"It's alright, don't worry about my money. You've forgotten that we at Wuyinglou are quite wealthy. You can use this money to open a drainage channel in the south. It might not even be enough, but I'll figure something out for you."
Wuyinglou has been idle lately and is getting restless. This time, when she moves against Zhong Mansion, she plans to send people from Wuyinglou to the other three kingdoms to test their skills.
"Ling'er, this is enough. Don't move around anymore. Focus on your pregnancy and I will find a solution."
Although Ye Lingfeng agreed to Hai Ling donating her dowry, he did not want her to overwork herself.
"I just wanted to help you."
“I know,” that’s why he felt so warm. Ye Lingfeng leaned down and kissed Hailing’s little mouth. Seeing her rosy cheeks as charming as peach blossoms in March, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of passion in his chest and a heat rising in his lower abdomen. But looking at Ling’er’s belly, he really didn’t know where to start. Her belly was more than six months along, a little round and cute, not bad at all. Thinking that his own child was growing inside her, he felt very proud, but he had been abstaining from sex for a long time.
Hai Ling looked into his deep, fiery eyes and felt the burning heat behind her. She knew she was torturing this man. In ancient times, few men knew about abstinence, so she couldn't make him suffer too much, could she? With that thought, she tilted her head back and kissed him, her eyes alluring. This passionate action immediately excited him. He held her even tighter, carefully placed her on the bed, and with a flick of his wrist, the gauze curtains fell, revealing a vivid and passionate scene of love and intimacy.
The noblewomen of Beilu are now extremely afraid of the words "Empress." If anyone mentions "Empress," the people around them can't help but tremble. The Empress is not a title to be used casually; it can be terrifying.
Inside the palace, a man who instilled fear in others was leisurely basking in the sun, strolling along, seemingly lost in thought.
In the back garden of Liuyue Palace, Hailin had already taken two laps. Taking walks more often is good for a pregnant woman.
As she walked, she pondered what she had heard from Consort Jinlan last night: the Empress Dowager had always been a scheming woman. That was one thing, but many years ago, there were rumors in the palace that the Empress Dowager was not carrying the royal bloodline. Could it be that Ye was not the Emperor's son? Thinking of this, she broke out in a cold sweat. If Ye was not the Emperor's child, then whose child was he? Bah, bah, she was just overthinking things. Hailing's expression was unpredictable. Shilan behind her spoke up strangely.
"What is Your Majesty thinking?"
"Oh, nothing?"
Hailing snapped out of her reverie, shook her head, and, remembering that she hadn't seen Mingzhu today, asked Shilan with concern, "What is Princess Mingzhu busy with?"
"The princess is embroidering a handkerchief, which seems to be a gift for General Ji."
Shi Lan made this guess herself, because she found a Himeko on the corner of the handkerchief.
Hai Ling smiled and turned to walk back. A thought popped into her mind: why not go to Cixi Palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager? Although she disliked the Empress Dowager, she realized that the Empress Dowager had always been a scheming woman. No wonder she was so good at plotting.
However, she really wanted to have a serious talk with her to find out what the Empress Dowager was thinking and why she was so dissatisfied with her and Ye.
"Go to Cixi Palace."
Hai Ling gave the order, and Shi Lan immediately ordered someone to prepare a sedan chair. She helped Hai Ling out of Liuyue Palace, where a sedan chair was prepared in front of the palace gate. Shi Lan helped Hai Ling into the sedan chair and led several palace maids to follow behind, heading towards Cining Palace.
The atmosphere inside Cixi Palace was extremely oppressive. The Empress Dowager was in a bad mood, so how could the palace maids and eunuchs dare to show any joy?
The eunuch went in to report that the Empress had come to pay her respects. The Empress Dowager's face was extremely unpleasant. She instinctively wanted to yell at the Empress and tell her to go back, but in the end she couldn't hold back and her face was still not good.
"pass."
When Hailing entered, the Empress Dowager's expression did not soften; she remained cold, her dark eyes fixed on the woman who walked into the hall. Hailing's features were exquisite, her beauty captivating, and her demeanor elegant and graceful—she possessed the air of an empress. But who gave her all of this? The Emperor, her son. Yet, in the end, the Emperor could completely disregard his mother for the sake of a woman, which was truly infuriating.
The Empress Dowager remained silent as she pondered for a while. Hai Ling entered and calmly bowed.
"Ling'er greets Mother Empress."
"Rise," the Empress Dowager waved her hand, then slowly asked, "What brings the Empress to Cixi Palace?"
