zChapter 1076 - Finally Expressing One’s Identity Clearly (1/2)
The Emperor already finished what he wanted to say and everyone had no doubts, the matter of the Sixth Prince being regent was considered as confirmed. Everyone kowtowed then left Zhao He Hall. At the end, Feng Yuheng gave the Emperor an anti-inflammatory injection and made arrangements to enter the palace every morning to give injections and medicine, then she left together with Xuan Tianming.
Everyone came in a large group, and left in a large group, leaving only the Empress who continued to remain in this side hall.
The Emperor did not chase her away and only waved a hand to dismiss all the servants, including Zhang Yuan. Finally, when only the Emperor and Empress were left in this side hall, he heard the Empress ask: “Is Your Majesty still waiting for that person to appear? If that person does not come after a long time, when do you plan to take away This Wife’s position of Empress?”
The Emperor vaguely remembered the first day of the New Year, he walked hand in hand with the Empress to Heavenly Hall to accept the greetings from the various ministers, he was also sarcastic and mocked the Empress who had done no wrong, and what he said was especially harsh. Thinking about it now, if it was him, it would also be difficult to accept.
He sighed bitterly, only saying: “You know as well, at the time, Our mind was not clear, and what We said and did was not something We could control, why does Empress need to pin this on Us now?” He looked at the Empress with a tired expression, saying again: “During this period, you must have suffered.”
The Empress shook her head, looking for a chair, moving it next to the Emperor’s bed and sitting down. She said: “This Wife did not think it was suffering, it was just anxiousness. And one more thing, I used to think that Your Majesty does not know, but after that, Liu Shi used it to threaten me, and after a few times, I realised with a shock and Your Majesty should know everything but only chose not to say it. Keeping me in the seat of Empress was only to attract people from that side into showing themselves. During the time before relations became bad, this identity was insignificant, but with this current situation, he has disappeared for many years, and This Wife has become an excellent chess piece once again.”
“We have never treated you as a chess piece.” The Emperor told her seriously: “As Da Shun’s Empress, you have contributed. We have ignored the imperial harem for so many years but saw you as a partner. Managing the country together with you is very comfortable. With one look from Us, you can understand its meaning, with one sentence from Us, you can carry it out with more understanding than anyone else. Working together with you, We do not need to speak too much and there is a tacit understanding, this is rare.”
This was the first time the Emperor proactively expressed his inner thoughts to the Empress, the Empress thought, if it was when the Emperor was young, he would definitely be unable to say these words. Even when before he experienced the series of incidents related to the Eighth Prince and Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui, he would always put up the airs of an Emperor, maintaining a proud dignified attitude, never taking the initiative to praise her. But right now, this old man said these words, causing her heart to ache when she heard it.
She spoke with a bitter smile: “Hearing this now, it seems like the relationship between us isn’t that of husband and wife, but only work partners. I keep you company in managing the country, holding up the imperial harem for your sake, sitting on the Empress’ seat, showing the best appearance for stabilising the hearts of the citizens. And you give me honour and authority, but the only thing you are not willing to give me is a bit of your feelings. Xuan Zhan” She called the Emperor’s name, “I might not be your first Empress, but I am your first wife, you should know, rather than authority, what a woman wants the most, is love from her husband, right?”
She said it in a miserable manner, and her presentable bearing which she held for so many years showed an aged appearance in an instant.
But the Emperor asked in return: “Not everyone thinks like that, thinking about that Liu Shi, what she wanted wasn’t affection, but power. If not, which woman who harboured feelings would use that kind of Gu poison techniques to harm her husband?”
“She also did it for her son.” The Empress said something very fair, “In addition, you neglected the imperial harem for more than twenty years because of Imperial Concubine Yun, how strong does the feelings of that woman have to be to not have all of that disappear in these more than twenty years? Xuan Zhan, don’t blame others. For everything in the world, if there is a cause, there will be an effect, this was a cause which you planted, so you need to bear with this kind of effect today. The good thing is that you still have a few good sons, and there was Ah-Heng to bring you back to life, else, this nation will have to be buried due to this.”
These words from the Empress which contained some admonishment stunned the Emperor when he heard this, he was stunned for half an incense’s worth of time before coming back to his senses, mumbling to himself: “It was all Our fault? It was Us who caused their love to become hatred, it was Us who caused them to become like how they are today?” As he spoke, he looked at the Empress, then asked: “How about you? In more than twenty years, We did not share a room with you, have you ever thought of harming Us like that Liu Shi?”
The Empress shook her head, “No. But this is not because I am honourable and noble, but because I do not have a son, in addition, you did give me the position of Empress, below one person and above thousands and thousands of people, therefore, I am different from them.”
“What you mean is, if you also have a son, if you’re not the Empress, you will be the same as Liu Shi?”
The Empress thought for a while, saying: “That might not be the case, after all, everyone’s personality is different. Like Imperial Concubine Gu Xian, Imperial Concubine De, they also have sons, but they did not do such things, right? But do not think that just because we won’t do it, other people would not do it. Think about why Feng-er gave the first decree to Imperial Concubine Li he obtained the role of regent! As the nation’s subject and as a son, wanting to protect his own birth mother, he had no choice but to use this method. I can tell Feng-er does not bear to do it, but this also means that Imperial Concubine Li must have harboured some thoughts which Feng-er had detected. Feng-er is a good child, but loyalty and filial piety could not be fulfilled at the same time, this was something he had no choice but to do and was his way of answering to all his brothers.”
With regards to giving the regent position to Xuan Tianfeng, the Emperor did not regret it, the Empress seemed to be satisfied at well. The Emperor raised a hand and wiped his face, sighing: “We thought that the throne was a good thing and clearly wanted to leave it to Ming-er, but Ming-er…… did not want it.” As he spoke, he looked toward the Empress, but brought up an old topic instead, he said: “Your words are correct and incorrect at the same time, We did want to make use of you to lure out that Duanmu Anguo, he set up a winter palace in the northern border to raise winter concubines and fathered so many children, countless daughters were then sent out of the country. We also knew about your identity many years ago, it was just that you did not know at that time. But We have never thought of removing you from your Empress position after luring Duanmu Anguo out. You are not a chess piece, but Our Empress.”
When the Empress heard these words, she did not really believe them. She looked towards the Emperor, wanting to find an opening from his expression. Unfortunately, she searched a few times and did not find it, so she could not help but ask: “You are speaking the truth? I am not a chess piece?”
The Emperor nodded, “No, you are Our Empress, and regardless of which prince ascends the throne in the future, you will be their first mother, you will be the Empress Dowager as expected.”