Chapter 297 - Lofty Packaging

After receiving An Hao's report on the current situation at the border, the Emperor dragged Lei Xing along with him to the royal study. 

It was a complex problem with a simple solution, Prince Rui was not a prisoner so he could leave whenever he wanted to. Therefore, the Emperor could not give the order to forcefully detain him here as An Hao was asking.

If Prince Rui wanted to walk into a death trap, they technically could not stop him. But they could house him if he had the good sense to avoid the danger. After all, he was still considered a royal guest so the Emperor instructed An Hao to relocate him to Jingli - a city near the border and "recommended" that Prince Rui should wait for Princess Nalan and the other Zou representatives to arrive there and then depart with the group.

Although the Emperor was not yet informed of a fixed date for their departure, they should be leaving within the week, especially if they knew Prince Rui was waiting for them. With their presence there, Prince Houyi would have to be more discreet in his endeavors and would be less likely to blatantly attack Prince Rui en route... Unless Prince Houyi planned to kill all witnesses and with his own sister, Princess Nalan part of the entourage, it was unlikely he would do that given their relationship.

Although the Emperor could also send an envoy to escort Prince Rui, he did not want to risk his own people going into shaky enemy territory like that. He also doubted am escort from Long country would dissuade a Prince who was hungering to cause discord between their nations. 

As for the issue of locating Monk Du, while the Empress dowager was in a hurry, the Emperor himself was in no rush at all. Thanks to this monk search, his mother had been behaving herself the last few weeks and the Emperor was enjoying the peace of mind having leverage over his crazy mother brought. Also, he honestly doubted they could locate and capture people who could apparently disappear in a flash like that. 

As for the matter of spies in the camp, An Hao did not expressly mention his suspicion of spies the way he recounted the events made it possible for the Emperor to get the message. For that, the Emperor simply wrote a vague statement that An Hao could handle the other matters as he deemed fit.

Once he was done writing his response and he handed it over to an eunuch to send it off. The Emperor and Lei Xing then moved on to the issue of the harem dismissals. 

While Lei Xing was still in a bit of a daze of disbelief over the whole issue, she still went ahead to help the Emperor with writing out the edicts since he had a lot to write - twenty-four edicts to be exact for this matter alone. 

Two for each wife, the first edict to remove their status as an Imperial wife and erasing them from the royal register. Then the second edict to appoint them as honorary princesses and adopting them into the royal register, as well as giving them their titular names.

The Emperor wrote the first removal edict for Li Ru and then Lei Xing settled in to write out the remaining eleven, copying the Emperor's words, only changing the name and title of the recipient.

While the Emperor worked on the second set of edicts, which was more complicated as they needed to think up their title names because apparently the Emperor had not planned that far. After successfully writing the first two edicts for Li Ru and Zhao Lan, the Emperor drew a blank and just sat there, his brush hanging in the air with a frown on his face. 

After a while, Lei Xing noticed the Emperor had stopped writing, she turned to him to see his frown and promptly asked, "What's wrong?"

The Emperor blinked, glanced at her, pursed his lips, and then awkwardly said, "Names..."

Lei Xing raised an eyebrow in confusion and then she went wide-eyed and her mouth hung open, "You still don't know their names?!"

The Emperor's frown deepened, he did not like the accusatory tone in her voice and felt the need to defend himself, "Well...I'm a very busy person and I have never interacted with them. I only know of the two Noble consorts because you keep mentioning Li Ru and as for Zhao Lan, well that one I've known about since she was a child s-"

"You've what now?" Lei Xing cut in, knitting her brows in surprise.

The Emperor raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I've what?"

"You just said you've known - how come I didn't know about this?" She asked blinking and frowning at him in confusion.

The Emperor snorted, "Well, you know she's the late Empress's niece..." Lei Xing nodded and the Emperor continued, "...and you know I was "raised" by said late Empress for years..." Lei Xing slowly nodded again, suddenly feeling like an idiot. 

"So...so you two were childhood friends -" Lei Xing inhaled sharply and then asked, "Childhood sweethearts?" Putting a hand over her mouth, even more shocked.

{...So I'm the mistress here? I always liked the childhood sweethearts trope, shit! I ruined the ship - Ohhh, she must hate me O_O')... How did I not make that connection?! >_

The Emperor frowned and removed her hand from her face, "Don't let your mind run, we were NOT childhood friends, much less anything else... She was simply an occasional existence in the late Empress's palace, one I ignored."