Hai Ling glanced at the maids behind her and waved for them to leave. When the Empress Dowager saw Hai Ling's action, she knew that the Empress wanted to speak with her alone, so she waved for everyone in the hall to leave, leaving only her and Hai Ling.
Hai Ling glanced at the Empress Dowager, then slowly spoke, word by word.
"Mother, I came to Cixi Palace today because I wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. I know that you have a deep prejudice against me. I really can't understand what I did to make you dislike me so much."
She was so curious that she came to ask why the Empress Dowager disliked her. Although she didn't make things difficult for her at first, that period was short-lived, and then the Empress Dowager began to show her dislike.
After hearing Hai Ling's words, the Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes and spoke after a quarter of an hour.
"As the mother of an emperor, your shocking and unconventional ideas are something I cannot agree with. Why should my most outstanding son, the emperor of a country, only be allowed to marry one woman? What kind of theory is this?"
After the Empress Dowager finished speaking, Hailing realized that the Empress Dowager had disliked her from the beginning. She had initially thought that the Empress Dowager liked her and was very happy. It seems that she was naive after all.
The Empress Dowager paused for a moment and then continued, saying that since Ji Hailing had come to ask her, why shouldn't she tell her? Even if Ji Hailing went to the Emperor to complain, she wouldn't be afraid of her.
"Furthermore, the Emperor was born of me, and I raised him for over twenty years. Yet, in the end, he is of one mind with you. He agrees with everything you say, but ignores everything I say. This is a disgrace to me. If I thought of him as he is today, do you think I would have gone to so much trouble to raise him? Did I raise him just so he would dote on you and disobey me? Now you are pregnant and will become a mother. I wonder what you would think if you were in my position today?"
As the Empress Dowager finished speaking, a deep sorrow welled up in her heart, and her voice choked with emotion. The Emperor's actions had broken her heart, and now she had no expectations of him left.
"As a daughter-in-law, what have you done? Instead of advising the Emperor, you have repeatedly plotted against me. I dare to say these things today because I am not afraid to tell the Emperor that I no longer have any hope for him."
A cold glint suddenly appeared in the Empress Dowager's eyes as she stared at Hailing, telling her that she was not afraid of Hailing reporting her.
Hai Ling hadn't expected the Empress Dowager's resentment to run so deep. She had only thought that the Empress Dowager was angry with her, but now it seemed that the Empress Dowager was angry all night long. Why was that? Hai Ling's face flickered between light and dark as she quickly thought about what they had done to offend the Empress Dowager. Was it simply because the Emperor hadn't arranged a position for the west family?
Suddenly, a thought dawned on Hai Ling's mind: why the Empress Dowager resented her and Ye.
It turned out that it was because they hadn't listened to the Empress Dowager. She believed that she had suffered so much over the years to raise Ye to adulthood, so Ye should listen to her in everything, and her daughter-in-law should do the same. She felt that was only natural because she had given so much and deserved to be highly respected. This land of Beilu belonged to her, and she was the Empress Dowager, the mother of the nation. Ye should obey her in everything. Now that everything had gone as she had originally planned, she began to resent them.
Consort Jinlan was right. The Empress Dowager was too cunning. For more than twenty years, she had not treated Ye as a son, but as a tool for her to reach the top. But today, things did not go as she wished, so she blamed them.
Hai Ling stood up, feeling annoyed, but not wanting to further provoke the Empress Dowager, she wanted to reason with her.
"Mother, Ling'er disagrees with what you said. As Ye's mother, shouldn't you be happy for him? He has worked hard to improve Bei Lu and try to govern everything in Bei Lu well. It was you who made her the emperor of Bei Lu. Now you don't support him and instead blame him at every turn. Is this the kind of thinking a mother should have?"
"I don't blame him, I blame you."
The Empress Dowager spoke bluntly, believing that all the blame lay with Ji Hailing. She believed that Hailing must have whispered in her son's ear, which was why he was no longer listening to her. In the past, he would listen to whatever she said, but now he wouldn't. Ever since he decided to marry this woman, he was no longer her son.
"Mother, Ling'er did nothing."
Hai Ling spoke in a deep voice. She had previously thought that the Empress Dowager was angry with the Xi family because they had not been able to take up important positions in the court. But now it seemed that was not the case. Even if the Xi family members had taken up important positions in the court, she would probably have other plans. If Ye and she ignored her, she would still be angry and resentful. The west family was just one source of the problem.
"Alright, I'm tired."