After Losing My Memory, I Became My Rival's Palm-Sized Chirper - Chapter 9

Chapter 09: Call Him Junshang

At the same moment his clone returned to the Heavenly Realm, Qi Jia happened to take several “Parenting Guides” that Shuoling Immortal had specifically found for him. His movements suddenly became smooth and fluid.

“Thank you,” the pale yellow chubby bird continued to say with a beaming smile, his voice light and cheerful.

At the same time—

“I shall say it once more: there is no pregnancy.”

The stern voice rang out abruptly. The Heavenly Emperor’s repeated declaration directly broke the lively conversation between Qi Jia and Shuoling Immortal.

Shuoling only knew that the Heavenly Emperor had been away; she didn’t know that Qi Jia had also left. Consequently, she had no idea what had transpired when their clones met at Mount Budu.

Knowing nothing, Shuoling was startled by the Heavenly Emperor’s cold voice. The Immortal began to worry deeply for His Highness—

To think His Majesty refuses to acknowledge this child!

Is His Majesty unwilling to admit his mistake? Does he truly intend to abandon his spouse and son? …

How can His Majesty be so cold-blooded and heartless!

While Shuoling stood there with a complex expression, worrying about His Highness’s future, the perpetually cold Heavenly Emperor suddenly spoke again: “Shuoling, tidy up the Weiyang Palace.”

“…Ah?”

Shuoling was startled again, suddenly sensing something was wrong. “Wei… Weiyang Palace? Are you certain it is the Weiyang Palace?”

Yu Baixi offered no further explanation, only stating: “He will reside there from now on.”

Shuoling asked in astonishment: “But that is the Empress’s bedchamber!”

This time, it was Qi Jia who answered the Immortal’s question with a smile on behalf of the Heavenly Emperor: “Indeed. From this day forward, I am the Heavenly Empress.”

Shuoling: ?!?

Qi Jia’s voice carried a smile. If he were in his human form, he would likely look peerless and spirited at this moment.

However, since he was still in his cute bird form, that light, smiling voice made the entire bird seem lively, adorable, and clever.

The chubby bird turned toward Shuoling Immortal and, like a magic trick, produced the Heavenly Emperor’s token that Yu Baixi had just given him, standing it up in front of himself.

Then, he felt something was missing.

Qi Jia asked Yu Baixi: “You said earlier that you didn’t have the Empress’s token on you, but now that we are back, can you give it to me?”

Looking at the Heavenly Emperor’s token that had suddenly appeared beside the bird, Shuoling’s mind was still racing to analyze His Highness’s words: …?

The Heavenly Empress’s token… is something you can just ask for directly??? …

“Yes.” The Heavenly Emperor nodded in agreement without hesitation. Yu Baixi did not wish to make a fuss over such matters and said directly to Shuoling: “The Empress’s Treasure Mirror and token are both in the Weiyang Palace. Take him there to settle in, and hand everything over to him.”

Shuoling Immortal: “Ah???”

…The Immortal, who was just worrying about His Highness being abandoned by His Majesty, was now suddenly worried about His Majesty’s mental state!

The Weiyang Palace was the traditional residence of successive Heavenly Empresses.

Ever since the previous Emperor fell and His Majesty ascended the throne, and the former Empress became the Grand Empress Dowager, the Weiyang Palace had sat vacant.

As His Majesty had remained single for ten thousand years, the gates of the Weiyang Palace had been tightly shut all this time.

Now that His Highness was carrying the dragon’s offspring—His Majesty’s first child—moving him into that palace was technically a breach of protocol, yet it was not entirely unreasonable. After all, he might truly become the Empress later… given His Majesty’s cold and unpredictable temperament, having anyone by his side at all was already quite a feat.

But… becoming the Empress directly??

This was something Shuoling had never expected.

But on second thought, few people ever truly knew what His Majesty was thinking…

“…This humble immortal obeys your decree. However, Your Majesty, the Empress’s Treasure Mirror and token were sealed by the Grand Empress Dowager herself. This immortal cannot break the restrictions.”

Shuoling stared blankly at the Heavenly Emperor’s token representing His Majesty while choosing her words carefully: “Furthermore, regarding the Empress’s Treasure Mirror, it requires Your Majesty and His Highness to officially hold a marriage ceremony and pay respects to Heaven, Earth, and the Ancestors before it can be passed down. Before that, even the Grand Empress Dowager cannot retrieve it personally…”

Having reached this point, Shuoling finally realized that His Majesty had just promised to grant the Treasure Mirror to His Highness, and she felt a surge of joy:

Becoming the Empress directly! His Majesty isn’t planning to abandon his family; he simply… loves His Highness to death!

Yu Baixi fell silent. He had never intended to marry an Empress, and the last time the Empress’s Treasure Mirror had changed hands was hundreds of thousands of years ago when his father married his mother—at a time when he wasn’t even an egg yet. Thus, the high and mighty, all-knowing Heavenly Emperor actually knew less about these rituals than Shuoling.

