The third volume of Linglong Dice, An Hongdou 148 Decision

  Liu Ying came out of Chang Le Palace just as Zhang Yan was getting down from the imperial carriage, hastily stepping up the stairs.

  "Your Majesty." Zhang Yan pulled at his hem and asked, "What's going on between you and the Empress Dowager?" He looked up, his face full of anxiety.

  Liu Ying pulled her hand and walked down the long stairs. Zhang Yan was dragged forward for a moment, calling out "Uncle?" but his body kept turning back, looking into the high palace gates of Chang Le Palace, as if he could see the dejected face of Empress Lü.

  Liu Ying's chest rose and fell slightly, without answering his wife's question, but instead said in a low voice, "You go back with me first."

  "But," Zhang Yan furrowed her brow, "what about the Empress Dowager now?"

  Even if she puts on a strong front in front of outsiders, after just having a fight with her son, she must be very vulnerable at this moment.

  Liu Ying suddenly felt a little sad, let go of her hand and asked unintentionally, "A Yan, if one day, I really oppose the Empress Dowager, will you help your grandmother or me?"

  Zhang Yan was taken aback, forcing a smile, "Your Majesty, what are you talking about? You and the Empress Dowager are of one mind, no matter what happens, how could things have come to this?"

  "Yes, mother and son are of the same mind." Liu was dazed for a moment, let go of her hand, nodded and instructed, "It's windy at night, when returning to Weiyang Palace, remember to tell the palace staff to add more clothes."

  Zhang Yan gazed at the emperor's retinue, his back figure, and her lips trembled slightly.

  "Your Highness." The eunuch stepped forward cautiously and asked, "What's going on here?"

  She blinked away the mist in her eyes and turned back to say, "Go to Changxin Hall."

  The atmosphere in Changxin Hall was tense and oppressive. When Su Mo saw Zhang Yan enter, she felt a great deal of relief.

  "The empress dowager is in a bad mood." She pointed to the palace, saying, "Your Majesty," Su Mo's voice was full of worry. "You go and persuade her."

  Zhang Yan entered the palace, Empress Lü was sitting with her back to him. Hearing the noise, she suddenly threw the crystal ear cup on the table in front of her and shouted, "I said I wanted to be alone quietly, are you all dead?"

  With a crash, the crystal earring brushed past Zhang Yan's ear. It fell to the ground with a loud clang and shattered into powder.

  Waiting for Lv Hou to see Zhang Yan's frightened pale face, his eyes regretted. But it was already too late.

  "A Yan."

  "Foolish child." Empress Lü hastily looked her up and down, seeing that she was unharmed, before saying, "Why didn't you make a sound? If you were really hurt, it would be terrible."

  Zhang Yan forced a smile and said, "I saw that Grandma was in a bad mood and didn't dare disturb her, but I was also afraid that she would be alone with her thoughts. That's why I wanted to quietly keep her company."

  The candlelight she held cast a glow on the deeply sunken eyelids of Lü Hou.

  She suddenly realized that this woman she had always thought was invincible had finally grown old. The only two people who could truly hurt her.

  One was Liu Ying, and the other was Lu Yuan. "Hmph," Lü Hou sneered, "Still, little Ah Yan is considerate, unlike your husband who has no conscience and doesn't appreciate his mother's kindness at all."

  Zhang Yan shook her head and gently advised, "Your Majesty is just temporarily angry, but he is filial to the Empress Dowager. That's beyond doubt. But Empress Dowager, why do you like to go against His Majesty?"

  "Oh?"

  "A Yan thinks," Zhang Yan said, "Your Majesty is sometimes just a child, and needs the Empress Dowager to coax him as his mother. But the Empress Dowager always argues with him in a hard-hearted way. Even if Your Majesty has a good temper, he is still a man after all, and has some masculine pride. If he gets angry and offends the Empress Dowager just to protect Wang Gong, won't that be a loss for her?"

  Lü Hou was stunned for a moment, thinking back to a long time ago in Fengpei Village.

  At that time, Liu Ying was only five or six years old. After running wild outside all day and returning home, she would scold him a few words with a straight face, then use a clean handkerchief to wipe away the sweat beads on his forehead.

