Sheng Jiu peeked through the crack of the bedroom door at the flickering lights inside.
A momentary twinge of guilt flitted through his mind and then vanished.
Throughout the ages, when emperors renovated the palaces, numerous workers and commoners were employed, and many lost their lives. So why should he, at this time, bear some insignificant criticism?
After quickly adjusting his emotions, Sheng Jiu pushed the door open. The person in the water heard the sound and quickly turned to look at him.
"What on earth happened? Can't you tell me?"
Sheng Jiu walked over, stroked his head, and softly said, "A guard got injured while digging the lake. He's fine now. You don't need to worry about this. Tomorrow, after I have them clean up the place, I'll take you there."
Wanwan nodded doubtfully and didn't say anything more.
Early the next morning, Sheng Jiu got up unusually early. Wanwan found it strange. He hadn't attended court for a long time. Why was he so motivated today...
There didn't seem to be any major events recently. Could the guard's injury yesterday really be considered a significant matter?
Wanwan propped himself up and tugged at Sheng Jiu's sleeve.
"Why do you suddenly want to go to court today?"
Sheng Jiu grasped the hand that was tugging at his sleeve and sat back on the couch.
"There are urgent matters in the court that must be dealt with. Don't worry. I'll come back as soon as I'm done."
Wanwan pursed his lips. "You should go to court every day from now on. It's not a good way to be like this every day."
Sheng Jiu hooked his lips into a smile. "It's so cold outside, and there's a warm body in the quilt. I don't want to get up so early to go to court."
Wanwan turned his head to avoid Sheng Jiu's gaze and didn't say a word. He had been here for a year. Although it wasn't a long time, he had witnessed two generations of emperors.
He didn't know how long he could stay. He really didn't like this square - walled palace.
After waking up, Wanwan was silent for a long while. Then he silently walked to the water's edge, stepped into the water, and quietly waited for his legs to turn into a fishtail.
He had been living like this for a long time. He seemed to have gotten used to having legs and the transformation between being a merman and a human.
Wanwan half - closed his eyes. As he soaked in the water, a fishtail slowly grew from his body. He slowly closed his eyes, looking serene.
Everyone in the court already knew what had happened yesterday. Since he started building the lake, countless eyes had been on him. Now that something had finally gone wrong after they had been waiting for so long, they would surely urge him to stop this project.
However...
"Your Majesty, building a large - scale lake behind the palace has already drawn the dissatisfaction of the ministers. We hope Your Majesty can tell us the purpose of building this lake today so that there will be no misunderstandings about Your Majesty."
Sheng Jiu still looked calm, not taking this problem to heart at all.
"Is there any difference between building a lake and building a palace? In the past, when palaces were built, many ordinary people selected for the work died... This kind of problem has existed in every dynasty. Are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me by bringing this up now?"
His tone was slow and gentle. Just listening to these words, it seemed there was no reason to be angry, but when the officials saw the emperor's expression, they all shivered.
But there was someone who didn't accept his explanation.
"Your Majesty, is the purpose of building this lake just for viewing? If so, should Your Majesty consider that this project is too labor - intensive, material - consuming, and costly? Moreover, Your Majesty has been pressing for it so urgently that the common people below are suffering."
Sheng Jiu twirled the jade finger ring on his thumb and slowly said, "Since they're suffering so much, you should do more work."
His tone was light, as if he didn't regard those people as lives.
The ministers didn't expect that things would turn out to be a self - inflicted disaster...
Those people finally fell silent, and Sheng Jiu routinely replied to a few useless memorials.
"Your Majesty."
Just when he thought things were about to end, a voice suddenly floated up from below the great hall. Sheng Jiu recognized it as the black - robed man's voice and then softly said, "What's the matter, Lord He? Do you have something to say?"
The man in black stood below properly, looked up at the person on the throne, and said, "I wonder if Your Majesty has given any thought to the matter I mentioned to you last time?"
The matter last time? Was it... the matter of the things left by the former emperor and being forcibly occupied?
Sheng Jiu felt that he had almost forgotten about this matter. Since the man mentioned it once in the court last time, he hadn't brought it up again. There was also no special news from Ming Lang. Of course, during the observation of his daily life, no major problems were noticed either.
Just when Sheng Jiu was considering whether to recall Ming Lang... he actually got involved in this matter again.
Sheng Jiu hooked his lips into a smile. "I thought it was something really big. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about it."
The other meaning of this sentence was... there was no accident in this matter. He just wanted to tell the civil and military officials of the court that he hadn't obtained any things left by the former emperor.
Even if there were, he definitely wouldn't say it...
He just hoped that this black - robed man would be smart enough and give each other a way out.
"Your Majesty, this matter must not be taken lightly or forgotten, because if you're not careful, it will cost Your Majesty your life..."
Sheng Jiu pursed his lips and said nothing. There was obvious displeasure on his face. Why didn't he understand his meaning?
"Lord He, just tell me directly what's in the former emperor's bedroom that I don't know about."
If he really said what it was, he could be thrown into prison and punished on the charge of talking nonsense.
But if he couldn't say what it was, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor.
The black - robed man obviously didn't intend to reveal the answer to him and kept evading.
"It's something Your Majesty likes very much, something Your Majesty snatched from the former emperor."
"Your Majesty should know this thing better than I do..."
Sheng Jiu slightly squinted his eyes and carefully sized up the man.