My Lord, the princess doesn't want you anymore.

Yan Ruobing frowned, "Just say that the queen just went to bed and let her go back."

The Queen grabbed his hand, shook her head slightly, and said to the outside, "Let her wait outside. Your Majesty and I will be out soon."

Seeing the empress coming out with the emperor's support, Concubine Cheng's eyes flashed with a hint of unknown jealousy, and she stepped forward to salute, "I pay my respects to the emperor and the empress!"

Yan Ruobing hummed, "Get up."

After a round of hypocritical and formulaic greetings, the Queen said, "Eh, Concubine Cheng, what's wrong with your eyes? What happened?"

Concubine Cheng reached out and stroked her red and swollen eyes, "Just now I thought of the Crown Prince again, so I was sad..."

The queen felt sad again.

Although she didn't like Concubine Cheng, she was very kind to the late prince.

But it makes sense when you think about it. The crown prince is the future emperor, and after a hundred years, Concubine Cheng will be the dowager. It is normal for her to curry favor with the crown prince in advance so that she and King Kang can have a better life in the future.

Yan Ruobing coughed and said, "Princess Cheng, the Queen has been too sad recently and has been working hard all day. Please don't mention these sad things in front of the Queen anymore."

Concubine Cheng quickly apologized, "Your Majesty is right. It's all my fault. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

As he spoke, he began to wipe away his tears again.

The Queen was silent for a moment, "Princess Cheng, I was just talking to the Emperor about Prince Kang and Prince Chu..."

Concubine Cheng's body stiffened, and a gleam of light flashed on her lowered face.

Yan Ruobing grabbed the queen's hand and looked at her with some confusion.

The Queen patted his hands and shook her head slightly.

Yan Ruobing finally relaxed a little. He had great trust in the queen.

The queen continued, "Speaking of Prince Kang, the emperor likes him very much. This child is not only kind and righteous, but also tolerant and generous. As his biological mother, you have made an indelible contribution to Prince Kang's character."

She turned to look at Yan Ruobing, "Your Majesty, I would like to ask for a reward for Concubine Cheng. I wonder if Your Majesty will agree?"

Yan Ruobing roughly understood the Queen's intention and nodded, "It's a reward! Queen, you decide!"

The Queen thought for a moment and said, "I would like to ask the Emperor to issue an order to raise the rank of Concubine Cheng."

Yan Ruobing: ...

Princess Cheng: Ah... ha... does this mean that the two of them have just decided on the new crown prince, Prince Kang?

In the harem, Concubine Cheng's rank was second only to the Empress. If she was promoted further, she would be Noble Concubine. If she was promoted higher, she would be Imperial Noble Concubine, which was equivalent to the Vice Empress.

There was an expression of uncontrollable excitement on Concubine Cheng's face. This surprise came too suddenly.

She thought she was dreaming and was stunned for a long time before she remembered to kneel down and thank him.

But the queen said, "Your Majesty, the King of Chu's mission to Zhen has greatly shocked the enemy and enhanced the prestige of Dachang, but his biological mother has always been only a concubine. I also want to ask for a reward for Concubine Ru."

Yan Ruobing pondered for a moment, "The Queen is absolutely right, let's promote Concubine Ru to Consort Ru."

"Ah..." Concubine Cheng, no, Imperial Concubine Cheng felt sad again, but since she had just been promoted to Imperial Concubine, she couldn't get angry.

Humph, even if you are promoted to the position of concubine, you are still a lowly palace maid!

At the same time, she felt even more resentful: the emperor simply obeyed the queen's every word, which made her very angry.

Humph, it’s time to put an end to this chaos of the harem interfering in politics.

I don't believe that the emperor has no grudge against this at all.

After Concubine Cheng knelt down to pay her respects, Yan Ruobing quickly helped the Queen to rest.

The queen lay back down on the bed and took his hand, "Your Majesty, do you blame me for asking for rewards for them without consulting you in advance?"

Yan Ruobing smiled slightly, "How could that be? I have this idea, it would be better if you could say it out loud."

The queen sighed, "Ah, I hope she will be quiet for a while because of this."

After saying this, he slowly closed his eyes.

Seeing the queen looking tired, Yan Ruobing reached out and stroked her face with some heartache, then tiptoed out and closed the door.

He also ordered the palace servants to take good care of the queen, and then returned to the imperial study to continue reviewing memorials.

But sitting in front of the imperial desk, looking at the pile of memorials in front of her, Yan Ruobing couldn't read a single word.

The conversation he had just had with the Queen completely confused him.

But he didn't dare show it in front of the queen.

That was the only thing in his life that he felt guilty towards the Queen.

No, it's not just that I feel guilty towards the Queen...

After being distracted for a while, he opened the drawer under the imperial desk and took out a sachet from it.

The sachet is very old and has lost its fragrance, but it has been well preserved. The fabric of the sachet is very ordinary, but the workmanship is very fine and the embroidery is also very good.

He stared at the sachet blankly, lost in thought.

The eunuch who had been accompanying him watched the emperor's actions, his lips slightly opened, as if he wanted to say something but stopped himself.

This eunuch had been following him since he was castrated at the age of six. Although they were king and subject, the relationship between them was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The two were of the same age, but because Yan Ruobing had been busy with state affairs for many years, the eunuch looked more than ten years younger than the emperor.

The eunuch was sighing secretly, but Yan Ruobing spoke first, "Banban..."

The eunuch hurried forward and looked at the few strands of white hair on his master's head with heartache, "Your Majesty, please listen to my advice and let it go... Alas..."

Yan Ruobing looked at the sachet in her hand and murmured, "In my life, I have never let down Dachang or anyone else, except her."

The eunuch was startled and quickly advised: "Your Majesty, these things have long passed, why are you... looking for trouble?"

"Yeah, it's all in the past, it can't be changed..."

……

***

The King of Chu, who had just stepped into the territory of Changguo, suddenly felt his ears burning.

To be honest, his ears had never been so hot when he was standing beside the carriage like a guard, imagining through the curtain what the fiery red person in the carriage looked like without clothes.

"Your Highness, what happened to you?" Mrs. Liu Che squeezed her legs against the horse's belly and followed him. "Did someone boil your ears?"

Countless times, the King of Chu wanted to chop off the head of this "Liu Caitai", but he did not want to ruin his good reputation of being loyal and righteous, so he always endured it.

After all, although this person had a foul mouth, he was very kind to him and even risked his life to save him. To this day, whenever it rains, Liu Che's wound still hurts.

It's just that he never says it himself, perhaps because he knows when to advance and when to retreat, and doesn't want people to think that he is taking credit for it.

Or maybe he was embarrassed because the injury was on the inner thigh and he almost lost his penis.

But this time, the King of Chu could no longer tolerate it.

What does "let someone cook you" mean? I'm not a crab!

He stretched out his leg and kicked Liu Che off the horse, then he also jumped off the horse.

Bai Feng, who was standing by, hugged his elbows and watched with a gloating look. He had long been fed up with this Liu Che.

He is idle all day long, laughing all the time, and doesn't look reliable at all. He even has the tendency to lead the prince astray.

Our prince was originally so pure and kind, but he was influenced by the unpresentable people like Emperor Liu Che, and was led astray.

If it weren't for the fact that he saved the prince, he would have been beaten so badly that he wouldn't even recognize his own mother.

As for whether he would be a match for Liu Che if a real fight broke out, Bai Feng subconsciously ignored this question.

The King of Chu has always had a bad reputation in Changguo. Who would choose such a master if he has a little ambition and claims to be a great man of integrity?