The courtiers outside the palace waited from sunrise to sunset.
Seven or eight hours later, Bei Menlin was gone and never returned. No one knew what had happened inside the palace.
The eunuchs guarding the entrance to the palace wouldn't let anyone in.
The Prime Minister could have ordered his men to force their way in, but since Bei Menlin's subordinates did not move, he could not make a decision lightly.
The full moon rose to halfway up the sky; the night was deep.
Among the officials were many elderly ministers who could not withstand the cold wind and dew at night.
The prime minister ordered all his officials to return home, leaving only a few of his trusted confidants to guard the gate.
Bei Menlin's deputy general and his men stood guard outside the palace for a whole day, motionless like wooden figures.
The Empress ordered warm blankets and food to be brought over. She advised her grandfather to rest in the palace first, saying that having someone stay and watch over him would be just as good.
At this crucial moment, the last thing the prime minister should do is leave.
Emperor Yuanhui was dethroned, and a new emperor ascended the throne. He had to choose sides immediately in order to preserve the Liao family's prosperity.
The Empress, on the other hand, should be the last person to be here at this time.
The Prime Minister looked at the tears in his granddaughter's eyes and knew exactly what she was thinking.
The empress was two years older than Emperor Yuanhui.
She was gentle by nature and had been taught by her family before marriage that she should be a good wife and mother, and that the husband should be the head of the household.
When the empress learned that she was going to marry the emperor, who was two years younger than her, she cried and made a scene.
She loved her cousin, but after marrying the emperor, she became the mother of the nation and had no further contact with the man she loved.
For the sake of power and wealth, the Liao family forced her to marry into the imperial palace.
It was thought that the Empress would be in tears all day long, but on the day of her return home, when she talked about her husband who was two years younger than her, her face was clearly shy.
She always said that although the emperor was a useless and incompetent ruler in the eyes of outsiders, he treated her very well.
The Empress is only eighteen this year, in the prime of her life.
She was beautiful, understanding, and well-read, capable of both producing offspring for the royal family and assisting the monarch.
The reason why the Prime Minister took the lead in assisting Beimen Lin was that he wanted the Empress to remain Empress after Beimen Lin ascended the throne.
There were instances in previous dynasties where empresses remarried.
The Empress was completely unaware of what her grandfather was thinking. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she looked at the closed doors of her bedchamber with a worried expression.
She and Beimen Mu had been married for three years, but they had never had any physical intimacy.
After three years without a child, rumors circulated that she was infertile, or that Emperor Yuanhui was impotent.
Only the Empress knew that her husband's body was too weak; he couldn't even withstand a sexual encounter.
But he was extremely good to her.
Su Feng has many princesses, and the royal family is dominated by women.
Everyone says that Beimen Mu grew up surrounded by women, smells of perfume, and has no ambition.
But only they knew that their younger brother, their husband, truly loved women.
Some ladies from noble families appear to be living a life of luxury, but they have many concubines in their households, and their husbands are still not satisfied, keeping mistresses outside the home.
Consort Ye now enjoys the exclusive favor of Beimen Mu. Although the Empress is saddened, she does not resent Beimen Mu.
Ye Yunxiang was so beautiful that any man in the world would fall at her feet.
Bei Menmu is a normal man; how could he not be moved by winning the heart of such a beauty?
However, while he doted on Ye Yunxiang, he did not neglect the Empress, nor did he treat her coldly because of Ye Yunxiang's instigation. That was enough.
The Empress had already made up her mind: if Beimen Mu was really executed by the group led by her grandfather, then she would follow Beimen Mu in death.
If Beimen Mu survives, she will devote herself to Buddhism and stay with him for the rest of her life.
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