None knows me better than my own ministers!

  The Holy Lord hooked his lips, the smile at the corner of his mouth, cold and melancholic, sorrowful for himself. "Every time the Empress Dowager comes to the Peony Pavilion, it is always about the selection of the Queen and the matter of offspring. No wonder the fragrance here gives you a headache. If the fragrance is the heart of the son, and the Empress Dowager smells the same fragrance every day, then it means that the heart of the son has never changed. Otherwise, the Empress Dowager would not smell this fragrance today as usual, nor would she get a headache because of this fragrance!"

  "Your Majesty," the Empress Dowager's sharp aura diminished a bit, looking at the face that only the Emperor could create with his divine craftsmanship, her tone also softened a bit, but with a hint of longing, "Then tell your mother when you can establish an empress again?"

  "Hmph," the Emperor sneered, his icy lips curling up in disdain. "Establish another empress? Mother Empress, have you forgotten too soon? Just last month, you chose an empress, but she ended up secretly marrying someone else and eloping with him. Until now, not a single trace of them has been found. If we establish another empress, who's to say the same thing won't happen again? In any case, I've made up my mind to find the woman I want as my empress, so please don't interfere, Mother Empress!"

  The Empress Dowager's eyes narrowed, and she spoke harshly, "I can refrain from interfering, but please, Your Majesty, give me a deadline - when will you establish an empress?"

  "One year," the Holy Emperor gave a deadline, "Next year today, I will establish a new empress!"

  "Alright, just a one-year deadline," the Empress Dowager surprisingly agreed readily, but her harsh words still lingered, "If by this day next year, Your Majesty has not yet established an heir, then please invite consorts and palace maidens to serve in bed every night."

  Looking at the Empress Dowager's cold and distant figure leaving, the emotions in Yu Shengjun's eyes became more complicated. He turned around, sat down, placed one hand on the stone table, and gazed at the smoke rising from the incense burner, the complex emotions in his eyes gradually fading away.

  Before long, Yu Zi Chen, dressed in a silk blue robe, walked up to the Peony Pavilion with light steps, "Imperial Brother!"

  "Sit down," the Holy Lord said with a casual wave of his sleeve, gesturing for him to take a seat.

  "Thanks, Emperor Brother." After a word of thanks, Yu Zi Chen swung his sleeves behind him and sat down on the stone bench. As he faced Yu Sheng Jun, he caught a glimpse of a hint of melancholy that Yu Sheng Jun was trying to conceal.

  It's hard to measure the heart of a monarch, and it's even more impossible to make random guesses about it. But as the most trusted brother of the monarch, Yu Zi Chen couldn't help but ask, "Apart from Empress Chenghuan eloping with someone else, I'm afraid nothing can make Your Majesty worry so much. Is Your Majesty still troubled by Empress Chenghuan's elopement?"

  His Majesty's eyes gazed deeply at the brother in front of him, who shared the same father but not the same mother, and was born on the same day. Suddenly, he cracked a smile, revealing his straight white teeth, as if he had let go of something. This smile of relief, few people had ever seen before. "The one who understands my heart is none other than my younger brother!"

  The young master smiled slightly, looking a bit surprised and pleased, "Thanks to the emperor's favor."

  Slowly, the smile on the emperor's face came to a halt, his melancholic gaze fell upon the peony flowers outside the pavilion. "Second brother, I envy the love between you and Guan Xiangyun. You two have walked every step of the way happily, from meeting, getting to know each other, falling in love, to being together. As for me, I've never encountered the woman I wanted to love my whole life."

  After digesting the emperor's words, a sly smile flashed across Yu Zi Chen's eyes. "Imperial brother, are you still going to sneak out of the palace to visit the common people? I met Xiang Yun in the common people and she has been my heart's desire ever since. I suppose your heart's desire is not in the harem, but among the common people. Are you willing to leave the palace to find your future empress yourself? Of course, it's not Empress Cheng Huan!"

  "This..." The Emperor hesitated, but thinking of giving the Empress Dowager a new Empress in a year, he didn't hesitate anymore. "Second brother, I'll listen to you, let's set off from the palace at noon!"

  "Alright!" Yu Zi Chen responded with excitement, and another sly glint flashed across his eyes, which Yu Sheng Jun didn't catch.