After Crossing Over, I Marked the Empress

The reasoning was indeed sound.

But the situation wasn’t as they imagined!

Shen Han hurriedly explained in a low voice, fearing that Xu Zhao and Gu would misunderstand her as someone who enjoyed frequenting nightclubs.

Xu Zhao patted her shoulder, speaking in the tone of a senior official: “Little Shen, you don’t need to explain to me.”

With that, she waved to Assistant Dong, who was not far away.

She left with her curious assistant.

Shen Han felt somewhat anxious. She took out her phone, intending to text Gu Junwan.

She typed out a long message, then quickly deleted half of it.

After some thought, she deleted it all and composed a new one.

This process of writing and deleting continued for over five minutes as she stood outside the office building, unable to send the message.

She felt that text couldn’t explain it clearly.

Moreover, suddenly starting to explain seemed a bit like protesting too much.

When the security guard at the building entrance looked over again, Shen Han finally put away her phone and returned to the training ground.

At the same time.

Assistant Dong, who had left with Xu Zhao, couldn’t help but ask quietly: “Sister Zhao, that Alpha just now, she’s the one who called you before, right? She’s so beautiful, and her personality seems very gentle too.”

Xu Zhao clicked her tongue and glanced sideways at her assistant: “Is your workload too light recently? Why are you always thinking about things you shouldn’t?”

Hearing this, Assistant Dong immediately wilted.

“I’m just a Beta, what could I be thinking about? I just felt that Alpha was different from others. She doesn’t have that sense of superiority and aggression that top Alphas often have.”

“Besides, I only asked because I saw she was your friend, Sister Zhao.”

Xu Zhao patted the innocent head of her assistant.

She thought to herself: If that Alpha were to unleash her aggression, she could twist your head off with one hand, you silly girl.

“Alright, let’s not discuss others. Have you finalized the documents I asked you to organize? Don’t be careless like last time.”

At the mention of work, Assistant Dong became serious.

She set aside her gossipy thoughts and began reporting her preparatory work to her superior.

Meanwhile, Xu Zhao listened while taking out her encrypted phone, composing a message to Gu Junwan about her encounter with Shen Han, without hiding anything.

The Empress replied instantly: [Understood.]

Time quickly arrived at December.

The entire Free Federation seemed to be covered in a layer of silver.

Even the holographic projections in the city appropriately switched to some warmer scenes.

Looking out from the main gate of the base.

One could see a suspended projection of a sun-lit golden mountain at the end of the long street.

The training schedule for the trainee guard team was no longer as intense as in the previous months.

They had now begun to engage in some real guard duties.

Although they still couldn’t get too close to the Empress.

Their access permissions were incomparable to before.

On this day, Shen Han was patrolling near the foreign guest reception area with a teammate.

They faintly heard piano music coming from ahead.

Even though Shen Han couldn’t play the piano, she could tell the player was highly skilled.

“Who’s playing the piano? They must be using speakers, right? Isn’t that not allowed on the base?”

Hearing Shen Han’s question, her teammate immediately replied: “Oh, haven’t you heard? It’s the visiting delegation from the Jiying Empire. We’re strengthening diplomatic ties with them, so it’s normal to grant some harmless privileges.”

Shen Han nodded, then asked more confusedly: “I understand what you’re saying, but what does playing the piano here have to do with diplomacy? Are they exchanging musical instruments?”

At this point, her teammate spoke with slight frustration: “There’s some prince from the Jiying Empire in the visiting delegation. He’s expressing his admiration for our Empress.”

“You were patrolling elsewhere the past two days, so you don’t know. This is already his third day of playing here.”

Shen Han’s long eyebrows raised slightly: “This is going too far! Our Empress is so busy, yet she has to endure this harassment. Isn’t there anyone to manage this?”

“Shh, keep your voice down.” The teammate looked around to ensure no one was nearby, then said with shared indignation, “That bastard is taking advantage of the fact that no one dares to stop him.”

“Mainly because he hasn’t done anything too out of line, just coming here to play the piano for an hour every day. During this time, the Empress is always dining with the envoys, so she can’t avoid it.”

After hearing this, Shen Han and her teammate walked towards the source of the music.

It happened to be their turn to patrol the foreign guest reception area these days, so they had the right to move freely in this area.

In an elegant room in the foreign guest reception area.

Gu Junwan was engaged in friendly conversation with several envoys from the Jiying Empire.

Both sides had trade needs.

So the entire negotiation process was very satisfactory to both parties.

Except for the piano music that sounded at this time every day.

“Hehe, I hope Prince Walker’s gestures haven’t offended you.”

“However, I’ve heard that the Empress has always been fond of music. If there’s an opportunity, perhaps you could engage in further exchanges with Prince Walker. He’s a renowned piano gentleman in our Jiying Empire.”

Hearing the envoy’s words, Gu Junwan’s brow furrowed imperceptibly.

