The Emperor's Heart Is Like Spring

[Important notice: The extra chapter in Chapter 59 was written before the author took leave to study for exams. After returning to update the story, I worried that it would not fit smoothly, so I temporarily replaced it. Since I thought it was a shame to leave it unpublished, I have added it back after the main story's conclusion. If you've read it before, please don't buy it again!]

The neighboring novel, The Empress Only Wants to Repay a Debt, is now online. Please add it to your favorites!

In Lan Jianing's seventh year in Prince Yan Lu Chengyuan's household, he won the struggle for the throne and ascended to the highest imperial seat.

Before the people in the inner court could even bask in the excitement of their rising status, they realized that the new emperor had not visited the harem in a long time.

Someone sighed. "They say the seven-year itch is real. His Majesty's status grows ever more exalted. Perhaps he'll soon bring new beauties into his chambers."

Only Lan Jianing, holding a pastry, looked conflicted. "There has to be affection before there can be boredom. His Majesty used to visit the back courtyard like a soldier checking in for roll call. I doubt he can even remember who is who."

Otherwise, after all these years, he wouldn't still treat her as a beauty sent by a subordinate to whisper in his ear, reminding her every time not to play clever games.

After one encounter after another, even Lan Jianing's desire to repay his kindness had worn thin.

Never mind. The emperor had the whole realm at his command. Surely he did not care about a little orphan like her offering him a few words of concern, a bit of embroidery, or a bowl of soup.

Once she had made up her mind, Lan Jianing ate and drank as she pleased and stopped competing for favor, lest she cause Lu Chengyuan trouble. Not that there was anything to compete over in this peaceful, uneventful harem.

*

Only the new emperor Lu Chengyuan's trusted aides knew that he suffered from face blindness and usually recognized people by their build and voice.

The struggle for the throne had been full of complications, and Lu Chengyuan had always spared his attention by not remembering useless people. It was not until a month after his enthronement, when affairs at court had gradually settled into a regular routine, that he finally turned his gaze toward the harem.

Just as Lu Chengyuan was silently sketching in his mind a gentle, beautiful face that was becoming clearer by the day, he discovered that someone had quit.

He had seen through her attempt to play hard to get, yet he willingly took the bait anyway.

"Who sent you?" he murmured, kissing the back of Lan Jianing's neck, still warm with sweat and fragrant. The emperor's breathing was slightly unsteady. "Whatever you want, as long as it isn't unreasonable, I can give it to you."

"Your Majesty, you have no heart!" Jianing cried, her cheeks still flushed, looking utterly incredulous. She sent him straight out the door with tears in her eyes.

She might not care about the emperor's favor, but she could not endure such a grave injustice!

*

The next day, everyone knew that the Son of Heaven had spent the night locked out by his favorite consort.

Only after a hint from his trusted aide did Lu Chengyuan belatedly remember that he had once saved a helpless peasant girl during a military campaign.

She was grateful to him, but she did not love him.

Lowering his head, he brushed his taut lips against Lan Jianing's peaceful sleeping face. At last, Lu Chengyuan gave a faint smile. "Didn't A Ning want to repay me? Then stay by my side for the rest of your life."

"If A Ning doesn't say anything, I'll take it as a yes."

Before she had entered his heart, he had thought his life would amount to nothing more than cultivating himself, putting his family in order, governing the state, and bringing peace to the realm. It was Lan Jianing's arrival that first made him care about the names that would stand together on a portrait of the emperor and empress in generations to come.

[Story blurb]

Yan Tongchun had been by the new emperor Wei Shaoyun's side for ten full years, from his fiefdom all the way to the capital.

Now that he had risen from a hidden dragon to the throne, she took stock of her savings and decided it was time to retire after a job well done.

Besides the difficulty of disguising herself as a man, and the even greater difficulty of pretending to be a eunuch, Wei Shaoyun's increasingly favorable attention was more imperial favor than Yan Tongchun could bear.

At this rate, she was bound to be found out sooner or later.

Just as Yan Tongchun was considering when to ask permission to resign and return to her hometown, the other princes, disgruntled over the reduction of their fiefs, raised armies in rebellion.

With the princes in revolt, Yan Tongchun received an urgent mission: break through the encirclement and deliver a message to the military camp outside the capital. She had meant to use the delivery of the imperial decree as a chance to fake her death and escape. But when she looked back at the palace engulfed in flames, she could not help feeling worried and reluctant to leave.

- -

Watching the woman he loved return to him with disheveled hair and blood staining her beautiful face, her chest rising and falling with her rapid breaths, Wei Shaoyun slowly relaxed the fist he had clenched behind his back.

In truth, he had already made all the arrangements to put down the rebellion. This unnecessary mission was merely a test of one person's heart.

What Yan Tongchun did not know was that if she had shown the slightest sign of wanting to leave while delivering the message, the imperial guards following her would have seized her on the spot and dragged her back.

From then on, she would be kept deep within silken curtains, never to leave again.

At this point, the emperor still did not know that Yan Tongchun was hiding an even greater secret from him...

[Bonus scene]

When Yan Tongchun realized she was being kept in a golden palace, surrounded by every luxury, she stopped the emperor as he was about to leave for court. "Your Majesty... have you put me under house arrest?"

Bending down to tenderly tuck the quilt around the woman he loved, the emperor admitted it without hesitation. "That's right. It's punishment for you trying to run away, Yan Qing."

Looking up at the imposing figure beside the bed, Yan Tongchun grew even more confused. "But I'm right here by your side, perfectly fine, aren't I?"

At that, Wei Shaoyun chuckled. An unknown, frenzied emotion stirred in the depths of his dark eyes. "That's only because if you really had run away, you wouldn't merely be forbidden from leaving your room."

Note:

A romance-focused story, with a scheming male lead and an older male lead.

[I'm going crazy studying for exams, so I'm writing this to take a break. If anyone likes it, the author will be very happy!

A fan of runaway romance stories]

Core theme: True feelings emerge in times of hardship.