Unparalleled Beauty

Chapter C110 pt2

"What was he thinking then? Was it just to bring his daughter back home?"

Mei Wushuang was very puzzled. If Fang Xu didn't care about power and status, that was impossible. If he were truly a noble person, he wouldn't have married his daughter to Prince Qin in the first place. So why did he do it?

"There's a saying: 'Scholars who rebel will never succeed in ten years.' It refers to how scholars only know how to theorize on paper, and are indecisive, considering everything and lacking decisiveness. These scholars have a lot of problems, but they aren't completely useless either, for example, their loyalty to the Emperor," Prince Wei said."

In Lord Fang Xu's mind, vying for the throne was a matter of course. If Prince Jin hadn't interfered, Prince Qin was the rightful eldest son, and the position of heir apparent should naturally have been his. That's why he and his people had fought against Prince Jin's faction and Prince Zhao's faction for many years.

Competing for the throne and seizing power were within the rules, and did not violate his Confucian principle of loyalty to the Emperor, but rebellion and forcing the palace clearly exceeded the rules.

Fang Xu was a scholar, so he naturally understood the consequences of acting perversely and defying the world's expectations. What is a traitorous subject? That is a traitorous subject, and everyone has the right to punish him!

The key point is that everyone has the right to punish him!

That is to say, anyone can spit in your face, anyone can kill you.

He had advised Prince Qin to be patient.

Why hasn't Prince Zhao returned yet? Why is Prince Han shut up behind closed doors? Maybe they are waiting for someone to lose patience and take action, so they can reap the benefits.

Even if you succeed in forcing the palace, what's the use? Even if you control the capital, as long as others have a legitimate reason, they can naturally raise the banner of 'punishing traitorous subjects and pacifying the national crisis,' and summon troops to the capital to attack you.

At that time, not only will the people suffer, but you will also be infamous for ten thousand years.

Fang Xu didn't want to be a traitorous subject, and even more so, he didn't want to be infamous in history. It's just a pity that Prince Qin didn't listen to him at all, and instead thought he was too cautious, so he directly defected.

Saying it was for his daughter was just the usual modesty of scholars, unwilling to flaunt their loyalty to the Emperor and love for the country.

Clearly, Emperor Taihe understood this bit of modesty, and so did the other court officials. Therefore, Fang Xu was not only not implicated this time, but his reputation soared. Even the common people were spreading stories of Minister Fang's righteous act of destroying his own family.

Consort Qin was naturally allowed to divorce and return home. The Fang family was the only one among Prince Qin's faction that was able to escape unscathed.

The most miserable were Noble Consort Sun and the Sun family. Noble Consort Sun was directly demoted to a commoner, imprisoned in the Cold Palace. All adult males of the Sun family were beheaded, while the underage males and female relatives were exiled.

Among them, one person managed to escape and return to her family, and that was Mei Wuxia.

The subordinates handling the case were not fools. Upon checking the roster, they discovered that the Princess Consort of Marquis Wuxiang was actually His Highness the Crown Prince's sister-in-law. Naturally, they dared not dispose of her casually and hurriedly sent a message to the Crown Prince's Palace.

In truth, Mei Wuxia had been helping Prince Wei for over a year. Wary of the antidote being controlled by others, and with Prince Wei sending people to contact her in secret, she had provided Prince Wei with no shortage of information.

Moreover, even though she prided herself on her superior intellect, she was trapped in the Sun family, a boorish and unreasonable household.

Especially the Madam of Marquis Wuxiang; this person perfectly exemplified how all schemes and intrigues were no match for unreasonable behavior and shamelessness. Furthermore, with her status as a mother-in-law naturally suppressing her, Mei Wuxia was bullied terribly. Naturally, she deeply resented the Sun family and wished for nothing more than their downfall.

Therefore, Prince Wei did not make things difficult for her and had his men release her to return home.

As for Prince Qin and Marquis Wuding...

