Chapter 195 The Emperor Tests Shi Yu's Identity
Although the emperor did not put the empress dowager in confinement, he confiscated her private treasury, which made the empress dowager very sad.
These days, Shi Yu was ordered to investigate the spies in the palace. Not only did he take away several people who were usually around the empress dowager, but he also prevented some court ladies from entering the palace to pay homage to her.
Without the filial respect from her court ladies and no one to spend time with, the empress dowager was very unhappy.
It's also very boring.
I was so bored during the day that I could only doze off, but I couldn't sleep at night.
When the emperor arrived, she was tormenting the palace maids to dye her cardamom. Seeing the emperor, she sneered and said, "Your Majesty, what do you want to do to me today?
Could it be that you think my life isn't miserable enough and have come up with some new trick to torture me?
You are truly my good sons, each one more cruel than the other to me."
Since the last quarrel between mother and son, the emperor has never visited her again, and the empress dowager was very angry.
"Everyone, get out." The emperor waved away the palace maid and sat opposite the empress dowager.
"Why has Mother treated Brother Yu like that in the past few years?"
He had just been wondering what the late emperor's purpose was in stealing Prince Feng Zhao.
He thought it was out of hatred, but he had never found out any hatred between the late emperor and Emperor Feng Zhao.
He also thought that he stole the child for Feng Zhao's original iron, and then found an opportunity to return the child to the owner, thereby showing kindness to Feng Zhao and achieving his goal.
However, Crown Prince Feng Zhao has not returned to Feng Zhao yet, and Great Wei has never obtained the low-priced raw iron from Feng Zhao. In fact, Great Wei and Feng Zhao have not had any close contacts in recent years.
He couldn't figure it out.
Then he changed his mind and thought, where would the late emperor hide Prince Feng Zhao?
Given the late emperor's cautious nature, he would definitely keep the person under his own supervision after going through so much trouble to steal him.
He thought of all the royal princes who were related to the previous emperor and of the same age, and even the children of civil and military officials.
Finally, he set his sights on Prince Rong.
He remembered that when Prince Rong was just born, he was in poor health and the imperial physician had hinted that he might not grow up.
The late emperor then took him to Dajue Temple to pray for Buddha's protection. He stayed there for half a year, and during that half year, the late emperor did not allow anyone to visit Prince Rong.
After returning to the palace, Prince Rong was as healthy as a normal child...
He repeatedly suspected that Chang Qingnian was Wei Qingyan, and used her marriage with Shi Yu to test her several times. Their calm attitude of accepting the marriage puzzled him, so he had to suppress his doubts.
But if Shi Yu is not a member of the Shi family, then they are not uncle and nephew, so why can't they get married?
He was frightened by his own absurd idea.
If Shi Yu was the Crown Prince Feng Zhao, why would the late emperor have been so fond of a crown prince from another country?
But then he thought again, before the late emperor died, he said Shi Yu had ambitions to seize the throne, and asked him to be on guard against Shi Yu and take the opportunity to take back the 100,000 troops in Shi Yu's hands.
There was also the change in the Queen Mother's attitude towards Shi Yu, which he could never understand. Why was the Queen Mother so cruel to her own son?
But if Shi Yu is not the Queen Mother's biological son, all this can be explained.
So, he came to the Cining Palace.
The Queen Mother didn't know what he meant, and her face remained stern, "Why, now that you two brothers have united to deal with me, your relationship has improved?
Are you just now thinking of standing up for him?"
"Your Majesty, just answer my questions."
After a busy day of state affairs, it was already late at night. The emperor was very tired and had no mood to listen to the empress dowager's sarcasm.
Although he was her own son, he was the emperor after all. The relationship between the emperor and his subjects came first, and then mother and son. The emperor calling himself "I" in front of her was already a warning.
The Queen Mother was unhappy, but she could only reply, "He is unfilial. As a mother, I am extremely disappointed. I must punish him."
"He's not your biological son, is he?"
"What does your Majesty mean? Do you suspect I stole someone else's son?"
It is common for people in the harem to be unable to give birth to sons and have to steal other people's sons. This is the empress dowager's first reaction.
Anger gradually appeared on his face, "You only saw the punishment I gave him, but never saw the kindness I showed him?
He was the child I gave birth to after a day and a night of agony, so his disobedience, his murder of his uncle, and his attempt to murder his maternal grandfather, only made me disappointed and heartbroken."
The Empress Dowager's open closeness to Su Mao and his son made the Emperor feel disgusted, but at this moment he was too lazy to argue with her.
He stared at the Queen Mother's expression to make sure she was not lying.
The emperor rubbed the ring on his thumb.
Either he guessed wrong, and Shi Yu was not Prince Feng Zhao, but was indeed his biological brother.
Or maybe the Queen Mother didn't even know about it.
"Brother Yu stayed in Dajue Temple for half a year. Could it be that he is no longer the same child he was at the beginning?"
The Queen Mother then understood that the Emperor did not suspect that she had stolen someone else's child, but was truly suspicious of Shi Yu's identity.
"What exactly do you mean by saying this tonight? Or did Shi Yu do something to give you this idea?"
Now extremely disappointed with the Empress Dowager, the Emperor would not tell her the truth, and only said, "I just took a nap in the Imperial Study and dreamed of my father.
He told me to be on guard against my younger brother Yu, and he had given me the same instructions before he died. I began to wonder if my younger brother Yu was not my father's son.
It was already late at night, and the emperor was still busy in the imperial study. The empress dowager finally softened her tone and said, "Since you are tired, go to the bedroom and have a good rest. State affairs are not yet over."
You have to attend court before dawn tomorrow morning, so why do you want to harm your health like this?"
The emperor looked at her without saying a word.
He knew that the Queen Mother felt sorry for him.
But it was more because of his status as an emperor.
Seeing that he was silent, the Queen Mother seemed to be waiting for her to continue, so she continued, "The late Emperor valued the Shi family's kingdom more than his own life.
During the years when he was not in good health, he became more and more suspicious, and everyone he saw seemed to be trying to steal his throne."
Glancing at the emperor's tired face, the empress dowager sighed, "If you still regard me as your mother, then listen to me. Stop letting your thoughts wander and go to bed early.
Shi Yu couldn't possibly not be the late emperor's son.
There is something I can tell you now. The late emperor once thought of replacing Shi Yu as the crown prince.
It was your mother's strong intervention that saved your position as crown prince.
If he was not the late emperor's child, how could the late emperor be so foolish as to make him the crown prince?
Although I never went to Dajue Temple during those six months.
But those who take care of Shi Yu include my confidants and the late emperor's secret guards.
No one can replace your brother under the eyes of the late emperor."
The emperor smiled bitterly in his heart. Others could not do it, but the late emperor could. Even the empress dowager's confidants could be bribed by the late emperor.
He looked at the empress dowager, feeling a kind of sadness in his heart.
The Queen Mother always thought that Shi Yu was her biological son, but she was still so cruel to him.
If the person sitting on the throne was Shi Yu, and he was just an idle prince, then could the Queen Mother abandon him at any time?
The Queen Mother just said those words with the intention of seeking credit.
Seeing that the emperor did not express anything and instead looked at her with an increasingly distant look, she felt a little panicked.
He took the initiative to say, "Emperor, the Queen Mother has been having a hard time these days. Can you return her people and money?"
The emperor slowly stood up and asked an irrelevant question, "Mother, Su Mao is on his way to the capital with Prince Jing.
This time, I will definitely kill all of these remnants of the previous dynasty.
By then, will my mother also blame me for being disobedient and unfilial?"
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