Chapter 4 When Will We Cut the Candle in the West Window Together? 4. Abolition and Enthronement
In mid-October of the 17th year of Jianwu, Emperor Jianwu proposed to summon the three ministers to discuss the matter of deposing the empress, which shocked the whole court.
If it were in the past, I might have been looking forward to and feeling happy about this major event. However, now, my heart is filled with nothing but numb pain and hatred.
On October 18, Liu Xiu formally proposed the decision to depose the empress for the last and only time during the morning court meeting. After that, except for a few people who expressed slight complaints, saying that deposing the empress would damage the emperor's virtue and pleaded with the emperor to think twice, no official with the rank of 2,000 stones or above stood up to express his opposition.
I had already arranged spies for the court meeting that day, and before the court officials dispersed, I had already found out the content of the meeting clearly.
I had originally wanted to wait for Liu Xiu to leave the court in Guangde Hall, but I didn’t expect that I was not the only one who had this idea today. As soon as I arrived at Yuntai and hadn’t found a couch to sit on, I heard the eunuch outside the door shouting, “The Queen has arrived—”
When I left the West Palace, I left Shannan in the palace. In name, I was taking care of Liu Yang, Prince Yi and the others, but in fact, I didn't want the tragedy to happen again. Zhuang Guang was right. The most important thing now is to beware of the desperate dog - I have learned from the past, and I have been bitten hard and bleeding.
The palace maid of Guangde Hall was about to respond, but I waved my hand and quietly hid behind a screen. Next to the screen was a pile of bamboo slips stacked like a tall tower, and through the gaps I could clearly see everything going on in the front hall.
Guo Shengtong was wearing a silk dress, without any jewelry, and her face looked a little sallow without any powder. Although her face was haggard, her eyes were extremely sharp. As soon as she entered the palace, she immediately drove all the palace servants out, and then found a wooden couch and sat down alone.
The place where she sat was the one I sat most often, because my knees couldn't stand the cold, so every winter, Liu Xiu would order the palace servants to spread thick felt mats on the couch early.
The moment Guo Shengtong sat on the couch, she looked a little dazed, her fingers unconsciously fiddling with the felt pad. I watched her every move from behind the pile of books with a cold eye, and had no intention of going out to meet her.
After a while, Liu Xiu really came to Guangde Hall. Perhaps he had been informed in advance that Guo Shengtong was in the hall. When Liu Xiu entered the hall, his expression was not very clear. His thick eyebrows were furrowed. Anyone could see that he was trying his best to restrain and suppress some emotions. In my eyes, Liu Xiu at this moment was sending a very dangerous signal. After living together for so many years, I believe Guo Shengtong should have realized that the person standing in front of him was the Emperor Jianwu who was a big shot in the court, not the usually pleasant and good gentleman Liu Xiu.
Guo Shengtong stood up from the couch and straightened her clothes. Before she could kneel down and pay her respects, Liu Xiu spoke coldly, "Why is the Queen here instead of resting in the Pepper Room?"
Guo Shengtong showed no fear, and without any pause in his movements, he bowed as usual and then stood up.
Liu Xiu did not return the greeting. The two stood face to face in a stalemate. The palace suddenly became quiet, so quiet that only the sound of their breathing could be heard, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. Guo Shengtong slightly raised her head and looked at Liu Xiu calmly. After a long while, she suddenly smiled at him: "Your Majesty seems to be very anxious to drive me out of the Pepper Palace. In this case, why does it matter whether I stop or not? I have lived in Changqiu Palace for sixteen years. I thought I would stay there forever, just like this, silently guarding Your Majesty until I die in the palace. It seems that this is ultimately my wishful thinking. Your Majesty may not be willing to guard me in his heart..." Although she kept a faint smile on her face, tears silently slid down her eyes, and her tears froze her cheeks. Her smile finally broke in the tears .
She lowered her head and sobbed. Liu Xiu turned his head away, walked around her, and waved his sleeves: "Go back, I have nothing to say to you!"
Guo Shengtong suddenly hugged his waist from behind and burst into tears: "What did I do wrong? You are so cruel to abandon me? In the past, Song Hong did not marry Princess Huyang, and you praised him for not abandoning his wife. Why do you want to abandon me now? What did I do wrong?"
"You... did something wrong?" Liu Xiu pushed her away with all his strength, his eyelids twitching, his eyes that usually smiled now emitting a chilling coldness, "It turns out you did nothing wrong!" He took a step back and smiled coldly, "You can spend the rest of your life thinking about this question, what did you do wrong! I have never treated you unfairly, I have honored you as the queen, and made Liu Qiang the crown prince, but what have you, Guo, given me in return?"
