The main reason he couldn’t stop was that he also wanted to lick.

It was like Lu Xingzhou seeing pretty feet… no, that’s wrong, seeing a bear, that’s also something he wanted to lick, no one needed to force him.

Long Qinghuang felt that she was playing with a pretty boy, which at least made her arrogant mood feel a little better. Especially with the arrival of the little palace maid, Long Qinghuang found a way to maintain her composure. Her willowy brows furrowed, and her dragon eyes were stern: “You entered without being summoned. Do you need to observe how I favor my beloved concubine?”

It was unclear if she was scolding them or if she had found an opportunity to deliberately emphasize that she was “favoring” him rather than serving him.

Unfortunately, the little palace maid couldn’t tell. She knelt down in a panic: “Your Majesty, Prime Minister Longyan and others are outside the palace, asking if Your Majesty will hold court…”

Uh, hold court?

Was that today?

Long Qinghuang almost forgot.

She almost had to activate her brain to remember, “Oh, and I said yesterday when I briefly spoke with them outside the palace that there was a major issue to be discussed at court tomorrow morning. Today, I’ve just returned to Jingcheng after a long journey, so I’m tired and need to rest first.”

And now it was “tomorrow morning”?

It was easy to imagine how many things the important ministers had accumulated to report, with baskets full of reports. But when they arrived at court, the Emperor was gone.

Lu Xingzhou, who was looking down at the documents but actually listening intently, felt a little exasperated just imagining it. But then he heard Long Qinghuang say self-righteously, “What’s wrong with being a little late? I was exhausted from the journey yesterday and simply overslept.”

The little palace maid bowed her head: “Mhm, mhm.”

This Emperor usually had the final say, dignified and tyrannical. Not to mention Prime Minister Longyan’s loud and rough temper just now, if His Majesty were truly standing in front of those people, most of them would shrink back, no one daring to utter a sound, let alone a little palace maid like her.

Long Qinghuang stretched lazily and stepped out of bed nonchalantly: “Go tell them to start the discussion, I’ll change and be there shortly.”

The little palace maid was about to rise, having received her orders, when she heard Long Qinghuang continue: “Xiao Kui…”

The little palace maid, startled, knelt down again.

“?” Long Qinghuang was puzzled: “Why are you so nervous? I want you to prepare breakfast for Master Lu and his apprentice. Remember, it has to be our Yaoyu’s specialty cuisine. Master Lu likes it.”

Xiao Kui: “…”

“I know you dote on Master Lu.” The problem now was that Xiao Kui didn’t know what Yaoyu’s specialty cuisine was, as she didn’t know which foods humans didn’t have.

Xiao Kui didn’t dare to ask. She sniffled and went out to relay the message, secretly thinking that the guards should know.

On the other side, the Prime Minister and others received Xiao Kui’s message and left with joy, thinking that His Majesty hadn’t completely lost her mind and was finally willing to attend court. “That’s good, that’s good. Later at court, everyone will collectively remonstrate to see if we can bring His Majesty back…”

“Yaoyu’s specialty cuisine?” The guards were also puzzled by Xiao Kui’s words. How would they know about this? Even if they understood human intelligence, it wasn’t about food. Who would be so bored as to collect such information?

Last night, they did see him eating snacks while shopping, and they remembered what he ate.

The guards looked at each other, quickly understood, and vanished.

When they reappeared, they had already brought in more than ten of yesterday’s shopkeepers and stall owners: “His Majesty wants you to make food.”

Inside, Lu Xingzhou carried Anuo out to stretch his muscles, and he was dumbfounded by the sight.

Isn’t this “femme fatale” already a solid fact? Not only would she be scolded in court, but even among the common people, her reputation would probably stink for miles around.

Therefore, it’s easy to be a muddled ruler. With just a casual word from you, your subordinates can make things into something even you don’t understand.

