The Eunuch's Declaration of Loyalty

Chapter 25

Hearing Liu Qingtang's words, the young emperor blushed and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, I am still young, these things are not urgent." (For more text content, please search "wx.sig" on Baidu.)

“Thirteen years old is considered an adult in our Southern Dynasty. The matter of making an empress can wait until the emperor is sixteen. However, he can’t be short of servants. Let’s hold a small selection next year and choose a group to enter the palace. This harem is so cold and quiet. Consider it as finding some companions for the Empress Dowager.” Liu Qingtang thought of herself as an old empress dowager in her fifties and said in a condescending tone.

The young emperor was still too young and easily embarrassed to argue, so he nodded repeatedly with a flushed face, saying, "Your subject... Your subject will listen to Your Majesty. You can decide these matters."

"As the emperor, it is also a responsibility to produce many royal offspring." Liu Qingtang smoothed the wrinkles on her knees, looked at the young emperor, and taught him with a very gentle expression, as if she was pleased with his growth. In fact, what Liu Qingtang was thinking was that if the emperor had a prince sooner, she would have more options.

If her imperial nephew disappoints her again, she'll have no choice but to abandon him and turn her attention to his child. After all, a child raised from scratch is easier to mold into the person she wants him to be, at least reducing the likelihood of him becoming estranged from her. Since she could help the current emperor secure his throne, she could continue to support an even younger child.

It's a pity that the Southern Dynasty's royal family has never had many offspring. Not counting princesses, if we only count princes, only the late emperor and Xiao Nanhe survived during the reign of the previous emperor, and of the princes born to the late emperor, only the young emperor and Xiao Huaiyu survived. In her previous life, until her death, the emperor only had one prince, who was the child of the favored concubine's granddaughter of the Grand Secretary.

Actually, quite a few women did conceive, but that woman's methods were too powerful, and those children never even got born. This time, she'll have to intervene.

"The late emperor and your generation both had very few children. You must make your children proud," Liu Qingtang said again.

"Your Majesty, I understand." The young emperor's face was still a little red, but he stood tall and looked very calm as he spoke.

Someone who still looks like a child will be an adult in a year. Time is like water held in your hands; it slips away before you know it. Liu Qingtang found the young emperor's appearance amusing at first, but then a myriad of complex emotions welled up inside her.

In her past life, she devoted a great deal of effort to this child, raising him almost as her own. Often preoccupied with matters of state, she still had to find time to raise this child. Having no mother of her own, she had no idea how to be a mother and was completely inexperienced, so she was often at a loss.

She was afraid he would fall or suffer, but for his own good, she had no choice but to be ruthless and strict in teaching him. People say that a loving mother and a strict father are the opposite, but she could only be a strict mother to this nephew.

She entered the palace at sixteen, while the child was only seven, having just lost his mother. With tears in his eyes, he timidly called her "Aunt." At that time, she thought she should take good care of him for her sister. It wasn't that she didn't resent her sister, but she couldn't abandon this nephew, so she took care of him for more than ten years.

If she hadn't cared so much about this child back then, how could she have been blinded? If she hadn't loved him as her own child, how could she have refused to kill him in this life, even though he had caused her death in her previous life?

Liu Qingtang suddenly felt tired and looked away from that still immature face.

At the hour of Shen (3-5 PM), the New Year's banquet for all officials came to an end. The ministers left the palace one after another, while Liu Qingtang, along with the young emperor, Xiao Huaiyu, Consort Lian, and the three princesses who had already married, went to the Zhongsui Pavilion for a family banquet.

Of the three princesses, the eldest and second princesses are twins from the same mother, both nineteen years old, only a year or two younger than Liu Qingtang, and they married a few years earlier. The third princess is seventeen and also married last year. All three are calm and reserved, not very talkative, perhaps because they lost their mother's protection at a young age, so they have become accustomed to this silence. Liu Qingtang doesn't spend much time with them, only seeing them on a few important holidays, otherwise they have no interaction.

At these family banquets, the conversation usually revolved around clothes and jewelry, followed by relative silence. Fortunately, the princesses weren't as afraid of her as the wives of high-ranking officials, making their interactions relatively easy. Liu Qingtang had a fairly good impression of the three princesses.

As for the Zhongsui Pavilion where they were staying, it was the tallest pavilion in the entire palace, with nine floors. The family banquet on New Year's Eve was held on the top floor, with windows on all four sides wide open, offering a view of the palace complex with its staggered eaves and the bustling streets outside the high palace walls.

It's just that from a distance, the view is blurry, and the streets appear as lines, dividing the entire Yujing into large and small sections.

It was dusk, and looking out the window, one could see the lights beginning to illuminate the various palaces within the imperial palace.