"Stop telling lies about honoring me as the queen!" Guo Shengtong suddenly screamed, and her beautiful image collapsed in an instant. "Do you really want to honor me as the queen? If you really want to, why did you humiliate me in the edict to Yin? Where do you put my dignity as the queen? Have you ever thought about how I would feel? You say you are the mother of the country, but you told your subjects that I was given up as the queen by a nobleman. What am I then? What am I? Since I married you, in the past 18 years, my family has supported you to ascend the throne, and I have given birth to children for you... When I was young, I was naive and unreasonable, but you never lost your temper with me. Even my mother said that I had found a... "You are my good husband who loves and cares for me. You obey me in everything, and we treat each other with respect... You have indeed never treated me badly, but you have never truly regarded me as your queen, your wife... Not only am I nothing in your heart, but in front of the people of the world, I am just a poor creature who makes people laugh! What kind of queen am I? What kind of queen am I?" She burst into tears, pulling Liu Xiu's arm, and her body slowly slid down, "You know how I treat you, and what I want, why... I was only late for half a year, why didn't you give me a chance? What did I do wrong? The biggest mistake I made was that I shouldn't have married you! No! I don't regret marrying you, never..."
"You are half a year late..." Liu Xiu interrupted her venting and broke away from her pull. "I spent five years waiting for her to grow up! I should be the Prefect of the Guards as an official, and I should marry Yin Lihua... I must be able to do what I said! When I married Zhending, I said that I would do my best to make sure you have enough food and clothing, and I think I have done it!"
Guo Shengtong smiled sadly, his eyes were filled with extreme despair: "Five years... It turns out that I am not only half a year late. You were willing to spend five years waiting for her, so you are willing to spend another five years preparing now. The purpose is just to drive me out of Changqiu Palace so that she can be the queen, right? No worries about food and clothing? You are really my good husband... Where does your majesty plan to place me now? Chen Ajiao has Changmen, Huo Chengjun has Zhaotai Palace, where does your majesty plan to move me to?"
"Based on what you have done, it is not too much to kill all your clans..."
"Haha..." She laughed up to the sky and said sadly, "Your Majesty, why must you accuse me of a crime? Is it just for this reason that you deposed me? Your Majesty has been planning for five whole years. If Liu Heng hadn't died, would Your Majesty not depose me today?"
Liu Xiu's eyes suddenly became sharp, and I couldn't help but feel the blood boiling behind the pile of books, and almost rushed out.
"Heng'er is only four years old, and you are such a good queen. You are so cruel and ruthless, just like Lu Zhi and Huo Chengjun! If I die and you become the empress dowager, how will you treat my young orphan?"
Guo Shengtong kept laughing. She took a handkerchief from her sleeve and slowly wiped the tears from her face. Then she restrained her smile and returned to the graceful and calm appearance of a noble lady.
"Now that things have come to this, Your Majesty, if you want the Empress's seal and ribbon, just take it! You and I have been married for eighteen years. Do you think Your Majesty is going to do such unscrupulous things to slander me just to depose me? This is too disheartening! As the head of the harem, in charge of the palace, and as the mother of Prince Huai, I did not fulfill my duty to take care of him, which led to the death of the prince and the pain of Your Majesty. I am guilty of this, and Your Majesty wants to depose me for this. It is only natural and I have nothing to say!"
Liu Xiu didn't say anything, just looked at her. She didn't dodge or evade, but looked up and faced him straight.
"My palace, you... don't have to go anywhere else."
It was a very plain sentence, but it made Guo Shengtong, who was trying his best to remain calm, tremble: "What does your majesty mean?"
"The relationship between you and me as husband and wife ends today!"
Guo Shengtong screamed and rushed forward. Liu Xiu took a step back. She fell down at his feet unexpectedly and said miserably: "You...you are so cruel that you not only want to depose me from the position of queen, but also want to divorce me...You and I have been husband and wife for so many years and have given birth to six children. Don't you care about the love between husband and wife at all? How could you do this to me! How could you do this-"
Liu Xiu stepped back step by step: "You always blame others for your mistakes. You have such a strong resentment and always feel that others have wronged you and owe you a lot. Have you ever thought that if it weren't for our friendship and for the sake of our children, I would have killed your entire family, the Guo family!"
The two of them argued endlessly, and Guo Shengtong just screamed in anger until her voice became hoarse: "I am innocent - my child must not be left to that woman... That cruel and vicious woman will definitely take revenge..."
