The little dark guard who travels between two lives

The emperor went to the Empress Dowager's Cining Palace. As soon as he entered, he saw the Empress Dowager sitting on the couch with an angry look on her face. Just now, the chief eunuch had come in person and told the Empress Dowager everything that happened in Kunning Palace.

The more the empress dowager listened, the angrier she became. First, she was angry that Shen Yining was useless. She had just been released from house arrest not long ago, but she had already made another mistake and had completely forgotten her teachings. Second, she was angry that the emperor did not give the Shen family any face at all and directly demoted Shen Yining to a concubine without a title. This was a blatant slap in the face of the Shen family.

The empress dowager was getting angry when she saw the emperor coming in. She looked at him coldly. This was her adopted son whom she had supported. In the ever-changing palace, the mother and son had gone through ups and downs together to reach the pinnacle of power. Now that her son has firmly sat on the throne, he wants to take action against the Shen family.

The emperor walked forward and respectfully greeted the queen mother. The queen mother said coldly: "The emperor has grown powerful and no longer takes my mother seriously. May I ask when the emperor will punish me again?"

The emperor knelt down immediately: "My son, I don't dare!" The queen mother asked the emperor: "Why don't you dare? Aren't you already sharpening your knife to attack the Shen family?"

The Queen Mother became angrier and angrier as she spoke: "Today, for the sake of a minister's wife, the position of Imperial Concubine was abolished, and she became a concubine without even a title. How will the world view the Shen family? Today she is Imperial Concubine, but tomorrow it may be my turn!"

The emperor looked up at the queen mother and said, "May I ask, mother, are you the queen mother of the Shen family or the queen mother of my Xiao family?"

The Queen Mother was choked by the Emperor's question and was speechless. She pointed at the Emperor and coughed several times in anger. The Emperor stood up and came to the Queen Mother, gently patted her back, and comforted her softly: "Mother, you have raised and supported me, and I have never dared to forget it. But my throne is protected by loyal ministers like Qin Mingxuan. If it weren't for the ministers working hard for state affairs, could we, mother and son, sit firmly on the throne?"

The Queen Mother pushed the Emperor's arm away angrily. The Emperor continued, "The Imperial Concubine has been causing trouble for Madam Qin one after another. Today, she was even more disrespectful to the Queen in front of all the concubines in the palace. If I don't punish the Imperial Concubine, how can I appease the officials? Who will be loyal to me in the future? Will I be left alone?"

The emperor brought a glass of water to the queen mother and continued, "My queen mother said that I attacked the Shen family. I never thought of attacking the Shen family. What I want to deal with is the treacherous officials and villains who are detrimental to the country. Regardless of whether they are members of the Shen family or not, I will punish them anyway."

When the Queen Mother heard the word "traitor", her whole body froze. She looked at the Emperor: "Traitor, you mean..." The Emperor said to the Queen Mother calmly: "Don't ask, mother. I am investigating. It is hard to say who the traitor is."

"I just want to tell you that the late emperor handed the country to me, and I will never allow anyone to harm or interfere with my country. I also ask you to always remember that from the day you entered the palace, you are a member of the Xiao family. You should worry about the Xiao family's world instead of just remembering the Shen family."

The Queen Mother stared at the Emperor blankly, her heart cold. The timid child who had clung to her side had already grown into a brave and decisive ruler.

The Queen Mother sighed and stopped looking at the Emperor. She looked out the window sadly and asked in a low voice, "I just want to remind the Emperor that Yining is a careless person who knows nothing. The Emperor should at least not treat her harshly for the sake of her giving birth to Jingyu for you. In addition, I only want to ask, if one day, the Emperor can let my entire Shen family go?"

The Emperor looked at the Queen Mother and assured her: "Princess Shen is Jingyu's mother, and this will never change. As long as she does not do wrong again, I will treat her well. As for the Shen family, I can assure you that one day I will only hold the guilty accountable and will never implicate the innocent. You can rest assured."

The Queen Mother closed her eyes and waved her hand feebly: "Your Majesty, please go and do your work. You don't have to worry about me. I'm tired and need to take a good rest."

The emperor wanted to say something else, but seeing that the empress dowager was unwilling to open her eyes to look at him, he could only bow and salute, then walked out of the Cining Palace.

