Su Wanwan asked about his health and quickly shifted the topic to Marquis Qiu Yue of Xianning.
The various families in the capital have complex and intertwined power structures behind them.
On the contrary, people like Qiu Yue, who have been on the frontier for a long time, have no real power base in the capital.
Moreover, she was familiar with Yang Yiqing, Xiao Bin, and others, so it would be perfect to win them over and make them her capable assistants.
The border troops' formidable fighting prowess was truly astonishing during this campaign to suppress the bandits.
With a border general like Qiu Yue stationed in the capital, it wouldn't be difficult to train the weak capital army into several elite and capable units.
Su Wanwan asked the question earnestly, and Xiao Bin answered it earnestly as well.
The two of them were completely focused on the matter at hand.
Just like what she mentioned that night about leaving him, it never happened.
As the story drew to a close, Su Wanwan looked intently into Xiao Bin's eyes, trying to see into his heart.
She didn't know whether he was unconscious and didn't hear the words, or whether he heard them but pretended not to.
If Xiao Bin asks her when she will leave with him, how should she answer?
Su Wanwan herself didn't have the answer.
When he uttered those words in a moment of emotional breakdown, he did not anticipate that he would seize power from the emperor, and do so with such ease.
Now, with so many things to deal with both inside and outside the court, she can't just abandon them all at once.
"Take good care of yourself, I'll head back now." Su Wanwan nodded slightly.
Xiao Bin stared intently at her lips.
He experienced tinnitus at times.
The moment the tinnitus started, I couldn't hear anything.
Su Wanwan felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze and gently touched her lips with her finger.
Xiao Bin said, "The weather is dry, Your Majesty should take good care of yourself."
Her lips were so dry they were peeling.
He remembered that she had always been a very refined person. Even while she was pregnant at Jiming Temple, she still bought bath powder, perfume, lip balm and other things to take care of herself.
They are very picky about food.
She didn't say anything about the simple meals, but she ate very little of them.
So he put a lot of effort into fulfilling her little requests.
Su Wanwan felt a moment of guilt and quickly got up to say goodbye.
She was afraid that Xiao Bin would press her for answers.
A tall, dark figure stood at the corner outside the door.
Su Wanwan's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly ran over, "Why are you here?"
She claimed to have imprisoned Lu Xingjian, but in reality, she had relaxed her control over Xiaoyuan long ago.
Otherwise, Gu Ziyu and Qian Ning wouldn't be able to come and go freely in Xiaoyuan.
However, Lu Xingjian himself refused to leave Xiaoyuan, maintaining his status as someone who was still "imprisoned".
She's been very busy lately, often reviewing memorials until late at night, and hasn't been spending the night at Xiaoyuan Garden anymore.
I never expected him to come out today.
It had snowed recently, and the ground was slippery. Lu Xingjian looked at her with a smile and reached out his hand to her, "What's the rush? Don't fall."
Su Wanwan placed her hand in his palm, and Lu Xingjian gently pulled her, causing her to bump into his chest.
The man chuckled softly in her ear, "Missed me?"
Su Wanwan, however, smelled a faint scent of blood on his cloak.
She nervously looked him up and down, even reaching out to touch him.
"Are you injured?"
Lu Xingjian grabbed her hand. "No."
"So impatient?" he asked in a teasing tone.
Seeing that he looked normal and even had time to joke, Su Wanwan felt much more relaxed and punched him lightly in the chest with her little fist.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Lu Xingjian gently kissed her small fist, put his arm around her shoulder, and said tenderly, "It's getting colder and colder, let's go back."
As he turned around, his gaze drifted, intentionally or unintentionally, towards the corner not far behind Su Wanwan.
Xiao Bin was standing at the corner, his face pale and covered with a large scab.
He's disfigured.
A barely perceptible hint of coldness flashed in Lu Xingjian's eyes.
Even though Xiao Bin is in this state, Wanwan still keeps coming to see him.
Once inside the carriage, Su Wanwan asked, "Where did you go today?"
Lu Xingjian smiled enigmatically: "So worried about me?"
Su Wanwan's expression was serious. "Don't interrupt."
Lu Xingjian pinched her cheek, then leaned against her, complaining lazily.
"It's all your fault. You never come to keep me company, so I went to the imperial prison and probably accidentally got some blood on my hands."
Su Wanwan frowned. "Who is there that's worth you making a special trip for?"
Lu Xingjian said somewhat casually, "They're just a few tough nuts to crack, we have to show them what we're made of."
Su Wanwan didn't ask any more questions, only saying, "Why do you have to handle this yourself? It will only ruin your reputation. They still think they are proud of their scholarly integrity."
Recently, she directly imprisoned several civil officials who used extremely foul language.
Lu Xingjian coldly snorted domineeringly, "You can insult me, but insult my wife? Do you really think I'm a clay idol with no temper?"
Su Wanwan was stunned for a moment.
She reached out and touched his face without thinking, and then straightened his cloak for him.
His voice was somewhat low: "Why are you so good to me?"
"You're already moved?" Lu Xingjian suppressed his inner smugness.
"You are the mother of my son, my wife. If I don't treat you well, who will I treat well?"
Su Wanwan's eyes flickered.
Lu Xingjian leaned his head on her shoulder and looked up into her eyes:
"I'll treat you even better in the future, do you believe me?"
Su Wanwan pursed her lips, and after a long while, turned her head to the side, refusing to look at him. "I don't believe you."
Lu Xingjian squeezed her hand tightly.
"Hmph, just you wait and see."
Su Wanwan originally wanted to return to the palace to deal with the memorials, but Lu Xingjian lured her to Xiaoyuan.
"You can't always leave me alone in this empty room, can you?"
Su Wanwan: "You can also come to Kunning Palace to find me."
"If someone sees this, how can they respect you?" Lu Xingjian refused, but he did wink meaningfully.
“I can disguise myself as a eunuch and sneak over... The idea of a eunuch meeting with the Empress is exciting, and if word gets out, it will be even more exciting.”
Su Wanwan was speechless. "Can you please stop being so childish?"
He's done this kind of thing countless times.
"Okay, let's do something adults should do."
...
Su Wanwan returned to Kunning Palace the next day at noon, rubbing her back.
An urgent memorial from the Ministry of War had long been lying on his desk.
"Liu Liu returns to Bazhou and crosses the river to plunder!"
"Wang Cong, the military commander of Bazhou, allowed the bandits to cross the river!"
"Wang Yong, the garrison commander of Zhuozhou, and others avoided attacking the enemy!"
Su Wanwan's heart tightened.
The bandits approached the capital again, but the commanders guarding the nine gates were not up to the task.
The local government troops in Bazhou and Zhuozhou are as flimsy as paper, utterly useless.
Meanwhile, Lu Wan, along with the government troops from Xuanfu, Datong, and Liaodong, were still within Shandong territory!
She had only been in power for a short time when she faced the pressure of bandits attacking the capital. It was impossible for her not to be anxious.
But military tactics are precisely her weakness.
Just then, Zhang Yong came over again and handed over the basic memorial.
Some impeached the prefect of Bazhou for condoning bandits, while others requested the appointment of a dedicated official to oversee military preparedness in Bazhou and other areas.
Zhang Yong's expression was solemn.
After hesitating for a moment, he reported: "A fierce battle has taken place in Bazhou."
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