Chapter 127: Chapter 127
To avoid hearing such words, he deliberately reduced the chances of meeting Jun Ning.
However, he knew clearly what Jun Ning did each day, whether she was happy or not, and how many bowls of food she ate at each meal. He never neglected Jun Ning due to the appearance of Yao Yao.
"But, Your Majesty, the princess doesn’t know these things." No matter how much you do or how much you care about the princess in your heart, what’s the use?
Xiao Lizi didn’t dare to say the rest, afraid of being beaten.
"Then what should I do?" Emperor Yongning was puzzled.
"In my humble opinion, however His Majesty treated the princess before, should be how he treats the princess now, without overthinking it."
"But..." Emperor Yongning still had concerns in his heart.
Xiao Lizi continued: "Your Majesty, do you want the princess to grow distant from you because of this?"
"Of course not." Emperor Yongning quickly denied it. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
The thought of Jun Ning growing distant from him was a terrifying prospect for him.
"Then Your Majesty should follow this servant’s advice; treat the princess as you did before. Do not change anything because of Yao Yao’s presence."
After thinking it over, Emperor Yongning decided to heed Xiao Lizi’s advice to prevent the father-daughter relationship with Jun Ning from deteriorating further.
As for the awkward situation he created for Jun Ning, and his fears and guilt, he decided to set them all aside for now.
If Jun Ning insisted on arguing about these matters with him, he would deal with it then.
Since none of the bad things had happened yet, there was no need for him to build a barrier for himself, separating himself from his beloved daughter.
After he figured it out, Emperor Yongning felt much better, and his worries disappeared.
He told Wei Lin to look after Princess Yao Yao when she returned, ensuring nothing happened to her, and then took Xiao Lizi to Weiyang Palace to find Jun Ning.
Upon arrival, he found out that Jun Ning was not there.
Qiong Hua said Jun Ning had gone to the Imperial Garden to catch butterflies.
"This little girl cannot stay idle for even a day."
Emperor Yongning then went to the Imperial Garden.
He saw Jun Ning catching butterflies amid the flowers, holding a net, running back and forth, very busy. He wanted to help, but Jun Ning refused, telling him not to bother her and to go cool off on the side.
Besides being an emperor, he was just an ordinary father.
He wanted to play with his daughter, but she rejected him, telling him to go cool off on the side... He felt quite disappointed. But after a brief moment of disappointment, he returned to normal.
His daughter didn’t want his help catching butterflies because she was sulking with him.
Sulking meant that his daughter cared about him.
After comforting himself this way, Emperor Yongning resolutely went forward to help Jun Ning catch butterflies.
Emperor Yongning was old; going to battle might be a problem, but helping his beloved daughter catch a butterfly was absolutely no issue.
He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
Today, there was an extraordinary sight in the Imperial Garden.
The Eighteenth Princess went to catch butterflies, and surprisingly, the Emperor joined in and even helped the Eighteenth Princess catch butterflies.
It’s said that the Emperor helped catch many, but Jun Ning released them all.
"One-One, don’t you like the butterflies Father caught? Why release them?"
After playing and getting tired, Emperor Yongning, cradling the sweaty Jun Ning, didn’t mind and used his sleeve to wipe her sweat, asking the question on his mind.
Gone from Jun Ning’s face was the trust and dependence she once had toward Emperor Yongning, as she replied methodically, "I released the butterflies I caught myself, not just the ones Father did."
Emperor Yongning watched her methodical expression, feeling a strange discomfort in his heart. But ultimately, he had brought it upon himself, who could he blame?
He asked again, "Since that’s the case, why catch them in the first place?"
"Catching butterflies, catching butterflies, it’s all about the joy, not necessarily to do something with them after catching," Jun Ning said casually.
In his busy life, Emperor Yongning had never encountered such a twisted reasoning before; it was his first time hearing it, and he somewhat couldn’t understand. But since his child liked having him there, understanding wasn’t necessary.
Emperor Yongning spent an entire afternoon with Jun Ning catching butterflies, and when Jun Ning was too tired to continue, she was carried back by Emperor Yongning.
The empress was already annoyed by the punishment of Hong Niang due to her incompetence, and then she heard the news from her spies that Jun Ning had regained Emperor Yongning’s favor.
"What’s wrong with the Emperor?" she said, speechless. "I found him a proper little princess, and he doesn’t like her, but prefers a boy dressed as a girl pretending to be a princess? If so, wouldn’t it be easier if he just liked a son, why bother with a daughter?"
"Isn’t this just self-deception?" the empress muttered.
Nanny Li glanced around, signaling the attending maids to leave.
Once the maids had gone, she said, "Your Majesty, mind your words."
The empress sat down, drank a cup of tea, and slammed down the blue and white porcelain teacup in exasperation, saying, "What’s there to be cautious about? No one can enter Jiaofang Palace from outside, and no one can leave from inside. Who can possibly spread what we say?"
"Better safe than sorry!" Nanny Li fretted.
"Fine, fine, I won’t say more," the empress replied.
The empress stood, shook her sleeves, and went to the desk.
She took out paper, preparing to write to her father.
The matter she discussed with Marquis Zhongyong near the Imperial Garden earlier, she had thought through now, it was time to act.
As the saying goes, ’Fortune favors the bold.’
If she wanted to completely eliminate Jun Ning, to leave Jiaofang Palace and regain control over the Six Palaces, to become the most illustrious woman in the harem besides the Empress Dowager, she had to dare to act on some things.
Risk and opportunity coexist.
There was at least a fifty percent chance of success.
But whether it would succeed depended on her planning.
The empress quickly wrote a letter and sent it out.
The next day, the sky suddenly turned cloudy, strong winds arose, thunder roared, and it began to rain.
The Astronomical Bureau, typically only responsible for observing celestial phenomena and rarely attending court outside of major events, suddenly appeared at court that day.
He brought shocking news.
"Your Majesty, there is a disaster star descending upon the world, and a calamity is imminent!"
This statement caused uproar in the court.
"What disaster star?"
"People depend on food, and autumn harvest is just around the corner, how can a disaster star suddenly descend now?"
"What are we going to do? We mustn’t let this affect the autumn harvest."
The ministers in charge of various matters related to the autumn harvest started lamenting.
As autumn harvest approached each year, they began to worry.
Year after year, it had always been this way.
"Could you ascertain what disaster star it is? Where did it fall? How will it affect the autumn harvest?"
Not only were the ministers in charge of the autumn harvest concerned about these issues, but also Emperor Yongning.
Because if a disaster were to occur, a grain shortage would be terrifying.
The Astronomical Bureau replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, the disaster star descending this time is a comet, and it has fallen within the imperial palace. This person has a huge impact on the autumn harvest. If not resolved, the entire Jiangnan Grain Storehouse might be affected!"
"Who is this person?"
"This person is merely two and a half years old, currently disguised as a girl in the harem, secretly plotting for imperial favor..."