On the chaise lounge, the person was resting with their eyes closed when, under the cool breeze from Shen Mama's gently waving fan, they coldly opened their eyes.
They gazed at the man who stood quietly in the center, his expression calm and undisturbed.
Do you know you're wrong?
"I don't know what wrong I've done," Li Changyu said calmly, his voice cold.
"How dare you! In front of Consort Mi, you repeatedly accused me of being biased and not loving you enough. If this gets out, won't the other concubines in the harem laugh at me?" Empress Rouci's voice was slightly hoarse, her eyes filled with barely contained hatred.
“Am I wrong, child? You would rather favor an eldest son who is not related to you by blood than care about me in the slightest. If you were not biased, why did you send me to Qi as a hostage in the first place?”
"Do you know what kind of life I lived in the State of Qi?"
When Li Changyu said this, his expression remained completely emotionless, only his eyes flashed with complex thoughts.
"They ate swill and rotten steamed buns, slept on cold floors, and didn't even have a tattered straw mat. Any servant could make fun of the child."
"Except for important days when I'm called to take a bath, change into clean clothes, and sit at the banquet to pretend, at other times, I live worse than a pig or a dog!"
Although these hardships were not suffered by him, but by the real "little prince".
At that time, the young prince was only three years old and was just a prince, but he was already more mature than other children.
After Xie Ling discovered that he had been repeatedly mistreated, she scolded the servants and took him to live in her palace. With her father's consent, she kept him company day and night.
Only then was he able to escape that miserable predicament.
Even though he had plenty of food and clothing and didn't have to worry about being bullied, there was still an unyielding bitterness in that person's eyes.
More than once, he stared blankly at the distant sky, whispering sadly, "My mother doesn't like me. I'm like a rootless duckweed, drifting here and there, ultimately just going with the flow."
Even if the Yue Kingdom remembers me one day and summons me back, I will only be able to eke out a living in another place.
"To my mother, my brother was the one she loved the most. He wasn't her biological son, but she still loved him very much, probably because he was more useful to her."
"If I could, I just want my mother to hold me once. From the day I was born until now, my mother has never held me."
Can……
Even until the moment he died, he never received a hug from his mother.
After Xie Ling became Li Changyu, she made a special trip to see his body and quietly closed his eyes for him.
He couldn't understand how a mother could not love her own son.
Until he experienced Shen Rouci firsthand.
"To the Queen Mother, I am nothing more than your tool. You sent me to the State of Qi in exchange for a good reputation for loyalty and righteousness, and smoothly ascended to the position of Crown Princess. After I was welcomed back to Dayue, I was conferred the title of Queen Mother of the Nation."
"You've risen high enough. Even Consort Ru, who has the backing of Prince Pingxi and is deeply loved by the Empress Dowager, can only look up at your back and be ranked below you. She can only sigh that she is not as ruthless as you and can endure what ordinary people cannot. It's one thing to raise the son of the deceased Crown Princess, but to send even her own son into the tiger's den."
"Yes! So what!"
Surprisingly, Empress Rouci did not refute her. Instead, she slammed her hand on the incense table beneath her, stood up with a fierce expression, and her eyes were filled with coldness.
"Parents who love their children plan far ahead for them! Without me, how could you be the Crown Prince? I may be a bit ruthless, but if we didn't plan for ourselves, you and I would have died long ago in the struggle for the heir apparent and the infighting in the inner palace!"
"As for your elder brother, he is smarter and more sensible than you. So what if he is not my biological son? I raised him myself, and our bond is stronger than yours!"
"If you hadn't returned that year, the position of Crown Prince might not have fallen into your hands!"
"If I, Che'er, ascend to the position of Crown Prince, I will still be the Empress. As for Consort Ru, what good is her power and influence if she has no children? She will forever remain a concubine!"
Li Changyu remained silent, only staring coldly at her.
Look.
She herself admitted it.
I just prefer the eldest son.
The eldest son was said to be born to the emperor's most beloved woman, the deceased first crown princess, and his name was Li Xuanche.
After the death of the first Crown Princess, the eldest son was originally intended to be adopted by Bian Lingru, but she was proud and unwilling to accept it, believing that even if she were to raise a child, it should be the child she gave birth to.
They then abandoned the child to the wet nurse.
Shen Rouci was taken as a concubine at that time. It is said that she was overjoyed when she saw the child and held him every day. The first word the child learned was to call her "mother".
At the same time, she was also pregnant.
When Li Shengyuan, the crown prince, was pleased, he promoted her to the rank of Consort Ping.
Later, the Yue Kingdom needed to send a hostage to the Qi Kingdom. Li Shengyuan wanted to seize this opportunity, so he considered his two sons.
Unexpectedly, Shen Rouci took the initiative to offer to send her biological second son to them.
The young prince is only 3 years old, yet he has to leave his mother to go on a distant expedition for the country.
This momentous act of righteousness directly led to Li Shengyuan being named Crown Prince, and she being promoted to Crown Princess.
Later, Li Shengyuan conquered the Qi Kingdom and welcomed back the hostage. Shen Rouci also rose through the ranks and became the empress admired by all.
"Over the years, I have devoted myself to you and Che'er, and I believe I have done my best to treat you both equally. Yet you still hold a grudge about what happened back then, which has truly broken my heart!"
Empress Rouci looked on with disappointment, pointing at him and reprimanding him word by word.
"I see you as an ungrateful wretch! Why didn't I let you die in Qi back then, so you wouldn't have to come here now and hurt your mother's feelings!"
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