Deng Yi smiled and said: “Won’t you add ‘different ages’ too?”
Chu Zhao laughed heartily and accepted the plum soup the clerk handed her, saying half-seriously with an ambiguous smile: “Don’t underestimate me. Having experienced life and death, I’m equivalent to having lived an extra lifetime.”
She took a sip of the plum soup and her mouth puckered.
“Lord Deng, what kind of taste is this? This is way too sour!”
The clerk hurriedly handed her tea.
Deng Yi drank the plum soup in one gulp and said: “A young person’s palate is different from us adults. Having tasted all the flavors under heaven, one’s taste becomes bland.”
Chu Zhao smiled: “You can make even having strong tastes sound elegant.”
Deng Yi ignored her and picked up a piece of pastry to eat.
“Do you know what my greatest realization was upon returning this time, my lord?” Chu Zhao said.
Deng Yi said: “Life is but a dream?”
Chu Zhao laughed again: “Lord Deng, please don’t always joke around.”
“What joke am I making? Didn’t you say it yourself?” Deng Yi said. “Having experienced life and death, wouldn’t you naturally develop some insights about life being like a dream?”
Chu Zhao smiled and nodded: “That’s also true.” She tapped the table lightly in mock reproach. “Lord Deng, don’t digress. Listen to me.”
Deng Yi pursed his lips, said nothing more, and made a gesture inviting her to continue.
Chu Zhao straightened her posture and said: “I want to be Empress.”
Deng Yi laughed and said: “I said life is like a dream, and Miss A’Zhao still said I was joking. You’re not the Empress in your dreams? Then wake up quickly.”
Chu Zhao couldn’t help but laugh: “When I asked the late Emperor for the empress position, it was actually for my father and for my own safety. I didn’t think much about anything else.”
To make up for regrets, to prevent Xiao Xun from becoming Emperor—everything was to prevent that life’s fate from repeating.
She had even thought that after seeing off her father, making up for regrets, and ensuring the nation was stable, she would leave the imperial city and live freely in the border commanderies.
“But having experienced this life-and-death ordeal, I understand that to be truly free, one must have power.”
She looked at Deng Yi, her eyes glittering under the palace lanterns.
“It’s the position of Empress that gave me power, allowing me to do what I must do, should do, and want to do.”
Deng Yi said with an ambiguous smile: “And, Your Majesty has also experienced the wonderful feeling of success.”
Chu Zhao looked at him and nodded: “Yes.”
Though she had no attachments, there were surprisingly so many people who cared about her.
Whether it was Xie Yanfang’s questioning tea, Zhang Gu’s respectful tea, or her female companions’ congratulatory tea.
Whether people hated her, resented her, were wary of her, or revered her, courted her.
In this life, she, Chu Zhao, was seen by others and kept in their hearts. No one could ignore her.
Deng Yi looked at the young woman before him. This was the first time he had really looked at her properly since her return.
Whether in the great court assembly or the small council meetings, the Empress and Emperor only listened to governance. He neither needed to nor had any reason to be distracted looking at her.
He also knew there were plenty of others who wanted to get a good look at her. Xie Yanfang certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity on the journey, and those women in the capital—or rather, the aristocratic clans hiding behind those women—all wanted to see her too.
Looking now, no wonder everyone wanted to see her. She truly was different from before.
Having experienced life and death, she carried an aura of killing intent.
This young woman had always been fierce—he’d known from their first meeting—but fierceness was defensive.
Killing intent was different.
Killing meant taking the initiative to attack.
Deng Yi smiled slightly: “Your Majesty shouldn’t overthink it. Whether to be Empress or not, from that moment on, it’s no longer up to you to decide.” He poured another cup of tea. “Of course, wanting to be is even better.”
“Actually, wanting to is also because this is the first time I’ve experienced how delightful it is to possess what I’ve never had before,” Chu Zhao said with another smile.
Deng Yi said nothing and pushed a cup of tea to her, listening as the young woman asked again.
“Lord Deng, why do you single-mindedly want to be a high official? What is it for?”
Deng Yi said: “What else could it be for? Of course it’s the same as Your Majesty—to experience the happiness of possessing what I’ve never had before.”
Chu Zhao smiled and took the tea he pushed toward her, clinking it against the teacup before him.
“So, don’t worry about who listens to whom, who trusts whom. Lord Deng, you and I are the same kind of people, and we want to do the same things. Let us work together in harmony to accomplish things.”
Deng Yi smiled slightly and raised his teacup, draining it in one gulp.
……
……
Besides declaring their mutual cooperation, before leaving, Chu Zhao turned back and told Deng Yi one more thing.
“Previously when I left the palace to see my father, you thought I was doing something useless,” she said. “Although this trip truly couldn’t save my father’s life, being able to accompany him on his final journey—now that I’ve lost him, my heart doesn’t feel lost and drifting with nowhere to settle. Instead, it’s more resolute and grounded than ever before.”
Deng Yi made a sound, his expression wooden: “As long as Your Majesty is happy.”
Chu Zhao smiled at him: “Even without meaning, it can make people happy.”