A middle-aged emperor, childless, was blessed with a beautiful and pregnant concubine who entered th

Emperor Qianwu chuckled again, "Whatever my beloved concubine wants to wear, she must wear it for me to see."

Zhou Mingyi was enraged and embarrassed.

"His Majesty!"

She lunged at the man, but the beauty's anger was not only intimidating, but also weak and feeble.

Emperor Qianwu's gaze turned dangerous once again.

"Want more?"

Zhou Mingyi gently punched his chest. "Your Majesty, you're so mean!"

"A concubine is clearly a proper garment!"

She pouted in protest.

"The nun's robe from last time was the same. If you don't believe me, you can take a closer look. It's the robe of the nuns in the Empress Dowager's Buddhist temple. I just felt it didn't fit well, so I slightly altered the waist."

Zhou Mingyi would never tell the truth to Emperor Qianwu.

She deliberately altered that outfit, and the alterations were quite revealing.

The dignified Buddha and the alluring demoness already form a striking contrast, so there's no need for them to dress too conservatively.

However, this time the fisherwoman outfit was not modified much.

It's the Fisherwoman's outfit.

It's normal for a fisherwoman's clothes to get caught on a pole or get snagged while she's working in the lotus pond, or for them to become slightly loose from her work, right?

She simply pinched her waist even thinner.

At this moment, not showing skin is much more alluring than showing skin.

The most deadly seduction is the invisible kind, a lesson Zhou Mingyi learned in her previous life.

In her past life, Xie Jing liked her to wear conservative clothes.

Especially those that cover the body completely, without revealing a single bit.

On one occasion, Zhou Mingyi unexpectedly discovered that the more she resisted, the more excited Xie Jing became.

She applied this approach entirely to Emperor Qianwu.

A conclusion can be drawn.

Men, they really do fall for this.

Emperor Qianwu laughed indulgently.

He looked at the beautiful woman's shy, bowed head and found her adorable.

This is life!

Who wouldn't love a fun and adorable beauty?

And she always has some unexpected new tricks up her sleeve that Emperor Qianwu finds irresistible.

"Yes, yes, yes! My beloved concubine has never seduced me."

"It is I who cannot resist my beloved concubine."

"His Majesty!"

Zhou Mingyi pretended to be angry and embarrassed, drawing out her voice so it sounded like she was being coquettish.

Emperor Qianwu let out a satisfied laugh.

Zhou Mingyi leaned against Emperor Qianwu's chest, listening to his strong and powerful heartbeat, and the corners of her lips couldn't help but curl up slightly.

Who said no?

……

Since that day at the Lotus Pond, Emperor Qianwu spent half a month staying at Weiyang Palace.

Even Princess Chaoyang's desperate attempts to persuade him were to no avail.

Although it might succeed a couple of times occasionally.

Princess Chaoyang finally realized that her father's indulgence of her could not supersede his own feelings.

The more she clung to him, preventing him from going to Consort Zhen, the more Emperor Jiang pushed that vile woman towards him.

That vile woman, I don't know what kind of bewitching potion she gave Father Emperor, that he is so infatuated with her.

This made Princess Chaoyang feel somewhat frustrated.

She decided to change her strategy.

Perhaps it was because she lived in the palace every day.

As the saying goes, "familiarity breeds contempt," perhaps she should also keep a proper distance from her father.

Besides, now that Father Emperor has suddenly become interested in the youthful beauty of that vile Consort Zhen, how can she remain young and beautiful forever?

There may be few other things in this world, but young and beautiful women are the one thing that is most abundant.

As long as she is her father's only child, no one can truly take her father away.

Having figured this out, Princess Chaoyang was also annoyed.

He wanted to leave the palace.

No matter how good the palace is, how can it compare to the freedom and ease of her Princess Chaoyang's residence?

After making her decision, Princess Chaoyang went to Consort Chen's palace alone.

She changed out of her gorgeous palace dress and wore only a simple lotus-colored long coat with a cross-collar pattern of plum blossoms and branches, covered with a moon-white velvet cloak, and her hair was loosely tied into a bun.

Apart from a jade hairpin to secure her hair bun, she wore no other ornaments.

Consort Chen was fiddling with a string of jade prayer beads with a restless expression when she saw her daughter enter in such a state. She was taken aback at first, then waved her hand to dismiss the palace servants standing around her.

"My son, it's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"But I feel unwell again?"

Consort Chen rose, instinctively reaching for her daughter's hand, her voice filled with deep, unwavering worry, "If you are unwell, your mother will go and fetch His Majesty..."

"Mother," Princess Chaoyang said.

She walked to the embroidered stool next to the chaise lounge and sat down. She looked up at her mother, whose bright eyes, which usually held a hint of spoiled arrogance or grievance, were now as deep as a cold pool.

"My daughter is alright."

The morning sun is usually unrestrained and flamboyant, rarely so serene.

Consort Chen was taken aback again.

"I have come because there is an important matter that I need to discuss with my mother."

Consort Chen was taken aback by her unusual expression, sat back down, and clenched her prayer beads tightly: "What is it? Is it that Consort Zhen again...?"

"It has nothing to do with her."

Princess Chaoyang shook her head. "Mother, I have decided that I will submit a memorial to Father Emperor in three days and move back to the Princess's residence."

"What?!"

Consort Chen suddenly stood up, and her jade rosary fell onto the brocade carpet with a "clatter".

She could hardly believe her ears, and the color drained from her face instantly.

"What nonsense are you spouting! Why would you want to leave the palace for no reason?"

"Has someone spoken ill of you to your father?"

"Or have you suffered some injustice?"

