Chapter 222. Fu Ming (part 2)
Those words had the meaning of giving serious consideration to Shen Miao’s words. Shen Miao did not dare to be vague and thought about it before speaking, “Now that the ending of the Lu family is a foregone conclusion, the child in Consort Jing’s womb would not be able to turn the tide. Since the Emperor and His Highness have already made a decision, everything else will fall naturally.”
“How about that child?” Empress Xian De took a sip of tea and asked, “Do you think that child should be kept or not?”
Shen Miao paused before saying, “There would be no impact to the overall situation if the child is kept or not. It is all Your Ladyship’s decision to keep the child or not.”
“BenGong’s decision.” Empress Xian De sighed gently, “There is always a thorn stuck in BenGong’s heart but BenGong is not callous enough to pull out this thorn.” She mocked herself, “This Empress position is really not suitable for BenGong. Getting used to it is one thing, being suitable is another.”
Shen Miao did not speak as whatever she say would be wrong at this point of time.
Empress Xian De turned the topic around, “WangFei, without a doubt you are a good mistress of the entire residence of Prince Rui but if in the future you need to carry more responsibilities and face more complicated matters, will you be able to do well?”
Shen Miao’s heart jumped. There was another meaning to Empress Xian De’s words, seemingly implying something. If it was in the past, Shen Miao would not think much about it but Xie Jing Xing had told her about Emperor Yong Le’s matters. If Emperor Yong Le could not live past thirty five, if Emperor Yong Le had other plans… Shen Miao seemed to have immediately guessed their intentions.
She composed herself and said, “Your Ladyship, no one can say anything firm of the future but ChenFu will accompany by His Highness side. No matter what His Highness does, ChenFu will assist.”
Empress Xian De looked at her for a while before shaking her head and sighing, “It is good that you have no ambitions but it is also not good.” She continued, “But Jing Xing is not the Emperor so your fortune is very good. However you have to understand that if one day you reached to the height, there are a lot of matters that one cannot act in one’s own volition. You might not like it but you cannot show that you do not like. You have to do it because this is the truth of the world.”
Was Empress Xian De telling her of her own feelings? Shen Miao calmly said, “ChenFu would not do that. At the beginning when the true of the world was first mentioned, everyone would be suspicious of it. If one could not retain one’s initial heart, then there is no meaning to reaching a higher position. Being unable to act in one’s own volition only happens when one do not have enough power to change the environment around them.”
When Empress Xian De heard it, she was lost in thoughts for a long time and when she finally reacted, she looked at Shen Miao deeply. That gaze was very complicated that Shen Miao was unable to describe it clearly. Perhaps there was some envious and some self-depreciation. She then said, “Perhaps so. You spoke correctly but BenGong’s half a lifetime has passed so one does not have any time to change.” She was somewhat wan and Shen Miao felt that as compared to the last time she came, it looked like Empress Xian De has great changes and has become old.
Was it because of Consort Jing? Shen Miao was thinking about it in her heart and asked, “One heard that the siblings from the Ye family had also entered the Palace to meet Consort Jing?”
“Since a Consort carrying a Dragon Seed came out from the Lu family, naturally the bugs of Long Ye will start to move. The Ye family was supposed to visit BenGong thus they entered the Palace today but BenGong saw that the win-lover’s heart was not in the cup thus they were released. Most probably the Ye family saw that Lu Jing is pregnant and have other ideas and thus wanted to take action from Lu Jing’s end.” Empress Xian De’s gaze was somewhat drawn-out, “That Young Lady that the Ye family found is sure beautiful. Not only she is beautiful, she is also very intelligent. Not only she is very intelligent, she is also ambitious. This kind of female is best suited to survive in the Inner Palace.”
Shen Miao’s gaze slightly lagged, “Ye Mei wants to enter the Palace?”
Mei Furen at the end became Ming Qi’s Fu Xiu Yi’s Empress but not only she had become a person of Great Liang, even the future would be changed? Could it be that she wanted to become Emperor Yong Le’s woman and be the Empress of Great Liang? Shen Miao felt it was ridiculous and a joke.