Lu Xingzhou immediately said, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. His Majesty merely praised your excellent cooking and wants the imperial chefs to learn your snack recipes. Um, here’s some reward money. Take it first. If you teach the imperial chefs, there will be a generous reward.”

The shopkeepers and stall owners, who had been looking at the “femme fatale” with murderous intent, instantly broke into smiles: “Your Majesty, rest assured, we will do our utmost to ensure your satisfaction.”

Lu Xingzhou’s smile froze on his face, and he walked away, carrying Anuo.

Anuo laughed until his stomach hurt.

“Hey, hey, empress.” The guards reached out to stop him, smiling apologetically: “His Majesty has decreed that the empress may wander freely anywhere in the palace, but she is not permitted to leave the palace.”

Lu Xingzhou gnashed his teeth and indignantly went to the Imperial Garden.

It was only upon reaching the Imperial Garden that he realized the plants there were quite ordinary, lacking the splendor he had imagined for a Yaozu Imperial Garden. Lu Xingzhou turned around, somewhat puzzled, and asked, “What’s wrong with the plants here? Does His Majesty not enjoy flowers and strolls in her leisure time?”

In fact, let alone the flowers and plants, there were very few attendants in the palace. No eunuchs were seen, only a few palace maids, and the guards were stationed outside the palace gates, not patrolling inside. As a result, the entire palace looked very empty and desolate, and walking to the Imperial Garden felt like a private tour.

Xiao Kui had been following behind, serving, and hearing this, she smiled apologetically: “How could His Majesty have the time to manage these things on weekdays? And our Harem has no master. Even attendants are hardly needed. His Majesty usually only has a few people around her. It’s mostly me who takes care of the flowers and plants here…”

Lu Xingzhou said, “You wouldn’t be a sunflower, would you?”

Xiao Kui said, “I am a sunflower.”

“Uh… no wonder your face is like a large basin.”

“How many people are in the entire palace’s establishment?”

Xiao Kui counted on her fingers: “About a dozen.”

Anuo couldn’t help but ask, “Then with such a large palace, can so few of you clean it all?”

“…Does cleaning require a lot of people?” Xiao Kui looked at Anuo as if she had seen an idiot: “We have magic.”

Anuo: “…Wait a moment.”

Xiao Kui: “What?”

“Are you thinking that this adopted daughter is just a temporary thing, and once the little dragon is born, you’ll throw me into the mountains? What are you so proud of?”

Xiao Kui was shocked: “How did you…”

Before she could finish, she quickly covered her mouth, her expression terrified.

Anuo: “…”

The master and apprentice looked at each other and stopped talking.

Anuo’s talent for communicating with plants actually had a reinforcing effect here; plant-type demons could have their thoughts heard… It’s just that Xiao Kui had just transformed and was very weak. It was unknown if this effect would still work against stronger plant demons.

Speaking of which, plants originally had a natural affinity for Anuo. After demonization, they gained independent thought, which instead diminished this affinity by a layer? At least it couldn’t compare to Xiao Kui’s loyalty to Her Imperial Majesty, the Dragon Empress, who was actually secretly badmouthing Anuo and already vying for the position of Crown Prince.

Lu Xingzhou found it truly amusing and turned to say, “The palace’s demonic energy is so dense, why don’t the flowers and plants become demonized?”

Xiao Kui said, “Of course not everything can become demonized; you need talent! At least it’s very difficult for these ordinary flowers and plants to demonize! I am a sunflower that grew on the Sacred Mountain.”

Lu Xingzhou said, “Since you said the Harem has no master and the flowers and plants here are unattended, how about I give you some special crop seeds, and you take charge of planting them?”

Xiao Kui was clearly very enthusiastic about the job and chirped, “Okay, okay, I’ll definitely grow them beautifully for Your Majesty, as beautiful as Your Majesty herself!”

“…If you can’t chat, you can saw your mouth off.” As an alchemist, Lu Xingzhou had many different medicinal seeds on him. After giving some to Xiao Kui, he lost the mood to continue touring the palace.

