I sighed to myself, and said, “Don’t ask me how I know the secret affair between you two. Although you hide it well, the truth won’t be concealed forever. Our family will know it sooner or later. If you were born in the ordinary family, you two would sure have a happy marriage, since you are perfect match and love each other. However, Family Zhang is the Emperss’ relatives, who hold the army power in hands, which has been a threat to the Emperor. Family He is also the backbone of the army, moreover, General He’s mother is the niece of the Grand Empress Dowager…… ”

The Second Miss’s ruddy face turned more and more pale, whose hands tightly pinched the corner of the garment, bowing her head silently.

I didn’t want to frighten the little girl any more. So I said softly, “I only ask you, what you are going to do?”

She suddenly got up and knelt before me,, sobbing, “Sister, I really like him. I really like him.”

Seeing such a beauty in tears, I pressed down the impulse to support her to stand up, I made a deliberate pause, and asked, “What about him? What did he say?”

She hesitated, her face flushed with shame and her voice was as low as a mosquito, “He said he would never fail me.”

Well, what a promise to say “never fail you”! Qi Sheng had said that before, but when he turned away next second, he pushed me down the Wan River. Now, his bro said the same thing to my sister.

I looked at the Second Miss firmly, asking her in a sinking voice: “Could you afford to give up your social status?”

She thought for a moment and nodded firmly.

“Then it is easy to make it. Go and find He Bingze, and tell him that in order to marry him, whether to be the maid or concubine, you could give up the status as the Second Miss of Family Zhang!”

Her eyes wide opened in surprise.

I smiled and whispered to her, “What a silly girl. You could move him to adore you more by this way. No way would Family He marry the Empress’s sister as the maid? As long as you two tie the knot privately, parents on both sides can only approve it for the sake of the reputation. Not to mention I will secretly help you!”

She was a clever girl, who lowered her head and knew what I meant after thinking about it. And then she blushed and whispered, “Well… If he does not… What should I do?”

I felt it funny and winked at her, saying with a smile, “It is never up to the man.”

She was stunned, and suddenly acted in affectation to reach out a hand to lightly pat me, talking to me in coquetry: “Sister, you are so bad!”

Yeah, I felt myself bad too, but what could I do?

After Lv Li saw off the Second Miss, she was puzzled, asking me: “Why did you encourage the Second Miss to elope with He Bingze? If it came out, her life would be on the line.”

Considering that Lv Li was the only one who I trusted and I could not keep her not knowing all the things, it was better to tell her everything in frank manner than to let her have a smattering of knowledge which might lead to her spoiling my plan in the future.

“Now there is the situation of tripartite confrontation in the army and Family Zhang is the strongest. The rest are Family He and Family Yang in Jiangbei. Since the Family Yang had some connections with Chu wang, the Emperor dare not use them. To press down Family Zhang, he could only use Family He. As long as the Second Miss has a thing going on with He Bingze, it would distant Family He and the Emperor, no matter what their thing lead to. Next time, when the Emperor wants to cooperate with them, he would think it twice.”

It dumbfounded Lv Li, and it took her a while to make it clear. Then she spoke highly of me: “I got it. Your Highness is so clever.”

Her apple-polishing was not so skillful that I ignored it and only asked her again: “Lv Li, do you know why I tell you everything?”

Lv Li looked at me in a muddle and said after thinking, “Because I am loyal to you.”

I smiled while shaking my head, “Loyalty is the most uncertain thing. I trust you because the fates of us are bound together. If I survive, you would survive too; if I lose my life, you would too. And nothing in this world is more important than the matter of life and death.”

After a long silence, she raised her eyes to look at me and asked, “Since the Empress have seen it through, why not try to win the Emperor’s love? It’s said that Jiang shi is clever and sophisticated, but I think she is not half as clever as Your Highness.”

“That’s the other thing I’m going to tell you. The most uncertain thing in the world is a person’s nature. The most unreliable thing in the world is a man’s words.”

Lv Li looked at me blankly, as if she did not know me, and murmured, “Your Highness, what is the matter with you?”

I put out my hand to stroke her hair and said with a smile: “Lv Li, I just want to tell you, although men like smart women, they mostly choose to marry stupid girls, do you know why? Because they want to rest assured! The more stupid you are, the more secure he will feel and the less he will guard against you. As for in front of me, however clever you may be in the dark, the more scatter-brained you appeared in public, the more I will trust you.”