After a moment of silence, Yu Baixi said: “Then we shall retrieve the Empress’s token first.”

When he said “retrieve,” he meant he would go personally.

The “One Soul, Two Bodies” technique was deployed again. In an instant, a token appeared in the Heavenly Emperor’s palm.

The Emperor’s token was gold with dragon patterns; the Empress’s token was carved with a silver phoenix.

The Dragon and the Phoenix—an auspicious union.

The two tokens appeared simultaneously before Qi Jia.

At the same time, a purple glow of auspicious clouds suddenly appeared over the Heavenly Realm—a sign that the gates of the Weiyang Palace had been opened and the seal placed by the Grand Empress Dowager on the token had been lifted.

It meant that the position of Heavenly Empress was no longer vacant.

Qi Jia looked at the tokens before him, feeling extremely satisfied. He thought this Heavenly Emperor was much more generous than he had imagined.

Shuoling looked at the visible glow outside, her mouth hanging open in shock. She only wanted to say: Your Majesty, please don’t be so in love!

“Greetings to the Heavenly Empress Niangniang.” Despite her shock, Shuoling immediately performed a formal bow to Qi Jia according to protocol.

Qi Jia hurried her to get up, saying uncomfortably: “The title ‘Niangniang’ feels strange. Please don’t call me that.”

“Uh… true.” Shuoling explained: “It is just that in our Heavenly Realm, the past several Empresses have all been women, so…”

“Call him Junshang,” Yu Baixi said suddenly.

Shuoling and Qi Jia both looked at him.

The Heavenly Emperor remained expressionless: “Take Junshang to the Weiyang Palace to settle in.”

Shuoling Immortal, whose expression still screamed “Your Majesty, please don’t be so in love!”, immediately replied seriously: “Yes.”

No matter how rich her inner thoughts were, Shuoling did not dare slight His Majesty’s orders.

Qi Jia, however, had no such concerns.

The chubby bird tucked the tokens away but didn’t leave immediately. He turned to look at Yu Baixi suspiciously: “Aren’t you coming with me?”

Yu Baixi: “Do you need me to come with you?”

Qi Jia weighed the dragon and phoenix tokens in front of him and suddenly felt: “Actually… I don’t.”

Yu Baixi: “…”

The chubby bird was eager to see his new palace. Coincidentally, Shuoling had already wanted to take Junshang on a tour. One person and one bird quickly disappeared from the Hongmeng Palace.

Only the white-robed Heavenly Emperor remained standing there.

Very few people entered or exited the Hongmeng Palace to begin with, so the place lapsed back into an extreme coldness and quiet.

After standing silently for a moment, Yu Baixi turned his gaze to the large table where the bird had just been lying and eating.

After watching it in silence for a long time, the Emperor flicked his sleeve, clearing the cluttered tabletop until everything looked as it usually did.

“Your servant Han Mo pays respects to Your Majesty.”

Changding Hall of the Hongmeng Palace.

The place where the Heavenly Emperor handled daily government affairs.

A young man in crimson armor strode in.

The young general’s pace was hurried. Arriving before Yu Baixi’s desk, he first knelt on one knee to salute, then looked up and said urgently: “Your Majesty, I heard you are appointing an Empress???”

Han Mo’s voice was loud and his movements rushed.

Compared to him, the Heavenly Emperor sitting behind the desk looking at memorials appeared much more refined.

“Yes.” Having written the final character with his vermilion brush, the Emperor slowly looked up.

Several hours ago, shortly after Qi Jia and Shuoling left for the Weiyang Palace, the ministers of the Heavenly Realm had swarmed into the Changding Hall because of that purple glow.

The Empress’s token had been moved. The position of Empress, vacant for ten thousand years, suddenly had a candidate. How could the immortal ministers not be excited!

Han Mo was excited too.

But his state of mind was different from those immortal ministers who were always pestering His Majesty to marry.

“The new Empress is the… little parrot who barged into the hall today? Is he really pregnant? Since when?!” General Han tried to mind his tone, but he couldn’t hide his curiosity as he asked three questions in a row.

Yu Baixi: “…”

He didn’t blame him for asking too many questions. The Emperor only slightly raised his eyelashes and asked back: “What do you mean by ‘new’ Empress?”

“Ah? Just…” Han Mo froze.

The Emperor: “I have never married anyone before. Why use the terms ‘new’ and ‘old’?”

“Ah, yes, yes… it was a slip of the tongue.” Han Mo realized: “…It’s just that Your Majesty hasn’t appointed an Empress for ten thousand years, and now an Empress suddenly pops out of nowhere, it’s hard to believe… Wait, no.”

Han Mo’s eyes widened again as he stared at the Emperor.

As the youngest brother of the Vermilion Bird General Han Huangyu, Han Mo had been fostered in the palace of the Grand Empress Dowager (who was the Empress at the time) when he was young.

Thus, at twelve thousand years old, he could be said to have grown up as a companion to the Heavenly Emperor.

