Chang'an is good

Objectively speaking, the praised and respected Empress Changsun was indeed a good person.

This empress, who had a good family background, appearance and personality, had a sentimental and kind heart. It was the Changsun family's choice, not Empress Changsun's, to raise the third prince. This empress had been trapped in the pain of losing her son.

From being a crown princess to becoming the queen, the queen had two miscarriages and gave birth to a child once, but the child died in infancy. The queen felt that she was deeply sinful and ashamed of her children, and had long been depressed.

No matter how deep the love between young people is, it cannot withstand the wear and tear of time. Even though the emperor felt pity for the queen, he did not want to face such a queen all day long. He did not allow the queen to stay in charge of the children's old clothes and belongings all day long.

But she knew that the queen had been secretly placing those things in the small Buddhist temple, chanting sutras every day to accumulate merit.

That was the queen's last hope.

One night, the small Buddhist temple suddenly caught fire, burning away the queen's thoughts.

The queen almost threw herself into the fire, but was stopped by the palace maids and never recovered from her illness.

In front of the emperor, she was still just the concubine who was afraid of her secrets being exposed. Even when the emperor mentioned that someone in the previous dynasty proposed to make "Li Xiao" the crown prince, she was frightened and dropped the teacup in her hand, her face turned pale, and she knelt down in panic, saying that Xiao was too willful and could not bear such a heavy responsibility.

Yes, her son is actually a daughter, and she just wants to gain some wealth and fame. How can she dare to climb up the ladder knowing that she has a fake that cannot be recovered? Even a madman would not dare to do that.

But it was she who secretly pushed forward those voices proposing to enthrone Li Xiao.

Some officials from the aristocratic families took the initiative to find her. Her mother's family was humble, so she was very suitable to be a puppet. She lowered her head and showed her loyalty, taking the attitude of a chess piece, and said that she would obey all the arrangements of the adults.

The emperor had no better choice at that time, so he really appointed "Li Xiao" as the crown prince.

Anyway, this is a crown prince who can be deposed and punished at any time. The emperor wants to use this deceitful crown prince as a shield for other princes. He wants to wait and see and carefully select a more suitable successor. After all, he is still a very young king, and there are still many opportunities and a lot of time.

But how could she give him time and chance?

Empress Changsun eventually died of illness.

The third prince fell and drowned after getting drunk.

Another prince who was considered a candidate by the emperor also died unexpectedly.

All this is certainly not accidental, but no one can find any trace of it, and even if there is, it would not belong to her.

Amidst the open and covert fighting and the flashing of swords, she silently expanded her wings.

Even though she had always done things very cleanly, as the beneficiary, the emperor naturally became suspicious of her and began to re-examine her.

But it's too late.

After she became the queen, she served the king day and night with trepidation and fear. With so many opportunities, how could she not do something?
Thanks to her mother who was obsessed with alchemy, she knew that many elixir recipes had miraculous uses. Those elixirs could strengthen the body, but just a little bit of "medicine lead" could destroy the foundation of the body without a person knowing it.

Those medicinal leads can be hidden in tea, in incense burners, or even in the sachets hanging in the tent, or even incense on her body. These things are non-toxic in themselves, but when they work together with the elixir, and after hundreds or thousands of days and nights of patient accumulation, their miraculous effects will appear.

It seemed that the emperor had suddenly fallen seriously ill, but in fact it was not the case.

The emperor began to talk nonsense, and after he talked so much nonsense, no one believed him when he told the truth, or no one dared to believe him.

What's more, all the emperor's confidants have secretly surrendered to her.

Looking at the morbidly angry king lying on his sickbed, she sneered and thought, this emperor's greatest ability is that he is an emperor.

At that time, she had not yet thought that she must become emperor, but A Shang's identity was ultimately a problem.

But after the emperor's death, something unexpected happened - the news of Axiao's death was suddenly announced.

Ah Shang came back soon, but Li Xiao had already died in front of everyone.

Ashang could no longer be Li Xiao. Those forces that once supported Crown Prince Xiao found it difficult to accept a woman becoming emperor. The country was in turmoil, and the people's hearts were in turmoil. Beidi proposed to ask Princess Chongyue to marry him... Under all kinds of pressure, she could no longer keep Ashang.

Is she really helpless?

Of course, I can give up everything and stand by Ah Shang...but is it worth it?
She has been weighing the pros and cons her whole life.

