Ning Chen was left utterly speechless.

The Ninth Princess wasn't taking the throne for any other reason. She just wanted to get one up on Wu Xingcheng.

Still, knowing her, he was sure she'd make a good emperor!

After everything he'd been through, Ning Chen knew there was no one in this world you could count on... He'd once believed the Eldest Prince truly regretted what he'd done. Who'd have thought the bastard was hiding so much?

It was true: there were two things in this world you couldn't look at straight on. One was the sun. The other was the human heart. (TL Note: A popular Chinese saying, adapted from La Rochefoucauld's maxim that neither the sun nor death can be looked at steadily. The Chinese version puts the human heart in place of death.)

So, after turning it over and over, he'd decided that putting his own woman on the throne was the safest bet!

The Ninth Princess suddenly looked at Ning Chen. "Before I become emperor, there's one more thing you have to do!"

"What's that?"

The Ninth Princess said, "It's time you gave Sister Yudie and Sister Zisu a proper place in the family!

People may respect them because of you, but they ought to have a place of their own."

Ning Chen looked at the Ninth Princess in surprise and patted her little head. He hadn't expected her to bring that up.

Ning Chen smiled. "Actually, I've thought about it before, but I've been too busy to get to it.

I'm planning to hold a wedding and bring the two of them into the family properly. Nothing big, just our own people celebrating together... What do you think?"

He hadn't given Yudie and Zisu a place yet, but not because he'd forgotten. He had other reasons.

Yudie had been his first woman. All these years, no matter what happened, she and Zisu had stayed by his side and never once wavered.

He didn't want Yudie and Zisu to become concubines. He wanted them to be equal wives!

But that was something he had to talk…