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n“General Shi, thanks for your hard working these days,” said Long Xiaoyuan promptly upon seeing his father-in-law.

n“Your Majesty, I feel ashamed,” said Shi Qingshan immediately.

nLong Xiaoyuan helped Shi Qingshan up and said, “Minister Shi, please walk me through the matters in the imperial court.”

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nOne hour later when Shi Qingshan left, he walked out of the imperial study and headed for the Qiankun Palace.

n“Qingzhou.” When Long Xiaoyua reached there, Shi Qingzhou was doing painting, which Long Xiaoyua loved watching.

nInstead of being aesthetic and desolate, the artistic perception of Shi Qingzhou’s paintings was…ah, how to put it…empathy.

nThe mountains and rivers Shi Qingshan painted enabled to make others stand therein. Yes, this was the feeling.

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nShi Qingzhou finished the final stroke and stopped. “Come back?”

n“Yes.” Long Xiaoyuan walked over and put his hands around Shi Qingshan’s waist from behind.

nHaving looked at the hands around his waist, Shi Qingzhou said with a smile, “Do…you really leave those bandits in the hands of my father? Aren’t you afraid that he can’t handle it well?”

n“How could it happen?” Long Xiaoyuan added in surprise, “Isn’t a piece of cake for him to handle such a small deal?”

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nShi Qingzhou said with a smile, “It’s not a small deal. There are more than 4,000 bandits. Does my father have the rights to decide so many people’s fate?”

n“It’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Long Xiaoyuan kissed Shi Qingzhou. “Your father is upright and has standards in his heart. I believe he can handle it well.”

nShi Qingzhou spoke nothing and changed the subject. “Lady Shan is well now. Do you want to see her?” “Eh?” Long Xiaoyuan asked with puzzles, “Why?”

nHaving silenced for a while, Shi Qingzhou said, “Her birthday falls on five days later. You used to throw her big parties before, so this year…” Long Xiaoyuan said with his brows furrowed, “Save it.”

nShi Qingzhou calmly said with his eyes twinkling, “Okay.”

nLong Xiaoyuan asked while holding Shi’s hand, “Qingzhou, I don’t know your birthday. When is it?”

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nAfter a pause, Shi Qingzhou said, “March 5.”

n“Ah, your birthday is around the corner. I’ll throw you a big party,” said Long Xiaouan.

nShi Qingzhou said shaking his head, “Don’t do that. I don’t care about that.”

n“I’m fine with that.” Long Xiaoyuan said with a smile, “I don’t care about that, either. Qingzhou, can we be together on your birthday?”

n“Ah? Together?” asked Shi Qingzhou with confusions.

nLong Xiaoyuan said, “There will be only two of us. How about going out?”

n“Only two of us?” Shi Qingzhou winked.

n“Eh, only two of us.” Long Xiaoyuan firmly nodded and kissed Shi’s eyes.

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nShi Qingzhou said with a nod after a pause, “OK…”

nThe issue of Mount Yong was dealt with successfully within the next two months.

nSome bandits committing felonies were executed. Some were sentenced to be slave labors for several months, and some for the entire two years.

nIf they had relatives, wives, and children, the imperial court made a promise to take good care of their families until their hard labor ended.

nBesides, some were fined.

nSince they were bandits, they had a lot of money.

nAlthough those bandits were loathed, they only robbed the rich merchants and seldom robbed the passers-by.

nIf not for this, the imperial court wouldn’t have handled them with leniency.

nA lot of things happened within two months. One minister got drunk at the Small Palace Banquet and said that His Majesty was cruel and heartless. As a result, this heartless emperor ordered him to be beaten 50 times, fired him, and made an order that three future generations of his family couldn’t be ministers.

nConsequentially, the regrets almost made him drown to death in a pond.

nSomething else happened within this period.

nThe atmosphere of the imperial court changed accordingly, which Shi Qingzhou felt.

nAt least, the covetous and mean officials didn’t dare to act recklessly…

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nAn incident took place in the Imperial Harem, too.

nAfter Lady Shan was poisoned, something bad happened to Lady Rou, too. She fell into a pond when she took a walk in the Imperial Garden.

nAt that time, she was accompanied by only one palace maid. Oddly though, the palace maid was found dead in a dry well the next day when she was in a coma.

nWhen she was asked whether she was pushed into the pond after waking up, she said that she carelessly fell into the pond.

nBut, the banisters there were extremely high, so how did she carelessly fall into it?

nAs soon as she learned that the palace maid was dead, her face turned pale instantly, and she was confined to bed out of illness for a dozen days. It was said that she cared about the palace maid and felt sad for the maid’s death.

nAlthough this incident was strange, nobody could say more since Lady Rou said nothing.

nActually, Long Xiaoyuan sneakily asked Shadow Guardians about this.

nThe Shadow Guardians had their due missions and protected His Majesty all day. That day, the imperial palace was busy, and the imperial guards were on duty, so the Shadow Guardian in charge of that area didn’t keep eyes on that.

nBut, this incident happened.

nLying on the bed tonight, Long Xiaoyuan suddenly recalled an important problem.

nIt was almost three months since he time-traveled here!

nHe saw the ending in that book…Alright, he would be killed several days later…Shi Qingzhou would become the new emperor.

nNow, he had an intimate relationship with Shi Qingzhou who also became his lover, so the so-called ending should be changed, shouldn’t it?

n“What are you thinking?” asked Shi Qingzhou while drying his hair by use of a towel and his internal force. When he finished the shower, he saw that Long Xiaoyuan was in a daze with his head on his arms.

nLong Xiaoyuan blinked and said with a smile, “Nothing. I just feel having the internal force is quite convenient. Is your hair dry?”

nShi Qingzhou said with a smile, “You can also do it…”

n“You’re right.” Long Xiaoyuan said after hugging Shi Qingzhou, “The evening is long…Qingzhou, if we don’t do anything torrid, we’ll feel sorry for ourselves, won’t us?”

nWith his eyes twinkling with splendor, Shi Qingzhou then closed his eyes.

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