Chapter 222 – I Am The Empress Dowager, Who Am I Afraid Of? (part 15)

Li Su didn’t know if Zhao Defang had seen Qin Wan’er. After Zhao Defang came back, he was in a good mood. He was smiling for several days, and even more energetic when he went to the Ministry of Rites.

Li Su didn’t feel anything at all. Emperor Long’an felt a little uncomfortable. It felt like the flower he had raised for many years was being taken away. Emperor Long’an also felt that his mentality was very strange. Defang was his younger brother, not his daughter.

Emperor Long’an was in a bad mood. Without thinking about it, he went to Peaceful Age Palace.

In Peaceful Age Palace, Li Su was listening to some musicians. When Emperor Long’an came, she stretched out her head and looked at the sky. “How come you have enough free time to come here?”

Seeing that Emperor Long’an’s expression was not good, Wet Nurse Xu signalled to the musicians to stop.

But Emperor Long’a’ waved his hand. “Don’t stop. Just keep singing!” In order not to bother him, empress mother gave up other hobbies and ended up listening to music. How could he make empress mother feel wronged because of him?

“What’s the matter? Is there anything bothering you?” Li Su asked after seeing Emperor Long’an’s face.

Emperor Long’an thought about it for a while. There was nothing to be ashamed of in front of empress mother. Besides, there was no one else here. “Empress mother, don’t you feel unhappy that Defang is so enthusiastic about that girl from the Qin family?”

Li Su was stunned for a while, then looked at Emperor Long’an. When Emperor Long’an saw her, he felt a little embarrassed. “Empress mother!”

Li Su held back her smile. “What? Feeling uncomfortable?”

Emperor Long’an was a little embarrassed. He lowered his head in acquiescence.

Li Su smiled and said, “Defang will get married. You are so reluctant to give him up. What about your children? They will get married in the future. What will you do then?”

Emperor Long’an smiled awkwardly. He thought about it seriously, and then said, “Defang is different from them!” Defang was his younger brother, but in his heart, he was no different from his son. The hard work he put into Defang was incomparable to the others.

Li Su patted his hand. She actually understood Emperor Long’an’s feelings for Zhao Defang very well. When he was a child, Zhao Defang was raised by Emperor Long’an. He was his younger brother, but he was more like his son. Therefore, when the original owner and Zhao Defang united to betray Emperor Long’an, it really hit Emperor Long’an hard. It was evident that Emperor Long’an continued to be tolerant towards them.

“The child is getting older and sooner or later, this day would have come.” Li Su patted Emperor Long’an’s hand. “Do you have a good candidate for Yuanqi?”

The corners of Emperor Long’an’s mouth twitched. Empress mother, your method of changing the subject was too bad! How old was Yuanqi?! However, as a filial son, Emperor Long’an habitually took Li Su’s words to heart and considered them seriously. Yuanqi was the crown prince, and his wife would be the crown princess. The future empress must be considered carefully in order to avoid marrying another idiot like Empress Jiang.

“Empress mother is thoughtful. Your son will seriously consider it,” Emperor Long’an said seriously.

Li Su blinked. She said it casually. She didn’t expect him to be so serious.

“Chen Zhiyao’s, the Minister of Civil Personnel, eldest daughter is one year older than Yuanqi. The Chen family’s teachings are still good. However, we still need to send someone to examine them. There is also the daughter of General Li’s family, who is one year younger than Yuanqi. There is also Zhang Yuanzhi from the Board of Public Work who has several granddaughters of school age who have had a strict upbringing. They can be included. Yuanqi is still young. We need to carefully choose a good one.” Emperor Long’an quickly listed a few people they could choose from.

Li Su was dumbfounded. “No, no. I’m talking nonsense. Yuanqi is not old enough.”

“Your son doesn’t plan to get him married right away. The question of who should be chosen for the position of crown princess is very important and needs to be carefully considered. Your son thanks empress mother for the reminder! Empress mother is still very quick and thinks far into the future. Your son can’t beat empress mother!” Emperor Long’an said with a smile.

If it weren’t for Emperor Long’an’s sincere eyes, sincere attitude, and filial piety, Li Su would have thought that he was mocking her.

When Emperor Long’an left Peaceful Age Palace, his expression was relaxed and his steps were brisk.

Li Su, however, had lost interest. She waved away the musicians and leaned on the couch alone in a daze.

“Empress Dowager, this servant guesses that the Qin family should have settled down by now. Why doesn’t Empress Dowager announce that Madam Qin and Young Miss Qin will enter the palace tomorrow?” Seeing Li Su’s lack of interest, Wet Nurse Xu tried to divert Li Su’s attention.

Li Su thought for a while. “Okay, A-Xu, make arrangements!”

Seeing that Li Su’s interest was still low, Wet Nurse Xu thought about it for a while, and then talked about what to prepare for tomorrow. Did they need to pay attention to the list of food? Was there anything they should ask the prince?

Li Su knew what Wet Nurse Xu’s intentions were and smiled. “A-Xu, I’m fine. I just remembered the past.”

Wet Nurse Xu thought that Li Su remembered the late emperor. “Was the empress dowager thinking of the late emperor? This servant remembered that when the empress dowager received the decree to enter the palace, the empress dowager cried in fear in the middle of the night. It turned out that the empress dowager was His Majesty’s favourite. This servant will remember the expression on the empress dowager’s face at that time for the rest of this servant’s life.”

