Everyone in the palace knows one thing: don't mess with the empress.
Other empresses are refined and elegant, skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Cheng Qingyan scales walls and roams the streets, throwing punches whenever she sees injustice, and regularly beats arrogant young nobles black and blue.
One day, the chief eunuch came charging into the imperial study. "Your Majesty! The empress has gone to fight on West Street again!"
Zhou Heng didn't even look up. Calmly, he handed over a token. "Go send her my black iron whip. Don't let her hurt her hands."
The entire court was left speechless.
Who could have imagined that the number-one hooligan of Lingshui County would become the empress of Great Jing?
And even fewer could have guessed that the little tagalong who used to follow her around was now the emperor!
Back then, she protected him as he skipped lessons, slacked off, and got into cockfights and brawls, thumping her chest as she promised, "Big bro's got you."
In the end, he hid his identity from her for eight years, lured her in at every turn, and carefully laid one scheme on top of another, coaxing and tricking her into the ninefold palace and making her empress.
Cheng Qingyan slammed the table in anger. "I hate the imperial family most! You tricked me into marriage!"
Zhou Heng smiled and pushed the phoenix seal toward her. "If the empress wants to be a great hero, then these ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains are your jianghu. I'll still be your underling."
From then on, the court took on a whole new look:
Corrupt ministers running amok? The empress rolls up her sleeves and charges in, while the emperor finishes them off.
A wrongful conviction from an old case? The empress investigates, and the emperor rules to clear the victim's name.
Imperial relatives looking for trouble? The emperor punishes them before the empress even has to lift a finger.
The people in the palace gradually realized the truth:
It wasn't that the empress was abusing the emperor's favor. It was that the man who had followed his big bro for over a decade had finally convinced her to stay in the palace and protect him.
After all, this realm belongs to the emperor;
and the emperor is the empress's underling.
