Chapter 162
Before taking any action, Xue Jin'an, out of respect for his ally, met with the Empress Dowager. His intention was to give her a heads-up so as not to frighten her by suddenly attacking the eldest prince, and to provide support if necessary.
Unexpectedly, the Empress Dowager reacted strongly, especially when she heard about the background of Prince Ping's heir. Her face turned extremely ugly, and she gripped the corner of the table with such force that the veins on the back of her hand bulged. Her chest heaved violently, her breathing became rapid, and her body trembled slightly.
"Absurd, utterly absurd!" She finally couldn't help but slam her hand on the table. "What is he doing? I am his biological mother, I gave birth to him, raised him, and taught him, and this is how he sees me? How worthless am I in his eyes that he would resort to such ridiculous methods to save a child's life?"
"Fathers are not fathers, sons are not sons, grandsons are not grandsons, haha, good, really good! All the moral ethics have been learned to the point of being worthless! He has time to do this kind of switching, what's wrong with just changing that child's birth mother? What? Do you think I can't even tolerate a child who can only cry? Do you think I would scheme and plot to strangle a child?!" This is what angered and chilled the Empress Dowager the most.
Xue Jin'an looked up and met the Empress Dowager's eyes, which were burning red with anger. A flash of inspiration struck him, and he suddenly grasped a motive that he had not thought of before.
Xue Jin'an had not given much thought to the late emperor's switching of the children's identities. He had only made simple guesses about the two most likely options, both of which were basically related to the Empress Dowager. Xue Jin'an originally thought that what the late emperor did was a thing of the past and would not affect the current situation. Even if he had analyzed it, it would have been redundant data.
Moreover, human behavior differs from that of code-based life forms. Code-based life forms will choose the optimal option within the given conditions, but human behavior is closely related to their personality, experience, cultural background, and many other aspects. It can also be influenced by sudden flashes of inspiration, making it difficult to understand.
He was not familiar with the late emperor, and the limited data he had was not enough to construct a character model. The accuracy of the data he deduced was limited, so he simply did not make any more calculations.
However, the Empress Dowager's words made Xue Jin'an realize that the late emperor's behavior was likely not accidental, but rather an opportunity for the emperor to make Prince An misunderstand his identity.
Given the late emperor's status, if he truly only wanted to protect the child, he wouldn't have needed to go through such a roundabout way. He could have simply changed the child's birth mother, just like how he registered the Fourth Princess and the Ninth Prince under Consort Zhuang's name. Even if the Empress Dowager knew the truth, she would at most exclude him from the power circle, but wouldn't actually kill him. Besides, the late emperor was able to switch the identities of his son and grandson so well that it went undetected for two or three decades, which proves that he was actually capable of implementing a better plan.
So what was his reason for insisting on switching the children, disregarding morality and ethics? What other secrets did Prince Zhang hold? Were the emperor's actions related to this secret?
No, there's still too little data about the late emperor; we can't make connections. We need to collect relevant data from the Empress Dowager. Xue Jin'an thought this and did just that. He waited two breaths, assuming the Empress Dowager had already digested and broken down the data, and then continued transmitting.
The Empress Dowager was caught off guard by the sudden influx of secrets about fathers, sons, and grandsons. She was stunned for a while, and after only reading half of it, her face, which had just cooled down, quickly heated up again, and her anger level soared to the maximum.
The Empress Dowager stood up abruptly from her seat in a fit of excitement. Whether it was because she stood up too quickly or because she was too angry, she swayed and was caught by Su Mama in a flash.
The Empress Dowager pushed her away, her finger trembling as she pointed to the side. After a long while, she finally managed to utter, "Go, go inside, go inside and take out that rebellious son's memorial tablet and smash it! Go, go now!"
Although the Empress Dowager had many complaints about the late Emperor and their relationship eventually deteriorated to the point of being irreconcilable, they were still mother and son who had supported each other as they grew up. There were times when the mother was kind to her son and the son was filial to each other. So, for many years, the Empress Dowager, who did not like burning incense and worshipping Buddha, had been doing good deeds for the late Emperor's memorial tablet, which was also a way of fulfilling this mother-son bond.