What’s so good about touring such a desolate palace? Everywhere felt like the cold palace, so he carried Anuo back to the Empress’s bedchamber.

Bored, he also wrote a plaque and hung it up: “Niluan Gong” (Rebellious Palace).

Xiao Kui was startled: “No, Your Majesty!”

“Didn’t you go plant flowers? How did you pop out again?”

“Your Majesty didn’t say I had to plant them right now.”

“Then plant them now.”

“But this plaque cannot be hung. This ‘rebellious’… it’s treasonous.”

“I meant yin and yang in disorder.”

“No matter what it means, it’s not allowed.”

Lu Xingzhou laughed in exasperation: “I bet your Majesty will only argue with me about who’s on top when she sees this plaque. You’re just overthinking things. If someone else wrote a book about a chaotic era, would you ban it?”

Xiao Kui couldn’t argue with her majesty and was whimperingly sent off to plant flowers.

Lu Xingzhou comfortably sat back in the soft chair and continued to read the documents.

Anuo chuckled beside him: “Aren’t you helping Sister Long find the mole? Why are you so leisurely?”

“With a sweep of my divine sense, I’ve already read it all.”

“So, you were just pretending to read before, to trick Sister Long into kissing you.”

“Knowing is one thing, saying it out loud is another.”

“And now?”

“Purely out of boredom, a second read-through.”

Anuo was exasperated: “So, have you found the mole?”

Lu Xingzhou gently tapped the documents, lost in thought.

He originally thought that if there were ideological problems, some clues could be discerned from their backgrounds, experiences, and daily behaviors. Long Qinghuang understood Lu Xingzhou’s meaning and had reviewed the information herself, providing documents that leaned toward this aspect.

However, based on the current information, no one showed obvious ideological differences.

Of course, expecting to find such things in the资料 Long Qinghuang provided herself was unreliable to begin with. If she could sense obvious differences, Lu Xingzhou wouldn’t need to rack his brains. Naturally, no obvious things could be seen from the资料 she provided… Lu Xingzhou originally hoped to discover some blind spots hidden in irrelevant content, but unfortunately, there were none.

Long Qinghuang might not have been so diligent when writing the资料; who knows what she was thinking about while writing.

But Lu Xingzhou did notice something else.

Long Qinghuang was a narcissistic dragon; in her eyes, everyone had a little crush on her. But in this information, there were only two people bashfully written as having a crush on her: one was Long Lie, who was responsible for restraining Hai Ruyuan during Long Qinghuang and Gu Zhanting’s decisive battle, and the other was Long Yun, who was assigned to control the city’s formations at that time.

Long Qinghuang’s arrangement at the time was deliberate; she had a backup plan, but the other party didn’t make a move, so her backup plan wasn’t forced out. This indicates that Long Qinghuang’s own suspects were also these two, suspecting that it was related to emotional issues, and that they became agitated because they were rejected.

For a major event involving two nations, this direction of suspicion is a bit… that, but it is indeed somewhat possible that it is the truth.

If the truth is to be dug from this aspect, then the “indulgence in male beauty” of these two days is unexpectedly the best solution to the problem; as long as the stimulation continues, the other party will definitely take action.

No man can tolerate being cuckolded, and dragons are the same.

Additionally, there was another matter… from the data, pure-blooded dragons were few.

During the war, Long Qinghuang already relied heavily on foreign confidants like Shi Kuang, and there were not many dragons left in the court. As for Long Zheng and his ilk, whom he knew before, they were merely sub-dragons.

Is there still a problem here? Long Qinghuang herself doesn’t marry or bear dragon children, what about other dragons? Are they also DINKs?

Or is it another traditional problem, where powerful races have more difficulty reproducing… Is it that the dragon race sows various sub-dragons not just because of their inherent promiscuity, but because pure-bloods cannot reproduce, so interbreeding is also acceptable?

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