Bring a scumbag girl to bully me, and you are afraid of using modern weapons.

But when you think about the fact that she had lived through two generations of emperors, anyone with even a little less wisdom and ability would have found it hard to survive until now.

The empress dowager came from the Zong Zheng family and was married to the late emperor, who was still a prince at the time.

The late emperor had a strong desire for power. For him, a woman was only important as long as she could bring him benefits. He wanted to marry her only because of the power of Zong Zheng's family. But didn't the empress dowager also bear the interests of her natal family?

The two people came together for their own interests and there was no affection between them at all.

When she married the late emperor, there were already many women and even several children in the backyard of the palace. The palace fighting began on the first day she entered the palace.

With the support of the Zong Zheng family, the late emperor began to plan to seize that high position.

A year later, on the night of the emperor's death, the three princes participated in the fight for the throne. The three forces were evenly matched, and the sounds of fighting and killing coming from the palace made people in the entire Shengjing tremble with fear.

As soon as the fight broke out in the palace, the prince's mansion was surrounded, and they wanted to capture the people in the mansion to threaten the late emperor.

But the Queen Mother had made preparations in advance and took the people in the palace to move through the secret passage, but they were still discovered by the enemy family and were hunted down. Many women and children in the palace died.

Under the desperate protection of the palace guards, she escaped for a night. During that time, the empress dowager was shot in the abdomen, and her three-month-old child was gone. She also lost the qualification to be a mother forever.

Fortunately, the late emperor won the battle in the end and took the throne. Zong Zheng's family had the greatest contribution because of his loyalty to the emperor. Although the empress dowager could no longer give birth, the late emperor had to make her the empress and make Emperor Kunming the crown prince.

Emperor Kunming was not the Empress Dowager's biological son. His biological mother was killed by her enemies during the escape in the fight for the throne. He was only two months old at the time. The late emperor raised him under the Empress Dowager's name. The Empress Dowager also treated him as her own son and taught him to the best of her ability.

But when Emperor Kunming was ten years old, the previous emperor suddenly fell seriously ill, and the court, which had been peaceful for ten years, was once again plunged into bloody turmoil.

The late emperor, fearing the power of the Zong Zheng family, wanted to depose the crown prince before his death and wanted to appoint the son of his favorite concubine as the heir apparent. This immediately caused disputes in the court, and the concubines of the princes all became restless.

Deposing the crown prince is equivalent to deposing the empress dowager. The late emperor wanted her to die.

However, how could the Queen Mother and the Zong Zheng family just sit there and wait for death?

On that day, as soon as the civil and military officials arrived for court, the late emperor ordered the palace gates to be sealed and summoned several of his most trusted ministers to his bedroom, preparing to entrust his orphan to the care of the prince, hoping that the prince would ascend the throne before he could die in peace.

After hearing the news, the empress dowager showed her iron-fisted approach. She wrote a secret letter and had someone send it through a secret passage, allowing her maternal brother to control the entire Shengjing. She used the power she had secretly cultivated in the palace, led Emperor Kunming to the previous emperor's bedroom, and directly killed those ministers.

She looked at the late emperor lying on the bed, barely breathing, and said coldly:

"Since my Zong Zheng family was able to help you ascend to the throne, we were not afraid that one day you would abandon me. Emperor, if you are ungrateful, don't blame me for being ruthless."

"How dare you...you want to rebel..." The late emperor pointed at her and was so angry that he vomited blood on the spot.

"Rebellion, what's wrong with that? Your Majesty's throne was obtained without proper authority and without proper reason."

The Queen Mother left after she finished speaking, holding a sword in one hand and holding Emperor Kunming's hand in the other, and led her trusted team straight into the Golden Palace, killing anyone who stood in her way.

In the Golden Palace, the prince who was named the crown prince by the late emperor, wearing a dragon robe, sat on the dragon throne surrounded by his mother's relatives and supporting ministers.

The concubine took two imperial edicts and read them out in front of all the civil and military officials.

The first imperial edict was to depose the crown prince; the second was to appoint her son as the crown prince, and to ascend the throne as emperor today.

The Queen Mother's eyes were fierce. She drew her bow and shot the favorite concubine to death. The imperial edict in her hand fell to the ground, and the child was frightened and burst into tears.

"Kill him for me!" The Queen Mother gave an order and hundreds of arrows were fired.

After a volley of arrows, all the villains in the hall were eliminated, and the prince was shot to death in the melee.

When the late emperor heard that the Empress Dowager and the Zong Zheng family had rebelled and killed the mother and son, he was so angry that he cursed the vicious woman several times and then passed away.

Emperor Kunming ascended the throne at the age of ten, and the empress dowager ruled the country from behind the scenes, controlling the entire government.

The Queen Mother was adept at governing the country and had a good grasp of strategy. She had profound political experience and outstanding wisdom. She strategized in the court, punished treacherous officials, and resolved one crisis after another, gradually stabilizing the court.

Those concubines who once had ulterior motives and were ready to make moves gradually curbed their ambitions.

It was not until Emperor Kunming was eighteen years old and had established his position in the court that the empress dowager felt comfortable handing over all government affairs to him.

In other words, without the assistance of the Queen Mother and the Zong Zheng family, there would be no Emperor Kunming today!

That day, Beitang Yuan and Xie Jinglan chatted with the empress dowager for a long time, and they did not leave Shouning Palace until after dinner.

That night, Xie Wanying went into seclusion to practice.

The next day, when Xie Jinglan was examining the little girl, eunuch Wang from the palace came to deliver the bounty given by Emperor Kunming.

She was rewarded with 20,000 taels of gold for her contribution in saving the empress dowager.

After Eunuch Wang left, Xie Jinglan prescribed some more medicine and gave it to the old woman along with a hundred taels of silver, saying, "Old lady, the child's illness is almost cured. You can keep these medicines and silver and go home now."

The old woman looked at the medicine and silver but didn't take them. She suddenly knelt down to her and said, "Miss, I have no home anymore. If I carry such a large sum of money with me, I'm afraid it will be stolen. If you really pity me and my child, please let us stay in your house!"

I can still do some work, I just want a place to stay in the mansion to shelter from the wind and rain and for my children to have something to eat."

"This..." Xie Jinglan looked at the grandmother and her granddaughter. The old one was already over fifty years old, and the little girl was only three years old. They were helpless and didn't even have a place to live. She was afraid that the old woman would be gone before the little girl grew up.

"You can stay. What are your names?"

"My husband's surname was Xia. My husband died before he was thirty because the family was so poor that they could barely make ends meet. Three months ago, my son went hunting in the mountains and fell off a cliff. He died there too. My daughter-in-law was taken away by her brother and sold to an old bachelor for two taels of silver.

As a last resort, the old woman had to bring her granddaughter to seek refuge with her brother who was doing small business in Shengjing, but she couldn’t find him…” When the old woman said this, she covered her face and cried.

"In that case, this will be your home from now on. Just live here with peace of mind!" Xie Jinglan felt really sorry for them, but there were still many homeless people like them in this Guangyuan Continent.

After arranging the affairs with the grandmother-in-law Xia and her grandson, Xie Jinglan asked Xie Xue to prepare some gifts, as she wanted to visit Master Fang.

But before they left the house, someone came to report that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Master Fang had arrived.

Xie Jinglan was surprised and hurried to the front yard to greet him.