It's Better to be the Empress Dowager

Chapter 130        Heir to the Throne

Lu Yufei leaned against the Jing Wang mansion and heard that Jing Wang had become the Emperor. She was stunned for a while before she understood what the eunuch was talking about.

“What, you mean Wangye… No, my father became the Emperor? Then, didn’t Wangfei become the Empress?”

Lu Yufei was a little bit incoherent due to surprise. The eunuch in red smiled and said, “Shizifei, you’re right. Wuzong died of illness, and the country had no monarch. The First Assistant and the court officials have given their favors three times and His Majesty finally agreed to succeed to the throne. On the twentieth of last month, His Majesty’s accession ceremony and Empress’s conferment ceremony came to a successful end. Empress did not feel assured that Shizifei was alone in Xiping province, so she sent me here to pick up Shizifei to enter the capital.”

Lu Yufei was shocked for a long time. For a moment, she thought it was Zhou Shunhua’s crafty scheme and deliberately cheated her. However, she looked at the eunuch’s bright court dress, the swaggering rewards through the streets, and the grand scale of the imperial guards, which seemed to be not the style of framing people and fake imperial edict would be beheaded. Who dared to joke like this in this world?

Lu Yufei finally believed while panicking that this was true. Her father-in-law became Emperor, and their family has prospered.

Lu Yufei had been idling around recuperating her body in the mansion. After learning the news, no matter what her health condition was, she immediately rushed back to Jinling. Zhao Chengjun was the Emperor, then Zhao Zixun was the prince. She could not let Zhou Shunhua steal such an important opportunity first.

When Zhao Chengjun sent someone to pick up Lu Yufei, he also sent a transfer order to the Lu family to transfer the Master of the Lu family back to the capital to take up a new position. Although the grade has not changed but by returning to the capital, it was also considered a half promotion by default. The Lu family also happily followed along to Jinling.

Now, it was secondary whether they got promoted or not. The number one happy event was that they have climbed to the Emperor’s branch.

Madam Lu made repeated orders with her daughter on the journey that when she entered the palace, the first thing was to greet the Empress. Thinking about it like this, Tang Shishi, this woman was really amazing. She was just an ordinary merchant young lady, entered the palace because of the selection, and became Wangfei by an unexpected turn of events. Now was even better that she jumped directly to become the Empress. This kind of life experience was so inspirational that people dared not think about it.

Empress Dowager Yao was overthrown, but Tang Shishi became the Empress smoothly. It could be seen that this woman was rather powerful. Since Lu Yufei could not give birth now, then it was more important to please her legitimate mother-in-law.

In Kunning Palace, Tang Shishi sat on the soft couch and listened to the palace people report what happened today. The Kunning Palace has been repaired. Tang Shishi officially moved into the Kunning Palace, and the Empress’s duties also must be fulfilled. Now, it was already the sixth month, and Tang Shishi was six months pregnant with a very high bulging belly. Pregnant women were always moody and coupled with the hot weather, Tang Shishi has been particularly irritable these days.

After the palace maid finished talking about the palace’s affairs, she cautiously mentioned, “Empress Niangniang, the Eldest Princess Nanyang handed over the nameplate to enter the palace and wanted to see Empress Dowager of the East.”

With the succession of Zhao Chengjun, the princesses in Jinling also rearranged their ranks. The Emperor’s daughter became the princess, her eldest sisters became the eldest princess, and the aunts became the grand eldest princess. When Wuzong was in power previously, Nanyang was the honorable Grand Eldest Princess. Now the person on the throne was Zhao Chengjun, and she would also be demoted to Eldest Princess.

After Zhao Chengjun ascended the throne, he did nothing to Nanyang and the Yao family and even Empress Dowager Yao was just confined in Cining Palace to let Empress Dowager of the West recuperate safely. On the contrary, Eldest Nanyang Princess and the Yao family were scared to death as Zhao Chengjun did not make any move. In the past three months, Eldest Princess Nanyang had always wanted to go into the palace to meet the Empress Dowager Yao and Yao Peier, but she had never been able to pass through.

