Chapter 332 Son, Don’t Blame Me!
Although Gu Yan said that he could take Qiu Nie into the Palace, he had to tell Empress Dowager Gu first. Because when he took a male outside into the Palace, it was impossible for him not to inform Empress Dowager Gu, even if he didn’t need to tell Empress Jiang.
And he told her his purpose for taking Qiu Nie into the Palace. Empress Dowager Gu asked everybody to leave at the beginning, but she was raged when she heard his purpose. She fought against Gu Yan cruelly with the ornaments in the Palace and said, “You are so bad and crazy! Over the years, Emperor was good to the Gu family. How could you let me kill my son? I take his power, but he is my only son!”
In the past, Gu Yan wanted to kill Princess Lexin and her brother. Empress Dowager Gu refused his request, though they were her two ordinary grandchildren. This time he wanted to kill her only son. She became the Empress Dowager because of her emperor son.
Gu Yan had served her for many years. If he didn’t know her, how dare he come over and discuss with her about killing her son together?
He didn’t take action but just let Empress Dowager Gu hit her head, and he asked in a deep voice, “Do you think about your future life? Now the crown prince is not close to you and the Jiang family is aggressive. Xue Chang’s party has made a choice. What will we do in the future? Where is our future?”
“Even if I have no power, I am still the Empress Dowager Gu!” she stubbornly said. “You b*st*rd is crazy! How dare you! Why don’t you kill Gu Shuo and become the Duke of Guangyang? Ahh?”
Gu Yan said, “Why do you deceive yourself, your Grace? the Jiang family is aggressive. Once they gain power, how can they let you continue to be Empress Dowager. You will only be another Empress Dowager Ye! Except for the crown prince, think about your other kids. Can they have the prosperity today like County Princess Duanrou? Haven’t you thought about it?”
This time, without waiting for Queen Mother Gu to answer, he said in one breath, “Now we are weak. If we do not come up with a strategy, we will not be able to win in such a situation! Do you think the Jiang family would tolerate Emperor when there is a crown prince who listens to them?”
Empress Dowager Gu gave a gasp of astonishment and was speechless for a while!
As early as the beginning of deciding the crown prince, she knew that if she failed, Emperor would be miserable. However, Empress Dowager Gu was full of confidence and didn’t think she would lose at all!
Now when she and her son were about to die, Empress Dowager Gu felt panic from the bottom of her heart. Even an ant was greedy for life, let alone a person like her. She didn’t want to die at all!
She never wanted to be as miserable as Empress Dowager Ye who had the t.i.tle but lived alone in the Palace for all her rest life like a miserable rat. She could have her funeral thanks to the Palace intrigue.
Empress Dowager Gu’s hesitation couldn’t be concealed from Gu Yan’s eyes. He slowed down his tone and persuasively said, “Your Grace, it’s good that you can protect yourself now. You can’t take care of Emperor at all! We can’t let the Jiang family kill Emperor and you. You’d better do it first! If Emperor knows, he will definitely not be blamed. After all, he is your only son. How can he be willing to let you suffer?”
If these words were heard by the Empress’ Party, they would scold him for being shameless. Empress Dowager Gu knew that Gu Yan wanted that she could have a long-shot gamble and win the power back!
If this plan was successful, she could regain her power and prestige and look down upon the Jiang family!
Empress Dowager Gu hesitated!
Gu Yan saw this and stopped persuading. He respectfully kowtowed and said, “Please think about it, you Grace! Excuse me for a moment!”
He came out of the Palace with blood on his head and scared the palace staff.
Gu Yan, who always cherished his body, had no time caring about it. He wiped the head casually and turned away.
He was in a hurry though. he understood that Empress Dowager Gu only had one son. Emperor, as her only son, was so weak that he never dared to fight for power with her. Empress Dowager Gu looked down on him, but she valued him. This was the first time that he asked Empress Dowager Gu to kill her son, so it was lucky that she did not kill him but seriously considered it. It was a good start.
If he kept talking, he might overreach himself.
“How is it?” Gu Yan left the Palace with a poke face. When he got into the carriage, Deng Yi was sitting inside and warmed himself at the fire, sipping a small pot of wine. The flush was on his mellow and flawless skin. He looked glamorous with a feeling of getting drunk. He asked first.
Gu Yan smiled and shook his hand. He sat down beside him and told the coachman to return to the Guangyang Palace. After that, he answered with a smile, “No problem!”
“Look at the injury on your head. I’m afraid Empress Dowager Gu is furious, right?” Deng Yi ignored his restless hands after sitting down and asked indifferently, “Really?”
“Are you caring about me?” Gu Yan narrowed his eyes and put forth his hand’s strength until Deng Yi frowned and snorted. He loosened his hands and hugged Deng Yi with a smile, “Empress Dowager Gu is not someone who doesn’t care for her children, but she cherishes herself more. Today, I talk everything with her, but I can still leave the Hall of Taishi alive. I promise she will agree!”
Deng Yi was thoughtful, “It’s undecided. She is old.” Many people had a heart of stone when they were young, but began to soften when they were old.
“She will agree,” Gu Yan glanced out of the carriage and said darkly, “Since the Jiang family is so aggressive and dares to kill Emperor and dug the General Ruan’s tomb, they must make a deal with the Western Army. I think the news from the west will arrive in two days. If she hasn’t decided by then, it is lucky for her to be another Empress Dowager Ye. The Jiang family may torture her worse!”
Empress Dowager’s party never knew who poisoned Emperor. Since Xue Chang had framed Prince of Zhou, Empress Dowager’s party believed that it was the Empress’ party or Xue Chang who did it. Anyway, they were now in the same group. It was understandable to say that the Jiang family did it.