Liu Xiu was extremely angry: "You have a heart as ruthless as an eagle, so you judge others by your own heart!" He no longer paid attention to her hysterical cries, turned around and left.
Guo Shengtong lay on the ground and cried bitterly. She was so sad that she stood up and smashed the lamps and furnishings in the hall one by one. She was sweating profusely, crying and cursing. The Guangde Hall was in a mess. Finally, she walked towards the pile of books, panting.
"Yin Lihua - you and I will never reconcile..."
With a loud crash, the towering tower of books was pushed down by her anger, the bamboo slips collapsed and scattered, and I stood there motionless.
Guo Shengtong was stunned when he saw me. His expression was very complicated, with countless emotions flashing across his face in an instant, including embarrassment, hatred, disgust, and even humiliation.
As for me, I don’t know how I see her. Although it was just a blink of an eye, I believe that what she sees in my eyes is not much better than what I see in her.
I clenched my fists, my nails digging deep into my flesh. I suppressed the rage of punching and said indifferently, "Irreconcilable? So I have a grudge against the Queen for killing my father and mother? Thank you Queen for teaching me these four words... I will keep the Queen's teachings in mind and never forget that the Queen and I have an irreconcilable hatred!"
This was the first time that I confronted her head-on, completely torn our faces apart, and broke off completely, directly revealing our hatred and disgust for each other. Guo Shengtong's face was still covered with unwiped tears, her temples were loose, and her face was haggard. She was so angry that she seemed to be on fire, but she was far from my opponent in a one-on-one fight. Although she was angry, she was not brainless. What's more, she has always been the proud Queen Guo, and she would not choose to use the means of a shrew to compete with me.
"Are you very proud? Finally you win!"
I sneered: "The outcome has not yet been determined. In my opinion, this is just the beginning!"
"You...what else do you want? The queen is yours, I will return it to you..."
"You are wrong! It is not what you returned to me. It is my mother, my brother, my son, who was bought with the blood of my relatives. How can I forget such an irreconcilable relationship? Just now I heard you compare yourself to Empress Huo of the Han Dynasty. This metaphor is really apt. Huo Chengjun conspired with her mother to poison the prince, and was deposed by Emperor Xiaoxuan and banished to Zhaotai Palace. Do you know how many members of the Huo family died that time? One thousand households, no matter young or old, were all beheaded! In the end, only Huo Chengjun was left in the Huo family..."
Guo Shengtong shrank back and shuddered. Although there was fear in his eyes, his pale face still looked as stubborn as ever.
“Don’t be afraid! Don’t be afraid. This game has just begun. It will become more and more fun and more... interesting! Don’t say you don’t want to play before all the Guos are dead! Haha... hahahaha…”
"Crazy...crazy woman! You vicious..."
My smile faded, and I said seriously, "I almost forgot. I will take good care of your majesty's illegitimate children in the future and let them feel the care and warmth of their legal mother. Just like Queen Guo did in the past..."
"Yin Lihua! I don't believe that His Majesty would favor a woman like you who is as vicious as a snake. His Majesty will never allow you to hurt my child..."
I asked in surprise, "Empress, how can you slander me so maliciously? I will naturally treat your Majesty's children as my own!"
Guo Shengtong was stunned when he heard this, then he realized something was wrong and turned around abruptly.
Liu Xiu, with a gloomy face, was standing at the door, followed by a minister. When I was talking to Guo Shengtong just now, I only caught a glimpse of a figure swaying at the door out of the corner of my eye. Now I looked closely and found that it was Zhi Yun, who was in charge of teaching the "Book of Songs" to the Crown Prince.
Liu Xiu's return caught Guo Shengtong off guard. She was so shocked that she rushed out of the door without paying attention to etiquette. Liu Xiu did not stop her. He seemed not to see Guo Shengtong. His expression softened and he said to me, "When did you come? Is there anyone looking after the palace?"
I couldn't be rude in front of Zhi Yun, so I bowed according to the rules and said, "I just came to see your majesty and bring you some snacks."
"Your Majesty!" Zhi Yun suddenly said loudly outside the door, "I have heard that even a son should not interfere in the relationship between a husband and wife, let alone a minister? So Your Majesty wants to depose the queen, I dare not make any suggestions. However, I hope that Your Majesty can handle the relevant people appropriately and not let the world discuss too much about the country."
Liu Xiu's body stiffened. I could clearly feel his change as I was holding his arm. I couldn't help but glance sideways at Zhi Yunduo.
