"Don't worry, A-Liu. They won't dare say anything in front of others or behind your back. You are my person. They are too busy flattering you to talk nonsense," Feng Muting comforted Su Fuliu, who was lost in thought.
"Can they...can they accept me? Can they accept me and you?" Su Fuliu raised her head and gazed at Feng Muting standing beside her.
Feng Muting chuckled, then knelt on one knee, took Su Fuliu's hand, and looked up at her: "You're still worried about this? It seems I need to put your mind at ease."
Su Fuliu was taken aback: "Tinglang... what do you want to do?"
"My father has already intended to pass the throne to me; it's just a matter of when I'll have the time to become emperor."
After hearing this, Su Fuliu couldn't help but laugh: "If the former Crown Prince and Prince Xiu heard what Tinglang said, they would probably be so angry that they would come back to life. The throne that they racked their brains to obtain has become something that Tinglang can do casually when he has time and postpone when he doesn't."
"That's right. Those who are favored are always fearless. A-Liu should be like that too. You are my favorite, so you need to be confident and show a fearless attitude. Soon this Feng Kingdom will be mine, and I will be yours. So what do you have to be afraid of?"
“Tinglang, why are you so good to me…” Su Fuliu’s eyes reddened.
"You little crybaby, you're crying again." Feng Muting raised his hand and gently wiped away the tears that had just spilled from Su Fuliu's eyes.
Su Fuliu leaned over and kissed Feng Muting's lips. After a brief, passionate kiss, their foreheads touched, and they were inseparable.
"Ah Liu, when I become emperor, we'll get married. Will you be my empress?" Feng Muting asked earnestly, looking at Su Fuliu, who was still panting.
Chapter 490 I'm Willing
Upon hearing this, Su Fuliu immediately sat up straight, looking at Feng Muting with a mixture of surprise and panic: "Wh...what?"
"Why is Ah Liu reacting so strongly? Doesn't she want to?" Feng Muting looked up at Su Fuliu.
"No, no, it's just... how could the world accept a man as empress? If it were just a secret marriage, it wouldn't be a problem, but to make me empress, I... you..." Su Fuliu's words were somewhat incoherent.
Seeing him like this, Feng Muting stood up and scooped him up from the chair.
Su Fuliu instinctively wrapped her legs around Feng Muting's waist, put her arms around his neck, and hung on him.
Feng Muting lifted him up so that he could look him in the eye.
He said with a serious and earnest expression, "I want to marry you, openly and honestly. Why do we have to be secretive?! I want the whole world to know that we are truly in love and truly together. So what if I'm the Empress? Who says an Empress can't be a man? Why do you care what the world thinks? It's your life. Besides, my father has already approved of you, and he and Aunt Xu already have a child. We've resolved all the subsequent issues. What else do you have to worry about?"
"I don't care what the world thinks of me, I just don't want Tinglang to be criticized by the world."
"You fool, why can't you explain yourself? If I cared about these things, I wouldn't have thought about marrying you and making you my queen. Just answer me, are you willing to marry me?"
Feng Muting stared intently at him, his gaze intense.
Su Fuliu did not avoid his gaze. He faced his heart and replied without hesitation, "I am willing. I want to be with Tinglang for the rest of my life."
"As long as you're willing, that's all that matters. You don't need to worry about anything else. I'll take care of everything. Just relax and prepare to be your new husband."
Looking into Feng Muting's determined eyes, Su Fuliu felt greatly encouraged. He had to be brave and not back down. Feng Muting was so resolute, so he should be too!
"Mm!" Su Fuliu wanted to nod vigorously to express his determination, but he didn't notice that he and Feng Muting were looking at each other at the same time and were very close. So when he nodded, he bumped his head directly on Feng Muting's forehead, making him cry out in pain.
He quickly released his arms from Feng Muting's neck, then rubbed his own forehead with one hand and Feng Muting's forehead with the other: "I'm sorry, Tinglang, did I hurt you?"
Feng Muting smiled and said, "When a little rabbit bumps into a big tiger, the big tiger doesn't feel the pain; it's the little rabbit that does."
“I’m not a little rabbit,” Su Fuliu retorted.
