["So, according to you, the Empress Dowager actually smothered her youngest son with her own hands during an episode?"]
[Melon-Eating System: Yes.]
["Tsk, tsk, tsk. Maybe the Empress Dowager had too smooth a life. Her older sister was capable and willing to protect her, and the son she bore was exceptionally capable too. Heaven couldn't stand watching anymore, so it arranged a poisonous best friend for her."]
[Melon-Eating System: In the original novel, the Empress Dowager was the female lead's greatest backer.]
Wenren Luoshui had read the original novel, but that had been over a decade ago. The only reason she still remembered who the female lead was was that the girl was her younger paternal cousin.
As for the other important characters in the original novel, she had long since forgotten them all.
Beside her, the emperor clenched both fists.
His entire presence was like a firecracker poised to explode!
The mother he remembered was a gentle woman who would sing nursery rhymes to comfort him whenever he was bullied.
When had she begun to change?
He had always thought the gentle, cheerful mother in his memories was merely a trick of his recollection.
So it wasn't. His mother really had been that kind of person.
Someone simply couldn't bear to see her give all her love and power to her own children, and had forcibly made her feel revulsion toward them.
Watching from the side as the Empress Dowager lost consciousness under my series of treatments, Wenren Shuang tried to rush over and shove me away.
Before she could get close, the emperor kicked her down.
His kick struck the back of her right knee. She collapsed in pain, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.
Unfortunately for her, the emperor had never felt much affection for her to begin with, and now he knew that her grandmother had destroyed the bond between him and his mother.
It was only through considerable restraint that he hadn't ordered her thrown into prison immediately.
["Wait, that doesn't make sense. If she had a book of secret arts like that, why did she arrange for someone to poison my family in the kitchen?"]
[Salty Fish System: I don't know much about mysticism, but according to the information I found, Liu Yuner had no talent in that area. She only managed to perform the Child-Aversion Art successfully by trading away years of her future lifespan. Maybe the price she offered wasn't enough to kill your family with a secret art, so she couldn't pull it off and went with the simplest option-poisoning~]
Wenren Luoshui used spiritual energy to draw out every silver needle in the Empress Dowager's head, then infused some more into her body to sustain her vital signs.
Afterward, she had the servants in the Empress Dowager's palace help her into bed, then turned to give the emperor a brief explanation of her condition.
"You mean Mother will forget some things after she wakes up?"
When the emperor heard Wenren Luoshui reach this point, he felt both hopeful and frightened.
He feared the Empress Dowager would forget him when she woke, yet he also feared she would remember only that he was the culprit who had killed his younger brother.
Although the chief culprit behind his younger brother's death was the Old Princess Consort at the Prince of Beiping's Residence.
But what if, when his mother woke, all she remembered was him killing his younger brother?
The emperor felt even more anxious now than he had back when he climbed over the wall into the Empress's family residence.
She left a prescription with the Senior Palace Maid in the Empress Dowager's palace and instructed the maids to give it to the Empress Dowager for three days, until she woke.
Although she had never encountered the Child-Aversion Art in her previous life, while removing the silver needles just now, she had also sent spiritual energy into the Empress Dowager's meridians. She discovered that the art had only affected her emotions and had not yet caused much harm to her body.
[Salty Fish System: Huh? The book says that after you removed the silver needles from the Empress Dowager's head, she became a vegetable-what people in ancient times called the living dead. Why did you tell the emperor she could still wake up?]
The emperor suddenly heard the system's voice while he was still agonizing over how to face the Empress Dowager once she woke.
Hearing the system say that his mother would become one of the living dead, he nearly punched Wenren Shuang, who lay sprawled on the floor.
That was what she got for being the Old Princess Consort's own granddaughter!
Since her grandmother had dared to harm his mother, they couldn't blame him for despising them!
["As the saying goes, human will can conquer heaven. Besides, you don't understand mysticism. I just left a wisp of spiritual energy inside the Empress Dowager. With its help, the damage to her body will gradually heal on its own."]
Hearing this, the emperor's heart finally settled back into place.
Luoshui was far more useful than her father!
The emperor thought this with smug satisfaction, a smile finally appearing on his face.
When he turned to look at Wenren Shuang sprawled on the floor, the disgust in his eyes frightened her into lowering her head.
"Mother!"
"Don't let Father sleep in your room tonight! He's a beast! He actually abandoned his own daughter and sneaked off by himself!"
As soon as she returned to the prince's residence, Wenren Luoshui ran up to her mother, hugged her legs, and began tattling.
It was her father's fault for behaving so shamelessly!
Today, she would teach him the consequences of offending his own daughter.
"Darling, don't listen to our daughter. We've been married all these years. Don't you know what kind of man I am?"
Wenren Qiao came up to his wife carrying a plate of chestnut cakes. "Here, have a taste. These were freshly steamed at the Spring Fragrance House. I bought some when I passed by."
As he spoke, he picked up a cake and held it to his wife's lips.
Wenren Luoshui: ...
"Could you two spare a little attention for your own daughter?"
"After all these years, I thought you'd be used to it."
Wenren Qiao shot back without the slightest regard for their father-daughter bond.
Rather than remain an eyesore in front of her parents, Wenren Luoshui obtained the deed to an empty shop on Vermilion Bird Street from my mother and headed out with the little sprout who had been sleeping at home.
Vermilion Bird Street was a famous shopping street in the capital. Anyone who could open a shop there had either money or connections.
Her family had just bought a tea shop there that could no longer stay in business. Her parents hadn't decided what to sell yet, so it was perfect for me to use as a blind-box shop.
The day flew by.
Early the next morning, Wenren Luoshui was hauled off to court by her father. This really was worse than going to work in modern times.
She kept feeling that the emperor had given her an official post for no reason other than to get revenge on her father.
The officials attending court that day were all bright-eyed and full of energy from early morning. Seeing their masters so lively, the servants attending them assumed the palace would be handing out rewards that day.
Why else would their masters be so happy?
Who could possibly be happy going to work every day?
In the past, they had gone to work with their hearts in their throats, and even when nothing was wrong, they still had to quarrel with their colleagues.
But now, they could listen to gossip about their colleagues at work. How delightful!
The chief eunuch had barely finished announcing, "Present your petitions if you have business; otherwise, court is dismissed," when a full-bearded official stepped forward.
"Your Majesty, the princesses and princes are all growing older. I ask that Your Majesty name an heir."
Although this minister had a full beard and a burly build, he was a civil official-and the Second Prince's own maternal uncle.
The Late Emperor had had a whole slew of sons and daughters. Compared with him, the current emperor had pitifully few children.
Aside from the Eldest Princess and Seventh Princess, whom he had with the Empress, he had only three boys: the Second Prince, Third Prince, and Fifth Prince.
The emperor wanted to pass the throne to the Eldest Princess, partly because she had been born to the woman he loved most, and partly because she was the cleverest and most capable of all his children.
Besides, the Li Kingdom had had a Female Emperor before.
So Grand Commandant Chu stepping forward to demand that he name an heir was thoroughly irritating!
When he wanted to name one, he would naturally announce it to the world. What was the rush?