Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

The warm sun shines on the Daming Palace, and cicadas chirp noisily in the Imperial Garden.

Wu Meiniang gently waved a round fan, and her plain gauze skirt brushed against the moss on the bluestone slabs. The sound of the sandalwood wheelchair rolling over gravel startled the white-headed bunting perched on the flower stand.

Li Zhi's body, wrapped in a bright yellow cloak with dragon patterns, trembled slightly. His bony fingers tightly grasped the armrest of the wheelchair. His cuffs embroidered with gold thread slipped down, revealing the dense acupuncture marks on his wrists.

"Mei Niang, I have been playing here since I was a child." His voice seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his throat.

"One year during the Lantern Festival, we released river lanterns here..."

Before he could finish his words, a violent cough tore through the air and he hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief.

Wu Meiniang's eyelashes trembled slightly, and the memory of the Lantern Festival one year suddenly came to mind.

At that time, she was still a palace maid in the Ye Ting Palace. Through the layers of palace walls, she saw the then Crown Prince Li Chengqian and Li Zhi reciting poems with the kings in the Liushang Pavilion.

Now the Jiuqu River below the pavilion has dried up, with only a few koi fish struggling among the withered lotus leaves.

"Your Majesty, it's time to take a rest." She reached out to take the handkerchief, but Li Zhi waved his hand to stop her.

The emperor's cloudy gaze swept across the blossoms in the garden, finally landing on the century-old plum tree: "I, too, have grown from a young man to an old man now."

The withered finger pointed at the plum tree, "Do you remember the heavy snow in the fifth year of Xianqing? You braved the snow to bring me ginseng soup, and fell under this tree, covered in mud..."

He suddenly laughed, and there was an indescribable desolation in his laughter, which shook off a few withering cherry blossoms and landed in his hair.

A bitter taste rose in Wu Meiniang's throat.

Looking at the haggard emperor in front of her, she remembered the warmth of his palm when he held her hand and inserted the phoenix hairpin into her hair.

"You all stand down."

Li Zhi suddenly said.

The Imperial Garden fell into an eerie silence.

He grabbed Wu Meiniang's wrist.

"Mei Niang, I haven't looked at you properly for a long time!"

Wu Meiniang looked at the crazy flames in Li Zhi's eyes.

"Your Majesty will be fine."

"In the future, you can keep watching!"

She whispered, her voice smooth as silk.

"Get better?" Li Zhi smiled.

"I will not get better. My end is near. I know it in my heart."

She slowly knelt down, her oriental pearl tassels dangling before her eyes, fragmenting Li Zhi's face into fragmented light and shadow. "Your Majesty, you are too kind."

"Are you being too kind?"

"Mei Niang, do you have anything to say to me?"

Li Zhi looked at Wu Meiniang in front of him with questioning eyes.

"Your Majesty, I have nothing to say to you."

Li Zhi panted heavily as he pulled out a bright yellow imperial edict from his bosom. The red seal on the dragon and phoenix patterned seal had faded. "This is the imperial edict to succeed the throne. Xian'er will be made emperor and will succeed him in front of the coffin."

He slapped the edict on her knee with his fingers, "Here!"

"Your Majesty..." Her voice trembled slightly, "Does this imperial edict require me to be buried alive with you?"

"Look, Mei Niang, don't you have something to say?" His fingers stroked her cheek.

"A good lie is always seven parts truth and three parts falsehood."

Suddenly, his thumb gently pinched her jaw. "Just like when you said to me, 'I would die for Your Majesty,' the fire burning in your eyes was much brighter than it is now."

This sentence seemed to have exhausted Li Zhi's last bit of strength.

He slumped in his wheelchair, his chest heaving violently. "I have written eight copies of the will."

"They are left in Taiji Palace, Daming Palace, and Luoyang Palace respectively..." His coughing voice became intermittent as he spoke again. "And you will never find those places, just like you will never be able to guess who I hope will inherit the throne."

"Look into my eyes!" Li Zhi suddenly grabbed her shoulders.

"Promise me that you will protect the Tang Dynasty!"

The last rays of light flickered in his pupils. They were the starlight of the late Qianwu years and the rising sun of the Yonghui era, but now they were about to go out in the twilight of the imperial garden.

Wu Meiniang straightened her back, her oriental pearl headdress gleaming with a cold light: "I will definitely live up to your Majesty's trust."

Her voice was as calm as a deep pool, but it made Li Zhi's tense body gradually relax.

He leaned back in his wheelchair, as if he had returned to his carefree youth.

"In the secret compartment of the Liangyi Palace, there are twelve blank edicts..." His voice became softer and softer, "You can... fill in any name you like..."

"With Hong'er dead, it doesn't matter who is next in line. I can see these children are not capable of carrying the responsibilities of the Tang Dynasty."

“We can only look forward to our grandchildren.”

"You hold great power, so you can follow the example of Lü Zhi and rule from behind the curtain."

Li Zhi closed his eyes.

"Mei Niang, we have worked hard along the way. I need to rest first."

"You still don't have anything to say to me?"

"I don't have much time to let you feel entangled."

She looked at Li Zhi's face. The once handsome face had now been eroded beyond recognition by time and illness.

Thinking back to their more than twenty years of companionship, from their reunion in Ganye Temple, to the power struggles in the harem, to their joint governance of the world, only the two of them knew the ups and downs involved.

"Your Majesty, do you still remember?"

"Your Majesty said he would take me to see the prosperity of the world." Her gaze passed Li Zhi and cast towards the vast world outside the imperial garden. "Now, this world, your majesty, I will guard."

"I have a lot to say to Your Majesty, but I don't know how to say it."

"Your Majesty, I am afraid that Your Majesty will want me to be buried with you. However, our child is still young, and I cannot go with Your Majesty yet."

Li Zhi shook his head.

"Mei Niang, now that things have come to this, you...ah."

Li Zhi sighed.

"The sun and the moon are in the same sky, the two saints are in power, and now, I am handing this country over to you. Don't you understand what I mean?"

"Why, you said you were afraid that your thoughts were too shocking, and that if you said them out loud, I would have to take you with me?"

"Empress, why don't you dare to tell me what's on your mind?"

"If you don't tell me, how can I help you?"

Wu Meiniang looked a little flustered.

Li Zhi's eyes seemed to see through all her inner thoughts.

"You want to be the emperor, right?"

Li Zhi gently leaned over.

He put his mouth close to Wu Meiniang's ear and whispered softly.

When Wu Meiniang heard Li Zhi's words, thunder seemed to surge in her mind.

She subconsciously wanted to act as if she didn't dare, but for some reason, a surge of anger suddenly surged in her heart.

Looking at Li Zhi in front of her, she could no longer remain rational.

She met his gaze seriously.

From this moment on, they seemed to be at loggerheads with each other, like the sun and the moon in the same sky.

"Your Majesty, why have emperors throughout the world always been men?"

"Why can't a woman be the emperor?"