Zhi Yun was neither humble nor arrogant, and was calm and composed. I couldn't tell what I felt in my heart. After so many years of careful planning, the power in the court, including the officials of the three ministers, had been reshuffled repeatedly, and the imperial power had been relatively concentrated. However, Guo Shengtong had been in office for 16 years, and with the crown prince, there was always a conservative force that wanted to protect them as much as possible.
Although Guo Shengtong has fallen, the prince is still there.
I glanced at Zhi Yun and sneered secretly. This man was brave and resourceful, and he saw the current situation very clearly in his mind. He knew that deposing the queen was an inevitable trend and it could not be reversed, so he wanted to settle for the second best option and save the prince.
"Zhi Yun is the best at putting himself in other people's shoes. He should naturally know that I will never lose my sense of propriety in doing things. I will always put the country and the people first!" Liu Xiu held my hand tightly and looked back indifferently.
Zhi Yun felt relieved and smiled, "Your Majesty is a wise ruler and you must have your own considerations. I am just worrying too much!" After saying that, he bowed his head and said goodbye.
As soon as Zhi Yun left, I collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, Liu Xiu hugged me in time and prevented me from falling.
I was shivering all over, feeling extremely cold, as if the deadly chill was seeping out from my bones, taking away my mind. Liu Xiu hugged me tightly, and we didn't speak to each other, but we could clearly hear each other's heartbeat .
Even if I curled up in his arms, I couldn't feel the warmth. It was cold, very cold, and freezing cold. Finally, I trembled and said, "Xiu'er, what should I do if I really become Lu Zhi?"
Hatred has blinded my mind, and the seeds of hatred have taken root and sprouted madly in my heart. The branches have tightly entangled and bound me, making it impossible for me to break free.
"It doesn't matter, as long as... I'm not the great-grandfather!" He stroked my hair and gently soothed my tense emotions with an unusually firm tone.
The next day, Emperor Jianwu personally wrote an edict to the three ministers, saying: "The Empress is stubborn and resentful, and has repeatedly disobeyed teachings. She is unable to take care of other children and educate the children of different families. She is like a hawk in the palace. She has neither the virtue of Ju nor the style of Lu and Huo. How can she be entrusted with the care of young orphans and respectfully serve the emperor? Now I send the Grand Tutor She and the Imperial Clan Director Ji to hold the imperial seal and ribbon to present the Empress. Concubine Yin is from a good family in the countryside. She came back from humble beginnings. It has been three years since I last saw her. She should respect the ancestral temple and be the mother of the world. The ruler should carefully follow the old rules and give the title of honor from time to time. For unusual events, unless the country is in peace, you should not celebrate the birthday."
I didn't sleep the whole night and was called up to get dressed before dawn. Shanan was very excited, but I felt very numb and didn't feel any surprise or joy at all.
I didn't know the content of the edict beforehand. It was not until the Grand Tutor Dai She and the Imperial Clan Minister Liu Ji came to the West Palace and read the edict in public that I learned the content of the edict written by Liu Xiu himself. When the edict was read, my emotions finally began to fluctuate, especially when I heard the sentence "It has been three years since I last saw you." A warm feeling suddenly surged in my heart, which actually dispelled my depression.
Liu Ji handed the empress's seal and ribbon, which he had just confiscated from Changqiu Palace, to my hand and said, "Your Majesty, please move to Quefei Palace!"
I nodded and was about to leave when Liu Yang and his brothers and sisters came rushing over to congratulate me. They knelt down and said to me, "Congratulations, mother!"
I suddenly felt that the word "mother" was particularly harsh, but fortunately there were many people around and the noise was loud, so the thought was immediately diluted by their laughter as soon as it came to my mind.
A group of people came to the Quefei Temple. Looking at the stone steps that stretched like a ladder to heaven, the door of my memory suddenly opened, and time seemed to suddenly go back to sixteen years ago. At that time, I was also standing in this position and climbed up the stone steps of the Quefei Temple with a timid mood.
Sixteen years ago, I accepted the seal and ribbon of noble lady here. Sixteen years later, at the same place, in the presence of the three dukes, nine ministers, and hundreds of civil and military officials, I accepted the seal and ribbon of empress.
Liu Xiu came down from the highest point, smiling and holding out his hand to me. The music of bells and chimes in the hall sounded, and I was led by him, hand in hand, to my place.
There is still a long way to go, and perhaps there will be more difficulties waiting for us ahead, but I believe that as long as we love each other, we can walk hand in hand and stay together forever.
