In the Shenlong Hall, Emperor Longxing had also not slept all night.
For some reason, he had been particularly anxious the previous night. Even with Consort Hui’s armor to keep him company, he still couldn’t fall asleep. After daybreak, he canceled the court session for the day. After all, he was already a puppet—what difference did it make whether he attended court or not?
When the Empress heard that he was unwell, she hurriedly came to see him. This gentle and beautiful wife truly cared for her husband and had specially prepared a medicinal soup with magnolia bark and ginseng to bring to him. However, Emperor Longxing felt annoyed just looking at her. He glanced at the soup and said, “This is not something an Empress should be doing.”
The Empress felt somewhat hurt, but she still endured it and gently advised him to take care of his health. This woman, whether he was a powerless puppet or an emperor with authority, had always treated him the same.
The Empress Dowager had not been wrong in her choice of person, but he had been wrong.
In this lifetime, he would never be able to love the woman chosen by the Empress Dowager.
While the Empress was speaking, suddenly a palace servant reported that the Empress Dowager had arrived.
According to the mother-son relationship protocol, Emperor Longxing had always gone to Penglai Hall to see the Empress Dowager. She had never come to Shenlong Hall before. Both Emperor Longxing and the Empress were slightly surprised. At that moment, the white-haired Empress Dowager, supported by palace servants, tremulously walked in.
The Empress covered her mouth in shock. The Empress Dowager did not explain anything to her, merely waving her hand to have the palace servants escort the Empress out.
The vast Shenlong Hall was suddenly left with only the Empress Dowager and Emperor Longxing.
The tension in the air was palpable, like a mountain storm about to break.
Emperor Longxing keenly sensed something was wrong. He looked around, his face turning pale, before going to support the Empress Dowager: “Mother, what happened to your hair?”
The Empress Dowager brushed off his assistance with a single motion. She stared at him, on the verge of tears: “Buddha protect us, were you or were you not involved in the Tianwei Army incident?”
Emperor Longxing was stunned for a moment. After he recovered, he resolutely denied: “No!”
“Really not?”
“No!”
Emperor Longxing became somewhat agitated and paced back and forth: “Mother, who has been slandering me to you? Cui Songqing? Xue Wanzhe? Hmph! They want to save Cui Xun, so they dare to slander me!”
“No one has slandered you!” the Empress Dowager raised her voice: “But you simply cannot explain away your daily records, nor can you explain Wang Xuan’s death!”
“How can I not explain? I’ve already said that the statement in the daily records was because I wanted to stop the tribute from Qingzhou. As for Wang Xuan’s death, it was solely Consort Hui’s doing. What does it have to do with me?”
The Empress Dowager looked at him with sorrow: “Buddha protect us, are you treating your mother like a fool? Are you treating those top scholars as fools? Are you treating everyone in the world as fools?”
“I’m not treating anyone as a fool. I didn’t do it, so I didn’t do it!”
Emperor Longxing refused to admit it. The Empress Dowager gave a bitter laugh. She leaned against the wall painted with vermilion and white designs, and collapsed weakly onto a purple sandalwood table. A strand of white hair fell from her well-pinned coiffure, making her appear exceptionally old and desolate. She slowly said, “If you won’t admit it, it doesn’t matter. Let the Three Judicial Offices investigate. Pull out all the daily records from that period and examine them character by character. Then find all the palace servants who attended to you at that time and question them one by one. The truth will eventually be revealed.”
Emperor Longxing’s face instantly turned ashen: “Mother, what are you saying?”
“You said you didn’t do it, right? If you didn’t, what are you afraid of? Unless you did it!”
Emperor Longxing gritted his teeth. He suddenly fell to his knees and crawled to the Empress Dowager, pleading: “Mother, you can’t do this. I am the Emperor! You’re having people investigate the Emperor? Are you leaving me with no face at all?”
“Is it that I’m not leaving you any face? Or is it that you didn’t leave yourself any face?” the Empress Dowager said sternly: “I’ll ask you one last time, did you or did you not participate in the Tianwei Army case?”
She glared at Emperor Longxing with no trace of hesitation or softness left. Emperor Longxing knew she had made up her mind this time. He dared not quibble anymore. He knelt before the Empress Dowager, trembling and silent. The Empress Dowager’s heart turned completely cold. She slapped Emperor Longxing across the face.
Five finger marks appeared on Emperor Longxing’s handsome face. The Empress Dowager was heartbroken: “How could you do this? Those were soldiers guarding the borders for you! Those were subjects who respected and honored you!”
“Mother…” Emperor Longxing’s tears streamed down. He clutched at the hem of the Empress Dowager’s garment, pleading: “I was also deceived by Lu Yumin. He said to just let the Tianwei Army be defeated once, and that would be it. He didn’t say there would be such serious consequences! I didn’t know it would be like this!”
“Were you deceived by Lu Yumin?”
