Feng Jian learned very little from his father, but received many lessons.
The emperor, the son of God's love, knew from childhood that his father and his mother had a bad relationship. His father was a man who valued feelings more than the country, and his mother was a woman who valued the country more than feelings.
A prince who was not loved by his father and mother was sometimes not as valued as a favored prince, but he could endure it, and let his arrogant younger brother drive him out of the lotus pond, and then let the whole court know about his younger brother's stupidity. He could watch, watching how the Wei family destroyed themselves step by step. He could listen, and let his father say unhappy words to him, until his father's last moments, looking at the other party's apologetic expression, he found it extremely funny.
Since he had done it, why should he regret it now? The so-called guilt was a joke to him. The entire Kyushu Dynasty belonged to him, and he had the right to do what he wanted. The past was just a test for him, and he never took it to heart, let alone any so-called harm.
He had understood since childhood that you have to pay for what you have gained. His mother became the Queen Mother but lost her motherly heart; his father gained beauty but lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong; his father was a failed man and a failed emperor. He knew since childhood that if he became emperor, he would never be a man like his father.
After his father passed away, it was natural for him to ascend the throne as the crown prince. He controlled the military power, the government, and the life and death of the women in the harem. He had countless women, and he doted on the ones he liked and ignored the ones he didn't. To him, women were just entertainment, and he couldn't pay special attention to a woman like his father did.
The minds of the women in the harem are ever-changing. He doesn't need to know what they are thinking. He just needs to see how they please him. He and they are just getting what they need.
But later, there was a woman who foolishly gave her whole heart to him. He could give her many things, but he could not give her what she wanted.
When she gave birth, he stood outside the door and suddenly thought, if this woman left, would the harem be a little boring? After all, the women in the harem were always the same, and this one was a little different from the others.
Later, she and the child were fine, and he felt relieved, probably because there was finally an interesting woman left in his harem.
She gave birth to his most beloved child. This child looked nothing like his father, nor like him, but he was very satisfied with him. He thought that this child might be the most suitable to be the future emperor.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Xian is seriously ill."
After hearing this, Feng Jian sighed. He once valued Concubine Xian, but later on, for some reason, he became extremely disliked of her. Perhaps this woman thought of things that he was unwilling to give, so he gave up on her.
"I'll go and take a look." He closed the memorial in his hand. After all, she was the woman who had served him before he ascended the throne, so he was willing to take a trip.
Concubine Xian used to be a very quiet woman, but later she became more and more vulgar, like a dirty piece of white paper that could never be washed clean.
Feng Jian looked at the woman lying on the bed. She looked dying, as if she could leave this world at any time.
"Your Majesty," Concubine Xian's voice was a little hoarse, a hint of smile appeared on her haggard face, and she sighed, "I didn't expect that Your Majesty would still be willing to come and see me." She moved her gaze away from Feng Jin and fell on the vase in the corner of the room, which contained a bunch of withered flowers.
She stared at the bouquet of flowers in a daze for a long time, and suddenly recited a poem in a low voice: "The pear blossoms in the courtyard are bathed in the bright moon, and the catkins in the pond are blown by the gentle breeze." After reciting this sentence, Concubine Xian was a little out of breath. She tried her best to open her eyes and look at Feng Jin, "Your Majesty, do you still remember this poem?" When she first entered the Prince's Mansion, the Emperor, who was still the Prince, recited this sentence to her.
Now, more than ten years have passed, the emperor has other beauties in his heart, but she has aged rapidly. Her youth has turned white, and the emperor's favor has disappeared. She shed tears, thinking that perhaps she had never received the emperor's love, and all this was just her delusion.
Feng Jin looked at her quietly, and after a while he said, "Have a good rest. I will come to see you again tomorrow."
Concubine Xian watched the emperor leave with a wry smile, and slowly closed her eyes, as if she was dreaming again of that frosty moonlit night, herself standing in front of the window in a gorgeous dress, and that handsome man reciting that poem to her.
"The pear blossoms in the courtyard are bathed in the moonlight, the catkins...the catkins in the pond...the gentle breeze."
A gust of wind blows, and the pear blossoms fall, with infinite beauty.
"The virtuous concubine has passed away!"
Feng Jian heard crying coming from the palace behind him. He paused slightly, turned around to look at the palace that had suddenly become noisy, and said to the eunuch beside him: "Let Concubine Xian be buried with the ceremony of a noble concubine." After saying that, he turned around and was about to leave, but saw Hu standing in the courtyard, looking at him quietly.
He once valued this woman, but her scheming made him lose interest. She was no longer as indifferent as before, and he would not have any feelings for her.
Seeing the emperor leaving, Mrs. Hu slowly knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I respectfully bid you farewell." She stood up and could no longer see the emperor. She turned her head to look in the direction of Concubine Xian's bedroom and let out a long sigh.
The news of Concubine Xian's death quickly spread throughout the harem. Along the way, Feng Jin met many concubines who were rushing to Concubine Xian's palace. They saluted him in various gestures. Although their faces were filled with sadness, there was not a trace of ugliness on them.
"I have seen the Emperor."
"Get up, no need to be so polite," Feng Jin pulled aside the curtain of the sedan chair and looked at the woman standing beside him with her back bent. She was wearing a plain wide-sleeved dress that was 90% new, but it did not diminish her beauty. This woman was the one he had doted on for many years, but in the end, the one he did not want to see.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Concubine Shu Gui raised her head and saw the curtain on the sedan chair swaying gently. She watched the sedan chair leave calmly, but from a distance she saw Concubine Zhao Gui sitting on a sedan chair and coming towards the sedan chair.
