After leaving Chuxiu Palace, the cool breeze that blew in her face cooled down An Lingrong's flushed face.
Since becoming friends with Sun Miaoqing, she pieced together the information she had heard and roughly deduced her future.
Because of her humble origins, she was trampled upon. In order to win the emperor's favor, she severed ties with Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang. To secure her position, she drugged the emperor with an aphrodisiac.
Under the Empress's gradual instigation and sowing of discord, she committed far too many wrongdoings. She couldn't even make her own decision about having a child.
After struggling for so many years, it all came to nothing. He was slapped every day and could only try to kill himself by eating bitter almonds.
Fortunately, God took pity on her and finally gave her a chance.
An Lingrong rubbed her wrist, touching the gilded bracelet she always wore. It was the only thing left from her mother's dowry, something she couldn't bear to sell.
Those who are favored in the palace may not have an easy life, but those who are out of favor certainly have a difficult one.
She went to great lengths to enter the palace through the imperial concubine selection process, partly to escape the fate of being manipulated by her father into marrying off someone at will.
Secondly, it was also to make her proud and allow her mother to enjoy her later years in peace.
A quiet, unassuming promise might make the concubines in the family wary for a while, but it won't make them wary forever.
Moreover, with the mountains high and the emperor far away, she needed to keep a close watch on the people before she could feel at ease.
*
On the day of the giant orange tree's birthday, the palace was adorned with red silk ribbons. The bare branches of the trees were decorated with flowers made of various colored fabrics.
The palace servants coming and going had all changed into festive winter clothes, and the palace maids all wore two small red hair flowers in their hair.
From the emperor down to the common people performing corvée labor, everyone was given a day off. Even the palace maids and eunuchs serving hard labor in the Censorate were granted leniency and had half of their punishment waived.
The chubby orange sipped its wine, enjoying the song and dance performances in the palace. But its mind was filled with the intricate schemes and power struggles within the court.
Although it was the first birthday celebration after the emperor's ascension to the throne, some ministers suggested granting a general amnesty to show the emperor's boundless grace.
However, the chubby orange cat rejected the idea, arguing that it wasn't a birthday celebration.
Spending 500,000 taels of silver to celebrate his birthday was more for political purposes, to declare to the world that his throne was secure and that he was born to be emperor.
The decision not to grant a general amnesty was also for political purposes.
When he first ascended to the throne, many of those imprisoned in the imperial jail were his close friends and cronies. Even if he didn't wipe them all out, they would be kept in prison for thirty to fifty years before he was satisfied.
If a general amnesty is granted, wouldn't that give these treacherous officials a chance to breathe, allowing them to jump out and stir up trouble again?
The person who said this to test him was truly a wolf in sheep's clothing. On the surface, they cheered him on, but in reality, they still harbored ambitions towards the eighth and ninth princes.
Fortunately, he was wise and capable, and would not be easily deceived.
The hall was heated by an underfloor heating system, and the doors and windows were tightly sealed. After a few sips of wine, one felt stuffy and hot.
Sun Miaoqing was glad she was smart enough to bring a fan, otherwise she would feel suffocated.
[The song and dance performance was beautiful, but after seeing so many, they all become the same. The acrobatics from earlier were much more exciting; they stacked three benches and managed to bend over on top to pick flowers from the heels with their mouths.]
[Hey, is that Prince Dun over there with that fierce face? He looks even worse than Big Fat Orange. If he weren't lucky enough to be a prince, he wouldn't have been able to marry a wife like Prince Dun's wife.]
[A reckless and foolish fool. Back when the Eighth and Ninth Princes were still around, even the three of them couldn't succeed. Now, the other two are imprisoned in the Imperial Clan Court, leaving only him, yet he still plots a rebellion.]
[What's most terrifying is that he did all this not for himself, but to welcome the Eighth Prince to the throne and Consort Yi to the position of Empress Dowager. This brotherly affection is truly moving and worthy of thunderous applause.]
[I don't know if it's just that the minds of royalty are different from ours, normal people. They're already wealthy and have families to support, yet they still insist on courting disaster. If they truly love Lao Ba, why get married and have children? Isn't that just harming people?]
Oh no, I heard that sexual orientation is determined by genes and can be inherited. All my brothers are like this, what if my chubby orange cat is too...?
[Could it be... a civet cat? Thinking about it now, those edits featuring men on top of men... truly, art imitates life!]
No! My eyes are going to go blind!
Upon hearing that Prince Dun truly intended to rebel, the chubby orange cat's eyes sharpened like a tiger's, ready to devour anyone at any moment.
It was only hidden by his slightly narrowed eyelids that the group of people did not notice.
But when he heard Sun Miaoqing's divergent thoughts and imagined that scene, Big Fat Orange couldn't help but shudder.
A hint of...fear appeared in his eyes?
Then, angrily, he thought, "What kind of things are going on in this nobleman's head?"
It's simply...filthy language, utterly unbearable to hear!
It seems that the Diamond Sutra wasn't enough to teach her a lesson!
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