Even though Xie Duan later took other concubines for political reasons, his feelings for Empress Gong never changed. On the day Xie Ping was born, he almost disregarded the opposition of the court officials and directly named the newborn child as the crown prince. It was only after the weak Empress Gong persuaded him that he temporarily gave up.
Xie Ping was not a normal child. During the period when Empress Gong was raising him, she increasingly discovered that her son was an extremely emotionally detached child. He had no feelings about life and never knew what happiness or sadness felt like.
He didn't feel a sense of excitement until he suddenly picked up a knife when he was a child.
Looking at the child, Empress Gong abandoned the idea of making him emperor. An emperor without any emotions was too dangerous! Empress Gong knew this better than anyone else.
Empress Gong liked Xie Duan, but it couldn't be called love. When her fiancé was still a prince and in a miserable state, Empress Gong was well-educated by her great Confucian scholar father, which not only shaped her character but also gave her ability.
The great scholar's father once lamented in a drunken night that if his daughter hadn't been a woman, she would have gone much further than him.
Others assumed that Gong Daru was drunk and talking in his sleep, completely unaware that he was speaking the truth soberly.
Empress Gong married Xie Duan. From a prince's consort to an empress, she was always Xie Duan's virtuous and capable assistant. She was a smart woman, and she knew how much Xie Duan loved her. If Xie Ping had stayed with the State of Chu, Xie Duan would definitely have named her child as the crown prince.
Therefore, Empress Gong personally sent her fourteen-year-old son, Xie Ping, who was not yet an adult, to Dongwei Kingdom as a hostage.
She didn't dislike her son or Xie Duan, but what she thought about most was the four lines of Zhang Zai that her father had recited to her: "To establish a heart for heaven and earth, to establish a destiny for the people, to continue the lost learning of the past sages, and to usher in an era of peace for all generations."
Just thinking of these four sentences made Empress Gong feel her blood surging, prompting her to think of the world and all the people.
Therefore, she would not allow Xie Duan to act recklessly, nor would she allow Xie Ping to act recklessly.
"Your Majesty, the Fifth Prince has returned with a letter." At night, the palace maid carrying tea looked with admiration at the woman who was turning the pages of a memorial in the darkness.
"Ping'er wrote a letter? That's quite novel." The woman raised her head, revealing a beautiful and delicate face. Apart from a few fine lines at the corners of her eyes, time had not left any marks on this great woman.
When Empress Gong smiled, the imposing atmosphere in the hall softened considerably.
By the light of the lamp used to read memorials, Empress Gong carefully examined the letter her son had sent her, a letter that had been sent by her son six years ago.
In the letter, Empress Gong looked at her seemingly emotionless son and praised the girl she liked to the skies. She described how beautiful she was and how wonderful her character was. The girl not only showed compassion for beggars on the street but also had no complaints about her own miserable life. The cheerful, kind, resourceful, and compassionate girl seemed to be a living, breathing beautiful woman standing before Empress Gong.
As Empress Gong read the lines of letters, the wrinkles on her face relaxed into a wider smile.
"That brat is really lucky! He ran into a girl like this, and he even dares to threaten his mother!"
Empress Gong spoke, but the smile on her face showed no sign of anger.
The unexpected girl changed her son, Empress Gong thought, perhaps her previous thoughts could be changed.
One of Empress Gong's confidantes, Lühe, carefully poured the Empress a cup of hot tea and placed it gently between her hands and the memorials, so as not to block the Empress's view of the memorials and to make it convenient for the Empress to drink the tea.
"Green lotus".
"Oh, Your Majesty."
"Let's tidy up the trees outside the window tomorrow and build a few nests. New life should be coming soon!"
...
The next day, Xie Duan, who had been busy with his recent overt inspections and secret checks of the riverbank supervision, finally returned to the palace.
The first thing Xie Duan did after taking a bath was to run to Luanfeng Palace and embrace his beloved Empress for a while.
"Moon, moon, moon..."
Empress Gong's original name was Gong Yue, which means the pure and flawless moon in the sky that enlightens all beings.
"Oh, oh, oh, Your Majesty is really something, even though we're an old married couple, he's still acting so coquettish." Empress Gong smiled gently, her eyes, as delicate as the ocean, enveloping Xie Duan.
Xie Duan couldn't help but become infatuated with the gentleness of his wife, the Empress.
"I want to call Yue'er for the rest of my life."
Empress Gong said nothing more, but simply nodded with a smile.
The two spent a sweet moment together, and the atmosphere grew even more romantic.
After a while, Empress Gong handed the man the letter she had read the day before.
“Take a good look at what our audacious son has done, and he even dared to threaten us.”
Xie Duan raised an eyebrow, surprised that his aloof youngest son would actually write to them.
Xie Duan frowned after reading the letter in a few lines. "That brat actually dared to threaten Yue'er. When he comes back, Yue'er, I'll beat him up for you and get revenge for you."
Xie Ping, far away in Dongwei, couldn't help but sneeze.
"Hmm, it must be Qingqing thinking about him," Xie Ping thought, his mind racing.
When he returned to Chu, he planned to secretly take out his father and mother's private treasury and give it to Qingqing.
(Ahem, what a touching scene of fatherly love and filial piety!)
"You don't object?" Empress Gong asked her husband with gentle eyes.
Xie Duan hugged his wife tightly, "Why should I care what he does? If he likes it, he likes it. I'm not some powerless, pitiful prince!"
"Hmm." Empress Gong smiled and responded to Xie Duan with her hand, gently patting the stubborn man.
—
Bored while waiting at the palace banquet, Xie Ping could no longer stand the protracted and meaningless event. He seized an opportunity to slip out of the banquet and waved to Lin Cheng, one of his trusted confidants.
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