When Li Wanming asked this question, her fingers had slowly wrapped around the hilt of the knife. She was ready to slit a wound on Zhao Yanke if he said something like "make her a noble concubine" or "make her a imperial concubine", to bleed this foolish emperor!
— She didn't care about regicide or the severity of the crime! Anyway, she had already beaten him today, so what was one more thing?
That was her eldest sister, who even felt aggrieved when being the mistress of the Chen Mansion. How could she become a concubine?
Not even for the emperor!
Zhao Yanke gave her a strange look. "Of course, I'll make her the empress! My sweetheart, how could she only be a concubine?"
Li Wanming's fingers loosened. She was in a daze for a while and then said, "... Why does this sound so familiar?"
She didn't want her sister to be a concubine. But now, hearing him say that he would "make her the empress", for some reason, an inexplicable anger welled up from the bottom of her heart, making her feel more and more aggrieved.
"So, Your Majesty, do you say you'll make every woman you meet the empress? Are the empresses in the palace wholesale?"
Didn't he say the same thing when he met Su Xiaozhu back then?
"At that time... I didn't know I'd meet your eldest sister..."
Zhao Yanke shrank his neck, looking a bit embarrassed. But soon he raised his head and swore, "But this time it's different! This time I'll surely keep my word. I said I'll make her the empress, and I will!"
Li Wanming raised her eyes and gave him a cold look. "Even if my eldest sister was married before?"
"Married... before?"
Zhao Yanke was momentarily stunned and a bit slow to react.
"Yes. My eldest sister is gentle, beautiful, and dexterous. Such a wonderful woman, how could no one propose to her?" Li Wanming gave him a disgruntled look. "Even if she was married before, Your Majesty still wants to make her the empress?"
"Married... to whom...?" Zhao Yanke's Adam's apple rolled, and his voice tightened.
"Speaking of which, you know this family." Li Wanming said coolly. "It's the Chen family, the family of the Imperial College Supervisor."
Then, Li Wanming told him in detail how her eldest sister got married into the Chen family, how she was tortured by the Chen family, and finally woke up and resolutely divorced Chen Lin.
As she spoke, Zhao Yanke's face became more and more gloomy.
When he heard that Chen Lin publicly humiliated Wanxin in front of Zhaoyu Academy, he actually "snapped" the folding fan in his hand.
"How shameless they are!"
"Right?" Li Wanming raised her eyebrows and said sarcastically, "Such a shameless family. I don't know who was so blind to promote him to the position of Imperial College Supervisor!"
Zhao Yanke ignored her sarcasm and paced angrily around the room on his own.
"The Imperial College is an important instrument of the country, the foundation of the cultural heritage, and the trust of the nation. It is in charge of the education of the world and is the model for scholars all over the country! How can it be handed over to such a shameless person? You... wait. I'll go back and dismiss him from his official post and send him to guard the imperial mausoleum on the outskirts of the capital!"
Li Wanming lowered her eyelashes and didn't respond.
The emperor indeed had the power to dismiss officials, but only a real - power emperor who had taken charge of the government!
And this one in front of her - he had just been forced by his stepmother to flee the capital in a hurry. He couldn't even decide what kind of woman to marry, yet he dared to talk about dismissing a third - rank official?
How much did he drink to say such things...
Maybe the contempt and doubt in her eyes were too obvious. Zhao Yanke couldn't help but get angry. "What kind of look is that? What do you mean? Do you look down on me?"
"Humph. As long as we can defeat Anluo and recover the six cities in the southern border this time, I'll surely take back the power of the government from the empress dowager when I get back! Then, I'll be able to..."
"Yes, yes, yes." Li Wanming nodded perfunctorily. "Your Majesty's grand ambition is really touching... But I advise Your Majesty to win the war first."
...
When twilight fell, Xiao Jingnan finally returned.
"I've finished seeing the person I wanted to see. How's the purchase of your sickle - grass? This place is not suitable for us to stay long. We must set off for Shou'an early tomorrow morning..."
He was quickly talking to Li Wanming when he suddenly turned his head and saw Zhao Yanke with a bruised face. He was greatly shocked. "What's going on! Who beat you like this?"
Zhao Yanke pouted pitifully. He wanted to complain but didn't dare. He could only lower his head aggrievedly, and even squeezed out a tear from his eyes. "Who else could it be..."
"I did it. So what!" Li Wanming puffed out her chest and said fiercely, "He molested a good - woman in public. Can't I beat him?"
"Molest a good - woman?" Xiao Jingnan raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "Zhao Er, I've only been away for one day, and you've caused such a mess again?!"
"No, it's not..." Zhao Yanke quickly explained, "I... I just met my true love and want to make her the empress..."
"... Make another one?!"
Xiao Jingnan's memory was suddenly awakened, and he became even angrier than before.
He reached out and grabbed Zhao Yanke's collar. "Come here! Your Majesty, please tell this subject properly. When did you develop this habit of making a woman the empress wherever you go?"
Zhao Yanke was so scared that his soul almost flew out of his body. He jumped up like a frightened rabbit and ran out.
"Ask your wife! She knows everything! I... I'm really in love this time, truly in love!"
"Love my foot..." Li Wanming rolled her eyes and then exaggeratedly told him what had happened during the day.
After finishing, Li Wanming was still indignant. "He already has so many women in the palace, yet he still wants to take my eldest sister into the palace! He's really daydreaming! What does he want my eldest sister to do in the palace? To fight with his women for his favor?"
Just thinking of Su Xiaozhu's thin and frail back by the Jinming Pond, Li Wanming felt a sharp pain in her heart - she would never let her sister suffer such torture.
However, after hearing what she said, Xiao Jingnan suddenly relaxed his brows and thoughtfully said, "Well, if a woman from the Li family becomes the empress, it might not be a bad thing..."
"What did you say?"
Li Wanming turned her head blankly and looked at the person in front of her in disbelief. "You... Do you mean... to let my sister enter the palace...?"
"I'm just talking about a possibility."
Xiao Jingnan hadn't noticed anything wrong yet. He just lowered his eyes and immersed himself in his own thoughts.
"Your Majesty will have to make an empress sooner or later, and the candidates are just from those few families. Instead of letting the empress dowager's partisans enter the middle palace, it's better for us to..."
"What do you take my sister for!"
Li Wanming slapped the table and stood up. Two flames suddenly burned in her almond - shaped eyes.