Chapter 7 This Love Will Never End 7. Lihua
In the summer of May in the first year of Yongping, Deng Yu, Marquis of Gaomi, died at the age of 57. He was posthumously named Yuan Hou.
On May 22, Liu Qiang, the King of Donghai, died. Before his death, he wrote a memorial to express his gratitude: "I have been blessed with the privilege of serving as a foreign vassal. I have been given the privilege of serving in two countries. The palaces, rituals, and music are all different. I have never been able to express my gratitude. However, I have not been careful in my self-cultivation and have been ill for many years. The court is worried about me. The Empress Dowager and Your Majesty have sympathy for me. They are deeply moved and have sent envoys, imperial physicians, and ministers to teach me about the art of Taoism. I am deeply grateful for your kindness and do not know what to say. I have examined myself and found that my strength is weak and I am tired day and night. I will never see the court again. I flatter you. I have failed to live up to your kindness and will be filled with resentment in my grave. I am already dying young and weak, and I am worried about the Empress Dowager and Your Majesty. I am truly sad and humbled. Xi Zheng is a mean man, and if he succeeds me, it will not be in my best interest. I sincerely wish to return to Donghai County. Heaven has mercy on me, and because I have no sons, I have made my three daughters marquises of a small state. This has always been my plan. Today, the world is in great trouble, and Your Majesty has provided for the Empress Dowager and served her many royal meals. I am strong and poor, and I cannot express my feelings fully. I would like to thank all the kings, but I never thought that we would never see each other again. "
In the suicide note, Liu Qiang mentioned that he had few offspring and the male population was weak, and hoped to return the fiefdom that Liu Xiu had given him, so that his underage son Liu Zheng could return to the original Donghai County with his family. His real intention was to exchange his life for the safety of his family.
Liu Qiang's funeral was held with great ceremony. In addition to me personally taking the emperor out of the city to Jinmen Pavilion to mourn, the emperor also specially ordered Sikong Feng Qiang to go to Lucheng to hold the imperial edict and made an exception to order Chu Wang Liu Ying, Zhao Wang Liu Xu, Beihai Wang Liu Xing, and Princess Liu Qiu of Biyang to go to the funeral to pay their respects. Liu Zhuang originally wanted Princess Liu Liliu of Yuyang to go to Lucheng with Liu Qiu, but Liu Liliu refused on the pretext that she was pregnant, and only asked Princess Liu Hongfu of Guantao, who was his best friend, to go instead.
I don't know what method Deng Yu used to force Liu Qiang to death, but after seeing such a suicide note, I can't think of anything else except guilt. I promised Liu Xiu to try my best to save his descendants, but this battle for the throne was still several times more cruel than I expected, and in the end many people were hurt.
Looking back on Liu Qiang's life, the saddest thing was that he became the crown prince, making him the most unfortunate victim in this political struggle.
Politics is so cruel and so heartless...it makes people unbearable but helpless.
Whenever I look at the emperor on the throne, and see him using his imperial mindset more and more maturely to manipulate the civil and military officials, as well as the people's livelihood in his hands, I can only sigh and feel speechless.
In July, Ma Wu and his men were quite successful in attacking the Western Qiang, but Liu Jing, who was imprisoned in the Henan Palace, began to become restless again. After Liu Qiang's death, I had already realized to some extent that the second generation of Han emperors in this country was absolutely different from his father in temperament, just as Liu Xiu's political skills were often compared to Wudang Tai Chi, and Liu Zhuang was the real Shaolin martial arts.
Both of them are my sons. Even if Liu Jing is not ambitious and does evil things, he is still my son after all. I can't just watch him become the second Liu Qiang.
"I don't care how you want to be the emperor, but as long as I am here, don't let me see you two brothers killing each other again! Unless you want to piss me off to death right now!"
Although Liu Zhuang was powerful, he was still very filial to me. I no longer interfered in state affairs. Fortunately, the Yin family never got involved in government affairs. Now that I think about it, I feel more and more how wise Yin Shi’s decision was at the time, and his foresight was so accurate that it was frightening.
Liu Jing was eventually renamed King of Guangling and went to his fiefdom to take up his throne that same day.
The original Shanyang State was 810 li away from Luoyang, but Guangling was more than double that, a full 1,640 li, which is almost equivalent to the modern Jiangsu area. Such a coastal area is a very rich city in modern times, but in the Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago, it was full of miasma and humidity, and was not suitable for living at all. It was basically a wild land.
