Chapter 784

Great Tang, Great Ming Palace.

Shangguan Wan'er walked briskly into Wu Zetian's bedchamber, her face beaming with joy.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, a great victory, a great victory…"

But once she stepped inside, she discovered Wu Zetian with her face covered in some strange stuff, dressed in a light gauze robe, lying there without moving.

"Ah? Your Majesty, what's wrong with you?"

Shangguan Wan'er was startled, thinking something had happened to her empress.

Immediately forgetting to deliver the good news, she rushed forward to check if her sovereign still had a pulse.

"Hey! What are you doing…"

Wu Zetian, who had seemed barely breathing a moment ago, jolted awake and shot Shangguan Wan'er an annoyed glare.

"Meiniang? Are you alright?"

Shangguan Wan'er, no longer caring about propriety, reached to peel off the strange stuff on Wu Zetian's face.

"Don't touch me! Don't move it!"

Wu Zetian snapped at once.

"What is this?"

Hearing the strength in Wu Zetian's voice and confirming she was fine, Shangguan Wan'er couldn't help asking curiously.

"Oh! This is cucumber. I heard the palace maids whispering that applying cucumber keeps the skin supple…"

Wu Zetian's answer took Shangguan Wan'er completely by surprise.

"You… you're doing skincare?"

No matter how hard she racked her brain, Shangguan Wan'er couldn't figure out why her sovereign was applying such a thing.

After all, Wu Zetian was not only the empress, she had every kind of beauty-preserving elixir imaginable.

She was a peerless beauty, destined sooner or later to make it onto the Heavenly Dao Hundred Flowers Ranking.

Did she really need to copy ordinary palace maids and slap cucumber on her face?

More importantly, the emress applying cucumber for beauty was probably…

"Oh, you!"

Wu Zetian, a little put out, peeled off the cucumber slices one by one and set them aside, revealing skin that seemed to break at a touch. Cupping her own cheeks, she wore a worried look.

"Think about it—that fallen princess Honglian, the fisher-girl Long Er, they've all made the list.

I look at them, and they're not even as pretty as me.

By now, that May fellow Li Canghai has probably already gone off to find them.

Why can't I get on the list?

So I suspect it's because I worry too much about state affairs, and that's damaged my looks.

So I got this folk remedy to try preserving my skin.

Who knows, maybe next time I'll make the list!"

"…"

Shangguan Wan'er listened to Wu Zetian's words in a daze, speechless for a long moment.

The empress worrying about state affairs?

This time the Great Yuan launched a three-pronged southern campaign, and the northern border of Great Tang has been thrown into utter chaos.

Up ahead, Di Renjie commands and coordinates, while she, Shangguan Wan'er, actively cooperates from the rear.

Meanwhile, the empress who should be busy seems to spend most of her time resting in her bedchamber, doesn't she?

If sleeping, eating, admiring flowers, and raising cats count as worrying about state affairs!

Mm!

Then Your Majesty truly is worrying herself to death…

Shangguan Wan'er, too drained to complain, could only stop indulging Wu Zetian's obsession with the Heavenly Dao Hundred Flowers Ranking. She refused to take the bait and instead said,

"Your Majesty, in this great northern victory, Su Dingfang has not only occupied the Hetao region.

Di Gong has even encircled them on all sides, trapping Mu Huali's remnants in Beizhen.

Once the timing is right, this campaign can be wrapped up."

"Oh! You just handle that. Wan'er, help me check—after this treatment, is my skin a bit more supple?"

Saying so, Wu Zetian actually reached out, took Shangguan Wan'er's slender hand, and pushed her face forward.

Clearly, she meant for Shangguan Wan'er to pinch her cheeks.

Shangguan Wan'er couldn't help laughing and crying at once. Her empress really did care more and more about her looks.

Though there were ten thousand state affairs, for now she could only obediently give a pinch, then said in a teasing tone,

"Not bad! Delicate as ever, enough to make even me feel pity!"

After saying that, she stretched out her "Lushan claws" to tickle the empress,

"But you, as empress, have been slacking off this whole time, and you even interrupted me. Let's see how I deal with you, you little minx."

"Ah… how dare you…"

Wu Zetian, tickled in a sensitive spot, pretended to be angry and counterattacked Shangguan Wan'er.

For a moment, there was no longer any sovereign and minister here.

Only two peerless beauties, frolicking on the bed.

After quite a while, the two finally stopped, flushed and breathless.

"Enough! Are you done playing around?"

Shangguan Wan'er quickly straightened her own attire, then helped tidy up Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian's face was full of smiles as she pouted and said,

"Wan'er, honestly, I've come to feel more and more that being the Empress is no fun at all.

So what if it's for ten thousand generations, so what if the nine provinces are unified — I'm still just a lonely soul all alone."

Over the years, Wu Zetian, as Empress, had felt not a shred of happiness except in the early days of seizing power.

"Alright, alright! Just think of it as doing it for the people of Great Tang.

If you don't serve as this Empress, then who will serve as Emperor?

Prince Linzi? Prince Xiang? Or perhaps Liang Wang?"

Shangguan Wan'er knew Wu Zetian's spirits were low, yet she still offered counsel.

The few people she mentioned all had some connection to Wu Zetian.

Liang Wang Wu Sansi, moreover, was a member of the Wu clan.

It's just that none of these princes was an easy mark.

Upon hearing their names, Wu Zetian couldn't help but feel a chill run through her heart.

She understood that if the realm of Great Tang were handed over to them, it would actually be dangerous.

"Sigh! Really, if I could pass the throne to you, I'd abdicate right now."

Wu Zetian said to Shangguan Wan'er, half in jest and half in earnest.

Over the years, Shangguan Wan'er was nominally the inner chancellor, but in reality many of Wu Zetian's decisions were made by her.

It's just a pity that Shangguan Wan'er was not of imperial blood — no matter what was said, she could never become the second Empress.

"Spare me! If it weren't for you, do you think I'd be so fond of staying in the imperial palace?"

Shangguan Wan'er also refused in jest, but in truth she was speaking her heart.

The imperial palace was incomparably complex, full of scheming and deceit.

If Wu Zetian were not her intimate confidante, she would have long since left the palace.

"Fine, fine! You won't take it, I don't want it either, yet that lot keeps eyeing this position — really, it's…"

Wu Zetian couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.

On the surface, Great Tang appeared prosperous and the people at peace, with timely winds and rains.

But in truth, undercurrents surged in the shadows — who knew how many people wanted to usurp Wu Zetian's throne.

After all, that throne originally belonged to those surnamed Li!

"Forget it, let's not talk about such unlucky things."

Shangguan Wan'er, hearing this, couldn't help but knit her brows, then temporarily pressed down some of the unpleasantness in her heart,

"Di Ge Lao is about to wipe out Mu Huali, and on top of that the Boerhu tribe.

If these two Yuan armies are destroyed, together with the hundred thousand Kheshig troops from the Western Xia side earlier,