Lotus Falls: Past Emperor's Schemes
Consort Li's name was Hehua, taken from the phrase "There are hibiscus trees on the mountain, and lotus flowers in the marsh." In the third year of the Dewei era, Li Hehua entered the palace as part of the imperial concubine selection.
Li Hehua was pretty and dignified. She was also the younger sister of the wife of the Minister of Rites and stood out among the candidates for the imperial concubines.
The late Emperor Qi Lie was quite satisfied with her. She was granted the title of Noble Lady as soon as she entered the palace, enjoying boundless favor and becoming the envy of everyone, as well as a thorn in the side of some. However, thanks to Qi Lie's protection, she remained safe and sound, and Li Hehua was truly happy during that time.
However, not long after, Li Hehua was found to be pregnant. Although she was favored, she had to be careful in the harem, a place where people were devoured without spitting out the bones. After all, many people got pregnant but did not have the right to give birth to children.
Li Hehua knew that she had been in the eye of the storm from the moment she entered the palace and received the emperor's favor, but she had no other choice. She couldn't just give up the emperor's favor!
In the imperial harem, the emperor's favor was the concubines' means of survival and also one of the sources of their family's glory.
Therefore, she requested that her pregnancy be kept secret. Only Li Hehua herself and the imperial physician knew about it, because it would be bad if the maids were bribed and leaked the news.
However, the personal maid was afraid that she might accidentally reveal the news while she was too happy, because her personal maid, Qin'er, couldn't keep anything a secret! So even the personal maid didn't know about this.
Each time Qi Lie was to serve the emperor, Li Hehua refused, citing a recent cold as the reason. Qi Lie wanted to have the imperial physician examine her and treat her as soon as possible.
But Li Hehua said to Qi Lie, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, I am already taking the medicine and I believe I will recover soon."
Li Hehua had previously instructed the imperial physician who examined her pulse to prepare medicine for her to prevent colds, just in case.
Qi Lie looked at her and a hint of reluctance flashed in his eyes, but finally said, "Yes."
Three months later, when Li Hehua wanted to tell Qi Lie, she dressed up specially and said to the maids with a smile, "I'm going to give His Majesty a surprise today. As for what the surprise is, I'll tell you when I get back! You don't need to follow me. I'll go to the Baohe Hall to find His Majesty myself. Don't worry! I'm already familiar with the palace."
As she was leaving, the maid Qi Lie had given her stopped her silently, saying, "Your Highness... please wait a moment! I've made some pastries for you. Please have some to tide you over. You can't let yourself go hungry. Your health is more important. You haven't had dinner yet."
Li Hehua initially wanted to refuse, since there would be plenty of delicious food at the banquet. However, thinking of the baby in her womb, she ate a few dishes. She couldn't let her baby go hungry, and that's how everything that followed happened.
Now, Li Hehua thought about it and realized that apart from eating the pastries that Wuyan had given her to her maid, she hadn't eaten anything else when she left, and she hadn't said a word since she left her palace.
Wu Yan was Qi Lie's confidant and very loyal. He listened to Qi Lie and no one else. When he was first given to Li Hehua, Wu Yan was very arrogant and even disobeyed her orders. No matter what Li Hehua said, Wu Yan would not listen.
But Wu Yan was given to Li Hehua by Qi Lie to protect her, after all, Wu Yan knew a little martial arts.
Therefore, Li Hehua really hopes to get along well with Wuyan, or at least become friends with him.
Li Hehua is pretty and innocent-looking. She always calls Wuyan "Sister Wuyan" and sometimes points to a bird and says, "Sister Wuyan, look, there's a bird over there! Quick! Catch one for me!"
She said helplessly, "Your Majesty, you can't call me 'sister'."
Li Hehua simply laughed and said, "Sister Wuyan! You finally spoke to me, hahaha, how about we become friends?"
After hearing this, he could only remain silent.
"Huh? Why are you ignoring me again? Sister Wuyan, say something..." Li Hehua asked in confusion.
As time went on, Li Hehua stopped ordering Wuyan around. She continued to call her "Sister Wuyan" as before, joked with her, and shared funny stories. Wuyan started to respond a little more, but still didn't want Li Hehua to call her "Sister Wuyan." In this way, a strange relationship formed between them.
That day, Li Hehua thought that Wuyan had finally begun to accept her, but it turned out that he was helping that person to harm her. Her heart was so cold, so very cold.
Whether it was His Majesty Qi Lie, who once opened his coat and pulled her into his arms in the snow for fear of freezing, or his silent sister, who was clearly arrogant and disobedient but would still secretly put the birds she caught into the birdcage outside for her, she felt heartbroken and disheartened.
Li Hehua leaned quietly against the wall, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know why she was crying and feeling sad, but she was helplessly grieving inside.
No matter what, this innocent child should not be harmed, Your Majesty!
He... hasn't been born yet? He hasn't... seen this world yet? Why? Why are you all... so cruel?
Meanwhile, in the Imperial Study where Qi Lie was located.
"Is everything... all arranged? She... won't say a word, will she?" Qi Lie asked, frowning but pausing.