However, the current Empress Dowager only finds it laughable. She raised him as her own son, and it goes without saying how much effort, blood, and tears she poured into teaching him everything she knew. But it's one thing for him to treat her as a foster mother, to be wary of her, to fear her, and to hate her, but to do such outrageous things in private has made her a complete laughingstock.
She had assumed that, no matter what, he was at least someone who knew propriety and shame, and that her teachings would be effective. But it turned out that it was all just her assumption.
"Ridiculous! Absurd! Outrageous! That outrageous person will beget outrageous people! His descendants will all be outrageous!" The Empress Dowager was so angry that she didn't even notice that she had cursed Xue Jin'an as well.
Granny Su quickly looked at Xue Jin'an and exchanged a glance with him.
Xue Jin'an didn't care at all. Not to mention that he didn't treat the emperor and the others as his own sons, even if they were, he had already drawn a line between them by embarking on the path of rebellion.
"What else is there? Tell me everything today," the Empress Dowager said to Xue Jin'an, seeing the worried look in Su's eyes.
Granny Su sensed something was wrong and gave Xue Jin'an a meaningful look again.
Completely oblivious to subtle cues, Xue Jin'an immediately began to fill in the gaps in the Empress Dowager's understanding.
The Empress Dowager was furious.
Seeing her face turn from red to purple, even Xue Jin'an, who was not good at reading faces, could tell that something was wrong. He immediately opened the health monitoring software and saw the values soaring to the critical point, as well as the red alert for "cerebral infarction" that popped up.
Xue Jin'an stopped talking, deciding to let her calm down first, as it wouldn't be good to anger her few allies.
Granny Su breathed a sigh of relief. She used a little force to make the Empress Dowager sit down, and quickly took out a porcelain bottle from her sleeve, poured out a black pill for her, patted her back to help her breathe, and gently coaxed her. Only then was the Empress Dowager's emotions calmed down a little.
Xue Jin'an sat quietly to the side, waiting, her nose twitching slightly as she automatically collected data from her surroundings.
Although the black pill was only exposed to the air for a moment, Xue Jin'an still keenly detected the extra scent molecules and matched them with a familiar ingredient: "Ginseng Nourishing Pill?"
The Fifth Prince had eaten it before when the battery was faulty. When the construction of Jili was underway, Minister Feng couldn't stand the endless expenses in the accounts, so he also ate it all the time. Xue Jin'an's database has records of it.
The Empress Dowager calmed herself down for a while, and her face finally stopped turning purple. She opened her mouth and let out a long breath. Her complexion seemed to have recovered, but her voice still carried anger: "When people get old, they always lack energy. Looking at those things every day makes me angry all the time. I might as well keep some medicine to nourish my qi and blood. I can't just die for them if they want me to die."
Renshen Yangrong Pills are not only an effective medicine for people with heart disease, but also a good health supplement for middle-aged and elderly people whose various functions decline with age.
The Empress Dowager seemed to realize that her words had been too sarcastic. After speaking, she paused, reached out and took Xue Jin'an's hand, pulled it to her face, and patted it gently. Her voice finally softened. "Don't worry, this Ginseng Nourishing Pill was made by Granny Su at my request. There won't be any problems."
Granny Su immediately chimed in with a smile, "I do have some family tradition in martial arts, and I've learned a bit, but I haven't used it for many years, so my skills have become a bit rusty, and the dumplings I make don't look very good."
"What's the point of looking good? As long as it's useful, that's enough." The Empress Dowager waved her hand.
The atmosphere between the two finally eased as they talked. Xue Jin'an tilted his head, and the data analysis showed that the two were intentionally trying to ease their tension. He did not reveal that he already knew who the drug's creator was and would not ask such a question.
This is a habit left over from when the Empress Dowager was in power. As mentioned before, drugging the emperor is actually a very difficult and highly exposed thing to do. Unless your inside agent is a confidant of the emperor, such as Li Hechun, it is very difficult to succeed.
