Chapter 97 Chu Yang.
The newborn baby changes every day, and no one can get enough of looking at him. At this time, the court has been sealed off, so Chu Heng does not need to go out and spends all his days with Daiyu and the child.
"But we suffered a great loss." Daiyu leaned against the large pillow, feeling somewhat bored, and casually sighed.
Chu Heng, who was flipping through a book by the bedside, asked upon hearing this, "What do you mean by 'suffering a loss'?"
Daiyu laughed and said, "The little guy was born on the twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month. The New Year is just around the corner. He's not even a month old yet, and he's already a year older. Isn't that a huge loss?"
Chu Heng reached out and pinched the little guy's fair and soft face, and laughed, "He was born with so much good fortune, so he should suffer a little loss too."
Daiyu also gently pinched it with her hand, and then asked Chu Heng, "What do you think of a name?"
Chu Heng patted the Book of Songs in his hand and said with a sigh, "It's really too difficult. A name will stay with you for a lifetime, so I have to be more careful."
Daiyu held out her hand: "Let me see."
Chu Heng quickly placed the book beside Daiyu's feet, next to the brocade quilt: "No, reading is hard on your eyes. You need to rest now. Are you tired of sitting? Let me help you lie down."
Daiyu said listlessly, "I can't do anything but sit or lie down, and I can't do anything but sleep. I feel like every day is a year."
"I'll read to you," Chu Heng said quickly, seeing her downcast mood. "What do you want to hear? Poetry, travelogues, or storybooks? I'll have someone go out and buy them, or I can get two female storytellers to read to you. How does that sound?"
Daiyu thought for a moment and said, "Read the book in your hand first, let me listen, maybe there are some suitable words."
Chu Heng then turned to a page, which was a classical piece. When he reached the end, Daiyu raised her eyebrows slightly and repeated, "His teacher, the Grand Master, was a time of soaring ambition..."
Chu Heng knew that Daiyu was certainly familiar with these sentences, so he said, "This is about Qi Taigong during King Wu of Zhou's conquest of Shang, who was like an eagle spreading its wings and soaring high."
"What do you think of the character 'Yang'?" Daiyu asked.
“Shi Weiying…” Chu Heng nodded with a smile, “Of course, that’s good.”
As parents, who wouldn't want their child to succeed? Despite the many constraints imposed on members of the royal family, they still couldn't help but wish that their child would soar like an eagle in the future.
Therefore, five days after his birth, the little guy's name was officially decided: Chu Yang.
The next day, the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, Chu Heng went to the palace to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, and also told them his name, saying that he would be included in the imperial genealogy in the future.
With nothing much to do at the end of the year, the emperor wanted to show his filial piety. He was just coming over to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager when he heard that Chu Heng had already decided on a name for the child. He said, "Why did you choose this character? I also prepared some better ones and was thinking of letting you choose one."
Chu Heng smiled and said, "When the princess was young, she lived in Yangzhou for a year. At that time, she was still able to stay with her parents. Now that she is a mother herself, she thinks of her parents and feels emotional, but she can no longer be filial to them. She can only express her feelings in this way. This is also a way for her to show her filial piety."
Since the word "filial piety" had been brought up, the emperor said nothing more, only smiled and said, "Your sister-in-law is filial."
Chu Heng laughed again, "Your Majesty, as long as you have good calligraphy, you won't have to worry about not having a place to use it. In the future, when there are many princes, I'm just afraid that the calligraphy you have prepared won't be enough."
"Even teaching these few children is a headache for me," the emperor said with a shake of his head and a smile. "If I had a few more, I would really be worrying myself sick."
At this moment, the Empress Dowager interjected, "It is a good thing that the Emperor has many children. What is there to worry about? I see that Jie'er is becoming more and more sensible. As the eldest brother, he can teach the children under the Emperor."
The emperor was displeased upon hearing this. He felt that the eldest prince could be further instructed, which was for the sake of the country. The empress dowager's praise of the eldest prince was for her own selfish reasons, which displeased the emperor.
The emperor said calmly, "Jie'er is more composed, but he is still a child. He is not yet capable of teaching his brothers."
"The children below are being taught by your son, so please rest assured, Mother."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Empress Dowager's face immediately darkened. This was because the Emperor disliked her meddling in the affairs of the princes and was even more annoyed by her interference in the selection of the heir apparent.
But the emperor doesn't seem to realize that without her protection, he wouldn't be the emperor he is today.
In terms of vision, the Empress Dowager believed that the Emperor was inferior to her and that he had to listen to her.
"With the Emperor's guidance, the children are naturally all good," the Empress Dowager said. "However, you were also taught by me, and I fear you may have made mistakes. I must keep a close eye on you at all times, otherwise... it would be difficult to explain to the late Emperor."
The emperor's eyelids twitched violently; these words struck a nerve.
Back then, the emperor was pushed to the throne by many people, but he was unwilling to admit that the help he received from others was the key to his victory.
He believed that it was his abilities that were recognized by the late emperor first, and that others only saw him as a rare commodity and formed alliances with him to profit from it.
The Empress Dowager schemed for the Emperor with all her might, also for her own throne, and the Emperor had already offered it to her.
The emperor gripped the string of beads tightly in his hand. Over the years, out of consideration for his mother and son and for the past, he had always been tolerant of the Empress Dowager and was willing to back down on many things.
Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager did not appreciate the Emperor's good intentions at all, and instead became even more outrageous, daring to threaten him!
The emperor said expressionlessly, "In his later years, the late emperor entrusted all state affairs to his son. Now that Mother is also getting old, she should enjoy her retirement. I dare not disturb Mother with the matters mentioned earlier."
Chu Heng lowered his eyes and stared at the ground, as if he hadn't heard the tense exchange between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager.
When the late emperor was the retired emperor, he still held firm to his power. It was the emperor's faction that gradually eroded his power and eventually sidelined him.
The fact that the emperor now compares the empress dowager to the retired emperor of yesteryear is a blatant warning.
The Empress Dowager understood the Emperor's meaning, and her first reaction was not fear, but anger.
Let bygones be bygones. No matter how much the mother and son argued, they still showed some consideration. Is the emperor now going to completely turn against her?
The Empress Dowager felt a chill in her heart. She had raised these two sons, and they were both ungrateful wretches!
"Alright..." The Empress Dowager accidentally dropped the hand warmer she was holding, and the charcoal fire burst open, instantly setting the fox fur rug at her feet ablaze.
Chu Heng quickly stood up and stepped forward, pulling the Empress Dowager with one hand and the Emperor with the other: "Get out of the way!"
The palace servants rushed to protect their master, and someone shouted that the fire was burning. Fortunately, there were large vats outside, and the water was quickly brought into the house to put out the fire.
The weather was dry, and once the flames started, they spread to the sides. It was too hot to stay inside, so the emperor was the first to be escorted out of the house by his entourage, followed by the empress dowager and Chu Heng.
Chu Heng patted his chest. Winter is dry, and there was a brazier burning in the house, along with many flammable furnishings. If the fire really started, who knows what it would look like.
He and Daiyu had just had a child, and the family of three had only been together for a few days; they hadn't had enough of each other yet.
The emperor's temple veins throbbed. If the empress dowager hadn't been there, he would have suspected that she was plotting to assassinate him!
The Empress Dowager was terribly frightened. She was in dire need of her life. If the ladies-in-waiting hadn't been supporting her, she would have fallen to the ground.
Fortunately, a palace servant brought chairs in time and invited the three of them to sit down.
A fire before the New Year is not a good omen, especially since it was started by the Empress Dowager. The Emperor was even more displeased. After patiently waiting for a report that it was impossible for the fire to start again, he turned and left.
The Empress Dowager could no longer sit still. She gasped for breath and said, "Emperor... does the Emperor still remember that I am his own mother? Does he still remember that I was the one who helped him ascend the throne?"
Chu Heng immediately wanted to cover her ears. The emperor was such a petty person. She should just keep such things to herself. Was she afraid that the emperor hadn't made up his mind to kill her?
Thinking of protecting himself, he carefully took a few steps back before saying, "Mother, now that there's nothing else here, I'll take my leave."
The Empress Dowager sneered: "What are you rushing off to? Go home or complain to the Emperor?"
Chu Heng sighed and said gently, "Mother is already the Empress Dowager. She should just enjoy her retirement. Why bother with these matters anymore?"
"Oh, so you want to act as an intermediary? Does the Emperor know?" The Empress Dowager sized him up and sneered again.
OK.
Since the Empress Dowager was so stubborn, Chu Heng didn't bother to say anything more. He simply bowed and said, "Mother, rest well. Your son takes his leave."
As for how the Empress Dowager would get angry, Chu Heng was even less inclined to care. He was more concerned about going home to be with his wife and children.
Daiyu was very interested in the argument between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor at Renshou Palace and the accidental fire. Since confinement was really too boring, she had Chu Heng tell the story three times, and then analyzed it for Chu Heng bit by bit.
Finally, Daiyu concluded: "After the New Year, when the imperial seal is reopened, the struggle between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager will likely be brought into the open. In that case, the outcome may be decided within a year or two."
Chu Heng sighed, "Establishing an heir is not the end; the one who succeeds to the throne is the winner. Moreover, there will be another battle after the succession."
Daiyu smiled and said, "Then it has nothing to do with our family."
"That's true." Chu Heng said, poking little Chu Yang's cheek. He clearly didn't use much force, but the boy started to cry.
"Oh dear!" Daiyu slapped his hand in annoyance. "You have no sense of proportion!"
"Mother, look, is he hungry?" Daiyu held the child in her arms and coaxed him.
The wet nurse came over upon hearing the noise: "Your Highness, I've come to take a look."
After she took the child away, Chu Heng said, "I didn't make him cry. It's just that it's time for him to nurse. Look." As he spoke, he handed the gold watch he had opened to Daiyu.
“We’ve arrived.” Daiyu smiled. “This boy can’t stand being hungry; he cries as soon as it’s time to go.”
Chu Heng laughed and said, "Being hungry is too uncomfortable. If we get too hungry, we might even cry."
Daiyu shifted her position, half-lying down: "I want to get up and walk around. I've had enough of this bed."
Chu Heng quickly pressed down on her blanket: "No, wait until the imperial physicians have examined your pulse and say you can get out of bed. If you get sick now, it could be a lifelong problem. We can't be too careful."
"Alright then." At least there was hope of getting out of bed, so Daiyu reluctantly agreed, "What about that travelogue from yesterday? Read it to pass the time."
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