Chapter 11: The Emperor and I Are in Love

Tang Miaoling stared straight at Qiu Xia, her eyes filled with resentment. “You had a hand in my death in the previous life.”

Qiu Xia felt uncomfortable under her gaze. “Master?”

“You just said that Ning Wanyin is my cousin, how can I steal her favor?” Tang Miaoling asked coldly, “Do you think I’m the kind of person who doesn’t care about family ties?”

Qiu Xia hurriedly knelt down. “Meiren, please forgive me, this servant has spoken out of turn!”

Cui Ping watched from the side, her mind full of confusion. When did you ever talk about sisterly love, Miss? You even steal things from your own sister.

Let alone a cousin?

“Don’t say such nonsense in the future, my cousin and I are close, I would never want to compete with her for the emperor’s favor.” Tang Miaoling warned.

Qiu Xia didn’t know that her master was actually a person who valued loyalty, she hurriedly kowtowed and apologized.

She chose Ning Wanyin because Ning’s father was a subordinate of the Marquis of Changping, and Tang Miaoling could afford to offend him. If it were someone from a powerful family, she wouldn’t dare let her master steal their favor.

“Alright, you can go.” Tang Miaoling dismissed her.

She quickly picked up the Longjing tea and took a sip to calm her nerves.

I’m so scared, you actually want me to offend my cousin?

Don’t even think about letting me die!

Today is another day where my head is still on my shoulders.

…

As dusk fell, the imperial presence arrived at the Yonghe Palace again.

Tang Miaoling knelt properly in front of the palace servants who were bowing, thinking to herself, with the number of times her cousin has been favored, should I change my residence?

It’s so annoying to kowtow and greet her every day.

Maybe I should mention changing palaces to Noble Consort Shu? Oh right, if I change, I can stay away from my terrifying cousin?

I’ll mention it tomorrow, I have to do it immediately!

The emperor ignored Tang Miaoling again, this time he stopped in front of Ning Wanyin and extended a hand to her, “Get up.”

Ning Wanyin blushed slightly and walked into the Lingxue Pavilion hand-in-hand with the emperor.

The Imperial Household Department naturally wouldn’t be careless about the emperor’s orders, and within a day, the lotus pond in the courtyard was dug, and the flower room also sent the nurtured lotus seeds.

If it were Ning Wanyin who wanted them, she would have to wait in line. But the emperor wanted them, so the flower room had them ready at any time.

The eight black water jars were removed.

Helian Qi found the Lingxue Pavilion much more pleasing to the eye, he held Ning Wanyin’s hand and walked all the way to the bedroom.

There were scattered sheets of paper on the desk.

And a pile of paints that hadn’t been cleaned up.

“Your Majesty, please forgive me——” Ning Wanyin frowned slightly, “I was honored to receive your favor, Your Majesty, I wanted to paint a summer lotus painting for you, but I didn’t finish it before you arrived…”

“You don’t need to give me your paintings.” Helian Qi rejected her with disdain.

But he was in a good mood today, so he was willing to look at her paintings. He casually picked up the scroll on the desk and glanced at it, his expression was indescribable.

“This… who did you learn from? How did you learn to paint like this?”

It was so ugly that it hurt his eyes.

“I hired a famous teacher at home. He lectured well on painting theory, but I didn’t understand very well.” Ning Wanyin lowered her head, looking remorseful and blaming herself for not being smart enough.

Helian Qi frowned, “You don’t need your mouth to paint, what’s the use of lecturing well? You’ve learned all wrong, you need to start from scratch, start with copying, and practice again.”

“This concubine knows, this concubine has copied many of your paintings!” Ning Wanyin immediately raised her face excitedly, looking proud.

Helian Qi:

…

“With your skill, what’s the point of copying my paintings?”

“Start with something simple… Wang Degui, go get the painting album I copied when I was a child.” Helian Qi instructed.

Wang Degui agreed and retreated.

Helian Qi looked at Ning Wanyin’s pretty face, full of curiosity, and he was willing to talk to her a little more.

When he unknowingly stood in the position of a teacher, he naturally had a good impression of diligent and studious students.

“It’s useless for you to copy my paintings now, start with single objects like flowers, birds, rocks, and grass, master the painting techniques and methods, and then learn composition and layout.” Helian Qi casually pointed out.

Ning Wanyin’s watery eyes widened, full of joy, “Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is better than my teacher, I can understand what you’re saying.”

