Since that massive "safety overhaul", Kunning Palace has completely changed its appearance.
The once solemn and elegant palace now looks more like a "safe fortress" of the highest standard in the world, tailor-made for infants under three years old.
All the tables and chairs became round and plump, their sharp edges completely covered by thick brocade, giving them an endearingly clumsy appearance. All the fragile porcelain had vanished without a trace, replaced by heavy gold and jade artifacts, exuding a simple yet extravagant wealth.
The ground was covered with three layers of thick Persian carpet. When you stepped on it, your feet would sink in deeply, as if you were walking on clouds. It was so soft that you could hardly stand up.
As for outside the window, it was eerily quiet. The once vibrant forest, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers, was now eerily silent; not a single bird could be heard singing, only the rustling of the wind through the leaves.
Lin Wanwan had gone from being both amused and exasperated by all of this to completely entering a numb phase of "giving up on treatment."
Her daily life consisted of being carefully served by a group of palace servants who walked on tiptoe in this "palace," receiving round-the-clock "care" from the emperor whose "pregnancy anxiety" had reached its terminal stage.
She resigned herself to her fate.
However, she never expected that Xiao Che's ability to cause trouble was far from reaching its limit.
That night, Lin Wanwan was awakened by the restless movements of the baby in her womb and groggily wanted to get up to use the restroom.
She braced herself and groped her way out of bed. The moment her feet touched the ridiculously thick carpet, she stumbled. Its extreme softness left her momentarily unable to find a foothold; her foot slipped, and she uncontrollably veered to one side!
"ah!"
Lin Wanwan instinctively let out a short gasp, her heart turning ice-cold.
However, the expected fall did not occur.
Just as she lost her balance, a strong and powerful arm, like an iron clamp, reached out from her side with lightning speed and pulled her firmly into a solid and warm embrace.
It's Xiao Che.
He awoke from his deep sleep almost at the same moment she gasped, his body reacting even before his brain could process it, instinctively making a protective move.
"Wanwan!" Xiao Che's voice was still hoarse from being unconscious, and there was a clear trace of lingering shock. "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
After Lin Wanwan calmed down a bit, she leaned against him and patted her chest with lingering fear: "It's okay, it's okay, it's just that the carpet was too thick and soft, and I slipped because I didn't have a firm footing."
She made a thoughtless remark, intending to comfort others.
However, to Xiao Che, these words were like a thunderclap from a clear sky!
The carpet... is too thick and too slippery?
His mind went completely blank for a moment.
He looked down at the carpet he had personally ordered to be laid out, the one that was said to be so soft that "you wouldn't get hurt even if you rolled off the bed," the one that held all his sense of security.
At this moment, this carpet no longer represents any sense of security to him.
It is a trap! A soft yet deadly abyss disguised as a cloud!
He went to great lengths, thinking he had built a foolproof security fortress, but he never expected that the greatest danger would come precisely from the security measures he was most proud of!
It was him, he personally put Wanwan in such great danger!
A wave of fear and self-blame, stronger than ever before, washed over him like an icy tide!
"You bastard!"
Xiao Che suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with almost frenzied rage and lingering fear. He scooped Lin Wanwan up in his arms and carefully placed her back on the bed, his movements as gentle as if he were handling a rare treasure.
Then, he turned around, facing the outside of the hall, and roared in a voice brimming with suppressed rage—a voice powerful enough to make the entire palace tremble:
"Guards! Get inside here!"
Li Dequan and the others, who were sleeping outside the palace, were terrified by the roar and rushed in, tumbling and crawling. In an instant, a group of trembling palace servants knelt down in the bedchamber.
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty..." Li Dequan's voice trembled uncontrollably.
Xiao Che didn't even glance at them. He pointed to the luxurious, soft carpet on the floor, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying an icy chill:
"What...is this thing?"
Li Dequan was stunned and stammered, "Your Majesty, it's...it's a carpet..."
"A carpet?" Xiao Che sneered, a laugh that sent chills down the spines of all the palace servants. "I see this as a death warrant!"
He kicked the rounded cabinet next to him with a loud thud.
"This thing is so thick and slippery that it almost made the Empress slip and fall! You bunch of useless fools, how could you lay such a dangerous thing in your bedchamber?!"
All the palace staff were dumbfounded.
Oh... it's become a sin?
Wasn't it you who ordered three layers of material to be laid, demanding it be thick enough to bounce back?!
