Chapter 476: I Am the Empress, Treating Everyone Equally

Ji Qingwu chuckled at her words.

Wei Liru asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Ji Qingwu said with a light laugh, "I’m laughing at you. You don’t understand the Emperor’s heart in the slightest, and you certainly don’t understand him as a person."

Wei Liru frowned. "What do you mean?"

Ji Qingwu said, "I am the Empress."

Wei Liru thought she was being reprimanded for her lack of respect, so she corrected her form of address. "What do you mean, Empress?"

Ji Qingwu adjusted her golden crown, which wasn’t crooked in the first place, then picked up the gold treasure from beside the phoenix throne and weighed it in her hand.

She emphasized it once more.

"I am the Empress."

Wei Liru looked at her, her face filled with confusion.

Ji Qingwu said slowly, "Does Princess Consort Wei think that the Emperor is the kind of man who would let the woman he loves be subservient to another, wronged for a lifetime as a mere concubine?"

The smile on her lips was tinged with mockery.

"He truly loves her, so he wrongs her by making her a concubine?"

A man as proud and arrogant as Emperor Wu Su would never commit such a cowardly act. Offering up the position of Empress is proof enough of his true feelings.

’I should go back and check the Heartbeat Value again later,’ Ji Qingwu thought, recalling how the system had said it was full. ’And I can probe the Emperor’s feelings a bit more.’

She turned, placed the gold treasure gently back on the table, and turned back to see Wei Liru standing there, stunned.

Ji Qingwu said magnanimously, "Princess Consort Wei, you still understand too little about love. Although I don’t understand much myself, I can still teach you a thing or two."

"When a man falls in love, he wants to marry his beloved and bring her home to be with him every day."

"His only worry will be that he isn’t giving her enough."

As soon as her voice fell, a eunuch’s announcement came from outside.

Little Dongzi walked in cheerfully, knelt, and said, "This servant pays his respects to the Empress."

Ji Qingwu said, "You may rise."

Only then did Little Dongzi notice Princess Consort Wei was also present. His expression changed slightly, but he quickly put his smile back on.

He deliberately raised his voice and said, "Empress, this servant has come on orders from His Majesty. The Emperor has bestowed many fine treasures."

Little Dongzi clapped his hands, and a line of little eunuchs filed in behind him.

To say nothing of the brocades and jewelry, there were dozens of items just among the tea sets, porcelain, ink-stone screens, and incense burners. The dazzling array of various items was so extensive that Chening Hall could no longer hold them all.

Ji Qingwu could only wave Fanghua in to pack some of it up and move it to the inner storerooms.

She curved her lips into a smile. "Receiving too much isn’t necessarily a good thing, is it, Princess Consort Wei?"

Wei Liru’s eyes were red with anger. She turned and left the hall.

Ji Qingwu’s voice rose behind her. "Princess Consort Wei’s speech and actions have been reckless. She is sentenced to one month of confinement in Guanju Palace. Have the decree proclaimed to the six palaces."

Aunt Fanghua lowered her head. "Yes."

The whole morning had been spent on this commotion. There was still another task: Ji Qingwu needed to go to Cining Palace to pay respects to the Empress Dowager, but the Emperor and Empress were supposed to go together.

The appointed hour had not yet arrived, so Ji Qingwu waited for a while in her bedchamber. She didn’t get Emperor Wu Su, but she did get a solid cannonball.

"Mother!"

Children grow up so fast. When Jiu Jiu charged at Ji Qingwu, she honestly wanted to dodge.

But worried she might hurt her little daughter’s feelings, she secretly braced herself in a horse stance to receive Jiu Jiu’s flying tackle.

Ji Qingwu caught Jiu Jiu and held her in her arms. Yuan Heng entered Chening Hall with steady steps and offered a proper greeting.

"Your son pays his respects to Mother Empress!"

Holding Jiu Jiu with one arm, Ji Qingwu helped Yuan Heng up. The mother and her two children returned to the couch in the inner chamber.

She sat on the edge of the couch and said with a smile, "Didn’t we say we’d have lunch together? Why are you here so early?"

Yuan Heng looked at her with his dark eyes. "Jiu Jiu wanted to come and visit Mother’s palace."

