Steal my marriage? Turn around and marry the tyrant to take the throne

The emperor dined in Tingyu Pavilion, and today's dinner was naturally much richer than before. Shen Zhinian had a good appetite and ate a little more than in the past few days.

She ate slowly, taking small bites, and her eating manner was very elegant. The way she carefully savored the food always made people salivate. Nangong Xuanyu also ate one more bowl of rice than usual without realizing it.

Li Changde was deeply moved. His Majesty had just ascended the throne and had not yet secured his seat on the throne, so he was extremely diligent in government affairs, often reviewing memorials without sleep or food. The servants looked at him with both heartache and worry.

If His Majesty could have such a good appetite every day, he wouldn't have to worry about his health. It seems that even for this reason, he will persuade His Majesty to favor Concubine Rou more in the future.

After dinner, Shen Zhinian and Nangong Xuanyu sat on chairs by the window and played chess.

There were many concubines in the harem who were skilled in chess, but none of them could match him.

Nangong Xuanyu originally thought that Shen Zhinian's father was only a minor official of the sixth rank, and her skills in music, chess, calligraphy and painting would certainly not be as good as those of the noble ladies carefully cultivated by the great families.

He was already prepared to give in to her so that the young woman wouldn't lose too much and be upset.

However... as time passed, Nangong Xuanyu's expression gradually changed from careless to serious.

On the chessboard, the black and white pieces were fighting fiercely, and they were evenly matched!

Shen Zhinian, who held the black piece, remained calm. After making his move, he winked at Nangong Xuanyu playfully.

"Your Majesty."

Nangong Xuanyu's interest was completely aroused. He picked up a white piece and put it down after thinking for a while.

The two of them moved back and forth like this, from the beginning they made their moves very quickly to the subsequent ones, which required a very long time of thinking for each move.

The sky gradually darkened. I didn't know how much time had passed. When Shen Zhinian placed the last piece, the white pieces on the chessboard were surrounded by the black pieces and had no way to move.

She smiled charmingly: "Your Majesty, you lose."

Nangong Xuanyu hadn’t felt such a satisfying feeling for a long time as he met his worthy opponent in chess!

The most important thing is... every time he thought he knew the little girl in front of him well enough, she would give him a new surprise!

"I didn't know before that my beloved concubine is so good at chess!"

How could it be bad? In his previous life, one of Lu Jianglin's superiors was a chess fanatic, and his greatest wish was to meet a worthy opponent.

In order to please him, Shen Zhinian spent a lot of energy to collect the rare copy, studied it in depth, and then told Lu Jianglin about it. Lu Jianglin was therefore deeply appreciated by the superior, and under his recommendation, he was promoted!

"When I was bored in my spare time, I played chess to kill time. Your Majesty, I feel embarrassed to be praised by you..."

The emperor looked at her with a gentle look that was tinged with appreciation.

"Then my beloved concubine, you should know that although my chess skills cannot be said to be the best, there are not many people in the world who dare to beat me."

Women are taught from childhood that they should put their husbands first and not be competitive. If other concubines heard this, they would be terrified and kneel down to apologize.

However, Shen Zhinian understood that everyone has a desire to win, and the emperor is no exception. If she wanted Nangong Xuanyu to pay more attention to her, she had to arouse his desire to conquer!

"Others dare not surpass Your Majesty, because Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. They respect you and are afraid of you. But I love Your Majesty deeply and do not want to lie in front of Your Majesty. I just want you to see the real me."

When Shen Zhinian said this, her pair of charming eyes looked at the emperor with affection, which could melt anyone's heart.

Nangong Xuanyu couldn't bear it at all and sighed secretly. This simple little girl just put her true heart in front of him without any defense.

Although he is an emperor and will not fall in love with any woman, he can give her more love to satisfy her devotion.

And... she was right. As the emperor, everyone was afraid of him, but they didn't know that it was lonely at the top. It was not bad to have someone who was willing to treat him sincerely and never pretend in front of him.

What's more, this woman was the one he loved.

"I like your crystal clear heart, my beloved concubine. As long as you can keep it like this, I will always love you."

Before ascending the throne, Shen Zhinian would of course always pretend to be the one the emperor likes, so that he would willingly give her everything she wanted!

However... Shen Zhinian was also looking forward to it. When the day came when the emperor truly fell in love with her, she would take off her mask in front of him, letting him find out that her innocence, kindness, and consideration were all fake from beginning to end. What would his reaction be? Hehe...

Shen Zhinian looked down at the chessboard and sighed, "I also want to keep my original intention, but after entering the palace, I realized that I am like a chess piece on the chessboard, and many things are beyond my control."

"I am obviously very cautious, but because I am favored, I am still regarded as a thorn in the eyes and a thorn in the flesh by others..."

"I really just want to live in peace in a corner, and I will be satisfied if I can see Your Majesty occasionally. But I am afraid that these hidden arrows in the deep palace are hard to guard against. In order to protect myself, I will become someone I don't even recognize one day..."

Simply assuring oneself that one will never forget one's original intention will only make one seem false. Such mixed words will be more convincing and can also arouse the emperor's sympathy.

Nangong Xuanyu grew up in the deep palace and had seen many originally innocent women gradually become unrecognizable in this big dye vat.

He understood that Shen Zhinian's worries were not unreasonable, but he had finally met a woman who was so to his liking, and he did not want her to be ruined by someone else.

"That kind of thing during the day will never happen again. I will protect you, I promise. My beloved, you can trust me!"

"Tomorrow I will issue an edict to make you a noble!"

At least the higher her status, the more people have to think twice when they want to embarrass her!

After being surprised, Shen Zhinian quickly calmed down and was not overwhelmed by joy.

She entered the palace for the position of empress, so naturally she would try every possible means to get promoted. However, the Zhou Dynasty had a strict ritual system, and there were strict rules for the promotion of empresses. Except after the first night with the emperor, during festivals and celebrations, when the emperor gave birth to an heir, or when the emperor was dying, no other time could be promoted without reason.

She does not meet any of the requirements now. If she is granted the title of noble lady as an exception, she will definitely be attacked by the former dynasty and the harem together!

Moreover, since her goal was to be the queen who ruled the country, she could not leave hidden dangers for the future and be caught doing something unruly. Promotion had to be legitimate.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhinian looked at the emperor with a touching face: "No one has ever been so kind to me. If Your Majesty continues to be like this, I will cry..."

"But...I'm sorry, I can't obey your order."