Chapter 59 Chapter 59 [VIP]
Shen Youyi lowered her head, and after a long while, Bai Shi softly called out "Yi Niang".
In fact, even if A Niang didn't say it, her limbs were still intact, her heartbeat was normal, and she should know what he was thinking when she was sitting here.
Mrs. Bai carefully observed her daughter's demeanor. She couldn't imagine how a girl so obedient and docile to her parents at home could argue with the emperor. "Fortunately, all this is over. The royal family may be rich, but how could a child like you afford such luxury? Once you've had some time to grow up, we can travel around and leave this place."
Tigers, wolves, bears, and tigers may occasionally show their affection, but no one truly wants to get close to them. Bai Shi was no different. She was separated from the socializing of the ladies, and the status and family honor that once held so dear to her heart became nothing more than external possessions. What she regretted most was her husband's rice: "Your father was only one step away from becoming a third-rank prime minister, but in reality, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven. Before he submitted his petition to beg for his remains, he wasn't sure if he'd even receive a nominal title, but he did have some experience in rice farming and cooking. Now, after two or three years of farming, with just a hint of success, it's hard to bear to sell the land and travel far away."
Shen Youyi remained silent for a long time. She dropped a few leaves into the apricot yellow tea and stirred in a little honey. The boats swayed like bamboo shoots sprouting, and her heart seemed to move with it.
A hint of fresh, slightly sweet bitterness, refreshing the mind and leaving a sweet aftertaste in the mouth.
"Mother, actually, it's not a big deal for a father to take his son's concubine."
Shen Youyi said slowly: “It’s just that the person I want to please takes it too seriously.”
Bai's face was filled with astonishment. She trembled and said, "Yi Niang, what have you learned in the past two years? If you tell anyone about the affair between the father-in-law and the daughter-in-law, it would be enough to make people jump into the river, let alone..."
Shen Youyi weakly interjected, "What's more, Your Majesty, the Holy Dynasty governs the world with filial piety. The emperor and his subjects, fathers and sons, are all governed by propriety, righteousness, and integrity. He doesn't even want to have more concubines. After the Empress, there are only nine women in the inner court. Yet, he is quite tolerant of his brothers and nephews. Naturally, he pursues the ancient rites and customs, and hopes to teach them by words and deeds. Since him, the emperor's father is kind and his sons are filial, and brothers are friendly and respectful to their younger brothers. The country will last forever. The monarchs who first gained the world all had this idea. Taking the previous dynasties as an example, they strictly enforced laws and established imperial internal training to teach their descendants."
She had seen the books on Emperor Yuan Shuo's desk, and the scholars who lectured the emperor and the prime minister's wives were also trying to curry favor with the imperial concubine. They did not dare to speak easily about the important matters in the court, but they did not need to be shy about talking about the history recorded in these books.
The world has been in chaos for hundreds of years, during which countless monarchs have emerged, but very few can unify the Central Plains for a long time, including the emperors before Emperor Yuan Shuo. Although they occupied Chang'an, they had no orthodox excuse and could only be called heroes who ruled the interior.
These monarchs may have had a youthful period of diligent effort to govern the country, but when they reached their middle and late twenties or forties, as their lives and power faded, they began to covet the last bit of enjoyment and ultimately could not control their descendants and tribes.
"He abstinently pursues abstinence, yet he covets my beauty. The palace's annual expenditure has been reduced by several percent compared to the last years of the previous dynasty, yet he still makes an exception and supports me. If he were truly cruel... he should have killed me."
As calmly and concisely as possible, Shen Youyi recounted the scandalous events of the Zhao prince and his son's fight for a concubine. Leaning against the pillow, she said, "Regardless of whether that woman did anything wrong, no one outside of Chang'an dared to offend the Zhao prince. Even if both father and son wanted to succeed, there was His Majesty to keep him in check, and the rules of the prince's fiefdom to suppress him. If that beauty could leave the palace, she could barely save her life, but the land under the sun and moon belongs to the king. With my status, other than death, how else could I cut off this mess?"