This is because even the emperor's food, if sent by his concubines, had to undergo multiple poison testing procedures before he could eat it. When the Empress Dowager was in power, although she did not have the title of emperor, she had the power of an emperor. When she was busy, she would stay at the Qian Yuan Palace.
Even if she didn't make any requests at that time, the people in the palace would consciously compare her treatment with the emperor's regulations. Most of those who didn't have that sense were eliminated within three years of entering the palace. Those who could serve in front of the emperor were the most shrewd of the shrewd.
It's said that once palace maids left the palace at the age of twenty-five, wealthy families would offer them high monthly salaries and fight to take them in; they truly earned their positions through sheer luck.
Xue Jin'an grabbed the Empress Dowager's hand. He could clearly feel her skin condition, temperature, pulse, and so on. On the health monitoring software page in front of him, the data had increased and become more accurate.
The Empress Dowager's body is indeed aging, with the battery being the most severely affected. Her health has dropped below sixty, similar to when Xue Jin'an first entered this body.
This is quite normal. As the Empress Dowager herself said, given her age, her recent return to power has been extremely busy, resulting in excessive energy expenditure. In addition, she has been suffering from a prolonged illness. The fact that she can still maintain her current physical functions means she has already surpassed 90% of the elderly women in the country.
Xue Jin'an said to her earnestly, "You won't die. You'll live a long time, longer than all of them."
The Empress Dowager was taken aback, and finally showed a genuine smile, but she did not take his words seriously, thinking that he was just comforting her.
"Good child." The Empress Dowager gently patted Xue Jin'an's head and said, "I've lived long enough. As long as you're doing well, I'll be at peace even if I die. Besides, living too long isn't good either. Watching old friends leave one by one, and then being all alone in the end, is heartbreaking and meaningless."
As she spoke, the Empress Dowager looked away, not letting Xue Jin'an see the fleeting emotion in her eyes.
Xue Jin'an, however, was able to deduce the correct answer from the subtle pauses in her words. There was one thing the Empress Dowager didn't say about Xue Jin'an: she had lived too long and experienced too much. Her own son treated her like an enemy, and her own grandson was always on guard against her. All the emotions she had given had not received positive feedback. She was truly exhausted and didn't want to go through it all again. If she did, she would truly die with regrets.
It would be better to die sooner rather than later, so that they wouldn't end up hating each other, and she wouldn't have to worry about what the future holds.
Xue Jin'an adjusted the facial data, revealing a clear expression of disapproval.
The Empress Dowager, however, thought that her sudden mention of death had frightened him, and assured him, "Don't worry, I will make sure you are safe and sound before you leave this world."
He then cracked a joke to lighten the mood: "I'm still waiting for Cui Pengfei to smash bowls, carry basins, and wear mourning clothes for me."
The Empress Dowager had only meant to tease Cui Pengfei a little to gain an advantage, but Xue Jin'an nodded seriously and said, "He is your junior, so it is only right."
Cui Pengfei was a minister during the reign of Emperor Qiyuan. Originally, he was on the same level as the Empress Dowager. In other words, Cui Zui and Cui Zhuo were actually of the same generation as the emperor and were Xue Jin'an's elders. However, Cui Zui's act of becoming a disciple made him the emperor's peer, and he became Cui Pengfei.
When the Empress Dowager first heard Lu Bingzhu say it, she almost laughed herself silly. She almost immediately summoned Cui Pengfei to the palace to "reminisce," but that old fox always managed to fall ill at just the right time, and has never been able to make her laugh.
As time went by, the Empress Dowager had almost forgotten about it. When Xue Jin'an mentioned it, she burst into laughter, and much of her gloom dissipated.
"Alright, alright, you promised me, I'll remember. Don't let me go to the underworld feeling sad and deceived." The Empress Dowager smiled and tapped Xue Jin'an's head.
“Yes, I will definitely make him do it.” Xue Jin’an nodded and added, “I am not like them, I am not that useless. I am not afraid of people taking away and sharing what belongs to me. As long as I want, they will come back to me intact again.”
Xue Jin'an said, "You can live as long as you want, you don't need to worry about anything."
