Chapter 271 Consort Zhao's Retaliation (Part 1)
The Imperial Palace.
When the Empress, Consort Zhao, Consort Liu, and others received news of Emperor Xiaozhao's fainting, they rushed to the main hall, only to find that Emperor Xiaozhao had already woken up.
The crown prince was expelled and forced to kneel at the palace gate as punishment.
The Empress had already learned the reason for Emperor Xiaozhao's fainting on her way here, and she was completely disappointed in the Crown Prince.
Upon seeing the Crown Prince, he stepped forward, raised his hand, and slapped the Crown Prince across the face.
"Mother!" The Crown Prince looked up at the Empress in shock and astonishment, but the Empress didn't even glance at him. After hitting the man, she went straight into the palace.
The other concubines followed closely behind the Empress into the main hall.
Only Consort Zhao lagged behind, looking at the Crown Prince with heartache, and whispered to comfort him, "Your Highness, don't be sad. Her Majesty the Empress is just worried about His Majesty's health, that's why she's anxious and upset. Her Majesty didn't mean it. Don't take it to heart."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Please go inside quickly, lest the Empress Dowager find an opportunity to cause you trouble."
The Crown Prince raised his head to look at Consort Zhao, his eyes filled with gratitude and worry, as well as a hint of childlike grievance and filial piety towards his mother.
Consort Zhao smiled gently at the Crown Prince, "I'll go in first. Don't worry, I will plead with the Emperor on your behalf."
"Thank you very much, Your Highness!" the Crown Prince said with heartfelt gratitude.
Soon, all the concubines who had entered the main hall came out. Emperor Xiaozhao left only the Empress to attend to him.
The chief eunuch Liu Xin also followed out behind several concubines.
He approached the Crown Prince and respectfully relayed the message: "Your Highness, His Majesty has ordered you to return. He said that without his permission, you need not go to the Imperial Study for the time being."
Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince immediately became furious.
"how so?"
He has been working in the Imperial Study with his father, Emperor, reviewing memorials since he was fifteen years old, a period of nine years.
Why would Father Emperor suddenly forbid him from going to the Imperial Study over such a trivial matter?
What does Father mean by this?
"Father! Father?..." The Crown Prince was about to shout.
Liu Xin was startled by the sight and quickly shook his head and waved his hands to dissuade him, "Your Highness, His Majesty is in a bad mood right now. You should go back first. If you anger His Majesty further, it won't do you any good!"
At this moment, Consort Zhao also came over and advised, "Your Highness, what Eunuch Liu said makes sense. Why don't you go back first and wait until His Majesty calms down before you come back to apologize to him in person?"
The Crown Prince looked up at Consort Zhao and saw her nod slightly. Although he felt fear and resentment, he still obediently stood up and followed Consort Zhao away.
After leaving the main palace gate, Consort Zhao suggested, "Your Highness, would you like to visit my Zhaoyang Palace? Your sixth sister has been saying these past few days that she hasn't seen you in a long time. Would you like to go and see her?"
"Perfect timing, it's been a long time since I've seen my sixth sister." The Crown Prince replied with a smile, "Then I'll have to trouble Consort Xian."
In the main hall, Emperor Xiaozhao sighed and closed his eyes in disappointment upon learning that the Crown Prince had truly left.
The Empress also looked disappointed, but she still patiently explained a few words for the Crown Prince.
"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince is still a child at heart and doesn't understand the meaning of the country and its people..."
"Alas, the Crown Prince has grown up with everything too easy. He has never experienced hardship or suffering, and he doesn't understand the Emperor's painstaking efforts to help him..."
These words, whether spoken or heard, felt pale and powerless.
Finally, even the Empress could not continue speaking, and silently served Emperor Xiaozhao his medicine and meals.
Meanwhile, the Crown Prince returned to Zhaoyang Palace with Consort Zhao.
Once inside the hall, Consort Zhao dismissed everyone around her, saying, "You may all leave. I need to speak with the Crown Prince alone."
"Yes." The group of female officials and palace maids responded and withdrew.
"Also, send someone to invite the Sixth Princess over, and tell her that His Highness the Crown Prince has come to see her," Consort Zhao added.
The personal maidservant quickly agreed, "Yes, sir."
She led everyone out, leaving only Consort Zhao and the Crown Prince in the palace.
At this moment, the Crown Prince brazenly stepped forward and squatted down at Consort Zhao's feet, leaning over to rest his head in her arms.
"Mother!" The Crown Prince hugged Consort Zhao, his voice filled with grievance, "Only you in this world can treat me with such wholehearted devotion!"
"My father only cares about his country and the nation, and my mother only cares about Li Sanqi! I am just a tool for them to stabilize the court and consolidate their position as empress!"
"None of them love me! Nobody cares about my feelings!"
Consort Zhao gently patted the Crown Prince's back with one hand and lovingly stroked his head with the other, saying, "Silly child, even if they don't love you, you still have your mother, don't you?"
"Besides your sixth sister, your mother only has you as her son!"
"You know, back then, it was all for you..."
Consort Zhao stopped speaking halfway through her sentence.
The crown prince's eyes immediately welled up with tears. He said with a mix of self-reproach and gratitude, "Mother, I'm sorry. It's all my fault! If I hadn't been so ignorant back then, Mother wouldn't have drunk saffron to put my mind at ease, thus ending any possibility of giving birth to a prince."
"Silly child! It was all of my own free will. I've said it before, in my heart, you are my own son!"
Consort Zhao said with a choked voice, "With you and your sixth sister, your mother doesn't need any other children!"
"As long as you treat your sixth sister well in the future, your mother will have no regrets in this life."
"Mother!" The Crown Prince hugged Consort Zhao tightly, his heart filled with emotion.
From childhood to adulthood, his father was exceptionally strict with him. He had to get up before dawn to practice horse stance, read books, and learn archery and horsemanship. He could not relax for a moment throughout the year.
He knew he was the crown prince and bore a heavy responsibility, so he persevered through gritted teeth.
However, occasionally, he also longs for affection and hopes to be cared for.
However, his father would only ever scold him for being unambitious.
His mother spent all her time caring for his premature and weak third sister, never giving him any maternal love, but instead constantly telling him to listen to his father and study hard.
Later, the third sister died, and everyone was saddened by her death.
Only he was secretly delighted.
Without my third sister, will my mother be able to see me and give me her love?
However, he was destined to be disappointed.
After her third sister's death, the Empress Dowager became extremely depressed, often locking herself in her palace and refusing to see anyone, including him!
Later, the Empress Dowager became pregnant again, and her fifth brother was born.
The Empress Dowager's love was then given to the fifth brother.
Later, the seventh sister was born, and the Empress named her Sanqi, which meant that the Empress had concentrated all her love for her two daughters on the seventh sister.
As he grew up and became more sensible, he no longer craved his mother's love.
Unexpectedly, just when he had completely given up on pursuing maternal love, Consort Xian embraced him and told him that she was his mother and that he could treat her as his mother.
She said she would treat him like her own daughter.
He also said that he is still a child, and children can act spoiled towards their mothers and cry in their mothers' arms.
She gently embraced him, patted his back and the top of his head, and spoke to him in a soft, gentle voice.
At that moment, he finally understood what motherly love was.
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