Even though the Emperor had changed greatly over ten thousand years, Han Mo still understood him fairly well. Therefore, at this moment, he keenly sensed the Emperor’s abnormality—

“That’s not right. Your Majesty, since when did you become so pedantic about words, so concerned about the distinction between new and old… You don’t want that Empress Niangniang to suffer even a bit of grievance! This, this, this… when did this happen…”

Because he was both a childhood friend and the leader of the Heavenly Guard responsible for defending Yujing—meaning he could track almost all of His Majesty’s routine movements—Han Mo was even more curious.

His Majesty spends all day ignoring everything except official business. Where on earth did he meet a bird and have a child with it!

“The situation is very complicated.” Yu Baixi raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

The bandage on his neck had been changed again, and he smelled of medicinal herbs.

Seeing the Emperor’s complexion, Han Mo knew his health was failing again and couldn’t help but look worried: “Your Majesty…”

“It is nothing.”

Yu Baixi raised a hand slightly and said solemnly: “I summoned you because there is an important matter for you to do.”

Han Mo: “…So, Your Majesty, you don’t intend to tell your subordinate just how complicated the situation between you and the Empress Niangniang is?”

General Han looked dejected.

But based on his understanding of His Majesty, His Majesty likely wouldn’t say. He was always a man of few words.

And as the “Evil Heavenly Emperor” feared by the beings of the Four Realms, His Majesty didn’t need to explain anything to anyone…

“Call him Junshang.”

To his surprise, the Emperor suddenly said: “He does not like being called Niangniang.”

Han Mo: …?!!

So it truly wasn’t an illusion. That Empress Junshang held a different position in His Majesty’s heart!

Fine, the heart that was hanging in suspense finally died.

In Han Mo’s mind, the image of a certain dashing and elegant person suddenly appeared.

Peerless in grace, unmatched throughout the ages.

.In the past, he always felt that person was a perfect match for His Majesty.

The fact that His Majesty hadn’t married for ten thousand years, never spared anyone a glance, and always rejected marriage proposals… made Han Mo fantasize that His Majesty might be waiting for that person.

But now, a bird had suddenly appeared.

The feeling was…

“It’s like a play I watched in the mortal realm. I thought Character A and Character B would end up together because they’re a match made in heaven, but then Character C suddenly pops out, and Character A ends up with Character C! …Can Your Majesty understand my current feelings?”

The Emperor: “?”

It’s fine if you don’t understand.” General Han said, feeling even more dejected.

Since the Empress had been decided and the old ministers who worried about this had no objections, he shouldn’t say things that His Majesty couldn’t understand right now.

That would just spoil His Majesty’s mood.

Yu Baixi indeed didn’t understand. Nor did he understand his subordinate’s low spirits.

But he knew how to make the other stop being dejected—

“He is Feng Yan.”

The Emperor said suddenly.

The dejected Han Mo continued to hang his head, then suddenly snapped it up: “Who… what?? Who is Feng…!!”

Because of his excitement, General Han nearly roared the name!

But the Emperor gave him no chance to shout the name; with a flick of his finger, he placed a Silencing Spell on him.

“Keep your voice down.”

Han Mo: “Mmm mmm mmm!”

His misty-blue eyes cold to the bone, the Emperor lowered his voice: “His name is not yet suitable to appear in the Heavenly Realm at this time.”

“Oh oh oh!” Han Mo nodded vigorously, indicating he understood.

While his subordinate was quiet, Yu Baixi added: “He currently has temporary amnesia. I called you here because I need you to protect his safety during this time.”

“Mmm? …Mmm mmm mmm!”

General Han continued to nod vigorously.

Afterward, the Emperor gave a series of detailed instructions on things to watch out for before finally lifting the Silencing Spell.

By now, General Han’s face was flushed from holding it in, but he still couldn’t hide his excitement: “Your Majesty, you mean… the Empress Junshang is…?? Heavens! He’s back!”

The excited General Han nearly breached protocol, wanting to lean across the desk to the Emperor’s face: “Your Majesty, do you know? He, that person! He is the ‘Character B’ in my heart!!”

I did not know that.”

Yu Baixi frowned and leaned back slightly with some distaste, distancing himself from General Han.

Looking at his subordinate who was behaving almost hysterically, the Emperor lowered his eyelids and said slowly after a long pause: “But I do know that you used to like him very much.”

“No, it wasn’t just liking, it was worship!” Han Mo: “We of the bird race all worship General Feng Yan… I mean, the Empress Junshang. And, I truly didn’t expect that Your Majesty and Junshang… wait!”

Mid-hysteria, General Han froze again and analyzed carefully: “That’s not right. Since the little parrot who barged into the hall today with a ‘cub’ is Junshang, and Junshang is General Feng…, doesn’t that mean Junshang is carrying your child???”

At this point of analysis, the word “spectacular” was no longer enough to describe General Han’s expression.

Yu Baixi: “…”