The Empress’ Livestream

“How did you become like this after the morning conference, hubby?” Feng Jin’s Mom left the living room promptly to welcome her husband as soon as she received the message that Feng Ren was back from the morning conference early.

With just one glance, she knew that her husband must have taken some of the blame in the morning conference and she felt heartbroken.

If he wasn’t blamed for something, how else would he have some tea stains left on his forehead after he came back from the morning conference? He was always neat and well-dressed.

“Meng County, Cang Prefecture started having civil turmoil a couple months ago, but we just received a letter to report the situation today. It would be weird for the government to not be furious and to keep calm,” Feng Ren said indifferently and took the handkerchief from his wife to wipe his face. He sighed. “The civil turmoil is rather severe and we can hardly suppress it at the moment. The impact of the civil turmoil has spread to the Counties near Cang Prefecture. The citizens have lost their houses and the bandits’ activities are rampant. The three minorities in the North Border are asking for some outrageous things. The emperor was simply trying to let out his anger.”

Mrs Feng’s face turned solemn and she sulked. “You are the head of the secretariats. It was really not necessary to make it that ugly. How are you going to shock and awe your people? What’s more, the turmoil in Meng County, Cang Prefecture was never a secret. Every person who doesn’t have vision or hearing issues has a basic idea about it, but the authorities just received knowledge of it. Now he is blaming you for his own faults?”

Feng Ren sneered. He wasn’t fond of this emperor’s behavior. He knew his wife had a temper and her being so protective of him made him feel loved. He couldn’t help but hold his wife’s tender and well-maintained hands.

“I’m fine. My sweet wife should not get irate either. My heart will be broken by seeing you harm your health from getting upset.”

Mrs. Feng gave Feng Ren a dirty look and whined while she pulled her hands out of his. “Your kids are already old enough to form their own family, but you are still immature.”

“How many years have we been together, but you still shine like the first time? It makes me seem like a person who is not appropriate.”

Feng Ren smile at her gently. He held his wife’s hands and they walked back to the living room together.

Mrs. Feng asked the servants to get the hot bath ready for Feng Ren so he could have a nice bath. He changed into his clean pajamas.

“Even though I said that the emperor wasn’t happy because of the delayed message…”

Feng Ren sat at the desk while his wife was busy embroidering a black plum blossom painting. “But what the emperor did still hurt most of his staff’s feelings. He indulges himself day and night in his palace, appreciating the singing and dancing performances, but he shows no interest in work…”

As an emperor, who didn’t want to wield power when they were awake but lay in the arms of a beautiful woman when they were asleep?

The emperor of Dongqing Dynasty definitely stuck with the latter one. There were thousands of concubines in Zhengyang Palace and the emperor enacted a rule in his palace that not even one female was allowed to wear underwear to make it convenient for him to have fun anytime. Feng Ren kept his eyes focused on anything but the women every time when he was in the palace. He was too afraid to see something that would traumatize him.

It would be much too outrageous if the emperor kept it that way. What’s more, the emperor liked to “visit” his staffs’ families. It was uncountable how many of his staff member’s wives he had played around with.

His behavior was almost equivalently absurd to his biological brother, the last emperor, Qingyang Emperor.

The times he attended the morning conference could be counted on two hands in one year.

He was addicted to his indulgence in beautiful women.

Feng Ren sometimes doubted f the emperor’s end would happen while he was on a girl having fun, considering how uncontrollable he was.

Everyone knew about the fact that the aristocrats were in charge, but there was an obvious connection with the emperor disregarding politics and instead indulging in pleasure.

The more powerful the aristocrats were, the more restrained the emperor was and the less of a feeling of sovereignty the emperor had. But since he was being restrained more by the aristocrats, he somehow had the tendency to give himself up to sexual pleasures more. He also paid less and less attention to his job––it was like he was no longer capable of doing it, which gave the aristocrats more power… Therefore it became a vicious circle.

He was ambitious, but resented political affairs. He wanted to take back his power from the aristocrats, but he didn’t have the ability.

