Chapter 5: The Naive Little Girl Emperor

In the grand hall, Fang Xu sat cross-legged on the floor, gazing at the little girl perched on the chair before him. The girl pouted in discontent, glaring at Fang Xu, but there was nothing she could do about him. After all, she understood well enough that she couldn’t kill Fang Xu right now—otherwise, she would have torn him to pieces long ago.

“Little one, are you sleepy?” Fang Xu noticed the weariness on her face and asked gently.

“Do not call me ‘little one’! You must address me as—Your! Majesty! The! Emperor!” she snapped, her tone imperious, though Fang Xu only found it amusing.

“Very well, Your Majesty. Are you sleepy now?” he asked with a smile. At last, the little empress couldn’t stifle a yawn.

“If you’re tired, why not rest for a while?” Fang Xu suggested cautiously, not wanting to provoke her.

“Then you mustn’t… call me ‘little one’!” she retorted, lifting her head with petulant pride. But being so sleepy, her head drooped almost immediately.

“Alright, I won’t call you that anymore. Is that better? By the way, how should I address you?” Fang Xu realized, to his embarrassment, that he didn’t even know her name.

“Hmph! My name is Qin Suwen. Isn’t it lovely? Remember it…” she declared, and then promptly fell asleep.

Fang Xu stood, brushed the dust from his clothes, and carefully lifted the little girl in his arms. She was so light, hardly weighing anything, but Fang Xu’s gaze involuntarily strayed to her chest. He quickly chastised himself—how could he harbor such thoughts? What had he learned in his nine years of compulsory education?

After settling her in, Fang Xu couldn’t help but yawn himself, though he didn’t feel the least bit tired, having gone to bed early the night before. Besides, now that he knew the emperor wasn’t some burly brute, he was secretly relieved—at least he wouldn’t be the one getting roughed up.

With that thought, he tiptoed to the doors of the great hall and pushed them open. A few young ladies immediately gathered around.

“Consort, is there anything you need us to do?” they whispered, their voices hushed in the late hour.

At first, Fang Xu truly didn’t have anything for them, but then he remembered the little girl sleeping inside. He found himself wanting to know more about her—after all, she was, in some sense, his “husband” now.

Why did that feel so strange? Pushing the thought aside, he asked the ladies about Qin Suwen.

Afterwards, Fang Xu understood why Qin Suwen disliked being called “little one.” To her, it was a denial of her identity. What’s more, no one could have imagined that someone so young could achieve what everyone else deemed impossible.

“You’re certainly no mere child,” Fang Xu murmured with a smile toward the bed in the hall.

“What are you talking about, Consort?” one of the young ladies asked, puzzled. Fang Xu offered no explanation and simply returned to the hall.

If, at first, the notion of having transmigrated seemed absurd, Fang Xu now suspected that perhaps fate had sent him to help relieve the burdens of this little emperor. Or so he guessed.

Looking at the bed, he felt a headache coming on. The little girl’s sleeping posture was astonishingly strange—she’d kicked off the quilt and taken over the entire bed.

Clearly, there was nowhere for Fang Xu to sleep. His only option was to rest his head by the bed for a while. She was far too young; he didn’t want to risk being accused of anything improper.

But before he could sleep for long, a shrill, piercing cry jolted him awake. When he opened his eyes, the little girl was clutching the quilt in panic, staring at him with a mix of shame and fury.

“What now?” Fang Xu asked lazily, recalling how many times he’d covered her with the quilt last night. He even bore the faint imprint of her foot on his face. Not only was she ungrateful, but she was also shouting at him!

“Why are you by my side?” Qin Suwen demanded, cheeks flushed.

Right, why was he in the bed? Hadn’t he fallen asleep beside it? He realized he must have been so tired that he crawled up without noticing.

But since nothing had happened, was there really any need to make such a fuss?

“Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything to you,” Fang Xu said, guessing she feared he’d taken advantage of her.

“Relax, I’m not interested in little girls,” he added with a yawn. In response, Qin Suwen’s foot flew at him.

“Mother said that if a man and a woman sleep together, it will… it will… it will lead to babies!” Qin Suwen stammered, her face burning red.

She was a far cry from the haughty girl of before, and Fang Xu found it hard to suppress a laugh—though reason ultimately prevailed.

“Don’t worry, there won’t be any babies,” Fang Xu said as he stood up to leave the bed, only for Qin Suwen to grab the hem of his robe.

“If… if there really is… a baby, what then?” she whispered shyly, still clutching his sleeve.

“Ah! What are you doing?” Before she could react, Fang Xu had pressed her beneath him.

“If there really is a baby, I’ll take responsibility,” he murmured in her ear, feeling, for once, that he’d said something truly manly.

“But… but…” Qin Suwen still looked worried. Fang Xu decided he’d have to have a word with her mother—what kind of parent fills a child’s head with such nonsense?

“Rest assured, just sleeping together innocently won’t lead to any children,” Fang Xu reassured her, and for some reason, he found her cuteness utterly endearing.

“R-really? Is that true?” she asked, gripping his sleeve tightly. Fang Xu nodded at once.

After all, looking at her now, he felt his self-control was wearing thin. If he didn't rein himself in, perhaps there really would be a baby someday.

But before he could move, Fang Xu realized he couldn’t. At some point, Qin Suwen’s arms had wrapped around his neck.

“Then… then… what does it mean to sleep together not-so-innocently?” she asked in a soft voice, turning her face away.

Fang Xu was struck speechless. His throat burned, desire stirring within him. He feared he might do something reckless at any moment, and he was fast losing control.