It was a long time later, when she finally dared to face the truth in her heart, that she was willing to admit that the conditions that prompted her to make the decision, in addition to the pros and cons, were also her ambition - she wanted to become the master of the Great Sheng Empire, and she clearly saw this possibility at that time.

A Shang bought her three years of stability. During those three years, she supported Li Bing to become emperor. Those were the three years when she truly began to take power and kill dissidents.

The old man did not elaborate on the bloody journey. He told his thrilling life in a light tone and ended the story in the same calm tone:
"I became the master of this country as I wished, but my daughter died on the snowy plains of Beidi."

When Ah Yun heard this, he frowned slightly, then relaxed his frown after a moment, as if thinking. After a while, the child asked a very simple question: "Do you regret it?" The old man looked at the setting sun and said, "I have regrets, I feel guilty, I feel indebted, but I have no regrets."

Saying regret is nothing but hypocritical rhetoric and political means.

If she regretted it, it would be the greatest contempt and disrespect for the suffering that Ah Shang had gone through. To Ah Shang, it was a vicious denial and injustice.

It was only much later that she understood this truth.

After becoming emperor, she once asked the Heavenly Mirror why she had revealed the secrets of heaven, and whether she had ever thought about what kind of misfortunes and tribulations this prophecy would bring to the newborn baby.

At that time, Tianjing said with a smile: [What I did in the past was also in accordance with the will of heaven. There is a cause and there is an effect. Your Majesty may wish to look back. If you had not experienced this journey, would you still be Your Majesty? ]

Cause and effect…

By the same token, since she chose to abandon the relationship between mother and daughter, she should bear the consequences now.

Ah Shang didn't need her to make up for her regret, so she didn't have to regret it. As for other people and things, she had no reason to regret it.

She became an emperor as a woman of a different surname. How many people in history could do that? High and low means, praise and criticism, right and wrong, success and failure, honor and disgrace, criticism and praise...

None of this matters anymore.

What’s important is that she accomplished this, stood at the top of all living beings, and was once the most honorable emperor in the world.

"No one needs to appoint me as the heir to this throne, or judge whether I am qualified. I am the Son of Heaven..."

The old man said slowly, "Your mother is the same. Before she became Li Suining, she relied on her own ability to gain the confidence to become the master of the country. I only recognize her as the emperor of the Li family who is truly qualified, except for the founding emperor and Taizong."

The choice of Li Suining to be crowned emperor was not something that Chang Suining could not have done; it was simply the new monarch's kindness and compassion for the people.

When someone praised her own mother, Ah Yun was naturally proud of it. She asked, "So you like my mother too?"

The old man did not answer the question directly. After a moment, he whispered, "She is the only person I owe in my life. But this is no longer important to her."

Ah Yun was puzzled, but she saw the old man's eyes passed over her head, looking towards the palace gate, and said softly: "Go, your mother is waiting for you."

Ayun turned around and saw A Niang standing outside the palace gate.

Ah Yun immediately jumped off the chair and said to the old man, "I have to go now. I'll come back to listen to your stories another day!"

Ah Yun said, running towards the palace gate: "Mother!"

The little girl stretched out a hand, and the light outside the palace gate also stretched out a hand and held the child.

The mother and daughter turned around, and their figures shrank away in the light and shadow.

As the light and shadows swayed, scenes from the past flashed before the old man's eyes. Many years ago, there was also a little girl who wanted to hold her mother's hand, but her mother never extended her hand, so the child held the corner of her mother's clothes.

How to be a mother, her mother never taught her, and she never taught Ah Shang either.

The old man's eyes dropped to the corner of his sleeve above his knees, where there were still wrinkles as if they had been grasped by a tender, round little hand in the past.

The old man slowly smoothed the wrinkles, then gently pressed his old hands on them, leaned back in the chair, and slowly closed his eyes.

The sun sets.

On the way back to the Ganlu Temple, Ah Yun was still thinking about the story. She thought about it again and again, and couldn't help but look up and ask her mother: "Mother, is everything she said true?"

Li Suining: “Yes.”

Ayun's eyes moved, but he reacted: "But I don't think I have told my mother what she said..." How could my mother be so sure?
Li Suining looked at the last ray of twilight in the sky: "Because I know her."

……

In June of the tenth year of Changhua, an old man who had no regrets until his death passed away in a quiet palace.

When Li Suining learned the news from Yao Ran, she was holding her daughter's hand and writing. The emperor wrote without pause and finished writing the entire big character fluently before looking up.

...(End of chapter)