Along several palace paths, groups of palace maids and eunuchs walked by carrying lanterns. Because it was New Year's Eve, the palace was filled with orange lights, and lanterns were hung on both sides of the palace paths. Long strips of light could be seen from the Zhongsui Pavilion.

The palace was so vast that not every part was occupied, so some palaces appeared completely dark, with only scattered, sporadic lights. But as you walked beyond the palace walls and into the surrounding streets, the lights suddenly became much more concentrated.

Countless points of light clustered together, making the streets appear bright and warm. People on the streets held lanterns, which, when viewed from afar, formed flowing ribbons of light.

If you listen closely, you can hear the sounds of string and wind instruments coming from some unknown market town, faint and ethereal, like celestial music from another world.

Liu Qingtang gazed absently at the scenery outside the window, suddenly reminiscing about her childhood days when she would sneak out to see the lanterns. Back then, she was so innocent and carefree, finding everything new and interesting. Even when it was almost closing time at the Liu residence, she refused to go home. Her brother, who had led her out, was terrified, calling her "Little Darling" and dragging her by the hand towards home. She, however, squatted on the ground, refusing to walk and insisting that her brother carry her.

Liu Qingtang was lost in thought and didn't hear the emperor calling her several times. It was only when the eldest princess sitting next to her touched her hand and called out "Mother" that Liu Qingtang came back to her senses.

She smiled and nodded to the eldest princess in a friendly manner, then looked at the young emperor, "I was so engrossed in the scenery that I didn't hear what the emperor was saying."

"The scenery here is indeed beautiful. I remember that my mother also liked this place very much and often came here to sit." The young emperor sighed first, and then said, "I called for Mother Empress for nothing else, but I saw that Mother Empress seemed a little tired. I thought that Mother Empress should go and rest first, so as not to overwork herself."

"It's not that serious. I just didn't sleep well last night, so I'm a little tired. I didn't expect the Emperor to notice. It's rare for the whole family to be together, how could I be absent?"

"Mother also said that we are all family, so there is no need to follow so many rules. Before the banquet starts, Mother should go and rest."

If Liu Qingtang hadn't known what he would do later, she would have been moved by her emperor nephew's filial piety. Yes, in her previous life, he had been her good nephew and son for so many years. Liu Qingtang's feelings were complicated, but she smiled and said, "Since the emperor is so filial, I will go and rest for a while. You brothers and sisters can have a good chat together."

Liu Qingtang stood up, and Zhuiyi Taoye, who had been standing in the background for a long time, quickly came to help her up, while Qin Shu also followed behind with his hands hanging down.

The Zhongsui Pavilion has nine floors, with the banquet held on the top floor. Liu Qingtang rested in a room on the eighth floor. The room had been prepared well in advance, with lights on and the scent of her favorite incense wafting through the air. An incense burner was placed in the corner, making the whole room warm and cozy.

"Zhuiyi, you and Taoye go down and rest too. Qin Shu can stay here and serve you." Liu Qingtang walked to the window and sat on the couch covered with a thick blanket.

"Then we servants will follow our master's orders to slack off~" Tao Ye quickly pulled her sister aside and spoke first when she saw what her sister was about to say.

Zhuiyi glanced at her, feeling both amused and annoyed, and could only go along with her words: "We servants will go down first, and will come to wake you up when the banquet starts."

The two left, and as soon as they closed the door, Zhuiyi poked Taoye's forehead. "I just wanted to ask if Master wanted some food. Why are you so nervous? Do you think my sister is so clueless?"

"Hehe~ Of course not, sister. I was thinking that since we're short on time, I wanted Master to rest a little longer. If we keep fussing about food, there won't be any time to rest after we finish eating~" Taoye said coquettishly.

Zhuiyi rolled her eyes at her and pulled her to sit on the small couch in the outer room. "Oh, and Qin Shu didn't eat much either..."

"Hey~" Tao Ye waved her hand dismissively and laughed, "There's even less to worry about. Master will naturally make sure he eats and rests well, so let's not get involved~"

"Really? But doesn't the master still need him to serve him?" Zhuiyi looked at her confident younger sister with doubt.

"Serving someone might not even be what you call serving someone," Taoye muttered softly.

"Huh?" Zhuiyi didn't hear clearly. Before she could ask again, Taoye grabbed her hand and shook it, saying, "Listen to me, I'm sure you won't go wrong! Alright, my dear sister, you always worry about things that don't concern you. Go and rest first, there's still a long way to go later."

After saying that, she pushed her older sister, Zhuiyi, to rest on the small couch, then squeezed onto the other side herself, and closed her eyes as soon as she lay down. Zhuiyi, however curious, could only helplessly watch her younger sister fall asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. She took a blanket from the side, covered her with it, and closed her eyes to rest as well.

Author's Note: [I know that the middle chapter is always unloved.]