  All her tenderness seems to have been lost in the Chu-Han contention of those years. Gentle people are easily hurt, and after walking out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, there is only a hard-hearted Lü Zhi.

  "A Yan..." Lu Hou suddenly grasped her hand, his eyes gleaming with a fierce light. "I can't wait three years, one year, just one year. If after one year, you still can't defeat Ying Er... Ah Yan..."

  She didn't continue speaking. However, Zhang Yan understood her meaning from her eyes.

  Zhang Yan's mind was racing. In the fifth year of Emperor Hui, she was fourteen years old in virtual age, but actually, she had just turned thirteen. Three years later, she would be sixteen. But a year later, she was only fourteen. It was really a bit forced, whether emotionally or physically.

  But in Weiyang Palace, she cannot lose Lv Hou's support.

  No matter how dissatisfied Liu Ying was with Empress Lü, she was still his mother, a bond that could not be cut off.

  She endured the force that Lü had applied to her hand and gritted her teeth, saying, "One year is really too short, two years then. Grandma, I'm really... a bit scared."

  Lü Hou's gaze swept around, seeing the clarity and calmness within, and then she opened her hand and said, "Alright, two years." She rubbed her eyebrows, tiredly saying, "A Yan, I'm exhausted. That Wang..."

  She was at odds with her son this time and refused to admit any of her own mistakes, so she vented all her resentment on Wang Kong, not even willing to mention his name, only saying faintly, "You go deal with it."

  Zhang Yan was about to speak, but Empress Lü cut her off, "I won't be able to protect you for the rest of my life. You've been in Weiyang Palace for over a year now, and you've seen everything there is to see. If I'm still here, you can't even handle that little scoundrel Wang, so what will you do when I'm gone?"

  Zhang Yan was silent for a moment, this was Lu Hou's retreat, testing her. She could only accept it.

  After returning to the Pepper Chamber, she changed into a swallow dress, tied up her black hair, and seemed to be thinking deeply.

  She didn't quite understand that as Empress Lü, she had many ways to make Wang Zhi disappear quietly in the Weiyang Palace. Why did she choose the most open and honest way?

  Perhaps because Empress Lü's attributes were more suited to the imperial court than the harem. She was more of a politician, rather than one of those women in the harem who lived for vying for favor.

  What about me?

  Zhang Yan smiled. I want to be a politician and also your wife. So, what I care about is not the means, but the final outcome.

  Handing the letter to Mugui, he said, "Give this to Han Gonggong of Xuan Shi and ask him to present it to His Majesty at once."

  She deliberately emphasized the two words "immediately".

  Then he turned his head and ordered, "Go to the Imperial Medical Office and ask for Doctor Chunyu."

  "Niang niang." Tong Hua was startled and asked, "Is there something uncomfortable about your body?"

  "Isn't there anything wrong that can't be treated by a doctor?" Zhang Yan smiled and said, "I'm just reminiscing about the past."

  Jun Yu stepped into the palace and bowed, saying, "Your servant pays respects to Her Majesty the Empress."

  "Get up." Zhang Yan looked at the young imperial physician and suddenly said, "Calculating it, I have a master-disciple relationship with the previous Chun Yu Zhen imperial physician. You are his adopted son, so you can also be considered my senior fellow apprentice."

  "I don't dare." Xun Yu cupped his hands together in respect.

  This young man seemed unfamiliar with himself when he was proclaiming peace, but after all, there were some connections, and in the Imperial Medical Office, he could gain trust.

  "I'd like to ask you for a favor."

  "Your Majesty," Chun Yu Yan suddenly raised his head, with sparks flying out of his eyes. "The pregnancy of the Queen is not solely my responsibility, let alone that I am a doctor and cannot betray the teachings of my mentor."

  "Don't worry." Zhang Yan said, stunned, "I didn't mean to have you poison Wang Meiren." She glanced at her own slender hands and laughed self-deprecatingly, "I don't like my hands stained with blood either." Even more so, she didn't like provoking Liu Ying's anger.

  Only one way can make Wang Ke's child in her belly disappear silently and Liu Ying has no chance.

  "I heard that in Chang'an East City, there is a..." Zhang Yan said with a pout.