The Fan family's fate was the same as the Sun family's. In reality, the Fan family was also foolish. If only they could have been more patient. It was true that they had offended Emperor Taihe, but even an emperor needed a reason to deal with meritorious officials. Emperor Taihe could not make their internal strife public. As long as the Fan family could remain low-key, honestly and without causing trouble, Emperor Taihe would have had no way to deal with them in the short term. Yet, they jumped up and down restlessly and immediately hit it off with Prince Qin.

The Fan family and Prince Qin hitting it off was naturally not for the sake of Prince Jin. From the moment Prince Jin's crime of mixing up the imperial bloodline was established, he was destined to have no chance of recovery. The Fan family was merely trying to protect itself.

It was just a pity that the price paid was a bit too high, ultimately ending up in such a state.

As for Prince Qin, Ji Yang did not kill him that day, nor did Emperor Taihe. Instead, like Prince Jin, he was placed under house arrest. However, it was said that Prince Qin suffered some serious injuries. He did not die, but he would need at least a year or two to recover.

This act of rebellion made the situation in the imperial court become strange and unpredictable.

Prime Minister Wu and Minister Li Zhan of the Ministry of Rites were rarely seen being so low-key. On the contrary, Fang Xu, the man who sold out his son-in-law, was particularly high-profile, surrounded by several ministers wherever he went.

The Commissioner of the Three Divisions, Liu Maoquan, chatted with his subordinates, sighing that the old ministers were indeed old ministers, each one of them cunning. Why else could they stand tall in the court for so many years without falling? This was the reason!

Some people also said in private that Lord Fang had been a bit too high-profile recently, but Liu Maoquan only smiled and remained silent.

Looking at Fang Xu's high profile and then at Wu Weizhong and Li Zhan's low profile, one could understand what was going on. He was high-profile on imperial orders; others could not compare.

***

The time flew by, and it was again the third month of spring. Emperor Taihe brought up the matter of abdication again.

This time, the court ministers still opposed it, but their opposition did not seem as resolute as before. After going back and forth three times, Emperor Taihe finally decided on the matter of abdication and announced to the world that he would pass the throne to the Crown Prince.

In the following month, ministers from the court and various regions submitted memorials to His Majesty, expressing their reluctance to part with him. At the same time, the Ministry of Rites and other departments began to prepare for the new emperor's enthronement ceremony and how to accommodate the Emperor Emeritus after the abdication.

Both of these matters were significant, especially since Great Liang governed the realm with filial piety. In secret, many officials speculated whether His Majesty, after abdicating, would continue to reside in Penglai Hall or move elsewhere.

On the surface, it was merely a residence, not worth excessive consideration, but in reality, it carried a multitude of implications.

Throughout history, emperors who abdicated were exceedingly rare. The vast majority clung to power until their dying breath. Upon abdication, would he relinquish only the throne, or also the authority of the emperor?

These nuances could be discerned from minor details, such as whether or not he moved palaces.

Emperor Taihe quickly delivered his decision: after abdicating, he would relocate to the West Garden, and the imperial concubines would accompany him, thus avoiding crowding the new Emperor.

These were Emperor Taihe's exact words.

Originally, the Empress Dowager was not required to move, but after some thought, she said that since the imperial concubines were all going to the West Garden, she would feel lonely residing alone in Cining Palace. Therefore, she might as well accompany Emperor Taihe to the West Garden for a few days.

Though she said "a few days," everyone understood the true intention. This was to preserve the new Emperor's reputation and prevent slanderous remarks such as, "What? As soon as you ascended the throne, your own father and grandmother moved away. Are you being unfilial?"

First was the enthronement ceremony, then the empress appointment ceremony.

Although the imperial decree for the empress appointment had been issued long ago, the ceremony could only be held after the enthronement ceremony. The enthronement ceremony alone took more than a month to prepare. During this time, the new Emperor moved to Zichen Hall, while Wushuang still resided in the original Prince's mansion.

This was originally agreed upon by her and Prince Wei. After all, they were still somewhat uneasy about the current state of the palace. Without a thorough purge, no one knew how many hidden spies remained. Prince Wei did not want to put Wushuang and their child at risk.

