Two weeks later, Le Shu suddenly heard Xiao Lan rush in.
"Your Majesty, news has come from the Hall of Mental Cultivation: the Empress has requested to be deposed, and the Emperor has granted her request."
Le Shu rarely showed her shock on her face. She wondered if she had misheard: "You mean the Empress has asked to be deposed?"
"Yes, the news has already spread, Your Highness, is there anything we should do?"
Le Shu was stunned for a moment, then said, "I'll be quiet for now, there's no need for me to do anything."
She's a bit confused right now and needs to figure out how this happened right under her nose.
Before she became empress, the two lived in peace, keeping to themselves. She was a virtuous primary consort, and he was a favored concubine who never overstepped her bounds.
When Yinzhen ascended the throne, the Empress became the Empress, and she became a Noble Consort. With the change in status, the benefits within reach increased. The Empress was pressured by her family and inevitably acted rashly, doing some things that Le Shu thought were not very smart. However, from the perspective of the Empress's status, those things could not be considered major mistakes.
Whether the empress was deposed or requested to be deposed, it must have been something that Yinzhen did.
Le Shu went to the study and picked up the list of shares invested in the maritime trade. As expected, the Ulanara family's name was "at the top of the list." However, she didn't quite understand whether it was worth exchanging these benefits for the loss of an empress.
Logically speaking, it shouldn't be worth it. In Le Shu's opinion, there are too many things one can do as the empress, but it seems that Ulanara has never thought of using her status as empress to do anything.
Because of the fact that the Empress was neither favored nor had children, the Ulanara family felt that the position of Empress could be replaced by money.
Thinking of the Ulanara family, everyone says that having an elder in the family is like having a treasure. Without a sensible leader, Queen Father Fiyangu passed away too early, and the children were not even properly taught. Such shortsightedness.
To her surprise, the Empress agreed.
As far as she knew, the Queen was not a short-sighted person, so why did she nod?
Even after Yinzhen arrived, Le Shu had not yet come out of the study.
"Are you spacing out?"
Le Shu snapped out of her daze: "You agreed to the Empress's request to be deposed."
Yinzhen nodded: "The Ulanara family wants power, which I am unwilling to give. They also see that I don't care about the harem, so their daughters can't be sent in. They think the Empress is useless and are eyeing the profits from maritime trade, so..."
He didn't say anything more, and Yue Shu already understood his unspoken meaning.
"But if the Empress doesn't agree, even if the Ulanara family forces her, it will be useless!"
She knew it was an exchange of benefits. She was in charge of maritime trade, and whoever benefited more or less had a lot of implications behind it. She thought that the exchange of benefits would only give her more freedom, but she never expected that it would replace an empress.
A rare hint of melancholy crossed Yinzhen's face: "She's probably given up on me."
Ulanara was not without feelings for him, but those feelings were too shallow and couldn't withstand the test of time; they vanished before they even began. Now, she probably sees through his resolute heart.
She may have lost her position as Empress, but the affection between them remains. She probably knows that if she were still in the position of Empress, all that affection would be gone the day he could no longer bear it.
Who can say that this isn't the choice of a smart person?
Or perhaps, since Yinzhen seems to be able to live a long life now, if he were to live a long life, the favor Le Shu enjoys today might become a sharp sword aimed at her when he gets older.
Le Shu didn't ask any more questions; as a beneficiary of the situation, it seemed inappropriate for her to ask too many.
Although they met frequently, they were very polite and distant. There seemed to be a fixed line between them, and neither of them was willing to cross it first.
There is no right or wrong among them; their positions and upbringing determined their ways of handling things.
The matter of deposing the empress did not cause much discussion in the previous dynasty as one might have imagined; the uproar was minimal.
Surprisingly, the one with the most objections was the Empress Dowager, who should have been retired.
She didn't particularly like her daughter-in-law, Ulanara, but she could clearly see that with the Empress deposed, the one who would inevitably take her place was the highly sought-after Le Shu.
Although they weren't exactly enemies, their relationship was definitely not good.
Furthermore, because of the Uya family's affairs, the Empress Dowager deliberately didn't want them to be comfortable. It's possible that she felt that since her son had become emperor, no matter what she did, Yinzhen, as her son, wouldn't hold it against her too much, and her thinking became increasingly extreme. Or perhaps, she was getting senile.
She couldn't very well call Yinzhen over and reprimand him while Kangxi was still alive, but she seized the opportunity to call Le Shu over.
Summoned but unable to see the person, Le Shu lost her patience: "Granny, Her Majesty is still asleep. Is there something wrong with her health? His Majesty is busy with state affairs and may have overlooked some things. Please don't keep it from Her Majesty."
As one of the Emperor's concubines and a junior to Your Highness, it is my duty to show filial piety to Your Highness on behalf of the Emperor. Your Highness's prolonged sleep suggests a genuine health problem; please do not conceal your illness and delay seeking medical attention..."
Back when she was still Consort De, Lady Uya was patient and wouldn't make things difficult for others so obviously. She would also subtly sow discord behind the scenes, because she was afraid of Emperor Kangxi.
Now, seemingly relying on her son being the emperor, Uya has clearly begun to unleash her true nature; she's no longer pretending.
It seems truly foolish of them to openly use such common methods of tormenting people.
As Le Shu smiled and spoke to the nanny, she reminded herself that when she got old, she should find a beautiful place to retire in the mountains and rivers. She couldn't be disliked by others, because people tend to become stubborn, extreme, and crazy when they get old.
I examine myself three times a day.
Was the Empress Dowager wrong?
That's wrong.
Should we spoil the empress dowager?
That shouldn't be the case.
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