The male lead went insane after the female supporting character gave birth to the main villain'

Of the five children, Qin Xu was exceptionally intelligent from a young age and was groomed by Qin Yan to be the crown prince from the very beginning.

Qin Xu lived up to expectations, becoming a patriotic and people-loving crown prince at the young age of fifteen or sixteen, praised by both court officials and commoners.

After Qin Yan abdicated at the age of seventy, Qin Xu took over the Great Zhou Dynasty and, in the following ten years, propelled the prosperous era created by Qin Yan to an even more flourishing level.

Make the Great Zhou a celestial empire where all nations pay tribute.

Both Qin Yan and his son Qin Xu became wise rulers who have been remembered throughout history. When people of later generations mention emperors of all time, they always think of the father and son.

The twins Qin Rui and Qin Jing disliked being officials, fighting, or doing business; instead, they preferred drawing maps.

In order to draw the most complete map, Qin Rui and Qin Jing began to travel to various places, spending fifteen years traveling to every state and county in the Great Zhou.

After the most complete map of the Great Zhou was completed, the twins went to the surrounding small and large countries and secretly wrote down many places in those countries, made maps, and sent them back to the Great Zhou.

In particular, the two were also skilled in mineral exploration. When they traveled to the Great Zhou and the surrounding countries, they would mark any minerals they found and secretly send them back to the Great Zhou to their father and elder brother so that they could send people to excavate them.

Finally, there are the twins, a boy and a girl. The older brother, Qin Sheng, likes to offer advice and strategies, while the younger sister, Qin Xin, likes to lead troops into battle.

The brother and sister hit it off immediately and, without telling Su Yan, begged Qin Yan to let them go to the border military camp for training.

This ordeal led to the disappearance of many small border states.

All those lands and people became part of the Great Zhou.

After that, it was as if the twins and the boy-girl twins had opened up a new world. The twins infiltrated other countries and drew up maps for the boy-girl twins, who then found excuses to send troops to attack those countries.

When news of the four siblings' victory reached Kunjing, the old dukes and generals who had fought alongside Qin Yan were all restless and requested to lead troops to attack other countries.

However, in the end, it was their descendants who went to fight, because they were too old to lead the soldiers.

During the later part of Qin Yan's reign, the civil and military officials of the Great Zhou were able to demonstrate their abilities, and most of them became figures who have been remembered for thousands of years.

Later generations also referred to the eras of Qin Yan and Qin Xu as an era of brilliant stars and outstanding talents.

Qin Rui and Qin Jing spent the rest of their lives wandering the lands they had conquered with their twins, bringing the culture and etiquette of the Great Zhou Dynasty to those lands, so that the people there would identify themselves as people of the Great Zhou Dynasty for countless years to come.

Their educational achievements have been passed down through the ages.

The twins, a boy and a girl, became legendary figures: Qin Sheng, a strategist whose name is remembered for ages, and Qin Xin, a female marshal whose name is remembered for ages.

Su Yan herself became a famous empress throughout history.

Because she led people to research cement, glass, and better papermaking techniques, toilet paper, soap, refined salt, white sugar, improved agricultural tools, improved planting techniques, and other things that benefited the people, she improved the lives of the people of the Great Zhou and increased grain production.

She also gave women the opportunity to leave the inner quarters, establishing girls' schools and arts schools, allowing women to learn a skill to support themselves, and also giving them the opportunity to study, take the imperial examinations, and enter the court.

With the concerted efforts of the women who had entered the court, the Great Zhou Dynasty changed the laws concerning women.

Women are allowed to establish their own households, and only daughters are allowed to inherit all of their parents' property.

It also protected the interests of married women.

In the past, if a man beat his wife and caused her serious injury, he could only receive twenty strokes of the cane, which were not very painful, and he could pay ten taels of silver to avoid punishment.

Even if his wife became disabled, he would only receive fifty strokes of the cane, and could even have his punishment waived with fifty taels of silver.

He could even kill his wife without paying with his life; he only needed to serve ten years of hard labor before he could go home.

It was only because Qin Yan valued women that he changed the law. If the original laws of the previous dynasty were followed, a man who killed his wife could be released without charge as long as he proved that he killed her accidentally.

Thanks to the joint efforts of those female officials who entered the court.

The Great Zhou Dynasty changed the law, and the punishment for a man who beats his wife, ranging from minor injury, moderate injury, serious injury, disability, to death, is now twice as severe as before, and money can no longer be used to avoid punishment.

Although Su Yan did not live to see gender equality, the status of women in the Great Zhou Dynasty was the highest it had ever been in history, so she was not so regretful.

