Palace Fighting: Naive Concubines' Ascent to Power-Chapter 568: Nannan, the Blanket...

Lian Hua always had a way of startling with her sudden questions.

If it were someone else, they would surely be caught off guard and completely dumbfounded by her erratic behavior.

But what kind of person was the Emperor? At the flicker of her eyes, he would immediately know the mischief she was planning.

As when he was handling state affairs and she, after serving him tea, covertly lingered before him and suddenly blurted out, "Your Majesty, what do you think of Lian Mu’s literary talent?"

The Emperor lifted his eyelid to glance at her and asked nonchalantly, "Didn’t you also read that scroll? What do you think?"

"Oh..." She couldn’t tell, nor had she looked carefully...

It was about recognizing characters, not reading the article; she had really just recognized the characters...

Sighing at her own incompetence, Lian Hua pouted, dispirited and deflated.

The Emperor’s lips curled up slightly, yet he let her be. He had seen clearly now; in this matter, his Little Concubine was very persistent. He knew better than to speak more or to comfort her, as it would only make things worse. She had to come to her own understanding.

Or like when changing clothes, Lian Hua sat by the bed watching the Emperor change. As the months went by, His Majesty gradually stopped letting her help him dress and even started to help her dress.

She wanted to swing her legs but remembered she shouldn’t. As she watched the Emperor at a crucial moment of dressing, her eyes twinkled, and she suddenly asked, "Oh, I wonder how tall Lian Mu is. Is he as tall as you, Your Majesty?"

The Emperor, while unbuckling his belt, glanced at her sideways and asked, "How tall do you want him to be?"

She hesitated and put her hands apart: "A bit taller than you?"

Nearly two feet taller.

Her big brother had been that much taller than her when she was little.

The Emperor scoffed, "He must be on stilts then."

The little rascal had a big brother and forgot about him, thinking her brother was taller than him, and by so much? Unbearable!

"Alright, alright..." Lian Hua realized she might have exaggerated and, knowing she was at fault, timidly dared not retort.

When it was time to go to bed, she still felt a bit reluctant, pouted her lips, and disappointingly flung the quilt open with a flick.

The neatly laid quilt was now a mess, with each corner askew, the entire quilt laying at an angle.

She burrowed in, and the askew corner covered only her upper body, the legs peeking out, her tender feet conspicuously sticking out of the quilt as she lay down, deliberately turning her back to the Emperor.

Indeed, for every clever move, there’s a countermove craftier than before. In these past days, with every question she posed, His Majesty either sidestepped them or ignored them completely; he was too cunning, and she was utterly helpless, hmph!

So frustrating, so angry at herself for being too foolish, ah!

The Emperor found her both adorable and infuriating, but couldn’t help leaning over to gently tap her little foot, causing her to withdraw her foot but clutch the quilt corner without a sound.

The Emperor tugged at the quilt, intending to straighten it and tuck her in properly, but realized he couldn’t move it.

Helpless, he sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the person revealing half a fuzzy head, and said helplessly, "Should I have someone brought over to measure how tall he is for you?"

"Ah, can you?" Lian Hua immediately turned around, clutching the quilt corner with a palm-sized little face, flushed, wide-eyed and expectant.

The Emperor said irritably, "What do you think?"

"Oh..." She knew it was just a jest, hmph.

Lian Hua turned back around, remaining silent, her silhouette clearly bristling with indignation.

The Emperor was utterly speechless, to have someone seized just to measure his height—that must be madness.

When he had gone there, Lian Mu was sitting, how would he know the person’s height.

Seeing her little feet retract again, they seemed chilled from being exposed outside the blanket for too long.

He resigned himself to tug at the blanket again, but as it wouldn’t budge, he said helplessly, "Nannan, the blanket..."

As soon as he spoke, the tight corner of the blanket finally loosened.

The Emperor seized the opportunity to correctly adjust the blanket, meticulously covering her whole body, pinching her feet at the end of the bed, which elicited from her an irked retraction.

He quietly chuckled, tucked in the part of the blanket at her feet ensuring not even a hint of draft could enter, and then he climbed into bed feeling reassured.

Once in bed, the Emperor also lay on his side, pulled her into his embrace, his chest pressed against her back, kissed her, cooed some comforting words until she felt sleepy, and then recited some literature to her until she finally fell asleep.

If giving up were that easy, Lian Hua would not be Lian Hua.

Lian Hua was in the midst of her final struggle while dining.

While eating, she glanced at the Emperor and suddenly started a casual conversation, "Your Majesty, you said his writing is excellent, but I wonder what he looks like? They say handwriting reflects the person, so he must be good-looking, right?"

The Emperor, without even a glance at her and with a normal expression, served Nanny Qi some vegetables. Amid Nanny Qi’s confusion about their silent exchange, he airily said, "This person’s appearance is passable, though he has a slight limp in his left foot."

This time, he offered a direct response rather than a counter-question or avoidance.

"Ah? Oh... then it certainly isn’t him."

Yet, Lian Hua felt a sense of loss, completely wilted, and finally quieted down.

Her brother was perfectly fine; a person with a slight limp could not possibly be him.

She believed names could be pseudonyms, handwriting could resemble someone’s, height unknown, literary talent should match, and all else might be compromised, but a physical disability meant he could not be her brother—just this one point overturned all others, and this was a matter of principle that she could not concede.

The Emperor’s strategy was successful, and he finally put an end to this intense questioning session that had lasted several days.

In fact, he had waited a very long time for this question.

Little Concubine seemed to have a mysterious reverence towards her brother, as if everything that was good resembled her brother and everything that was bad surely must be a mistake.

If he hadn’t understood her, he would have been jealous; even so, he still sometimes felt a pang of jealousy.

True enough, once he mentioned this, she immediately denied it and never brought it up again.

But this just made him feel more distressed; he could not bear to see her in low spirits.

While Lian Hua stayed quietly in Canglan Court, occasionally popping out to check if it was her brother, the former court’s harem had already been turned upside down.

There were a few incidents from the direction of the Military General, whom the Emperor had directly imprisoned until the matters could be resolved.

Others grew increasingly impatient, submitting petitions, demanding that Consort Xu De, accused of conspiring against the Imperial Heir, be legally dealt with, and to discipline Xu Hu, even implying a coercion of sorts against His Majesty, creating an extremely tense atmosphere at the court gatherings.

Whenever this occurred, the Emperor remained indifferent and aloof, letting the court officials debate among themselves but ending by saying that the charges were not yet substantiated. He warned that if they insisted on such hasty convictions, they might as well accuse themselves of coercing the ruler first.

The court officials immediately knelt down, too frightened to respire.

The more the Emperor reacted thus, the more Xue Ping was convinced that the Emperor was outwardly strong but faltering inside, stalling for time.

He secretly maneuvered, rallying many noble families to join in under the pretense of "eliminating the treacherous courtiers."

Aside from the Military General, almost all were unanimously in favor of convicting Xu Hu.

Over the years, the noble families had been in decline among the younger generation, unable to secure official positions through recommendations. Consequently, many individuals from poor families took their places through the imperial examinations, which had long fostered a sense of dissatisfaction among them.

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