It was only then that the Empress Dowager realized that Xue Jin'an had guessed her unspoken words and was making a guarantee for her.
"What a soft-hearted child." How could she not willingly offer everything to such a child? Even after experiencing betrayal twice from the children she raised herself, she couldn't help but want to believe that he was different.
The Empress Dowager was a little worried that Xue Jin'an was reluctant to die because he lacked care for her, so she couldn't help but give him a heads-up, "I am already seventy years old, which is a long life. Even if I die tomorrow, it will be a happy death."
Xue Jin'an shook his head and said, "It's too short."
In the path of immortal cultivation, time has no limits. Even those who have just begun their journey at the Foundation Establishment stage have a lifespan starting at a hundred years. For a cultivator, seventy years old is considered an early death.
The Empress Dowager and Granny Su couldn't help but chuckle. The latter said repeatedly, "Seventh Prince is right. Seventy is still too young. It's better to be eighty."
Xue Jin'an continued to shake his head.
Even the Empress Dowager was helpless, saying, "If she gets any older, she'll become an old monster."
Xue Jin'an was somewhat puzzled: "Isn't living a long life good? Don't humans all like longevity?"
Throughout history, countless people have pursued immortality. Even in novels, only protagonists with specific attributes would dismiss the other party's talk of immortality when bound to a system. Most of them have either already experienced the loneliness of immortality or have become accustomed to the wastage and darkness of life, and have no interest in continuing to be human, let alone being reborn... Oh, and there is another type of person who wants to live, but only wants to live a leisurely life until the end of their natural lifespan, without illness or disaster. They are usually exhausted office workers.
Of course, there are always exceptions, but Xue Jin'an's database sample is generally like this.
Xue Jin'an wanted to categorize the Empress Dowager, but felt that it seemed to be both all of them and none of them.
This was the first time the Empress Dowager had seen Xue Jin'an look so confused and disoriented. She patiently explained to him, "The Book of Rites says: ... At fifty, one is called Ai, and takes up official duties; at sixty, one is called Qi, and gives instructions; at seventy, one is called Lao, and passes on knowledge; at eighty or ninety, one is called Mao, and at seventy, one is called Dao. Even if the Dao and Mao have committed crimes, they will not be punished; at one hundred, one is called Qi, and Yi."
This passage means that a fifty-year-old is called Ai, and should participate in national affairs; a sixty-year-old is called Qi, and should be directing others; a seventy-year-old is called Lao, and should pass on his work to his children and grandchildren; an eighty-year-old is called Mao, and a seven-year-old child is called Dao, and even if these two commit crimes, they will not be punished; a one-hundred-year-old is called Qi, and is the age when children and grandchildren should take good care of him.
However, there is another interpretation of "qi yi" (期颐): "A hundred-year-old person is unable to take care of themselves and needs to rely on the filial piety of their children and grandchildren for everything, hence the name 'qi yi' (期颐)."
The Empress Dowager said, "I have lived a dignified life, and I don't want to end up in such a sorry state."
Xue Jin'an is quite adept at analyzing human behavior, but his understanding of human emotions is still superficial, merely knowing what happens but not why.
There is an insurmountable generation gap between modern-world code-based life forms and ancient humans. Psychology suggests that the best way to bridge this gap is to put yourself in their shoes and empathize with them.
Xue Jin'an decided to put himself in the other person's shoes. If he were an ordinary mobile phone, as it aged, the components would wear out, causing various flaws in the software's operation, leading to the following situations:
Because of the lag, Long Aotian would often poke and curse at him, and might even hit him a couple of times to make him more sensible and react faster. The memory was too small to store much data, and Long Aotian would click his tongue as he deleted things... There were also issues like the battery not charging and bulging, the charging port short-circuiting and not responding, the speaker and camera modules becoming substandard products, and the various holes on his body being filled with dust.
The screen might be cracked, the back cover is probably scratched, and its once cool appearance has become synonymous with being outdated. And... and...
Xue Jin'an couldn't continue thinking; his fist hardened.
