Ningshou Palace.
The youngest building complex in the palace has only been in use for less than ten years, but its owner is the most powerful elder in the palace.
It was almost three o'clock in the morning.
The main hall of Ningshou Palace was still brightly lit. More than a dozen eunuchs were stationed inside and outside the palace gate, all of them watching their surroundings, like clay sculptures or wooden statues, not daring to make any sound.
The only exception was Xia Shouzhong, the eunuch in charge of all six palaces.
He stood in the hall at the place closest to the imperial desk, sometimes looking at the retired emperor sitting on the dragon throne, and sometimes looking outside the hall. Although his feet were as motionless as the roots of an old tree, his heart was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
More than ten years !
It has been more than ten years since Xia Shouzhong saw the retired emperor sitting on the dragon throne with his eyes closed and pondering.
However, before he abdicated, whenever the emperor encountered a major issue that was difficult to decide, he would ponder quietly like this, for a moment or a half, or at most an hour or two.
But today, the emperor has been sitting there for half a day!
She is almost 80 years old. Even if she takes good care of herself, how can she withstand such torture? !
Xia Shouzhong wanted to give some advice, but he did not dare to go beyond his duty. Just as he was feeling anxious, he saw a dragon of light approaching from afar outside the palace gate.
Xia Shouzhong was overjoyed. It was late at night and it was quiet. Even if Emperor Guangde came, he would have sent someone to inform him first. Now, the only one who came straight in without informing him could be Empress Dowager Niu.
As expected.
After a while, an old woman came into the hall slowly, leaning on a cane.
“Ouch~!”
Xia Shouzhong cried out in shock, and walked quickly forward, cursing angrily, "How come these blind dogs don't know how to serve the Empress Dowager?!"
The old woman was naturally Empress Dowager Niu. She shook her head at Xia Shouzhong, indicating that he didn't need to come forward to support her, and then she stepped onto the imperial steps on her own.
Although the imperial stairs only had three floors, it still made her breathing seem heavy. After a short rest, she finally came to the imperial desk.
However, she did not disturb the retired emperor who was meditating with his eyes closed. Instead, she gently leaned her cane on the imperial desk, poured the remaining tea that had long since gone cold on the ground, picked up the purple clay teapot, and tremblingly filled a cup with it.
Click~
When the purple clay teapot was put back on the tray, it accidentally knocked against it, which eventually alarmed the retired emperor. He slowly raised his eyelids and stared fixedly at the steaming teacup. After a long while, he finally stretched out his dry hand.
Just drink tea!
Seeing this, Xia Shouzhong breathed a sigh of relief and secretly praised the Empress Dowager for her great reputation.
Unexpectedly, the retired emperor's movements suddenly accelerated. He raised his sleeves and swept the teacup and the tray underneath to the ground!
Dang~
As the teacup smashed to pieces on the ground, the knees of all the waiters inside and outside the Ningshou Palace seemed to be hit by an arrow at the same time, and they all became half a head shorter!
Only Xia Shouzhong rushed up the steps and said with concern: "Your Majesty, are you okay..."
"roll!"
However, before his voice of concern could completely escape his throat, it was blocked by a hoarse roar.
Xia Shouzhong paused and looked at Empress Dowager Niu hesitantly.
Queen Mother Niu was calm and just tilted her chin outwards and said calmly, "All of you go down."
Only then did Xia Shouzhong lead the eunuchs and retreat from the main hall of Ningshou Palace like a tide.
When only the couple were left in the palace, Empress Dowager Niu held the imperial table and walked around to the side of the retired emperor. She sat down on the dragon throne next to him and advised in a calm tone: "If your majesty is unhappy, just vent it out. Why take it out on yourself?"
"hehe……"
A hint of mockery appeared on the wrinkled face of the retired emperor, and he murmured, "'White hair is as fresh as new, and love is as old as before'. I never thought that I would understand the true meaning of this saying until I am nearly 80 years old."
As he spoke, he patted the armrest of the dragon throne with his dry palm and sneered, "You are seventy-six this year, right? Although you are nine years later than Wu Zhao, you still have time to compete!"
Wu Zetian ascended the throne at the age of 67, and the words of the retired emperor were clearly accusing Empress Dowager Niu of wanting to follow Wu Zetian's example and usurp the throne to become emperor herself.
Faced with such accusations, Queen Mother Niu only frowned slightly, sighed and said, "So your Majesty is suspecting that the assassination of the crown prince is related to me."
"Although I am old, I am not blind, deaf, or confused!"
The tone of the retired emperor suddenly rose several degrees, and he gritted his few teeth a few times, and said angrily: "If the crown prince is really replaced this time, your precious nephew will no longer have to test the third brother's feelings in fear and trepidation all day long!"