Emperor Longxing nodded frantically. With tears and mucus streaming down his face, he said, “Mother, you know that your son has always been timid. If he hadn’t deceived me, how would I dare to do such a thing? Mother, please forgive me. I will never dare to do it again…”
He cried so pitifully, with tears and snot all over his face. The Empress Dowager looked at him, reminded of when he was young and had been punished to kneel for being naughty. He had cried just as miserably then. At that time, she had been heartless and said, “Your father still has other sons and grandsons! If you don’t want to be Emperor, there are plenty of others who do! If you continue to be so unmotivated, I will depose you!”
In the end, it was Lu Yumin who had pleaded for him, carrying the then five-year-old Emperor Longxing away, and only then did she relent. From that time on, Emperor Longxing feared her like a tiger and never dared to anger her again.
Tears slid down the Empress Dowager’s clear eyes: “Buddha protect us, your mistake this time is not like when you were a child—being playful, throwing a tantrum, or not attending court. This time, you have committed an unforgivable sin…”
“Mother, I know I’ve committed a terrible sin, but I can change. I promise, in the future, I will never do such a foolish thing again…”
“There won’t be a next time.” The Empress Dowager said sorrowfully, “Your mother is the Empress Dowager of the Great Zhou. Your mother must explain to the fifty thousand soldiers of the Tianwei Army and the people of the six provinces.”
Emperor Longxing looked at her in disbelief: “Mother, you want to depose me?”
“No.” The Empress Dowager stretched out her trembling hands and stroked his face, just as she had when he was a child: “Buddha protect us, your mother has taught you since you were young that if you make a mistake, you must bear the consequences. The Luoyan Ridge is piled with corpses, and the people of the six provinces have lost their homes and families. You must take responsibility for your mistakes…”
Emperor Longxing was stunned. His teeth began to chatter: “Mother, you want to kill me?”
The Empress Dowager could no longer hold back her tears, which poured out like a spring. Her heart was so hurt that she could barely support her body: “Buddha protect us, your mother will eat vegetarian food for the rest of her life, will use the rest of her life to govern this country well, will create blessings for all people, and will… atone for your sins…”
Emperor Longxing’s face grew increasingly pale. He pushed the Empress Dowager away: “Mother, have you gone mad? You would kill your son for those lowly insects?”
But what followed was a desperate slap from the Empress Dowager: “They are not insects! They are your subjects! You are their ruler and father!”
This slap brought Emperor Longxing back to his senses somewhat. He suddenly came to his senses and crawled to the Empress Dowager’s feet, begging bitterly: “Mother, I truly know I was wrong. You can’t kill me. I’m your only son! How could you do this?”
He kept pleading. How could the Empress Dowager not be heartbroken? She forcibly suppressed her rising grief and softness. She said, “Buddha protect us, your mother doesn’t want to kill you either. But last night, your mother saw your elder sister.”
Emperor Longxing looked up in shock. The Empress Dowager murmured: “Sixteen years old, such a wonderful age. And the Lotus Pond was so cold and dark… While outside, the Lotus Pond was the flourishing national power, the increasingly abundant national treasury, the formidable army… All of this was paved with your elder sister’s life, as well as your throne and my regency. If it weren’t for your father’s guilt towards your elder sister, how could all of this have been achieved so smoothly? Buddha protect us, you have failed your elder sister, and your mother has failed her even more. What your elder sister exchanged with her life should not be an Empress Dowager who shields her son, much less an Emperor who betrays his people.”
The Empress Dowager’s face was covered in tears: “Buddha protect us, you have made a mistake, and so has your mother. For the sake of your elder sister, your mother cannot allow this mistake to continue. Otherwise, your elder sister would be disappointed in your mother…”
The Empress Dowager had brought up Li Ying, and Emperor Longxing knew there was no way out for him this time. His teeth made a grinding sound, and suddenly he laughed: “What do you mean, you saw my elder sister? Can the living see ghosts? Excuses! All excuses! At the bottom of it all, Mother just wants to use this opportunity to kill me and seize power for herself! Mother, don’t forget, you don’t have a grandson yet. If you kill me, how will you remain as Empress Dowager?”
His words made the Empress Dowager even more sorrowful: “Buddha protect us, do you think that your mother has been shielding you all this time because of her position as Empress Dowager? It’s not like that. Since the Taichang Blood Incident, your mother has been involved in court politics. It’s been thirty years now. What makes you think that thirty years isn’t enough for your mother to secure her position as Empress Dowager?”
Emperor Longxing didn’t believe it at all: “If not because of your position as Empress Dowager, then because of mother-son affection? Hmph, you had that for my elder sister, but do you have it for me? I’m nothing but a tool for you to consolidate your power. You never loved me!”
At this point, he simply didn’t care anymore: “Mother, I’m going to die anyway, so I might as well tell you. Your son, the son you always thought was weak and obedient, not only participated in the Tianwei Army case, but he was the mastermind!”