Not only do I want to punch the computer-stricken person twice, but I also want to say to him: "So love can transfer, right? It's okay, your data can also die with me. Take your canceled SIM card and go find your new phone to be all lovey-dovey. I hope that when you are embarrassed and notified that a verification code has been sent to the bound phone number when you log in to your account on various platforms, you can smile happily. I will bless you and your new phone in the embrace of 0 and 1, and wish them to be infected with a Trojan virus as soon as possible."
Xue Jin'an launched three small rockets in a row, calmly stating: "Being vengeful is a fine virtue that every cultivator should possess."
After fully empathizing with the Empress Dowager, Xue Jin'an grasped her hand and said, "I'll change it for you."
The Empress Dowager looked puzzled.
Xue Jin'an started recommending products like reciting a menu: "Battery—I mean, if your heart health declines, I'll replace it with a new one. Fourth Brother's is pretty good; camera module—that's your eye for recording the world. If it's not working, replace it with the best. Third Brother is a master of martial arts, able to shoot an arrow from a hundred paces away, and has good eyesight, so we can replace it... no, forget it. If your requirements aren't too high, we'll prioritize using outsiders. Fourth Brother won't do; he's too weak. Second Brother won't do either; his data is too inaccurate and unreliable. Use Eldest Brother's instead; his martial arts skills are passable. If the components have poor contact, replace them with Fifth Brother's. I've verified it; his limbs are quite good, his bones are strong, and it takes some effort to break them, so he's not prone to osteoporosis. As for Eighth Brother, his meat is very tender and easy to slice, so it can be used to assemble the outer shell..."
Empress Dowager: "..." Wait, putting everything else aside, what happened with Xiao Wu? How do you know so much about how it takes effort to break something? And how Xiao Ba's meat is so easy to slice... Don't tell me you've done all that!?
No, wait, it seems like it really happened. She vaguely heard Lu Bingzhu mention the incident where Xiao Ba was injured by Xiao Qi. She thought she was just beaten up, but it turns out she was subjected to the torture of being slowly sliced to death...
As the Empress Dowager listened to Xue Jin'an's report on "his insights and reflections on dismembering his own brother," her gaze shifted from initial shock to gradual numbness. At that moment, she suddenly understood why Xiao Qi was referred to as Yama, the King of Hell, in the palace.
I initially thought someone was deliberately trying to ruin Xiao Qi's reputation, but it turns out it's just a true story.
Seeing that the list of victims Xue Jin'an mentioned had spread from his brothers to the Imperial Guards, the Empress Dowager finally raised her hand to interrupt him and firmly rejected his proposal.
“Even if we really remove their…parts,” the Empress Dowager was momentarily at a loss for words to describe these people’s parts, since Xiao Qi had almost assembled a complete set for her. After much thought, she decided that the “parts” Xiao Qi had mentioned were the most appropriate, so she used them. “Even so, there is no such medical skill in the world.”
"Yes." Xue Jin'an opened his mouth, wanting to say that even ordinary humans can perform surgeries such as heart transplants, corneal transplants, and reattaching severed hands.
The Empress Dowager raised her hand to stop him from saying what she was about to say, and shook her head, saying, "Perhaps there will be in the future, but not now. Throughout thousands of years of history, there has only been one divine physician, Hua Tuo. If what you are saying cannot be accomplished, then we will all be on the verge of death."
"Hanging by a thread" was actually a euphemism used by the Empress Dowager; what she really meant was that he was doomed. However, considering that Xiao Qi was acting out of filial piety, there was no need to discourage him too much.
Xue Jin'an fell into deep thought because of these words. The Empress Dowager was not wrong. In the world of novels, especially those who are in the plot, although they are difficult to kill, they are not impossible. As long as the plot is pushed to the side where the other party must die, the world consciousness will think the logic is valid, and death will be in the state that can be changed.
As for whether they live or die, it depends on the abilities of both sides; otherwise, Chu Wenwan wouldn't have died so easily.
Xue Jin'an wanted to test the limits of this method and see if it could eliminate everyone in one fell swoop.
