You're So Good to Me

After their three bouts of lovemaking the night before, Hua Meng still felt unable to open her eyes the next morning, even though it was already her usual time to get up.

She rose in a daze and washed with Qiu Die and Ling Cui attending her, then changed into the clothes Emperor Jing'an had specially ordered Xiao Jiangzi to bring her for the trip outside the palace. Afterward, she sat down and waited for Ling Cui to do her hair and makeup.

By the time Hua Meng was ready, a full hour had passed.

Even that was only because Ling Cui had seen Emperor Jing'an waiting there and quickened her pace.

Looking at Hua Meng before him, her long hair swept up into a married woman's hairstyle, Emperor Jing'an suddenly found it a little amusing.

Standing together like this, the two of them might not look as exaggerated as "father and daughter," but anyone with half a brain could see they were not "husband and wife."

"Does Your Majesty think I look too beautiful dressed like this?" Hua Meng stepped forward with a smile, took Emperor Jing'an's arm of her own accord, and clasped it against her chest as she gave it a little swing. "I really like the clothes and jewelry Your Majesty gave me. Thank you, Your Majesty." With that, Hua Meng actually mustered the courage to stand on tiptoe and kiss Emperor Jing'an directly on the cheek.

Emperor Jing'an had never experienced anything like it. He froze for a moment, then promptly cast the thought of "master and beloved concubine" from his mind.

He had never had an empress, so naturally he had no "wife." As for the young girl before him, as long as she could bear a child, she would certainly become his "wife."

With that thought, Emperor Jing'an looked at Hua Meng with a little more fondness, though he did not even notice it himself.

Sitting in the carriage, Hua Meng blinked her almond-shaped eyes and peered out curiously through the gaps that appeared whenever the curtain swayed.

Once they left the palace and entered a street where people had stopped to linger, the smile never left Hua Meng's face.

Hua Meng watched the passersby, and Emperor Jing'an watched her.

He discovered that his young girl loved to smile.

Whenever she smiled, her large, bright almond-shaped eyes curved into a pair of crescent moons.

And whenever he saw her smile, a hint of a smile would unconsciously steal onto his own face.

The Hua Family lived in South City, and getting there from the imperial palace meant crossing most of the imperial city.

Hua Meng had thought that Emperor Jing'an was anxious to see the physician and would therefore be in a great hurry. To her surprise, just after the carriage entered South City, he raised a hand and knocked on its wall.

At Emperor Jing'an's signal, the carriage slowly came to a stop.

"Your..." Hua Meng had only uttered the first word when she realized she should not address Emperor Jing'an that way now.

"Master, is something the matter?"

As soon as she said this, Hua Meng was about to lift the curtain for a look when Emperor Jing'an spoke beside her. "Didn't you say a few days ago, while we were eating, that the meat pies at the entrance to the South City street were good?"

As Emperor Jing'an finished speaking, Wei Fugui's voice came from outside the carriage.

"Master, I got them." With that, a package of meat pies, still warm, was passed inside.

Hearing Wei Fugui's voice and seeing the meat pies brought in, Hua Meng reached out to touch the oilpaper. Only then did she say, her face full of curiosity and delight, "I heard my brothers say you have to line up to buy these."

So why had Wei Fugui been able to buy them as soon as they arrived?

Emperor Jing'an loved seeing the delighted look on Hua Meng's face. It made him feel as though he were capable of anything.

Suppressing the smile on his lips, Emperor Jing'an looked at Hua Meng and said, "I sent Xiao Jiangzi ahead to stand in line."

The moment Emperor Jing'an finished speaking, Hua Meng's eyes lit up. She dropped the meat pies and threw herself into his arms, rubbing against him. "Master, you're so good to me."

Hearing the delight in Hua Meng's voice, Emperor Jing'an replied cheerfully, "It's only a bit of food."

Although Emperor Jing'an said that, Hua Meng understood that if not for what she had said before, he certainly would not have thought to send Xiao Jiangzi ahead to buy them.

A quarter of an hour later, the carriage stopped in front of the Hua Family residence.