Chapter 255 (The End) (Part 2)

The late emperor's will?

The late emperor has been gone for half a year. If there was a will, why is it only being mentioned now?

Although everyone had their own questions, they all obediently lifted their robes and knelt down again, each one listening intently to what Eunuch Su would say next.

Even though Hongzhao is now the emperor, he still has to kneel to receive his father's will when it is read aloud at court.

He had just taken two steps forward and turned around to kneel when Su Peisheng grabbed his arm and stopped him.

Hongzhao looked up in surprise, only to hear Su Peisheng say in a slightly hoarse voice, "The late emperor said that Your Majesty does not need to kneel to receive this edict, you can just stand."

Just from that one sentence, Hongzhao's vision blurred, and his eyes immediately reddened.

Su Peisheng slowly unfolded the imperial edict and, just as he had done for the past ten years, read it aloud with practiced ease.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: I have inherited this great undertaking and have been diligent day and night in guarding this great foundation. I have just learned that the Crown Princess Fucha is pregnant, which is an auspicious sign of the continuation of the lineage. However, I am currently suffering from severe diarrhea and may not be able to see the Crown Prince Hongzhao's son crying in his swaddling clothes. This is truly a regrettable matter."

Crown Prince Hongzhao is of exceptional talent and noble character, auspicious and outstanding. He has been raised on my lap for sixteen years. To have such a son is truly my blessing. The thought that I will not be able to be by his side often in the future fills me with endless sorrow whenever I think of him.

I hereby bestow upon my grandson the name Yongrui, firstly to express my deep affection for him as a son, and secondly to embody the meaning of "using jade to make six auspicious objects" in the Zhou Rites. This is my decree.

After the will was read, not to mention others, even Su Peisheng couldn't help but clear his throat as if something was choking him. He closed the will but did not put it back in the box. Instead, he stepped forward and solemnly handed it to Hongzhao.

"Your Majesty, please accept the decree."

Hongzhao eagerly took the imperial edict and opened it immediately. The handwriting on it was all too familiar to him.

Something seemed to snap in his mind, and he completely lost control. He stared greedily at the words on the imperial edict, while the rustling voices around him gradually faded into the distance, replaced by his father's voice, which he hadn't heard in a long time and which was even stingy with his dreams.

"Then you must remember, Father, your son's youngest son is still waiting for you to name him."

"Okay! Father promises you, from now on Father will start thinking, and will definitely give you the best name in the world."

...

“Father, don’t say such things. Your son is waiting for you to name his son. It’s bad luck to say such things.”

"Of course I won't leave you out of your name. When your youngest son is born, I will personally issue an imperial edict and have Su Peisheng read it aloud at the morning court. I will definitely bestow a great favor upon him!"

Thanks to the system's modifications, he was able to remember everything he had seen and heard, and whether actively or passively, he could replay it in his mind like a movie, over and over again.

I wasn’t much younger back then, but my voice sounded so youthful, mostly because I was spoiled and didn’t care about anything else.

Ironically, he thought his father had broken his promise, but who would have thought that he would actually fulfill every single word his father had said.

Yongrui... Yongrui...

The title he once held was the best name that his father thought was the best.

He anticipated that he might not live to see his child's birth, but as agreed with his son, he wrote his will and gave it to Su Peisheng, instructing him to carry the imperial edict to Taihe Gate on the day of the child's birth and stand before him.

"Your subject...accepts the imperial decree."

Su Peisheng lowered his eyes to hide the tears and sorrow welling up in them, and forced himself to speak in front of the ministers: "Your Majesty is benevolent and filial, and must be saddened at this moment. The late Emperor specifically instructed me that the past is past, and that you should always look forward and not delay the important day of Prince Yongrui's birth."

Among the many ministers below, not one uttered a sound. Some even wiped away their tears with their sleeves, knowing that the Emperor and the late Emperor shared a deep bond, but that what was laid bare for all to see was only the tip of the iceberg.

Even this small part is enough to deeply move people.

The hall was silent at this moment, with only the sound of the historian's pen moving swiftly, each stroke reaching everyone's ears.

Later, Hongzhao asked Su Peisheng why his father was so sure it was a prince, even if Yingjun had given birth to a daughter.

Su Peisheng simply smiled and gently handed the box he had been holding to the Emperor. Hongzhao raised an eyebrow and looked inside following his hand. The box didn't look big from the outside, but it contained a mysterious secret.

Inside, lying quietly, was an imperial edict exactly the same as the one in Hongzhao's hand.

"His Majesty said that if the princess still has an imperial decree, her name must be changed. His Majesty wrote it himself: Saiyin Saiyin, which means auspiciousness and good fortune in Manchu."

Whether it's a boy or a girl, he prepared them for his children.

The late emperor had left this trick up his sleeve, which no one expected. Even the Empress Dowager remained silent for a long time after hearing about it, and then personally went to Baohua Hall to offer three sticks of incense.

Regardless of what people say outside, for little Yongrui, this is indeed a wonderful stroke of luck, bringing only benefits and no harm.

He was already the eldest son of the legitimate wife, and he was personally named by the late emperor in his will, using the title of prince that the emperor had once conferred. Even if his father, Hongzhao, had eight, eighteen, or eighty more children in the future, no one could surpass him, and no one could exceed him.

Hongzhao held Yongrui, who had already opened his eyes, and paced back and forth in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, gently calling out to the infant, "Yongrui, little Yongrui."

Perhaps the prenatal education he had given her over the past few months had truly taken effect, because Yongrui didn't find his voice unfamiliar at all. On the contrary, her dark, grape-like eyes followed his every move.

Hongzhao found it so adorable that he couldn't help but adjust his posture and reach out to touch the round, fleshy cheeks.

Yongrui struggled to free his arms from the swaddling clothes. He seemed to want to reach out and pull away the fingers that were messing with his face, but as if possessed, his little hands grasped the fingertips that Hongzhao was extending.

Hongzhao's swaying body stiffened, as if an electric current had flashed through the clasped fingertips of father and son and then spread to every part of his body.

He stared blankly at the swaddled baby in his arms, which coincidentally matched the snow-viewing scene behind him.

The infant in the picture has grown into a mature emperor capable of standing on his own, and in his arms lies a bond he can never sever in this lifetime.

—The End—