The emperor walked out of the Cining Palace in a depressed mood. He did not get on the sedan chair but walked slowly and aimlessly along the palace wall. He recalled that he was adopted by the empress dowager when he was young. From then on, he was no longer the little invisible prince in the palace. Someone protected him, someone cared for him and loved him. In the end, it was the empress dowager who worked hard to push him onto the throne.

Thinking of all this, the emperor felt warm in his heart. He was grateful for the empress dowager's upbringing and support, so over the years, no matter how powerful the Shen family was in the capital and in the court, the emperor turned a blind eye.

Unfortunately, people are greedy. Shen Taiwei's ambition is no longer satisfied with being an idle and wealthy relative. He wants too much. As he just said to the Queen Mother, wealth can be given, and a little power can be given, but the country will never be allowed to be easily interfered with by others.

If General Shen insists on having his own way, then I will never leave my kingdom alone. When that time comes, I can only let the innocent people of the Shen family go as I promised to the Queen Mother.

Unconsciously, the emperor looked up and found himself in Kunning Palace again. The chief eunuch came forward and asked the emperor: "Your Majesty, do you need me to inform the queen?"

The emperor waved his hand, lifted his robe and walked into Kunning Palace. Qin Mingxuan should have gone back with his wife and children, and the other concubines had also returned to their respective palaces. Kunning Palace was quiet.

The emperor walked along, signaled the palace maids and eunuchs to keep quiet, and walked to the door of the queen's main hall. He heard the concubine talking to the queen inside.

"Shen Yining is really crazy. She can say anything. The Empress is too good-tempered. She lets her make up things about the Empress at will. She should be slapped in the face for saying things like the Empress has never given birth to a child. It's all because of the Emperor that she spoiled him." This was Concubine Shu complaining to the Empress. Concubine Shu was always outspoken.

The last sentence made the emperor outside the door touch his nose a little embarrassed. The eunuchs including the chief eunuch lowered their heads quickly, pretending that they had not heard anything.

"Don't talk about the emperor behind his back. He always has such a hot temper and won't change. Let her say whatever she wants. I really haven't given birth to a child. There's nothing to mind about it." The queen's voice was always gentle, neither surprised nor angry, as if she was talking about someone else's business.

Seeing the Queen's casual attitude, Concubine Shu's anger suddenly dissipated. She looked around the palace to see if there was anyone there, and asked timidly, "Queen, was the bowl of medicine given by the Emperor before you entered the palace, or was it forced by your family?"

Concubine Shu was still not sure if there was really a woman in this world who would willingly give up her right to be a mother. She always felt that someone was forcing the Queen.

The queen chuckled and said, "What are you thinking? No one forced me." At this point, the queen was a little stunned and continued, "I forced myself to drink a bowl of medicine and cut off everything. This is what I wanted. I don't regret it."

Concubine Shu was speechless when she saw the queen like this. She couldn't say anything more. But she still didn't understand what the queen wanted to end, and why she used such a decisive method, and why the queen said she wanted to force herself.

Concubine Shu couldn't figure it out, so she could only sigh, "Your Majesty, I don't understand why the Emperor doesn't get close to the Empress. Your Majesty is such a good person, but the Emperor would rather pamper that arrogant fool and throw a pearl like your Majesty aside. Does he really think you are the prince's wet nurse?"

Seeing that she was getting more and more outrageous, the Queen smiled and patted Concubine Shu's head: "Well, if the Emperor hears you talking nonsense again, do you want to be confined to your room?"

Concubine Shu also laughed: "I heard it, if the Imperial Concubine can be confined to the Empress Dowager's Palace, then why not confine me to the Queen's Palace as well? That's exactly what I want."

The queen glared at him and said, "You are talking nonsense again. I don't want you and the third prince to make a scene under my nose all day long. It's giving me a headache. Okay, stop talking nonsense. Help me take a look at these things. I will ask Ziyuan to send them to Lord Qin's mansion later."

Concubine Shu stood up and walked to the table. She looked through the things the queen had prepared while muttering, "When the emperor's favorite concubine gets into trouble, you, the queen, have to help the emperor clean up the mess every time. Why?"

Concubine Shu turned her head to look at the Queen and complained to her: "You are the only one in the whole palace who is always thinking about this and that for the Emperor. It's a pity that the Emperor is so blind!"

The last two words were obviously glared at by the Queen, so she lowered her voice a lot. The eunuch stood beside the Emperor, listening to Concubine Shu muttering and scolding the Emperor, and he wished he could bury his head in the ground.

The Empress Shufei has always been fearless of the Emperor, so only the Empress Shufei dares to say such things. The Empress dares to say it, but the servants dare not listen.

