That bowl of "extraordinarily effective" tonic soup was ultimately taken away by Xiao Che with a dark face.
However, this incident acted as a fuse, completely igniting the "anxiety" deep within His Majesty the Emperor's heart.
He could tolerate the "baby-urging group" in the court, thinking they were just senile; he could also dismiss the gifts from the concubines in the harem as mere attempts to curry favor. But now, even the imperial kitchen was openly "nourishing" him—what did that mean?
This suggests that the underlying rumor that "the emperor is incompetent" has likely been quietly brewing throughout the palace!
This is intolerable!
As the supreme ruler, he could tolerate political enemies in the court and foreign threats on the border, but he could never tolerate his dignity being so blatantly challenged!
So, while Xiao Che outwardly scoffed at the trend of "urging children to have children," he secretly began to take action.
He said that "the matter of offspring should be left to nature," but secretly he summoned his most trusted chief eunuch, Wang Dequan, dismissed everyone else, and gave him an unprecedented top-secret decree.
"Go...outside the palace, and find me some...um, folk remedies...for...health and fertility."
When Xiao Che spoke these words in a serious tone, as if discussing matters of national importance, Wang Dequan almost thought he had misheard. He was stunned for a long time before he suddenly realized that his fearless emperor was... being pressured to have a child to the point of breaking down!
Wang Dequan dared not delay and immediately accepted the order. Soon, stacks of small booklets without covers, with yellowed paper and looking mysterious, were continuously sent into the Imperial Study through various secret channels and hidden in the most concealed secret compartment under the dragon throne.
From then on, His Majesty the Emperor of Daliang began a dual life: reviewing memorials to pacify the country during the day and studying "secret formulas" at night in search of a son.
Lin Wanwan was initially unaware of all this. She only gradually felt that Xiao Che's behavior was becoming increasingly strange, even somewhat... incomprehensible.
The first to suffer was her "lazy sleeping in".
In the past, although Xiao Che also got up early, he never disturbed her. But now, every day at the crack of dawn, Xiao Che forcibly drags her out of her warm bed.
"Wanwan, get up."
"Hmm... I'll sleep a little longer..." Lin Wanwan closed her eyes and snuggled into his arms in a daze.
"No!" Xiao Che's voice brooked no argument. He picked her up, blanket and all, and carried her horizontally. "The time has come. It's time to absorb the essence of the sun and moon!"
"What essence?" Lin Wanwan was completely wide awake by him and looked bewildered.
So, for the next half hour, Xiao Che forcibly dragged her to a designated open space in the Imperial Garden, where she paced back and forth in the rising sun.
Xiao Che himself was quite serious, occasionally glancing up at the angle of the sun, muttering to himself, "Hmm, early morning, the purple aura rises from the east, it's the perfect time to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and moon... Walking around a few more times will benefit the dragon fetus..."
Lin Wanwan was being led by him, yawning sleepily, and thought he must have gone crazy from reading some kind of supernatural storybook.
Besides "sunbathing," what she found even more unbearable was the various "love-filled pastries" personally "supervised" by Xiao Che.
"Come on, Wanwan, try this." That afternoon, Xiao Che excitedly placed a plate of strangely colored pastries with a peculiar medicinal smell in front of her.
Lin Wanwan looked at the dish of things that were greenish-black and purplish-black, and her stomach churned. She asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what... is this?"
"This is 'Qilin Bringing a Child Cake'!" Xiao Che announced proudly, as if it were some extraordinary masterpiece. "I personally supervised the Imperial Kitchen in making it. It contains twenty-one kinds of precious medicinal herbs, the essence of hundreds of herbs, which are... extremely good for the body!"
He spoke vaguely, but the expectation in his eyes was undeniable.
Lin Wan-wan inwardly groaned, looking at the emoji above his head that read "Eat quickly! This is my loving remedy!", and could only grit her teeth and reluctantly pick up a piece, taking a small bite.
The taste was indescribable; it was as if all the dregs of medicine from the Imperial Medical Academy had been mixed into the dough.
"How is it?" Xiao Che asked nervously.
"...Hmm, the taste...is very unique." Lin Wan-wan swallowed her tears and gave a tactful evaluation.
However, these are not the most outrageous things.
What shocked Lin Wanwan the most was that night.
After finishing some duties for the female officials, she returned to her bedchamber, only to find that Xiao Che was not there. Just as she was wondering about this, she vaguely heard a strange rustling sound coming from the inner chamber, accompanied by suppressed breathing.
Lin Wanwan's heart tightened, thinking that an assassin had entered, and she immediately crept over silently.
She gently pushed open a crack in the door, peered inside, and then froze on the spot.
In the center of the bedchamber, on a thick carpeted open space, her husband, the Emperor of Liang, was currently... upside down, leaning against the wall, struggling to do a handstand!
His bright yellow nightgown slipped down as he was upside down, revealing his muscular waist. His handsome face was flushed red from the rush of blood to his head, his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and his arms were still trembling slightly, indicating that he had been holding the position for quite some time.
What... what are they doing? What kind of unparalleled martial arts are they practicing?
Just as Lin Wanwan was dumbfounded, Xiao Che seemed to have reached his limit. He lost his balance and was about to fall.
"Your Majesty!" Lin Wanwan exclaimed and rushed inside.
Xiao Che was startled when he heard her voice. His already swaying body lost its balance instantly, and with a "thud," he fell awkwardly onto the carpet.
"Ouch..." he cried out in pain, scrambling to get up, but his awkward posture made him look particularly comical.
"You...you're back, why didn't you say anything?" He tried to use his imperial dignity to cover up his embarrassment while straightening his disheveled robes, but his flushed cheeks completely betrayed him.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing...?" Lin Wanwan asked with a concerned expression, suppressing a laugh.
"Ahem!" Xiao Che cleared his throat, put on a stern face, and said in a forced composure, "I... I've been handling state affairs lately, sitting for long periods without moving, and my muscles and bones are a bit stiff. Just now, I was merely stretching my muscles and bones!"
To loosen up your muscles? Do people loosen up their muscles by doing handstands?
Lin Wanwan was filled with doubt, but looking at his adorable, stubborn, and guilty expression, she couldn't bear to press him further. She assumed that he was under too much pressure from both inside and outside the court lately, and was also bothered by the "pressure to have children," which led him to come up with such a strange way to relieve stress.
Alas, Your Majesty.
She felt both amused and distressed. She stepped forward and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead, saying softly, "Your Majesty has worked hard. Please don't practice such dangerous skills in the future. I would worry if you were to injure your health."
Hearing her gentle words, Xiao Che felt a warmth in his heart, and the embarrassment of being caught in the act vanished. He took her hand and said stubbornly, "It's alright, I'm in very good health."
He said that, but Lin Wanwan clearly saw an emoji above his head that almost made him lose his composure on the spot.
It was a chibi-style little emperor, struggling to stand upside down, with a line of bright, large characters next to him, accompanied by a big question mark.
[I've heard that standing upside down can help with conception? I'll give it a try! .gif]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com