The morning air was perfect, and the entire palace seemed to be refreshed. Hua Cai walked through the Imperial Garden in a good mood and happened to see Yue Chen returning from court.
Ahem, that's right, Yue Chen is back from court.
Hua Cai expressed her deep aversion to attending court, which required getting up earlier than the rooster. She only attended court on the second day after her ascension to the throne. After a perfunctory meeting with the civil and military officials, she introduced Yue Chen, who was merely there to observe, before the officials could even speak. She explained that Yue Chen was someone she had painstakingly recruited from Yue Kingdom to handle state affairs. She said that starting tomorrow—no, starting now—if there was anything to discuss, one should consult him. Of course, she would still read the officials' memorials.
Yue Chen, burdened with a heavy responsibility, gloriously went into battle on the second day after the founding of the Jin Kingdom, while Hua Cai leisurely lay in the study, practicing the Nine Yin Manual and going through the sword techniques taught by Yue Chen a few times, occasionally paying attention to the situation of the male and female protagonists. Time passed day by day.
Meanwhile, the powerful figures in Yue, especially the Yue emperor, were overjoyed when they heard that their army had marched triumphantly all the way to the Li Kingdom's palace. However, the very next day, news spread that Hua Cai had declared himself emperor, leaving the powerful figures completely stunned.
What's going on? A general from Yue, leading his troops, conquered the Li Kingdom and then established the Jin Dynasty?
Before the Yue Emperor could even process this unprecedented event, his 100,000-strong army, which had been taken out to fight, had returned. The Yue Emperor suddenly felt as if he had been returned.
What's even more worrying is that Dajun has returned, but his precious son is still nowhere to be seen. Upon asking, he learned that Yue Chen had not returned with them at all.
The first thought that came to the Emperor of Yue's mind was that his son had been left behind as a hostage by Hua Cai, who had betrayed him after using him.
The King of Yue was furious and immediately wanted to use the gold and silver still in Yue as hostages to force Hua Cai to submit and at least redeem his son.
But the gold and silver of today are not the same as they used to be; they are no longer something he can manipulate at will.
While taking action is out of the question, it's still possible to find out the female general's intentions.
So, King Yue politely invited Jin Yin to the palace for tea. When asked about it, Jin Yin said that Jin Baozhu had several people to deal with and that he needed to control the Li Kingdom.
The Yue Emperor thought this reason was utterly absurd. There were only a few people? Why not just arrest them and kill them?
Despite his disbelief, he couldn't simply keep the gold and silver in the palace, so he had to have his men closely monitor their movements.
While they were still losing sleep over Jin Baozhu's matter, the next day their spies brought news that the new emperor of Jin had not attended court since his ascension to the throne, and that their third prince had been acting as regent.
The anxious and agitated Emperor Yue was stunned; the sudden turn of events left him somewhat unable to react.
After confirming the intelligence repeatedly, the Yue Emperor was stunned and even missed the morning court session in a daze.
In the following days, the same thing continued. Even the Emperor of Yue, who was known for his benevolence and wisdom, couldn't help but start conspiring in his mind, and the target of his conspiracy was none other than his own son.
Could it be that my own son used some means to control the Jin family's daughter?
After several days, the daily reports still indicated that his son was managing state affairs as usual.
The Yue emperor finally couldn't sit still any longer and sent Wei Tuo to the Jin Kingdom.
Wei Tuo's journey was naturally much slower than the daily 800-li urgent dispatch. While the Yue Emperor waited anxiously, he brought back news that almost made the Yue Emperor vomit blood.
"What did you say? The young master has a crush on a girl, is willing to help her manage state affairs, and is even about to marry her and become her empress?"
In the Yue Kingdom's imperial study, a voice as loud as a thunderclap rang out. The Yue Emperor abruptly stood up from his large dragon throne, his hand trembling as he plucked out a few strands of his beard.
"That kid really does control the government in the Jin Kingdom, and he's not threatened at all. Judging from his hardworking and conscientious manner, that's pretty much the gist of it." Wei Tuo chuckled, stroking his chin as if he had thought of something, his smile lewd.
The young lady might be a little unwilling, but—my method will definitely work.
"How can that be allowed?" The Yue Emperor's eyes widened. "That's my third son. How can he go and become the emperor, cough, empress of another country?"
The Emperor of Yue felt a surge of frustration; the word "Empress" just felt so awkward coming out at this moment.
"Absolutely not, no discussion. Even if we send those two boys away, Xiao Sanzi is out of the question." At this moment, Emperor Yue completely lost his usual refined demeanor and instantly became a grumpy, glaring old man.
After saying that, he ignored Wei Tuo's organization and sent an urgent message to Yue Chen, praising things like how it was inappropriate for him to live in the Empress's palace all year round, and the importance of national interests and good relations between the two countries. He piled on official jargon as if it were free.
In short, it boils down to this: you used to be friends, so it didn't matter how you spent time together, but now that he's a prince of the Yue Kingdom, it's inappropriate for him to live in the Jin Kingdom's palace year-round.
Wei Tuo watched the Yue Emperor's arrangements with a dark expression, inwardly grumbling.
What do you mean by saying those two can be sent away? Do you think that's reasonable?
When Hua Cai happily kicked pebbles all the way to find Yue Chen, she saw him sitting helplessly on a chair in the pavilion of the Imperial Garden, holding a letter in his hand and staring blankly at the fish in the pond.
No wonder we haven't seen a single person yet.
Hua Cai walked forward quietly, then suddenly tilted her body and brought her head close to Yue Chen's face: "What are you daydreaming about?"
Yue Chen was lost in thought; her little trick, which never worked before, was surprisingly effective this time.
Startled, Yue Chen staggered backward, forgetting that he was standing right behind a pillar of the pavilion. He bumped into it hard, staring blankly at the smiling Hua Cai, momentarily speechless, looking utterly adorable.
Tsk tsk tsk, this lunatic can actually be so cute sometimes.
Hua Cai was surprised and wanted to pinch his face, but Yue Chen's gaze instantly focused on her, and he returned to his contradictory state of being both indifferent and gentle.
"What are you doing?" Yue Chen was somewhat taken aback when he saw Hua Cai staring at him without speaking, as if waiting for his answer.
He was lost in thought just now. What did she ask?
"What are you looking at?" Hua Cai stared intently at the letter in Yue Chen's hand, thinking it was some difficult intelligence from the border town, and reached out to take it.
The usual memorials—cough cough, well, she's too lazy—are usually handled by Yue Chen. But occasionally, when something difficult comes up, the two of them will discuss it together. After all, the 60,000-strong army of Li Qiu that the border town has taken over for its own use is difficult to pacify for a while, so there are a lot of things to deal with.
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