Her voice became slightly hoarse when she said this, but Emperor Yuan Shuo still spared her life in the end. It was not because she thought that the emperor would make some concessions just because he had a son in middle age.
The enchanting beauty was the embodiment of his passion and desire, and she didn't believe that he wouldn't feel a little reluctant and unwilling when he let her go.
A monarch, for the sake of his throne, for the sake of the prince who suddenly changed from gentle and capable to cowardly and incompetent, he knew that she was still alive in this world, and that one day her body and mind would be occupied by someone else, but he still had to give up another part of his desires and try to end the matter quietly.
Mrs. Bai fell silent for a long time. Perhaps her daughter had never been a well-behaved girl. It was just because her parents shared the same ideas as her and valued blood ties. When she was young, she was willing to listen to her older parents. Now, after spending a long time around these nobles, she has her own ideas, which run counter to her parents' current expectations. She also seems to disagree with the way out the emperor has given her.
"Then, Yi Niang, what exactly do you want to do in the future?" Bai suppressed the terrifying suspicion in her heart and said carefully, "It won't come to this... Are you still thinking of returning to His Majesty?"
Her daughter had clearly said so many outrageous things! Lingyang Hou had been dead for many years, and as a childless woman, she was already doing her husband a great favor by remaining faithful to him. Could she really risk the lives of her entire family for him?
Shen Youyi gently pushed her mother's hand away and tried to get down and move her legs, which were gradually regaining feeling. They had said everything they wanted the last time they met, and she didn't have complete confidence: "It's not all for him... What plans can I have? I can only take it one step at a time. It's better to be still than to move. Right now, we are trapped in this place. What else can we do except to keep quiet?"
If there really wasn't any possibility, she would of course give up the idea, but what if there was even the slightest temptation?
…
The Queen only learned about the Imperial Concubine's awakening in the evening. She was really frightened to see the beauty who was still dying in the morning suddenly standing outside her palace, asking for an audience and apologizing. She ordered Zhuiyu to invite her in.
Zhui Yu's face was filled with displeasure. She had long been dissatisfied with the Imperial Concubine. "Commoner Shen has done so many things. It's truly remarkable that Your Majesty has tolerated her now. Your Majesty, in order to please that vixen, even moved Your Majesty here. Your Highness has reprimanded the Second Prince for this many times. Why are you still bothering with this vixen?"
The queen's face darkened. She had always been short of breath, so she rarely raised her voice: "Even if I am not the queen in the future, it is not your turn to comment on my actions. Let Madam Shen come in. If you don't understand, go back to the palace. Are you afraid that you will not have a good home?"
She was wearing plain clothes, with no luxurious beads on her hair, and only a wooden comb with a silver rim to hold her hair in her bun. The maidservant beside the queen looked at her with a slightly strange look, as if with a hint of contempt, but she pretended not to know.
Only after she was led into the inner chamber did she bow down gracefully, and her body fell, hitting the carpet and leaving a large stain.
When I first saw her plain and simple attire, I stepped down from the dressing table, took her hand, and ordered the attendants to bring a handkerchief to wipe the tears of the imperial concubine. I felt pity for her. Only Your Majesty would be willing to abandon such a beauty. If it were me,
Being in the same palace with the most noble woman in the world, what Shen Youyi was most unsure of was the Queen's attitude. Seeing that she had no intention of blaming her, she kept crying and tried to test her: "Mother Yi is too embarrassed to see you."
Emperor Yuan Shuo was going crazy, and there was no reason for him to punish the Empress. She was puzzled and choked with sobs, saying, "Your Majesty's words are golden. Even if I did something wrong, you promised it yourself just now, promising that the Second Prince would never leave the capital and be filial to you. Could it be that because of my sin, you are taking your anger out on you?"
The Queen was stunned for a moment, then understood. She smiled and said, "Your Majesty has already appointed Zi Yan as Prince of Chen. Moving to the temporary palace was something Your Majesty and I had already agreed on. Why is Yi Niang taking on this responsibility?"
