Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 35 Queen He’s Discipline

As Zhu Jun left, he kept looking back, his eyes filled with deep gratitude for the prince's kindness. Liu Bian looked at Zhu Jun's receding figure, and an inexplicable joy welled up in his heart.

Just with a thought, you can decide the fate of others. Even if you don't completely trust this person, they will still be grateful to you. The feeling of holding power and having the power of life and death is truly wonderful.

Just as Liu Bian was intoxicated with the wonderful taste brought by power, a young eunuch, led by Xu Ding, hurried into the hall with a panicked look.

Liu Bian's eyes fell on the eunuch and he asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

The eunuch hurriedly bowed in a flustered and hurried manner, practically falling to his knees. His voice trembled as he replied, "I am Zhao Zhuo, the adopted son of the Grand Chamberlain. My adoptive father has sent me to inform the Crown Prince that the Empress's carriage is already on its way to Yong'an Palace."

Liu Bian frowned slightly, wondering why Empress He had come here at this time. Even if it was an important matter, common sense would have called her son to come. How could a mother come to the East Palace to see her son in person?

"Tell me in detail why the Queen Mother suddenly came to the Eastern Palace?" Liu Bian fixed his eyes on the eunuch and asked.

The eunuch didn't dare to hide anything and told the whole story, "This morning the Queen summoned the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor and the wife of the Governor of Xuzhou. The wife of the Governor of Xuzhou congratulated Your Highness on the engagement with the daughter of the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor."

Liu Bian immediately understood that it was the empress's duty to summon all officials and their wives and concubines to comfort them on behalf of the emperor. Empress He wanted to comfort the families of Lu Zhi and Cai Yong, two important officials of the court who had just been appointed as governors of various provinces, on his behalf.

"What happens next?" Liu Bian asked impatiently.

Just as the eunuch was about to continue, a half-smiling voice entered the hall. Empress He, dressed in a scarlet phoenix robe, slowly stepped into the palace. The robe embroidered with golden phoenixes swayed gently with her steps, and the pearls adorning the phoenix crown also swayed gently, making a crisp sound of pearls and jade clashing. Empress He glanced at the eunuch with her sharp phoenix eyes and said, "Yes, what do you think next?"

The eunuch was terrified, his legs weakened, and he fell to his knees with a plop. He placed his hands on the ground, his forehead pressed against the ground, and begged for mercy in a sobbing voice: "This servant deserves to die, this servant deserves to die, please forgive me, Queen."

However, Empress He turned a deaf ear to his pleas for mercy, waved her hand lightly, and someone came forward, dragged the trembling eunuch out and beat him to death with a stick.

Afterwards, Empress He dismissed all the eunuchs and palace maids, leaving only the mother and son alone in the palace.

Seeing that there was no one else in the palace, Empress He's beautiful face showed a cold expression: "Your Highness the Crown Prince is so arrogant that he even secretly entered into an engagement with someone without consulting his own mother."

When Liu Bian heard this, his heart tightened and he lowered his head guiltily, not daring to look directly at Empress He's face.

Until the eunuch who tipped him off arrived, he hadn't thought anything was wrong with the matter. Only then did he finally wake up. His parents' words and the matchmaker's orders were final. Even though Empress He always doted on him, he couldn't make a decision on his own. This would be an act of great filial piety.

"Mother, I was wrong." Liu Bian stepped forward and hugged Queen He's slender arms tightly, with a hint of pleading in his voice.

Empress He shook her arms in annoyance, trying to break free, but Liu Bian held her even tighter, swaying from side to side, tilting his head, and shouting "Mother" in a long voice, looking like he was acting like a spoiled child.

"Mother, I really don't mean to disrespect you. It's just that I have been too busy these days. I even had to postpone my bedtime for an hour. As a result, I forgot to discuss it with you." Liu Bian said as he carefully observed Queen He's expression.

Upon hearing this, the anger in Empress He's phoenix eyes immediately dissipated a lot. She looked at her son who had become a little thinner than usual after just over a month in power, and her heart softened all of a sudden, and a trace of heartache flashed in her phoenix eyes.

Sensing Empress He's reaction, Liu Bian continued, "Mother, please forgive me. This will never happen again." "Hmph." Empress He snorted softly, shaking her hand but not letting go of Liu Bian. She pursed her red lips slightly and said in a feigned stern tone, "I'll forgive you this time, but if it happens again, I will not let you off lightly."

Although she said this, she could not hide the love and heartache in Empress He's eyes.

In fact, how could she care about these things with her son? Liu Bian is everything to her now, and she can't dote on him enough.

But recently, she has been feeling insecure for some unknown reason.

After all, this son had lived in a Taoist temple since he was a child and was raised by Taoist priests, rather than being taken care of by her as a mother. Therefore, she doted on Liu Bian even more, wanting to make up for the lack of companionship over the years, but she was also more worried that her son was not close to her in his heart.

What you think about during the day you will dream about at night. Empress He has dreamed several times that her son has a wife and has forgotten his mother.

After thinking about it, I can understand why Empress Dowager Dong hated her so much. If it were her, she would also hate that such a beautiful and favored queen occupied her son's heart. She would worry that her son only had the queen in his heart and not her, the empress dowager, and she would be lonely and cold in her old age and no one would care about her.

In the final analysis, what she cared about was only her position in her son's heart.

If Liu Bian quarreled with her or had a cold war with her, she would be sad, helpless, and cry, but she would never go against her son and force him to take back his promise to Xun Shuang.

Her brother He Jin had hinted to her that she could learn from the Dou family, where the empress dowager and the general controlled the imperial power, but she did not have such ambition, and she could not bear to seize the power that her son had worked so hard to win.

This is the son she gave birth to after ten months of pregnancy, the son she poured all her love into.

She would be disappointed and sad, but she would never hurt her son.

Just now, when she saw her son was in a state of confusion because of her anger, with guilt and pleading in his eyes, she understood that no matter how many beauties Liu Bian had in the future, he would never forget his mother. All this was just her worrying over nothing.

"Your Majesty will summon the daughter of the Crown Prince's tutor to the palace in the next few days to offer her condolences and to check on you." Empress He lovingly stroked the head of this son who had not disappointed her. Her delicate, jade-like fingers gently stroked his jet-black hair as she spoke tenderly, "Actually, marrying Duke Ciming's eldest daughter would be a good idea. It would also further consolidate my son's position."

"But before that, my son still needs to consider the official positions of your two uncles."

Liu Bian nodded. He knew that this time Queen He was no longer persuading him from the perspective of a girl from the He family, but was genuinely considering him as the crown prince from the perspective of a queen.

The Crown Prince has been in power for over a month but has not bestowed titles on his relatives. This may make people think that the Crown Prince is selfless, but it will inevitably discourage some people who want to serve him.

Becoming the prince's confidants is to gain the prince's favor and make promotion smoother, but even relatives cannot be promoted, so what about outsiders like them?
Just like a person who is not filial to his parents, how can you expect him to be loyal to his superiors, loving to his wife, and loyal to his friends?
"I have made a decision. The Secretariat will inform all officials tomorrow."

Liu Bian had already made up his mind, and the relationship between mother and son became increasingly harmonious. No one remembered the eunuch who was beaten to death for tipping off Liu Bian on behalf of Zhao Zhong.

There were thousands of eunuchs and maids in the palace, and the death of just a eunuch wouldn't even make a splash.

(End of this chapter)