“Perhaps so.” Empress Xian De said without caring much, “But the Inner Palace of Long Ye exist in name but in reality is gone. If Ye Mei wants to rival for affection or fight for power, she had miscalculated. Moreover the Emperor does not intend to receive anyone.”
“If she have other ways?” Shen Miao said. Ye Mei was vicious and would climb upward by any means possible. She had personally experienced it in her past life so she knew that it was impossible for Ye Mei to return back with one’s tail between one’s legs. Shen Miao did not want underestimate the opponent and was not willing to make a big mistake because of her carelessness.
Empress Xian De looked strangely at Shen Miao, “You seemed like you really do not like this Young Lady of the Ye family.” Then she spoke in relief, “Honestly this Ye Mei has bad intentions and BenGong could see it. BenGong has stayed in this Palace for so many years and Ye Mei’s eyes have too much greed so it is naturally for you to be wary of her. Initially with regards to the matter of the Imperial Hunt, there were rumours outside that you oppose Ye Mei because of jealousy and BenGong had guessed then that Ye Mei is not simple. Upon seeing today, it is indeed true.”
Shen Miao said, “ChenFu indeed do not like her at all.”
“Because of XIe Jing Xing?” Empress Xian De’s eyes charmingly squinted and she joked, “No need to worry. Jing Xing is very intelligent and would not like even smarter females. He would not even like Ye Mei, that have a greedy and ambitious heart.”
Shen Miao, “…” Empress Xian De’s words made her seemed to be very stupid.
“BenGong is not too involve with the discussion between Jing Xing and the Emperor on the Ye family but guessed that some of the reasons were of you. However BenGong personally do not like the Ye family. Even though the Ye family are civil officials, they do not have the style of civil officials and instead are sleek and hypocritical without a heart of an official. The entire Ye family only have dishonest practices but…” Empress Xian De seemed to have thought of something and said, “The Youngest Young Master of the Ye family is not bad. BenGong had spoken to him and he is as innocent as a child. It is a pity that due to his condition, he is not respected by other in the residence.”
Shen Miao had also heard of the crippled Young Master of the Ye family but she did not know how the other’s character was. Upon hearing Empress Xian De’s words, she could not help but sighed. It was rare to have such a good person but one’s luck was too bad.
Empress Xian De said, “Not long later, the situation of Long Ye would be very tense. One fear that the residence of Prince Rui would be monitored very closely by others. Jing Xing is often outside and there would be places in the Prince residence that could not be taken care and it would be hard to prevent things from happening. You must be very careful.”
Shen Miao had a solemn expression, “ChenFu understands.”
When dealing with both the Lu and Ye family, undoubtedly there would be a storm in Long Ye. She as Xie Jing Xing’s wife, the WangFei of the residence of Prince Rui of First Rank, naturally would become the public’s target.
Empress Xian De patted her hand, “You have to start learning these.”
Shen Miao complied and just as they were speaking, Tao GuGu came in with a palace maid. Tao GuGu said, “Hui Bin and Ning Guiren are quarrelling at the flower area and it has reached to a point that it had become awful. Does Your Ladyship want to go over to take a look?”
These days that Consort Jing was pregnant, the other females in the Palace were unable to remain calm. Initially everyone did not have children so it was not important if one did not have the Emperor’s favour. But it is different now as once there was one who went to Heavens, everyone would also want it. Everyone had some selfishness and thus there were more contradictions. In addition that many high ranking officials had thoughts to send people to Emperor Yong Le, the usually peaceful Inner Palace would encounter chaos every three to five days. Even though it was not big, but it would add frustration to another when these happen often.
There was an unpleasant express on Empress Xian De’s face. No matter how good one temper was, one would be a bad mood if these kept on happening.
