Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 202 Empress He: Bestow Poisonous Wine!
Luoyang South Palace, West Palace Side Hall
Amidst the wafting incense smoke, Liu Bian lay in his mother Empress He's arms, his head resting limply in her soft embrace, his eyelids drooping slightly, his eyes filled with unconcealed weariness and helplessness.

It's not the fatigue from official duties that's the problem, but mainly the mental exhaustion.

An unreliable biological father who always likes to pull stunts.

While he personally led the campaign to quell the rebellion, Liu Hong spent 13 million yuan at home to build luxury cars.

While busy handling state affairs and dealing with several rebellions, Liu Hong also played house in the palace.

If he hadn't happened to be there, those rare treasures worth hundreds of millions of dollars would have been lost.

How can this not be exhausting?

Empress He, with a smile on her face, gently rested her snowy chin on the top of Liu Bian's head, which had been adorned with a removed crown. The rich floral fragrance surrounding her quietly drifted into his nostrils.

Every time he lay in Empress He's arms, he would unconsciously relax his tense nerves, as if it were an innate ability of a mother, and even his restless heart would calm down.

Empress He's lips curved into a beautiful smile, a gentle smile rarely seen by outsiders, which radiated across this mother's face, clearly indicating that she was in an exceptionally good mood.

As the reigning empress, she always felt she should provide some help to her son, just as she had helped him during the palace coup.

But she found that she could no longer provide any help to her son, and was even a burden. All she had left was her skill in relieving her son's fatigue.

“You’re about to ascend the throne and become emperor, yet you’re still so rash and have a falling out with your father. If word gets out, who knows how much trouble it will cause.”

Empress He gently rubbed the Crown Prince's temple with her slender hand, her fingertips applying just the right amount of pressure to ease his furrowed brows. With her other hand, she lightly pinched his cheek, a gesture that seemed both reproachful and affectionate. Suddenly, she said, "Bian'er, if you were to exonerate the deposed Empress Song, repair her tomb, and even have her buried alongside the emperor, you would surely gain a good reputation and be praised by scholars. Why not do it?"

Liu Bian slowly sat up straight, leaning to the side on the cushion, and said seriously, "How can a son sacrifice his mother's reputation for his own benefit?"

"If it can earn my son a reputation as a benevolent ruler, I can bear the injustice and criticism. After all, he has been criticized by many people over the years." Empress He's phoenix eyes were full of affection. She gently touched Liu Bian's brow with her slender fingers and said softly, "Besides, how can a good emperor kill people because of personal likes and dislikes?"

Liu Bian pursed his lips and snorted, "You are a human being, and humans have their own likes and dislikes. Emperor Xiaowen and Emperor Xiaoxuan were praised by the world as benevolent and wise rulers, but they also killed people because of their personal likes and dislikes."

"Not to mention, only complete strangers would only consider advantages and disadvantages and right and wrong when faced with a problem. I am the child my mother carried for ten months and gave birth to after passing through the gates of hell. No matter whether my mother is right or wrong, I will stand on her side without hesitation."

It turns out that, regardless of whether you can do it or not, whether you're trying to appease your spouse or your own mother, you have to learn to say nice things.

People who know how to speak eloquently always get along well.

Empress He was deeply moved. She felt that her son's filial piety was far better than that of the "filial son" defined by the Confucian scholars in the Classic of Filial Piety.

So Empress He decided to reward Liu Bian, well... rewarding him so that if he had a child in the future, he could be fostered by her and raised by her personally, and also reminding Liu Bian that it was time for him to have a child.

Liu Bian's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly ran out of the palace under the pretext of being busy with official duties. Empress He watched her son's disheveled figure from the gate of the West Palace and laughed coquettishly.

As Liu Bian's figure gradually disappeared from her sight, Empress He's laughter gradually subsided, her smile froze, and she placed her hands in front of her, the gentleness in her phoenix eyes gradually turning into majesty.

She knew all about Song Xiao's appointment as Left Fengyi and the exemption of the Song family of Right Fufeng from exile, and she knew it immediately. After all, Zhang Rang's son, Zhang Feng, was her brother-in-law, and Zhao Zhong was her Grand Chamberlain. Liu Hong was only pretending to be discreet about many things.

Ultimately, it was indeed she who led the false accusation against that woman for practicing witchcraft, but she secretly pardoned her clansmen and compensated her uncle Song Xiao by giving him the position of Zuo Fengyi.

She was certainly not a kind woman.

In this harem, kind and virtuous people have long been devoured, leaving not even bones or scraps, just like the deposed empress of the Song Dynasty.

She had just happened to hear a Buddhist monk from the White Horse Temple say that there is a concept of cause and effect in this world.

She simply didn't want the "cause" she planted to ultimately bear "fruit" in her child.

Just as Empress He stood outside the palace gate watching the Crown Prince's carriage depart into the distance, Grand Chamberlain Zhao Zhong slowly walked to Empress He's left rear side, whispered a few words, and then lowered his head and took two steps back.

Empress He sighed softly. Recently, she had been in a good mood and had stopped killing people, so these seductive and shameless women were trying to find ways to climb onto that scoundrel.

In just a short while, Zhao Zhong had already found out who had instigated Liu Hong to dress as a merchant in the palace and set up a market for buying and selling. However, he did not expect that two concubines were involved.

Ah, one is Consort Guo, and the other is Lady Xu.

She didn't care what methods these women used to climb into the emperor's bed during the ten or twenty days each month when she didn't share a room with Liu Hong.

But who told her to use these methods to anger her son?

"At this time of year, it's time to drink artemisia wine to clear away heat and relieve summer heat."

Artemisia wine is made by pounding artemisia to extract its juice, then adding glutinous rice and yeast to brew the wine.

Artemisia annua is also known as Artemisia argyi.

Drinking it can clear away summer heat, reduce deficiency heat, and relieve fever.

"Grand Chamberlain, bestow wine upon me."

After speaking, Empress He turned around and walked into the hall, seemingly having only given a trivial instruction.

"Here."

As Zhao Zhong watched Empress He's departing figure, having been mistress and servant for many years, he naturally understood the meaning behind her words.

Alas, Your Majesty, I am so sorry.

Who made me the Crown Prince and Empress's servant now?
(End of this chapter)