When Tang Shishi heard the name of Eldest Princess Nanyang, her expression did not change, and asked, “When did she hand over the nameplate?”

“It was sent in at chenshi (7 am – 9 am) in the morning.”

Tang Shishi glanced at the hourglass and raised her eyebrows, “It’s been so long, probably Eldest Princess has gone back long ago. Never mind, just report to me earlier next time. Forget it today.”

The palace maid softly, “Eldest Princess is waiting outside the palace gate.”

The nameplate was handed over in chenshi (7 am – 9 am) and it was shenshi (3 pm – 5 pm) now. The Eldest Princess of Nanyang has waited for four hours, no less. Tang Shishi tutted in her heart. However, if she had known today, why she had to start. It was Eldest Princess Nanyang who sent Yao Peier to the palace. Now that the political struggle has failed, Yao Peier and Empress Dowager Yao have been banned. Did Eldest Princess of Nanyang finally realize to love her daughter again?

Then, why did she do it earlier?

Tang Shishi was still indifferent and said, “It’s already late now and the palace gate will be locked soon. Eldest Princess will not have enough time going back and forth. Let’s do it next time.”

The palace maid bowed her head and complied meekly, “Yes.”

The palace maid went out to pass the message. Eldest Princess Nanyang was waiting outside the palace gate. She did not have a drop of water all day and now her spirit was on the verge of collapse. She was hanging by the breath of seeing her daughter. So, Princess Nanyang went black that she almost fainted when she heard the palace maid’s reply.

The maids cried out in alarm and quickly supported Eldest Princess Nanyang, “Eldest Princess.”

The Eldest Princess Nanyang looked at the sky sadly and suddenly burst into tears. Next time, it was always the next time. When would this come to an end?

The palace maids and the imperial guards at the door sighed gently when they saw the appearance of Eldest Princess Nanyang, but they did not have the intention to help. Every Emperor has his own officials. If the loser was able to keep their life, it was due to infinite imperial kindness. What qualifications did they have to ask for dignity?

While Eldest Princess Nanyang was crying, another carriage approached. The person inside lifted the curtain to look in front, and asked in confusion, “What’s the matter?”

The palace maid who passed the massage saw the carriage and slowly raised her eyebrows, “You are?”

Madam Lu hurriedly got out of the carriage, handed the nameplate to the palace maid, and said, “This Gugu, I’m the wife of the Lu family, the Provincial Judge General of Xiping province, and also the birth mother of Shizifei. This time, I returned to the capital with my Master who is taking up a new position. As soon as I arrived today, I hurried to accompany Shizifei to pay respects to Empress Niangniang.”

The palace maid showed an understanding appearance. The Lu family, it turned out that this was Shizifei, the legitimate wife of the Emperor’s adopted son Zhao Zixun. The palace maid immediately said, “It turns out that this is Shizifei and Madam Lu. Empress Niangniang has been waiting for you for a long time. Come with me.”

Madam Lu sighed, hurriedly motioned Lu Yufei to get off the carriage to enter the palace with the maid. Seeing the palace maid look over, Madam Lu smiled and said, “My daughter is not feeling well and felt uncomfortable on the journey, which made Gugu laugh.”

The palace maid nodded with a smile and led Madam Lu and Lu Yufei into the palace. Eldest Princess Nanyang watched helplessly as the people behind rob her place to enter the palace. Eldest Princess Nanyang flustered and exasperated, shouted with sorrow and anger, “I have been here since chenshi. Since Empress Niangniang doesn’t want to meet anyone, why can these two people enter the palace?”

The palace maid stopped and smiled at the Eldest Princess Nanyang, “Eldest Princess, you don’t know. This is Empress’s daughter-in-law and in-laws, not at all an outsider.”

Outsider. The Eldest Princess Nanyang was stimulated by these two words, staggered backward, and almost fell. The maid was too lazy to pay attention to the people from the princess mansion anymore, turned around and smiled at Madam Lu and Lu Yufei, “Please follow me.”

