Chapter 400 Ling Jingxuan Extra 4
Looking at the person huddled at the foot of the bed, not daring to move a step, she was so thin that she looked like a human, but I found her so pleasing to the eye. Because she was mine, she had become like this for me.
…
When I finally no longer had to worry about Qi Luoyuan leaving me at any time, I had a dream, a very long dream.
In my dream, I ascended the throne twice. The first time, I appointed Lin Xiafeng as the queen. The second time, after Dugu Yu died, I used all means to force Qin Qingyao to marry me.
She did agree, but died on our wedding night.
I was frightened awake and got up in the middle of the night to find Qi Luoyuan. Regardless of her shivering body, I hugged her and slept beside her.
Although she was crazy now and didn't recognize anyone, I thought she must know me, because she not only slowly stopped trembling, but also reached out and gently patted my back.
That dream was so real and terrifying that it kept lingering in my mind. I couldn't believe that I was so cruel as to force Qin Qingyao to death. I was very scared.
I was anxious to see her, to make sure she was alright.
So I broke the agreement with Dugu Yu and went to find her.
She calls herself a commoner and calls me the emperor.
I told her that I dreamed of me enthroning her as queen, and she looked at me like, "Are you kidding me?"
"Are you so sure you won't marry me? What if Dugu Yu dies?"
I will never forget Qin Qingyao's expression when I said these two sentences.
Disappointment, anger, hatred, and even a ruthless desire to die together.
But she didn't argue with me. Instead, she ran home without looking back. I knew that she wanted to confirm whether Dugu Yu was safe.
In fact, I was not disappointed. Seeing that she could get angry and run, I think I was completely satisfied. When I returned to the palace, I appointed Qi Luoyuan as the queen without discussing it with anyone.
I was very happy, but no one in the court agreed. Even the Qi family said that Qi Luoyuan was crazy and unfit to be the queen.
I don't want to waste words with anyone. She is my legally married wife, so she is naturally my queen. She is mine, and I will not allow anyone to bully her or look down on her.
There are no other women in the harem, and Qi Luoyuan is mentally unstable. She is particularly afraid of people, but she depends on me.
Unlike before when she always treated me with respect, now she always sticks to me like a child. She is not afraid of me. In her world, I am the best and the only one who can be trusted.
I like and enjoy this unique dependence. Many times, I don’t even know whether she is relying on me or I am relying on her more.
I feel warm when I am with her.
I wanted a child, a child that Qi Luoyuan would bear for me, but her health was very poor, and the imperial physician took care of her for a long time before she could conceive.
God knows how ecstatic I was when I learned that Qi Luoyuan was pregnant.
I held her in my arms and walked around the bedroom many times. She didn't understand anything, but she knew that I was happy, so she was happy too.
I told her that she was pregnant with our child and asked her to protect herself well and not to be afraid.
I prepare to be a good father every day, but my court officials only want me to be a good emperor.
The ministers asked me to take a concubine. Even though there could not be a large-scale beauty contest during the national mourning period, they could still send their daughters to the palace.
The queen is pregnant and cannot sleep with him, so this is a perfect opportunity.
The Qi family took the lead in attending the morning court every day to make suggestions and remonstrate, as if not taking a concubine was irresponsible, disregarding the country, and having no conscience!
The most outrageous thing is that my good father-in-law actually let the queen's brother Qi Zhongyuan into the palace, and under the pretext of visiting the queen, taught her word by word how to persuade me to take a concubine.
I watched Qi Luoyuan lower her head and stumble in front of me, imitating Qi Zhongyuan's speech. She seemed a little unwell, but she was not an idiot who knew nothing.
She knew what it meant for her husband to take a concubine, and she was very sad, with red eyes.
I felt very sad. I couldn't bear them torturing my queen with such terrible things, so I compromised.
I forbad anyone from visiting the Queen. I sent heavy troops to guard Fengyi Palace like an iron wall to protect my beloved wife and children, and then I took ten women into the palace.
The Qi family doesn't want to offend anyone, wants to be upright and noble, and wants to be my good subjects. Then I will grant your wish, but no one can touch my queen.
Every concubine in the palace looked forward to sleeping with me, looking forward to being favored by me. I found it ridiculous and pathetic. Is this what an emperor is like? He can't even decide whether to sleep with a woman or which woman to sleep with?
At first, when I saw those women smiling at me with flattering and fawning faces, I really wanted to ask, "When I was imprisoned in the clan residence, if I had asked to take you as my concubine and brought you to the clan residence to sleep with me, would you have agreed?"
But I held back and didn't ask because the question was stupid and sad.
They entered the palace not for me, but for their own wealth and glory, for the honor of their family and the future of their fathers and brothers.
They are like vampires, they have countless desires for me, and all they can give me is to sleep with me!
