Chapter 190: Chapter 190: Annihilate Your Nine Generations, Trouble at Home
After all, Ji Qingwu remembered that the man before her was the unspeakably noble Emperor.
So, she just handed him the copper water pot she used for her flowers and plants, letting him do the graceful work of watering them off to the side.
As for the rough work of digging soil and unearthing roots, she would do that herself.
It was the first time Emperor Wu Su had ever seen someone ask him for a reward—not for fame or fortune, but for him to help them with chores. What a novelty.
Just then, Ji Qingwu waved her small trowel at him. "Your Majesty," she said, "these that have fallen over... their roots and stems haven’t broken. We can still save them."
She had even used the word "save" for a medicinal herb.
She never looked down on any form of life, and plants were no exception.
Ji Qingwu crouched among the colorful array of medicinal herbs. With her small trowel, she nimbly and carefully dug up a plant by its roots, excavated a new home for it, and settled it in.
Then she lifted her head, her gaze fixed directly on Emperor Wu Su.
He gazed at her delicate face as she crouched among the green leaves, momentarily lost in thought as an inscrutable light flickered in the depths of his eyes.
’I should plant a little medicinal herb just like this one in the Imperial Garden,’ he thought.
’To prevent what happened today, with someone trampling it, I need to transplant it over as soon as possible.’
’But before that, there are some thorny issues I need to carefully resolve.’
Emperor Wu Su had already begun scheming in his mind and did not respond to her gaze.
By the time Ji Qingwu’s legs grew sore from squatting, she couldn’t help but call out, "Your Majesty."
Her tone held a hint of resentment. Emperor Wu Su finally snapped out of his trance and asked in a clear voice, "Hm? What is it?"
Ji Qingwu didn’t feel like talking and simply made a watering motion with her hand.
Only then did Emperor Wu Su walk over. The copper water pot, held in his large hand, looked like a child’s toy, and his posture as he watered the plant was more like that of someone pouring wine.
A fine spray of water trickled down. He realized she had modified the spout.
Seeing him start to water, Ji Qingwu went back to her own work.
She crouched before the newly replanted herb, muttering to herself.
"To have His Majesty the Emperor personally water you, you’re now an aristocrat among plants. You have to grow up big and strong and produce seeds quickly to repay me."
When Emperor Wu Su heard what she was saying, he couldn’t suppress the smile playing on his lips.
’Why was she even urging a medicinal herb to bear children and repay her?’
Ji Qingwu wasn’t finished. She continued, "Drink your water every day, get plenty of sun, and don’t be so dramatic and act like you want to die all the time. Be strong."
She was even giving the herb a pep talk. The Emperor’s expression grew increasingly soft.
Ji Qingwu earnestly pointed to the man beside her, her tone half-joking and half-serious. "See him? The man next to me is the Emperor. He can execute your entire clan—all your relatives from the same plant family won’t be able to escape."
Emperor Wu Su burst out laughing.
Ji Qingwu turned to look at him, saying with a completely straight face, "What is Your Majesty laughing at? These plants can understand speech. If you praise it, its leaves will become especially green and vibrant."
Emperor Wu Su sensed the seriousness in her tone, so he stifled his laughter and asked, "Ah Wu, you just used my imperial status to threaten it. Won’t that just make it wilt from despair?"
Ji Qingwu shook her head. "It won’t. This one is very special. If you praise it too much, it’ll have a growth spurt for a few days and then get lazy and stop growing. That’s why I need to keep pushing it."
No matter how precious a medicinal herb was, it was still just a plant. Emperor Wu Su had never heard of a plant with such a temperament.
But one dared to make the claim, and the other dared to believe it.
He went along with Ji Qingwu’s charade and said to the plant, "Grow up well. I will come to see you again. If you don’t grow well, all the medicinal herbs in this courtyard will be buried along with you."
Ji Qingwu shot him an approving glance.
In truth, what she didn’t say was that this plant was a foreign species, one she had spent a good number of points to redeem from her system.
As for its effects, they were also extremely special, but she had never had occasion to use it since her arrival. She hoped she never would.
Ji Qingwu gazed at His Majesty the Emperor’s handsome face and his gallant figure as he watered the plant, when she suddenly realized the copper water pot was still sprinkling water.
She quickly pressed down on the Emperor’s hand. "Your Majesty, it’s about to drown! Stop watering it."
Emperor Wu Su hadn’t been paying any attention to whether the copper water pot was still sprinkling. His mind had long since wandered, and even while watering the plants, his eyes had been fixed on the person beside him.
Ji Qingwu was wearing bright red lip rouge, which made her pearly white teeth stand out. And being this close, he could even smell a sweet, nectar-like fragrance.
"No more water?" he confirmed.
Ji Qingwu nodded. ’I should take over this job, too. This emperor who’s never done a day of hard labor in his life should just stand aside and watch.’
Emperor Wu Su decisively set down the copper water pot.
In the end, after all that fuss, he had only watered that one single herb.
But he didn’t *just* water that one herb.
Lan Zhi, who had gone to Mrs. Qiao’s Anju Garden to give a simple report of the day’s events, returned to find her miss staring at the medicinal herbs, her face flushed bright red.
Lan Zhi remembered perfectly well what makeup she had applied. ’Fifth Missy isn’t wearing such bright red rouge.’
Moreover, the bright red rouge on Ji Qingwu’s lips was gone, revealing her natural lip color, which was as full and tender as a ripe pink peach.
Lan Zhi then looked around the rest of the courtyard and cried out in alarm, "Fifth Missy, were there bandits in our courtyard?"
Ji Qingwu, who had turned into a bashful mimosa, nodded, then shook her head.
After she and Lan Zhi had tidied up the mess in the courtyard, she changed into a fresh set of clothes and went to find Mrs. Qiao.
She planned to review the day’s events in detail with Mrs. Qiao and, while she was at it, hopefully receive a few words of praise.
Mrs. Qiao had just finished with the account books and had the steward distribute the monthly silver to the various courtyards. Now she was resting her head on her hand, having Chunhua massage her temples.
When Ji Qingwu entered the room, she saw her mother looking exceptionally troubled.
Forgetting about her own matter, she asked urgently, "Mother, what happened? I’ve rarely seen you look so anxious."
Mrs. Qiao hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about this, intending to find a solution on her own.
But now, her eldest daughter, Qingrong, was already married and pregnant; this matter couldn’t even be mentioned to her.
Ji Changlin was far away on a diplomatic mission to Nanchu and couldn’t help. Besides, exchanging letters took too long, and saying too much would only add to his worries.
Mrs. Qiao looked at her youngest daughter. Xiao Wu was sharp-eyed and perceptive; she had seen that something was wrong at a single glance.
Mrs. Qiao had already heard from Lan Zhi how brilliantly Xiao Wu had executed her plan to reject the marriage proposal today.
Ji Qingwu feigned annoyance. "Mother, just tell me. Are you still trying to hide things from me? You told me before that I didn’t trust you, but now it seems you’re the one not confiding in me."
As she spoke, a hint of hurt seemed to cross her expression.
Mrs. Qiao sighed. "How could I ever treat you like an outsider?" she said, then her brow furrowed. "It’s because of your father."
Ji Qingwu hadn’t seen her father since she had returned home.
She had only heard about him from Mrs. Qiao and her older siblings.
Ji Bo Lian was serving as an official away from home, leaving Mrs. Qiao to manage the entire household. ’What on earth could have happened to make Mother so worried?’
