Chapter 23
At these words from Ruan Jiqing, Qi Junmu chose to completely ignore Wen Wan and focused his attention on Consort Dowager Xian instead.
His first thought was that Qi Junyou had been sent out of the capital by him without so much as a word of notice, and now so many days had passed without a single message coming back—Consort Dowager Xian was bound to be getting restless.
Back in Emperor Jing's harem, the atmosphere had been subdued and peaceful. No one knew what the Empress Dowager and Consort Dowager Xian truly thought in their hearts, but on the surface they were loving sisters who had never once exchanged a cross word.
That said, to be fair, Consort Dowager Xian came from a better family than the Empress Dowager, and Qi Junyou was well-known and respected. All in all, in those days Consort Dowager Xian had the upper hand over the Empress Dowager.
Emperor Jing at the time was obsessed with elixirs, and the new consorts in the rear palace changed like crops in a field—one batch after another. There were those who submitted memorials urging Emperor Jing to name a crown prince and secure the empire's future.
The first time, Emperor Jing deigned to reject the proposal outright. The second time, he flew into a rage in court, demanding of the civil and military officials whether they all intended to pass down their titles and offices to their sons before they were even dead.
None of the officials dared to make a sound. Every family had its own troubles—especially those with hereditary titles. In principle, a title should pass to the legitimate eldest son, yet there were always all sorts of complications that kept them from making that choice.
So Emperor Jing mocked them contemptuously, his meaning being: if you can't even manage your own backyards, don't presume to tell me how to run mine—you're asking for death.
Of course, his words were not so blunt and plain; they were couched more politely.
In the end, to appease everyone, Emperor Jing promised that if every titled official in the court could settle their household affairs, then he would name a crown prince. If they could not, they should keep their tongues and not meddle in others' business.
This was clearly impossible. Everyone knew it was sophistry, and the officials were deeply frustrated, but no one ever raised the matter of naming a crown prince again.
In both the rear palace and the outer court, everyone had their own calculations. The eldest prince, Qi Junyan, was born of a mother who had been found guilty and deposed from the position of empress; her clan had been nearly wiped out, and it had damaged him as well.
For Qi Junyan to ascend the throne, he would need the strong backing of a powerful maternal family.
Fortunately for him, even if he was not the legitimate eldest son, he still held the status of the emperor's eldest son, so those who supported him at least had that claim.
But judging by the emperor's choice of marriage for him, he was out of the running.
The second prince, Qi Junyou, was the one the court officials favored most. In terms of appearance, character, family background, and marriage prospects, he held every advantage.
The third prince, Qi Junmu, was middling—better than some, worse than others. Aside from his good looks, which were particularly striking, he had no outstanding qualities to speak of.
As for the fourth prince, Qi Junzhuo, he carried foreign blood in his veins. To inherit the throne of Da Qi—even a fool could figure that was never going to happen.
Consort Dowager Xian and the Empress Dowager understood all this well. Naturally, the Empress Dowager was unwilling to be outdone, but at the time, her status was far below Consort Dowager Xian's, so she kept her resentment to herself for a long time.
Still, the Empress Dowager reasoned it through clearly: even if she were at a disadvantage, she still had to fight for what was hers.
Qi Junmu was born into the imperial family. If he did not contend, he would have no retreat—not for himself, not for the Lin family, not for everyone who supported them.
Moreover, fortunes could turn in thirty years. Their influence might be modest now, but the future was uncertain.
[三十年河东，三十年河西 (sānshí nián hé dōng, sānshí nián hé xī): lit. Thirty years on the east side of the river, thirty years on the west side; fig. Fortune and status are cyclical]
At that time, everyone in both the court and the rear palace believed that after Emperor Jing's death, whoever took the throne would have to wade through blood to get it.
Emperor Jing was young. Everyone assumed he would live a long time, giving them plenty of time to prepare. Then, without warning, Emperor Jing died suddenly.
As everyone was just gathering their wits and preparing to rally their forces for battle, Emperor Jing's deathbed edict was brought forth—written in his own hand, naming Qi Junmu as his successor.
