The Return of the King: A Generation of Prodigies

Shen Tianjiao, who had returned to Yuxiu Palace after finishing the morning court, was now exhausted. She threw herself directly onto the beauty bed, without changing her clothes or removing her makeup, and just lay there with her legs spread out, not moving at all.

"Master, let me help you wash up." Chunchao had already prepared the things needed for washing up, but her master just lay there motionless.

Chunchao has been with Shen Tianjiao since she was a child. To be honest, she has never seen Shen Tianjiao like this. In her impression, Shen Tianjiao has always been dignified and quiet, and she will dress appropriately and maintain an elegant state even when there are no outsiders around. How could she have ever been like this now?

It seems that the previous dynasty was really not a place for people to stay. It even drove her good master crazy.

Qiong Niang walked to Chunchao, took the wet handkerchief from her hand, and motioned her to go downstairs and she would take care of the things here.

After dismissing the servants in the room, Qiong Niang sat aside and accompanied Shen Tianjiao silently.

After resting enough and regaining some strength, Shen Tianjiao straightened up and complained, "Oh my God, attending court is so exhausting. Not only do I have to listen to government affairs, but I also have to play tricks on those court officials, using both favors and threats. No wonder our emperor doesn't like attending court."

Qiong Niang smiled without saying anything, stood up, took a wet handkerchief and handed it to Shen Tianjiao. Shen Tianjiao took the handkerchief, wiped her face, and drank some tea. Only then did she feel better.

"You don't have to do these things in the future. Just let Chunchao and the others do it." Shen Tianjiao stood up and began to change clothes. The queen's court dress was exquisite and gorgeous, but it was too heavy. After wearing it for a long time, she felt uncomfortable all over.

Qiong Niang stepped forward to help Shen Tianjiao change into light clothes, "You don't have to worry about me, I don't have anything else to do right now."

After changing her clothes, Shen Tianjiao went back to her beauty bed and lay down. There were too many things today that she couldn't figure out.

"What's wrong? Is there something troubling you?" Qiong Niang looked at Shen Tianjiao and knew that she was worried.

"Oh." Shen Tianjiao turned over and continued to lie down. She looked up at Qiong Niang, whose appearance had been changed and could not be recognized at all, and expressed the doubts in her heart.

"Ever since Wang Yunzhi came to me and asked me to come out and take charge of court affairs, things have started to develop in an incredible and even bizarre direction."

"I feel more and more that something is wrong. It's as if someone planned everything and is manipulating the developments from behind."

Qiong Niang handed a piece of Yuntiao Su to Shen Tianjiao, "What's wrong? Tell me and we can analyze it together."

Shen Tianjiao stuffed the Yuntiao Su in her hand into her mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. "Eat slowly, don't choke." Qiong Niang was shocked by Shen Tianjiao's fierce action. She quickly brought her some tea.

Shen Tianjiao took a sip of tea to wash down the Yuntui Crisp in her mouth, patted her chest and sat up. "Wang Yunzhi is a lone minister, but his actions make me feel that he is doing this intentionally at the orders of someone else. He doesn't even listen to the emperor, but he surrendered so quickly in front of me. This is not in line with common sense, and it doesn't fit the image of a lone minister he has built up over the years."

"Also, the person serving in Zhenghe Hall today was Zhou Dehai. Huang Chunhua had already seized his power and squeezed him out of the center of power. Normally, he wouldn't appear in Zhenghe Hall again, but he happened to show up there and defended me when others were trying to embarrass me."

"Then there's Yuan You. Although he's a bit stubborn, he's not a fool. He knows how to judge the situation. Otherwise, even if he had the Empress Dowager's support, our Emperor wouldn't have let him off."

"But today he's like a madman, acting and speaking like he has no brains, step by step forcing himself into the web he has woven."

"I'm becoming increasingly uneasy. Who is manipulating all this?"

As Qiong Niang listened to Shen Tianjiao's narration, a person suddenly appeared in her mind, "The Grand Princess."

"What? Who?" In Shen Tianjiao's memory, she seemed to have no impression of this person.

"The heroic and powerful Princess Li Zhaohui is Li Rui's aunt and the eldest daughter of the late emperor." Qiong Niang grew up in Beijing. She had an aunt who was a concubine in the palace. When she was young, she often followed her mother into the palace, so she knew more palace secrets than Shen Tianjiao.

"The heroic Princess Li Chaohui?" Shen Tianjiao frowned, and a vague shadow appeared in her memory. It seemed that she had seen this person once, probably when Shen Tianjiao and Li Rui got married.

The heroic princess gave Li Rui a mandarin duck jade pendant at that time. The mandarin duck jade pendant was a yin-yang pendant, and she and Li Rui each got half.

"Yes, it's the heroic Princess Li Chaohui. She is the first and only princess with a title in this dynasty." The dead memories suddenly revived, and things about Li Chaohui filled Qiong Niang's mind.

"Her title, Yingwu, was bestowed upon her by the late Emperor Taizong himself. This title shows how much he loved her. There were even rumors that before his death, Emperor Taizong issued a secret decree, asking the late Emperor to appoint her as the Crown Princess, to succeed the throne and become the first empress of our Yunli Kingdom."

"So amazing!" Shen Tianjiao instantly became curious about this heroic princess. What kind of person must be this woman who could be so valued by the heroic and powerful Emperor Taizong, who would rather risk the wrath of the world to change the clan system and make her the crown prince?

"Yes, although I didn't see her many times when I was a child, I was deeply impressed by her. When she attended the palace banquet, other women were all vying for beauty, eager to dress themselves up like a butterfly to win everyone's praise. But she always looked at the Supreme with her eyebrows slightly drawn, never wearing any makeup. She just wore a simple bun with her hair tied up and a red dress, and she looked so heroic that she could make everyone present pale in comparison."

"Besides being the eldest princess, she is also a ruthless general. Although I haven't seen her on the battlefield, I can imagine how heroic she is, just like her title."

"I wouldn't dare say she conquered half of the Yunli Kingdom's territory, but at least one-third of it was conquered by her. This is not a lie."

Once upon a time, Qiong Niang envied this heroic princess very much and dreamed of living like her. But after all, there was only one Li Chaohui in the world, and no one else could live out her arrogance and elegance.

"Then why didn't she inherit the throne and become the queen?" Shen Tianjiao was not clear about the past. Although she had guessed the answer in her heart, she still wanted to hear it with her own ears to confirm her guess.

"This world has always been unfair to women, even to someone as noble as her." Qiong Niang sighed. "When someone is too outstanding, they will bring disaster upon themselves. She escaped the enemy's open and hidden attacks, but ultimately she was defeated by the calculations of her own family."

"It's such a shame. Such a proud, bright, and extraordinary woman can only curl up in the small courtyard where she was imprisoned, thinking about the past from morning till night, living a life of grievance and injustice."

"The Empress Dowager was also involved in that matter, right?" Shen Tianjiao couldn't help but shudder when she thought of the benevolent and kind Empress Dowager that everyone talked about. She was the person who was best at disguising herself in the world.

She had tortured Shen Tianjiao a lot in the past. She had a gentle face that showed compassion for the world, but she said the most vicious words and did the most cruel things in the world.