She thought that Emperor Yuan Shuo was willing to do such a deceitful thing to change the queen, and perhaps one day he would not be able to resist and ask for credit in front of the beauty. However, to this day, the imperial concubine was still kept in the dark.
Seeing the beauty's tears lingering in her eyes, the Queen smiled, "Of course, Ziyan hasn't had an easy time with Your Majesty these days, but I never expected that child to do such a thing to tease his father and brother without making a sound."
Her son had no desire for the thorny chair in the East Palace. The queen could not think of a more appropriate word except "teasing" or even more excessive "revenge".
Perhaps Zi Yan was not as empty and boring as she imagined, to the point of being world-weary. Under his respect for his father, he also had malice and mockery, just like her brother's rebellion against Aye when he was a teenager.
Even though she has been the queen for many years, she is not so relaxed.
No one had revealed a single word of these words to her. Shen Youyi asked anxiously, "Is the Queen not angry with me?"
The Queen smiled calmly and had everyone leave before she slowly said, "Yi Niang, I'm just worried that those people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs might be too careless and use medicinal wine that might harm you... In twenty years, I've never seen anyone so angry as to anger Your Majesty like that."
She wanted to plead for the imperial concubine at that time and was almost anxious, but when she arrived at the Qingping Palace, the calmness she pretended to be became real.
They had been married for twenty years, and she had always been very well behaved, but the moment she saw the bloody handkerchief, her concern was no longer so sincere.
Everyone thought that since she had been the empress and the emperor for so many years and had only the imperial concubine as his favorite woman, she should be content. However, she was not so content, and not so virtuous... However, she only held the power of the inner court, and did not know how to make Emperor Yuan Shuo taste the pain of having his heart cut out and still get away with it.
Even if His Majesty wanted to let the imperial concubine leave the palace, she even had some dark thoughts. Perhaps it was not that this almighty emperor was unwilling to continue to be entangled with the woman who had been his son's concubine.
He even wanted Yiniang's "corpse" to accompany her carriage to Cuiwei Palace, which was heavily guarded.
However, her husband, the king who once held the beauty firmly in his palm, abandoned Yi Niang so decisively. Not only did he arrange so many imperial guards to guard the place, but every few days, eunuchs would come to ask about the queen's well-being and whether the unconscious Madam Shen was awake.
It seemed that apart from him, who was willing to spend so much manpower and resources, no one else could carefully maintain this stunning beauty.
But how could she not take good care of Yi Niang?
“A blessing in disguise.”
The Queen was reluctant to reveal the Emperor's recent situation to Shen Youyi, so she sighed softly, "I heard from Zi Yan's secret letter that the capital has not been peaceful these days."
Shen Youyi's eyes almost lit up, then she lowered her head and said timidly, "Is there a rebellion in the city?"
If the prince takes the risk, it will undoubtedly be in her best interest.
The Empress wasn't entirely clear on the events of the previous dynasty, but she was pleased with Yiniang's reaction. She smiled faintly, "How could I, a mere woman in the inner palace, know anything about Your Majesty's affairs? I just heard that after the Emperor's return, all the members of the Yang family, both men and women... and even close officials of the Eastern Palace, were arrested. I hear that countless people die every day, and the palace is in a state of panic. Thinking about it this way, what's wrong with staying in Cuiwei Palace?"
She stroked the beauty's delicate yet thin face and said softly, "I know you don't like His Majesty, and I don't think you'd want to live with me in Cuiwei Palace. But the world outside is so chaotic. It's better to wait a month or two before leaving to avoid being implicated. Compared to Chang'an, this place can be called a paradise."
Before he finished speaking, the maid outside the hall knocked on the door hurriedly, interrupting the tender warmth in the hall.
"Your Majesty... the Ministry of Internal Affairs has sent another messenger to inquire about your well-being. Aunt Zhuiyu declined, saying you had already taken a tranquilizing decoction and gone to bed. However, the strong man looked extremely panicked and wanted to ask me to pass on a message saying that Chief Steward Chen had something urgent to tell him."
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