She suddenly smiled and said to Lingsha behind her: "Look, she is the biggest winner in the harem. No one has been better than her in all these years."
Lingsha listened quietly. She carefully supported Concubine Shugui. After Concubine Shugui finished speaking, she said, "Your Majesty, you and she are both Concubines. Even if she has a prince, she is not much more noble than you."
"That's all she does. Who in the harem doesn't give her face?" Concubine Shu Gui adjusted her hairpin and said, "She is a smart woman. Her greatest skill is to remain in the emperor's favor."
Lingsha looked up and saw that the sedan chair had stopped. The emperor seemed to get off the sedan chair, talked to Concubine Zhao Gui for a while, and then returned to the sedan chair and left.
This is what makes Consort Zhao Guifei different from other concubines. Among all the noble ladies in the harem, only Consort Zhao Guifei has such treatment. No wonder others flatter her. But Consort Shu Guifei is a very strange woman. She never interferes in the affairs of the harem. At most, she is a little picky about food, but she can't find anything wrong with other things.
Lingsha thought with some emotion, perhaps this is the cleverness of Concubine Zhaogui.
The days in the harem passed year after year. When Concubine Xian died, other women would naturally enter the palace. No one cared too much about an unfavored concubine. It was just a record in the history books.
In the eighteenth year of Chengxuan, Concubine Zhao Gui fell ill. The doctors in the Imperial Hospital took turns to serve her, but her health became worse and worse, as if she would die at any moment.
The Emperor and the eight-year-old Crown Prince were both furious, and many of the imperial doctors were even beaten with sticks, but they were helpless against Concubine Zhao Gui's illness.
Looking at the pale and sleepy woman on the hospital bed, Feng Jin seemed to recall that when the prince was born, he was also as uneasy as he was now, as if this woman would fall asleep if he was not watching her.
"Father, mother will be fine," Feng Qi stood beside him, his young face showing determination, "mother said that she would choose a good daughter-in-law for her son."
"How old are you, and you're already thinking about your wife? When your mother wakes up, I will take care of you together with her," Feng Jin forced a smile, sat down on the edge of the bed, and held the woman's somewhat cold hand, as if he was thinking of the woman's charming smile under the peach tree that year.
"Are the peach blossoms in bloom in the palace?" He looked at Feng Qi.
Feng Qi nodded.
He stood up and whispered, "Stay with your mother. I will be back soon."
Feng Qi looked at his father's back and sat down where he had sat. He held his mother's hand with both hands, feeling a little scared and worried. "Mother, when will you wake up? What if Baozi is bullied by other women without you?" He began to whisper about the calculations of the concubines in the harem, one sentence after another, with incomparable clarity.
"Mother, please wake up quickly. Your son is scared."
The palace servants in the room lowered their heads in silence, hoping that the queen had really woken up.
In the peach forest outside Taoyu Pavilion, Feng Jin picked a few peach blossoms with his own hands. Looking at the flowers in full bloom, he said to Gao Dezhong behind him: "I remember that Concubine Zhao Gui likes to use the peaches grown here every year. The peach blossoms are blooming so well this year. I wonder how happy Concubine Zhao Gui will be."
Gao Dezhong bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my nonsense. Your Majesty, please keep an eye on Concubine Zhao Gui. It's not good to eat too many peaches."
"She is such a greedy person. I have been unable to do anything with her for so many years." Feng Jin smiled and walked towards Xihe Palace with a few peach blossoms.
Before he even reached Xihe Palace, he saw a eunuch from Xihe Palace running over, sweating profusely. He knelt down with a plop and panted, "Your Majesty, Concubine Zhaogui..."
"How is she?" Feng Jin tightened his grip on the peach blossom branch.
"The Concubine Zhao Guifei has woken up!" The eunuch wiped his tears and sweat with his sleeves, "Your Majesty, the Concubine Zhao Guifei has woken up."
Feng Jin paused, then strode towards Xihe Palace, the petals of the peach blossom in his hand falling to the ground.
When he entered the inner room, he happened to see the woman leaning against the head of the bed, smiling tenderly at the prince.
As if she had sensed his coming, she turned her head to look at him. Her clear eyes and her blood-red lips made him unconsciously throw the peach blossom to the ground.
"Your Majesty, you are here?" She smiled.
"Yes, I'm here." He replied, his face still as calm as ever.
The author has something to say: Before writing this chapter, I kept playing the light music "First Encounter" on repeat, and finally found some feelings. This song fits my mood when writing this chapter. I wrote this article because I was stimulated by the story of a time-traveling girl falling in love with the emperor and being abused.
This article accompanied me through the most important things in my life: getting married, having children, growing up, and facing many helpless things in life. It made me realize that life is more complicated than I imagined.
Some people scolded me, some people understood me. For me, these are the people who liked this article, and it is my blessing. But I think that even when I stop writing articles, this article will be the one that I remember most, because there will never be another article that can accompany me through these things.
Once again, I would like to thank all the girls who have liked this article before or are still reading it. Without you, there would be no such article. Thank you very much, and I wish you all a happy Year of the Horse.
(There will be a special chapter about Concubine Jiang Xian later, which will describe some of the heroine's affairs. The content of the other special chapter has not been confirmed yet, so I will think about it first.)