After the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone got up.
Chuntao originally wanted to stay and take care of Li Wanming, but was held back by Wu Yao and Aunt Song. "It's Chinese New Year. Let the young couple have some private time together..."
Sister Liu was drunk, her voice choking. "Yes, after the New Year, our girl will enter the prince's mansion and won't be his wife anymore..."
Sister Liu was a working - class woman. The working class had their own simple logic about the feuds of the wealthy families.
In her view, her beautiful and intelligent daughter had been taken fancy to by the royal family and bestowed as the heir's wife of the Ning Prince's Mansion. Xiao Jingnan, a poor scholar with no power or influence, was just left with a cuckold...
To be honest, she really liked Xiao Jingnan as her son - in - law, so she was genuinely sad for him.
...
Xiao Jingnan closed the door behind them with a helpless look.
The footsteps outside gradually faded away. The room suddenly became quiet, with only the leftovers on the table.
The fire in the charcoal brazier crackled. The fumes made Li Wanming uncomfortable. She frowned and rubbed her temples.
Xiao Jingnan poured a bowl of sobering soup for her from the small red - clay stove beside.
After Li Wanming finished drinking it, she gently pounded her chest and said, "Open the door. I want to sober up a bit."
Hearing this, Xiao Jingnan silently walked to the door and slightly opened it a crack.
The cold wind blew in, making one shiver involuntarily, but also refreshing one's mind.
Li Wanming gently put down the soup bowl. "Speak."
Xiao Jingnan understood: She had already guessed.
It was right. She was always so intelligent. How could she not guess?
New Year's Eve was a festive day, the most important festival of the year.
On this day, whether the nobles or the commoners, all put down their work and happily prepared for the New Year.
But he had made the Empress Dowager Kang issue an imperial edict personally and had Eunuch An come out of the palace to announce it, causing quite a stir in the entire palace, just to obtain the position of the heir's wife for her...
Such a glorious position and such a grand occasion, giving her enough face - there must be a price.
Moreover, this price must be high.
Li Wanming understood, so before knowing the truth, she had wanted a last moment of happiness and indulgence.
Now, the grandeur had faded, and it was time to start.
"Do you need me to call my parents to listen?" Li Wanming asked.
Xiao Jingnan's voice was slightly hoarse. "No... The Ministry of Rites will talk to them about the subsequent matters."
Li Wanming nodded.
The process of the prince's mansion marrying a main wife was different from that of common people. The procedures were complicated and could not be wrong at all. Of course, officials from the Ministry of Rites would go to the Li family to guide them.
Xiao Jingnan added, "I've already told Lu Ping and Wu Yao to let them and Chuntao and the others stay in the back courtyard. Don't come here unless called."
"My father and mother have returned to the prince's mansion to start preparing for the subsequent engagement - confirming and betrothal - presenting ceremonies. Uncle Zhong and Nanny Yu also went back with them."
"Tonight, in this Qinghui Hall, there are only you and me."
He stared at Li Wanming and said quietly.
Li Wanming stared back at him intently, saying nothing, patiently waiting for him to continue.
Xiao Jingnan hesitated. After thinking for a long time, he slowly said something seemingly irrelevant.
"The current Empress Dowager is not the emperor's biological mother."
Li Wanming was stunned. "You've said this before. I know. The emperor's biological mother was Concubine Hui, from the Cheng family of Langya, who was your mother's younger sister. So you and the emperor are cousins..."
Xiao Jingnan shook his head. "No, you don't understand."
His brows gradually frowned, as if he was thinking about the most complicated thing in the world.
"All of this can't escape the power struggle between the emperor and the Empress Dowager."
Xiao Jingnan stood by the door. The cold wind outside carried the unique gunpowder smell of the New Year and blew towards him.
He slightly raised his head and looked at the fireworks blooming one after another in the sky, the most extreme splendor at the end of the year.
"Back then, when the late emperor was alive, his favorite was Concubine Hui. He even once considered deposing Empress Kang and making Concubine Hui the empress."
The flickering light fell on his face. His jade - carved side face was coated with a colorful halo, making his voice seem ethereal and illusory, like a dream.
"I once suspected whether Concubine Hui's death was related to Empress Dowager Kang - that is, the then Empress Kang."
"What..."
Li Wanming couldn't help but be stunned.
She had already realized how extraordinary the thing Xiao Jingnan had told her was.
If Concubine Hui was really killed by Empress Dowager Kang, then the person whom Zhao Yanke called mother every day would be his mother - killer?
The emperor and the Empress Dowager... had a deep - seated hatred...
Just thinking about it made one shiver.
If it was used by someone with ulterior motives, the Great Sheng Dynasty might be bathed in blood.
"Your Majesty... Does His Majesty know?"
Li Wanming was in a daze for a while and murmured.
Xiao Jingnan shook his head. "He doesn't know."
"He was still young when Concubine Hui died and had little memory."
"Moreover, I only suspect it. There is no evidence. The secrets of the palace, even if there were a lot of evidence, would have long been lost behind the high palace walls. It's estimated that it's impossible to find out now. However..."
He turned around and said calmly, "In such matters, evidence is never needed. Only a seed of doubt is needed."
His voice became cold and gradually wrapped in frost, like a long knife braving the wind and snow on the battlefield.
"A seed of doubt is enough to destroy the already fragile trust between the emperor and the Empress Dowager."
"Whether Empress Dowager Kang did it or not, it's a fact that the late emperor once considered deposing the empress, and it's also a fact that she was at odds with Concubine Hui... She has an innate suspicion and fear towards His Majesty."
"She's afraid that His Majesty will be incited to start investigating the cause of his mother's death. In this way, no matter what is found in the end, His Majesty will be estranged from her."
Li Wanming realized. "So that's why she doesn't dare to let His Majesty take charge of the government..."
No wonder.
No wonder Zhao Yanke was already twenty - one years old but still unmarried.
According to the ancestral etiquette of the Great Sheng Dynasty, once the emperor got married, it meant that he could start a family and take over the affairs of the court and govern independently.
But with the relationship between Empress Dowager Kang and Zhao Yanke, how could she dare to hand over the power to him?
Li Wanming suddenly remembered something. "So the reason why Lu Songyuan has never been able to become the empress is... actually the Empress Dowager doesn't really want her to be the empress?"
Xiao Jingnan looked at her approvingly.
"So there is not complete unity within Empress Dowager Kang's camp."
"One day, there will surely be a rift between Empress Dowager Kang and the emperor. If His Majesty wants to strengthen his power and tear a hole in the court controlled by the Empress Dowager, his greatest support is Concubine Hui's maternal family back then."
His gaze looked straight at her, carrying a desolate coldness.
"For example, the Cheng family of Langya and our Xiao family of the Ning Prince's Mansion."