She gently advised, "Your Majesty, your health is of utmost importance. Please don't get angry so easily in the future... Whether you are sad or angry, you must keep your emotions in check and avoid losing your temper."
The Empress Dowager held Su Tiyue's hand, nodded, and said in a hoarse, weary voice, "I've been thinking a lot about the past lately. It's not things that make me sad or angry, but... things that make me regretful."
"Are you referring to the nameless memorial tablet in the Great Buddha Hall?" Although she knew this wasn't something she should ask, Su Tiyue still spoke softly.
She nodded.
At this moment, Granny Liu walked in from outside, a barely perceptible smile hidden on her calm face.
Granny Liu walked up to the two of them and nodded slightly: "Empress Dowager, news has come from Yile Palace that the Emperor has visited the late Emperor's unborn child. He even bestowed a name upon him..."
The Empress Dowager hummed in agreement, a hint of satisfaction on her face: "That's only right. After all, Consort Li's posthumous child is the Emperor's own younger brother. An elder brother is like a father; what name did he give the child?"
Granny Liu replied, "Zhou Ziqi."
"Yes, that's a good name."
The Empress Dowager had always favored Zhou Tingyue, so much so that she could overlook his mother's past as a prostitute.
Of course, all of this is due to Zhou Tingyue's own hard work and effort.
He was an unpopular prince since childhood, but Zhou Tingyue ignored all the ridicule and contempt, and with his sincerity and down-to-earth attitude, he gradually silenced those who mocked him.
Then they willingly bowed down and submitted to him.
The Empress Dowager asked again, "Is there any movement at Yongshou Palace?"
"The Empress Dowager has already sent someone out of the palace to invite Master Salo. There's probably more to this than meets the eye."
"I understand. This has always been the case in our dynasty. Master Salo can determine the fate of the imperial heirs with a single divination. However..." The Empress Dowager hesitated, sighed, and waved to Granny Liu, signaling her to leave.
"Cough cough cough..." As soon as Granny Liu stepped back, she began to cough violently, and the white handkerchief she was covering her mouth and nose was stained with dark blood.
Su Tiyue was terrified and quickly reached out to support the old woman, gently patting her back to help soothe her cough. "Your Majesty, shall I send someone to fetch the imperial physician to take a look?"
She shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, "I know my days are numbered. The medicines from the Imperial Hospital will only make me drowsy and won't do me any good. It's better to stay awake and think carefully about how I've lived my life."
"Your Majesty, please don't talk nonsense. You must live a long and healthy life, reaching a hundred years old." Su Tiyue's eyes were red, and her voice choked with emotion.
Su Tiyue is soft-hearted and can't stand this kind of scene or hear these kinds of words.
The Empress Dowager gently took her hand, regulated her breathing, and said to Su Tiyue with a solemn expression, "Yue'er, I know you are a good child. You are kind, intelligent, and considerate of the big picture. There is one thing I entrust to you, and I trust you the most."
She continued, "You saw it in the main hall just now, didn't you?"
Su Tiyue knew that what she was asking about was the nameless memorial tablet.
Su Tiyue nodded in agreement.
The Empress Dowager sighed, her tone tinged with sorrow: "This matter can hardly be considered a secret. Many people in Beiliang probably know about it, but how many truly remember it?"
Su Tiyue frowned, her eyes filled with doubt: "What is it that makes the Empress Dowager so concerned?"
"That memorial tablet actually belonged to the late Crown Prince, Zhou Yuheng."
Su Tiyue looked completely bewildered: "But wasn't the late Crown Prince Zhou Tingyue, the current Emperor?"
As for Zhou Yuheng, Su Tiyue had never heard of him.
"Before Zhou Tingyue, the late emperor had a son, but because his fate was incompatible with that of the Northern Liang, he was sent out of the palace at the age of five and demoted to a commoner."
"Destiny?" Su Tiyue repeated softly, this was the second time she had heard this term today.
She asked the Empress Dowager, "Is all of this related to that Master Salo?"
The Empress Dowager did not speak, but simply nodded silently.
Su Tiyue seemed to have figured things out a bit: "You mean, the late Crown Prince Zhou Yuheng was actually the late emperor's first son. But later, because Master Salo predicted that he was incompatible with the fate of Beiliang, the late emperor demoted him to a commoner and disowned him as his son?"
The Empress Dowager replied, "Not only that, the late Emperor also sent him to the top of the Nine Heavens Snow Mountain, intending to keep him in the Sanqing Temple on the snow mountain for the rest of his life, and never allow him to return to Yong'an."
"Nine Heavens Snow Mountain, Sanqing Temple? I've heard that the snow and ice there never melt all year round, and it's far away at the ends of the earth. Even if we don't return to Yong'an City or the palace, how can the five-year-old Crown Prince survive?" Su Tiyue's heart tightened. She couldn't imagine how cruel this would be for a child who was only a few years old.
"Moon, this matter concerns the fate of the Northern Liang Kingdom. In fact, when the late Crown Prince was just born, Master Salo had already divined that his destiny was different from others, bearing the signs of a celestial calamity and great evil. At first, no one believed Master Salo's words. My grandson had been in the palace until he was five years old. But during those five years in the palace, Northern Liang experienced a severe drought, a chronic disease, blizzards, and a large-scale invasion by the Rouran..."
The Empress Dowager beat her chest and stamped her feet: "These things are inexplicable, aren't they? Are we going to gamble the entire Northern Liang on whether the late Crown Prince was truly a jinx?"
"This is the only way, this is the only way..."
“Then…” Su Tiyue suddenly remembered something incredible, “If the late emperor’s first son was Zhou Yuheng, then who was the late crown prince’s mother? Was it the current empress dowager?”
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