  Liu Ying returned to the Pepper Chamber Hall without seeing any sign of Chunyu Yan's departure.

  "A Yan," he called out.

  Zhang Yan suddenly jumped up and hurriedly said to him, "You go take a bath for me first. Don't bring the smell of other women here."

  Liu Ying came out again, and saw Zhang Yan sitting sideways on the couch reading a book. The moonlight fell from the window, half of it on her cheek, with a sense of tranquility and hidden vitality like a quiet lake surface.

  He suddenly felt a little powerless. It seemed that no matter what he did, he couldn't take care of everyone.

  Mother, Ayang. Wang Cong, and that unborn child.

  What's wrong with this?

  "Your Majesty's question is not appropriate." Zhang Yan suddenly put down the book in her hand, stood up, and the light in her eyes was dazzling. "You ask me whether I support you or Your Majesty. How do you want me to answer? You are my uncle-in-law, but the Empress Dowager is also my birth mother's aunt. If Your Majesty asks who I am closer to, then I will first ask Your Majesty a question: do you plan to break off relations with the Empress Dowager because of today's matter?"

  Liu Ying was startled and suddenly replied, "Of course not."

  Don't say that the child didn't really have an accident. Even if Liu Xiang's mother was right, the child can still be had in the future, but a mother only has one. Liu Xiang thought helplessly, perhaps no matter what his mother did, he couldn't really break with her.

  "So," Zhang Yan said bluntly, "I'll go see the Empress Dowager first. What's wrong with that?"

  If one day I have a conflict with your concubines, who will you choose?

  "You only know that the governor has set a fire, but don't allow the common people to light their lamps."

  "What Zhang Heng said in his letter, 'This summer Guanzhong will probably have a drought', is it true?"

  Zhang Yan's resentment was not yet settled, and she nodded slightly. "I'm not one of those people who have nothing to lose, how could I deceive others with such a thing? Zhang He has always been a cautious person, if he dares to speak out, he must have great confidence. Your Majesty should consider and plan ahead early." Liu Ying thought for a moment, shook his head and sighed, "What can be said? Should I say during the court meeting that I knew there would be a severe drought in Guanzhong this summer, so we need to make preparations in advance? Just a few days ago, it rained, if this summer is indeed wind and rain, and there's no drought, wouldn't I have to punish Zhang He for spreading rumors and confusing the people?"

  "He shook his head and said, 'Don't mention whether the court officials believe in astrology or not. Once news of a drought spreads, people's hearts will become unsettled. Ah Yan, you know that after years of war between Chu and Han, Guanzhong was already seven or eight out of ten households empty. In the ninth year of Emperor Gao, Liu Jing returned from Xiongnu and advised Emperor Gao to move all the nobles to Guanzhong. After that, people gradually moved here, and it took many years for their hearts to settle. If there really is a drought in Guanzhong, these common people have only lived on this land for a few years. If they become anxious and flee, it will be even worse.'"

  Zhang Yan pouted, thinking that Liu Ying had actually grown up over the years. Perhaps he could never become a brilliant and capable ruler, but in governance, his actions became increasingly mature.

  "Your Majesty doesn't have to worry." She said with a smile, "Since the new farming method was used, Guanzhong has had two years of good harvests and one year of drought, which should be able to get through."

  "Grains, grains." Liu Ying's gaze swept around the cowhide map hanging in the Pepper Chamber Hall, finally settling on the confluence of the Yellow River and the Ji Water, Xingyang.

  That is where the ancient Qin dynasty set up Ao Granary.

  Every year, the grain tax from Kanto is transported from this place to Guanzhong and the north.

  Yeah, I also know that recent chapters have been frustrating for everyone

  Once again, I offer my sincerest apologies.

  It's not that I don't want to write some happy scenes for everyone. It's just that the plot has developed to this point, and it seems a bit out of my control.

  Sometimes he thought of writing a bad man in his next book, so whatever bad things he did, no one would think it was wrong.

  Now, let's continue on the journey of cultivating a good man.

  The last four days of May. Well, I'm also feeling anxious and restless. But at this stage, it's not possible to say give up directly. So can only continue.

  Look down, although it seems that the current plot is depressing, I still implore you to support me with your pink tickets.

  Sincerely knock and think of it.