Linshui Prefecture's Plans

Wuchen Hall.

Empress Dowager Liu Qing sat upright on the high seat within the main hall. In the center stood a youth clad in a bright yellow dragon robe. He was eleven or twelve years old and looked exceedingly nervous, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on his skin.

This was the new emperor Liu Qing had chosen—the second son of Emperor Jiande, named Wang Nian. Whenever Liu Qing's gaze made him nervous, he would occasionally turn his head to glance behind him. A curtain hung there, and outside it knelt a woman in magnificent robes. She was his birth mother, Emperor Jiande's Empress, and also Liu Qing's niece from her maternal family.

"The nation is now in peril, yet your elder brother has long since entered the Buddhist path. Only you can shoulder this responsibility now."

After speaking softly, Liu Qing did not wait for Wang Nian's reply before instructing an attendant at her side, "Prepare a set of imperial robes for him. Tomorrow morning, he must go to the Hall of Deliberations and receive the court officials' homage."

"Yes!"

The attendant answered, then walked soundlessly to Wang Nian's side and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, come with me."

Upon hearing this, Wang Nian first cupped his hands and bowed. "Imperial grandmother, this grandson takes his leave."

"Go."

Only then did Wang Nian retreat behind the curtain, where he bowed farewell to his birth mother before following the attendant out of the hall. In the courtyard outside, a host of ministers in purple robes had already been waiting for a long time.

Before long, another attendant came out and called to the ministers, "The Empress Dowager summons you~"

The ministers entered the main hall in a file according to rank. Standing outside the curtain, they bowed