Upon entering the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Su Wan'er immediately sent all the servants away.
"Quick, get out of here at once!" Fang Xi immediately ordered them to leave one by one.
But when he looked up, he found Su Wan'er glaring at him intently. Only then did Fang Xi understand that he was also supposed to leave. But there had to be someone to attend to the emperor!
"With Qingcao here, I'm fine. What are you still standing here for?" Su Wan'er tried her best to sound imposing. Little did she know that compared to Si Junlin's usual harsh treatment of Fang Xi, this was already much more lenient.
Fang Xi immediately got the hint and quickly left, closing the door behind him.
"Phew." Su Wan'er let out a sigh of relief. Qingcao picked up the teapot and poured her a cup of tea.
"Fortunately, we didn't give ourselves away. Miss, you're really amazing."
"This is just the beginning. You know as well as I do that the rules in the palace are more numerous than the soldiers on the battlefield." Keeping a straight face all the way had really tired her out.
She had long thought that being an emperor was really hard for Si Junlin. At least on the battlefield, although one had to endure the elements, one was at least free and unrestrained. But in the palace, although he had all the luxuries, there were a whole bunch of rules. They were written in a thick book, and every single one had to be followed.
"It's getting late. Miss, you have to go to court on behalf of the emperor tomorrow. Why don't you go to bed early now?"
"You think it's that easy. It's not time to sleep yet. I'm probably going to be called to turn the name tags later."
Su Wan'er couldn't help but recall that the first time she turned the name tags, she almost turned her own. And in the end, she turned over more than thirty concubines at once. The scene was really lively. That action had even caused quite a stir in the capital for a few days. Fortunately, she was resourceful enough to handle the situation perfectly later.
"Miss, you forgot. There are no concubines in the harem now. There's no need to turn the name tags."
Su Wan'er was taken aback. Right, in this situation, she had really forgotten.
If it weren't for the fear of giving herself away, she really wanted to go out for a stroll and revisit the old places. And now that there were no annoying women, the vast harem might actually be quite fun.
The bed in the Hall of Mental Cultivation was still as comfortable as before. And with Qingcao keeping watch for her, there was originally nothing uncomfortable. But as soon as Su Wan'er lay down, she felt a sense of nostalgia. The scenes of her time in the palace flashed through her mind one by one, really disturbing her sleep. She just couldn't fall asleep.
It was not until the third watch that she finally fell into a drowsy sleep. Just as it was the fifth watch, the person sent by Fang Xi came to wake her up for the morning court.
Su Wan'er climbed out of bed sleepily. Fortunately, the good thing about being an emperor was that as long as you didn't want to do things yourself, there would be someone to do them for you. So a group of palace maids dressed her in the dragon robe and put on the crown for her, and then she went to court.
Since her eldest brother's injury hadn't healed yet, only her father from the Su family came to court. Su Wan'er was already very sleepy from lack of sleep, and she really found the quarrels of the ministers very hypnotic. So she didn't listen to a single word they said throughout the whole process.
But fortunately, they didn't expect her to say anything anyway. The essence of being an emperor was to keep one's emotions hidden, so one naturally couldn't speak casually. So throughout the whole process, she just listened to what her father said.
"General Su, how is General Su Yu's injury?"
Actually, he already knew about her eldest brother's injury. Asking this was just to bring up the topic and give some more medicine to her eldest brother by the way.
He had heard that Si Junlin had also rewarded a lot of medicine before. So why not just use his hand to reward some more? After all, it was her own eldest brother. The emperor's power was there for the taking.
After the court, Su Wan'er originally planned to secretly send the memorials to Si Junlin and then go back to sleep. But who would have thought that Fang Xi reminded her that she still had to go and pay respects to the empress dowager.
Su Wan'er was jolted awake immediately. How could she have forgotten about this? The most difficult person to deal with in the palace was still sitting there in good health.
"Quick, Qingcao, quickly tidy up my clothes for me." Qingcao changed her into a set of light outer robes and took off the crown. She put on a jade hairpin instead, and then accompanied her to pay respects to the empress dowager.
Both of them thought there was nothing wrong, but Fang Xi stammered beside them, "Miss Qingcao doesn't have a proper title yet. It might not be appropriate for her to go with you."
Only then did Su Wan'er remember that she was the emperor now. So she told Qingcao to stay here, and she felt even more flustered.
After seeing the empress dowager, the empress dowager was much kinder than before. In fact, in this kindness, Su Wan'er even saw a hint of worry. Had the empress dowager aged after not seeing her for so long? Where had that overbearing aura gone?
According to the rules, Si Junlin should have knelt down and paid his respects. But the empress dowager had already grabbed his hand and sat him down on the seat, as if he were very precious.
"Lin'er, I stewed your favorite lotus seed soup today. Have your breakfast here with me."
Su Wan'er was really headache now. Why had the empress dowager changed so much? She had become like a kind and gentle mother. Now she was most afraid of staying with her, so of course she couldn't agree to having breakfast.
She casually dealt with a few words, and thought it was about time. This place was really not suitable to stay for long, so she wanted to leave.
Who would have thought that the empress dowager would ask her with a sad look on her face, "Lin'er, it's been so many days. You should have gotten over it by now. I heard that you drank wine again yesterday? It's really not worth it to do this for that woman. You even dispersed the harem for her, but where did she appreciate your kindness?"
The empress dowager was really indignant for her son. But how could she know that the woman sitting in front of her now was the very woman she was talking about.
Su Wan'er didn't know what she was feeling at this moment. Hearing the empress dowager's tone, she naturally had a guess. Maybe Si Junlin had really done a few absurd things after she left.
"Mother, don't worry. I'm fine now. I still have some government affairs to attend to, so I'll take my leave first."
The empress dowager could only sigh again.
Su Wan'er felt very confused and irritated, so she told Fang Xi and all the other servants not to follow her.
In a daze, she found that she had instinctively walked out of the empress dowager's Palace of Compassion and Tranquility and was about to head towards the central palace of the empress.
Fortunately, she came to her senses when she passed a fork in the road, and then continued walking towards the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Along the way, except for the palace maids and eunuchs who were cleaning, watering the flowers, and sprinkling water, she really didn't see a single concubine. Si Junlin was really... impulsive. He actually did such a thing.