"Oh, I forgot, my Ah Liu isn't a little rabbit, she's a little tiger, no, she should be called a crybaby little tiger."
"..."
Seeing Su Fuliu's speechless expression, Feng Muting leaned over and kissed him: "Alright, alright, you're a little tiger, okay?"
Su Fuliu didn't answer, but went over and bit his ear. After biting it, she said fiercely, "You made fun of me. If you make fun of me again, I'll bite your other ear too!"
"Ah Liu isn't punishing me at all, Ah Liu is clearly flirting with me." With that, Feng Muting put Su Fuliu on the desk and with a wave of his hand, pushed everything on the desk to the ground.
Su Fuliu was taken aback: "How did I provoke you! And look at you, you've spilled all the documents on the floor!"
“If they’re not on the ground, then we have to be on the ground,” Feng Muting laughed.
Chapter 491 I've had a very hard time.
Not long after, a loud crash came from the study.
The desk, which had been perfectly fine, was now broken apart, and Su Fuliu and Feng Muting, their clothes disheveled, scrambled to their feet from the floor.
Su Fuliu stood aside, straightening her clothes, like a child who had done something wrong.
As Feng Muting straightened his clothes, he wondered why things had turned out this way before it even started, when he had been safe and sound for the past five days.
Su Fuliu knew that he had been trying very hard to control himself at that time, not letting himself have the slightest thought of using his internal energy. Coupled with the guilt he felt at the time, he was completely under Feng Muting's control.
But just now, he hadn't thought that much about it. Plus, he was on the desk, so he wasn't used to it and instinctively resisted. As a result, he lost control and broke the desk.
After straightening his clothes, he patted his face and breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he was still awake.
Then he squatted down and began picking up the scattered folded papers.
Feng Muting woke Su Yan up and asked, "Is the carriage ready?"
Su Yan glanced at the broken desk again and nodded: "Okay, it's fixed."
"You still have the nerve to look? Two desks are already broken. Couldn't you have prepared a sturdier one?" Feng Muting said with a dissatisfied expression.
"...Your Highness, this is already..."
"Stop making excuses, why don't you hurry up and get a sturdier one?"
"yes……"
Su Yan felt a wave of embarrassment. He glanced at Su Fuliu, who was picking up folded paper with his head down, and couldn't help but sigh that their prince really had no self-control when it came to Su Gongzi.
Su Fuliu didn't dare to look up, pretending to be very serious about picking up the folded paper. Only after Su Yan left did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief and stand up.
He looked at Feng Muting while holding a stack of folded documents and said, "Tinglang, shall we leave now?"
"Okay, give me the document." Feng Muting nodded and reached out to take the document from Su Fuliu's hand, but Su Fuliu dodged it.
"No need, it's not very heavy, I can carry it, let's go," Su Fuliu replied.
Feng Muting smiled and said, "If A-Liu won't let me carry Zhezi, then I can only carry A-Liu."
"No, no, no, then Tinglang, you should still carry the folded paper." Su Fuliu had no choice but to stuff the folded paper into Feng Muting's arms. He originally wanted to help Feng Muting carry it so that Feng Muting could have an easier time, but now that Feng Muting wanted to carry him, wouldn't that be even more tiring?
Afterwards, the two left the palace together, accompanied by the soft sound of bells.
Su Fuliu's face remained flushed as she listened to the jade bell ringing again and again, as if Feng Muting was saying "I love you" over and over again.
After arriving at the palace, Feng Muting took Su Fuliu to the Imperial Study.
Meanwhile, the Emperor was busy in the Imperial Study, and Xu Jiaolong was helping him grind ink.
"Your subject greets Your Majesty, and Aunt Xu." Feng Muting nodded slightly while holding the memorial.
"Su Fuliu greets Your Majesty and Aunt Xu."
The Emperor put down his brush and stood up: "Ting'er is finally back. I'm so sorry for the trouble you've caused me these past few days."
“Didn’t Father Emperor go through the same thing before? But now he doesn’t care about it at all,” Feng Muting said with a smile.
The emperor choked, his anger rising to a fever pitch, and immediately cursed, "You brat, you..."
Before he could finish cursing, Su Fuliu quickly took the document from Feng Muting's hands and handed it to him.
