Si Junlin looked back at the maid. "Well, you've done a great job. However, next time, be more careful. Although my information is important, your life is even more so."
Tears of gratitude welled up in the maid's eyes. It was indeed a wise choice for them maids to side with the queen. In this imperial harem, only the queen truly valued their lives.
But Si Junlin didn't really care about the maids' lives. It was just a habitual use of the emperor's tactics.
He was not familiar with these maids. To avoid exposing the fact that their souls had been swapped, he usually kept silent as much as possible. Since the soul - swap, he had spent his idle time reading books. In this way, he didn't feel awkward even when he didn't talk.
Now that a maid had stepped forward to show her loyalty, he was naturally curious to see just how loyal she was.
Back in the palace, Si Junlin went straight to the imperial study. A certain woman was dozing off.
He shook his head helplessly. "Hey, Your Majesty, it's time to wake up." Si Junlin woke up Su Wan'er.
Su Wan'er opened her eyes groggily. When she saw Si Junlin, there was a look of relief in her eyes, a look she herself didn't even notice.
Although Su Wan'er didn't notice it, Si Junlin did, and his heart was filled with warmth.
This woman really cared about him.
If Su Wan'er knew what he was thinking, she would probably just laugh it off. The real reason she felt relieved was that her own body was okay.
But although they had swapped souls, they still weren't completely in tune with each other's thoughts. Thus, this beautiful misunderstanding occurred.
"Did the Empress Dowager give you a hard time?" Su Wan'er asked with concern.
Si Junlin smiled at her. "Do you think if she did, I'd still be standing here unharmed?"
Su Wan'er let out a disdainful snort. If it weren't for the fact that the person in front of her was the Empress Dowager's son, she would have called the Empress Dowager an old hag. Unfortunately, since he was the Empress Dowager's son, she had to swallow the words "old hag" back.
"Compared to me, how are you doing with the memorials?" As Si Junlin spoke, he walked over to the memorials, picked one up, and started reading.
After reading several memorials in a row, Si Junlin found that Su Wan'er had only dealt with those related to military affairs.
"Don't you deal with the others?" Si Junlin asked curiously.
Su Wan'er shook her head. "I've been listening to my grandfather talk about military matters since I was a child. Compared to other memorials, I'd rather deal with the ones related to military affairs that I'm more familiar with."
Si Junlin stacked the memorials neatly and then said to Su Wan'er, "You've done an excellent job with the memorials. Even I can't find any faults. If I'm ever too busy to handle them in the future, you can focus on dealing with these military - related ones."
Su Wan'er twitched the corner of her mouth. "Okay... then."
"I've fulfilled your wish today. Shouldn't you show some appreciation?" Si Junlin looked at Su Wan'er leisurely.
Su Wan'er said with a hint of amusement, "Your Majesty, didn't you already get your reward last night? What? Do you want double payment?"
Si Junlin looked at the threatening Su Wan'er and shook his head helplessly. "Woman, being too shrewd isn't always a good thing." It would ruin the mood.
God knew that he just wanted to get closer to this little woman.
Su Wan'er couldn't hear his inner cries. She just said to herself, "Man, if a woman isn't shrewd, how can she survive in the harem?"
Su Wan'er's words made him think of the infighting among his concubines. He had to admit that she was right. The battles in the harem were no less intense than those in the court. If he underestimated the harem struggles, he would surely suffer.
"I misunderstood you before." Si Junlin apologized sincerely this time.
However, Su Wan'er didn't seem to appreciate it much. "Since I've entered your harem, these are the things I have to face. You didn't do anything wrong."
"Did your grandmother tell you this?" Si Junlin remembered what Grandma Su had said.
Su Wan'er was slightly stunned. She was about to ask how he knew about her family, but then she remembered that he had gone to meet her grandmother on her behalf today. So, she swallowed the words that were about to come out.
"Actually, not really." Su Wan'er scratched her head. "If it was before we swapped identities, I might have said yes. But now, standing in your shoes, I think everyone has their own difficulties."
Si Junlin suddenly reached out and hugged her tightly. "I sincerely apologize for what happened before. I hope you can forgive my ignorance."
Su Wan'er struggled at first, but after several attempts with no success, she had no choice but to give up.
Fine, he was the emperor. He had the final say.
Most importantly, she didn't know why, but she could sense a sad emotion from Si Junlin.
Su Wan'er could only silently reach out and pat his back gently. At this moment, she suddenly had the illusion of being a mother.
However, an illusion was just an illusion. Compared to her, the emperor recovered much faster. "Okay, let's start dealing with the memorials."
Looking at Si Junlin's quickly - recovered appearance, Su Wan'er let out a snort and turned back to the dragon throne.
Su Wan'er sat on the chair, while Si Junlin sat beside her.
The peaceful days passed quietly. After being neglected by the emperor for a month, the concubines in the various palaces finally couldn't bear it anymore.
Early in the morning, when they came to pay their respects and found the emperor was not there, they gave Si Junlin dirty looks.
"Hey, Queen, you're looking quite well these days." The one who spoke was Concubine Mei. Having not seen the emperor for a whole month, she was so angry that she had wrung out more than ten handkerchiefs.
"Of course she looks good. She spends every day seducing the emperor in bed, but she can't even get pregnant. She's really delaying the emperor from having more heirs. I heard that the late emperor already had ten princes at the emperor's age." The one who spoke was a concubine in green clothes. Si Junlin didn't remember seeing her before, so she must be a concubine he hadn't met.
"Queen, don't monopolize the emperor all the time. You should let the sisters have a share once in a while, right?" Another concubine in blue clothes chimed in.
The only one who didn't say a word was Concubine Xi. According to what Su Wan'er had said before, both Concubine Xi and Concubine Mei would be candidates to replace the queen.
Now that Concubine Mei had spoken, but Concubine Xi remained silent, there must be something fishy going on. Having been in the court for so many years, Si Junlin immediately became vigilant towards Concubine Mei.