Madam Lu quietly swept over Eldest Princess Nanyang from the corner of her eyes and thought that she turned out to be the princess. She was indeed very impressive. However, why she could not enter the palace since she was a princess?

Tang Shishi was sitting in the Kunning Palace and not long after, the palace people announced, “Empress Niangniang, Madam Lu and Shizifei are here.”

Tang Shishi put down the things in her hand and smiled indescribably, “Sure enough, it’s today. Invite them to come in.”

There were repeated announcements from outside. Lu Yufei was used to hearing others call her Shizifei and did not feel anything wrong for a while. After Madam Lu and Lu Yufei entered the door, Tang Shishi smiled and said, “You’re finally here. I’ve waited for a long time. Quickly show Madam Lu and Shizifei their seats.”

Madam Lu did not dare to sit down and took her daughter to salute Tang Shishi, “Pay respect to Empress. Long live Empress Niangniang.”

Tang Shishi gave them superficial help and said, “We’re all family. Why do you do this superficial etiquette? Sit down quickly.”

Only then did Madam Lu and Lu Yufei take their seats. After sitting down, Madam Lu smiled and said, “Congratulations Empress. Congratulate Empress on a happy event. Niangniang seems to be six or seven months pregnant now, right?”

Tang Shishi sighed helplessly, held her belly with beaming smiles in her eyes, “Six months. Getting pregnant in summer really makes me suffer everywhere.”

Madam Lu replied with a smile, “This is the blessing of Niangniang. I see that Niangniang looks radiant with a bright complexion, not as thin as last time. I guess that this is a daughter who loves her mother dearly.”

Tang Shishi also hoped to be a daughter. She truly had enough of Zhao Zigao who could not stop all day. She should give birth to a clever and adorable princess.

As for Zhao Chengjun… Oh, Tang Shishi did not care about his opinion.

When Tang Shishi heard Madam Lu say that this was a daughter, the smile in her eyes was about to overflow and said, “It will be good if only this is a girl. A girl will love people dearly, and a son will be muddleheaded when he grows up.”

Madam Lu agreed with a smile. She sighed when she saw Tang Shishi’s abdomen. Lu Yufei could not even give birth even if she wanted to, whereas Tang Shishi was even better, she said she wanted a daughter.

People were really incomparable.

Seeing Tang Shishi’s bulging abdomen, Lu Yufei could not help but lowered her head and touch her lower abdomen. Seeing that Lu Yufei’s emotion was not right, Madam Lu hurriedly led her to speak, “I haven’t seen you for more than half a year. Is everything going well with Empress and His Majesty? Shizifei has been talking on the road for a long time that she always wanted to greet Niangniang, but her body is not doing well and fell sick halfway.”

Although Zhao Chengjun sent someone to pick up Lu Yufei, for the sake of safety, he still asked Lu Yufei to follow the Lu family on the journey. Originally, Lu Yufei was the backbone of the group, but since she had a miscarriage and suffered a great loss in health, she fell ill in the middle of the journey. After that, she was unable to do anything quickly time and time again. Therefore, Madam Lu was the one who has been doing all the talking, and even Madam Lu has to come forward to handle things when they were at the palace gate earlier.

Tang Shishi looked at Lu Yufei and saw that Lu Yufei was thinner than the last time she saw her, and her blood color was not enough. She said, “Everything is fine for His Majesty and me. Shizifei’s health is more important. Don’t have to worry. How is Shizifei’s body recuperating these days?”

“Thanks to the great blessing of Empress, my body is much better.” Although Lu Yufei said so, there was almost no blood on her lips. She paused and asked, “My health is not good enough to serve Shizi. I wonder how Shizi is these days?”

“Everything is fine with Shizi. Cefei Zhou and beauty Ren are very attentive and make proper arrangements for Shizi’s daily life.” As Tang Shishi said, she suddenly remembered something in general, “By the way, Cefei Zhou accidentally slipped and miscarried the child some time ago. Later, Shizifei remembers to avoid taboos when you see Cefei Zhou. She doesn’t like to hear others mention about children.”

