Chapter 128 If Line: If Yuanyuan Becomes a Concubine (19)

The rear side hall of Baohedian is not very big. It is used as a place for the main seat of the inner court to take a rest during grand banquets.

There were only a few wall lamps burning in the room, casting flickering shadows.

This feeling of being respected and loved even made her eyes swell and tears formed on her eyelashes.

Unfortunately, illusions will always be broken.

Suddenly, with a loud "bang", the small door of the rear side hall was kicked open from the outside without any warning.

Yang Manyan and Xiao Yan were both stunned.

The bead curtain shook violently, and a tall and imposing man walked in, wearing a golden winged crown and a bright yellow brocade robe with a dragon pattern.

His thin lips were tightly pursed, and his sharp profile was shrouded in a sinister and murderous aura, and his whole body exuded a gloomy and oppressive aura without restraint.

When the emperor saw the man and woman having sex on the bed, veins popped out on his forehead and his eyes seemed to be filled with blood.

How ironic!

He stepped forward without hesitation and pushed Xiao Yan away.

The emperor narrowed his eyes and stared at her, gritting his teeth, "It was the prince who had dirty thoughts and seduced you when I was least prepared, right?"

He even subconsciously tried to find excuses to exonerate her, even at the cost of sacrificing the heir he had carefully nurtured for more than a decade.

Hearing this, Xiao Yan hurriedly knelt beside the bed and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Father, please calm down. I deserve to die. It was indeed me who forced Concubine Yuanmother."

The emperor ignored him, staring at the girl and shouting, "Answer me!"

Yang Manyan turned pale with horror, his lips trembled, and he was unable to utter a single word.

Realizing her answer, the emperor laughed in anger.

Recently, he has even been considering changing the title of Imperial Noble Consort to the enthronement of Queen, but because the matter was of great importance, it was kept under wraps and not made public.

But what about her? He let her out of the Imperial Palace for the rare occasion, and she took the opportunity to betray him?

It seems that he should imprison her in the West Warm Pavilion day and night, and should not let her out even for tonight's Winter Solstice Banquet!

But he didn't know that the more he guarded against it, the further Yang Manyan's heart was pushed away.

Although she was gentle in nature, she was loved by her parents since childhood and was well-versed in classics and history. What she longed for was never to be a virtuous wife who put her husband first.

She wants to be respected, she has her own ambitions, and she cannot accept being reduced to a tool.

Seeing that she was silent and did not plead guilty or beg for mercy, the emperor was furious, "Granted, Yang! I have a question for you!"

Feeling that his death was approaching, Yang Manyan felt cold all over, curled up tightly into a ball, and tears flowed like beads.

Even when he was kneeling on the ground, Xiao Yan's back was still straight.

The taste of blood spread in his mouth, and heartache, bitterness, and humiliation surged in his heart like waves.

The emperor sat on the edge of the bed and turned to look at the bastard who dared to touch his woman.

"Xiao Yan, I am very disappointed in you." He called her by her name, which was extremely rare, and his words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

After a moment of silence, Xiao Qin frowned and looked directly at his father, "Father, I am also very disappointed in you."

"What did you say?" The emperor laughed angrily.

"Father is the supreme ruler of the world, and he cares about his subjects. Why would he treat a weak woman so harshly?"

"I treat her harshly? I let her live in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, and her food, clothing and expenses are all the same as mine. I am even going to promote her to the rank of Imperial Noble Consort."

"You confined her to the western warm room of the Qianqing Palace and did not allow her to step out of the door. No matter how she was treated, it was no different from raising a bird."

"How I treat my women is none of your business!" The emperor was furious, his sharp eyebrows and eyes suddenly filled with murderous intent.

Xiao Yan was calm and composed, "But she should have been my son's Crown Princess. Since you took her away, you should treat her well."

Upon hearing this, Yang Manyan was stunned and puzzled.

It was obvious that the emperor did not refute her, which made her feel even more incredible.

She had indeed participated in the selection for the Eastern Palace at the beginning of the year, not the selection for the harem. So, was she actually selected as the candidate for the Eastern Palace Crown Princess?

In an instant, a huge sense of absurdity enveloped her.

If she had followed the original trajectory, she probably wouldn't have come to this point today...

Yang Manyan could not remember how she returned to the Qianqing Palace. She was confined to the West Warm Pavilion again and fell ill.

Three days later, the imperial edict to enthrone the queen was issued, shocking the court and the public.

Unlike the previous appointment of an imperial concubine, this time the imperial edict directly announced the new queen, who was the only concubine in the harem, Yang Yuanfei.

For a time, public opinion was in an uproar.

On that day, countless memorials were presented to the emperor to dissuade him. No matter whether they were memorials to the emperor or secret memorials, all of them opposed the enthronement of the queen.

The reasons are varied.

Many pedantic Confucian scholars in the Hanlin Academy and other places were staunch supporters of the prince. In their view, if Concubine Yang Yuan was made empress and gave birth to a legitimate son, the prince's position as crown prince would be in jeopardy.

The ancestral precept of this dynasty is that if there is a legitimate heir, the eldest son will be the heir, and if there is no legitimate heir, the eldest son will be the heir. The prince is kind and virtuous, but his only shortcoming is that he was born out of wedlock.

This is also why many ministers in the court are afraid of the emperor taking a concubine and establishing a queen. The essence is to maintain the legitimate status of the prince.

Most of the cabinet ministers and military officers were the emperor's close confidants, and they had long hoped that their wise and powerful emperor would be able to have a queen and children as soon as possible.

But they really could not accept that Yang Yuanfei, who used her beauty to please men, became the queen and the mother of the country.

But the current emperor is not a weak and incompetent puppet emperor who can be manipulated by others. There is no room for maneuver when it comes to things he has decided.

The Imperial Astronomical Observatory re-planned the auspicious date for the ceremony of establishing the empress, pushing it back several months from the original date of the ceremony of enthroning the imperial concubine, and changed it to early April of the following year.

Because of this, everyone realized that the original candidate for the Imperial Noble Consort was still Consort Yang Yuan...