I have never slept with any woman, and I finally understood why the rule in the harem that concubines would be taken away after serving the emperor and could not spend the night on the dragon bed existed.
All the talk about preventing the emperor from indulging in women and missing the morning court session is nonsense. The truth is, if these women stay in bed, I won’t be able to sleep at all!
I looked at their eager faces and completed the steps to continue the family line step by step. Then I got out of bed, took a shower, washed off all the smell on my body, and went to find my queen.
This may sound bad, but my queen doesn't despise me. She will unconsciously come close to me when she is sleeping, stick to my chest, and let me hold her obediently.
I can only sleep well when I am next to the Queen.
The queen's belly grew bigger day by day, and I became more and more excited. I even said something I shouldn't have said when I was too proud of myself.
"If the Queen can give me a prince, I will immediately make him the Crown Prince. This kingdom of Zhaoling will be his, and no one can take it away from him."
I thought I had protected Fengyi Palace very well, and I thought the people here were carefully selected and worthy of my trust, but this news still got out.
Half a month later, something happened to my queen. She gave birth prematurely, less than eight months old. The baby was as weak as a malnourished cat and weighed only four pounds.
Everyone can see that I like children and look forward to having them, so the concubines in the palace are trying their best to get pregnant, but they don’t know that I only like and look forward to the child that Qi Luoyuan will give birth to for me.
I don’t know. Before Qi Luoyuan gave birth to the prince, I would never let any of them get pregnant.
The human heart is greedy and ugly. I have been witnessing this since the day I was born.
I executed most of the palace maids in Fengyi Palace. Among those women, all those who were suspicious, no matter if they were wrongly accused or framed, as long as they had the slightest suspicion or involvement in the Queen's premature birth, no matter their family background or who their fathers and brothers were, were all sent to the cold palace.
At the morning court, no one congratulated me on the birth of my eldest son, no one asked about the queen's health, and everyone was speaking up for those bitches in the cold palace, asking me to be more discerning.
These are my good subjects. I wish I could chop them to pieces.
The only thing that makes me feel relieved is that the Qi family finally shut up this time. If they still speak in favor of others at this time, I will definitely let the Queen completely sever ties with them.
Even if you don't feel sorry for her, I do. It's not your turn to ruin the person I hold dear to my heart, not even if she is my biological father!
The life of the eldest prince was saved with great difficulty, but the queen's body became even weaker. She was so emaciated during the confinement period that she no longer looked like a human. Every time I saw her, I wanted to cut off some of my own flesh and give it to her.
I was afraid that she would leave me, especially afraid. I even began to regret letting her give birth to a son for me. If I had known this would happen, I should not have tortured her like this.
Because the child was too weak and I didn't know if he could survive, we didn't even hold a full-month celebration. However, I gave him a grand hundred-day banquet and issued an edict to appoint him as the crown prince, giving him the name Ling Sheng.
The word "Sheng" means prosperity and flourishing. I hope he can live a life full of vitality, good health and longevity.
Ever since I first accepted the women sent to my harem by court officials, I no longer refused such things. There were not many women in the harem, and after I banished several of them to the cold palace, the ministers began to have ideas again.
After Sheng'er's hundred-day banquet, six more women were added to the harem. I locked up three of them, and they gave me back twice as much. How considerate.
I have already issued an edict that the Queen is not in good spirits, so no one is allowed to disturb the affairs of the harem unless summoned, not even to pay their respects.
I know there can be no peace in the harem. Those women have nothing to do all day long. If they don't intrigue and fight, what's the point of living?
As long as they stay away from the Queen, I'm happy to watch the fun.
But there are always people who feel good about themselves, thinking that because they are young and beautiful, they have the capital to challenge authority, and that because they are unconventional and different, I will take a second look at them.
People who lack self-awareness are the most annoying.
The Queen's health gradually recovered, and Sheng'er was now growing strong. With the permission of the imperial physician, the Queen would occasionally take the child to the Imperial Garden to view the flowers and bask in the sun.
The people who came in first knew my temper and would naturally stay away from the Queen when they met her, but the six newcomers insisted on trying to make their presence felt.
The queen was afraid of people and hated contact with strangers the most. She didn't know those beauties, so naturally she couldn't let them come close to see the child.
But they just thought that the Queen was stupid and easy to bully. It would have been fine if they had no respect or awe in their words and actions, but they even dared to force my Queen to a corner of the pavilion and even reached out to touch Sheng'er's face.
Perhaps, it is because my temper is too good, or I am too kind, so my bottom line is always tested by others.
I sent the Queen and Sheng'er back to Fengyi Palace, and then called all the concubines to Huifei's palace, including the guards on duty in the Imperial Garden that day, the palace maids and eunuchs passing by, and the palace servants who served the Queen.
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