Although I felt sorry for Liu Jing, I couldn't help getting angry when I thought about what he had done. Liu Zhuang not killing him was already showing mercy outside the law and taking into account the relationship between brothers.
In that year, Geng Yan, Marquis of Haozhi, and Zang Gong, Marquis of Langling, died.
In the second year of Yongping, Liu Yan, the King of Zhongshan, who was already 22 years old, was able to return to his country.
At the end of the year, Dou Lin, the commander of the Qiang Guard, was arrested and imprisoned for corruption and eventually died in prison. Dou Lin was Dou Rong's nephew. At that time, the Dou family was very popular in the capital and was a prominent family. In addition to Dou Rong, who was one of the three highest officials in the country, he also married three princesses. The Dou family's private residences and official residences in Luoyang, from grandfather to grandson, were connected from beginning to end, covering a vast area, which was very amazing. After Dou Lin's death, Liu Zhuang repeatedly issued edicts to blame Dou Rong, and finally scared Dou Rong to resign and go home to recuperate.
Although people still come to me to complain about this and that, I have decided not to interfere in state affairs, so I often pretend to be deaf and dumb. Anyway, I, the empress dowager, am old and my memory has been declining in recent years. It is normal for me to forget things occasionally and do some stupid things.
Originally, he thought that life was just a slow torture of waiting for death, but he never expected that man proposes, God disposes. Considering that his unruly little daughter could not get married, he betrothed her to his nephew Yin Feng, so that they could take care of each other. But he did not expect that Liu Shou had a willful temper and Yin Feng was stubborn and irritable. The two could not give in to each other and quarreled over trivial matters all day long, making the family restless all day long. In the end, Yin Feng killed Liu Shou in anger.
Killing the princess was a crime of exterminating the clan, so Yin Feng was so frightened that he committed suicide. The two children lost their lives in vain, and Yin felt guilty, sorry for me and the Yin family, so he committed suicide with his wife to apologize.
One family, four lives. When Zong Zheng reported the murder case to me, my hands were shaking so much that I couldn't even hold the wooden tablet.
The elderly are sending off the young, these four people, among them are my own daughter, my brothers and sisters... I feel heartbroken and regretful, but all this cannot bring them back to life.
The Yin family was in a state of panic. They lived in fear for decades. Under Yin Shi's leadership, the family grew rapidly and had a lot of assets. However, I, the queen mother from the Yin family, did not bring much glory to the family. On the contrary, in order to avoid suspicion, the Yin family kept a low profile, making the maternal relatives look like maternal relatives and the nephews look like uncles.
Yin Shi finally fell ill from exhaustion. He was over 60 years old and wrote me a scroll of silk. However, I was immersed in sadness and grief at the time and ignored his letter. It was not until several days later that I came to my senses and noticed that there was such a scroll under the jade stone.
My first reaction after reading the silk book was to rush to the Yuanlu Marquis's mansion, but Yin Shi had already fallen into a coma. I waited for three hours with a lot of questions and anxiety. The imperial doctors tried every possible way to finally wake Yin Shi up temporarily.
When he saw the silk book in my hand, his dull eyes suddenly brightened up. I held up the silk book in my hand and asked, "Is this true?"
He nodded.
I exhaled excitedly: "It turns out that after all these years, you know everything!"
He said nothing.
I felt a little frustrated, looking at his old face, the scar on his face had not been erased by the passing of time. I took a deep breath, then exhaled, trying to calm my excitement: "Why have you been so good to me for so many years? Since you knew the truth long ago, why are you still so good to me?"
"I remember... that winter was very cold, with snow falling one after another, almost without stopping." His eyes were not focused on me, but passed through my body, as if looking into the unknown distance. "Lihua read the Book of Shang again and again, and her mood became more and more unstable. It was better when she cried, but if she stopped crying one day, I would be more worried. I was worried all day long, and asked the boy and the maid to keep a close eye on her, but even so, something still happened. On the day of the twelfth lunar month, we were supposed to perform the Nuo opera, and there were many people in the family. As soon as it got dark, she disappeared before the Nuo opera started. Everyone went out to look for her, and the house was in chaos... When I found her... When I found her..." He paused, as if he was trying to recall, or as if he was immersed in his memories and forgot to continue.
I sat down at the head of his bed and looked at him calmly, gradually regaining my sanity in his steady narration.
"When I found her... she had stepped on the frozen river and cracked the surface, and fell into the ice cave..."
I shuddered slightly. Although I had already realized something, I still felt sad when I heard such a tragic fact.
