Marrying the Crown Prince

Emperor Chenze sighed silently, his face beaming with joy. "Yes, Crown Prince and Crown Princess, please get up. From now on, you are family."

The emperor brought up the topic himself, but his words were not easy to respond to. At this moment, one can't help but admire the goodness of a new bride. When faced with such difficult words, she only needs to lower her head and pretend to be shy.

Then, the Queen saw the young girl shyly lowering her head, her eyes filled with tender affection and alluring charm.

Her forehead twitched. She thought of the palace maid who had been gathering information that she had heard this morning. She said that there had been a commotion in the East Palace last night, and that they had asked for water twice. Now she was late for her first day of marriage. It was really... infuriating!

You should know that this morning, Empress Chu got up very early, dozing off while doing her makeup.

Today, she's going to dress up in her finest clothes and give Zhou Zhou, the new bride, a taste of her own medicine!

Who knew that Zhou Zhou would ask for leave directly? The key point is that it was Chang Yi who asked for leave, and the reason given was that the Crown Prince had not rested well. What could Empress Chu say about that?

So, after waiting and waiting, the Queen Chu's initial enthusiasm had almost faded away over a long period of time before Li Ziyan and Zhou Zhou finally appeared.

"Your Majesty, please stop. The new bride is young and easily embarrassed," Empress Chu snorted.

The Empress started it up, and Consort De covered her mouth and laughed, "It's good that the Crown Princess is young. Look, she can eat and sleep well."

The Crown Prince came to pay his respects so late, and Emperor Chenze still accepted. I don't know whether to say that the Crown Prince is deeply favored by the Emperor, or that the Emperor and the Crown Prince teamed up to slap the Empress in the face.

Upon hearing this, the Imperial Concubine joined in the discussion, saying, "That's for sure! Being able to eat and sleep well is a blessing. Perhaps next month, good news will come from the Crown Prince's Palace."

Emperor Chenze liked to hear these words, but to any new bride, they were words that would be like a knife to the heart.

Whether or not one can conceive depends on the right time, place, and people. Although elders care about having children, they will not say much within the first year of marriage, so as not to put too much pressure on the newlyweds.

As a result, the moment the Imperial Concubine opened her mouth, everyone's eyes involuntarily turned to Zhou Zhou's waist.

Zhou Zhou: "..."

Pretending to be dead again would be bad, so Zhou Zhou bowed directly and said, "I am late today, it is my fault, I hope Father and Mother will forgive me."

Li Ziyan also stood up, bowed and apologized, "It has nothing to do with the Crown Princess, it is my fault."

"Alright, you've all taken leave, so what's the point of talking about right or wrong?" Emperor Chenze waved his hand, telling them to sit back down.

"Thank you, Father Emperor and Mother Empress." The two sat back down.

Empress Chu opened her mouth, then closed it tightly again—she was about to lash out when the other person said thank you, Mother, and plopped back down…

Empress Chu, feeling extremely aggrieved, looked terribly pale.

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhou sat back down, picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and used the cup to hide the smile on his lips: this method was clumsy, but it worked quite well, successfully interrupting the conversation.

At this moment, a female official from Fengyi Palace came in to report, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, the things have been prepared."

Upon hearing her words, Emperor Chenze glanced at Empress Chu and thought to himself: After all, she is the woman her own son married. Even if she is stupid, she wouldn't tamper with the teacup, would she?

Empress Chu felt a little guilty under her gaze, and to avoid being exposed, she spoke first, "Well then, bring it up."

Emperor Chenze: "..."

Well then, let's see how this person raised by the Yongjing Marquis's mansion will resolve this.

A female official placed a prayer cushion in front of Emperor Chenze's seat, while another brought over two cups of tea on a tray. She walked to Zhou Zhou's side, slightly curtsied, and paid her respects.

Zhou Zhou looked at the steaming tea, then at Empress Chu.

Her calm eyes were full of obedience, and when she saw Empress Chu looking at her, she sweetly smiled.

For some reason, when Empress Chu saw Zhou Zhou's smile, her heart skipped a beat and began to pound violently—what did she mean? Could it be that she had discovered something? No, so what if she had discovered it?

Meanwhile, Zhou Zhou had already turned her gaze away from the guilty-looking Empress Chu and looked at Li Ziyan with a smile.

If you were to ask Zhou Zhou why she was laughing, it would be because the tea was deliberately scalded to that temperature. If she had held back from throwing it away after bringing it over, would Empress Chu have dared to take it and drink it herself?

I wonder who taught her this despicable tactic of killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of her own.

The Empress is like this, yet His Highness the Crown Prince is exceptionally intelligent. So... just how intelligent is the Emperor?

As soon as he finished complaining in his mind, Zhou Zhou's father's face appeared in his mind.

This……

Zhou Zhou was silent.

Seeing that her mother's expression changed slightly and she dared not look at Zhou Zhou, it was clear that she felt guilty.

Therefore, Li Ziyan, sensing something was amiss, looked at the teacup that the female official had brought out.

He fell silent as well, and was about to get up and say something to change the tea and brew a fresh batch when he heard his wife speak.

"Although this tea is fragrant, it has ultimately been handled by someone else and is not enough to show my filial piety to my father or mother."

"Therefore, I want to do it myself. Firstly, it will show my sincerity to my parents and the Empress Dowager. Secondly, it will also be a good way to relieve everyone's boredom."

This reason sounded quite plausible, and Empress Chu was stunned, unable to find a reason to refute it for a moment.

"Yes." Empress Chu was still considering how to refuse when Emperor Chenze had already agreed.

His reason for agreeing was not because Zhou Zhou's method was particularly clever, but simply because he didn't want to drink that bowl of tea, which was hot enough to be used to butcher a pig and scrape its hair.

To avoid any mishaps, Emperor Chenze specifically instructed, "Weiyi, you handle this matter personally."

"Yes."

Soon, the items were brought up.

Zhou Zhou's hands look delicate, but when learning tea ceremony, she was not afraid of hot water at all, treating her hands as if they weren't hands. As a result, now she can warm the teapot and scald the cups in one go, and every move she makes is full of beauty.

The teacup spun around and came to a perfect stop. Zhou Zhou poured the tea and wine, then picked up the lid with her slender hand and gently turned it around the edge of the teacup, scraping away the tea foam and excess tea.

Seeing Zhou Zhou make tea again, elegant and graceful, as if she were completely immersed in the tea, like a painting, Mei Xianfei was filled with countless emotions.

What a pity, what an envy! Just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more, and I could have been the one to drink this bowl of tea.

What's the use of saying more? Zhou Zhou had already placed the tea in front of Emperor Chenze and slowly knelt down, "Your Majesty, please have some tea."

She lowered her eyes, appearing respectful and humble, but her back remained straight, unbowed, unintentionally revealing her innate pride.

However, if the Crown Prince's principal wife were truly a weak person, the ruler would not consider her.

Therefore, the current Crown Princess is just right.

The crown prince was well chosen.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chenze picked up the teacup.