Quick Transmigration: Survive to the End

Yinyin bowed and said, "Your Majesty cried until she was exhausted and fell asleep holding the little prince."

Seeing that the emperor seemed hesitant to go in and take a look, Yinyin said softly, "Her Majesty has just fallen asleep. It may be a while before she wakes up."

Upon hearing this, the emperor no longer hesitated and went straight inside.

Yin Yin then said to the female official, "Your Majesty has lost a lot of weight and has cried so much. It must have taken a lot of effort. We'll prepare some easily digestible food for you later. With the little prince with you, you should be able to eat some."

The female official's expression remained flawless as she thanked her profusely.

Yinyin and her husband didn't rush to leave. Instead, they waited for the emperor to come out and for the empress to wake up and eat something before being escorted out by the chief eunuch under the cover of night.

Yinyin glanced at the palace under the night sky, lowered the curtain, and urged the carriage to hurry home.

She was exhausted after a day of commotion.

With the Emperor and Empress reconciling, the favored concubines in the palace and their families suffered. Anyone who had laid a hand on the Crown Prince in the past or had retaliated during the hunting trip was punished without any leniency.

Several favored concubines went to remove their hairpins and beg for forgiveness, kneeling in a row, but they couldn't change the emperor's mind. Instead, they were also demoted to commoners.

Those guilty of serious crimes were sentenced to death, while those guilty of lesser crimes were banished to the cold palace, never to be released again.

All the princes and princesses who went to plead for mercy were ordered by the emperor to stay at home and not to wander around. They were even stripped of their thrones and forced to remain bald princes.

The matter was finally resolved in late autumn. The palace was deserted, with only a few people left, and the wealthy families in the capital had all changed.

The punishment in the capital did not affect the young prince's first birthday.

The baby's first birthday celebration was extremely grand; the emperor even put his personal seal on it.

When the first snow fell, Fu Yuanzhou was still considering whether to return to Yangliao before the roads froze solid.

But before he could even speak to the emperor, he found himself in a difficult position.

The emperor wanted to appoint the young prince, who was only a year old, as the crown prince. Fu Yuanzhou, as the emperor's most trusted younger brother, was arranged to be the envoy for the investiture.

Now, Fu Yuanzhou no longer needs to worry about it; at least he won't be able to leave before the investiture ceremony is over.

The Ministry of Rites knew that he hadn't paid much attention to these matters before, so the Vice Minister of Rites came to his residence every day as if he were on duty to ask him to come to the yamen to give him a lecture.

Seeing how pitiful he was, Yin Yin decided to arrange for Zi An to go and keep him company as well.

The next time I saw the Empress was before the New Year's banquet.

Many noblewomen came to pay their respects to the Empress, but the Empress alone called Yin Yin to the front to accompany her.

In front of everyone, the Empress said, "I haven't formally thanked you for your advice back then."

Yinyin replied, "Your Majesty has taken such good care of me. It is already an honor for me to be able to repay Your Majesty even in a small way. How could I dare to ask Your Majesty to come and thank me?"

Other noblewomen joked about their good relationship, saying it was enviable. But Yin Yin and the Empress knew in their hearts that what they were talking about was actually their "deal" and the tacit understanding that it would end there and never be mentioned again.

The young prince became the crown prince and grew up smoothly until he was five or six years old, while the emperor's health was not very good.

When the crown prince was eight or nine years old, the emperor specially summoned Fu Yuanzhou and Yinyin back to the capital, appointed Fu Yuanzhou as the regent prince, and sent Zian back to succeed his father as the Prince of Yangliao.

The emperor's health was deteriorating, and one day Fu Yuanzhou came out of the palace with a worried look on his face.

Yinyin personally poured him a cup of tea: "Why the expression? What could have made you so upset?"

Fu Yuanzhou dismissed all the servants in the room before revealing the truth to Yin Yin: "The Emperor is getting more and more confused. He just selected a few regents, and then said he wanted to replace them. A little while later, he told me to keep a close eye on the Empress. If she wants to seize power, I should take action to sideline her as soon as possible."