Lu Yufei said “Oh”, not knowing whether she was happy or sad. Zhou Shunhua was pregnant with a child and lost it. However, Lu Yufei did not feel happy at all.

Seeing Lu Yufei’s complexion was not good, Tang Shishi no longer kept her and let the palace maid lead her to Zhao Zixun’s palace to have a rest.

Lu Yufei asked to be excused, but Madam Lu did not leave with her and deliberately stayed behind. After waiting for the people to leave, Madam Lu lowered her voice to talk to Tang Shishi, “Empress, you asked me to pay attention to the Xu family before. I didn’t dare to neglect it. I always sent someone to keep an eye on them. Last year, they didn’t make any movement and stayed honestly. But this spring, Chen Tai resumed his old habit and lingered in the gambling house all day. When I came to the capital with Shizifei this time, I didn’t know how they get the news, they wanted to move too. When I left that time, they were selling their house and heard that they used it all to buy real estate to exchange as traveling expenses to Jinling.”

Tang Shishi’s eyebrows moved slightly. What else? Naturally, he got the news that Zhao Chengjun has become the Emperor. Since Zhao Chengjun became Emperor, then Zhao Zixun became the prince. With such a promising future, what were they doing in the Northwest when they could follow to the capital to enjoy happiness?

Tang Shishi did not say anything. She pondered for a moment and said, “I got it. Thank you for your trouble, Madam Lu.”

Madam Lu hurriedly said that she did not dare, “You are too polite, Niangniang. This is what I should do.”

After Madam Lu finished talking about the Xu family and the Chen family, she quickly retired seeing that Tang Shishi’s interest was poor. When she left the palace, Madam Lu followed behind the palace people and was simply overjoyed to look at the gorgeous, carved beams and painted buildings of the Imperial Palace.

Before that, they did not even dare to think that one day they would be able to get married to the prince! At first, the Lu family just wanted to curry favor with Jing Wang. After all, it was good to enjoy the cool by relying on a big tree. Unexpectedly, Jing Wang’s tree has grown into a sky-reaching power!

Madam Lu returned home happily. At the moment, the Lu family was also full of joy. After the night was quiet, Madam Lu and Master of the Lu family talked about the affairs of the palace, “I didn’t see His Majesty and Shizi, but I saw the Empress. Empress is pregnant again. She has been pregnant for six months and her stomach is bulging. She is pregnant with her second child and yet her figure and expression are still like a young lady. It can be seen that she is very favored.”

Master Lu was speechless when he heard this, “She is pregnant again? Jing Wang, that’s not right, His Majesty is really energetic.”

The couple sighed for a while, both regretted why Lu Yufei was not the one who was pregnant. Master Lu said, “Never mind, contentment is happiness. It’s already amazing that the eldest girl can have today’s fortune. At first, I just wanted her to be the eldest sister-in-law and the mistress. Later, when I learned that Jing Wang was interested in choosing a Shizifei, I have the thought of sending her to the prince’s mansion. At first, I thought if it didn’t work out, becoming a Cefei will do too. Who would have thought that she finally flew into the Emperor’s family? Fortunately, I had the foresight at the beginning and resolutely pushed away other marriages but instead betrothed her to Shizi of the Jing Wang mansion.”

“Yes ah.” Madam Lu sighed, “Fortunately that she followed Jing Wang at that time. Otherwise, she’s going to regret it now. This child is always eager to be first since she was a child. I was worried about how she can betroth with others in the future when she looks like a boy. Unexpectedly, she has the life of being a Taizifei!”

Master Lu was thinking about it. When he heard Madam Lu’s last words, his heart suddenly thumped.

Master Lu blurted out, “Not right.”

Madam Lu did not understand the reason, so she asked, “What’s wrong?”

Master Lu’s face turned pale and could not speak for a long time. He was so happy that he just noticed that Zhao Zixun had not been established as Taizi yet.

When Master Lu thought about this, he suddenly sweated and his back felt cold.

What exactly did Jing Wang, or His Majesty, mean?