He looked at the portraits that were sent to him and toured the inner palace as usual, but he knew how to avoid people, so no concubine ran into him.
The Shengjing Imperial Palace is quite large, and the imperial garden is connected to pavilions and towers, giving it a particularly water town atmosphere.
It was March, the springtime, and the peach blossoms were in full bloom, covering the trees with bright red. Lin Su usually didn't like to wear overly heavy clothes, but even his casual clothes had exquisitely embroidered patterns on them.
When Li Yuan learned that Lin Su had come to the Southern Kingdom Palace, he stopped going out. It was not because he disliked that man, but he just didn't want to cause trouble or anything unexpected.
However, although he was relatively quiet, he felt extremely bored staying in the palace all day. One day when he had some free time, he learned that Emperor Qi Chen seemed to have left the palace and gone to the streets, so he followed his aunt out of the Taihe Palace and took a breath in the Imperial Garden.
When they reached the peach blossom tree, just beyond it was a place the concubines often visited. Li Yuan stopped and sat down on a smooth stone. Seeing that no one was around, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally, I'm out of the palace. If I had stayed in my own palace, I'd have been bored to death."
My aunt smiled and said, "Your Majesty, there's no need to be so afraid. Back then, I only asked questions and didn't humiliate you. I don't think Emperor Qichen would blame you so easily."
"That's exactly the point."
Li Yuan was about to speak when he heard a voice coming from above his head. When he looked up subconsciously, he saw a man sitting on a tree. He was dressed in black, which was somewhat similar in color to the tree trunk. However, in the shining peach blossoms, his smiling eyebrows were more eye-catching than the bright peach blossoms.
"Who are you and how can you walk around the harem at will?!" Aunt subconsciously protected Li Yuan.
Lin Su smiled, looked at the two people under the tree, and jumped down from the tree by supporting the trunk. He was very tall, and Li Yuan was not short either. Even if he had not fully grown up, his aunt could not stop him.
"Where did this little beauty come from? She is so beautiful." Lin Su said with a smile.
"How dare you! This is the Empress Dowager of Taihe Palace, you can't tease her at will!" The aunt's chest heaved, and as Lin Su approached, she retreated slightly.
She wanted to call for help, but was stopped by Li Yuan, "Aunt, this is Emperor Qi Chen."
Although I didn't notice it at first, the voice was very familiar. I didn't know this person's face before, I only saw his back, but now that I see him, I have a feeling that it is as I expected.
The aunt paused for a moment, but her expression changed. She bowed and said, "Greetings to Emperor Qichen. I apologize for any offense I have caused you before."
"Aunt, it's not an offense. Emperor Qi Chen did seem to be teasing me before." Li Yuan didn't spend much time with this person, but he inexplicably felt that this person probably didn't like spineless people.
Even if you are in a weak position, the more you feel inferior, the more inferior you will be.
The boy had grown up a lot compared to a year ago, but he seemed to have become more mature and old-fashioned. The liveliness he had just shown when no one was around was suppressed again.
"It's not teasing, it's sincere." Lin Su walked in front of Li Yuan. Although the young man pretended to be calm, his body was tense to the extreme. "I have been choosing beauties from all over the world, but I didn't expect the most beautiful one to be here."
He was quite close to Li Yuan, and he was so nervous that his breathing was a little stagnant. This person's behavior was beyond people's expectations, but if he retreated at this moment, he would really become the kind of person who could be teased at will.
Lin Su lowered his head, leaned close to his cheek and said, "Don't hide? If you don't hide, I'll kiss you."
Seeing him getting closer and closer, his breathing could be heard, and his aunt was extremely anxious behind him, Li Yuan could only stiffen his body, close his eyes and say: "I believe that His Majesty is a gentleman!"
Lin Su chuckled, scratched his nose, and stepped back. "It's really meaningless to force something. Did you understand the mechanism diagram I gave you last time?"
Li Yuan subconsciously touched the tip of his nose, but his aunt held him back. With mixed feelings, he said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the atlas you gave me last time. It's truly exquisite and worth studying over and over again."
"If you like me, why are you hiding from me?" Lin Su turned around and sat down on a stone beside him. "Am I the kind of person you see who can't tell right from wrong and who executes others at will?"
Li Yuan said bluntly: "I'm just afraid of getting into trouble."
Lin Su glanced at him and smiled, "You are younger than me. It's strange for you to call yourself Aijia. It's more comfortable to call yourself me just now."
Li Yuan knew that she couldn't show off her status as the Queen Mother in front of him, so she changed her words and said, "As long as Your Majesty doesn't blame me, that's good."
"I won't blame you. You will be my queen in the future, so how dare I blame you so easily?" Lin Su said with a smile.
Li Yuan was stunned. "Empress? Alas... I was not among the beauties offered to Your Majesty this time. Moreover, I am the late emperor's legal wife. Your Majesty, please don't joke like that."
"I never joke about this kind of thing." Lin Su said with a smile, "If you don't want to, I won't force you. But why don't you want to do it? Is it because of your status, or something else? I have to know the reason before I can let it go."
He was being reasonable. Li Yuan wouldn't be limited by her status as the Empress Dowager. Furthermore, he and the late Emperor had never been married for a single day. If he didn't agree, the man would simply move to another country. It's only special when one person likes another; if there's no relationship, then it won't have any influence at all.
If she were to marry him as her queen, it would actually be the best option to leave here, but that would only be like jumping from one cage to another. Moreover, if he offered to sacrifice himself in exchange for the well-being of the Li Kingdom, it would be a humiliation to both of them.
Li Yuan said, "Your Majesty has chosen beauties from all over the world, naturally hoping to find someone who will be harmonious with you. You and I have just met for the first time, and we don't know each other well. If you act rashly, I'm afraid there will be resentment in the future."
"Then let's get to know each other first?" Lin Su took a step back and said, the little empress dowager was indeed a smart person, she knew how to judge the situation and was not the kind of stubborn person.
Although Li Yuan and the late emperor were not actually married, she was married into the country. The Li Kingdom values subtlety, and the Southern Kingdom is even more so. He had never seen anyone so straightforward, but what he said was not wrong.
"How do you want to know?" Li Yuan felt inexplicably nervous.
It wasn't the nervousness of fear, but an extremely unfamiliar feeling of being watched, as if it was a bit like... having an affair.
"I have some free time today, so maybe I'll go visit the Empress Dowager's palace?" Lin Su said with a smile, "But this time, I won't need to hide behind a screen."
"Your Majesty is alone?" Li Yuan looked around but didn't see anyone accompanying him. "Didn't Your Majesty leave the palace today?"
"I wasn't the one who left the palace, I was the one who spread the news. If I hadn't spread the news, how could we have waited for the Queen Mother to arrive?" Lin Su stood up and walked forward. "I remember Taihe Palace is in this direction."
"I haven't yet..." Li Yuan saw him moving forward and could only follow.
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