"Why didn't you wake me? How did I end up sleeping until dark?"
"You must be hungry. Come and eat."
Shen Yunyun quickly threw on her clothes and went to the outer study, where the emperor had already ordered the meal to be served. A young eunuch also entered with a basin of water for Shen Yunyun to wash her hands.
Having slept, Shen Yunyun's mind was no longer foggy, and her earlier memories came flooding back. It was precisely because those memories had returned that she noticed something strange.
The Dowager Empress seemed to be deliberately creating opportunities for her and the emperor, trying to set them up. And the emperor no longer called her "fairy sister"; now he addressed her as "Yunyun." All signs pointed to the fact that the mother and son both had designs on her.
Great. She had treated the Dowager Empress as a close friend, but the Dowager Empress wanted her as a daughter-in-law, trying to take advantage of her.
The emperor saw Shen Yunyun's expression shifting and found it somewhat amusing, urging her to eat quickly.
The dinner wasn't particularly lavish—at least for an emperor, four dishes and a soup were far too simple. They ate in haste, and Shen Yunyun said, "Let's move quickly while it's dark and the wind is high. We'll go early and return early."
"Alright." The emperor only took a symbolic two bites with his chopsticks before setting them down.
"Yunyun, come take a walk with me."
"Sure thing." Shen Yunyun didn't correct his address, knowing he was saying it deliberately for others to hear, and played along.
As they walked out, palace maids and eunuchs immediately moved to follow and attend to them, but the emperor said, "You don't need to follow."
The maids and eunuchs quickly knelt and acknowledged the order.
When they reached a secluded spot, Shen Yunyun took out the flying device, and the two of them boarded it, heading straight for the northern frontier. As the emperor had said, their Great Li was small; in just over ten minutes, they arrived.
They reached the border, only to find it was snowing there. Shen Yunyun was also surprised.
She first took out a padded coat for the emperor to wear, put one on herself, and even donned a hat, wrapping herself up tightly. The emperor's expression was grim.
Under normal circumstances, the court's supplies should still be on the way. With such heavy snow, travel was impossible. How were the soldiers supposed to survive the winter?
They exchanged a glance and walked toward the city wall. The snow on the ground was thick; no matter how careful one was, walking on it would produce a crunching sound. They didn't bother to tread lightly—Tang Yuan might have been able to walk without leaving a trace in the snow, but Shen Yunyun couldn't.
When they reached the wall, they couldn't make out the situation above. As they ascended through the barbican gate, no one stopped them.
On the gate tower, a few soldiers on night watch were shivering from the cold, huddled by the wall for warmth. Seeing them like this, Shen Yunyun felt a pang of sympathy.
Whose children were these? In such cold weather, with such thin clothes, standing out in the freezing cold. If their parents saw their children enduring this in such weather, how heartbroken would they be?
She had thought it wasn't yet cold enough here, so she hadn't rushed to send supplies. She never expected it was already snowing.
The emperor's mood was heavy. This was the true state of their country—their army lacked sufficient winter supplies in the cold. The clothes and fabrics produced by their people had all been plundered by Southern Chu and Northern Yan. Those two kingdoms grew stronger, while Great Li grew weaker.
A tightness in his chest made it hard to breathe.
Sensing something was wrong with him, Shen Yunyun quickly pulled him down from the tower.