He did not even recognize Zhao Lan until she introduced herself on the final day of the selection, and even then he still did not bother to pay attention to her. She was of absolutely no interest to him, much less a "sweetheart" and the fact that Lei Xing mentioned that actually annoyed him. 

"Ah, I see..." Lei Xing went with a little smile, letting out a little sigh of relief.

The Emperor blinked and then slightly knit his brows and a smirk crept up his lips, "Are you, by any chance...jealous?" 

Lei Xing immediately leaned back and looked at him with an incredulous expression, "Jealous?" She laughed, "Why would I be jealous? You're about to send her packing...there is clearly nothing for me to be jealous about here. I was just mourning the loss of a promising ship is all."

"Ship?" The Emperor asked knitting his brows in confusion.

Lei Xing's face twitched, "Forget that part, the point is...I am not jealous. As for the names, I know their names, I'll - wait...you wouldn't... by any chance, need their first names, would you?" Lei Xing tentatively asked. Her own set just included only their titles and last names.

The Emperor narrowed his eyes at her with a smug expression and Lei Xing narrowed her eyes back at him and said, "I was going to learn their full names eventually... Well, I'm not the one who married them so I don't have to know their names..." Lei Xing added with a pout when the Emperor looked at her with a disbelieving expression. 

The only reason she even knew their last names was because of the account books she had been managing the last few weeks, but those only had their titles with their last names.

The Emperor laughed and then pat her head as he called out for a servant to come in and then ordered for them to go retrieve the most recent Imperial records book.

Lei Xing continued to write her own set of edicts, still pouting. The Emperor tried to offer to help her, but she brushed him off and told him to focus on his own work. 

{...Always laughing...hopefully you don't die of laughter one day (≖_≖ )...}

The Emperor laughed and then hugged her causing her to smudge the paper, Lei Xing opened her mouth but before she could complain the Emperor said, "I'll write that one~...Let's take a break." He finished as he pulled her down to rest their backs on the chair. Then he rested his cheek on top of her head, closed his eyes, and let out a happy sigh. 

Lei Xing snorted, they had barely worked and now they were taking a break. After a while of quietly relaxing with him, Lei Xing sighed and said, "I was thinking... Shouldn't we hold a farewell banquet or something for them? It feels odd for them to just leave quietly. I mean, they are not criminals and according to you, they are getting "promoted"... I feel some fanfare should be in order... What do you think?"

"... En, a banquet the night before they exit the palace then..." The Emperor simply responded without even opening his eyes, fully enjoying his relaxation time with her.

Lei Xing knit her brows, it still did not feel enough. It still felt off to her, her outlook on this issue was nowhere near as positive as the Emperor's and perhaps she was trying to overcompensate because she then said, "How about making it a city-wide celebration the day they leave...Um, much like how a wedding procession would go - No, no, that's stupid -" Lei Xing frowned, "...and highly insensitive too." She mumbled.

The Emperor sighed and brought a hand up and pat her cheek, "You are thinking too much again..." 

"...And you apparently aren't thinking enough." Lei Xing clapped back without thinking. Rather be offended by her remark, the Emperor just chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt, "Then I say you should learn a thing or two from me~" He finished, kissing her cheek.

Lei Xing frowned, not amused and brought up a hand to push his face away but the Emperor just caught her hand and kissed her palm. Lei Xing pulled her hand free and wiggled out of his hold, "Stop playing, I'm being serious." She said as she sat up.

The Emperor looked at her worried expression and then sat up with a sigh, "Xing er'...those who will seek to harm you because of this, would have harmed you regardless of this..."

Lei Xing blinked and then knit her brows, "I guess..." His words made sense given the circ.u.mstances.

Even if she shared the Emperor with others, there would still be jealousy and trouble coming her way. Not to mention once children were thrown into the mix, it would become a whole new battle arena for not just the Emperor's affection but for the throne itself. 

The best way to avoid harem drama struggles was to obviously NOT have a harem just as he has done. But there was still a big BUT and Lei Xing could not help voicing it out, "...but those same people would not have had enmity towards you regardless of this..." She seriously said.

She was happy that he thought to do this but she was honestly still not comfortable with this move. She had been trying to set aside her worries and just be happy but she was finding it quite difficult to ignore them. She could not help feeling that he rushed into this and that he - well, they might come to regret it in the future.