But her face showed no impatience, and she skillfully changed the subject in a few sentences.

Throughout the meal, Gu Junwan barely touched her chopsticks.

The envoys from the Jiying Empire, however, ate with great enthusiasm.

After the meal, Xu Zhao found an excuse to publicly remind the Empress of an important meeting, and they left the foreign guest reception area together.

In the official vehicle.

Xu Zhao asked softly: “Your Majesty, do you need me to handle the matter with Prince Walker?”

Gu Junwan leaned lightly against the leather seat back, closing her eyes as she replied: “No need. It’s not a serious matter. The Jiyng delegation will leave in two days. Let them be.”

Xu Zhao acknowledged and said no more.

At this moment, the Empress’s personal phone suddenly vibrated.

It was a message from Shen Han.

[Are you coming to my apartment tonight? I made a dessert, the kind that’s sweeter than first love.]

Seeing the last sentence, Gu Junwan’s lips involuntarily curved into an enchanting smile.

For some reason, looking at Shen Han’s description of sweetness, her olfactory memory was filled with the crisp scent of pine.

The gentle snow cedar seemed to have an invigorating effect.

Even just recalling it immediately dispelled the discomfort Prince Walker had brought to the Empress Omega.

Gu Junwan indeed had important matters to attend to tonight.

So she replied on her phone: [I’m busy, not coming over.]

After sending it, she felt something was lacking, and quickly added: [Next time I come over, you can make it for me to eat.]

Shen Han’s reply came quickly, accompanied by a shocked emoji.

[Miss Gu, is this your way of saying “next time for sure”?]

“Next time for sure” was a cold joke Shen Han had once told her.

It roughly meant politely but tactfully refusing someone.

Seeing Shen Han’s playful response, Gu Junwan couldn’t help but chuckle softly.

Then she replied: [For situations that need to be declined, I usually use “deeply moved, but respectfully decline.”]

This cold joke was also popularized by Shen Han.

Being deeply moved, but then refusing the other person.

The two chatted very happily across the screen.

Xu Zhao, sitting in the front passenger seat, maintained a composed expression.

As if she hadn’t noticed at all that the Empress in the back was chatting with a certain Alpha.

The Beta driver in the main seat sat even more upright, his serious and solemn face showing no trace of any unusual expression.

However, in the driver’s heart, a little person was screaming desperately.

“Ahh! I saw it through the rearview mirror, the Empress is actually smiling at a mobile phone!”

“Is she texting and chatting with someone? Oh my god! Who could it be? Help! Why can Special Assistant Xu next to her be so calm?”

At the base apartment.

After finishing the chat with Gu Junwan.

Shen Han immediately switched to another phone and called her companions in their small group chat.

[Prepare some tools, come to my apartment quickly!]

Ma Haoyu: [Who are we fighting? Do I need to bring a baton?]

Ning Xi: [I’ll be there in half an hour. Does anyone want takeout? I can pack some hotpot for you.]

Shen Han replied while changing clothes.

[What fight? This is a law-abiding society.]

[Let’s skip the hotpot for now. It feels better to eat at the restaurant.]

[Tonight we’re going to two places: the base’s exhibition museum and the surveillance control room in that area. Ning Xi, come with me to get something, Ma Haoyu, find a way to mess with the surveillance videos.]

Seeing these messages in the group chat, Ma Haoyu and Ning Xi were immediately confused.

Damn! What happened to the law-abiding society?

Causing trouble in the base area is even worse than going out to beat people with batons!

After the three met up, they quickly began their operation.

Ma Haoyu came from a special ops background and was very familiar with the base area.

Dealing with the museum’s surveillance wasn’t difficult for him.

Ning Xi followed Shen Han as they climbed through a window into the exhibition museum.

This museum existed before the base was established.

It was more of a symbolic landmark building than a practical one.

After all, they couldn’t allow the public to freely visit a museum here.

Correspondingly, the security system inside was relatively lax.

Because the exhibits weren’t national treasure-level cultural relics.

Wearing night vision goggles, Shen Han and Ning Xi made their way to the ancient musical instruments section on the second floor of the museum.

Watching Shen Han searching cabinet by cabinet for something.

Ning Xi couldn’t help but ask quietly: “Boss, what are we doing here?”

As she spoke, Shen Han had already stopped in front of a standing cabinet.

She pointed at the electronic lock on the showcase and whispered to her companion: “Help me open this lock. I want to borrow an instrument from inside.”

Ning Xi, aided by the night vision goggles, looked at the cabinet full of things she had barely seen before.

While fiddling with the lock reluctantly, she asked curiously: “You know how to play these? Aren’t these all antiques? I can’t even name them.”

With a ‘click’, the cabinet opened.

Shen Han took out the smallest tubular instrument along with its matching reed.

Then she smiled mysteriously at Ning Xi: “This is called a suona. I’m borrowing it for a big use!”