55 Decrees - Part 1 (2/2)

This wouldn't do.

As her duty towards her late husband and her son, she will get to the bottom of this matter.

Which hot-blooded male declined beauties?

Even if he didn't want to establish an empress yet, he still had to work towards it, didn't he?

She had seen her son's flustered eyes and shy expression that day.

If he was so thin-skinned, she'll have to take such matters into her own hands.

What was the esteemed empress dowager's solution to this?

She sent three beauties to wait upon His Majesty in his rooms.

When Su Li came to her bedroom, she saw that the eunuchs and mamas were behaving a bit abnormally. She asked them what was the matter but none of them replied to her words.

She gave it a bit of thought and guessed that they might have been gossiping about how the emperor didn't allow anyone to serve him while bathing etc and were worried she had heard them. Su Li had heard all this talk once or twice over the course of her time here so she didn't pay much attention to it and swiftly entered her rooms.

The eunuchs had thought that the empress dowager must have already mentioned this matter to His Majesty so they didn't dare reply to his question. Previously, they had worried that their monarch who was so understanding of their pains and had given his first official decree in their favour had something wrong with his body.

Otherwise, why would he not let anyone accompany him on all those lonely nights?

Maybe, their highness had suffered an untold injury in his time away from the country?

When His Majesty entered his rooms and closed the doors behind him decisively, all of them were brimming with happiness. They could put down their constant worry over their master's health.

It was good, good that His Majesty had finally seen the light. It was really true that old ginger is hotter than the young one. Otherwise, how could the empress dowager make His Majesty listen to her when the monarch didn't even pay heed to his minister's words?

A quarter of an hour later, they saw the three beauties coming out with reddened eyes.

Was His Majesty done so fast?

Don't tell them that His Majesty didn't want to play more.

The head eunuch hesitated a moment but still questioned one of the girls in a low voice, ”This... This...Ahem! What happened? Wasn't His Majesty happy?”

Obviously, he couldn't ask the question he really wanted to ask in fear of his head.

The beauties looked at each other and one of them spoke, ”His Majesty said not to disturb him. He was feeling tired from taking care of all the matters in court today.”

What had really happened inside the room?

The beauties could tell you :

His Majesty had taken one look at them and furiously questioned them as to how they came to be in his rooms. With trembling bodies, they had told him the truth of being sent to his door by the exalted existence in the inner palace.

His Majesty had murmured to himself, ”The lady should just eat and sleep in peace. Why is she also trying to meddle in my affairs? Is she not content enough to enjoy her days at ease? Jumping around to find me company.”

The three of them had really wished the earth to open up and swallow them when they heard those words. If not, they wished to retract their heads into their necks to block His Majesty's words.

They could see the fury in the monarch's eyes and had lowered their heads even further, just gazing at the tip of his shoes... They didn't dare to look at his face.... His repressed fury was enough of a reason for him to do away with their heads.....

It seemed there was some friction or tussle of power between His Majesty and The Empress Dowager. Otherwise, why would the Son of Heaven walk in agitated circles in his rooms when he knew that they had been sent by his mother.

So, it was true.

It was true that there were no blood ties in the Imperial Palace. A mother and her child opposing each other just to gain hold of power. Ah! it was too terrifying.

They went down on their knees, falling at his feet, their throats had dried and they couldn't say a single word. They were worried that the next words out of His Majesty's mouth would be to decapitate them. After all, they had heard such words from him and had understood some of the inner workings of this golden palace.

In the end, His Majesty hadn't made things difficult for them and had even spared their lives. He simply waved his hand, with 'a get the hell out of here' expression on his face. They couldn't thank him enough and couldn't walk fast enough to get far away from this place.

What if he changed his mind and simply ordered their execution?

They didn't have enough heads to spare.

Therefore, when the head eunuch questioned them, with a tacit understanding, they made up some nonsense to get away from this gloomy place.

Meanwhile, Su Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Her mother was really something.

She understood the point that the lady couldn't wait to hold her grandchildren in her arms but she was really expecting too much from Su Li.

She recalled that the empress dowager had tried to probe her on these matters a few times but every time she had deflected her attention. It looked that the other person couldn't be at peace until Su Li talked to her firmly to postpone all this.

Was there ever a mother who did something like this?

Since she couldn't marry off her son, she simply decided to stuff his place with girls as if they were common, readily available items.

If this was a gesture of her goodwill, Su Li didn't want to know what that lady would do to an enemy.

In a few days, this matter was known to everyone who had some clout in the Imperial Palace.

People discussed in hushed tones that the emperor was someone of firm resolve. In this time and age, who amongst them didn't have three wives and four concubines.

This further fuelled the imagination of the young girls of the Imperial Capital. Who didn't want a husband who would only love them and pamper them?