"Your Niu family can maintain prosperity and prosperity for the country!"
"What a good plan! It's really a good plan!"
"But has your precious nephew never thought about this? The prince is also my grandson, my closest relative by blood! If you kill his offspring, you will also cut off one of my bloodlines - why should I protect your entire Niu family?!"
As he spoke, he clenched his fists, his hair and beard stood up, and he glared ferociously at Queen Mother Niu beside him!
Queen Mother Niu still looked at him calmly, without the slightest fear or retreat: "If Your Majesty can prove that the case of the Crown Prince was indeed committed by my Niu family, you may as well execute the entire Niu family, and I will not complain at all."
"If there is no evidence and you still believe that it was done by my Niu family, please kill the entire Niu family along with me, and I will not complain at all."
"you!"
After hearing these words, the retired emperor became even more angry. He glared at Empress Dowager Niu's wrinkled old face and raised his hand several times to hit her, but in the end he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Sixty-one years, more than sixty years of companionship!
From a young girl in her twenties to a woman in her seventies; from guarding the frontier to going to the south of the Yangtze River for the ninth time; from a powerless princess to the Empress Dowager who ruled the country...
How many times have they shared honor and disgrace, life and death?
I’m afraid it’s just like the wrinkles on this old face, too numerous to count!
And how can these ties be severed so easily?
Moreover, it has been eleven years since the abdication, and the emperor no longer has the decisiveness he once had.
“Ah~!”
With a long sigh, the Emperor collapsed onto the cushion behind him and said quietly, "The Third Brother has always been a resourceful man, otherwise I would not have passed the throne to him. Now that someone has cut off his offspring, how can he let it go?"
Queen Mother Niu smiled slightly, leaned on the shoulder of the Emperor, and said calmly: "Didn't I tell you that if it can be proven that my Niu family did it, even if he wants to kill everyone in the Niu family, I will never stop him."
The retired emperor sighed quietly again, and then he and the Empress Dowager Niu sat silently, leaning against each other on the dragon throne, and gradually they felt some weariness.
I was wandering between sleep and wakefulness when I suddenly heard footsteps outside.
At a time like this, who would dare to come in and disturb us?
The emperor sat up straight with some anger, but saw Xia Shouzhong come forward with a strange look on his face and report: "Your Majesty, the Qianqing Palace sent someone to pass on the message that His Majesty is coming to tell you the good news."
Good news?
The retired emperor frowned unconsciously. What good news could he report at this critical moment?
Subconsciously, he turned around and looked at Queen Mother Niu, only to see that she was also looking surprised.
The emperor hesitated for a moment, then said, "I haven't slept yet, so just let the emperor come over."
Xia Shouzhong took the order and bowed and left.
The retired emperor was suspicious and wanted to discuss it with Empress Dowager Niu, but when he thought of the Niu family's suspicion, he still had some doubts, so he just pondered in silence.
"Father, Father!"
About a quarter of an hour later, several passionate shouts suddenly rang out from outside the palace, and then Emperor Guangde staggered in, took a few steps forward, and fell to the ground with a plop, crying out in tears: "God bless my Great Zhou, God bless my royal family! That unfilial son actually...actually gave birth to a child!"
"What?!"
After hearing this, the Emperor was stunned for a long while, then he showed a helpless bitter smile, but soon turned into a look of surprise, and said anxiously: "Is this true?! Quick, tell me what is going on!"
Then he raised his voice and ordered, "What are you standing there for? Bring the emperor a chair!"
Two young eunuchs hurriedly carried a chair and placed it to the left of the imperial desk.
Emperor Guangde thanked him and wiped the tears from his eyes with a handkerchief. This time he sat on the chair happily and told him the whole story of how Liu Luanwei, the chancellor of the Zhanshi Palace, accidentally discovered that the prisoner Li was suspected to be pregnant, and then the five imperial doctors including Wang Kun consulted together.
The Emperor could only sigh and shake his head, saying, "Who would have thought that the woman would ruin the prince's offspring and become pregnant with him? It's really a case of both success and failure."
"It seems that although the heavens are angry about the prince's misconduct, they still leave room for our Great Zhou. From this point of view, this baby must be a grandson of the emperor!"
As he spoke, his face darkened again, and he said solemnly: "In fact, it is not just the prince who has failed. I have heard that there are many unfilial people among the descendants of the clan. Some of them bully men and women, some of them favor concubines and kill their wives, and some of them keep prostitutes and set up extra residences!"
"I heard that some of them have affairs with women outside, and they dare not include their illegitimate children in the list of royal family members. It's really annoying and hateful!"
"The emperor should take good care of these unfilial acts!"
