Huo Chengwang handed the military tally to Ning Shu, but she didn’t take it and just said, “Emperor, this is yours from now on. You must put it away well. This military tally will be something you can rely on. When you encounter difficulties, ask for guidance from the ministers. Imperial Mother will now just enjoy the life of elderly retirement in the inner palace.”


  Huo Chengwang grinned. “Imperial Mother isn’t old at all. If Imperial Mother wants to live with Imperial Father, that’s alright too.”


  “Please don’t! Your imperial father hates me to the bone! Imperial Mother doesn’t want to go there at all. The days in this inner palace are way more comfortable.” Ning Shu hastily waved to dismiss this idea.

  “Your Majesty, you’re now the master of ten thousand citizens. No matter what you do, you must think over things very carefully. Learn as much as you can from the teachers. During court sessions, pursue the Doctrine of the Mean. Everything has to have a limit. This is all that Imperial Mother has to say. Put the military tally away well and don’t let anyone trick or coax it out of you. This is the one item that will allow you to remain safe and accomplish your goals.” Ning Shu wanted to rub Huo Chengwang’s head, but halfway through she recalled that he was already the emperor, so it wouldn’t be appropriate.

  Huo Chengwang grabbed her hand and placed it on his head as he said, “This son knows that Imperial Mother had sacrificed a lot for this son. This son hopes that Imperial Mother will be able to be happy.”


  “Imperial Mother once said this to this son a lot, now this son hopes for Imperial Mother to be happy.” Huo Chengwang looked towards Ning Shu sincerely with his clear eyes.

  Ning Shu said with a smile, “Imperial Mother is very happy.”


  Although Huo Chengwang had become emperor, he still couldn’t make the decisions in court. However, he wasn’t in a rush and just worked hard to slowly learn.

  Most of the things in court were decided by the imperial tutor so his power instantly soared by a great deal. However, the imperial tutor didn’t dare to be too unbridled since the emperor held the military power, there was a duke, and an empress dowager that didn’t seem to get involved in matters on the surface.

  “Your Esteemed Highness, may you have good health.” Imperial Noble Consort Xuan, no, she was an emerita noble consort now.

  “Why aren’t you taking better care of yourself? You look even thinner than before,” remarked Ning Shu.

  The days were now filled with good eating and sleeping. There was no need to scheme and fight anymore, it was like paradise. So when Ning Shu saw how haggard Emerita Noble Consort Xuan was, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated with her lack of progress.

  “Many thanks for Your Esteemed Highness’s concern. It’s just that whenever this subject consort thinks of that demon, it feels like there’s a fish bone stuck in my throat. This subject consort cannot suppress this hatred,” said Emerita Noble Consort Xuan resentfully. “Your Esteemed Highness, back then you said that this subject consort would be able to get revenge, but that demon’s still living perfectly well.”


  Ning Shu looked at her. Speaking of which, the only reason she had been able to get the imperial tutor’s cooperation was due to Emerita Noble Consort Xuan’s mediation. The imperial tutor’s residence’s position in court was currently weakening and they haven’t had any outstanding descendents, so they had been hoping that the noble consort they got inside the palace would give birth to a successor. If she did and they took a risk, perhaps they could’ve allowed their family to regain glory again.

  However, after she finally managed to get pregnant, she ended up having a miscarriage and her body was damaged to the point that it wouldn’t be easy for her to get pregnant again. Ning Shu had promised that as long as they overthrew Huo Qing and got Huo Chengwang onto the throne, the imperial tutor would be given the position of head of the cabinet. This post was the highest obtainable by civil officials.

  The imperial tutor had agreed. After all, since it was a little boy that was going to be emperor, he would naturally hold a lot of the power.

  The plan hit off. The imperial tutor probably never imagined that the Xiao family would actually hand over the military power. Since the emperor had obtained military power, his throne became much more stabilized.

  The Xiao family had wanted to overthrow Huo Qing to protect themselves. The reason they had refused to hand over the military power despite knowing that Huo Qing was apprehensive of them was because handing it over was tantamount to committing suicide. Without military power, they wouldn’t be able to protect the empress and the little prince that they had in the palace. The military power was truly just a hot potato, but they had no choice but to hold onto it tightly for the sake of surviving.

  “Death isn’t the best end. You shouldn’t be too impatient either,” said Ning Shu. “Not all love is that stable. Their love might not be as perfect as they had taken it to be either.”


  “Let’s go take a look.” Ning Shu was suddenly curious how Huo Qing was doing.

  The little fox’s life was safe, but she couldn’t leave the emeritus emperor’s residence. It could be said that they were under permanent house arrest.