The chief eunuch quietly waved his hand, signaling the eunuchs and palace maids behind him to stand far away, to prevent the Concubine Shu from saying anything shocking.

As expected, Concubine Shu continued to mutter, "Your Majesty, tell me, what are you after? The Crown Prince is grown up now and doesn't need you anymore. The Emperor even thinks you don't come to your palace often. Those shallow-minded people say that you, the Queen, are not favored!"

"Look at the kind of people the emperor favors. Shen Yining is obsessed with someone else's husband and is always looking for trouble with other people's wives. Isn't this crazy? Yet the emperor still pampers her like a treasure."

"That Concubine Xi, she pretends to be a good person every day, not offending anyone, but she has her own little calculations in her mind, and I don't know why she is thinking of using her own son to squeeze out the crown prince and take the throne!"

"As for those noble ladies and beauties, there aren't many good ones. They only think about competing for favor all day long. Once this noble concubine falls, I don't know how many people will be ready to make a move!"

The Empress touched Concubine Shu's forehead and said with a smile: "Let me see, you have a fever. Why are you talking nonsense here today? You are really not afraid of death!"

Concubine Shu also smiled and dodged the Queen's hand, chuckling: "Your Majesty also knows how I entered the palace. The Emperor was worried about my father holding military power at the border, so he simply summoned me to the palace and gave me a high position to contain my father. Anyway, my father will not rebel, so I can live peacefully in the palace, and the Emperor will not want my life."

The Queen sighed, then said quietly, "According to what you said, there is no one in the palace who truly treats him." Concubine Shu curled her lips, "Anyway, I didn't see it. Maybe the Emperor likes it this way. The Emperor would be happy to see the palace full of beautiful women. Your Majesty, what about you? Do you like this palace?"

The emperor was standing at the door and heard Concubine Shu ask this question. He listened attentively to the queen's answer for a long time. He only heard the queen sigh and no more sound.

The eunuch saw the emperor standing outside the door for a long time without moving. He looked up and tentatively called out "Your Majesty". The emperor seemed to be suddenly awakened, gave the eunuch a bitter smile, waved his hand gently, turned around and walked out of Kunning Palace.

The emperor was still walking in the palace like a wandering soul, still thinking about what Concubine Shu had just said. The queen was a bright pearl, he had known it for a long time, the emperor still remembered the queen smiling sweetly under the plum tree, that bright smile was unforgettable to the emperor.

When the empress was sent to the palace by her family to replace her deceased elder sister as the heir, the emperor remembered that he was delighted and full of expectations.

However, a bowl of medicine given by the Queen Mother turned the Emperor's joy into bone-chilling cold. It turned out that she was unwilling to enter the palace and she was unwilling to have children with him.

She was only doing it for her family and the prince. The emperor gave up all thoughts and treated the queen with respect and courtesy, but never dared to get close to her.

The emperor doted on the imperial concubine only because she looked very much like the empress under the plum tree when she smiled. Since the empress entered the palace, the emperor had never seen a smile like that from her.

The emperor thought of the queen's sigh, "There is no one in the palace who treats him sincerely." The emperor couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had already cleared up this fact. Since the day he took the throne, he knew that he could not expect a pure relationship like ordinary people.

The emperor still remembered that he had once dreamed of a true love, so he begged his mother to marry the one he loved as he wished. But his mother's words shattered his dream.

The queen mother told him solemnly that if he wanted to marry the one he loved, he had to give up the throne that was about to be his. If he wanted the throne, he had to obey the late emperor's marriage and please him. The queen mother also told him how hard it was for them to get to this point. If he disobeyed the order, everything would be in vain. The queen mother asked him if he was willing.

The emperor thought of his decision back then. Even now, he didn't know if his choice was right. He just didn't dare to face the woman he loved anymore. Even though she entered the palace and stayed by his side, he still didn't dare to face her. Because he gave up on her because he wanted the throne, even though she didn't know that he loved her so much.

Sometimes the emperor even thought that it was a good thing that the queen didn't like him either, otherwise he would not be able to face her. Since the queen didn't like him, he would just watch her from afar, ensure that she lived a happy life in the palace, and pass the throne to the prince in the future.

She raised the prince, and the prince would definitely treat her well. In this way, she would be the supreme queen mother in the palace in the future. Even if she died early, she would be able to live a peaceful and wealthy life. This was enough.