Transmigrated into a seven-year-old child, my fate is in my own hands, not in the heavens.

"Granny Su, the food in the palace is awful." Zhao Lian couldn't help but complain, "So the Emperor eats this every day?"

“Miss, this is food made by the imperial chefs of the palace, and you actually say it’s bad?” Granny Su began to feel increasingly disgusted with Zhao Lian.

Zhao Lian spoke frankly: "It really is quite unpalatable."

"By the way, where is the Emperor? Where is he? How is he?"

Mentioning the Emperor, Granny Su's expression softened: "The Emperor is injured. He was afraid that you would worry and come looking for him, so he specially sent me to pick you up. However, he is not in a position to receive guests right now."

Just then, Eunuch Wu walked over, gave Zhao Lian a deep look, and whispered a few words in Granny Su's ear.

Granny Su's expression immediately turned serious. She said to Zhao Lian, "Miss, please sit here for a moment. I'll be right back." With that, Granny Su quickly walked out.

Strangely, before leaving, Eunuch Wu glanced at Zhao Lian one last time.

"Hey~ Is something wrong with the Emperor?" Zhao Lian shouted at their backs, but the two were in a hurry and ignored her.

Zhao Lian couldn't sit still any longer. What was happening in the palace that made them so nervous? It must be the Emperor.

Thinking of this, Zhao Lian chased after him.

Watching Granny Su and Eunuch Wu walking ahead, whispering to each other with serious expressions, Zhao Lian felt increasingly nervous.

Could the emperor be seriously injured?

The two women walking ahead, Granny Su and Eunuch Wu, knew that Zhao Lian had followed, but they pretended not to know.

Eunuch Wu casually remarked, "Granny Su, the Emperor listens to you the most. You should try to persuade him; this can't go on, it'll only get worse."

From their intermittent conversation, Zhao Lian could tell that someone's injury seemed quite serious.

Zhao Lian found something increasingly amiss. Didn't Song Wenjie say the Emperor was only injured in the hand? How could his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys also be damaged?

Zhao Lian followed the two to a large hall not far away. There were many imperial guards guarding the entrance, and people could be vaguely seen going in and out.

Zhao Lian went around the main entrance and came to the side. The window was open, and Zhao Lian peeked inside and saw several people with solemn expressions gathered around the bed.

A gauze curtain was drawn over the bed, obscuring who was lying inside. All that could be seen was an imperial physician taking the patient's pulse and shaking his head.

Zhao Lian's heart sank to the bottom. What happened to the Emperor?

After watching for a while, Zhao Lian couldn't resist any longer and leaped through the window.

The sudden noise startled everyone, and they turned around to find a girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Who are you?" a man who looked like a minister shouted.

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you to sit there and wait?" Granny Su frowned.

"How is the Emperor?"

Eunuch Wu said to the minister beside him, "Lord Liu, this young lady is a distinguished guest invited by the Emperor."

"You guys go down!"

The person in the bed spoke; it was indeed the emperor's voice.

"Your Majesty~"

"Didn't you hear me tell you to get out?!"

One of the ministers was about to say something when the emperor interrupted him.

"Lord Liu~"

Looking at Lord Liu, Granny Su gestured with her eyes and shook her head, then quickly told the others to leave and closed the door.

Zhao Lian hurriedly called out, "Hey~ If you're going out, why did you close the door?"

"I've been waiting for you for so long, you've finally arrived!" the person in the bed spoke. The voice was indeed that of the Emperor.

Zhao Lian got angry: "What's wrong with you? You're acting all mysterious and spooky. If you keep this up, I'm leaving." With that, Zhao Lian made a move to leave.

"Hey~ Don't go!"

The Emperor lifted the gauze curtain, revealing a faint smile playing on his usually stern face.

But that smile looked particularly jarring to Zhao Lian.

Zhao Lian's eyes fell on his hands. She had thought the emperor was seriously injured, but to her surprise, the emperor was perfectly fine and had no injuries at all.

Zhao Lian's expression changed drastically: "Didn't my brother-in-law say your hand was badly injured?"

Zhu Yuanzhang looked helpless: "If I hadn't said that, would you have come?"

The Xiongnu have been attacking frequently lately, and he is in danger even in the palace, let alone leaving it.

He wanted to see Zhaolian, but was afraid she wouldn't come in, so he had no choice but to resort to this tactic, hoping to take the opportunity to test her feelings for him.

"You lied to me!"

Zhao Lian was furious and turned to leave, only to find that the door was locked from the outside.

"Open the door! Open the door for me!" Zhao Lian kept shaking the door.

Wu Gonggong, standing outside the door, glanced at Su Mama with a worried expression: "Su Mama, it seems a bit risky for us to do this."

"This girl seems to have a bad temper, and judging from how she entered through the window, she's quite skilled in martial arts. What if she injures the Emperor?"

"I don't know either, this is what the Emperor ordered~" Granny Su was also a little worried.

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up: "I was the one who had them lock the door, just in case you wanted to leave."

Zhao Lian was angry, her face turning ashen: "If I want to leave, none of you can stop me. You are the emperor, you can have any woman you want, there's no need for you to mock me like this."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked annoyed: "But I don't want anyone else, I only want you."

Zhao Lian said coldly, "I said I would marry you when I turned sixteen, but you shouldn't be in such a hurry. You're disrespecting me. Now I'm taking back what I said and will reconsider. Quickly, have someone open the door."

Zhu Yuanzhang never expected this action to strain their relationship so much. He had only hoped to meet her, have a good chat, and improve their relationship, but it turned out like this.

“Zhaolian, I just haven’t seen you in so long and I’m eager to see you,” Zhu Yuanzhang tried to explain.

Zhao Lian's expression was distant: "But you shouldn't have used this method. This door can't trap me. If I want to leave, you can't stop me."

Seeing Zhao Lian's indifferent expression, Zhu Yuanzhang realized that his move had been far too radical.

In order to prevent the relationship from deteriorating further, Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to shout at the door, "Granny Su, open the door!"

The door opened, and seeing the grim expressions on Zhao Lian's and the Emperor's faces, Eunuch Wu and Granny Su exchanged a glance. The thing they had feared had come to pass.

"Miss Zhaolian, His Majesty is also anxious." Eunuch Wu tried to put in a good word for her, but Zhaolian ignored him completely and walked out on her own.

The Emperor looked dejected, and Su Mama couldn't help but comfort him: "Your Majesty, this kind of girl doesn't know how to be virtuous. You don't need to fawn over her. There are all kinds of women in the palace."

"Granny Su, you may all leave. I want to be alone for a while!"

"Your Majesty~"

Before Eunuch Wu could say anything more, Granny Su tugged at his sleeve, shook her head, and gestured for the two of them to leave.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked dejected; he hadn't expected things to escalate to such a point.

He is the emperor, and many girls would kill to marry him. Who would dare to disobey his decree? But he can't do anything about Zhao Lian, and only Zhao Lian can control him.

The two turned to leave, unaware that a pair of cold eyes were perched on the roof beam, watching the emperor with the door wide open and a sinister smile spreading across his face.