Zhou Ming familiarized himself with his cultivation and Divine Sense after the Breakthrough, then spread his Divine Sense out to sweep through the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Palace remained the same; the various Imperial Guard posts were orderly, and the eunuchs and palace maids were all performing their duties.

Emperor Yongchang had not attended court for several days.

It was not that he did not want to attend, but that there was nothing to do even if he did.

All government affairs were sent directly from the Imperial Palace to Empress Su Mingyue at the front lines via eagle express.

From the taxes and corvée labor of the various commanderies to the allocation of provisions for the armies, and from the proclamation of the new emperor's ascension edict to the movements of the various provinces and commanderies, there was not a single matter that required his red-ink approval.

That Dragon throne in the Imperial Palace, placed upon the gold-brick floor of the Taihe Hall, sat upright and spotless, having not been sat upon for several days.

However, Emperor Yongchang was not idle; he was busy fighting crickets with Su Mingli.

In the side hall of the Qianyuan Hall, the two men leaned over the imperial desk, with a gilded cricket jar placed between them, in which two "Black-Headed Generals" were fighting to the death.

Su Mingli rolled up his sleeves, his face flushed red, the cricket grass in his hand almost poking into the jar, while he kept shouting, "Bite it! Bite it! Bite it!"

Emperor Yongchang was slightly more reserved than him; after all, he was still wearing his bright yellow imperial robes, but his eyes were also wide open, and a smile of certainty hung on the corners of his mouth.

His "Black-Headed General" was pressing Su Mingli's "Red-Whiskered General" against the side of the jar and biting fiercely, having already bitten off half of its wing.

"Lost! Lost! Lost!" Su Mingli threw the grass in his hand onto the table, sat back down in his chair with a thud, his face full of unwillingness to accept defeat.

Emperor Yongchang pushed the cricket jar to the side, took the handkerchief handed over by a eunuch to wipe his hands, and then waved his hand to dismiss all the palace maids and eunuchs.

Looking at Su Mingli, he suddenly asked casually, "Mingli, was Zhou Ming previously a steward in your Yongning Marquis Mansion?"

Su Mingli was feeling sorry for his "Red-Whiskered General" and casually hummed in response, "He used to be the steward of the Kitchen in my sister's Begonia Court. My sister loves listening to storybooks, so he told her some stories, and I don't know how he gained my sister's trust, but she handed the entire Yuyang Commandery over to him."

He added another sentence as he spoke, "Just look at him, thin as a hemp stalk. He used to be blown over by the wind at the horse track, but now he's acting all high and mighty."

Emperor Yongchang picked up his teacup and took a sip, his gaze sweeping over Su Mingli calmly, "In that case, this person must have quite a bit of ability."

"Ability my ass!"

Su Mingli scoffed, resting his arm on the back of the chair and crossing his legs.

"He only knows how to flatter my sister. Yuyang Commandery has strong soldiers and sturdy horses; anyone could manage it, does it really need him?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yongchang set down his teacup and fell silent for a moment, appearing thoughtful.

Then, he leaned back against the Dragon throne and asked in an extremely casual tone, "Mingli, what do you say... if I were to hand the management of this Yuyang Commandery and the Imperial Palace over to you, how about it?"

Su Mingli was dangling his leg while sitting cross-legged, but upon hearing this, his leg stopped moving, and the expression on his face went through a whole set of complex changes in just a few breaths.

First, he was stunned, then came disbelief, then he was flattered, and then... then he thought of something terrifying, and the excitement on his entire face collapsed in an instant.

He pursed his lips, his eyes beginning to dart around, "This... this... this probably isn't appropriate, right? If... if my sister finds out, she'll skin me alive."

As he spoke, he shrank his neck, his shoulders almost reaching his ears. That appearance of a mouse seeing a cat whenever his sister was mentioned was completely different from the way he swaggered about outside.

Seeing his cowardly appearance, Emperor Yongchang was not annoyed, but instead laughed.

He laughed very kindly, his tone carrying a touch of elder-brotherly indulgence, "You coward. She is your own sister, can she really eat you?"

"At most, she'll just scold you, it won't cost you a piece of flesh."

Seeing that Su Mingli was still hesitating, he leaned forward a bit more, his voice dropping by half a tone.