Deng Yi frowned and thought gloomily. The young man was as beautiful as a dream.
Gu Yan looked at him for a moment and suddenly asked, “I never asked you how you came up with this idea.”
He doubted Deng Yi because he was silent and indifferent and paid no attention to affairs in the Palace. This time he suddenly asked about Empress Dowager’s party falling into a disadvantage. As a member of the Empress Dowager’s party, he should care about the Party and his future. But his idea of killing Emperor completely shocked Gu Yan!
However, Deng Yi was calm when he heard this. He asked, “The Jiang family is evil. Why can’t we fight back? Although Emperor is my cousin, I haven’t seen him much. Why do you feel bad?”
“That’s it,” Gu Yan pondered for a while and felt that there was nothing wrong with his words. The blood relationship determined that Deng Yi’s decision to join the Empress’ party would not be a good choice. He was ever the fiancé of Qiu Yelan who was Jiang Yashuang’s wife. Deng Yi had no way for betrayal.
“Perhaps he is also afraid of being bullied by the Jiang family. I restrain him but treat him well. Those in the Jiang family won’t treat him as good as me because of his beauty!” Thinking about this, Gu Yan forgot his doubt and began to seriously think about the plan to reverse the situation.
Three days later…
Urgent reports from Xijiang…
Kuang Shihan, the general of the Western Army, indulged his only son Kuang Qingwu and allowed him to lead his own soldiers to go out for hunting, which made the military discipline relaxed and resulted in the shortage of soldiers. The Western Army was completely defeated by the western savages. Kuang Qingwu was defeated and captured, but got lost because of the dark night. Hundreds of baggage were lost. This bad news that most courtiers had already guessed was sent to the Palace urgently!
Along with this bad news, the Shazhou Prefectural Governor’s memorial for Han Jishan, Zhao Bin, Ruan Qingyan and others was presented.
All the guilt was attributed to the Kuang family as the credit was attributed to a group of people represented by Ruan Qingyan. Empress Dowager Gu held the military reports and the memorials in her hands. She was lost for a long time and was shaken by the Maid Zheng twice before she could force herself up. She went back to Hall of Taishi with the excuse of being unwell!
She knew that she couldn’t go! If Kuang’s father and son were convicted of neglecting the duty and violating the military laws, everything would be over!
After the Kuang family were dead, Empress Dowager’s party had no military power. They would be fish on the chopping block of the Empress’ party because of disadvantages on military and weakness in the Palace.
But she felt so tired that she had no energy to fight at all.
Back to the Hall of Taishi, she didn’t want Maid Zheng to accompany and comfort her. She locked herself in the dormitory for two hours and then called in Maid Zheng with her red and swollen eyes, “Go and tell Gu Yan to prepare!”
Maid Zheng answered in tears. She didn’t know what Gu Yan said two days ago. She thought that Empress Dowager felt that she would lose everything and hoped that Gu Yan could try his best to protect blood of the Gu family from being destroyed by the Jiang family.
“The Jiang family is so vicious. How could it be possible to give Gu Yan a chance to leave?” On the way to the Prince’s Mansion of Guangyang, Maid Zheng thought desperately.
She didn’t know that Empress Dowager Gu was lying on the bed of the hall in pain, screaming silently!
“You can’t blame me. Gu Yan is right! The Jiang family is so aggressive and sets up the crown prince. How can they let Emperor, my son, live? Even if I didn’t do it, my son wouldn’t escape the end!” Tears rolled down and she desperately comforted herself, “If it weren’t the Jiang family, how could I be forced to do this? The Jiang family is the culprit! This time, I must reverse the situation and kill the Jiang family! I will revenge for you, my son!”
Those old memories were like the sediments deposited in the bottom of the water. During the long and peaceful years of her regency, she thought she had forgotten all the past but recalled in these stormy days.
When she was a girl with talents and beautiful appearance, she had to go to the Palace and be the old Emperor’s harem.
At the beginning when she entered the Palace, she was quite favored but was also terrified because she was envied by the imperial harem and suppressed by Empress Dowager Ye. She couldn’t reconcile herself to it.
When she defeated Empress Dowager Ye for the first time, she felt proud and elated and got her ambitions.
Finally, she was pregnant. She was shocked and excited for the words that her father and brother secretly told her when her mother and sister-in-law visited her.
After her son was born, relying on the love of the old Emperor and the help of her family, she became hopeful and pleased because of killing the former crown prince.
Her youngest son took the throne. The former crown prince’s party was still in the Palace and the clan and ministers were all ambiguous. Because the Gu family was too weak at that time, she decided to let Emperor who was less than ten years old to marry the daughter of Marquess Qin. Therefore, they received the support of the most prestigious “Defender of the State” and her power gradually became stable.
“I didn’t have this ambition in the early years. At first, I was just afraid that my son’s throne would be robbed. Later, I thought that my son was too young and ignorant to be an emperor. I never thought of keeping my regency!” Lying on the thick carpet and staring in a daze at the beautiful temple pillars, she thought sadly. “But Empress is so prudent and domineering and my son is so honest. If I didn’t do that for my son, the Jiang Family would take the throne at any time.”
She murmured that she didn’t know if she should believe her words. “We can only have the Jiang Family to blame, whose ambition is too big! I thought that after marrying the daughter of Marquess Qin, we could use Marquess Qin’s power, but he used us! Everything is their fault!”
“Don’t blame me for being cruel! It’s you who are too honest. If something happened to me, who could protect you? We might be killed by the Jiang family with infamy! You can go to see the old emperor first. I will revenge for your death!”
Empress Dowager Gu was ruthless in her mind. She got up and sternly ordered, “Come here! I need to take shower and change clothes!”
Now that she decided to abandon her son, she couldn’t let her son die in vain!