After hearing this, Emperor Guangde's eyes flickered slightly, but on the surface he stood up and agreed solemnly, saying that he would have people secretly investigate the words and deeds of the royal family members, and severely punish those who were unworthy.
"I have not been able to rest for a day and a night since I heard that the crown prince was assassinated. I am sure the emperor is the same." The emperor said, "Now that such good news has been announced, you should also go to bed early, so as not to overwork and hurt your body."
But at this point, he suddenly seemed to remember something and asked again, "By the way, have you found out who was behind the assassination of the crown prince?"
Emperor Guangde said hesitantly, "Now there is a lot of evidence that points to my second brother..."
"It can't be him!"
The Emperor said without hesitation: "This will do him no good at all - if his cronies really had such ability, they would have rescued him long ago!"
When Emperor Guangde saw this scene, he knew that it would be impossible to kill Prince Yi Zhong.
So he nodded and said, "I think so too. I have already ordered Xu Furen to continue to track down the culprit behind the scenes."
"Well, this matter must be thoroughly investigated and the entire family of the traitor must be executed!"
The father and son talked for a few more words before Emperor Guangde stood up and left.
After watching Emperor Guangde leave, Empress Dowager Niu, who had been silent all the time, suddenly said quietly, "Even if he is born from a relative, he is not your blood descendant after all."
"Then what do you want me to do?!"
The Emperor stood up suddenly, stared down at Empress Dowager Niu, and asked viciously: "Expose this lame lie, force him into a corner, and then go to war with your own son! Perform a drama more exciting than the Xuanwu Gate Incident, so as to leave a bad name in the history books and become a laughing stock for those pedantic scholars?!"
After saying all this in one breath, the retired emperor's chest rose and fell rapidly. He reached out to hold the imperial desk, so as not to collapse on the dragon throne.
Empress Dowager Niu remained silent for a long while, then she slowly put her palms together, lowered her eyebrows and chanted the Buddha's name: "Amitabha, may God bless the emperor to find the real culprit as soon as possible, and don't let my Niu family suffer an unjust accusation."
Let me explain this on two sides.
However, as soon as Emperor Guangde arrived outside the wall of the Qianqing Palace, he ran into Prince Zhongshun head-on.
"Go, go, go down!"
Prince Zhongshun drove away all the eunuchs accompanying him like chasing away flies, and walked side by side with Emperor Guangde with a lantern in hand. He lowered his voice and asked, "Did the old man find any flaws?"
"flaw?"
Emperor Guangde sneered with a sullen face: "Father has seen everything in his life. How could such a trick be hidden from him?"
"Then he..."
"From what he said, he should have acquiesced."
Emperor Guangde sneered and said, "But he secretly drew a line for me. The seed of this substitution must be found among the royal family members."
Seeing two eunuchs standing in front of him with their hands down, Prince Zhongshun stopped talking for a while. It was not until he entered the bedroom that he nodded and said, "We should have looked for someone from the royal family. This time, the old man is quite reasonable."
"Reasonable?"
Emperor Guangde sneered, "It's just that he felt he was in the wrong, and he didn't want to punish that old woman, and he didn't want to be branded as a father and son killing each other, so he compromised for the time being!"
As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and punched the beam, saying hatefully: "One day, I will exterminate all nine generations of the Niu family!"
King Zhongshun followed his meaning and cursed the Niu family a few times, but then changed the subject and praised: "I didn't expect that the second son of the Sun family has such courage and insight at such a young age. If he hadn't done this in time, once this matter spread in a few days, we would have been in a much more passive position."
As he spoke, he hesitated and said, "But this kid is so bold and famous in the capital at such a young age. If he really establishes a foothold in the court in the future, it may not be a blessing for the court."
Emperor Guangde shook his head and said, "Since ancient times, we have heard that a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger. When you settle down and buy property and your children and grandchildren grow up, the edges and corners will be almost worn down. Besides, children and grandchildren will have their own children and grandchildren..."
He originally wanted to say, "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings," but when he thought of the prince's current situation, he couldn't help but feel sad.
At this time, Prince Zhongshun suddenly took out a booklet from his sleeve and presented it with both hands respectfully: "Your Majesty, please take a look at this!"
Emperor Guangde took the booklet with some doubt and flipped through it casually, but he saw that all it recorded were examples of people over 50 years old who had children, and there were even two special cases of people in their 70s.
"Your Majesty has also been working hard since childhood, how can you not be better than these common people?" Prince Zhongshun said at the right time: "It's just that your Majesty and the Empress's wife have a deep love for each other, and they rarely favor other concubines. If you find a few good fertile ones and cultivate them carefully, you may be able to give birth to another prince!"
Although Emperor Guangde did not respond, he repeatedly stroked the booklet, and it was obvious that he was interested.