Xue Jin'an was so engrossed in his thoughts that the Empress Dowager felt he was thinking about something dangerous. She couldn't help but reach out and rub Xue Jin'an's head to pull him back from his reverie.
The Empress Dowager said, "Xiao Qi, you need to learn to accept death. Death is not scary. Everyone must die, but some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, while others are lighter than a feather. I think my life has been wonderful enough and will surely leave a mark in history. That is enough."
Xue Jin'an nodded in agreement, and after thinking for a moment, he accurately suggested the chapter that would be written in the history books: "The Annals of Emperors".
These four words were the greatest affirmation of the Empress Dowager's life. She opened her mouth, but all her emotions turned into a sigh.
“That’s enough,” she sighed.
The Empress Dowager remained relatively calm during her conversation with Xue Jin'an. She expressed her desire to meet with the heir of Prince Ping, saying, "That child has had such a falling out with Prince Ping; he must know something."
Xue Jin'an felt that the chances of getting an answer from him were slim. "If he wanted to say something, he wouldn't have waited until now."
"Yes." The Empress Dowager rubbed her temples, looking somewhat tired. She said, "That child must be for the sake of Princess Ping. Princess Ping raised him since he was a child, treating him like her own. He was able to grow up safely thanks to her care. There is some affection between them, even though Prince Ping and Princess Ping don't have a good relationship. They are ultimately bound by a bond of mutual benefit and loss."
Xue Jin'an recalled the details of her conversation with Prince Zhang and said, "Either the Princess Consort was completely unaware, or the Princess Consort chose Prince Ping."
If it's the former, then Prince Zhang leaving the palace was actually to protect the princess; if it's the latter, then Prince Zhang's character has a more complete reason.
“If the Crown Prince knows about this, he will surely go back and question Prince Ping. Since they live in the same residence, even if they didn’t know before, they couldn’t keep it from him after that incident.” The Empress Dowager clearly preferred the latter possibility.
This is understandable. After all, no matter how bad Prince Ping is, he is still a member of the royal family. He produced a crown prince before marriage. Ordinary families who love their daughters would never send their daughters into this fire pit. Those who marry into the family are either after fame or profit, and once they have these two things, they are reluctant to give them up.
If the princess was unwilling to have the courage, she wouldn't have been able to hold back at this moment; if she was unwilling but lacked the courage, given the prince's personality, he would definitely have taken her with him. Even if he couldn't, he wouldn't have caused such a rift with Prince Ping, making it difficult for the princess, his nominal mother, to be in the middle.
Then there's only one possibility left: she's unwilling, and she doesn't have the courage.
Even the Empress Dowager couldn't help but sigh at the tragic fate of the Crown Prince.
Finally, regarding the eldest prince, the Empress Dowager said, "Why do you need to personally intervene?"
“He is at the height of his power, and many people are eyeing him covetously. He is about to stumble.” Although the eldest prince’s marriage to Feng Yinshou was not very pleasant, he still managed to ride the wave of this opportunity and made good use of his influence in the court. He has already established a firm foothold in the Ministry of Revenue. Even the notoriously demanding Feng Yinshou nodded and said that his accounts were “barely satisfactory.”
Even with some flaws, it is definitely up to standard, and even has some bright spots.
In the eyes of the ministers, the eldest prince is now much better than the second prince, who only knows how to associate with the sons of powerful and wealthy people and indulge in eating, drinking, and having fun.
The Empress Dowager tapped her fingers lightly on the table, a cold smile playing on her lips. "Don't rush, wait patiently. Once he falls from his pedestal, give him a little something sweet, and he'll be eager to sell the information he has. He might even be incredibly grateful to you."
Xue Jin'an glanced at the Empress Dowager and tacitly approved of her actions. He did not tell her that what he wanted was not just the intelligence in the hands of the eldest prince.
If the eldest prince is indeed involved in these matters, then it means that he was also one of those who contributed to the original owner's death.
Teacher Xiao X suddenly spoke up, and in a melodious voice, said what Xue Jin'an was thinking: "Death can only be replaced by death. This is the underlying logic of the code."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