Jiu Jiu immediately exposed him. "His Highness was the one who wanted to come! He got up super early and kept asking Little Shunzi what hour it was."

Ji Qingwu stroked the back of Yuan Heng’s head and said gently, "Heng’er, you can come whenever you want."

She noticed how Jiu Jiu addressed Yuan Heng and said, "Jiu Jiu, you should call him ’older brother.’"

Jiu Jiu was fascinated by the golden crown and hairpins on Ji Qingwu’s head, touching this and that. Hearing her mother’s words, she pouted.

"I won’t."

Yuan Heng spoke up. "Mother Empress, I’ve already explained it to her, but this is all very sudden. She might need some time to accept it."

Ji Qingwu took the little girl’s hand, thinking about how she had indeed neglected her children recently.

She said seriously, "Jiu Jiu, if something is on your mind, you have to tell Mother. Do you not like the Imperial Palace?"

Jiu Jiu shook her head, pulled her hand away, and touched the golden hairpin on Ji Qingwu’s head, looking like she adored it.

Ji Qingwu guessed, "You don’t like Yuan Heng?"

Without hesitation, Jiu Jiu shook her head like a pellet drum.

’Then where does the problem lie?’

Ji Qingwu asked again, "Do you... not like your Father Emperor?"

Jiu Jiu thought for a moment, then slowly shook her head.

The kids’ father wasn’t the problem either. Ji Qingwu asked, confused, "If you like everything, why aren’t you willing to acknowledge your older brother?"

Jiu Jiu planted her hands on her hips and declared loudly, "We’re the same age! I want to be the older sister!"

Ji Qingwu couldn’t help but laugh, giving her a light pat on the bottom. "How can that be? Heng’er was born before you. Even if it was only by a quarter of an hour, he’s still the older brother."

Jiu Jiu seemed obsessed with being the older sister. No matter how Ji Qingwu tried to persuade her, she refused to give in and call him ’older brother’.

Yuan Heng said suddenly, "Mother Empress, Jiu Jiu actually can be the older sister."

Jiu Jiu’s eyes lit up.

Ji Qingwu looked at the little boy, her gentle gaze mixed with a pang of heartache. "Heng’er, whether you’re the older brother or she’s the older sister was decided at birth. You don’t have to give in to her wishes."

Yuan Heng said simply, "If Mother Empress gives birth to another younger brother or sister, it’ll be fine."

Jiu Jiu eagerly responded, "Then I want a younger brother!"

Ji Qingwu: ...

She had wanted to treat them both equally.

As it turned out, she was the one being expertly handled by these two clever little sprites.

By lunchtime, Emperor Wu Su still hadn’t appeared. Li Yuzong personally delivered many snacks suitable for children.

At the dining table, seeing Ji Qingwu’s hesitant expression, Li Yuzong looked at her expectantly.

He hinted, "Empress, is there any message you wish to convey to the Holy Emperor? This old servant will relay it for you and guarantees not a single word will be missed."

Ji Qingwu said, "About paying respects at Cining Palace..."

Ever since the palace coup, everyone in Cining Palace had been under house arrest. The Empress Dowager was an empress dowager in name only.

But the Empress was, after all, a member of the Ji Family. Li Yuzong said, "It is all up to the Empress’s mood. If you wish to go, this old servant will return and report to the Holy Emperor, and he will accompany you. If you do not wish to go, that is also fine."

Ji Qingwu said, "Then I won’t go."

Heaven and earth may be vast, but her own well-being was vaster. She needed to rest.

Li Yuzong left Chening Hall with a long sigh.

Ji Qingwu took a nap in the afternoon and slept until the sky had grown dark. As she was shaking off her grogginess, she summoned the system.

She yawned and said, "Peanuts, what was last night’s rating?"

[Host, it was B-level.]

It took Ji Qingwu a moment to process. She confirmed, "D-level or B-level?"

[The ’B’ as in ’Bed’! B-level!]

Ji Qingwu was suddenly wide awake. She asked, "That... what’s-it-called... Heartbeat Value, what is it now?"

[Replying to Host, 100%.]

Ji Qingwu let out a cold laugh.

She’d thought Emperor Wu Su was furious. Turns out, Your Majesty the Emperor had a wonderful, pleasurable time last night. She was the only one who had been miserably tormented.