"Your Majesty, please don't be angry. The Prince has been busy ever since he returned. He has finished processing all the memorials from the manor and was worried that Your Majesty would be too tired to spend time with Aunt Xu, so he rushed to the palace immediately. Your Majesty has been working hard these past few days. Aunt Xu is newly pregnant, so it's best if she doesn't overexert herself. Your Majesty, please help her go back to rest."
Chapter 492 A grown son is no longer left at home
Su Fuliu was afraid that the Emperor would be displeased and punish Feng Muting again, so she tried her best to say nice things.
"Little Su is so sensible. But I haven't seen Little Su for a long time. Why does Little Su seem to have lost weight again? How does Ting'er take care of people? How come he's getting thinner and thinner with all his care? Little Su, tell me, does he bully you at home every day?" The Emperor seemed to be ready to stand up for Su Fuliu.
Xu Jiaolong, who was standing to the side, laughed and said, "Xiao Su has always been weak. Back in the village, Shi'er made him break out in a cold sweat. If Shi'er bullies him every day, I'm afraid Xiao Su won't be able to stand here."
The emperor was slightly taken aback after hearing this. He felt that the “bullying” he was talking about was different from the “bullying” his daughter was talking about.
Su Fuliu, who hadn't reacted much to the Emperor's words, suddenly felt her face burning hot after hearing Xu Jiaolong's reply, turning as red as a freshly picked ripe tomato.
He hurriedly waved his hand: "No, no, Your Highness doesn't bully me every day, not in any way."
"Which kind? So, Shi'er is just finding different ways to bully you? If not every day, then every few days?" Xu Jiaolong replied.
"Huh?" Su Fuliu was stunned for a moment. "It's...no, I, this I..."
Su Fuliu was eager to explain, but after stammering for a long time, he couldn't utter a complete sentence, which made him sweat profusely again.
Seeing that his face had turned red and he looked like he was about to cry, Feng Muting quickly helped him out, saying, "Alright, Aunt Xu, look how anxious A-Liu is. He's shy, so please don't tease him."
Xu Jiaolong clicked her tongue lightly: "Look at her, protecting her husband like this. Sigh, it's true what they say, once a son grows up, he's gone."
The Emperor took Xu Jiaolong's hand with one hand and touched her abdomen with the other, saying, "It's alright. If the older one doesn't make it, so be it. We still have the younger one, don't we? Come on, let me help you back to rest. After a while, I can focus on spending time with you."
After saying that, the two left.
Feng Muting then pulled the relieved Su Fuliu over, and after sitting down, he pulled Su Fuliu into his arms.
"This isn't a good idea..." Su Fuliu tried to get up, after all, this was in the palace, not like in the prince's residence, and it would be bad if people saw them.
Feng Muting pressed him down: "It's okay, no one's coming right now, just sit here peacefully."
"Well, when someone comes, I'll get up."
"Okay, sigh, why is my Ah Liu so thin-skinned?" Feng Muting leaned close to his ear and gently blew hot air into his ear.
Su Fuliu shrank her neck: "It itches, Tinglang, stop fooling around. Let's get busy, so we can go back sooner."
Feng Muting sighed softly, "I really don't want to be busy, I just want to hold A-Liu in my arms."
“Is Tinglang still not rested enough? Then Tinglang, go and rest for a while, I'll handle these matters,” Su Fuliu replied.
"No... I just wanted to hold A-Liu in my arms and had no interest in handling political affairs." Feng Muting leaned his head on Su Fuliu's shoulder and sighed.
“…Then I’d better get up. If I sit in Tinglang’s lap, he’ll be even less able to focus on state affairs.” With that, Su Fuliu was about to stand up again.
"No." Feng Muting quickly pulled him back. "Alright, alright, I'll clear my mind and focus on handling state affairs with A-Liu. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can take A-Liu back."
The two then got to work. Su Fuliu had already dealt with this twice before, so she was now handling it with great ease.
Feng Muting looked at Su Fuliu, who was holding him with his head slightly lowered and focused on reviewing memorials. He was so serious, focused and meticulous.
If it weren't for Xiao Shixun, his A-Liu would still be the most popular Crown Prince, and in the future, she would be the most diligent and benevolent emperor of Xiao Kingdom.