The Little Empress Keeps Getting Caught Slacking in the Harem

The continuation, Luo Er's story, is listed in my author profile: Longing for You Through the Ages

They say the Empress of Zhao is learned and capable, knowledgeable about the heavens above and the geography below.

At twelve, she dazzled the entire city of Tianzhao. Scholars across the land exhausted their words in praise of her.

But at fifteen, an imperial decree named her the new empress.

Every scholar in Zhao mourned the news. After all, the new emperor was only a three-year-old child.

However, as Si Yunqin herself, the empress, she doesn't regret it at all.

The emperor is still young, and there are plenty of people to care for him. With no one else in the harem, she can enjoy some peace and quiet.

Food, clothes, and someone to wait on her; she can slack off when there's work and lie flat when there isn't.

Compared to working herself to death in her previous life, this is practically heaven.

But why does the Empress Dowager at Shou'an Palace always catch her slacking off?

Can assigning the harem's affairs to the consorts really be called slacking off?

That's called allocating human resources efficiently.

Can letting the young emperor study and practice his writing on his own really be called slacking off?

That's called reading a hundred times until the meaning reveals itself.

The Empress Dowager nods in approval and leisurely sips her tea.

"The Empress speaks most wisely. Why not tell me how we should assign the officials in the court as well?"

Si Yunqin can't say. Say too much, and her mouth aches; say too little, and her back aches.

Later, the Empress Dowager becomes the new emperor, but Si Yunqin remains the empress.

Si Yunqin thinks she can finally lie flat in peace.

As it turns out, capitalists always have to squeeze every last drop of surplus value out of their workers.

By day, she has to help the emperor handle state affairs. By night, she has to help him satisfy his needs.

She gets to lie down, at least, but her back aches a little.

Theme: Don't be constrained by the way others see you. Dare to surpass yourself.