Chapter 263 - Foundations

The next day, a rejuvenated An Hao arrived at Zou representatives' manor to retrieve his human package, Prince Rui.

After lamenting and spending time with Xiao Ting the day before , An Hao was now feeling much better about this assignment. So he patiently waited for the Zou siblings to finish their farewell, while he glared back at Molin, who had been glaring at him since he arrived.

It was clear that Molin was still sore about their past encounters. An Hao was honestly a bit disappointed that Molin was not coming along, after all, he was so easy to rile up which meant that he was great fun to tease. 

"Nalan, you have to be careful with your actions, be mindful and wary of everyone around...and Molin, you be sure to watch her and caution her." Prince Rui ordered as Princess Nalan rolled her eyes and Molin resolutely nodded, bowed his head and said, "You can count on me!"

An Hao snorted when he heard this and the three people instantly turned their gazes at him and An Hao promptly coughed and looked away while stifling his laugh.

{...Talking as if you have a great track record...You'll probably lose her on the first day hahaha...}

Prince Rui turned back to Princess Nalan and resumed, "Nalan, be sure to -"

"I know, I know it all. I'll be fine, it's not my first time on my own~ You be careful too. Say hello to everyone...And I'll see you when I get back." Princess Nalan interjected, smiling at her brother as she grabbed his arm and walked him out the door, ushering him along. After some fretting and advising, Prince Rui finally departed with An Hao and the prisoner - the evidence of Bao Zhun and the Chun siblings' actions in tow.

Princess Nalan let out a sigh of relief and then went back in with Molin following.

"Okay, Nalan. Now that's it's just us, don't think you can misbehave...For your own safety, you have t-"

"I have to go pack up!" Princess Nalan swiftly interrupted and then raced off to her room before Molin could start a lecture. As she entered her room, a maid came in after her and said, "Princess, I another letter has come for you." 

Princess Nalan took the letter with a smile and then said, "You are dismissed." The maid bowed and Princess Nalan promptly opened the letter and then chuckled as she read the contents. 

Princess Nalan had never thought of herself as someone who would enjoy poetry, but these ones composed by Prince Yi were...different. His spoke of bravery, alliance, and romance somehow mixed into it. She did not fully understand them but she enjoyed them.

This whole thing had all begun from the day of his injury.

He had forgotten his sword here, so Princess Nalan had wanted to send it over and apologize again as well inquire about his injury, but Prince Rui refused and insisted that she send a servant. So Princess Nalan chose not to argue and sent a little note along with the servant apologizing for the wound again and a general 'I hope you are okay' message. 

To her surprise, he responded with a message of his own and asked after her welfare and added a little poem that he said came to his mind as he thought of their short battle that day.

She was flattered and so she responded and somehow they had started exchanging letters since then. She got at least one letter from every day, each containing a little poem,

Princess Nalan naturally kept this hidden from her brother and Molin. She smiled and sat at her desk and prepared the ink, thinking of what sort of response to write. She also tried to match his words with haphazard poetic attempts of her own. 

Prince Yi was clearly more well-read than her and had a finesse with words that she truly did not have. But still, he appreciated and praised her awkward work and even sometimes gave her pointers to elevate her work.

No one had ever praised her literary skills before. Frankly, she was a hopeless cause and she knew it. But she was finding this letter exchange process to be somewhat gratifying.

It was different but still, a bit exciting. 

***

"Okay, so here's a pass...you have to be back before sunset and you have to take guards with you...The Emperor's orders, not mine." Lei Xing added before Princess Nalan could begin to argue.

"Fine. Guards are fine..." Princess Nalan said with a happy smile taking the pass.

Lei Xing let out a breath, "Sorry about Molin. Men aren't allowed to live in the inner palace so even if he came here, he would have to stay in the Imperial guards quarters an-"

"No, no. Staying back at the manor is more convenient for him and I can go see him whenever I want too. It's perfectly fine..." This was honestly a much, much better outcome for her. Molin was shaping to be a mini Prince Rui and now he was out of the way. 

Molin, of course, was disgruntled and tried to protest but what could he do when it was a cultural difference that they had all overlooked? So he begrudgingly dropped Princess Nalan off and left. Princess Nalan could handle palace guards. At the very least, they did not have a license to lecture her. 

"Okay, then...If there's anything you need, you can just ask the servants. I'm very busy these days so if you need me for anything or want to see me, just send a servant to come to find me..." Lei Xing said with a smile.

While it was true that Lei Xing was busy, this was mainly out of consideration for her Emperor. Lei Xing had said she would keep Princess Nalan out of sights. Therefore it was best for her not to go over to lei Xing's palace at all or at least not without Lei Xing's approval first.

If they needed to meet, Lei Xing would come over to see her or arrange for a meeting at Li Ru's palace. It was only for a few weeks so they could manage well enough.

With her courtesy welcome visit over, Lei Xing left Princess Nalan to do as she wanted and went about her own business.

Apart from her food oven and funds redirection projects, Lei Xing had actually been working on a birthday present for the Emperor.

While Lei Xing enjoyed seeing the work in the departments, she was not that interested to the point of touring every day. Most of the excitement wore off after the first day, but she did go over to the treasures department a few more times because she wanted to see the full inventory and the head of the department was very engaging.

But the birthday present was actually the real reason she was away from her comfortable palace most of the time. It was a joint effort of quite a few of the departments and she herself needed to do quite a bit of work.

She had a vision of what she wanted and was very, very particular the details and so needed to oversee things to ensure it was being exactly right. 

After all, this was very important. The Emperor had already given her so much and kept giving her things, so she really could not come up short on her delivery. She was not so conceited to the point of thinking that simply becoming his Empress was enough of a gift. 

It took her quite a while to come up with the perfect present. After all, what can you possibly give someone who already seemingly has everything?

The thought of giving up the birth control did cross her mind. After all, this was something only she could give and she knew it would make him extremely happy...And she could admit that she already liked him enough to possibly have a child with him.

But she was not yet truly comfortable with the idea of it. While she knew it was probably the thing that would make him the happiest at the moment, a few weeks of wedded bliss was really not enough to make such a life-altering decision.

At the very least, she was coming to terms with the fact that if their relationship continued on as it was now, she would one day give him a child.

But for the meantime, childbearing aside, after thinking on it for a long time, she remembered something he wanted and had decided to gift it to him with a few special effects to make it all the more special for his - Well, their special day. 

Lei Xing had not forgotten that it was also their wedding day, the day she was to become an Empress as unbelievable as she still found it sometimes.

It was also quite the challenge to keep all of this quiet so the surprise was not ruined for the Emperor. So Lei Xing only told Ming Shu, Ah Jin, and Xiao Ruo what she was trying to accomplish with all this.

To the busy departments, they all probably thought she was being bothersome to be giving them more duties at a time like this. But Lei Xing gave them quite a sizable raise from the pool of harem funds. So whatever ill feelings they might have had were thrown out the doors with that and everyone was eager to please the generous mistress.

It took Lei Xing a while to notice but Doctor Lou has been oddly silent. He had not said anything to her in the last week. Actually, since she discovered he was the Voice in the bracelet, he rarely spoke up now. 

Lei Xing reasoned that since the mystery of it all was now out, he got bored of the whole thing. That or he found something more interesting than commenting on her personal life to entertain his "bored" self.