.........

Su Yan died in the spring of the year she was sixty-five.

Because of years of poisoning and having given birth to five children, Su Yan's health deteriorated rapidly after she turned fifty.

She would have died ten years ago if it weren't for the various precious medicinal herbs that kept her alive.

Even the best medicine cannot save the life that time has taken away.

Su Yan eventually reached the end of her life.

At this time, Qin Yan and Su Zhan were already eighty years old, but their health was better than hers, and they showed no signs of dying.

That day, the pear tree in Zhaoyang Palace was in full bloom.

At that time, he had just abdicated and moved with her to Qin Yan, who lived in Zhaoyang Palace. He took her out of the palace to the suburbs to admire the pear blossoms.

Just because she praised the pear blossoms as beautiful, Qin Yan had pear saplings delivered to her after she returned to the palace. He personally planted them for her in the corner of Zhaoyang Palace, saying, "Yan'er, when this pear tree grows up and blossoms, shall we sit under it together every year to watch the pear blossoms?"

At that time, her health had begun to decline, and she was often sick. Qin Yan was afraid that she would suddenly leave him, so he often talked to her about how they would be together "every year", "in the future", and "for a lifetime".

He was delusional to think he could keep her for life with those words.

She would always smile and nod, saying, "Okay."

This year is the last time she will accompany him to see the pear blossoms.

So when Su Yan heard from Jing Xia early in the morning that the pear blossoms were in full bloom, she begged Qin Yan to take her to see them.

She had been sick for the past few days, and Qin Yan refused to let her go.

But in the end, he gave in to her tears.

As she wiped away her tears, she teased him, "After all these years, why do you still agree to anything I say the moment I start crying?"

"It's because I can't stand seeing you cry."

Qin Yan held her as they sat in the heated sedan chair, and ordered the guards to carry them to see the pear blossoms.

The distance was very short, and the young and strong guards carried them to the pear tree in the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea.

Qin Yan told them to leave, then helped Su Yan to sit down on the tatami mat under the tree, and embraced her from behind again.

Where Su Yan couldn't see, tears welled up in Qin Yan's eyes, which were already white-haired and aged, and slid down his deeply lined face, dripping onto the hood on Su Yan's head.

He knew she was leaving.

She had been so ill for the past few days that she couldn't get out of bed, but she suddenly recovered this morning. The imperial physicians all said that it was just a temporary respite before she passed away.

He had no regrets in this life, but he was afraid that he had killed too many people and therefore would not have a next life.

He was afraid that she wouldn't have him in her next life!

"Your Majesty." Su Yan felt her eyelids getting heavy and called out to him softly.

Qin Yan tried her best to suppress her sobs and responded in a calm voice, "Yan'er, I'm here."

"Your Majesty, Ayan is very happy in this life." It really is, much happier than in her previous life.

"With Ayan by my side, I'm very happy in this life. In the next life, will Ayan still be with me?"

"Alright! In the next life, Ayan will still stay with Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, the pear blossoms are so beautiful."

"Yes, it's very beautiful." He didn't actually look up at the pear blossoms; he kept his head down, looking into her eyes, where he saw the pear blossoms and his aged face.

Su Yan looked away from him and forced a smile. "Ayan went to see the pear blossoms with His Majesty this year. Next year... Your Majesty, please don't be angry with Ayan if you go to see them alone, okay?"

“…Okay!” Qin Yan choked up and hugged her tightly.

"I knew Your Majesty was the best. He would never be angry with Ayan..." She leaned against his chest and slowly closed her eyes.

The head on her chest slumped limply, and Qin Yan finally couldn't hold back her tears. "Yan'er, Yan'er, please open your eyes and look at me one more time, okay? I'm afraid if you don't look at me one more time, you won't recognize me in the next life... Yan'er... Yan'er..."

No matter how Qin Yan called out to him, the person in his arms never opened his eyes to look at him again.

Qin Yan kissed her forehead and whispered, "Yan'er... it's okay if you don't look. Wait for me, don't walk too fast, or what if I can't find you in my next life?"

Qin Yan took out a small porcelain bottle, poured out a brown pill, and swallowed it.

Then he slowly removed the hood from Su Yan's head and also took off the hairpin from his own head.

He combined Su Yan's three strands of gray hair with his own three strands of gray hair and braided them into a small braid.

Looking at the braid and holding Su Yan in his arms, Qin Yan smiled and closed his eyes.

Yan'er, we've been husband and wife since we were young, and we'll stay together until we grow old. I've done all that.

In the next life, will you come to my side again?