Lv Li shook faintly, and trembled: “What were you saying? I could not understand.”

I didn’t want to investigate it too deeply, so I only raised my eyebrows and said with a smile: “Forget it if you don’t understand it. Now find a way to invite Chu wang to meet me in the Palace.”

She did not ask any more question, but bowed her head in response. Before she went out, I stopped her again, and said very gravely, “For the sake of your life and mine, please act as you usually do!”

Lv Li’s hand, which was on the door, was trembling.

I regretted it that I told her too much, in case she was ashamed into anger, what I should do if she let it all out of the bag!

But as it turned out, she was a loyal partner, who wouldn’t fulfill the task mixed with personal revenge, because she quickly arranged the short meeting with Bathroom Lord.

This was the second open talk with Bathroom Lord after me becoming the Empress. It happened in the imperial garden, a must-pass-through place to the Palace of the Empress Dowager, where we bumped into each other when I just finished sending greetings to Empress Dowager, and he was about to meet Empress Dowager.

I was speechless at this arrangement.

Lv Li sensed I was not satisfied with it, and explained to me: “Your Highness, the more people can see you, the less they can gossip on you.”

It sounded reasonable. Even the most shameless thing was spread in the broad daylight, it would be as legit as a press conference.

Bathroom Lord always showed calm and easy, presenting a bow slightly to me, called me: “The imperial sister-in-law.”

I nodded, smiling in an indifferent way: “Chu wang.”

He smiled softly, “I haven’t seen you for some days. Recently, I heard that you are pregnant with the Emperor’s heir. Congratulations.”

I tightened my cloak, raised my chin towards the Wangyun pavilion, which was not far away, and said to Lv Li naturally, “Go and have a rest there.”

Lv Li bossed around the maids standing by, “Hurry up and get the leather mattress for the Empress. And you go get the charcoal stove and put it in the pavilion, you… ”

After Lv Li pointing at them to assign different job by her tender fingers, all the maids who had been following me behind all hustled away to run their errands.

I was satisfied what the girl did. She really had something.

Bathroom Lord was smiling, standing in silence. Glancing at him, I turned first towards the pavilion. He waited until I had gone a few steps before he followed.

Because of it was late winter, the flowers and trees in the imperial garden showed a bleak scene, which aroused different feelings when different people saw it. I didn’t easily fall into such melancholy condition. Instead, I felt it quite charming. It was easy to be spotted from every corner, where no one could hide to eavesdrop on our conversation.

I walked slowly, several steps away from Bathroom Lord, and said softly to the point, “It’s not me who got pregnant, but Jiang shi.”

I heard from his steps that he paused. Then there was silence for a while. His low and slow voice came from behind: “Now I know it.”

I could not help but stop to turn round to glance at him, only to see his lips slightly curling. Although he had little smile, his eyes were filled with warmth.

I thought he must understand all, and then rest assured to turn my head back. I said to myself that it was so comfortable and efficient to talk with an intelligent person, where there was no need to play as a fool or to explain everything in a long speech.

Lv Li held me to walk in the Wangyun pavilion, I turned and prepared to sit on the stone bench, but was pulled by Lv Li in her great strength, while she gently said to me by implication: “Your Highness, it’s cold now, and you can’t suffer the cold. If you sit down on it, and the Emperor knows, he will blame us for not caring about you.”

I was shocked, and then I understood her implication, could do nothing but stand up straight.

Without saying a word, Bathroom Lord took off his cloak and spread it on the stone bench after he walked into the pavilion. He stepped back and said softly, “Sit down please.”

I had been quietly watching his move, admiring him so much. He could coddle a woman in such subtle manner, no wonder he won the title of “The No.1 womanizing Prince in Nanxia Dynasty”. What a pity! I was not a woman, and I would not be captivated by such a little trick.

I sat down directly, rise to ask Bathroom Lord: “I heard that you were scolded by the Emperor a few days ago?”

He kept standing with his hands down three paces away from me, and replied, “I failed the Emperor, so he scolded me. What he scolded was reasonable.”

However, I could not help laughing and said, “The Emperor is newly enthroned who has many complicated cases to deal with. It is inevitable that he will have bad temper. Chu wang should be more considerate of him. For Family Zhang, I will ask them to do their best to fulfill their task and to cooperate with Chu wang to help the Emperor. After this period, everything will on the right track gradually.”