing, he held Wen Miao's fingers and wiped them one by one, finally placing them to his lips and gently kissing them. He then looked up at Wen Miao, his gaze direct and intensely affectionate.
"I miss the Empress."
"Empress...do you miss me?"
-----------------------
Author's Note: The Sticky, Gooey Emperor
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
