In the Daxia world, in the Kyoto Imperial Palace, in the square in front of the Golden Throne Hall, there is a portal emitting silver light floating in the air.

In the square in front of the portal, Zhao Lihe, wearing a black dragon-patterned casual suit, stood with his hands behind his back, chatting and laughing with the woman next to him.

Although this woman wore a dragon-phoenix pearl and jade crown and a red silk long skirt and sleeves embroidered with golden dragon and phoenix patterns, her temperament was heroic and valiant. Rather than the queen who was the mother of the country, she looked more like a brave general fighting on the battlefield.

There is no doubt that this is Ding Baiying, the first queen of the Great Xia Dynasty.

Behind Ding Baiying stood a younger and more beautiful woman. She was holding two delicate little dolls, with a slightly bulging belly. She looked with implicit reverence at the couple in front of her who had founded a new dynasty.

On her right, Princess Zhao Yining of Daxia blinked her sparkling eyes, carefully stretched out her little hand, and stroked the beautiful woman's bulging belly while curiously asking:

"Aunt Qing, when will my sister be born?"

"..." Concubine Qing came back to her senses and said with a gentle smile, "It will take more than four months!"

"Ah, does it take that long?" Zhao Yining looked disappointed, "Can't she be born tomorrow?"

Hearing his sister's words, Zhao Yian rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "It takes a mother ten months to conceive a child. Have you forgotten what the teacher said so quickly?"

Zhao Yining pursed his lips: "Of course I remember, but isn't my father the reincarnation of a god? The blood of a god must be a bit magical, right?"

Zhao Yian retorted again: "That can only be more, not less - have you forgotten the story of the Third Prince Nezha? He stayed in his mother's womb for three years and six months before he was born!"

Zhao Yining thought about it and felt that this was the truth, so he immediately backed off and said, “Okay, forget it, ten months is good!”

Hearing the childish but clear conversation between the two little guys beside her, Concubine Qing breathed a sigh of relief.

Regarding the matter of being pregnant with a dragon son, she was more worried about the attitudes of Prince An and Princess Ning than Queen Ding who personally sent her to Zhao Lihe's palace. As long as the two of them had no objection, her child's future destiny would surely be happy.

That’s right, Miss Qing’er, who was rescued by Zhao Lihe and brought home, and then taken in as a personal maid by Ding Baiying, was eventually taken into Zhao Lihe’s harem.

However, this had nothing to do with Zhao Lihe's own wishes, but was mainly the intention of Queen Ding and the important officials in the court.

After all, this world was built on the ruins of the late Ming Dynasty. Although it has received material help from many other worlds, its spirit and concepts are still in the feudal dynasty era of the late Ming Dynasty.

When the emperor of this era had only one empress and a pair of children, the issue of offspring and succession became the top priority of the court.

Not only that, if Zhao Lihe continued to insist on monogamy, those ministers in the court who already had wives and concubines would also feel embarrassed.

Public opinion may not dare to blame the emperor, but it will portray Queen Ding as a jealous woman.

Zhao Lihe could ignore the voices of the court, but he could not sit idly by and watch his wife's reputation being ruined by public opinion, so he reluctantly accepted Miss Qing and made her a noble concubine.

From then on, the Great Xia Dynasty had a queen and a concubine. If anyone dared to use this incident to attack the queen again, Zhao Lihe would show no mercy.

Back to the topic, Zhao Yian and Zhao Yining were still whispering about their sister's future name, but Concubine Qing noticed a faint ripple on the silver portal in front of them.

It’s coming!

Concubine Qing quickly pulled their hands and whispered, "Okay, Lord Zuo will be here soon!"

The eyes of brother and sister Zhao Yian and Zhao Yining suddenly lit up. They quickly raised their heads and looked towards the silver portal with anticipation.

Soon, a black Audi drove out of the portal.

Zhao Yian cheered immediately, let go of Concubine Qing's hand, ran over happily, and skillfully opened the car door for Zuo Yu.

Zuo Yu got down from the driver's seat, rubbed Zhao Yian's head with a smile, stuffed him a moving Gundam toy, and then looked at Duoduo who was a little nervous in the passenger seat.

"Come down!" Zuo Yu said with a chuckle, "This is your Uncle Zhao's house!"

“…”

Duoduo blinked and got out of the car hesitantly.

Before she could hide behind Zuo Yu, Ding Baiying smiled and took her hand, gently tidying up the messy hair on her shoulders.

Since she was born, Duoduo had never been treated like this by a mature woman. She immediately lowered her head shyly, revealing the fair skin on the back of her neck.

Ding Baiying smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and pressed on her back, exerting a little force: "Hold your head and chest high, it's better for a girl to be relaxed. If you keep your head down and your chest hunched, your body shape and temperament will be affected in the future..."

