"Your Majesty..., Your Majesty~"

Inside the hall, Cen Xi's shouts grew weaker and weaker until Shen Jinchen could no longer hear them after a series of arguments.

He immediately channeled his inner strength, trying to break free from the restraints of Duke Ji and Duke Shen and rush in.

However, both Duke Ji and Duke Shen were highly skilled in martial arts, and they had other purposes for today, so how could they allow Shen Jinchen to get close to the delivery room?

After a fight, the two of them worked together to knock Shen Jinchen unconscious and helped him to a side hall of the Kunde Palace.

Cen Xi called out several times, but Shen Jinchen did not come. Qingyi and the palace maids were all stopped in the hall by the civil and military officials on the grounds that they should not offend His Majesty.

After the imperial physician administered a dose of labor-inducing medicine, Cen Xi was in excruciating pain. Just as she was about to exhaust her strength, the child that had been entangled with her finally slipped out of her body, and she lost consciousness, with blood flowing continuously from her body.

As Cen Xi lay dying, she longed to see that man one last time, but in the end, she never saw him again. Her hand fell limp, and her body ceased to live.

Upon hearing the news of the Empress's passing and the birth of a prince, the Duke of Ji and the Duke of Shen exchanged a glance and tacitly entered the side hall to have the imperial physician awaken Shen Jinchen.

After doing all this, they knelt before Shen Jinchen and silently begged for forgiveness.

Shen Jinchen ignored them, pushed through the crowd, rushed into the inner chamber where Cen Xi was giving birth, grabbed the woman in blue's hand, and asked:

"Where is your mistress? How is she?"

The woman in green, her eyes red, sobbed as she spoke:

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty suffered postpartum hemorrhage and has... has passed away."

"The funeral procession..."

Shen Jinchen muttered to himself, and the two words he uttered rushed to the bedside in the hall like a gust of wind.

As the midwives were wiping Cen Xi's body and tidying up his remains, a deafening scream rang out, and Shen Jinchen grabbed the two midwives and threw them outside the hall.

Then he snatched the corpse from the bed, held her in his arms, and howled like a banshee, tears slowly streaming down his face from his angry cries.

For the next few days, he stayed in the Empress's Palace, holding the corpse, neither eating nor drinking, staring blankly at the palace ceiling.

He ignored the cries of the infant among the civil and military officials outside.

His tightly closed eyes and boneless body told him that Cen Xi was gone, truly gone this time, and he had nowhere left to chase after him.

Why did this happen? If he had known she would leave him like this, he wouldn't have wanted the child, not even if you begged him to.

Unfortunately, fate didn't give him a choice.

There is no greater sorrow than a broken heart. What does that feel like? Shen Jinchen has experienced it thoroughly these past few days.

"Your Majesty, the little prince, whom the Empress gave birth to with her life, will die if you don't take care of him."

The two women, dressed in green and red, knelt in the hall, holding the baby, listening to the fading cries of the infant.

They kowtowed desperately, repeatedly, hoping to awaken the overwhelmed emperor from his grief.

At the same time, Duke Ji and Duke Shen also entered the palace, repeatedly pleading with Shen Jinchen to accept the loss and move on.

Only two or three days had passed, and this once bright and sunny boy they had protected was now unshaven, listless, and utterly lifeless.

They couldn't help but exchange a glance, their eyes asking each other:

"Did we do something wrong?"

Shen Jinchen fainted from hunger on the fifth day. He was forcibly separated from Cen Xi's body by the Duke of Ji and the Duke of Shen before he could leave Dekunde Palace.

Two days later, he woke up.

After waking up, he slowly accepted reality and sent off his beloved woman with the highest honors from the Ministry of Rites.

The eldest son was made crown prince on the third day after he regained consciousness, given the name Beiming Junrong, and moved to the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace.

He offered a reward of ten thousand taels of gold to find ten of the best wet nurses and send them to the Eastern Palace.

He also invited the two most prestigious Confucian scholars of the Later Qi dynasty to serve as tutors to the crown prince.

They also sent their most capable maids and servants to serve them wholeheartedly.

He himself had never seen his son, nor had he ever held him. He didn't even know what his son looked like.

He found it hard to face his son; he was afraid that every time he saw him, he would be reminded of the scene of Cen Xi covered in blood.

The group of maids in green robes, formerly from the Su Nu Sect, were all kept in the Kun De Palace by him, so that they would still think of their master in the palace and take good care of the palace every day.

Qingyi had been by Cenxi's side for many years, but she couldn't bear to leave behind the child her master had left behind. After repeated pleas, Shen Jinchen finally agreed to let her go to the East Palace.

After everything was settled, Shen Jinchen, like a workaholic, immediately immersed himself in court affairs.

Even when there's nothing to do, he'll find something to do for himself, meddling in everything, big or small. Sometimes, thinking about a small country on the border that's stirring up trouble, he'll immediately start organizing the military and preparing to personally lead an expedition.

But in the end, he was persuaded to stop by the opposition from the entire court.

Three years passed like this, and the little prince was already three years old, but he still hadn't recovered from his grief.

Moreover, during those three years, he slept in his own Yangxin Hall and knew nothing about what was happening in the harem.

Not to mention the possibility of reinstating an empress.

The Imperial Women's Academy, which the Empress had established before her death, flourished under his personal edict.

Although women of the present age cannot serve as officials in the court, they live freely, and the economy of the Later Qi Dynasty flourishes because of these hardworking women.

The national treasury has also become richer than ever before.

The civil and military officials never expected that even after defeating an empress, the policies she had established during her lifetime remained completely unshaken.

Feeling frustrated, she then set her sights on the emperor's harem again. Three years had passed; even the deepest affection should have faded with time.

You have to whisper sweet nothings in someone's ear to make things work.

So they discussed it and then, on the morning of the second day, they earnestly requested Shen Jinchen to take a concubine.

Shen Jinchen was furious in court and ordered the minister who came out to remonstrate to be dragged out and beheaded.

He also declared that he, Emperor Yongxing, would only have one woman in his life, and only one empress.

If anyone discusses his family affairs again, he will be beaten to death on the spot.

All the civil and military officials were so frightened that they trembled and left the morning court session with their tails between their legs.

But they can't leave the problem unresolved; they can't say something like, "The emperor has no heir," which is a matter of great importance to the nation.

They also couldn't have any designs on the crown prince. Everyone could see that their emperor didn't like the crown prince, but he was definitely grooming him as his successor.

The young prince's personal safety was protected like an iron barrel; even a mosquito flying in would likely be killed.

In the Eastern Palace, someone could die if the Crown Prince coughed even once.

Therefore, the civil and military officials dared not provoke the crown prince, so they approached the Duke of Shen and the Duke of Ji.

The Duke of Shen and the Duke of Ji have been worried about Shen Jinchen for years, fearing that he might drive himself crazy.

But the deed is done, and there's no turning back.

Even if he regrets it, His Majesty's most beloved woman cannot be brought back to life.

So they decided to go all the way and secretly send the woman they had been cultivating for three years to his side to comfort him.