Leaving court was like leaving work. Yun Yaoyao felt as if she was walking on air, her entire being refreshed and invigorated. "My beloved, your Emperor has arrived!" she exclaimed.
The palace servants, displaying their keen sense of propriety, immediately withdrew, leaving the two alone.
As usual, they exchanged accounts of what had transpired earlier.
Upon hearing how Tu Shanjin had verbally demolished Yun Yanyan, Yun Yaoyao slapped the table and burst into laughter. "Tu Shanjin, I had no idea you were such a sharp-tongued fellow! It seems a wicked woman indeed needs a wicked man to keep her in check!"
Tu Shanjin narrowed his eyes. "You call me a wicked man?"
Yun Yaoyao feigned deafness. "Huh? What did you say?"
"..."
Hearing how Yun Yaoyao had silenced the group of remonstrating officials, Tu Shanjin grew curious. "How did you manage that?"
Naturally, Yun Yaoyao revealed her clever scheme in its entirety, recounting it with vivid detail.
The more Tu Shanjin listened, the darker his face became.
"So, you tarnished my image by portraying me as a man who favors male companions and indulges in perverse activities?!"
Yun Yaoyao was puzzled. "Aren't you already known for favoring men? Didn't you previously summon batches of young, physically fit men into the palace, and some of them left with bleeding bottoms? Don't tell me you weren't engaging in such activities then?"
"I was training personal guards! Their buttocks bled from being punished with the rod!" Tu Shanjin was furious.
Realizing her mistake, Yun Yaoyao tried to comfort him.
"It's alright, I'm Tu Shanjin now, so I'm the one they'll be gossiping about in private."
Tu Shanjin: "..." Thanks, but that's not comforting at all.
"By the way, how did you know that Minister Di's sister had fallen gravely ill?"
Here we go again, the suspicious tyrant was testing her once more.
Yun Yaoyao naturally responded, speaking with conviction: "It was recorded in the Book of Life and Death. Minister Di's sister died from this severe illness. Minister Di was devastated, resigned from his post, and devoted himself to being a 'gentleman of leisure'."
Tu Shanjin was surprised. "So it was him."
No wonder his efforts to locate this 'gentleman of leisure' had been fruitless – he had been working right under his nose!
Yun Yaoyao remembered something else: "Oh right, what's the deal with the ministers' daughters dying upon entering the palace? It's made the ministers too afraid to send their daughters to the palace."
Hearing the regretful tone in her voice, Tu Shanjin narrowed his eyes. "Are you suggesting you want to take concubines?"
Yun Yaoyao earnestly explained, "The ladies from noble families are all soft and fragrant, talented and beautiful, and know how to please others. How can you not appreciate the goodness of women?"
"This body of yours is good-looking and seems quite capable. If I provide excellent emotional support to the consorts, won't their families loyally stand by my side?"
Isn't it said that an emperor is like a public cucumber, to be moved towards whichever faction needs support?
"How about we..."
Tu Shanjin found her words increasingly absurd: "Absolutely not!"
"Selling yourself for glory, relying on women, how could you even think of such things!"
After a round of debate between the two, Yun Yaoyao's "cucumber alliance theory" was nipped in the bud.
The plan to recruit beautiful women had failed.
o(╥﹏╥)o
Seeing Yun Yaoyao sighing repeatedly and lamenting the lost opportunity, Tu Shanjin, for the sake of peace and quiet, briefly explained the reason.
"Those ministers' daughters who died back then harbored ill intentions. Some wanted to poison me, some were spies from enemy countries, and some planned to assassinate me just like you did."
"I had only been on the throne for three months at that time. Due to various reasons, I found other pretexts to eliminate them."
"Don't think they all truly want to be good to you. Sometimes, those who want to kill you are more numerous."
Tu Shanjin's words were calm, but it wasn't hard to imagine the cruelty of that time.
Ministers with hidden agendas, feigning goodwill, sending their daughters into the harem of the newly enthroned emperor.
One by one, these beautiful women, coy and shy, all professed their love and admiration, while secretly, each one was more determined than the last to end his life, their lethal schemes endless.
Yun Yaoyao reluctantly gave up: "Then forget it."
She had a phobia of crowded places and feared people with too many hidden motives.
Tu Shanjin stood up. "Let's go to Qianqing Palace. The pile of memorials from these past few days must be as tall as a person by now."
