The Poisonous Consort, the Regent's Beloved

"Your Majesty, Princess Yongle requests an audience!"

In the Imperial Garden, the Emperor sat in a pavilion and chatted happily with his Consort.

Upon hearing the chief eunuch's report, the emperor immediately stood up from the stone bench and ordered, "Summon them immediately!"

"This humble woman greets you..."

Just as Su Fuying raised her hand to pay her respects, the emperor had already stepped in front of her and gently supported her hand.

"Princess Yongle has just recovered from a serious illness; there is no need for such a grand ceremony."

Upon hearing this, all the palace maids and eunuchs in the Imperial Garden turned to look in this direction, and Su Fuying also noticed that there seemed to be someone sitting in the pavilion.

Blocked by the pillar, she could only see a bright yellow, floor-length gown.

Is this the Empress?

Su Fuying couldn't help but frown. This attire was clearly something only an empress could wear. Logically speaking, after that great upheaval, how could the Ren family still be able to hold their high positions?

Seemingly sensing Su Fuying's gaze, the person in the pavilion slowly stood up with the help of a palace maid.

Then, Su Fuying saw a still-attractive middle-aged woman slowly walking down the steps, one hand supporting her slightly protruding belly.

"Nono, it's windy outside, why did you come out?"

The emperor was startled and quickly turned around to help her.

The beautiful woman blushed slightly at the soft "Nod," and somewhat embarrassed, she nudged the emperor, saying coquettishly, "Your Majesty, I am not that precious."

"This humble woman... greets Consort Duan?"

Su Fuying asked with some confusion, "Isn't this Consort Duan whom I saw once in the Imperial Garden? Her attire makes me wonder whether to call her Empress or Consort Duan."

“Princess Yongle, I have told you that you do not need to bow. You have rendered meritorious service in saving my life this time, so I hereby grant you the right to never kneel before anyone again.”

The emperor seemed flustered for a moment, holding onto Consort Duan and not wanting to let go, yet also wanting to stop Su Fuying from bowing. Looking left and right, he could only quickly speak.

Su Fuying was taken aback, and after a moment she reacted, she immediately bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"This must be Princess Yongle. I've heard of you before, and I was immediately struck by your beauty when I saw you briefly. The Regent truly has excellent taste."

With a smile on her face, Consort Duan brushed aside the Emperor's hand and walked towards Su Fuying. She looked him up and down for a moment, becoming more and more satisfied, and nodded repeatedly.

Su Fuying felt a little embarrassed by her enthusiastic gaze. "Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness."

"Your Majesty, I still have matters to attend to in the palace."

Consort Duan turned and gave a slight bow to the Emperor. She could tell that Su Fuying must have something important to discuss with the Emperor in such a hurry to enter the palace, so she naturally did not want to disturb her.

The emperor hesitated for a moment, then nodded somewhat reluctantly, and instructed a palace maid beside him, "Take good care of the Empress. If anything happens to her..."

Before the rest of the words could be finished, the palace maids nodded in unison, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.

"Life is tedious. Yongle, would you mind coming to my palace for a visit sometime in the future?"

As she was leaving, Consort Duan suddenly looked at Su Fuying and spoke gently.

Su Fuying naturally knew how to say polite words, "It is my honor."

.......

"Does Princess Yongle have something to ask me?"

Once everyone had disappeared, the emperor reluctantly withdrew his gaze, cleared his throat, and gestured for Su Fuying to sit down and speak.

"Ah."

Su Fuying hesitated for a moment, but then sat down opposite the emperor without any ceremony.

"What do you want to ask?"

.......

The pavilion suddenly fell silent, and Su Fuying couldn't help but pick at her nails with her hands, which were folded across her lap.

For a moment, I didn't know what to ask.

"You want to ask about Ah Heng, right?"

Seeing that she remained silent, the emperor waved his hand, signaling all the servants in the imperial garden to leave, and then continued speaking on his own.

"Actually, I didn't like him when I was a child. At the same time, I envied him because he had a mother who loved him. My father also valued him. Even the Crown Prince was not as important as him in my father's eyes."

"But he always seemed indifferent to everything and didn't get close to us princes, so the princes always found ways to trip him up behind his back."

“Once, at a palace banquet, during the dead of winter, I was ordered by the Crown Prince to push Aheng into the lake.”

At this point, the emperor paused for a moment, a hint of guilt in his eyes.

"You did it?"

Su Fuying was somewhat surprised. In her eyes, the brotherly relationship between the Emperor and Xiao Yuheng seemed genuine, but she never expected that they were "enemies" when they were young.

"nature."

"As you probably know, the current Empress Dowager is not my mother. Back then, I was living under someone else's roof and could only obey their commands."

The emperor gave a self-deprecating smile, a smile that Su Fuying found bitter.

Su Fuying naturally knew these palace secrets. The current emperor's mother was just a foot-washing maid who was favored by the late emperor in an accident and became the current emperor.

Because of her lowly status, even after giving birth to a prince, she only received the title of "Beauty". Beauty Li died less than a year after giving birth to her son, and her son, who is now the emperor, was raised by the empress.

The Empress was petty and narrow-minded to begin with, and she probably played a part in the death of Consort Li. Now that her son was being raised in her palace, she naturally couldn't stand anything about him.

As the crown prince at the time and the empress's biological son, he also suppressed the current emperor in every way. If he wanted to deal with Xiao Yuheng, the emperor would become the most convenient tool.

“Aheng has been aloof since childhood. He left early at that palace banquet and just sat there.”

The emperor pointed to the pond behind Su Fuying.

“I followed him all the way and saw him sitting there alone. I felt that my chance had come. I wanted to push him down when he was off guard, but then fireworks went off in the palace. I was doing something bad, so how could I be frightened? I didn’t manage to harm him, but I ended up falling into the water myself.”

Upon hearing this, Su Fuying couldn't help but lower her head and chuckle softly. It really was a bit... stupid.

Of course, this cannot be said aloud.

"The lake water was so cold that day, and it was so deep that I couldn't see the bottom. I struggled in it for a long time. Because I wanted to harm someone, I dismissed the palace servants. Aheng stood on the shore watching me. At that time, there was not a trace of emotion in his eyes. I wanted to call for help, but I felt guilty and was too embarrassed to speak to him."

"In the end, I gave up struggling, thinking that life was so hard, it would be better to die. I didn't expect that Aheng would soften his heart in the end and jump down to save me."

The emperor laughed as he spoke, “You don’t know how old Aheng was back then. He was only as tall as my shoulder, but this little guy saved my life.”

“He rescued me and left. From that day on, they still often asked me to bully him, but I refused, so life became increasingly difficult.”

"Until one time, when I was locked in a dark room by my mother again, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere, applied medicine to my wounds, and took me out. He told my father about it, and after my mother was punished by my father, my life was finally able to breathe again."