However, the imperial court's formalities were far too tedious. The enthronement ceremony alone took more than a month, followed by preparations for the empress appointment ceremony. After that, the Emperor Emeritus, the Grand Empress Dowager, and the Consort Dowagers had to be moved to their new palaces. How long would all of that take?

In short, Ji Yang protested vehemently, and Prince Wei also felt that after finishing court affairs and various trivial matters, returning to a cold and empty bedchamber was unbearable.

Initially, Ji Yang falsely conveyed his imperial decree, secretly ordering people to bring Wushuang to Zichen Hall at night.

After a few such instances, he simply moved her in. Not only did Wushuang come, but Zuo'er also arrived, along with a large group of maids and chamberlains.

In truth, as long as Wushuang resided in Zichen Hall, sharing meals and living with the new Emperor, there was no need to fear any unforeseen events. Thus, Mei Wushuang began her days of living in Zichen Hall.

***

To be precise, Zichen Hall was not small.

However, because Zichen Hall was the place where the inner court held its discussions, even when the Emperor Emeritus resided there, it was only occasionally. His true bedchamber was Penglai Hall.

If only the new Emperor lived here, it would be fine, but Wushuang had also come, bringing a nursing child. It was imperative to specifically clear out space in the hall for their use.

Therefore, they could only move to the rear hall. Thus, Wushuang's main area of activity was in the rear hall, while Prince Wei handled court affairs and discussed matters with officials in the front hall.

The distance between the two sides wasn't far, and Wushuang usually instructed the palace servants to keep their voices down, so as not to disturb His Majesty's handling of state affairs. But a nursing baby wouldn't understand such things!

Now, Zuo'er was already nine months old, not only full of energy but also remarkably strong. He demanded someone play with him; it was impossible not to. If he had something in his hand, it was impossible to take it away. And if his mother was sleeping and ignored him, that was also impossible.

He also didn't like wet nurses, only his mother. The moment he opened his eyes, he would look for her. If he couldn't see her, that was also unacceptable.

Whenever Zuo'er found something unacceptable, he would throw a tantrum. Even coaxing him would only work for a short while. If he still didn't get his way, he would wail, and wail loudly.

Earlier, it was mentioned that he was remarkably strong, and this was evident in that. Not only were his arms and legs strong, but his wails were also full of vigor.

Even though Wushuang, fearing he would cry at inappropriate times, had already treated him like a little ancestor, indulging his every whim, she still couldn't prevent him from occasionally throwing a temper tantrum.

Thus, occasionally, when Prince Wei and his ministers were discussing matters, they would hear a few sporadic cries of an infant. Although they were immediately silenced, it was still quite awkward, wasn't it?

The ministers were the ones who felt most awkward, with a sense of, "His Majesty's domestic affairs have actually been discovered by us old officials; what should I do, I'm so panicked?"

Prince Wei, on the other hand, was extremely calm, turning a deaf ear to it all, which made people sigh at how the new Emperor possessed the air of the Emperor Emeritus. In short, this demeanor of remaining unchanged even when Mount Tai collapsed before him clearly showed that they were father and son.

On this day, after finishing the discussion and dismissing the ministers, Prince Wei, dressed in a light yellow kesi robe embroidered with eight round dragons, rubbed his brow and went to the rear hall.

In the rear hall, Wushuang was spanking the child.

It was the fifth month and the weather was hot. Zuo'er, wearing a thin little jacket and trousers, crawled on his mother's chest. Wushuang was patting his little bottom clad in open-crotch pants.

Saying "patting" was really just a reluctance to actually hit him; it was more like pinching and kneading.

While pinching his plump little bottom, she scolded the toothless little child, "Bossy ghost, Mother told you not to eat, but you still want to cry. Be careful, Father will come back and beat you!"

The nursing baby, who only had two small front teeth and was drooling, laughed heartily, thinking his mother was playing with him. He couldn't speak yet, and made "ooh ooh" sounds, wanting to crawl over and nibble on his mother's nose.