The two arrived at Qianqing Palace.
Yun Yaoyao dismissed the palace servants: "Everyone leave. Consort Miao will grind the ink for me."
Xiao Wuzi and the other servants immediately withdrew. Before closing the door, he flatteringly said, "Your Majesty and Consort Miao are truly a loving couple. With Consort Miao by your side, Your Majesty will surely have the wisdom of a sage when reviewing the memorials!"
As he closed the door, Xiao Wuzi thought to himself, it's really wonderful that Consort Miao has entered the palace. Even His Majesty has become somewhat gentler!
Once only Yun Yaoyao and Tu Shanjin remained in the palace, Yun Yaoyao immediately dropped her pretense.
She slumped, her whole body going limp, and collapsed onto the dragon throne nearby, crossing her legs.
"This is much more comfortable!"
Tu Shanjin gracefully took his seat at the desk, his back straight, holding a brush in his right hand, and began to earnestly review the memorials.
One was a great beauty, as delicate as a willow in the wind; the other was a cold and noble emperor. Yet the former was cold and taciturn, while the latter was relaxed and casual.
The two in the same scene created an indescribable sense of strangeness yet harmony.
Yun Yaoyao's mind wandered to the personal maid who had grown up with "her" in the Yun family.
To think Yun Yanyan would use her to threaten herself. If she were the real Yun Yaoyao, she might have been intimidated. Unfortunately for Yun Yanyan, she was now "Tu Shanjin," the ruler of the country.
If truly angered, she could have Yun Yanyan and Concubine Yun beaten to death tomorrow if she wished.
Should she issue an imperial edict to summon that personal maid into the palace?
But that would be making a mountain out of a molehill and might arouse suspicion.
Catching a glimpse of his own face displaying a series of rich emotions – blank, pensive, troubled, delighted, foolishly smiling – like a color palette, Tu Shanjin felt his eyes were being seared. It was hard to describe.
Tu Shanjin spoke up to interrupt: "If you have nothing to do, exercise this body here. Endurance, strength, energy, swordsmanship, horsemanship, archery, and so on – not one should be neglected."
Yun Yaoyao shook her head in refusal.
For a lazy person, exercise was equivalent to an impossible task.
Tu Shanjin's voice drifted over again: "The Book of Life and Death... Didn't you say that if I followed you, I would have a bright future? Now you won't even maintain my body's health. How can you talk about..."
Yun Yaoyao feared his moral coercion: "Alright, alright. Mortals are just so troublesome."
Yun Yaoyao got up from the dragon throne, prepared to perfunctorily do a few push-ups and be done with it.
Who knew that once she started, she would be like she had eaten energy candy, unable to stop!
"Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-three!"
"Tu Shanjin, your physical condition is quite good! Doing push-ups is so easy. When I was punished by the instructor during military training in the underworld, I couldn't even do a few!"
"Fifty, fifty-one, fifty-two!" Yun Yaoyao excitedly sweated profusely.
Tu Shanjin watched Yun Yaoyao's effortless exercise, thinking of his own arduous morning workout, and his face darkened.
He shouldn't have brought this up.
After doing who knows how many push-ups, Yun Yaoyao stood up satisfied and gulped down three cups of tea.
Tu Shanjin's body truly had a good foundation. His core and arm strength were impressive. The consorts he would favor in the future were in for a treat!
Time passed slowly as they reviewed the memorials.
After an unknown period, only a small stack of memorials remained.
Tu Shanjin put down his brush and rubbed his sore wrist. "Yun Yaoyao, do you know the purpose of tomorrow night's palace banquet?"
Yun Yaoyao shook her head.
"This year, floods in the southern regions of the Yanchi Dynasty have been particularly frequent, causing significant damage to people's livelihoods and the economy. The long-term solution is to improve water conservancy, but this requires substantial financial and material support."
"The imperial treasury is insufficient, and the palace banquet where you attempted to assassinate me was organized to encourage officials to donate money and supplies."
Tu Shanjin took out a topographical map of the Yanchi Dynasty and pointed to several locations. "I plan to build canals here, here, and here, and construct a grand canal connecting the north and south here."
Yun Yaoyao looked at the map. The canal spanned a great distance and traversed complex terrain. She could imagine that this would undoubtedly be a major and arduous project.
Tu Shanjin asked, "Yun Yaoyao, what are your thoughts on this matter?"
