In Kunning Palace, the scene was exactly the same as when Bai Yuzhi first met Emperor Qin Huan. The Queen was kneeling on the bricks and stones with tears on her face and looking embarrassed. She tilted her head back, and her face, which had already shown traces of time, looked very haggard, although it was not very beautiful to begin with.
Emperor Qin Huan stood in front of her with an unfathomable expression, looking down at her. This time, Emperor Qin Huan did not get angry and attack.
"Queen, I know what you are thinking, but you'd better not try to challenge my bottom line."
The dignity of an emperor, especially a founding emperor, must never be challenged.
Unfortunately, the queen did not understand this. Her mind was now full of how to keep her position as queen. She did not know that if she continued to go against Bai Yuzhi like this, not only her position as queen, but even her life might be in danger.
"Your Majesty, since you know what I'm thinking, why don't you even give me this little bit of face? I know that Concubine Heng is pregnant, and I also know that I don't have this blessing. But precisely because of this, my existence will never pose any threat to Concubine Heng. Why can't Your Majesty tolerate me?"
The queen burst into tears. She really wanted to give birth to a child for Emperor Qin Huan. It was something she dreamed of.
If she had children now, they would be legitimate sons and daughters. Even if Concubine Heng had children, how could they threaten her? How could she be so arrogant to oppose her today!
But even though she thought she had been tolerant enough, Emperor Qin Huan still wanted to destroy her.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty," the Queen knelt to the feet of Emperor Qin Huan and grasped the corner of his clothes with both hands without regard for etiquette. "I will not harm Concubine Heng or her unborn child. I just don't want to lose my position as Empress. This was your Majesty's personal promise to me. You said you would make me the most noble woman!"
She was so panicked that she frantically took out half of a jade pendant in the shape of a yin-yang fish from her lapel. There was a very delicate lotus pattern on it. The queen held up this half of the jade pendant to show Emperor Qin Huan.
"Your Majesty, do you still remember what happened back then? It was because of me that you were able to conquer the State of Yan so smoothly. I have made great contributions to the country, Your Majesty!"
Seeing this half jade pendant, Emperor Qin Huan's expression seemed to relax, which gave the Queen hope that this could make Emperor Qin Huan change his decision to depose her.
But she was wrong.
"Queen, Su."
Emperor Qin Huan had never called her by her surname since he crowned her as empress. This was the first time he called her Su, even when he was angry about the harem's lack of children and even strangled the empress.
The queen was stunned.
Emperor Qin Huan squatted down and looked into the eyes of the woman who had been his queen for more than ten years.
This was also the first time that he looked at the queen's face so carefully. This woman was not beautiful, had an ordinary family background, had no talent, and was not even smart. At least for Emperor Qin Huan, the queen's mind was as easy to guess as a mirror.
To be honest, a woman like this is not suitable to be a queen.
But considering the past, when the queen was still the daughter of Su, she took the jade pendant and asked to enter the harem. Emperor Qin Huan agreed and even made her the queen.
Emperor Qin Huan still remembered what he had said to the Queen back then.
"Queen, I have appointed you as the Empress. As long as you behave yourself, your position will remain unchanged. When a hundred years have passed since we were together, your son will naturally inherit my position."
The fact that he could say such words was enough to prove that Emperor Qin Huan was also somewhat sincere towards the Queen at that time.
Otherwise, no emperor would mention the matter of heir to his concubines, even if that person was the empress, the emperor's first wife.
However, when Emperor Qin Huan said this, he had just reached adulthood. He had never expected that he would not be able to have a child for twenty years.
Thinking of this, Emperor Qin Huan's mind once again emerged the scene of Bai Yu stroking the already very round and obvious belly, and saying with a gentle and lovely look that the baby in the belly was the fruit of their love.
At that time, the queen also said that she would give birth to a qualified heir for him, so that the Qin Dynasty would last for a thousand years.
He was thinking of deposing the queen today, but the queen had broken her promise.
"Queen, I will give you the position of Vice Queen. You can enjoy all the wealth and glory in the world for the rest of your life. However, I only have one child, and I will never let him live under the name of a concubine."
Emperor Qin Huan turned away, and his last words were to tell the queen that he had made up his mind, but he would not kill her. Even if she could not be the queen forever, he would still keep her dignity second only to that of the queen.
The vice empress, or imperial concubine, can indeed maintain her wealth and glory.
The queen stared at the resolute back of Emperor Qin Huan infatuatedly, and suddenly burst into laughter after that heroic figure completely disappeared from Kunning Palace. She had never lost her composure like this before, but now she looked like a madman as she cried and laughed at the same time.
When Baoqin and Baoshu rushed in to help her, she didn't hold back at all, as if she wanted to vent all the resentment she had accumulated in her half-life.
“Hahahahahahahahahahahaha——”
Her cries and laughter lingered in Kunning Palace, and Baoqin and Baoshu had already been frightened.
"My lady, what's wrong with you?"
Baoqin tried to sober up the Queen: "Your Majesty, you haven't even brought down that lowly maid, Concubine Heng, yet how can you just give up and admit defeat?!"
The queen sneered with a resentful look, and finally came to her senses and tucked her messy hair behind her ears. She pinched Baoqin and Baoshu's hands tightly to support her. The backs of the two palace maids' hands had been pinched into a bloody mess by their sharp nails, but they still gritted their teeth and held on.
"Baoqin is right. I will never admit defeat. You, go and give Princess Jin Xiumin some ointment yourself and tell her that all this is because of Concubine Heng."
Baoqin took the order and went, and Baoshu continued to talk about the matter with the queen.
"Your Majesty, you may not know this. After His Majesty learned that Princess Xiumin had claimed that the child in Concubine Heng's womb was a bastard's, he flew into a rage in front of all the envoys and ministers, accusing the tiny nation of Goryeo of being ignorant of etiquette. Not only did he punish Princess Xiumin with twenty strokes of the cane, he also reduced Goryeo's annual reward by half..."
The truth is far more serious than what the book says.
Jin Xiumin has no rank yet, so although she is nominally the emperor's concubine, the servants have to consider Emperor Qin Huan's attitude when arranging things for her.
Originally, as a princess of a country, although it was just a small country like Goryeo that could be easily destroyed, she was still somewhat noble, so the residence arranged for her at the beginning was Chuxiu Palace.
But after the two incidents of Bai Yuzhi being forced to kneel and Emperor Qin Huan's angry rebuke, the Ministry of Internal Affairs simply ordered the punished Jin Xiumin to be sent to the remote Lichun Palace.
When Baoqin came, Jin Xiumin was lying alone on the bed, with her back to waist and hips covered in blood.
But even when she was dying, Jin Xiumin was still muttering that Concubine Heng deserved to die.
In this situation, Baoqin knew that this chess piece had become very easy to control.
She stepped forward and said loudly, "Your servant, Baoqin from Kunning Palace, pays her respects to Princess Xiumin."
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