"Tell your mother, she will definitely not let you get away with this!"

She rushed forward and grabbed her daughter's shoulder.

Princess Chaoyang did not dodge, but simply raised her hand and gently pressed down on her mother's hand, which was trembling slightly with excitement.

Her fingertips were slightly cool, yet they carried a strange, calming power.

"Mother, please sit down and let me finish."

She helped Consort Chen back to the couch, and then knelt down on the prayer mat at her mother's feet.

"Mother, we were wrong," she said softly.

"We thought that as long as I stayed by my father's side day and night, acting coquettishly and clinging to him, taking up all his free time, and causing Consort Zhen's household to be deserted, then we would have won, that would be our revenge."

The princess spoke slowly, each word seemingly uttered after careful consideration: "This method was effective at first."

"My father pities me, and he feels guilty towards me because of the moon worship incident. In addition, my grandmother also likes my company, so he will naturally be more accommodating to me."

"Then why...?"

Consort Chen was puzzled.

During the time Princess Chaoyang stayed in the palace, His Majesty did indeed spend more time at Chang Le Palace.

Although I haven't been coming around as often lately, but...

Consort Chen always thought that Chaoyang was His Majesty's only son, and His Majesty would never disregard her.

"Hasn't Mother noticed that Father has been reluctant to come lately?"

Consort Chen instinctively tried to explain for Emperor Qianwu, "Didn't His Majesty say so?"

"He's very busy with official duties... Besides, you're not really..."

Princess Chaoyang's gaze held a hint of mockery. "Mother, do you believe Father's excuses?"

"My father is busy with state affairs, but he still has time to favor Consort Zhen. The historical records are not false."

Consort Chen was speechless.

Princess Chaoyang continued, "Father is the Son of Heaven, but more importantly, he is a man."

Men don't have much patience.

"The limit is not in how much pampering is given, but in the sense of proportion."

She turned her gaze back, her eyes sharp as knives.

"These days, I've had headaches, nightmares, and restlessness, and I need my father's comforting words to fall asleep... Once or twice is out of pity, three or four times is out of indulgence, but what about five or six times? Seven or eight times?"

She gave a wry smile. "Mother, haven't you noticed? Lately, Father has been patting my back to lull me to sleep for shorter and shorter periods of time."

"When he's reading memorials, if I spend a little longer studying them beside him, he won't say anything, but his brow will furrow almost imperceptibly?"

"Yesterday when I went to the warm pavilion, he even had Eunuch Fuquan directly convey a message that he was discussing important border matters with the cabinet ministers and asked me to come later."

Consort Chen's face grew paler with each word her daughter spoke.

She wasn't entirely unaware of these subtle changes, but she simply didn't want to think about them deeply, always comforting herself with the excuse that "His Majesty is busy with state affairs."

"This isn't because we're busy with state affairs."

Princess Chaoyang spoke slowly and deliberately, piercing through the thin veil of self-comfort.

"My father is starting to find me annoying."

"My father began to feel that I, his daughter, had become a burden to him."

"My filial piety and dependence have become immature."

"Mother, this is what Consort Zhen would have wanted to see."

"She doesn't have to do anything. She just needs to behave herself and occasionally show just the right amount of loneliness and resilience, so that when Father is annoyed with me, he will remember her good qualities and her grievances."

"Father will think she's sensible!"

Consort Chen gasped, cold sweat beading on her back.

"Therefore, Mother, we must stop immediately."

A complex light ignited in Princess Chaoyang's eyes.

"I can no longer take advantage of my father's affection for me."

"If we stop now, Father will only remember his little daughter who was wronged during the moon-worshiping ceremony and acted willfully and clingily."

"If I wait until he actually tells me to go home and recuperate, it will be too late to undo the damage!"

Consort Chen couldn't help but retort.

"No, no, you're his only daughter, you..."

Princess Chaoyang held her mother's cold hand tightly: "Your daughter's request to return to the princess's residence is a 'strategic retreat'."

"I want to tell Father Emperor, and everyone else, that Chaoyang has grown up and become sensible. He knows that Father Emperor is busy with many affairs of state and should no longer bother him like a child."

"Knowing that as a princess, one should also have one's own residence and one's own life, and set an example for the royal family."

"This is not admitting defeat, it is a strategic retreat, in order to more firmly stand in Father's heart."

Consort Chen's lips trembled. Rationally, she was beginning to understand the meaning behind her daughter's words, but emotionally, the immense panic and reluctance almost overwhelmed her.

Her daughter was her greatest support, the umbilical cord connecting her to the emperor.

Once people leave the palace, won't Chang Le Palace become even more deserted?

Doesn't this mean His Majesty has one less excuse to come here?

"But...but if His Majesty visits Consort Zhen more often after you leave..." Consort Chen's voice was choked with sobs.

"Perhaps in the short term." Princess Chaoyang's calmness was almost cruel.

"But Mother, it's better to guide than to suppress."

"What harm is there in letting that bitch be smug for a few days?"

"If I leave, my father might visit her more often."

"But what about in the long run?"

"Without me, your ignorant daughter, as a contrast, would Consort Zhen's understanding still be so endearing? How long can Father's guilt last?"

She paused, then lowered her voice.

"More importantly, Mother, even though I have left the palace, I am still Father Emperor's most beloved Princess Chaoyang."

"I can frequently send invitations to the palace to visit my grandmother and pay my respects to you, and naturally I can also frequently meet with my father."

"Those meetings will be the joy of a long-awaited reunion, the longing of a sensible daughter for her father—each one fresh, each one precious."

"Instead of being there every day, he takes it for granted and even gets tired of it."