No one had expected Emperor Jing to leave a will—and to explicitly pass the throne to Qi Junmu. Qi Junyou's faction was completely blindsided.
Adding to that, their forces were not yet ready. By the time they recovered their senses, they had already lost the initiative. Nor did they have the nerve to go all in and risk everything, so they had no choice but to back down.
Thus Qi Junmu became emperor, Consort Shu naturally became Empress Dowager, and Consort Xian could only become Consort Dowager Xian.
The Empress Dowager began to assert herself, while Consort Dowager Xian became thoroughly subdued.
Whether out of grievance and reluctance or not, Consort Dowager Xian consistently kept her distance from the Empress Dowager.
Though the Empress Dowager was displeased, she was the victor in life and saw no need to humiliate or suppress a defeated rival.
Everyone in the palace praised the Empress Dowager's magnanimity.
But many also understood that this was only temporary. Qi Junmu had just ascended the throne; his position was not yet stable, with troubles both within and without. Consort Dowager Xian had cultivated her own influence over the years. If the two of them clashed too fiercely, it would reflect poorly on the new emperor.
The Empress Dowager was no fool. As Lin Xiao and others had analyzed, why would she make things difficult for Consort Dowager Xian at this time? As long as her son sat on the dragon throne, Consort Dowager Xian would forever remain nothing more than a consort dowager.
As for Qi Junmu himself, he bore no particular feelings toward Consort Dowager Xian. If she and Qi Junyou stayed well-behaved and caused no trouble, he would let them live out their days.
If they still could not let go of the throne, however, he would show no mercy. In his previous life, Qi Junmu had kept men watching them constantly.
Now, on account of Qi Junyou, Consort Dowager Xian had gone to the Empress Dowager's palace. In a sense, this was Consort Dowager Xian bowing her head to the Empress Dowager.
Still, she could not have been directly submissive to the Empress Dowager; otherwise, the Empress Dowager would not have summoned Wen Wan for a scolding. After all, he had issued an imperial order that Wen Wan was to reflect on herself in the palace.
If it hadn't been for special circumstances, and without his express permission, the Empress Dowager would never have taken it upon herself to send Wen Wan to Renshou Palace.
At this point, the Empress Dowager had not yet become drunk with power, nor did she insist that the emperor obey her every whim. In many matters, she remained cautious and willing to accommodate Qi Junmu.
Thinking of all this, the emperor ordered Ruan Jiqing to prepare the palanquin. He would go to Renshou Palace to see for himself what had happened.
Every time he traveled the road to Renshou Palace, Qi Junmu would wonder—how had he and the Empress Dowager, in his previous life, gone from mother and son to sworn enemies?
Clearly, before he became emperor, though the Empress Dowager had been strict with him, their bond as mother and son was real.
He had always considered himself fairly filial—not quibbling over small matters with the Empress Dowager, yet not yielding on important ones. Why had she grown increasingly dissatisfied with him, increasingly greedy, increasingly insatiable?
This matter was a thorn in Qi Junmu's heart, and it was also why he was not particularly close to the Empress Dowager now.
Arriving at Renshou Palace, he saw that all the palace attendants were kneeling outside the main hall—including Ruyan, the Empress Dowager's most trusted palace maid. Their expressions were grave and fearful.
Clearly, the Empress Dowager's fury was fierce.
Amid the kowtows of the attendants, Qi Junmu raised an eyebrow slowly.
He walked into the hall and saw at once Wen Wan kneeling on the ground, the Empress Dowager sitting seething in her armchair, and Consort Dowager Xian seated beside her with a complicated, somewhat somber expression.
Qi Junmu stepped forward and exchanged greetings, then asked, "What has happened to make Imperial Mother so angry?"
The Empress Dowager assumed he had come on Wen Wan's account. She gave a cold snort and dropped her eyelids peevishly. "Every time the Empress does something wrong, the Emperor comes running quickly enough."
The emperor was here to protect Wen Wan—that was what the Empress Dowager thought, and Consort Dowager Xian and Wen Wan herself thought the same.
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