“May Your Ladyship go take a look first.” Shen Miao said, “There is no need to be concern of me.” She did not have any thoughts to go and see the fuss with Empress Xian De. This was the Inner Palace of Long Ye and this did not have any relation to Shen Miao and she could not help at all. Empress Xian De had no choice but stood up and looked at Shen Miao, “BenGong will take a trip to the flower area. WangFei can rest here and drink some tea. If one feel bored, then do walk around the gardens, as long as one don’t go too far away.”
Shen Miao had Ba Jiao and Hui Xiang by her side and they had martial arts skills thus they were not afraid of any accidents. Moreover there are guards everywhere in the Palace thus, they were naturally safe.
Shen Miao complied and Empress Xian De and Tao GuGu left. Shen Miao held the teacup but Empress Xian De’s words floated up.
She had always felt that Empress Xian De had another meaning to her words. Previously she had thought before that if Emperor Yong Le really could not live long, when Emperor Yong Le leave, who would be sitting on the empire of Great Liang? Previously when Consort Jing was not pregnant, one thought that they most likely did not think of letting the Emperor’s descendants to continue on the Imperial throne. Moreover the poison was not removed cleaning from Emperor Yong Le and the children that were born would also be congenitally deficient and thus would not be able to bear the great undertaking. Since it was so, then those that had the Imperial family bloodline and have the qualification to inherit the position of the Emperor of Great Liang would only be Xie Jing Xing.
Did Xie Jing Xing become the Emperor in the last lifetime? At least when she died, Ming Qi had collapse and Emperor Yong Le was alive and Xie Jing Xing led the troops and fought.
Then in this lifetime, could it be that Xie Jing Xing would be the Emperor? If Xie Jing Xing became the Emperor then she would definitely be the Empress. From the ancient times, there was no precedent for there to be only one person in the Inner Palace. She was very certain that she would not be able to tolerate her husband having other women and once this became real, Shen Miao could only do nothing more than ‘you are heartless so I will divorce’ and cut things cleanly with Xie Jing Xing.
However this fate was not easy to come by and she did not want this husband and wife fate that took two lifetimes to come to fruition.
Her heart was somewhat stuffy and she stood up, planning to go to the side of the pond for some air as Ba Jiao and Hui Xiang followed her.
There was a dense woods by the gardens and under the layers of trees, there were complicated and winding small paths and each path lead towards different direction, each with a different scenery, making it very elegant.
It was just that Shen Miao did not have any mood to appreciate any beautiful scenery. She walked to the side of the pond where the cold breeze blew onto her face. It was refreshing and allowed her to calm down.
After standing for a while, she planned to sit back down at the stone table as she estimated that Empress Xian De should be back. Just when she was leaving, her gaze passed by the woods that was at the side.
It was just a fleeting glance.
Shen Miao suddenly stopped!
She stared closely at a side and felt that all the blood in her body became cold and hot. All the blood seemed to rush to her brain that she was standing unsteadily. That made Ba Jiao and Hui Xiang also nervously looked over but did not discover anything.
Shen Miao suddenly parted the bush in front and ran towards the path at the side.
“Furen!” Ba Jiao and Hui Xiang jumped in shock and quickly followed.
Shen Miao ran very quickly and she did not notice her clothes and hair were caught in the branches. When one looked carefully, her hands were still shaking violently, her lips were white and her eyes were wide opened, not daring to relax for a little bit.
She saw it! The youth’s face that was hidden by the branches at the woods had a gentle smile and familiar expression. That was Fu Ming!
Her son, Fu Ming!
She did not see wrongly. She was not wrong. Shen Miao desperately ran over but the Imperial Gardens’ routes lead towards all directions and each small path would lead to a different location. The trees were dense and that youth suddenly disappeared that it made her think that it was all her illusions.
There was no more route in front. There was only a corner of the dark lake and also some rockery and long pavilions.
Shen Miao could not find that youth. Hui Xiang and Ba Jiao followed behind and when they saw that Shen Miao was standing on the same spot, one did not know what she was thinking that she looked like she has lost her soul.
Before there was any movement by the three of them, they suddenly heard a short scream from a woman before the sound of a heavy object falling onto the ground.
“Pu Tong!”
