Beloved Empress

Chapter 21

You Still Blames Zhen

Mo Qi Qi quickly regains her thoughts, the hand that is grinding the ink moving faster.

Jun Qian Che tries to restrain his anger, “Have you seen anyone grinding the way you does?”

Mo Qi Qi puts everything down and says in displeasure, “Gentle is wrong, not gentle is also wrong. What should I do to satisfy you?”

Jun Qian Che press down his anger, “You do according to what zhen says, grinding ink cannot be done rashly. Do not use too much force on the ink block, place it flat against the ink slab. Use your force uniformly in a uniform speed towards one direction. That way, the ink you grind will be good and refined.”

Mo Qi Qi did as Jun Qian Che told her to and the ink that comes out are indeed different. “Haha, the ink comes out! Your Majesty, you are so good!” she happily says.

Jun Qian Che size up her enthusiastic respond, wonderingly asking, “How did you usually prepare your ink for writing? You don’t even know this?”

“I usually don’t have to grind ink ah!” Mo Qi Qi blurts out. When she realize Jun Qian Che’s gauging glance on her, she finally realize what she said and quickly tries to remedy everything, “I never grind ink, Ban Xiang usually did them for me, so it’s not weird I don’t know these things.” The modern time uses ready-made ink, which modern person knows how to grind them? Very few people even write using brush.

Jun Qian Che does not continue the topic, he retrieves his gaze and began approving the memorials.

Mo Qi Qi continues grinding for a while, until her wrist feels sore. She swings her wrist around, saying, “Your Majesty, grinding ink is too tiring.”

“You have an impatient personality, this approach can help nurture your personality better,” Jun Qian Che did not even raise his head.

Mo Qi Qi makes a gun gesture and pretends to shoot him with her hand, laughingly saying, “Hehe, Your Majesty, chenqie thinks making porridge is easier, let me make you porridge. Chenqie will find a servant to help me make fire, I guarantee I will give you a satisfying bowl of porridge!” Grinding ink is so not fun.

“You are the mother of the country, not a cook. Can you do something that suits your position for once?” he says as he peers over the reports.

“Is grinding ink something that suits my position? Do you know how accomplished you will feel just by cooking!”

Jun Qian Che did not pay her attention.

Mo Qi Qi stares at his jade-like appearance; his beautiful eyebrows gives him a heroic air. His lips are pursed tight as he frowns, as though something is troubling him, but that very frown makes people feels at awe.

Seeing him so silent, Mo Qi Qi brace herself and continues, “Your Majesty, since you didn’t speak up, chenqie will take it as your approval. Chenqie will leave first.” She turns her body around to leave.

Jun Qian Che suddenly stretch his hand and grasp her wrist, he uses a little force and pull Mo Qi Qi until she falls against his chest.

Two pairs of eyes stare at each other. Mo Qi Qi is a little startled by their close distance, she quickly laughs foolishly while patting his chest, “Your Majesty, I am so sorry, I hope I did not hurt you!”

She has no idea that gesture of hers is pretty provocative between men and women. Jun Qian Che’s eyes falls on her collarbone, that exposed skin is as fair as snow, very alluring and tempting.

Mo Qi Qi noticed his eyes and quickly cover her chest; “You- What are you looking at?” Her sleeves flutter, exposing her fair wrist and the beautiful eye-catching white jade bracelet decorating it.

The anger within Jun Qian Che rises.

Mo Qi Qi, noticing his face that is getting gradually colder, gets a little cowardly. She gently speaks, “Your Majesty, let chenqie cook porridge for you. Everyone who ate chenqie’s porridge all loved it very much, Your Majesty will definitely like it!”

Jun Qian Che grip her wrist, his eyes flashing in danger. His voice is cold as he asks, “Who ate your porridge before? Seventh Imperial Uncle?”

“Seventh Imperial Uncle?” Mo Qi Qi can sense something is wrong somewhere, her eyes falls on the white jade bracelet on her hand, secretly thinking: Don’t tell her he noticed this bracelet was given by Prince Qi Xian? If so, will her lies about not accepting the gift earlier count as a crime for deceiving the emperor? She is so done for, how can she explain this? Wait a minute, she shouldn’t scare herself. This bracelet came from Jiang Nan, there is no way the emperor has seen this before. And when Prince Qi Xian gave her the gift yesterday, there was only her, him and Ban Xiang. There is no way Jun Qian Che can find out about it. Perhaps he asks about this because he is unhappy she met up with Prince Qi Xian yesterday. It should not have anything to do with this jade bracelet. Calm down, calm down. Don’t panic.

She looks at Jun Qian Che and laughs at him charmingly, “Your Majesty, what are you talking about? Why would chenqie cook porridge for Prince Qi Xian? Chenqie only cook porridge for chenqie’s parents and brother, other people does not have the honor to taste them. But, if Your Majesty wants to taste them, chenqie will happily cook them for you.”

Jun Qian Che push her coldly, “No need. Zhen is not hungry, continue grinding the ink.”

When she hears the words ‘grind the ink’, Mo Qi Qi reluctantly stands next to him and continue grinding the ink block. She suddenly has an idea, “Your Majesty, you are sick. Yang Meimei did not come to see you?”

Jun Qian Che stares at her coldly, “What are you trying to say?”

Mo Qi Qi smiles embarrassedly, “Your Majesty, chenqie has no other meaning. Chenqie just want to ask Your Majesty, is Yang Meimei’s ink grinding ability good?”

Jun Qian Che harrumphed coldly, “Shi Han grinds ink really well, you should learn from her.”

“Hehe, Your Majesty, chenqie has no talent when it comes to ink grinding, since Yang Meimei does it well and can satisfy Your Majesty, then why don’t Your Majesty invite Yang Meimei over to grind ink for you? Chenqie will only make Your Majesty unhappy by grinding ink here anyway, so why don’t we send people to invite Yang Meimei over? With Yang Meimei around, Your Majesty’s mood will definitely turns for the better, once your mood gets better, your sickness will gets better as well. The political matters will be solved even faster, after all that busy time, both of you can go all lovey dovey; this can count as accomplishing three things in one move ah! How good is that!”

“You still blames zhen for taking Shi Han into the back palace?” Jun Qian Che’s tone calms down.