Chapter 1: Princess Chen

In the autumn of the third year of Yuanguang during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, more than three years had passed since the passing of Dou Taihuang Taihou, and Emperor Wu, Liu Che, had been in full control of the imperial court.

After the passing of the Grand Empress Dowager, the old Dou family faction was weakened, and the imperial relatives of the Dou clan were no longer entrusted with important tasks. Even the Eldest Princess Guantao, who had once been instrumental in helping the Emperor ascend the throne, had temporarily retracted her influence and had long ceased to inquire about court affairs.

As the granddaughter of Dou Taihuang Taihou, the current Empress Chen Ajiao was also not favored by the Emperor.

On the contrary, Lady Wei, whom the Son of Heaven had brought into Weiyang Palace from the Pingyang Marquis Mansion in the second year of Jianyuan, saw her imperial favor grow day by day, and recently, good news had spread that she was with child.

Since Liu Che's ascension, all the imperial offspring in the palace had been princesses. Now that Lady Wei was pregnant again, if this child were to be an imperial prince, it would certainly cause those ambitious feudal kings to lose hope.

Thus, the Son of Heaven spent every night in Lady Wei's bedchamber, a level of favor that made even the Empress jealous.

"Jealous of a dancing girl?" Empress Chen, dressed in a dark red deep robe with curved hems, was walking along the long corridor when she heard two palace maids picking flowers discussing the Empress. A faint trace of mockery appeared on her beautiful face.

Her personal maid, Fuqu, showed a fierce expression: "Little Mistress, this servant will call someone to drag these two little wenches here and slap their mouths."

Empress Chen raised her hand slightly, signaling the palace servants around her to remain silent; she wanted to hear what else the palace maids had to say.

"Our Lady Wei is truly blessed; the Princess Wei she bore is clever and sensible, and she is favored by His Majesty. Look at that princess in the Jiaofang Hall... I heard from sisters serving in the Jiaofang Hall that Princess Chen seems to be a simpleton, and to this day, she cannot even speak clearly."

"Hush, you dare say such things? Do you not want your life? Even if Princess Chen is a simpleton, she is still a legitimate princess; is that something you or I can discuss?"

The little palace maid playfully stuck out her tongue, put the flower leaves she had picked into the basket on her arm, and whispered: "There is no one else here, I am just saying a few words to you in private, how would I dare to speak nonsense outside?"

Hearing these words, even an outsider like Fuqu would clench her fists, let alone Empress Chen, the biological mother of Princess Chen.

"Little Mistress..." Fuqu looked at Empress Chen's cold, frozen face, and suddenly did not dare to breathe, wishing she could go and chop up these two loose-lipped palace maids to feed the pigs.

Empress Chen and the current Son of Heaven, Liu Che, had been married for many years without conceiving. In those years, in order to seek a child, Empress Chen had taken many medicines and tried various folk remedies, all to no avail.

Later, someone in the court suggested that the Son of Heaven should expand his harem to continue the imperial line, but these suggestions were all opposed by Empress Chen.

After all, Empress Chen was the biological granddaughter of Dou Taihuang Taihou, the own daughter of the current Grand Princess Liu Piao, and the niece most favored by the late Emperor.

The arrogant nature she had cultivated since childhood made her unable to tolerate her husband favoring others, let alone allowing him to expand his harem.

However, it was also because of this arrogant and domineering personality that the Son of Heaven became increasingly dissatisfied and distant from her.

In the second year of Jianyuan, for reasons unknown, the Emperor and Empress had another dispute. In a fit of anger, the Son of Heaven spent the night at the Pingyang Marquis Mansion, and the next day he brought back a dancing girl, who was the current Lady Wei.

At that time, because Dou Taihuang Taihou was suppressing the situation, the Son of Heaven had to lower his head and admit his mistake to Empress Chen. The Emperor and Empress reconciled, and that dancing girl was left behind by the Emperor.

All the changes stemmed from the beginning of the fourth year of Jianyuan.

Empress Chen suddenly became pregnant.

A child she had hoped for for many years, and now she was actually pregnant; this made Empress Chen exceptionally happy, and she cherished the child in her womb with extra care.

But at the same time, news spread in the palace that Lady Wei was also pregnant, and her pregnancy was even further along than Empress Chen's.

Was this not a blatant slap in Empress Chen's face?

Empress Chen was furious and quarreled with Liu Che for quite a while, eventually even moving to Ganquan Palace to nurture her pregnancy, only to be persuaded back by the Grand Princess later.

Afterward, Lady Wei gave birth to Liu Che's first child. Although it was a girl, Liu Che was exceptionally happy, personally bestowing the name Liu Yue, and promoted Lady Wei to the rank of Beauty.

In the fifth year of Jianyuan, Empress Chen also gave birth to a little princess. Compared to the concubine-born Princess Wei, this legitimate Princess Chen seemed to attract more attention.

However, not long after, everyone gradually discovered that the legitimate Princess Chen seemed to have some congenital deficiencies, and compared to the concubine-born Princess Wei, she was like a... simpleton.

Empress Chen's expression became increasingly gloomy. These palace maids who wagged their tongues could discuss her all they wanted; she had long since stopped caring about that scoundrel Liu Che.

But they actually dared to discuss her daughter like this!

Her A Li was just a bit slow in her reactions, yet these palace servants had spread rumors that she was a simpleton!

Empress Chen's anger surged to her heart. She looked coldly at the two palace maids before her and said: "Someone, take these two palace maids who dared to discuss the Little Mistress, and slap their mouths fifty times."

The two palace maids were startled, the bamboo baskets on their arms dropped, and the freshly picked petals fell all over the ground. Turning to see the gloomy-faced Empress Chen, they collapsed directly onto the ground.