However, no one dared to refute him. Before an enraged emperor, all reason is futile.
"Issue my decree!" Xiao Che's voice was as cold as a knife. "Immediately! Right now! Remove all the carpets from the bedchamber! I don't want to see a single hair!"
This order once again plunged everyone into great confusion.
Remove?
Then... what happens after they're removed? In the dead of night, are we supposed to let the Empress, who is pregnant with the dragon's offspring, walk barefoot on cold gold bricks?
However, just when everyone thought His Majesty was only angry and was preparing to wait for him to calm down before thinking of a solution, this emperor, who was completely dominated by "anxiety disorder," actually did something so crazy that history fell silent.
He ignored the kneeling palace servants and strode to his wardrobe.
It was a huge wardrobe carved from a single piece of golden nanmu wood, inside which was stored the emperor's dragon robe, a symbol of the highest power in the empire.
Xiao Che suddenly pulled open the cabinet door.
Under the stunned gazes of all the palace servants, he took out a... a twelve-symbol dragon robe, the highest standard worn only during the sacrificial ceremony, made of the most precious cloud brocade and hand-embroidered with nine five-clawed golden dragons with thousands of gold threads, its value enough to buy a city!
Then, he made a gesture that made everyone's eyes almost pop out.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he laid the dragon robe, which was powerful enough to make the world bow down in worship, on the ground as if it were a rag!
"Splash—"
The silky brocade made a soft, yet chilling sound when it touched the cold gold bricks, a sound that made everyone present's hearts stop.
The entire bedchamber fell into a deathly silence.
All the palace staff, eunuchs and maids alike, were dumbfounded. Their mouths gaped open, their eyes widened, staring incredulously at the dragon robe shimmering with a sacred light in the moonlight on the ground, feeling as if their breath had stopped.
This is insane!
His Majesty has completely gone mad!
However, this is just the beginning.
Xiao Che seemed oblivious to the horrified expressions on everyone's faces; he appeared quite pleased with his "masterpiece." He turned around, took out a bright yellow dragon robe intended for the grand court assembly from the wardrobe, and casually laid it down next to the first robe.
Next came the dark blue dragon robe, used for daily governance...
It is a black imperial robe used for ancestral temple sacrifices...
One by one...
Those imperial robes, representing imperial power, dignity, and the national system, each bearing supreme authority, and whose slightest wrinkle would be enough to send the entire Imperial Wardrobe to their deaths, were now being personally taken out one by one from the tall wardrobe by their owner, and then laid out on the cold ground with utmost casualness and utmost solemnity.
He laid out the carpet with utmost care, one piece after another, stretching out from the bedside, meticulously creating a "non-slip carpet" made of dragon robes that led to the entrance of the purification room behind the palace—the most luxurious and absurd "non-slip carpet" in the world.
Inside the bedchamber, there was complete silence.
Everyone was stunned into silence by this scene that could only be described as "outrageous." They simply knelt there, watching their emperor, with an almost pious posture, lay down piece by piece his supreme imperial power at the feet of his empress.
At that moment, they seemed to understand something.
This is neither madness nor absurdity.
This is a kind of love that is so profound that it cannot be described in words.
Finally, the last dragon robe was laid out.
A magnificent "carpet" composed of countless golden dragons meandered from the bedside to the door of the bathroom, its glow under the candlelight captivating.
Xiao Che stood up, seemingly very satisfied with his masterpiece.
He even personally stepped onto that "Dragon Robe Road" to feel the texture under his feet, and then nodded in satisfaction.
He turned around and walked up to Lin Wan-wan, who was still in shock and hadn't recovered yet. His face showed a relieved ease and an undisguised sense of pride, as if he had just completed a great project worthy of being recorded in history.
"That's perfect now," he said softly, his tone full of self-satisfaction. "My dragon robe is made of the finest Yun brocade and Shu brocade, which is non-slip and soft."
Lin Wanwan looked at him, then looked down at the "carpet" on the ground that would make any historian faint on the spot, and was completely speechless.
She opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't utter a single word.
What else could she say?
Looking at the man before her, this "tyrant" who could disregard imperial power and use the dragon robe as a footrest for her sake, she was filled with mixed emotions. In the end, she could only let out a helpless yet indulgent sigh.
Above Xiao Che's head, in the area designated for his emojis, a chibi-style little emperor, hands on hips, nostrils flaring, exuding an aura of "praise me!", was clearly visible.
[I'm such a little genius! .gif]
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