Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 93 Filial Piety and Forgiveness

The blade barely touched the pale skin of Li Zhulan's neck, only a few hairs separating it from the blood vessels. If he moved it a fraction to the left and slashed it gently, this stunning flower from the deep palace would be snapped in two.

"Father! Don't!" Zhu Youxiao cried out, leaped to Zhu Changluo's side, and hugged his sword-holding hand tightly.

"Ha! Have you become so cowardly?" Zhu Changluo glanced at Zhu Youxiao before returning his gaze to Li Zhulan's tear-stained face. "Or have you frightened this child so much that she no longer has the courage to seek justice for her mother?"

Li Zhulan didn't answer, and she couldn't answer, so she could only shake her head repeatedly, her eyes asking: Your Majesty, what is going on? Are you really so cruel?

"Father, that's not true!" Zhu Youxiao said earnestly.

"Do you have anything else to say?" Zhu Changluo tilted his head and asked, "You were right beside Concubine Wang when she died, weren't you? Won't you avenge her? This is a perfect opportunity. If I kill someone, you won't even have any moral baggage. And I've dismissed everyone, so no one else will know about what happened today."

"Ti'er..." Zhu Youxiao was interrupted as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Don't worry, she won't know anything. Just give her a new mother when the time comes." Zhu Changluo's words made Li Zhulan shudder.

"Father!" Zhu Youxiao roared heartbreakingly. "You are always like this!"

"What!?" Zhu Changluo pushed Zhu Youxiao away.

Zhu Youxiao didn't flinch. This time, instead of grabbing his father's arm, he grabbed his father's sword-wielding hand. "First it was my fifth brother, then it was me, your son. Now it's finally my eighth sister's turn! How can mother just change things up like that?"

"But Li Zhulan tortured your mother to death." Zhu Changluo's expression showed no emotion. "Do you want to forgive her?"

"Father." Zhu Youxiao raised his head and met Zhu Changluo's eyes, and asked, "Do you really care about my mother?"

"." Zhu Youxiao's eyes were so intense that they forced Zhu Changluo to look away briefly.

"You don't care, right?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"I care about you." Zhu Changluo agreed.

"If you really cared about me, why didn't you give me more protection?" Zhu Youxiao tried his best to suppress the sobs in his throat, but even so, the feeling of grievance permeated every word. "If you had given me more protection, even if it was just to visit me for a few more meals, Consort Li wouldn't have dared to find a random excuse to punish me! My mother died of depression!"

"I..." Zhu Changluo was stunned by the question, but his eyes flashed with anticipation. "Are you saying that I am wrong?"

"Yes. I believe that your Majesty has made a mistake." Zhu Youxiao knelt on the ground and kowtowed heavily. "But if your Majesty feels that you must kill the concubine to appease your son, then your Majesty is wrong again."

"Son, after attending court for so long, you've started to learn the ways of a civil servant." Zhu Changluo sighed deeply.

"The Master said: If a father fights for his son, he himself will not fall into injustice. Therefore, when injustice occurs, a son cannot but fight for it with his father, and a minister cannot but fight for it with his ruler. Therefore, when injustice occurs, one should fight for it. How can one be filial if one obeys one's father's orders? This is the filial piety that the Imperial Tutor Sun taught his son and minister." Zhu Youjiao kowtowed again.

"Well said, well said." Zhu Changluo threw his sword aside, squatted down and gently stroked Zhu Youxiao's head. "You have really grown up. Father is very happy."

"Father!" Zhu Youxiao knelt on the ground and cried, as if he wanted to use tears to wash away the depression in his heart.

Zhu Changluo let Zhu Youxiao vent his emotions until the sobbing gradually subsided, then he said, "You can go out."

"Father?"

"Take the sword and go out."

"Yes, sir." Zhu Youxiao picked up the sword and scabbard from the ground, put the two together, and then raised the sword and bowed to his father.

After Zhu Youxiao walked away, Zhu Changluo said to Li Zhulan, who was kneeling on the ground, "Get up." "Your Majesty." The light makeup on Li Zhulan's face was completely smudged by her tears. Her red eyes and sad face added a kind of broken beauty to her.

"Go and make me a cup of tea." Zhu Changluo walked straight to the pavilion in the courtyard, pulled up a chair and sat down.

After a while, Li Zhulan came over with hot tea.

"You sit down too."

Li Zhulan nodded and sat down, then lifted the lid of the teacup and gently blew away the floating tea leaves on the surface. She waited until the tea was no longer hot before passing it to Zhu Changluo. "Your Majesty, please enjoy."

Zhu Changluo took a sip of tea and asked, "Do you think Zhu Youxiao is right?"

Li Zhulan was stunned. She couldn't answer this question.

Although she didn't know what the motive was, she knew very well that Zhu Youxiao's purpose in saying this was to save her life in front of the emperor. But the content of these words was to accuse the emperor of wrongdoing.

"I've spoiled you." Zhu Changluo didn't wait for her reply and continued, "This is a mistake. Even if my son didn't say it, I know it."

"I'm here today to put an end to this mistake once and for all." Zhu Changluo put down his teacup and stared at Li Zhulan. "The result is ambiguous."

"Your Majesty." Li Zhulan wiped the tears from her face when she entered the room to make tea, but when she heard the emperor's words, tears welled up again.

"Don't cry." Zhu Changluo reached out and wiped her eyes. "I am your husband, the father of these children, and the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Do you know which of these identities is most important?"

"It's the Emperor." Although she lived in seclusion in the palace, she was not completely oblivious to what was happening outside. Furthermore, the sound of cannon fire on the first day of the winter month could be heard throughout Beijing.

"If you can understand this, you can naturally understand what's happened recently," Zhu Changluo said calmly. "You've crossed the line."

"When I was seriously ill, you met with Zheng in private, right?"

"Your Majesty, that's not what I meant."

"What do you mean?" Zhu Changluo snorted coldly and asked, "What advice did she give you?"

"."

"You're not talking again." Zhu Changluo patted Li Zhulan's cheek. "Are you going to use the prince to command the princes? And then after I die, you'll be the Empress Dowager and she'll be the Grand Empress Dowager?"

"Zheng came to see me and hinted at something like this, but I never had such an idea and immediately turned her down." Li Zhulan's words were true, for she had been beaten that day and was still lying on the bed when Concubine Zheng arrived. Before she could even begin to think about it, Zhu Changluo was able to walk.

"Okay, I'll just assume you don't have such an idea. But you want to be the queen, right?" Zhu Changluo looked at her with a scrutinizing eye.

After hesitating for a moment, Li Zhulan replied, "Your Majesty, yes."

"Very good. I'm glad you're honest. But I want to tell you clearly that this is impossible." Zhu Changluo nodded and continued, "Do you still want it now?"

"Your Majesty, I don't want to think about it anymore." Li Zhulan sniffed, trying hard not to cry. "Now I just want Your Majesty to not alienate me."

Zhu Changluo held Li Zhulan's face in his hands, pressing his thumbs against her cheeks to force the corners of her mouth upward. "Don't look so sad. If the children see you, they'll think I've bullied you."

(End of this chapter)