The chief eunuch replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, you can rest assured that Wu Yan is doing his job well. That mute medicine is the best, and no one will know. All Your Majesty needs to do is say that Consort Li is suffering from a severe cold and is unable to speak."
Qi Lie finally relaxed his brows and said, "Well, blame that old bastard Shi Fa! If it weren't for that old bastard Shi Fa harming my own mother and me, and now he even dares to try to climb over me, how could I have lost my concubine and child? It's also Li Hehua's fault for being too stupid. Where is there sincerity in the palace? Besides, I gave her a chance."
This opportunity arose when Qi Lie wanted the imperial physician to treat Li Hehua.
"Execute Shi Fa tonight! We mustn't let anyone find out he was drugged. And issue this imperial decree that no member of the Shi family shall hold office again, and that no more women from the family shall be sent to the palace. As for Li Hehua…"
When Qi Lie mentioned Li Hehua, he paused, seemingly reluctant to part with her, or perhaps deep in thought. His feelings were somewhat complicated. But then he thought again, how could he possibly feel reluctant to part with her? He must be mistaken. Finally, he made up his mind and said, "Execute her at noon tomorrow!"
The chief steward felt a pang of regret after listening to this.
Indeed, the imperial family is the most ruthless place.
Qi Lie knew from a young age that his birth mother was just a palace maid who washed feet. She was favored by the emperor and became pregnant, which led to her being granted a title. Because of her lowly status, Qi Lie was adopted by the empress at the time when he was born. Later, Qi Lie learned the truth from the gossiping palace servants.
He secretly began to look for Xin Yunu. He was initially just curious about what kind of person his birth mother was, but he later discovered that Xin Yunu was pretty and had a great love for growing flowers.
Qi Lie would secretly observe Xin Yunu whenever he had free time. As time went on, he got into the habit of visiting her whenever he had a spare moment. Perhaps it was because she was his birth mother, and he felt more at ease by her side. All his grievances and sadness didn't matter here.
Later, Qi Lie discovered that Consort Xin was forced to offer herself to Prime Minister Shi Fa. Consort Xin's palace was so remote that no one would know what had happened there. Moreover, Consort Xin had not served the emperor since giving birth to her child, as if she had been banished to the cold palace.
Xin Yunu struggled desperately. Seeing this, Qi Lie secretly lit a fire and shouted for help. Shi Fa, fearing that things would fall apart, quickly pushed Xin Yunu away and left. Shi Fa escaped, but Xin Yunu was in trouble. When the crowd arrived and put out the fire, they saw that Xin Yunu was disheveled. The emperor then ordered Xin Yunu to be executed.
Qi Lie made up his mind after looking at Xin Yunu's corpse.
Don't worry, I will definitely avenge you, Mother.
Years later, Qi Lie ascended the throne at the age of twenty-three. Three years later, when he held a selection of candidates, Li Hehua's appearance reminded him of Xin Yunu. Upon seeing that she was from the Li family, he realized that he could use the Li family to bring down the Shi family.
Aside from his lust, Shi Fa had no other hobbies. His only weakness was his frequent visits to brothels, which at most ruined his reputation but posed no real danger. However, his affair with the imperial concubines was a different story. He was incredibly audacious to have affairs with the concubines right under the emperor's nose, which was clearly a challenge to the emperor's authority.
This became the reason, a very reasonable reason. If successful, the Li family would lose all face, and the Shi family would completely collapse.
Even if it fails, Qi Lie won't suffer any loss, because no one will find out that he did it. After all, he has always doted on Li Hehua. He had already prepared a plan, but Li Hehua suddenly became pregnant, and because she didn't intend to tell Qi Lie, she lost her life.
After all, Qi Lie was quite happy when he first learned from the secret guards that Li Hehua was pregnant.
But Qi Lie would not let go of the opportunity to cause losses to both the Li and Shi families. The Li family had the support of the people, while the Shi family was a mess and there was a grudge between them. Neither of them would be good for Qi Lie.
During the palace banquet, Qi Lie kept getting Shi Fa drunk. Once he was drunk, he quickly took the opportunity to help him down to rest, then placed him on the way to Li Hehua. He then took the opportunity to give Prime Minister Shi aphrodisiac, and rushed over as fast as he could, fearing that Shi Fa would actually succeed.
That night, the head of the Shi family was beheaded before he was sober. Qi Lie had some leniency towards the rest of the Shi family and did not exterminate them. However, all the Shi family members who were officials were stripped of their official hats and became commoners. The women no longer had the opportunity to enter the palace, and all the clansmen were exiled to the frontier. From then on, the Shi family collapsed.
Only Shi Hui, who had already entered the palace and risen to the rank of Empress, remained. Of course, Shi Hui did not believe that her father would do such a thing, but she had no way to investigate because Qi Lie had ordered her to be confined to the palace for life after this incident. This was no different from being sent to the cold palace, and she could only be an Empress in name only from then on.
She hated Li Hehua. Shi Hui believed that either Li Hehua had seduced her father, or Li Hehua had dragged her father down with her!
At this moment, Shi Hui hated Li Hehua intensely, but since Li Hehua was to be executed the next day, she transferred her hatred to the Li family. She wanted the Li family to also experience the feeling of falling from a high place to the ground and being smashed to pieces.
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