Reborn to Be Emperor
Liu Chang'an saw Qin Yanan off as she left the residential area. A few cars passed by sporadically, creating ripples in the quiet night. The two of them walked slowly, as if caressing those ripples and gently smoothing them out.
Although she didn't want to pay attention to Liu Chang'an, on such a cold street, the two of them walked in rhythm with their heartbeats, so it was only natural that her gaze was drawn to him. As for the tenderness that overflowed in her eyes because of this, that was her own fault and had nothing to do with whether she wanted to pay attention to him or not.
"Shangguan Dandan ate the most tonight, followed by Zhou Shuling and Zhou Dongdong. You ate quite a bit too, which is commendable." Liu Chang'an summarized the camel-eating incident, his brows furrowing slightly. "Zhu Juntang was a bit annoying. She only ate a little rabbit meat, and then kept taking pictures of Zhou Dongdong eating, as well as other people's exaggerated expressions while eating. I suspect she had already taken many selfies with the camel before eating it."
"You're really strange. She's a fairy, of course her appetite is small, and you still find that annoying." Qin Yanan was a little happy to receive praise, but she was ranked after the three people... no, thinking about it carefully, she should be ranked after Zhou Shuling and Zhou Dongdong. Liu Chang'an didn't mean to praise Shangguan Dandan, but his tone was quite pleased that Zhou Shuling and Zhou Dongdong could eat so much.
It's one thing to be ranked after Zhou Dongdong, since he's just a kid, but Zhou Shuling... Qin Yanan was a little unhappy again, but she wouldn't show it. She absolutely couldn't be jealous, lest she stir things up and create some kind of ambiguity between him and Zhou Shuling, which would be a loss.
It's not that Zhou Shuling has any problems, it's just that... there are many things that Qin Yanan would normally be responsible for, but Zhou Shuling has been overstepping her bounds. For example, today she overheard Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong discussing who should sit under the electric heater while watching TV tonight, and also learned that the electric heater was bought by Zhou Shuling for Liu Chang'an.
The fact that she bought such a common household item as an electric heating table really annoyed Qin Yanan... Qin Yanan had never used an electric heating table before, otherwise she would have bought one when she bought appliances last time. She usually has underfloor heating, central heating, or central air conditioning, and has never used this kind of thing before.
"Zhu Juntang still doesn't know that Su Nanxiu is the Third Mistress..." Liu Chang'an smiled. "How could she not think of that? She seems a bit stupid. Logically speaking, she should be quite good at thinking outside the box when it comes to things that require wild imagination."
"Because she was terrified of the Third Mistress, she sensed something was wrong, but she didn't dare think about anything inappropriate." Qin Yanan actually wanted to tell Zhu Juntang, but this matter wasn't simple; it might involve some internal issues within the Zhu Family, and Qin Yanan couldn't overstep her bounds... It wasn't appropriate for her to offend Su Nanxiu right now, since she needed Su Nanxiu's help with her regular prenatal checkups. Going to the hospital might require keeping quiet or finding a very reliable doctor, which would be troublesome.
"But she treated us to camel today... Next time she provokes me, I'll let her off this time." Liu Chang'an couldn't say he'd let her off every time; that was impossible. Zhu Juntang wouldn't just provoke him once more... As long as she lived, she'd keep courting death.
"Xiao Tang is actually quite cute, don't you think... she's cuter than many girls?" Qin Yanan didn't want to name names, but whether from the perspective of a best friend or from an objective point of view, Qin Yanan felt that there was nothing wrong with what she said.
"Please don't try to disguise your mental lapse as cuteness." Liu Chang'an shook his head. "I'll drop you off here... The person walking Zhu Juntang's cat over there doesn't seem to be Zhong Qing. Do cats need to be walked all the time? They're not dogs."
"It's another assistant." Qin Yanan recognized him. "Goodnight."
"Good night." Liu Chang'an nodded, watched Qin Yanan walk over and say a few words to the person walking the cat, and then they went upstairs together to find Zhu Juntang.
When Liu Chang'an returned home, he saw Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong huddled together under the electric heater, watching TV.
Back in the day, this man was able to depose and install emperors, but now he's fighting with a foolish child for a spot under the radiant table.
This is simply the best proof of how unpredictable life can be.
"Is there something wrong with your eyes? Are you trying to harm me again?" Shangguan Dandan asked Liu Chang'an suspiciously, while touching Zhou Dongdong's soft belly.
"No, Your Majesty." Liu Chang'an cupped his hands in greeting, sat down on the sofa behind the electric heater, and started watching TV.
Shangguan Dandan and Zhou Dongdong were watching the military and agriculture channel, which was talking about the application of aircraft in modern agriculture. In addition to the common planes for sowing, pest control and watering, there were also drones for monitoring the growth of crops.
Liu Chang'an could understand Zhou Dongdong would watch the show, because she would find it interesting since there were airplanes flying around.
But Shangguan Dandan doesn't watch family dramas like "The First Wife Fights the Mistress," "The Whole Family Exploits Their Daughter," or "The Daughter Is the Only One with Self-Respect, Independence, and Strength," or "She Is Bullied Yet Still Deeply in Love with Her Family."
"If we live long enough, we might even be able to unify the world in the future," Shangguan Dandan said in a dignified tone.
You're overthinking it.
"Why? Even if we can't unify the world, how about we build our own country and have some fun?" Shangguan Dandan already possessed a certain level of common sense about modern political institutions. Currently, there are still some small countries with kings or something like that. In that case, what's wrong with her wanting to find a country to rebuild the Liu Dynasty?
Coincidentally, he also has the surname Liu, which suggests that this is a kind of divine will. He has regained his senses, and now that he has the surname Liu, it is time to continue the Liu dynasty.
"Years ago, I lived in a village. The village chief, enraged that his wife had been slept with by the town's movie projectionist, established a kingdom in the village, formed a harem, made his sister-in-law empress, his eldest son, Big Dog, the crown prince, and his second son, Little Dog, the second crown prince... I treated his sister-in-law's illness, and he wanted to appoint me as the imperial physician. When I refused, he thought I was looking down on a low rank, so he appointed me as the imperial advisor, and later even made me the ninth-generation imperial physician," Liu Chang'an recalled.
"This is utterly absurd," Shangguan Dandan Dowager of a super empire.
"Yes, the title of 'Ninth Generation ****' is quite puzzling."
"I mean, why don't you take the opportunity to replace him?"
"You're the one who doesn't know anything." Liu Chang'an looked at the bulging thermal blanket in front of him, wondering what Shangguan Dandan was doing under the electric heater. "After he became emperor, instead of being diligent in governing and caring for the people, he used the guise of selecting concubines to have the village women take turns serving him in bed. However, he didn't abuse the young women because he was afraid the villagers would rebel. Later, when I went to town on business, I went to the police station to report him, and two policemen came and suppressed him."
Shangguan Dandan crawled out from under the electric heater, glanced back at Liu Chang'an with a thoughtful expression, then crawled back in to claim her spot. Zhou Dongdong, seeing Shangguan Dandan get up, was itching to claim the most comfortable place all to herself.