The morning before the burial of the Empress dawned. The active capital city was less noisy on the orders of the royal family. No hologram ads, no unnecessary street music, no dancing in the streets or singing. Businesses could be open but there would be no rry making.
All televisions were playing the sa content: footage of the wedding of the Emperor and Empress. Others were playing her coronation, her anti tech rallies. Entertainnt channels were showing footage of her flock of swan, best outfits through the years and so even included her scandals.
Above the city, security drones, imperial space ships and police vehicles buzzed over rooftops, their lenses scanning for signs of unrest. At airports, the security was even tighter as foreign dignitaries were welcod into the empire to attend the burial.
i i found it boring. What she found more interesting was Kang Zhenzhen’s visit to her house which was unexpected.
The young woman had showed up in the morning with a bright smile, flowers and pastries. Mama Sun had not known what to make of it so she invited her inside and called i i downstairs.
The house was almost empty as most occupants had gone to the royal palace to help the royal family with funeral preparations. Madam Feng was on pastry and desert duty for foreign royals.
Mingzhu was company for the princesses and Jingzhe was a temporary advisor to the Emperor himself. Only i i had turned down the invitation, choosing to sleep in. That plan was halted by Zhenzhen’s arrival.
Mama Su ca into the living room and served them milk tea. As it was with Madam Feng’s tradition, every guest received a slice of cheesecake on visiting and Zhenzhen was treated the sa way.
Only animal shaped cheese cake slices were available and that is what she was given. One was decorated like a panda and the other a duck.
Zhenzhen smiled. It was too adorable--so much so that digging into the cake with a spoon felt like a cri. She could not help retrieving her phone and taking a picture.
"I hope that you don’t mind." She said to i i.
i i shook her head, blowing on her Brown sugar pearl milk tea. "I don’t mind. They were made to look nice for the appreciation of our eyes. My mother-in-law likes it when people appreciate her work."
Zhenzhen hid her smile behind the spoon. i i had just called madam Feng her mother-in-law. She was living with her boyfriend, his mother and her daughter. They had already ford one small happy family. No matter what people liked to assu, there was truly nothing romantic ongoing between her and the Emperor.
Zhenzhen reached into her bag and brought out a blue gift box which she handed to i i. "I hope you don’t mind that I brought you a little sothing."
i i accepted the small gift box and opened it. Inside were two very pretty silver bracelet with star shaped gems flowing down. They were a mother-daughter pair. The smaller bracelet which was ant for the daughter had a small pair of golden fists mixed in with the stars.
The fact that Zhenzhen had put so thought into the gift made i i smile.
She didn’t just smile, she laughed softly. "Why the fists?"
Zhenzhen smiled. "I called Jun Yi when I was wondering what to get you and Mingzhu as a gift. She ntioned that Mingzhu likes to express herself physically."
i i let out a small snort. "If you are trying to be polite, you don’t need to be. My daughter’s fists fly higher than the flag of the empire outside the royal palace. Martial arts is her hobby and it will be involved in her future career as a general of this empire."
Zhenzhen was rather curious about that general thing. Everyone assud that it was a joke but coming from i i, it seed like Jun Mingzhu might be grood for that position in future.
"If she does not beco a general, she might beco the first female Imperial commander of the empire." i i picked up the cup of milk and placed it near her lips. "But if she does not, I am still very willing to support her in whatever career she will pursue."
i i was not ntioning these things blindly. Only to the untrained ear would this co off as a random conversation.
She was aware that Kang Zhenzhen was being grood as the next empress of the empire and she had co over to court her in order to smooth out her path to the crown with the support of the Jun’s.
So, she was also ntioning the ambitions of her daughter because Kang Zhenzhen needed to keep them in mind. Soday, when ti ca for Mingzhu’s appointnt, if there were obstacles then the empress would have to arise.
"First female Imperial Commander." Zhenzhen said slowly as she also picked up her cup of milk tea. She looked at i i curiously over the rim of the cup. "What an ambition! There has never been a female Imperial commander in the history of our empire."
i i answered with cunning, "That is why it is called history, it is a study of the past. We should keep our minds on the future, shouldn’t we?"
Zhenzhen nodded slowly and she smiled. "Yes, the future matters more than the past. Sister, you are right."
i i arched a brow. Sister!! She wondered how long it would take for this title to fade after Zhenzhen beca the empress. Unless she was of pure intention and a good heart, only then would the title remain.
Zhenzhen continued, "Can I call you sister? I have heard that relationship between you and the Emperor is like that between a real brother and sister."
i i grimaced. In the past, yes but now....it was not as thick as it used to be. Forgiving did not an forgetting and she had simply chosen not to complicate matters and leave the past behind.
But Zhenzhen did not need to hear this. i i smiled and nodded, "Yes, we have been thick as thieves since childhood. I am younger than him and he used to drag everywhere and involve in all sorts of mischief. Whatever stories he tells you in future involving , if he claims that I started the trouble don’t believe him."
He always ca up with the ideas, she was just his accomplice. Silence followed for half a minute and they exchanged observant looks while sipping tea calmly.
Zhenzhen swallowed so cheesecake and licked her lips because it was more delicious that what was sold outside. Carefully she placed the spoon down on the saucer and put the saucer on the table. It was now ti to get down to the serious talk.
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