"I found you on the river... I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but that's not important. What's important is that you look a lot like Lihua. If it weren't for the different clothes you were wearing, I would hardly be able to tell which one of you was my sister. Lihua was trapped under the glacier, but you were lying on the ice. Under the starlight, you two were like two reflections in a water mirror... It was me who carried you home that day, it was me who changed you into Lihua's dress, it was me... who personally turned you into my sister - Yin Ji Lihua!"
I pursed my lips tightly, my eyes swollen and painful. No matter what purpose Yin Shi had in carrying me back home, I had to thank him. It was he who saved me, gave me a second life, and treated me like his own sister.
"You were unconscious for several days, but when you woke up you said you had forgotten everything. Whether it was true or not, I thought it was a good thing. After making sure you had adapted to your new identity, I went to the river alone and dug Lihua out from under the glacier and buried her in the Yin family's ancestral tomb. She was only thirteen years old...she was just beginning to fall in love, at the age of a flower, but she withered away so early. Although her death was not caused by Liu Xiu himself, I really can't help but vent my anger and resentment..."
I know he was telling the truth. For a long period of time at the beginning, his feelings towards Liu Xiu were indescribable and contradictory. He both admired him and hated him.
"Although Lihua didn't live up to her expectations, her family cared about her and loved her. I can't imagine what a mess the family would be in if the news of her death was made public. Jun Ling... might rush to the Caiyang Liu family with a knife..." His eyes suddenly softened, with deep helplessness and melancholy in his eyes. "I decided to replace Lihua with you on a whim, but after seeing that everyone liked you more and more, I gradually got confused and often had the illusion that you were really my sister Yin Lihua. After so many years, my impression of the original Lihua has long been blurred, and has been completely replaced by you, so... whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. What's important is that you are a member of the Yin family, the Yin Ji Lihua that all of us love and admire!"
I had already burst into tears. My life experience was a magical mystery in this era. Even I found it difficult to keep it for more than 40 years. But he kept this secret all by himself, silently watching me, the foreign invader, gradually replace his beloved little sister, without any regrets.
"Brother!" With tears streaming down my face, I knelt down at the head of his bed, my forehead touching the cold ground. "You will always be my brother! No matter if we are related by blood or not, I will always be your sister, Yin Lihua, whom you have taken care of your entire life!"
"Get up!" Yin Shi, who was lying on the bed, suddenly struggled to half-raise herself with her elbows and shouted at me, "How can you behave like this? How can you, the mother of the emperor, bow to me here? Get up—"
I was trembling with fear after being scolded by him. His eyes were red, so red that it seemed as if tears of blood were about to flow out. I knelt straight on the ground, suddenly feeling at a loss.
Yin Shi half-turned his body, stretched out his hand and pointed at me with a trembling hand, and said in a hoarse voice: "My greatest wish in life is to protect the Yin family. I don't seek fame or wealth, but... the Yin family... cannot collapse..."
I immediately understood what he meant and cried, "Yin Ji is incompetent, but she will do her best to protect the Yin family!"
He looked at me deeply, and finally collapsed dejectedly, lying on the bed gasping for breath, his voice hoarse and low, as if he was muttering to himself: "My third brother committed suicide to apologize for his sins. You should consider that he has few offspring, and do not let his bloodline be cut off..."
I nodded repeatedly, choking and unable to utter a word. Yin Shi fell into coma again, and I called the imperial physician in, who fed him decoctions and forced him to take medicine. At night, Yin Shi woke up again. This time, he gathered the descendants of the Yin family and spoke to them. Finally, he called the eldest son Yin Gong to come to him and told him his last words.
At the end of the night, Yin Shi left behind all the descendants of the Yin family and passed away with infinite regret.
While dealing with Yin Shi's funeral, the emperor also announced the result of his handling of Yin Feng's murder of the princess. Considering the relationship between the nephew and uncle, he agreed not to pursue the matter, and the matter was left unresolved.
In that year, Wang Ba, Marquis of Huaiyang, died.
In February of the third year of Yongping, the three-year mourning period was over, and the emperor was no longer in mourning. The ministers proposed to establish a queen. The emperor did not make any statement on this, and finally I came forward and proposed: "Ma Guiren is the most virtuous concubine in the harem, so let her be the queen!"
The emperor had no objection, so on February 29th, he promoted the noble lady Ma to be empress and made Ma's son Liu Zhuang the crown prince.
On April 17, the emperor conferred the title of Prince of Qiancheng on his eldest son Liu Jian and the title of Prince of Guangping on his second son Liu Xian.
