"Alright! I'm much better! Emperor and Empress, you should go back now!"
Empress Dowager Ashina really didn't want to see this despicable couple using her to boost their reputation.
She waved her hand and kicked the two of them out.
"Mother, the Empress and I are worried!"
Helian Jue, however, still acted like a filial son.
Although he couldn't be as filial as the sons in the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, such as lying on ice to catch carp or burying his son to honor his mother, he could at least "attend to the sick."
Empress Dowager Ashina: ...You unfilial son, I get angry just looking at you!
If you weren't here, I might have recovered even faster!
"Your Majesty, I don't think the Empress Dowager's condition is still very good!"
"Besides the medicine, we should also pray for her well-being."
Seeing that Empress Dowager Ashina had closed her eyes and was completely ignoring Helian Jue, Xie Yuan deliberately spoke to Helian Jue in a concerned tone.
A fleeting smile crossed Helian Jue's eyes.
He knew A-Yuan too well; if she said that, she must have another "good idea."
"Yes! Ah Yuan is absolutely right! We should pray for Mother's well-being more often!"
Helian Jue readily agreed and gave Xie Yuan a look: "Just tell me what you're thinking!"
Xie Yuan glanced at Empress Dowager Ashina, whose eyes were tightly closed, and began to explain his plan:
"Your Majesty, we can light more eternal lamps for the Empress Dowager in the major temples of the capital, and have those virtuous monks chant sutras and pray for her."
Upon hearing this, Empress Dowager Ashina's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
She thought to herself, "At least you still have some conscience, Xie family."
"Hmph! You think I'll forgive you just because you did this!"
"You have gained fame by stepping on me, causing me to lose face. I will definitely retaliate tenfold in the future."
"Of the twenty-seven months of mourning, nearly seven months have already passed, leaving twenty months, which is less than two years."
"Now you can use the mourning period as an excuse to prevent Ah Xi from expanding her harem."
"But what about a year and a half from now? What excuse will you have then?"
"I will gather all kinds of beauties in advance, and give them to A-Xi on the day of the mourning period!"
Empress Dowager Ashina was truly furious.
At this moment, she no longer cared about insisting on giving Helian Jue a Turkic princess.
What's more, she even forgot about her cheap nephew Ashina He, who was imprisoned and waiting to pay ransom.
All she could think about now was that she had been wronged and that she had been tricked.
She wanted to vent her anger and get revenge!
Gritting her teeth and clenching her fists, Empress Ashina secretly hardened her resolve!
"Oh, right, and Gong Quan too!"
"Do you think the power of the palace is so easy to seize?"
"It's not enough to simply have the title of 'Empress' to truly bring palace maids and eunuchs under one's control."
"I have been managing the inner palace for over twenty years, and I don't know how many spies I have planted there."
"To be honest, if I wanted to, I could know immediately what you were doing in the palace."
Of course, given time, as long as Xie Yuan isn't too stupid, he can gradually win over people's hearts and gain a foothold in the palace.
However, this will take time.
At the fastest, it will take one or two years.
And in one or two years, you can do a lot of things.
Xie Yuan is an adult; he might not fall for it easily.
But Xie Yuan's little ones are barely able to walk.
With a little tampering, people die every year in the palace wells, the water in the imperial garden, and the stones on the artificial hill!
As for young children, dying young is perfectly normal!
Thinking of this, Empress Dowager Ashina's fingers twitched.
yes!
How could I have forgotten about that!
Helian Jue and Xie Yuan are indeed shrewd and not easy to deal with.
But their children are the easiest targets.
Once, Empress Dowager Ashina treated Helian Jue as her son, and thus had higher expectations for her so-called grandson.
Now that her son is disobedient, why would she care about her grandson whom she has never met?
If this could severely injure Helian Jue or Xie Yuan, and teach them a lesson, it might not be a bad idea.
Furthermore, Helian Jue has four offspring. If one dies, there are still three left, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
Fortunately, Xie Yuan and Helian Jue could not hear Empress Dowager Ashina's true feelings.
Otherwise, the couple would have strangled her to death.
Xie Yuan, in particular, considers her children to be her Achilles' heel.
Let alone a cheap mother-in-law, even if it were Helian Jue, she would fight him to the death if he dared to harm her child!
However, even if Xie Yuan couldn't hear Empress Dowager Ashina's true feelings or know that she was having such a vicious thought, she knew that she and her mother-in-law had already become adversaries.
It is impossible for them to reconcile, let alone become as close as family.
It wasn't that Xie Yuan coveted power, but rather that Empress Dowager Ashina had a problem with her personality—she could turn on even the son she raised with ease.
In her heart, there is only herself!
Coincidentally, Xie Yuan also loved herself very much. She couldn't be like some saintly figures who repay evil with kindness and compromise.
In just one meeting today, Xie Yuan learned that Empress Dowager Ashina was both vicious and stupid.
"Since we're destined to never get along, let's fight to the bitter end."
Xie Yuan said this to himself in silence.
The first step is to use magic to defeat magic and filial piety to break down the barrier of Empress Dowager Ashina.
The second step is—
"And then there are the eunuchs and palace servants! Most of them are from respectable families, but once they enter the palace, they are never free again."
"These people will spend their entire lives in the palace, without any hope of survival, so it's inevitable that they will harbor resentment!"
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