When Li Su heard Wet Nurse Xu mention these past events, she knew what she meant and laughed. She was just thinking of Emperor Long’an, Yuanqi, and Zhao Defang. When she thought of Li Yuanqi again… Everyone in the world wanted to be the emperor, but they didn’t know that once one takes that seat, they would be truly alone. After all, there were not many situations like the previous emperor and the original owner.

Now Li Su understood it and felt that she was thinking too much. She felt that the person sitting in that seat was a loner, and maybe people liked that kind of life. She had been rich and stable for a long time, so she began to think wildly.

In other words, the task in this life was too simple! Was it possible to just eat, drink, and enjoy the entire time? This was too ****!

However, she liked it!

Prince Bao was about to get married and the palace was full of joy. The only one who was uncomfortable was Zhao Yuanqi.

On this day, as soon as Zhao Yuanqi came back, he lay on Li Su’s lap without saying a word as he appeared unhappy.

Li Su smiled and didn’t ask. She just gently stroked Zhao Yuanqi’s hair, smoothing it out. This kid and his father were indeed father and son. Some of their habits were exactly the same.

Sure enough, under the gentle touch of imperial grandmother, Zhao Yuanqi said, “Imperial grandmother, why can imperial uncle choose the person he likes, but my marriage can only be arranged by father emperor?!”

Li Su almost choked. “No, what did your emperor father tell you?” Zhao Guangzhe wouldn’t be so stupid, would he? How old was Yuanqi?

Zhao Yuanqi shook his head. “It wasn’t emperor father who said it, it was imperial uncle.”

He met imperial uncle this morning. Seeing that imperial uncle was very happy, he asked imperial uncle why he was so happy. Imperial uncle said that he was going to marry a wife soon, so of course he was happy.

Zhao Yuanqi looked envious. He said that when he married a wife, he would also be happy.

Imperial uncle laughed, saying that his wife was chosen by imperial uncle himself, and she was someone imperial uncle liked. But, that would not happen with Zhao Yuanqi.

Zhao Yuanqi immediately asked why.

Imperial uncle said that it was because he was the crown prince, and the wife of the crown prince would be the princess consort. The choice of the princess consort was very important, and it must be decided by emperor father.

Zhao Yuanqi was suddenly unhappy. Why should imperial uncle get to choose his own wife, but he could not?! But he didn’t dare to say this to emperor father, so he could only come back and talk to imperial grandmother. Imperial grandmother would not get angry.

“Imperial grandmother, can I choose someone I like to be the crown princess in the future?” Zhao Yuanqi asked with wide eyes.

The corners of Li Su’s mouth twitched a little. She didn’t know whether it was because the four-year-old child was shocked by the thought of marriage, or because she couldn’t answer the questions raised by Zhao Yuanqi. Maybe it was both!

Seeing this, Wet Nurse Xu smiled.

Li Su waved her hand. No matter who the other party was, she didn’t want to fool the other party just because they were young. This was showing the minimum amount of respect. She thought about it seriously. “This matter is something imperial grandmother can’t answer for the time being. You are the crown prince. Do you know what being the crown prince means?”

Zhao Yuanqi nodded. “I know, the masters taught me that the crown prince is the crown prince!”

“Have the masters ever told you what about the crown princess? What the duties of the crown princess are?” Li Su continued.

Zhao Yuanqi shook his head.

Li Su smiled slightly. “The crown princess is the future empress, and she is the one who is the mother of the world. The responsibility of the empress is obvious. Not just anyone can be empress. Do you understand? ”

“But isn’t imperial grandmother also the empress dowager?” Zhao Yuanqi asked ignorantly. He heard from his mother that imperial grandmother had also been the empress, but when imperial grandmother was the empress, she didn’t care about anything.

Wet Nurse Xu couldn’t help but laugh while Li Su was a little embarrassed. How did a child know that she was an incompetent empress?

Although she was embarrassed, Li Su still had to rack her brains to explain things to Zhao Yuanqi. “Imperial grandmother was indeed not a competent empress, but your imperial grandmother did not want to be empress. It was your imperial grandfather who asked me to be the empress. I told your imperial grandfather at the time that I was not smart or generous, and I couldn’t be a good empress, but your imperial grandfather said that he wanted to live and die with me. Only when I became the empress, could I be buried with him after I die. It didn’t matter if I didn’t become empress since he would help me. That’s why imperial grandmother finally became the empress. But Yuanqi, you are not your imperial grandfather, and others will not be like your imperial grandmother. This is not comparable. And, you know what? Because your imperial grandmother was not a good empress, your imperial grandfather had to work very hard!”

“I’m not afraid of hard work!” Zhao Yuanqi said seriously. “I also want to be buried in the same place as the person I like.”

Li Su’s eyes widened. “Yuanqi, how old are you? Do you know what it means to like someone?”

“Imperial grandmother, although I don’t know what it is to like someone, but I know what joy is. When imperial uncle mentioned imperial aunt, his eyes were smiling. I knew that at that moment, imperial uncle must be very happy. Although empress mother is emperor father’s wife, emperor father is not happy when he mentions empress mother. I want to live a happy life.”

Zhao Yuanqi’s remarks successfully left Li Su stunned.

Did all children nowadays mature so early?