Wushuang disdainfully used her fingertip to push against his forehead, not letting him get close.

"You want to cover Mother's face with drool again? Don't even think about it!"

If he couldn't nibble on her face, then he would nibble on something else. The nursing baby, able to yield and stretch, went straight down, burying his chubby face into his mother's chest. Smelling the familiar scent, the baby arched upwards, like a little piglet rooting for white truffles.

After arching a few times without getting anything, he looked up again and saw his mother looking at him with a smile. He got angry, slapped the breasts that wouldn't feed him with his little palm, made an "ooh" sound, and went back to rooting.

Prince Wei entered and saw this scene.

Seeing him arrive, Wushuang couldn't bother teasing her son any longer. She quickly sat up, moving the child away a bit, lest he become sullen.

"Where is the wet nurse?"

Linglong appeared silently, swiftly taking the little prince from Wushuang's arms and carrying him away to find the wet nurse.

Prince Wei came to the bedside and sat down, glancing at her.

At this moment, Wushuang bore little resemblance to an Empress. Being in the inner palace, she wore only a thin pink shirt and a white silk skirt.

Half of her hair was disheveled. The summer shirt was already thin, and the little one had been kneading and rubbing against it. Not only was the shirt wrinkled, but the bib was also exposed. The front of the shirt was soaked with saliva, appearing semi-transparent.

However, her complexion was exceptionally good, fair with a rosy glow, looking delicate enough to drip water. The woman was at the prime of her youth, sixteen years old, yet having already borne a child, her figure was exquisitely shapely, her waist so slender it could be spanned by a hand, making her appear even more… uh, the area dampened by the baby's saliva was quite conspicuous.

"You were secretly feeding him again."

Secretly tugging at her clothes, Wushuang felt extremely guilty, whispering, "No, I wasn't. He's so big now; one wet nurse isn't enough for him. Why would I feed him? Besides, he has teeth and bites painfully."

"You know he has teeth and bites painfully. How many times has he bitten you that you still don't learn?" He glanced at her askance.

Seeing him like this, she quickly leaned in to appease him, "I really didn't feed him. If I had, would he be crying? I asked Physician Chu, and she said that children of this age can already eat. I had the wet nurse prepare meat porridge and well-cooked noodles for him. He can eat a bowlful at a time and doesn't drink much milk anymore."

What could Prince Wei say? He pulled her into his arms, feeling quite helpless.

He pondered for a moment, then said, "In three days is the Empress Inauguration Ceremony. Although the imperial edict to establish you as Empress has already been issued, the Inauguration Ceremony has not yet been performed, so you can still hide in the Zichen Hall. Once the Inauguration Ceremony is completed, you must take on the responsibilities of the Empress."

"After that, the Emperor Emeritus will move to another palace, and there are also the Consort Dowagers and Concubines. Even if you dislike them, you must maintain appearances. I have just ascended the throne, and to avoid being criticized for disrespecting elders, we must not be negligent, and there is also the matter of the Grand Empress Dowager moving palaces."

Pausing here, he continued, "Father's palace relocation and the Grand Empress Dowager's palace relocation are actually for us to cleanse the palace. I have people selecting a new batch of palace maids below. Once they are all proficient, the old ones will be released. All of this requires your attention. The cleaner the palace, the safer you and Zuo'er will be. Do not repeat the events of your previous life, do you understand?"

"I understand. I will definitely do it well," Wushuang said, patting her chest.

Fearing she would put too much pressure on herself, he comforted her, "You can continue to use Fusheng, and also Granny Gong. She is in the Palace Bureau and will keep a close watch for you. If you have trustworthy people by your side, you can also release them to do tasks. I remember you saying that there was a clever girl named Xiaohong? The palace is different from the outside. You are the Empress and don't have to do everything yourself. Instead, you must learn to arrange for your people to do it."

"Also, there are Fengxi and Zhao Quan. Father intends to take Fengxi to the West Garden. Zhao Quan is a clever man and can be used. However, you don't need to manage the Directorate of Palace Attendants; Fulai and Fusheng will handle it themselves."