After sending off my little God of Wealth, my heart could finally relax a little! This tall body was really struggling to keep supporting me. Remembering how empty the imperial treasury was, I took a deep breath. How on earth had such a dirt-poor country fallen into this state of decay?
Eunuch Gui seemed to sense my powerlessness and helped me over to a nearby chair to sit down. He was quite observant, noticing that after I had spoken for so long, my throat must be dry. He walked out to the door and instructed the junior eunuchs on duty to bring in some hot tea. Without even waiting for him to test it for poison, I picked up the cup and took a large gulch. "Achoo—why is this tea so scalding hot?!"
The junior eunuch who had brought in the tea immediately dropped to his knees, kowtowing and pleading for mercy: "Please Your Majesty spare my life, please Your Majesty spare my life..." Eunuch Gui was also startled, then scolded the kneeling junior eunuch with a fierce and menacing aura: "Xiao Lizi, how do you do your job? You didn't even know to let Your Majesty's tea cool down before bringing it in?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Head Eunuch, this servant was just afraid Your Majesty was waiting anxiously, and so... This slave will go change the tea for Your Majesty right now..."
"Forget it, it's the middle of the night, you folks don't have it easy either." No, wait, why was I suddenly being so considerate of my subordinates?! We were all overworked cattle and horses anyway; when I used to be an overworked drone, I still had to work overtime late into the night making reports and pulling data—this was simply too unfair. Still, one overworked drone understands another!
Thinking about how my current position as the big boss and top leader was actually so frustrating—woken up in the middle of the night by a subordinate to review memorials and discuss state affairs, and to top it all off, getting my mouth burned by the tea brought by a subordinate... Oh well, these were all trivial matters. Eat when it's time to eat, drink when it's time to drink, never let anything weigh on your mind!
I glared with annoyance at Mùróng Zhuó, who was still standing there instead of leaving. Far from leaving, he actually pulled up a chair and sat down right next to me. Seeing that made me even angrier. So I wasn't going to get to sleep properly tonight, is that it?! "Prime Minister, why haven't you left yet? Lingering here in My bedchamber—do you not want to go home?"
Suddenly, a thought flashed across my mind: could Mùróng Zhuó possibly have a "Longyang preference" (a liking for men)? Subconsciously, I shifted my body back a few inches... No, wait, why was I acting so scared?
Seeing my reaction, Mùróng Zhuó's expression instantly turned extremely ugly. "Your Majesty, what is the meaning of this? Please do not make random conjectures about Your Minister."
I steadied myself, cleared my throat, and said, "Ahem, no, wait... how on earth did you manage to see right through what I was thinking, Prime Minister?" Goodness gracious, did I just run into a Prime Minister with mind-reading abilities or a background in psychology?
"Your Majesty, you... how would Your Minister even advise you?" He wore the expression of someone deeply exasperated by iron failing to become steel. In his past life, he must have been a strict school disciplinarian!
"Then why haven't you left yet? Loitering in My bedchamber—are you waiting to eat a midnight snack?" Frowning slightly, I shifted my body back to its original spot. I took a gentle sip of tea, and he also picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and stared at me blankly.
Mùróng Zhuó raised his hands in a salute and said, "Such jokes, this minister hopes Your Majesty will not make them again in the future. They damage the reputations of both Your Majesty and Your Minister."
"Then why aren't you leaving? I am certainly no sleeve-cutter..." I emphasized once more. Wait, why did repeatedly insisting I wasn't one somehow make it feel like protesting too much? Should I just slap myself across the face to wake myself up and make sure I wasn't getting bewitched by the Prime Minister's good looks?!
"My younger sister, it is my younger sister. Your Majesty, Your Minister truly has something he must say." He looked as though he had made a momentous decision.
"Then you'd better not say it!" I was genuinely afraid he was going to say the same thing his tall sister had said: *Your Majesty, you are different from before*, followed by more crying—it was truly annoying to death...
"Your Majesty, can you please treat my younger sister a bit better?" This stubborn old stick was actually putting in a good word for his sister! Heavens! Had this blockhead's wooden skull been cracked open? Well, then again, it was only natural for a person to care for their own sister!
"Hmph! Am I not treating the Empress well?" When I said this, my conscience was obviously failing me to the extreme. After the little performance I had put on with that Little Green Tea just now, who wouldn't curse me as a scumbag and an utter bastard who doted on a concubine while neglecting his wife?!
Hmph! Whoever cursed me, I'd curse them right back... I couldn't care less, in this world I was the supreme authority, and I was firmly resolved not to let myself suffer even the slightest grievance. But, however... I was so sleepy right now! And this Mùróng Zhuó showed not the slightest intention of leaving.
Mùróng Zhuó's complexion was truly foul! It transitioned straight from an icy expression into a ferocious look that seemed ready to devour someone alive. "Your Majesty, are you not asking something you already know the answer to?"
"Back when you married my younger sister, how did you promise my father? How did you promise Your Minister? How long has it even been, and already you have a new love and have forgotten the old?" Goodness, why was Mùróng Zhuó getting more and more indignant the more he spoke? Anyone who didn't know better would think he was about to commit regicide and usurp the throne!
Yet recalling the Empress's aggrieved little face and her drop-dead gorgeous figure—good mother in heaven! Why on earth did my brain suddenly jump to her figure? I should be feeling guilty right now. Yes, I ought to feel guilty. Therefore, my tone carried a measure of guilt: "Well, um... Brother-in-law... what exactly did I, uh, say back then when I married the Empress?"
"I... my memory has been getting worse and worse lately, especially after falling into the water—I can't remember a thing." I figured this excuse was quite appropriate. If the past me treated the Empress poorly, that was the past me; what did that have to do with the present me?!
Mùróng Zhuó looked at me with a grave expression for a long moment before finally speaking: "Your Majesty, it seems you really have changed a great deal. You used to be very good to my younger sister. Ever since—ever since Consort Li entered the palace, your heart has no longer been with my sister."
He let out a long sigh, looking very much like an elderly man weathered by hardship, and said, "Your Majesty, on your wedding day, you promised my father, and you promised Your Minister, that you would treat my younger sister well. Even if you could not be deeply in affection, you would at least treat each other with mutual respect."
"Yet you..." He was probably remembering how he had just seen me holding Consort Li in my arms, speaking to her with such intimacy. Look here, Big Brother, my dear brother! That Little Green Tea was my precious God of Wealth! Crucially, who the hell would pick a fight with their own little God of Wealth when they have nothing better to do? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
It seemed that if you aren't the emperor, you don't understand the hardships of being the top leader! Who was I working so hard to sell my looks for? Who was I toiling and bustling for? Oh! Right, for the subjects beneath my hands, and for this broken, ruined, utterly wrecked Longxia State left behind by that good-for-nothing Yún Zhāo!
Whatever, I might as well go comfort Mùróng Zhuó. After all, he was childhood friends with that good-for-nothing Yún Zhāo. "Fine! I know." The moment I thought of that, I couldn't help but curse once more that utterly unreliable Little Fate Master who had tricked me into taking on such a precarious, storm-tossed country. I was just a human being! Not a god... A dilapidated Longxia State like this—even if a god descended, they couldn't save it!
No, I had to rise up. Who says women are inferior to men? Pah! From now on, I was half a man too. I would protect this Longxia State, and I would protect the subjects of Longxia State... Time to strive for greatness! I would keep scampering money from that Little Green Tea to build weapons... Um, that sounded a bit shameless.