The bright moon hangs high, beckoning him down from his pedestal.

In the afternoon, Shen Yinian hurried into the palace and went straight to Jiaofang Palace.

The atmosphere inside the hall was oppressive. Wulan Yun sat alone by the window, her eyes red and swollen.

"Mother." Shen Yinian stepped forward, his voice filled with worry.

Wu Lanyun slowly turned her head, saw her son, and tears fell again. She pointed to the stool next to her, "Yi Nian, sit down."

Shen Yinian sat down as instructed, and looking at her like this, his heart felt heavy.

Ulan Yun, her voice hoarse from crying, murmured:

"More than two months ago, I found out that Shen Qingruo was pregnant. I was really angry, so I aborted her child."

Shen Yinian listened in silence.

Later, His Majesty did as I wished, and did not actually depose me as Empress, but merely neglected me.

"I thought that I was different after all, and that he still cared about me. He was just angry, and that he would be fine once he calmed down."

"Later, he quietly took Shen Qingruo out of the palace. Although I was angry, I also felt that it was just compensation for her losing her child. Once the compensation was over and the man's guilt passed, in His Majesty's heart, I was still better than that woman..."

"Until the last month, his biased imperial edicts ignored the fact that Shen Qingruo slapped me, and even just now, when I was standing right in front of him, he was holding that woman's hand and completely disregarded me..."

Wulan Yun raised her tearful eyes and looked at her son: "Yinian, your mother can feel that he is not just still angry, he truly doesn't love your mother anymore."

"It turns out that His Majesty truly no longer cares about me."

Seeing his mother's tear-streaked face, Shen Yinian felt a pang of pity, but he still took a deep breath and said:

"Mother, that is precisely why you should not have acted so extremely recently."

Wu Lanyun was stunned.

Shen Yinian continued, his tone calm yet cruel: "You always felt that Father still loved you, so you repeatedly went up to him, hoping he would see you and remember you."

"If it were in the past, when Father Emperor had you in his heart, this would naturally be possible."

"But now, Mother, you must realize that that person is no longer your husband; he is someone else's husband."

Wu Lanyun's tears flowed even more fiercely, but she could not refute them.

Shen Yinian looked at her, and finally softened his tone, but the content of his words was more realistic:

"Mother, you should now put yourself in the position of Empress, not a jealous and irrational woman."

"Shen Qingruo has the sole favor of the emperor. You should be thinking about how to find new concubines, how to share her favor, how to maintain your power in the empress's palace and the court, and how to rescue Ayan, instead of disregarding your status and dignity as empress and competing with a concubine for a husband who no longer cares about you."

"What you're saying, your mother knows all too well," Wulan Yun said, closing her eyes in anguish. "But Yinian, your mother truly loves him..."

"Mother!" Shen Yinian's voice deepened slightly, "Besides loving Father, don't you love me and Ayan?"

Wu Lanyun opened her eyes. She had endured ten months of pregnancy and suffered greatly. How could she not love them?

Shen Yinian looked at her calmly: "Once, Ayan and I thought that everything Father Emperor had would be ours in the future."

"But now, it's uncertain to whom everything Father Emperor has will ultimately go."

"We dare not ask for it, or even dare to openly fight for it."

He paused, his voice lower but heavier:

"If it's not your son or Ayan who ascends to that position in the future, Mother, what do you think will be the fate of us, the legitimate sons and daughters?"

Wu Lanyun was stunned, her face turning pale.

Shen Yinian stood up, walked to her, slowly knelt down, looked up at her, and said, word by word, "Mother, it's not just you who needs to face reality."

"Your Majesty and Ayan also need to realize that Father is first and foremost the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and only then is he our father."

Wulan Yun looked at her son kneeling before her, and saw the unusual heaviness in his eyes.

She reached out and trembled as she grasped her son's hand, tears streaming silently down her face.

She's lost her love; does she really have to gamble with her children's future?