The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 119 Can’t see through

"But didn't His Majesty choose Consort Rong yesterday? I heard that Consort Rong is related to the Empress. His Majesty has been visiting Consort Rong more often lately. Maybe it was arranged by Her Majesty the Empress herself."

"According to you, from now on, the entire harem will belong to the Empress?" Consort Xian said resentfully.

"Your Highness, please forgive me, that's not what I meant."

Consort Xian rolled her eyes, watched the Empress Dowager sit down, and then sat down as well.

Before she even touched the bench, the eunuch's voice came from outside announcing something.

"The Emperor has arrived."

emperor?

Why is the Emperor here too?
Consort Xian hurriedly stood up from the stool again.

Everyone else was standing, but her standing and sitting made her stand out conspicuously.

Consort Xian felt somewhat embarrassed and rubbed her forehead.

"See your Majesty, long live your Majesty."

After everyone bowed, Emperor Yuanwu walked up to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager looked up and glanced at the seat next to Shen Qingwan. Emperor Yuanwu then sat down next to Shen Qingwan.

Shen Qingwan had just been wondering why the Emperor had come, but now she understood everything.

It seems that although the Empress Dowager was still upset about Emperor Yuanwu staying at Consort Rong's place last night, she still didn't believe what she said this morning, and this was to comfort her.

The Empress Dowager really went to great lengths to get Emperor Yuanwu to share a room with her!
She really will thank you.

The list of plays to be played today was arranged in advance by the Empress Dowager. Shen Qingwan glanced at the playlist and realized that she was right. None of the plays on the list were ones that Emperor Yuanwu would like to hear. Originally, the Empress Dowager had not planned for him to come.

The plays were all about love and romance, and Emperor Yuanwu got bored listening to them. So the Empress Dowager had Zhang Mama personally summon him over.

Since the opera performance wasn't finished, he couldn't just leave. He stayed until almost lunchtime before the Empress Dowager finally rewarded the opera troupe with a performance he still wasn't satisfied with.

When Emperor Yuanwu walked out of the Baohe Hall, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"What's wrong with Your Majesty? Are you tired of watching the opera?" Shen Qingwan sneered.

"The Empress did this on purpose?" Emperor Yuanwu's lips twitched.

"This play list was decided by the Empress Dowager. The Emperor's statement is truly unfair."

"Since this playlist was decided by the Empress Dowager, why does it seem to me that the Empress is even happier than the Empress Dowager?"

"Does His Majesty not like what he heard?" Shen Qingwan asked in return.

Emperor Yuanwu:...

"I don't like watching these love stories, but I'd like to hear what the Empress heard."

Shen Qingwan clicked her tongue. Since she didn't like watching it anymore, why did she have to listen to her say it again? Wasn't this just deliberately torturing herself?

However, since Emperor Yuanwu has asked, there's no harm in discussing it. "Often, the last play performed by an opera troupe is the grand finale, and the chosen music is naturally beautiful. This play is about a princess who falls in love with a poor boy, but the emperor, for the sake of the royal family's reputation, betroths her to the son of the Duke of Zhenguo. The poor boy, unable to bear the blow, commits suicide on the day of the princess's wedding. After learning of this, the princess falls into depression. She is afraid of implicating her mother and dares not kill herself, but that doesn't mean she dares not resist. The princess never bears any children for the Duke of Zhenguo's son. After the Duke of Zhenguo's son dies, she rebuilds the poor boy's tomb and takes care of his parents until their deaths. The princess is also a person of affection and righteousness."

Shen Qingwan couldn't help but lament that at the end of this year, women's marriages could only be arranged by their parents and matchmakers. How many women had their lives changed because of marriage?

"Does the Empress seem to sympathize with the princess's fate?" Emperor Yuanwu asked.

"It's not about sympathy, it's just that everyone has different views on marriage. In the opera, the emperor opposes the princess marrying a poor boy because he doesn't want his precious daughter to suffer with a poor boy. Marrying the son of the Duke of Zhenguo can consolidate the court, and the Duke of Zhenguo's son is also a carefully selected choice by the emperor in the opera for his daughter."

"No matter how carefully selected, it's not what the princess truly likes. I think if the emperor in the play knew that his daughter was not living well, he would also feel guilty."

"The princess fell ill with depression because she felt that the man she was marrying was not the one she truly wanted to marry. But if she were to marry that poor boy and not take a single coin from the palace, I'm afraid she wouldn't be able to stay in his thatched hut even for a day. A princess who has been pampered and waited on since childhood, living in the open is just a passing fancy for him, not something that will last." After Shen Qingwan finished speaking, she turned to look at Emperor Yuanwu: "What does Your Majesty think?"

"This opera seems to suggest that what you can't have is always the best." Emperor Yuanwu looked at Shen Qingwan with a deep gaze: "If the Empress were that princess, what would she choose?"

Shen Qingwan's lips curled up: "Does Your Majesty have any hidden meaning in your words?"

"Your Majesty is overthinking it. I was just telling you about the opera I heard today," Emperor Yuanwu said with a relieved smile.

“If I were this princess, I probably wouldn’t choose this poor boy,” Shen Qingwan said.

"Oh?" Emperor Yuanwu asked, drawing out his words with some curiosity. "What do you mean by that?"

Shen Qingwan laughed: "Doesn't Your Majesty think there's a flaw in this play? The princess spends most of her time in the palace, and even when she leaves, she's always surrounded by a large group of eunuchs and maids. If that poor boy were just an ordinary commoner, how could he possibly have the chance to meet the princess, let alone have a secret affair? This poor boy is either a spy or he has ulterior motives for getting close to the princess. All this talk of love and romance, spending a lifetime with someone so cunning and calculating, would be exhausting."

Emperor Yuanwu:...

"But the princess is stubborn, and she hasn't borne a child for the son of the Duke of Zhenguo, has she?" Emperor Yuanwu retorted. "Would an empress bear a child for someone she doesn't love?"

"Outsiders think the princess and the son of the Duke of Zhenguo have no children because of the princess, but who knows if it's actually because the son of the Duke of Zhenguo is impotent, making it impossible for the princess to have children even if she wants to!"

No?

Emperor Yuanwu's lips twitched; he felt that the Empress's words were implied.

Shen Qingwan seemed to realize that she had said the wrong thing and hurriedly bowed: "Your Majesty, it is getting late, I should return to the palace first."

Emperor Yuanwu stared at her departing figure in silence for a long while.

Wu Jixiang followed his gaze and glanced in the direction of Kunning Palace.

He had been with the emperor since childhood, and he had never seen the emperor treat any of the concubines in the harem like this before.

Thinking back to when the Empress first entered the mansion, she caused chaos and disorder in the household every day.

Who would have thought that one day she would be able to have a lively and engaging conversation with the Emperor over a single opera performance?

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Concubine has prepared lunch and would like to join us for the meal."

As the eunuch announced the news, Emperor Yuanwu suddenly came to his senses.

He felt that he was the only one who mattered, and that everything under heaven was under his control. However, his empress seemed to be becoming increasingly unfathomable.

(End of this chapter)