Fu Yuanzhou rolled his eyes: "The reason he keeps changing the regent ministers but never me, the regent prince, is because he thinks I'm not smart enough to manipulate power and would hinder the crown prince's rule. But now he's entrusting me with an important task."

"Your Majesty overestimates me. Am I really smarter than the Empress Dowager?"

Yinyin patted his head: "Don't underestimate yourself. You already know what you can and cannot do, which already puts you ahead of many people."

“That’s right,” Fu Yuanzhou was easily coaxed by her, but soon he started complaining about feeling stifled in the capital and wanting to return to Yangliao.

However, given the current situation, he can't easily go back. He'll probably have to wait until the emperor dies and see if the new emperor agrees.

Judging from the late emperor's age at death, the current emperor should have many more years to live. However, Yin Yin only learned this year that after the emperor reconciled with the empress, he was so ruthless towards the other princes and his former favorite concubines, and decisively established the crown prince because he had also been plotted against.

Therefore, no one has been born in the palace for all these years. It is only because the emperor has shown deep affection for the empress and disregarded the other concubines that the ministers have not had so many complaints.

After learning about this, Yin Yin only praised the Empress in her heart for her ability to solve the problem at its root. She didn't say a word more and also reminded Fu Yuanzhou that it was best to pretend not to know about such things to avoid the Emperor's anger.

When the crown prince was twelve years old, the emperor passed away.

Yin Yin followed the crowd into the palace to participate in the sacrificial ceremony, and was then invited by the Crown Prince to persuade the Empress not to be sad.

Facing the worried Crown Prince and the future Empress Dowager, who was alone in the palace and could not hide her joy, Yin Yin cleared her throat: "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince was worried about you and specially summoned me here."

After saying that, she added in a low voice, "You should at least pretend to be something you're not. The Emperor is a kind father to the Crown Prince."

The Empress sighed, quickly feigning sadness, and said to Yin Yin, "I only just realized that when a person is extremely sad, they can't cry."

Yinyin resumed her normal voice: "You must take good care of yourself. His Highness has just lost his father. If you feel unwell, wouldn't he be worried sick?"

"Don't worry," the Empress said. "I know what I'm doing. I'm just reluctant to part with it for now. I'll be fine in a while."

After the emperor's funeral was over and the new emperor ascended the throne, the empress became the empress dowager. As expected, she changed her previous grief and became much tougher.

The emperor was still young, and the empress dowager ruled from behind the curtain, with most decisions in the court made from her palace.

The court officials were dissatisfied and instigated the emperor and empress dowager to oppose them.

When Yinyin found out, she asked Fu Yuanzhou to persuade the young emperor.

Fortunately, the young emperor and the empress dowager had a good relationship, and after being persuaded by Fu Yuanzhou, they took it as a case of court officials trying to seize power.

Compared to the court officials, who else could the young emperor trust if not his mother? He immediately made a list of those who had stirred up trouble and gave it to the Empress Dowager, who then demoted them one by one.

After this incident, Fu Yuanzhou and Yin Yin became favorites of the Empress Dowager.

When the emperor grew up, the empress dowager also grew old. She smoothly returned power to the emperor. Fu Yuanzhou and Yinyin also planned to return to Yangliao to retire, but the emperor persuaded them to stay for a few more years.

When Fu Yuanzhou realized that his legs were not functioning well, he refused to stay any longer and resigned from his post.

The emperor had no choice but to let him go back, but then summoned Zi'an to the capital to work for him.

The emperor implemented sweeping reforms in the Le Kingdom, and the Ming emperor abdicated the throne to his beloved son.

When the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty ascended the throne, he specially invited Yin Yin to attend.

Here, Yin Yin finally saw the white-haired male and female protagonists and their family again.

Now they are the backbone of support for the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and there are many open and covert attacks.

Yin Yin didn't pay much attention to them. She left after the ceremony, and the new emperor of Ming even sent a minister to see her off, as a sign of his closeness to her.

No matter what schemes the new emperor of Ming has, they won't affect her.

Throughout her life, the Ming and Li kingdoms never went to war again, and Yangliao remained a prosperous and thriving place, which was enough for her.