Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Empress-oh, wait, she is the Empress Dowager now.

Empress Dowager Zhou Rou hosted a family banquet.

She personally cooked a table full of… dishes she liked to eat.

I watched helplessly as Che’er swallowed the spicy mapo tofu she served him without so much as a change in expression.

“You… you like spicy food too?”

Che’er gave an affirmative hum in his mind. “It’s alright. I wouldn’t say I love it, but I can handle a bit.”

It seemed the boy took after his mother. I glanced at Prince An, who was huddled quietly to the side like a shivering quail.

This lad took after me; he couldn’t handle a single bite of spice.

As if sensing something, he shrank back slightly.

Seeing this, Zhou Rou ladled a bowl of hot and sour soup for him. “Are you cold? Drink something spicy to warm up, and you won’t be cold anymore.”

“…”

Che’er smiled and took the soup for him. “Imperial Mother, you’ve forgotten. Seventh Brother prefers sweets.”

He then handed him a bowl of sweet soup. “Drink some of this.”

Zhou Rou sighed and shot a glance at Prince An. “No taste.”

Holding his bowl, Prince An took a sip of the sweet soup, looked at Che’er, took another sip, and looked again.

He stared until Che’er started to feel a bit uneasy.

“Seventh Brother, why do you keep looking at me?”

He slowly swallowed the soup in his mouth and said thoughtfully, “Imperial Brother, you don’t seem to kick me anymore lately…”

I let out a cold snort. This brat was just asking for a beating.

The next instant, he choked because he was distracted, coughing as if his life depended on it.

Serves him right!

The Imperial Astronomical Bureau reported that the two Emperor Stars remained one bright and one dim. However, the bright one had dimmed slightly, while the originally dim one had brightened a little, though neither change was particularly obvious.

I was secretly delighted.

It was a good omen.

Half a month passed like this, and all was well.

Until I woke up in the middle of the night to find that Che’er was gone.

I tried every method to call out to him, but there was no response.

Right at that moment, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau came to report.

The originally bright Emperor Star had instantly turned dim!

And the originally dim one had turned bright!

The Chief Astrologer knelt on the ground, trembling. “The brightness swapped suddenly and with incredible speed. If we hadn’t kept people observing constantly, it would have been hard to notice…”

He stole a careful glance at me. “However, Your Majesty is blessed by the heavens, so naturally, all will be well…”

I stared blankly at his opening and closing mouth.

It was bad!

I had it all wrong!

It was wrong from the very beginning!

The dim one was me!

Over the past half month, Che’er had always found excuses to let me control the body more, saying he felt tired and wanted to rest. He even said that since he would have plenty of opportunities in the future, he would let me experience the pleasures of the mortal world a bit longer for now.

Coincidentally, the dim star had brightened then, so I assumed it was because I was letting him rest more.

Now that the bright star had turned dim, Che’er was gone.

He was the bright one!

Wrong!

Everything was wrong!