Chapter 222 The Queen Asks About Politics
"Forming a clique for personal gain... controlling the grain transport... imprisoning innocent people... truly, what a great Prime Minister Liang is!"
After Lu Haozhi finished reading the trial memorial sent by the three courts, although he was mentally prepared, he still couldn't help but sneer in anger.
Meng Yan stood aside and listened quietly.
She is now over four months pregnant, and her originally slender body has gradually revealed the figure of a pregnant woman. Beneath the large, bright red dress with a pattern of flying phoenixes, her slightly bulging belly is faintly visible.
The first three months had passed, and all the pregnancy symptoms such as fatigue and morning sickness had disappeared. Whether it was the imperial physician taking her pulse or she examining herself, the fetus in her belly was stable.
Now, the Liang family's demise is imminent. Although Lin Yanrong is temporarily missing, it is a serious crime for a concubine to escape secretly. One of her two backers has already fallen, and the other one, Concubine Xuanhe, is also in a difficult situation, let alone her.
The heroine who, in her previous life, could make things happen with the help of the plot, has now hidden herself like a stray dog with her tail between her legs, and can no longer stir up any waves.
Meng Yan now feels at peace.
After a moment, she opened her mouth to say something, but Lu Haozhi suddenly raised his hand, grabbed an official kiln yellow porcelain lidded cup with dragon pattern on the table and threw it to the ground.
But with a clang, the tea bowl fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, spilling tea all over the floor.
A few drops of tea fell on Meng Yan's shoes, and the royal blue peony-patterned uppers were immediately soaked.
Fortunately, it was late spring and the weather was getting warmer, so I didn’t feel anything.
Rong An, who was guarding the gate outside, heard this and quickly leaned over to ask, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, what are your instructions?"
Meng Yan took a step away and said loudly, "It was just that I accidentally broke the cup. There is no need to come in and serve."
When Rong An heard this, he knew what was going on and quickly retracted his head.
Meng Yan walked lightly behind Lu Haozhi, held his shoulders, and began to massage them gently.
The warm fragrance from the woman's body was like a stream of warm water that soaked into Lu Haozhi, gradually relaxing the tense muscles in his shoulders.
After a while, he lowered his head and sighed softly, with a hint of self-mockery in his helplessness, "Yan'er, I've made a fool of myself again."
Meng Yan smiled and shook her head, walked around to him and held his hands.
"Your Majesty is so angry because he cares for his people and his country. The Liang family has committed countless crimes that are too numerous to list. If Your Majesty turns a blind eye, I will truly cry for the people of Great Zhou."
Lu Haozhi raised his head and looked at the woman in front of him with a sweet smile and bright eyes, and he couldn't help but smile back.
Compared with his father, and even compared with the emperors of all dynasties, he is the lucky one.
In this palace as deep as the sea, there is always such a person who allows him to vent his emotions at will without caring about the majesty of the emperor.
The Emperor and the Empress were husband and wife in this life. They went through life and death together and pacified the world together. However, rather than being close lovers, they were more like a pair of comrades-in-arms who benefited each other.
Even in front of his wife, my father was still concerned about the former dynasty and the harem. He wore the mask of the emperor day after day, and after a long time he forgot how to take it off.
Perhaps my father doted on Concubine Li so much in the past because she was merely a concubine, a foreign woman. Even if she were favored, it wouldn't have shaken the situation in the slightest. Her offspring would never inherit the throne. It was precisely because of this that my father could indulge himself without restraint in her presence.
Lu Haozhi clearly remembered that one day when he was returning from school in the study and passing by Yangxue Tower where Concubine Li lived, he heard his father's hearty laughter from inside.
The laughter was spontaneous and hearty, not at all like that of a cold and majestic emperor, but rather like that of an ordinary father and husband enjoying family life with his wife and children.
Lu Haozhi had never seen his father smile like that, nor had he ever seen his father treat him the same way he treated the commoner Lu Chengyuan.
Whenever he went before his father, he was always faced with a stern and majestic face. His father either asked about his homework or reminded him how to be a good prince. He rarely asked about his hunger, fullness, cold or warmth, and even less about his likes and dislikes.
Lu Haozhi didn't know what the word "kindness" in the book meant. It seemed that all the love his father had for his son was given to the commoner Lu Chengyuan.
When he was young and ignorant, he was often indignant about this matter. Every time he complained to his mother, his mother would just say lightly, "It's like heaven and earth are different."
When he grew older, he finally understood the profound meaning of these words.
However, on the night when Concubine Li was sentenced to death, Lu Haozhi saw his father sitting on the stone steps outside the Palace of Tranquil Longevity, looking very lonely.
He walked forward, and his father touched his head and, for the only time in his life, called out his childhood nickname, "Hao'er."
Does the emperor really have deep feelings for Concubine Li?
Lu Haozhi didn’t think so, but the person who allowed him to do whatever he wanted was no longer around.
There is no longer any corner in this world where he can breathe.
For the rest of my father's life, he was only known as the founding emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
And he almost repeated his father's mistakes in his previous life. His beloved passed away, and he lived his life alone with the title of Emperor of Zhou.
But he was still lucky. God gave him a chance to start over and sent her back to him.
In this life, she is his queen, his wife, his lover, the mother of his children...
What exactly does Yan'er mean to him? Perhaps even she herself doesn't know...
Meng Yan's face flushed at Lu Haozhi's gaze, so she picked up a red sandalwood wolf-hair brush from the table, dipped it in thick ink, and handed it to him with a faint smile. "The dead are gone. Your Majesty should now conclude this case and bring justice to the people who have suffered so much at the hands of the Liang family."
Lu Haozhi naturally understood what she meant. He took the letter from her hand, but was in no hurry to put pen to paper. He stared into his wife's eyes and asked, "What does the Queen think should be done?"
The title of "Queen" was of great weight, meaning that this was the first time that Meng Yan, as the Queen, was assisting in government affairs.
Meng Yan's eyes shifted slightly, her lips curled slightly. "Your Majesty, this case involves many people, and it's the most serious case since your ascension to the throne, aside from the Prince Regent's treason. We shouldn't kill too many people and cause panic among the court and the people, nor should we be lenient and undermine your majesty. I believe that since the Liang family is the root of all the evil, they should be severely punished. All male members of the family over thirteen years old should be beheaded, and the rest should be exiled to the border and enslaved by the soldiers guarding the border. The rest of the accomplices should be imprisoned or exiled according to the severity of their crimes. Those who are truly heinous should be beheaded in public. This way, we won't lose the support of the people and justice, and we won't destabilize the situation. This is the best of both worlds."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
