Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 187: How the empress was chosen.

Junjie wished he had a beer right about now as he prepared himself to answer her question. Without a beer, he just grabbed a second shovel and joined her in digging.

He was suddenly so tense that Mei Mei guessed the answer. "You do not dare to divorce because you are the emperor. There are a few unhappy couples in your family that are living independently of each other with a marriage in name only. I guess you and the empress will be taking that direction in the future. But you lack a son so unless you plan to get a legal concubine you are still stuck with your wife."

Junjie pushed the shovel into the ground as if he was it had just offended him and he wanted to kill it. His silence spoke volumes and yet the message was unclear and Mei Mei did not know what was going on in his head.

There was a time when they could read each other’s minds easily and guess what the other was planning. Time had eaten away at that ability, it seemed. Mei Mei decided to drop the subject. At the end of the day, Junjie was an adult and he could make his own decisions.

Royal life was not as glamorous on the inside as everyone assumed it to be. Mei Mei had once heard palace maids gossiping about the emperor’s sex life. Apparently there was a schedule for it and the sheets were examined the following day to ensure that the necessary deed had been done. This was especially strict in cases when the emperor had no male heir like Junjie and when the emperor and empress were at odds. Again, like Junjie!

She had also heard that two royal secretaries, one male and one female had to wait outside the bedroom and take records of how long each session lasted. If it was deemed to be inadequate, royal doctors prescribed drugs and royal chefs designed menus to help the emperor in that aspect.

Mei Mei did know Junjie’s schedule or anything related to those affairs and she did not want to know of it. She found the entire affair to be embarrassing.

"I am going to say one last thing and then we can close the subject." She leaned against the handle of the spade and looked at Junjie. "Children are not the same. What is good for one may not necessarily be good for the other. I have heard some mothers say that their children are so calm that it is almost unnatural. Others have needy children. There are those which children that are anti social while some are too social.

I have seen babies that were too lazy to make a fuss. They cry a little, get what they need and then they just relax. Their needs are not similar to those of the one that is always screeching like a small hungry dinosaur in the wild.

Mingzhu had a friend named Wan Yihuan, she is the most at peace little girl I have ever met. She was always playing by herself, reading her books, she could prepare her own tea and snacks by the age of four and after eating she would do her dishes. After school, she would clean her shoes, put her clothes in the washing machine, do her homework, eat and then take her puppy to the park for a walk.

With access to the internet she could order for groceries, food, drinks, clothes and everything she needed. She did not bother her parents because she was lost in her own world little adult world. Mind you, she had two maids and her mother is the type that loves to dote on her child.

Mingzhu was the opposite of Yihuan, she was sensitive as a baby. As she grew, it did not change, she always pulled me into her games, made a lot of noise and forced me to wrestle and dance with her. She has a touch of the laziness so you won’t find her doing extra chores than necessary. If she goes two minutes without speaking to someone, her mouth starts to itch...."

Junjie snickered.

"I am serious." Mei Mei laughed as well. "Mingzhu told me that her mouth would stink if she did not talk. Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that children are not the same. Some have soft personalities, others....they have a touch of wildness.

Long Shuang is among the wild ones. They like to push boundaries and see how you will react. Your reaction determines their next actions. Mingzhu used to do that to me and I would draw the line immediately and then correct her behavior slowly. She is not perfect but she is not terrible.

Shuang must have realized that she could get away with a lot of things because you were busy and ninety percent of the strict adults in your family that should have been helping you have run off to space to establish early control over second earth so not many people could tell her that she was wrong about this or that. freēwēbnovel.com

As for the other members of your family, they are too busy or too selfish to care and the empress has become drunk on power. She thinks this is the 1800’s or 1700’s where royalty was untouchable in many ways so she does not limit Shuang’s behavior.

If you want to Shuang to change, start with the empress. If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will be crooked too. You are crooked too in your own way so you must change. Where one parents fails, the other should be a place of solace. Are you Long Shuang’s solace? Find another way of connecting with your daughter while she is still young and impressionable."

Junjie sighed. In that moment, he could not help feeling like a failure. He had failed as a father when it came to Long Shuang and he was an average emperor that was just floating by. He was not fulfilled in his life and most days were empty. Maybe Mei Mei was right and the throne was not for him.

If he had not accepted to be the emperor, he would not be stuck in a marriage with a woman he did not love. His wife was from the Hui family. Once upon a time, the grand emperor had been hunted by assassins while on a fishing trip.

He had jumped into the water as his royal agents fought off the assassins. As it turned out, the assassins had come prepared and one was hiding in the water, laying in wait.

Hui Boyan, a retired chief of police happened to be fishing on the same lake. He had jumped into the water and saved the grand emperor at the cost of his life. After giving Hui Boyan a state funeral, many honors, and his wife and parents a cash reward of thirty million the grand emperor took it a step further and promised the Hui family a reward.

The Hui family asked for a marriage when the crown prince came of age. Because their family was involved in law enforcement and had many heroes from the police force, dead and alive, the grand emperor allowed it. They had assumed that such a respectable family had raised a good daughter and she had been good in the beginning.

But after she got pregnant with Long Wen, she had started to change and from there it had been downhill ever since.