The prince loves me like his life, but I force him to rebel

The two of them took a short rest in the cave, waiting for the morning sun to come in, and then they came out of the rockery while there was no one around.

"You go back first. I'll go pay my respects to my mother."

When he arrived at Renxin Hall, Sima Yao was surprised to see the emperor's personal eunuch Zhuo Dehai standing outside his mother's bedroom.

Zhuo Dehai stepped forward and stopped Sima Yao.

"Third Prince, the Emperor is still inside."

Sima Yao stopped.

"You haven't gotten up yet? Isn't your father going to the morning court today?"

"After the emperor stood up, he had an unbearable headache and severe tinnitus. Concubine De is treating him now. We will make arrangements based on the emperor's physical condition after the treatment."

As she was speaking, Concubine De opened the door and waved to Sima Yao.

"Yao'er, your father is calling you."

Sima Yao walked over in a few steps, and Concubine De closed the door behind him.

The room was filled with a faint fragrance. The emperor was lying on a soft couch with silver needles inserted into multiple acupuncture points on his head.

"Are you here to pay your respects to your mother?" The emperor drooped his eyelids and glanced at Sima Yao sideways.

"Yes, Father, I haven't seen Mother for nearly ten years. I want to spend more time with Mother when I have time these days to comfort my longing for her."

"Please help me persuade your mother not to leave the palace again..."

Sima Yao was quite surprised by the emperor's words.

He slowly looked at Concubine De beside him, his eyes full of surprise.

"Mother, you still want to leave? Why?"

Concubine De sighed and did not answer.

She walked to the emperor, knelt beside him, and gently took the emperor's hand.

"Your Majesty, I am examining you now. Let's put these things aside for now. We can talk slowly another day, okay?"

"If the love between us can't keep you, Yao'er is your own flesh and blood that you carried for ten months. He can always keep you, right? Don't you want to see him get married and have children? Don't you want to enjoy the company of my grandchildren?"

The emperor actually sat up from the couch.

"Your Majesty." Concubine De's tone was full of reproach, "Don't move during acupuncture. I have told you many times."

Although she complained, her hands were extremely gentle as Defei carefully removed the silver needles from the emperor's head one by one.

Afterwards, Concubine De took the emperor's pulse again.

"Is your headache better now?"

"It's definitely not as painful as before."

"The ringing in my ears has improved."

"It didn't disappear completely, but the sound became very small and you couldn't hear it unless you were paying attention."

Sima Yao stood there in a daze, watching the scene before her. She didn't understand why Concubine De insisted on leaving the palace again when she clearly cared about the Emperor.

Outside the door, Zhuo Dehai asked in a low voice: "Your Majesty, all the civil and military officials in the court are asking whether to cancel the morning court today..."

The emperor stood up.

"Get ready and go to court."

After the emperor left, only mother and son were left in the room.

Neither of them spoke, and there was only silence in the air.

After a while, Sima Yao finally couldn't help it.

"Mother, are you really going to leave?"

"Yes. After I have made the emperor better, I would like to continue my travels outside the palace."

Sima Yao didn't believe it.

Although the palace was not so comfortable, he was doted on by the Emperor and his son was filial, so he really couldn't think of any reason why his mother had to leave.

The only thing he could think of was that his mother might have encountered a similar situation as she did that year.

"But someone threatened you?"

Defei slowly turned around, withdrew her gaze from the window and fixed it on Sima Yao.

"I have seen the vast world outside, and I really can't stay in the palace."

"Mother! My son has grown up now. I have the means to protect you. You don't have to leave for my safety like you did back then."

Concubine De walked up to Sima Yao and took his hand.

"How can there be any safety in the palace? It may seem impregnable, but there are hidden dangers everywhere."

"I just want to be a leisurely prince, no one will..."

"Yao'er! How could you be so confused? Before, when the crown prince was in power, you could protect yourself. But now, the crown prince has passed away, and there is no one in the palace to take care of you. What's more frightening is that the crown prince's position is vacant. Even if you don't fight for it, the second prince and his party will never let you go."

"Since the palace is so dangerous, my son needs his mother to be in the palace even more."

"Me?" Concubine De smiled. "The Bai family is very powerful. Why should I compete with them? Moreover, in their eyes, I must be returning to the palace to help you fight for the position of Crown Prince. They will only be more ruthless to you. If I leave and you ask to leave Beijing, maybe we can still live a peaceful life."

Sima Yao always felt that Defei's persuasion was a bit strange, as if she was worried that he would compete with the second prince for the position of crown prince.

He thought about what Bai Mo said to Shu Huaiyuan last night, and it seemed to be just as Concubine De worried.

Bai Mo privately meets Shu Huaiyuan with the purpose of letting Shu Huaiyuan put the blame of being the mastermind of the bombing on him, so that he will completely lose the possibility of competing for the position of crown prince.

But De Fei has been traveling among the common people for many years. She is just a simple female doctor. How could she see through the interests involved at a glance? Could it be that there has always been an expert behind her mother?

Sima Yao thought of the man he met in his childhood.

Under his persuasion, his mother chose to leave the palace to avoid being favored. Could it be that they still had close contacts after leaving the palace?

"Mother, do you want me to ask to leave the capital and guard the border?"

"This is the best. As long as everyone knows that my mother and I have no intention of fighting for the imperial power, we can live our lives in peace."

"My father is in his prime, how can there be a dispute over the imperial power? Even if there is a dispute over the position of crown prince, no one will dare to attack me as long as my father is here."

Sima Yao tried to comfort his mother, but saw that Concubine De's brows were furrowed even more tightly.

"In short, you must remember what mother has said recently. No matter what the circumstances are, no matter who your opponent is, you must not have unrealistic fantasies about the throne. You are kind-hearted and you will never be defeated."

Sima Yao felt very strange.

There seemed to be more to the mother's words.

The "opponent" in the fight for imperial power that she mentioned did not seem to be a general term, but a specific target, but that target did not seem to be referring to the second prince.

Sima Yao originally just wanted to pay his respects to his mother on the way, but he did not expect that the mother and son would chat for such a long time.

Although his mother's words left him with many questions, he thought that he had important matters to attend to and could not stay for long, so he said goodbye in a hurry and rushed back to Prince Yao's Palace.