"Besides, you are sharing the burden for the country. If you manage Yuyang Commandery well and keep the guards of the Imperial Palace in good order, the rear will be stable, and your sister can kill the enemy at the front lines with more peace of mind, right?"

Su Mingli's brows knitted together, his fingers tapping on his knees; it was clear he was undergoing an intense internal struggle.

He had grown up suppressed by Empress Su Mingyue; when his sister said west, he dared not go east, and when his sister told him to walk the cat, he dared not tease the dog.

Although he was still lackadaisical, at least on the surface, he never dared to disobey.

Now, asking him to take over things his sister had arranged made his heart flutter with anxiety, feeling like he was being clawed at from the inside.

Emperor Yongchang saw that the timing was right and added more fuel to the fire, "As long as you manage Yuyang Commandery and the guards of the Imperial Palace well, once the time is ripe in a couple of years, I will promote the Marquis title you inherited to a Duke title."

"By then, your Yongning Marquis Mansion will have two Dukes; how impressive that will be when standing in the imperial court."

"Your sister will be killing enemies and performing meritorious service at the front lines, and you will be guarding the auxiliary capital at the rear; both of you siblings will go down in history together."

"Think about it, your grandfather was a Duke, your father's Marquis title has already been posthumously conferred as a Duke, and if you are also conferred a Duke title."

"The entire Su Family will be nobility; since the founding of the Great Xia, no other Family has had such an honor. When your sister sees you then, she will have to call you Duke."

Emperor Yongchang's tone carried a touch of banter that only the two of them understood, as if he were talking about a guaranteed good thing.

Su Mingli's eyes lit up; the five words "two Dukes in one household" struck his heart, leaving his mouth slightly agape, forgetting to close it.

His fingers tapped even faster on his knees, his gaze darting back and forth several times between the cricket jar on the imperial desk and the vaguely visible wall tower outside the window.

He could imagine the scene of himself standing in the imperial court wearing a Duke's python robe, with all the civil and military officials bowing to him upon seeing him.

However, he still did not agree immediately, which showed that he was still worried about Empress Su Mingyue's reaction.

Emperor Yongchang did not give him a chance to continue hesitating.

He set his teacup down on the table, leaned back against the back of the chair, pointed at Su Mingli with his chin, and unhurriedly threw out his last sentence: "What's wrong? Do you not have confidence in yourself? If a Kitchen steward can manage Yuyang Commandery and the Imperial Palace well, as the dignified eldest young master of the Yongning Marquis Mansion and future Duke, you can't manage it?"

This sentence was like a red-hot needle, accurately and unerringly piercing into Su Mingli's most fragile self-esteem.

From childhood to adulthood, what he hated most was people saying he was inferior to others.

Being inferior to his sister he could endure, after all, Empress Su Mingyue was indeed stronger than him in every aspect.

But a Kitchen steward? Zhou Ming? That house slave of the Yongning Marquis Mansion, Zhou Ming?

That sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked, thin-as-a-hemp-stalk Zhou Ming?

As the dignified eldest legitimate son of the Yongning Marquis Mansion, if he were even inferior to Zhou Ming, would he still have the face to live if it got out?

Su Mingli stood up from his chair with a "thud," his face flushed red with excitement, from his forehead all the way to his earlobes, and even the veins on his neck bulged slightly.

He slapped the table, causing the cricket jar to bounce on the tabletop, and the "Black-Headed General" inside was shaken into chirping twice: "How is that possible! How could I be inferior to a Kitchen steward!"

"Rest assured! Hand Yuyang Commandery and the Imperial Palace over to me, and I guarantee I will guard them like an iron bucket!"

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, the more confident he felt, and his voice also rose by half a pitch, "Leave it to me!"

Emperor Yongchang watched Su Mingli's impassioned appearance, and a very satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He pushed the cricket jar back to the middle between the two of them, used the cricket grass to gently nudge the antennae of the "Black-Headed General" inside the jar, and said slowly, "Then it's a deal."

Zhou Ming withdrew his Divine Sense from the side hall of the Qianyuan Hall, picked up the teacup by his side to take a sip, and shook his head lightly towards the sky outside the window, which was gradually being dyed red by the morning light.

Emperor Yongchang is really not honest, is he? He has actually started to try and tempt Su Mingli.