What was he dreaming about? Dreaming about having an easy life as an emperor?

The emperor in Dongqing Dynasty had nothing superior to his older brother except his breeding ability, which he could do with several women at the same time and he had more sons.

Feng Ren was at ease even when he was summoned to the emperor’s office and got his face smashed by a cup of tea. He was still talking to his wife peacefully.

“Who cares about him!” Mrs. Feng responded aloofly. “It wasn’t the first time he acted crazy… Look at yourself, you have a cut on your forehead… Let me use some medicine on you and you’d better watch your diet just in case you scar afterwards.”

Except for the first emperor who had made some contributions and had ambition, the rest were all good-for-nothing.

She didn’t care if her husband was in a high position as the head of secretariats or not if he was essential to be there.

Everyone said that the emperors were replaceable, but not the aristocrats. No matter what happened, the Feng’s would be the Feng’s all along and they wouldn’t be affected by the change of emperors.

Her husband wrote a couple of reports ahead of time to remind the emperor of the critical turmoil in Meng County, Cang Prefecture. However, the emperor was too busy to dote on his new girl. He didn’t want to see Feng Ren’s face at all if it wasn’t vital. The reports from two years ago were covered with dust, not to mention the latest ones.

But now he was furious? What was the point of being furious now?

“I’m worried about our son. He is with the Fourth Emperor’s son. Will they encounter some of the refugees along their way…?”

“Our children have good fortune, isn’t that what you always say? How come you are acting so anxious only a few months after our son left?” Mrs. Feng put her embroidery case aside and picked up a sealed letter from the table.

“We don’t care enough about our son…” Feng Ren took the letter and saw it was from Liu She.

Feng Ren sensed Feng Jin’s issues in recent years. It turned out to be too late to rectify his problems, considering that his personality had already formed. They didn’t try to rectify it, either, just in case it was counterproductive. It was their fault for neglecting their middle child.

“The Second Langjun is at the right age to have his own family. Why should you worry too much about him… What did Liu County Chief say in the letter?”

Feng Ren rapidly skimmed the letter. He lowered his head and smiled at his wife. “You were just laughing at me for not being appropriate. Let me show you who is not appropriate. Look at this Liu County Chief who abandoned his job as a County Chief to be a matchmaker…”

Mrs. Feng didn’t shy away from the news. Instead, she picked up the letter and read it thoroughly. She had to admit that it was tempting.

“I have never heard about this first daughter of the Wei’s though…” Since Feng Jin’s older brother was already engaged, it was Feng Jin’s turn to consider the matter. Mrs. Feng had been looking into the eligible girls who might be qualified for him over the last six months and she was still deciding. “It is just that we are still uncertain about this girl’s temperament and personality…”

“We can do a little investigating. She wouldn’t be too shabby if she is the one Liu She recommends.” Feng Ren continued, “The Wei’s in County is decent enough to be matched with Feng Jin. If this girl has a good temper and personality and Feng Jin doesn’t have a big issue with her, she should be our top choice on the list though.”

The Feng’s were a noble aristocratic family with great fame. Feng Jin’s older brother was the first successor of the family, which meant his wife would be the woman in charge of the family affairs in the future. Naturally, they had to carefully select the perfect candidate. She had to have all the elements needed, including a high class birth, a noble and wealthy family background, wisdom, and a superior appearance. It would be a different story when they selected Feng Jin’s wife, considering his identity as the second son of the family.

It had nothing to do with them being mean or biased towards Feng Jin. It was for the sake of the peace of the family that the two sister-in-laws should both work on domestic tranquility, instead of causing disputes over who should be in charge.

Therefore, Feng Jin’s wife didn’t have to have a high status. In that case, her temperament, wisdom, and morality mattered more.

If it happened to be a sassy, tough, and ambitious girl who had the intentions to contest for possession of the family, that would cause a big problem for all of them.

The root of the family needed to be steady and prosperous and it always depended on the family members’ harmonious relationships and beloved brotherhood.