The Poisonous Consort, the Regent's Beloved

"One day, the Emperor suddenly flew into a rage and banished Aheng's mother to the Cold Palace. Aheng was also punished. This incident directly caused a change in the harem. After all, Aheng's mother had been favored by the Emperor for more than ten years. No one expected the change to be so sudden."

"On that day, I rushed to see him. He seemed even colder. At the time, he was locked in the Cold Palace by the palace servants and not allowed to come out. I climbed over the wall to ask him what was going on. Do you know what he said to me?"

The emperor suddenly asked a question, and Su Fuying, who was listening intently, answered without hesitation: "I want you to rebel."

"Cough, cough, cough!"

The emperor coughed a few times, surprised that Su Fuying spoke so bluntly. Fortunately, no one else heard it.

"He asked me if I wanted to be emperor."

"Hahaha."

The emperor suddenly burst into laughter twice, his expression quite pleased. "He startled me at the time, and I didn't dare to speak for a long time. He just told me to wait for him and then left."

“After that, I didn’t see him for almost a year. The main reason was that he wouldn’t come out to see me every time I went to climb the wall, until one time he suddenly came out to find me.”

At this point, the emperor's gaze suddenly fell on Su Fuying, his eyes carrying a hint of teasing, "He told me that he met a little dumpling and he likes her."

Su Fuying's eyes widened slightly. "Your Majesty knew about me back then?"

“Of course, otherwise do you really think that the title of princess can be obtained so easily? Wouldn’t everyone in the capital be a princess then?”

The emperor raised his chin with a touch of arrogance, as if he had done something extraordinary.

“Aheng doesn’t know how to express himself. I’ve never seen him like that before. He dragged me out of bed in the middle of the night just to ask me how to win a woman’s heart.”

The emperor couldn't help but chuckle when he thought of that day; he never expected his usually cold-faced younger brother to be so nervous.

"Actually, when I said I would bestow a marriage upon you directly, he disagreed, saying that he would wait for your willingness. But he was worried that you had just returned to the capital and had no one to rely on, so he thought of giving you the title of Princess, at least your status is much higher than these noble ladies in the capital, and no one will dare to bully you."

"Oh dear, my silly little brother, he's done so much, and I bet the other party still doesn't know."

The emperor sighed a few times in a pretentious manner, but his eyes kept glancing at Su Fuying's face.

The woman couldn't help but smile. At the time, she didn't know and was only wondering how becoming a princess was so easy. Later, she guessed some of it. When she heard it from the emperor himself, she couldn't help but smile.

"Your Majesty need not test my daughter. My daughter and the Regent are in love. I will have to trouble Your Majesty to grant us a marriage in the future."

The emperor's eyes immediately lit up, thinking to himself that all his talking hadn't been in vain.

Seeing that the time was right, the emperor no longer wanted to talk about his relationship with the regent, and Su Fuying, being so clever, could probably guess what was going on.

It was simply that Xiao Yuheng had long anticipated that the Crown Prince would try to usurp the throne, because the late emperor was still young and healthy, only in his forties. It would have been a long time before he could smoothly succeed to the throne after the late emperor's death.

Xiao Yuheng's plan was to escape the palace during the chaos, but despite his meticulous calculations, he never expected his mother...

"By the way, he hasn't told you about his mother, has he?"

The emperor hesitated for a long time before asking the question, but then he thought of his younger brother, who was not good with words, and decided to help him out.

"No."

Su Fuying found it strange; could there be something more to his mother's story?

He had never mentioned it to me.

"I only know bits and pieces about these things. It is said that Aheng's mother was taken away by the Emperor."

"Pap..."

Su Fuying was startled by these words, and the teacup in her hand fell to the table, spilling tea all over herself.

"Snatched?"

"Yes, back then, when my father was traveling in Jiangnan, he happened to meet Aheng's mother. He was lustful at first sight and, without caring whether she wanted to or not, he just took her away."

When the emperor mentioned the late emperor, he made no attempt to hide his contempt. "When I was a child, I thought that my father truly loved Aheng's mother. But his mother was ungrateful and never gave my father a kind look. What fun is there in marrying someone you don't like?"

"Hey."

Amid Su Fuying's astonished expression, the emperor sighed softly and uttered a statement that shocked Su Fuying: "This must be the reason why his mother ultimately chose to hang herself."

"His mother hanged herself?"

"Yes, it was the night before the Crown Prince launched his coup. Perhaps he felt that she had become a burden to Aheng."

The emperor spoke with regret, saying that Ah Heng's mother was such a gentle person, with a graceful face, a unique feature of women from Jiangnan. He never expected her to pass away so tragically.

Su Fuying was surprised once again, and at the same time, she couldn't help but feel heartbroken. No wonder he was like this; sometimes things could be more painful than his mother hanging herself in front of him.

If he hadn't grown up in an unpleasant environment, how could he have developed such strategic thinking at such a young age?

"His Majesty!"

Su Fuying was deep in thought when a hoarse voice interrupted her.

"Ah Heng! Haha, you're here..."

The emperor, as if caught doing something wrong, stood up somewhat awkwardly, chuckling awkwardly as he looked at the man standing behind him.

The man wore a long black robe embroidered with a four-clawed golden dragon. His eyes were cold and sharp, and the oppressive aura emanating from him made the emperor slightly nervous.

After all, he had said too much today; these were things he should have told Su Fuying himself.

But he couldn't stand it anymore. Just because his silly younger brother didn't have a mouth didn't mean that he, as the older brother, didn't have one.

If Su Fuying doesn't know about these things, how can she feel sorry for him?

"What are you talking about?"

Xiao Yuheng looked at the emperor with displeasure. He had just finished his official business and rushed to find Su Fuying, but Su Fuying had rushed to the palace to find him as soon as she woke up.

I don't know what there is to talk about with a decrepit old man in his forties...

The emperor's brow twitched, and as he was thinking of something to say to gloss over the matter, the man's expression changed, and he strode towards him.

"Damn it, they're coming for me..."

The emperor had a bad feeling. Could this person be showing absolutely no respect to Su Fuying...?

"Why are your clothes wet? You've just recovered from a serious illness, don't catch a cold."

Just as the emperor had already written a script in his mind, the man pushed him aside and walked up to Su Fuying. Looking at the woman's half-wet dress, his eyes were full of tension.

"Cough cough!"

The emperor was somewhat displeased and wanted to assert his presence, but the man gave him a single look, and he immediately shut his mouth, turned around, and left.

"I'm not made of paper, I'm not that fragile."

Seeing his nervous expression, Su Fuying felt a surge of warmth in her heart.

"Listen to me, the palace banquet is about to begin. Go and change into the dress that Biluo brought. I'll wait for you here."

The man's eyes were gentle, and his tone was so tender it was almost dripping with affection.

Su Fuying looked up and realized that the sky had darkened sometime during the day; she must have been engrossed in the story.