Feeling the gentle force coming from behind and hearing the soft words in her ears, Duoduo raised her head unconsciously.

Ding Baiying immediately praised: "This child is so well-behaved. I wish my An'er could be as well-behaved as him someday..."

Ding Baiying often uses the tactic of belittling her own children to get closer to other children.

Zhao Yian had long been used to it and ignored it completely, still happily playing with his Gundam toy, seemingly unaffected by it at all.

Looking at the gentle smile on Ding Baiying's face, Duoduo blinked twice and gradually relaxed her guard.

Seeing this, Zuo Yu secretly gave a thumbs up. As expected of a wife who had raised two children herself, she was indeed experienced in dealing with children.

Ding Baiying smiled slightly, took Duoduo's hand, looked at Zhao Lihe and Zuo Yu and said with a smile: "Leave Duoduo and the children to me, you can talk about anything by yourselves!"

After saying that, Ding Baiying took Duoduo's little hand, dragged Zhao Yian and his sister, as well as Concubine Qing who had a bulging belly, and turned to leave.

Zuo Yu gave Duo Duo, who was looking back, a reassuring look, and then looked at Concubine Qing's back and said, "Congratulations, the little princess of Da Xia should be born soon, right?"

"There are still four more months..."

Zhao Lihe said with a smile, and he was obviously looking forward to the birth of his little daughter.

Zhao Yian and Zhao Yining are both nine years old this year. They are at a rebellious age and are no longer as cute as they were when they were little. The caring little cotton-padded jackets they used to be are also starting to leak.

Some time ago, Zhao Yian even instigated his sister to secretly shave off his beard while he was practicing.

"Fortunately, I still have some fatherly authority, so An'er and Ningning don't dare to really do anything. Otherwise, I don't know whether I should catch them in the act..."

Hearing Zhao Lihe's depressed words, Zuo Yu laughed: "Who told you to always want to give them a normal family and childhood? If you had treated your family as a royal family earlier, would An'er and Ningning dare to do such a thing to you?"

"Of course I don't dare."

Zhao Lihe smiled and said, "But it's good like this now. It's more like a family. If it really becomes deserted, it would be boring."

"It's already very quiet, isn't it!" Zuo Yu said teasingly while looking at the Golden Throne Hall in front of him, "It's such a big palace, and you're the only one living in it. Even if your family has harmonious relationships, it's bound to be quiet!"

Zhao Lihe sighed and said depressedly, "You don't know, I originally planned to move out of the palace and open it as a tourist attraction, but the ministers in the court, both new officials and old scholars, expressed strong opposition. Even Bai Ying, who always listened to me, cried and said that she would not allow me to turn the palace into a tourist attraction no matter what."

"I can't help it. I'm a soft-hearted person. I can't bear to see Bai Ying like this, so I can only let her be..."

Zuo Yu smiled and said, "Take your time. It's not easy to change people's mindsets. Let's start with compulsory education for all."

The two chatted as they walked into the Golden Throne Hall. The royal guards guarding the Golden Throne Hall had already been dismissed by Zhao Lihe.

At this time, there was no one in the Golden Palace except Zhao Lihe and Zuo Yu.

Zuo Yu sat down on the dragon chair and curiously picked up the documents on the golden plate next to him.

"……What's this?"

"The proposal submitted by Pan Yunpeng this morning."

Zhao Lihe didn't look like an emperor at all. He leaned against the dragon throne and said with a smile, "Since this kid took charge of cross-border transactions, I don't know what kind of mess he read. He actually suggested that I convene the world's number one martial arts conference!"

Zuo Yu looked strange: "The world's number one martial arts conference?"

"That's right!" Zhao Lihe said with a smile, "You also know that the situation in Daxia is different from that in the world of China. We were exposed to technology and supernatural powers that far surpassed this world too early, which led to a skewed technology tree. Public opinion in the court is also divided into two extremes. Some believe that supernatural powers are supreme, while others believe that technology is the mainstream of the world of heaven and earth."

"After discussion, the Ministry of Education decided to divide the subjects into civil and military according to the old rules. The civil students are scholars who focus on subjects such as literature, philosophy and natural sciences, while the martial students focus on various supernatural powers in the heavens and the worlds, and take cultural subjects as a minor."

"The way to select liberal arts students is naturally through examinations, but martial arts students are not that simple, so Old Pan suggested that I hold a martial arts conference as a way to select future martial arts students..."

Zuo Yu asked in confusion: "That should be the National Youth Martial Arts Conference, how can it be the No. 1 Martial Arts Conference in the World?"

Zhao Lihe smiled and said, "Since this is the first session, we should show off our strength and encourage those talented martial arts students..."