Shi Qingzhou paused for a while upon hearing this and had never expected Long Xiaoyuan to ask such a question, so he couldn't help looking at the latter but see the concerns in the latter's eyes.

Concerns? He was stunned again and almost thought he misread it. However, when Long Xiaoyuan looked at him in this way, it was impossible for him to think so!

"What's up? Very hard?" Having seen that Shi Qingzhou didn't reply to him, Long Xiaoyuan apparently misunderstood Shi.

Hearing this, Shi Qingzhou fixed his eyes on Long and said, "It'll be fine if I deal with it fairly, but I'm afraid I'll offend those ladies."

Long Xiaoyuan said immediately upon hearing this, "Of course, you ought to handle it fairly! Since there are too many things at the end of the year, and I've left them to you, they need doing well. If someone isn't cooperative, you can punish him pursuant to the law!"

Long Xiaoyuan uttered those righteously, so did his expression.

Shi Qingzhou paused again and asked with a hint of seriousness on his face, "Your Majesty, are you serious?"

How doubtful his empress was! Even so, Long Xiaoyuan replied while firmly nodded his head, "Of course, I'm serious. The Imperial Harem needs disciplining, too. I just announced Minister Sun to be in charge of the two banquets this morning, but when I went back to the Imperial Study, those ladies went to see me. Do you know what it stands for? Although the Imperial Harem isn't forbidden to interfere in the national affairs, women had better abide by their own duties. After all, they are just concubines, not empresses! Your Grace, you should discipline them!"

They were concubines, not empresses!

Shi Qingzhou had his heart shiver slightly and lifted his eyes to look at Long with incredibility. The latter allowed him to do so.

After a while, he knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I'll do my best. However, absent the Phoenix Seal, I'm afraid I can't..."

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"The Phoenix Seal...I'll bring it to you tonight when I come here," said Long Xiaoyuan naturally.

Came here...tonight...Shi Qingzhou's body was stiffened slightly, which Long didn't notice, though.

Long Xiaoyuan made a good plan: he decided to spend his spare time of the future three months together with his empress so as to changer his empress's attitude toward him...If so, he wouldn't be killed by his empress, would he?

Long Xiaoyuan left here in satisfactory after talking to Empress Shi. He still had a lot of memorials to deal with in the afternoon. He would read those memorials, few of which were important, but wouldn't he suffer headache if he dealt with all of them alone?

Under that circumstance, the imperial court needed a reform that would be time-consuming, though. Was there probably another alternative? For example, he could ask someone to help him with it?

Yes, it was a good idea. His empress could help him.

No, no. He originally planned to work out an outdoor tour where he was able to foster a relationship with his empress.

Oh...General Shi was a good choice. Besides, there were still several loyal ministers...

Thinking of this, he quickened his paces.

He handled the memorials to the throne by himself in the afternoon, but he returned some inexplicable ones and decided to publicly criticize them by names in the morning court the next day.

Time went quickly in the afternoon, and he directly headed for Shi's palace.

He felt quite satisfied with Shi who didn't wait for him outside this time.

In fact, though Shi Qingzhou was inside, he treated it as a test to sound out His Majesty's real intention.

He finally trusted Long Xiaoyuan a little bit upon seeing the latter look normal.

When they got inside, the eunuchs and palace maids were left outside again.

Long Xiaoyuan solemnly took the Phoenix Seal out in the sleeping chamber and said, "Please forgive me for not giving it to you until now."

After a pause, Shi said in a hurry, "Your Majesty, you must have your own considerations. I feel frightened."

"Alas." With a sigh, Long walked forward and hold Shi's hand, which slightly stiffened the latter. But soon, Shi felt relaxed.

Long Xiaoyuan said softly, "It's fine if you don't blame me on this. Now, the Phoenix Seal is all yours, and I leave my Imperial Harem to you."

"Yes! Thank you, Your Majesty. I won't let you down!"

"Eh...but you just try your best. If you're overworked, I'll blame you then," said Long with concerns.

"I understand."

"Okay...are you hungry? If so, let's have dinner. I'm starving."

"I'll ask the dinner to be served right away," said Shi hastily.

"Alright..."