"Empress... Empress, spare us..." The two begged for mercy, stumbling over their words. Fifty slaps to the mouth—wouldn't their faces swell up like pig heads?

Empress Chen ignored their pleas. Just as she was about to order someone to drag them away, a palace servant suddenly ran over in a hurry to report: "Little Mistress, it is bad! The Second Princess and Lady Wei have fallen into the water!"

Empress Chen's face changed drastically: "What?"

After Liu Li regained consciousness, she could see many ancient people hovering before her eyes every day, speaking words she could not quite understand.

By the time she gradually adapted to her current environment and her mind became a little clearer, she gradually confirmed one thing.

She had perhaps, probably, possibly transmigrated.

She had transmigrated from a modern corporate slave into a princess of some unknown dynasty.

The accent of the palace servants around her had a bit of a Guanzhong tone, like a dialect from Xi'an, Shaanxi. One of Liu Li's college roommates was from Xi'an, and she felt the accent was somewhat similar, though she didn't know if her judgment was correct.

Using her little head, she tried hard to recall the memories of the original body, barely summarizing and concluding a bit of information.

The original owner she transmigrated into was only five years old in nominal age this year, and her original name was also Liu Li. She was the Second Princess of the imperial family of this dynasty. She had an older sister above her and a younger sister below her. Unfortunately, the original owner's health was not good; not only was she often ill, but her intellectual development was also very slow, so she seemed to be somewhat unloved.

Fortunately, the original owner's mother was the current Empress, so at least the living conditions were good.

However, it was this fall into the water that took away the original owner's little life.

Transmigration, it sounded very fantastical, and Liu Li never expected that she would have such a marvelous experience.

The modern Liu Li was an orphan. Her parents died in an accident when she was young, and she had lived at her aunt's house since childhood, living a life of depending on others.

After graduating from college, she stayed in the city where she studied and successfully applied for a job at a Fortune 500 company through campus recruitment, becoming a contemporary corporate slave.

With a 996 workload every day, she was rolled into 007, not to mention having to listen to the capitalists mock them, the workers, as "small-town test-takers."

That morning, she was taking a project proposal she had stayed up all night to finish to the company when she saw a drowning child on the way and acted heroically to save them. When she woke up, she found herself here.

Liu Li was not sure if the modern version of herself was dead; otherwise, how could she have transmigrated?

Her gaze turned to the Empress who was still guarding the bedside, that is, the original owner's mother. Judging from her clothing and ornaments, this style of clothing should be called a curved-hem robe.

She didn't know much about Hanfu; only when she was in college, she was invited by a junior to participate in a school Hanfu activity and wore Hanfu once, and that was it.

Judging from the currently known information, could it be that she had transmigrated to the Han Dynasty thousands of years ago?

As for whether it was the Western Han or Eastern Han, and specifically which emperor it was, she had no way to judge yet. After all, it was also possible that she had transmigrated to a fictional dynasty. Since transmigration had already happened, it was not impossible for a fictional dynasty from a novel to appear.

A palace servant brought a small bowl of millet porridge. Empress Chen, while wiping Liu Li's forehead with a sweat towel, took the bowl from the palace servant, intending to feed her daughter some food herself.

Because her high fever had just subsided, Liu Li felt weak all over. Facing Empress Chen's feeding, she could only open her mouth obediently and swallow the colorless and tasteless porridge.

This ancient food had no flavor at all; it was really hard to eat.

She really missed her mobile phone, computer, and self-heating hot pot. After transmigrating, the only thing worth rejoicing about was that she finally didn't have to stay up late writing project proposals and be exploited by an unscrupulous CEO.

Barely eating half a small bowl, Liu Li really couldn't eat anymore. She gently moved her head away and said hoarsely: "I don't want to eat anymore."

Empress Chen's hand holding the bowl paused slightly, her expression surprised: "A Li, what are you saying?"

Terrible!

Liu Li's mind tightened slightly. She had just subconsciously said a sentence in Mandarin; these ancient people definitely couldn't understand it. And the palace servants' daily conversations were basically in ancient Chinese, which she had barely managed to understand by half-guessing and half-comprehending.

Because of the language barrier, Liu Li hadn't spoken since she woke up; she had really been careless just now.

Liu Li was still thinking about how to deal with it when a palace maid at the door reported: "Little Mistress, His Majesty is here."

Empress Chen's willow eyebrows tightened upon hearing this.

Then Liu Li heard the sound of wooden clogs tapping on the wooden floor, and immediately after, a tall and upright figure gradually appeared from the light outside the door.

The person was wearing black clothing, with sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes, his brow full of imperial dominance. His jawline was clean and sharp, and his handsome features looked like a beautiful man who had walked out of a portrait.

The room full of palace maids bowed to him, which indicated his identity.

Was this the emperor of ancient times? Liu Li blinked her eyes with some curiosity. From the perspective of a modern person, this emperor was quite handsome and quite majestic.

The Emperor walked to the bedside, his dark, sharp gaze falling on Liu Li on the bed, their eyes meeting.

At this moment, a Mandarin voice that she could understand came into Liu Li's mind: 【Ding, congratulations to the host for transmigrating to the Great Han Dynasty, unlocking the History Check-in System: Emperor Wu of Han chapter. Witness famous historical scenes and gain favorability from historical figures to redeem rich rewards.】

Liu Li:??????

Liu Li's pupils shrank suddenly, and she looked at the young emperor walking closer with shock and disbelief.

What?

This emperor was actually Emperor Wu of Han?

The Son of Heaven of the Great Han, Liu Che? ===== CHAPTER 2 =====

The Son of Heaven of the Great Han, Liu Che?