Helian Qi couldn’t help but laugh. Countless people had praised his painting skills, he was used to flattery and was indifferent to it.

But Ning Wanyin’s praise…

She praised him for explaining things in a way she could understand?

A strange sense of joy arose in his heart. Helian Qi had never been a teacher, if he had, he would know that this joy came from the natural position of teacher and student.

A piece of wood that lacked the guidance of a good teacher, after your guidance, she understood.

She thinks you’re amazing.

You won’t think this praise is flattery, you’ll only think it’s her sincere words from the bottom of her heart.

Anyone would feel happy about sincere praise.

The emperor was no exception.

Wang Degui soon brought a painting album.

Ning Wanyin solemnly took it with both hands, as if she had found a treasure, “Thank you, Your Majesty, can this concubine try it?”

“Hmm!” Helian Qi nodded slightly and casually sat down on the soft couch by the window.

Ning Wanyin rolled up her sleeves and carefully copied a plum blossom. She did know a little about painting, but she hadn’t been serious when she learned it.

But now that the emperor was teaching her, she had to take it seriously.

The situation today was her deliberate plan. She wanted to deepen the bond between her and the emperor, love was too ethereal, it could be broken at any time.

Besides lovers, they should have more relationships.

Chess partners was one.

Teacher and student was another.

The deeper the bond between them, the more important her position in his heart, the more reluctant he would be to let her go, and he wouldn’t easily throw away this chess piece.

Ning Wanyin painted slowly and carefully.

When she finally finished copying and wanted to hand it to the emperor for his guidance, she saw that the man on the soft couch was leaning on his hand, his eyes closed, he had fallen asleep at some point.

Ning Wanyin was startled and immediately softened her movements. She gestured to Wang Degui, who was serving nearby, to leave…

Wang Degui glanced at the emperor and quietly retreated.

The emperor had played chess with Noble Consort Ning all night last night, and he had been reviewing memorials all day, he only took a nap for an hour, it was inevitable that he would be tired.

Lianrui and the other palace servants retreated together.

Ning Wanyin gently walked over to Helian Qi and covered him with the cloak hanging on the screen.

She extinguished most of the candles in the palace, leaving only the red silk-trimmed gold palace lamp in the corner of the bed.

She didn’t get on the bed.

The emperor wasn’t lying down yet, so naturally, she couldn’t lie down either.

Ning Wanyin lay on the tea table and closed her eyes.

The courtyard was noisy all day because of the digging of the pond, and she hadn’t been able to rest well.

She had only been lying down for a moment before she fell asleep.

After an unknown amount of time…

Helian Qi woke up from his nap.

The room was very…

It was dark, only one palace lamp illuminated the room, but it was enough to see the woman lying in front of him.

Her hair was loose, her hairpins askew.

She had a faint scent of ink on her, she hadn’t had time to change into her nightgown.

She was lying on one side of the tea table, curled up in a ball, like a little cat.

Helian Qi frowned slightly and called out to her, “Wake up——”

The emperor’s voice was like a bolt from the blue for Ning Wanyin, instantly waking her from her light sleep, her spirit was alert and her whole being was on guard.

Ning Wanyin quickly stood up and bowed to the emperor in front of her, “This concubine is disrespectful! This concubine saw that Your Majesty was asleep, and didn’t dare to disturb you.”

“What if I didn’t wake up tonight?” Helian Qi looked at her with a strange expression. Even if others deliberately made some noise, they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to serve the emperor.

She was actually sleeping soundly.

Ning Wanyin hesitated for a moment and looked at Helian Qi, “Will Your Majesty favor this concubine again?”

Their eyes met.

Helian Qi raised an eyebrow, “Why do you assume I will definitely come to see you again?”

This was a difficult question to answer.

She couldn’t reveal her strategy of deliberately hooking him with chess and painting.

She couldn’t make it clear that she was his chess piece, and he would naturally come again.

In the bedroom, during intimate moments, talking about benefits and calculations would be too unromantic.

When it’s time to talk about love, you have to flirt.

“Your Majesty gave this concubine precious jewelry and clothes, and you also ordered people to dig a lotus pond. This concubine is so favored by Your Majesty, this concubine believes that Your Majesty is in love with this concubine!” Ning Wanyin secretly raised her eyes to look at him, her eyes sparkling.

Helian Qi was captivated by her hesitant gaze.

This little woman was always surprising.

Indeed, she was interesting.