Si Junlin had been looking out of the window with a full heart of melancholy. The moment he heard Qingcao's words, he immediately came back to his senses.
Suddenly, he remembered that Su Wan'er liked purple lotuses. A thoughtful look flashed across his eyes. Finally, he nodded. "Okay, but I'll pick them myself."
Qingcao had been thinking about how to persuade Si Junlin to go with them to pick the lotuses. Now that Si Junlin had offered on his own, she naturally wouldn't refuse.
Just like that, after getting Su Wan'er's permission, the "Empress" led a group of palace servants to the imperial garden to pick flowers.
Su Wan'er, on the other hand, led her people to the "Empress's" bedroom.
She told the attendants to wait outside. Then she made her way to the head of the bed with ease. She opened the pillow and took out a cloth bag from it. Inside the cloth bag was the "Swallow" jade pendant.
With this, the pair of swallow jade pendants was finally complete.
After getting what she wanted, Su Wan'er took a detour through the back garden before returning to the Hall of Diligent Government.
Si Junlin was concentrating on picking the lotuses and didn't notice, but Qingcao was constantly keeping an eye on the palace path.
To outsiders, it seemed that she was protecting Si Junlin's safety, but only she knew that she was doing this because she had made an agreement with Su Wan'er.
After Su Wan'er took the "Swallow" jade pendant, she would pass by the back garden on purpose to let Qingcao know that everything was done.
After Si Junlin picked some lotuses, he didn't take them back to his own room. Instead, he just asked Qingcao to hold them. After simply washing off the mud, he headed towards the Hall of Diligent Government.
Su Wan'er was just about to take out the jade pendant to take a closer look when she heard Fang Xi's voice from outside the door. "The Empress requests an audience."
Su Wan'er quickly put away the jade pendant and then said to the outside, "Admit her."
The door was opened. After swapping bodies with Su Wan'er once, Si Junlin came to his own room again.
Su Wan'er gave him a cold look. "What brings the Empress here?"
She used her eyes to ask Qingcao.
Qingcao nodded slightly, telling Su Wan'er that the "Empress" hadn't noticed that she had been in the bedroom.
Only then did Su Wan'er feel relieved.
Si Junlin saw Su Wan'er's look and thought she was looking at him. He coughed lightly and motioned for Qingcao to bring up the lotuses.
"Ahem, Your Majesty... Your Majesty likes lotuses very much. The lotuses are in full bloom today, so... so I've brought them here." It was really hard to express his intention without letting outsiders notice.
Su Wan'er looked at Si Junlin in front of her, then at the lotuses in his hand. Finally, she gave Qingcao a helpless look and then motioned to Fang Xi. "Fang Xi, find a vase to put them in."
Whether Qingcao had told Si Junlin to do this or Si Junlin had asked Qingcao, since she had thought of giving her flowers, she... no, he just thought that the lotuses would wither if they were out of water. As someone who liked lotuses, of course, he couldn't just watch his favorite flowers wither.
Yes, he just didn't want to see his favorite flowers wither.
After receiving the gift, Su Wan'er couldn't very well drive him away right away. She could only ask Fang Xi to prepare a seat for him.
Seeing that the atmosphere between the two of them had finally eased, Si Junlin also breathed a sigh of relief. Now it should be okay to talk about the things between them.
Si Junlin glanced at Qingcao and then looked up at Su Wan'er. "Your Majesty, our previous meeting ended unhappily because of our own reasons. But I'm not speaking without a basis. I really have something important to discuss with Your Majesty. But this matter is of great significance. I hope Your Majesty can let us talk alone."
Su Wan'er saw that Si Junlin's expression didn't seem to be fake. After hesitating for a while, she nodded and motioned for everyone around to go out.
When there were only the two of them left in the room, Su Wan'er said to Si Junlin, "Speak. Your Majesty, what exactly is this important matter you want to talk about?"
Si Junlin took a sip of tea from the pot and then said to Su Wan'er, "Empress, what I want to talk to you about is the matter of our swapped souls."
"What? What new tricks is Your Majesty up to?" Su Wan'er's eyes were very cold. It seemed that she didn't take Si Junlin seriously at all.
But if she really didn't care, why would Su Wan'er be angry with Si Junlin in her heart? If she didn't care, she wouldn't have accepted the lotuses when Si Junlin gave them to her.
Although she said that she didn't really like Si Junlin, there was still a place for him in her heart. It's just that Su Wan'er herself wasn't very sure, or rather, she didn't have the courage to be sure.
Si Junlin took a few deep breaths and told himself that he must talk to Su Wan'er calmly this time. At least, he should wait until he finished talking about that matter before making other plans.
Si Junlin suppressed the anger in his heart and then turned to Su Wan'er calmly. "It's very inconvenient for us to do things with our swapped souls. I think you feel the same way, don't you?"
Su Wan'er sneered. "Your Majesty, you're overthinking. At first, I wanted to swap back our identities, but now, I don't want to. I think it's quite good like this. At least, I can live in peace. And..." When Su Wan'er said this, a proud look flashed in her eyes. "And I can also let you experience the hardships of the common people."
"You!" Si Junlin took another deep breath. "Don't you want to return to your own body? Are you used to occupying a man's body all day long?"
"You know what? I'm quite used to it." Su Wan'er sneered. Was she deliberately trying to anger Si Junlin? No, she did this just to save her own life. Most importantly, she still had a lot of things to do now. It wasn't the time to swap back their bodies yet.
"You... you..." Si Junlin almost exploded, but thinking of the promise he had made before coming here, he still tried hard to control his temper so as not to get too angry and mess things up.
Taking a deep breath, he continued to talk to Su Wan'er patiently. "Empress, I know you're still angry with me for what I did to you before. But in that situation, if I didn't lock you up, it would only bring you more hatred."
Although he didn't really think so at that time, in order to have a good talk with Su Wan'er at this moment, he could only do some things that he didn't usually want to do.
"Oh, so what?" Su Wan'er looked at him coldly. She didn't believe a single word of what he said.
Si Junlin sighed. "So, I hope you can forgive me."