Since then, Tian Yu rarely left the palace. Wu Yaohui treated her quite well, fulfilling her every wish without making things too difficult for her. In accordance with the late emperor's last wishes, Tian Yu also did her best to help the Wu Kingdom rise, improving rice varieties, constructing water conservancy projects, and cultivating new crop varieties. She did everything she could. With each success and each piece of advice she offered, she was able to see her child again.
Although she rarely left her palace, news of every remarkable feat in the Wu Kingdom always came from her palace. When the Jiangnan region suffered floods in the summer, it was she who distributed grain for disaster relief, and it was she who proposed digging canals and building dikes. The following year, when the northwest suffered a drought, it was she who planted rice and wheat on a large scale and dug canals to divert water northward, thus alleviating the drought.
In the second year of her house arrest, Tian Yu pleaded with the Emperor to allow Li Xingyun and the princess to marry and to release Prince Wu to return to his fiefdom. Wu Yaohui smiled and said, "I can grant Ling'er's marriage, but Fifth Brother must remain in the capital!"
"Your Majesty, you have eliminated all those who were against you in the past two years. What power does Prince Wu have now? You are brothers after all, so let him go!"
"Fine! I'll let him go, but you must hand over the method for making explosives!"
This was the only thing Tian Yu hadn't agreed to. He thought Tian Yu had given up, but it turned out she had been thinking about it all along. Tian Yu said, "It's not that I'm unwilling to hand it over, but this explosive is too powerful and will bring disaster to the world. I can't let it remain in the world!"
Wu Yaohui suddenly threw down the cup in his hand, strode up to Tian Yu, grabbed her by the neck and said, "Don't think I won't touch you. You'd better hand it over obediently, or I have plenty of ways to deal with you!"
"Suit yourself! There's no other way!"
"You! Very well!" Wu Yaohui gritted his teeth as he looked at Tian Yu, then suddenly smiled and said, "We've been married for so long, but Empress, we haven't consummated our marriage yet! I think we should do it today!"
After saying that, he ignored Tian Yu's objections, dragged her onto the bed, and began to tear at her clothes. Tian Yu was initially surprised and tried desperately to stop him, but he simply shrugged and sneered, "If Your Majesty likes it, you can take it!"
After tearing open Tian Yu's clothes and seeing the stretch marks and swollen belly on her stomach, Wu Yaohui got up disappointedly, dusted off his clothes, and left angrily.
Tian Yu lay motionless on the bed, tears streaming down her cheeks. How much longer, how much longer until she could get rid of all this? For someone with her naturally thin physique, maintaining this figure was really not easy. She had to eat constantly every day and couldn't exercise; it was truly tough.
The next day, the imperial physician came to examine Tian Yu and prescribe medicine. The palace maids also began to restrict her diet every day. It seemed that Wu Yaohui was going to get serious. He had worked so hard for so long, and everyone had gone along with him, hoping that everyone could be safe. But he was still unwilling to give up and was determined to find out how to make explosives.
The palace maids began giving Tian Yu baths twice a day, saying it was a herbal bath recommended by the imperial physician and would be good for her health. Tian Yu no longer had the strength to change anything; she was fine with whatever he wanted, as long as it didn't affect anyone else. She let the palace maids serve her, doing whatever Wu Yaohui told her to do. Her only request was to see her child more often. Wu Yaohui would come every day to personally feed her medicine, saying it was to help her recover. Tian Yu didn't argue, and seeing how obedient she was, she agreed to visit her child once every three days.
Every time Tian Yu held the child, she couldn't help but cry. In this way, Tian Yu spent another year in the palace in a daze, like a walking corpse. She only hoped that she would suddenly fall ill and die, so that Wu Yaohui would have nothing to say. But things didn't go as planned. She was in good health. The weight she had finally gained was gone, and her skin was slowly getting better. Tian Yu didn't feel anything about any of this until one day Li Weiwei suddenly visited and shattered everything.
"It's been a long time. I've come to inform His Majesty that I can come and see my sister. How are you feeling, sister?"
"Who are you?" Tian Yu asked the woman in front of her, looking at her with suspicion.
"Is my sister joking with me?" Li Weiwei said with a smile.
Do we know each other?
"Has my sister gone mad from staying in the palace? Does she not remember her younger sister?"
"I really don't know you."
"Sister! It's me, Li Weiwei! Don't you remember me?" Li Weiwei became curious and circled around Tian Yu to make sure that the person in front of her was indeed Tian Yu.
"Li Weiwei? I think I remember her, but I don't. Have we met before?" Tian Yu tried hard to recall the name that sounded familiar, but she just couldn't remember. The palace maids and eunuchs around her changed every now and then, and she didn't know any of them, nor did she want to.
Li Weiwei tentatively asked, "Do you still remember who Marquis Zhao Moyan of Zhenbei is?"
“Zhao Moyan?!” Tian Yu stared wide-eyed at Li Weiwei. The name was so familiar; she seemed to remember it, but she couldn’t recall where she had seen it before.
"Sister doesn't remember, and you don't remember Tangyuan either?" Li Weiwei asked again.
"Tangyuan! Zhao Moyan! I seem to remember their names, but I can't recall who they are. Do I know them?" Tian Yu tried hard to remember, but she couldn't recall them; the image was blurry.
Li Weiwei suddenly seemed to understand something, burst into laughter, and looked at Tian Yu, saying word by word, "They are your husband and son, have you forgotten?"
"Husband? Son?" Tian Yu was even more confused.
"So that's how it is. Tian Yu, you've finally met your match. I was originally planning to do something to you, but now look what's happened. The Emperor has really gone to great lengths!"
"What do you mean? Aren't I the Empress?"
"Yes! You are the Empress of my Wu Kingdom, an Empress who has almost forgotten who she is."
"I don't understand what you're talking about. Who are you?"
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