Page 870

Emperor: "..."

After waiting a while longer, the Empress showed no sign of opening the door.

The Emperor pondered and just couldn’t understand what had upset the Empress this time. Could it be that women get more irritable as they age?

Pacing back and forth in front of the door, the Emperor was not content to be shut out by the Empress. He stopped walking and looked towards the tightly closed door.

"Empress, the night is deep and the dew is heavy. Would you allow me inside?"

"..."

When the Emperor waited a while and received no response, he spoke again, "The Empress is becoming less and less considerate of me. It is so cold at night. If I wait outside for much longer, and catch a chill, won’t the Empress feel sorry?"

The Empress, lying in bed, rolled her eyes.

The shameless Emperor is still playing pitiful, thinking she is still in her teens? How shameless!

Suddenly, a cry of alarm from Li Quan came from outside, "Your Majesty, what’s wrong?"

On hearing this, the Empress sat up abruptly, her gaze turning towards the door. But after hesitating for two seconds, she threw off the covers, jumped out of bed, and ran out without even putting on her shoes.

The door opened from the inside, and the Empress hurriedly ran out, "What happened to Your Majesty?"

Seeing the Emperor standing perfectly fine outside the door, the Empress hadn’t yet realized what was going on when she was suddenly lifted in a princess carry. Who else could do this but the shameless Emperor?

The Emperor strode inside, and looking down at her bare feet, he said, "It’s so cold at night, why did you run out without wearing shoes?"

The Empress couldn’t help but roll her eyes again. If it wasn’t for your trickery, would I have run out here?

But she stubbornly kept silent.

"I was afraid something had happened to Your Majesty, and that the Empress Dowager would blame me. Your Majesty is fine, so what was Li Gonggong shouting about?"

That cry from before had scared her so much her legs had gone weak; she had thought that the shameless Emperor had suddenly fallen ill and fainted.

Now, she would have wished he had fainted, so as to avoid irritating her.

The Emperor placed the Empress on the bed and pulled up the cover over her, noting how thinly she was dressed. She could easily catch a chill at night.

"I had dropped something just now, and Li Quan thought it was something valuable, so he cried out in alarm," said the Emperor, sounding a bit guilty, as he looked down at the Empress’s bare feet and took out a handkerchief to wipe the dust from underneath them.

The feet of the Empress were dainty and fair, and even with age, their beauty was unaffected.

The Empress felt a tickle on the soles of her feet and, watching the Emperor’s gentle scrubbing, suspected he was doing it on purpose.

All of a sudden, the Emperor spoke up, "I still remember back when you were fifteen, walking barefoot in the stream. Back then, I thought..."

The Empress, her curiosity piqued, immediately asked, "What did you think then?"

With a smile that was almost a laugh, the Emperor looked at the Empress, "Give me a kiss, and I’ll tell you."

The corners of the Empress’s mouth twitched severely. At her age, he was still playing games they played when they were young—the shameless Emperor indeed.

Yet, the Empress genuinely wanted to know what the Emperor had been thinking back then.

But she couldn’t swallow her pride.

After a moment of silence, the Emperor feigned a sigh, "If the Empress doesn’t want to know, then let’s forget it."

Feeling irritated, the Empress gritted her teeth, propped herself up on the bed, leaned in, and gave a peck on the shameless Emperor’s cheeky face.

Retreating immediately after, she said, "Your Majesty, may I speak now?"

A hidden smile in his eyes, the Emperor didn’t trouble her any further and continued, "I remember thinking back then, Lingling’s feet were so beautiful. I wanted to put shoes on them so no one else could see them, only I could."

After hearing this, the Empress actually blushed.

She had guessed the Emperor might say something unpleasant or possibly something nice, but she never expected him to say it quite like that.

It was embarrassingly sweet.

Once past her shyness, she suddenly realized something and raised her head to question, "So is that the reason you said there was a snake in the water back then?"

When she heard the Emperor claim there was a snake, she had been so frightened that she stumbled and fell into the water. Thankfully, he was there to catch her, and then he carried her to shore.

Thinking about it now, the Emperor really was quite cunning.

The Emperor did not deny it, "A girl shouldn’t take off her shoes in front of boys, especially outdoors. What if someone else saw? How would that be good?"

Not pleased, the Empress retorted, "That’s right, I should have stayed away from you then. You’re good at taking advantage and then acting innocent."

As she said this, she tried to withdraw her foot, but the Emperor held it tightly in his hand, refusing to let go.

She looked at him quizzically, "Your Majesty?"

Still holding her precious foot, the Emperor leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I wasn’t lying to you, Lingling’s feet are truly beautiful. Even with age, it doesn’t detract from their beauty at all."

Hearing the first part of his sentence, the Empress felt somewhat moved; but the second half made her feel as though the Emperor was criticizing her for her age.