It was already very late when the woman emperor came to Prince Qing's residence that night.

"Have you eaten? If not, I'll have something made for you."

The woman emperor waved a hand. "I had a little before I came... Get hot water ready, and help this emperor bathe."

Ning Chen grinned broadly. "Coming right up!"

Within half an hour, the hot water was ready.

The woman emperor walked over to the bathtub and raised her arms. "Come, Little Ningzi. Undress this emperor."

The corner of Ning Chen's mouth twitched. "Fine, I'll undress you, but could you please stop calling me Little Ningzi? I'm not a eunuch."

The woman emperor laughed. "This emperor could make you one!"

"You want to live like a widow?"

"It's not as if the Wu Kingdom has run out of men. This emperor is the ruler of a whole country, and yet the inner palace has always stood empty... Surely that makes her the most pitiful emperor in the Wu Kingdom's history?"

Ning Chen undid her sash and helped her out of her clothes, laughing. "Oh, come off it. You don't think much of any man but me... Otherwise you'd never have drugged me back then."

"Drugging you was to steal your seed, to leave the Wu Kingdom a worthy ruler... Now that you've done your job, this emperor wouldn't mind getting rid of the father and keeping the son, then finding a few pretty boys to fill up the inner palace and enjoying the life an emperor ought to have."

Ning Chen's face darkened. "Wu Xingcheng, you wouldn't dare."

"What wouldn't this emperor dare?"

The soft underclothes slipped away, baring smooth skin. Ning Chen bit her shoulder as punishment, and then, as the woman emperor cried out, he swept her up and dropped her into the bathtub.

In short order Ning Chen had stripped himself bare and jumped in after her.

The battle began!

From the water it raged on to the bed.

A jade brazier, a cold mat, mandarin ducks worked in the brocade; the powder melts, the sweet sweat runs down the…