Chapter 216 – I Am The Empress Dowager, Who Am I Afraid Of? (part 9)

Sure enough, after her son arrived at Peaceful Age Palace, he got better day by day. He gained weight and became much more energetic.

At that time, Empress Jiang was very grateful to the empress dowager. But after her son was cured, the emperor never mentioned moving her son back, which made Empress Jiang feel uncomfortable. She was the empress. Her son was the crown prince and her son should be with her.

But seeing her son’s heart gravitate towards the empress dowager every day, Empress Jiang’s heart was extremely tormented. She had thought about opening her mouth to the emperor and taking her son back to raise her. But her son was raised in Peaceful Age Palace, so he saw the emperor more often than when he was raised in her palace. Her son was more favoured by the emperor. Empress Jiang hesitated again.

Everyone knew how filial the emperor was to the empress dowager. The benefits of having a son by the empress dowager’s side were too obvious. Have the concubines with children started to worry at this time? Did they want to send their child to Peaceful Age Palace? Unfortunately, Peaceful Age Palace was not so easy to enter. The empress dowager would not raise everyone’s children.

Thinking of this, Empress Jiang began to feel proud again.

Even her mother advised her, for the sake of His Royal Highness, that she shouldn’t even think about bringing His Highness back to raise him! It was better to take advantage of this time to have another child and be a solid favourite.

But Empress Jiang was also in a difficult position. The emperor had always been indifferent to her. He only had respect for her. There was no love. In addition, since the emperor learned the reason for Yuanqi’s illness, he had become even more indifferent to her. Although the emperor rested in her palace on the 15th day of every month according to the rules of their ancestors, they just slept. She also wanted to have another child, but the emperor did not cooperate. What could she do?!

Therefore, Empress Jiang was in a dilemma and she felt very tormented.

Of course, a single fool could not survive in the harem except for the original owner. Many people saw Empress Jiang’s suffering. Emperor Long’an didn’t seem to care if he knew, while the other concubines were jealous and disdainful.

She didn’t know what virtues the empress dowager accumulated in her previous life for her to be so lucky in this life. Otherwise, was someone like her with no virtue or talent worthy of being the empress dowager?

The concubines who followed Empress Jiang were all full of disdain.

It was unfortunate that Empress Jiang didn’t realise it. Her whole heart was with her son. After hesitating for a moment, she let the concubines go back to the palace and she went to the imperial garden.

The intrigue between the concubines did not affect Li Su. Li Su took her grandson to look for crickets in the imperial garden, but unfortunately, after searching for a long time, they found nothing. Their faces were dirty.

Li Su waved her hand. “No more. Imperial grandmother is tired.” She sat on the chair while holding Wet Nurse Xu’s hand. Yes, when they were scurrying around in the imperial garden, the servants followed behind with chairs and stools in case such a situation occurred.

Zhao Yuanqi immediately ran over. “Imperial grandmother, your grandson will massage your legs.”

“Okay, Yuanqi is really good. It looks like we can’t catch crickets today. Why don’t we go back?” Li Su coaxed.

“But your grandson wants to catch a cricket and give it to emperor father and imperial grandmother.” Zhao Yuanqi turned his head to see what was going on. He heard a lot of crickets calling at night, so why couldn’t he find any during the day?

Li Su’s mouth twitched. She knew that catching crickets was usually better at night, but she just wanted Zhao Yuanqi to be more active, so she accompanied him. Unexpectedly, this child really wanted to catch crickets.

“Since that’s the case, why don’t we try it at night?!” Li Su thought for a while and said, “Now you should go back to take a shower and then read a book.”

Zhao Yuanqi was a little disappointed, but still nodded. “Okay, it’s a deal. You can’t lie to this grandson!”

“When has imperial grandmother lied to you?! Let’s go back to the palace!” Li Su smiled and took Zhao Yuanqi’s hand and walked back.

Empress Jiang fluttered in the imperial garden, then hurried to Peaceful Age Palace only to learn that the empress dowager and the prince were washing up and changing. After waiting for her son to finish cleaning up, Empress Jiang took her son’s hand without saying a few words. The palace servant also mentioned it was time for class and the gentleman was waiting in the study.

Empress Jiang had no choice but to reluctantly let go of her impatient son’s hand. She saw her son walk out with joyful steps. He was no longer the heavy and gloomy person when he used to study by her side.

Empress Jiang was a little puzzled. She had obviously done it for her son’s good, but why didn’t Yuanqi appreciate it?

Li Su, who came out of the bath, saw Empress Jiang like this and rolled her eyes. What an idiot! How could Empress Jiang compare to her? Li Su’s rules were that there were three classes in the morning and two classes in the afternoon. Each class was three quarters of an hour, with 15 minutes of break between classes. There was also one day off for every 5 days. It was a good arrangement. Look how happy Yuanqi was now.

“Empress Mother!” Empress Jiang called out.

“Come on, let’s have lunch together at noon!” Li Su said.

“Thank you, Empress Mother!” Empress Jiang said excitedly.

“It’s a good thing to hope that your son will become a dragon, but Yuanqi is still young. With such an intense arrangement like yours, even an adult can’t stand it, let alone a child like Yuanqi. Be kind to children,” Li Su said.

But when she saw Empress Jiang’s appearance, she knew that Empress Jiang didn’t listen to her at all.

It’s not that Li Su didn’t think about □□ with this daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, Empress Jiang was stupid, stubborn, and had a big heart. After several attempts, there was no change and Li Su was also impatient. Empress Jiang was not her mission target either. Besides, as long as Emperor Long’an was well, Empress Jiang would not cause any trouble.

So, Li Su no longer cared about Empress Jiang.

“Okay, don’t linger around here. Why don’t you go?” Li Su said impatiently.

Empress Jiang remembered that the Mid-Autumn Festival was coming soon. The palace was going to prepare the Mid-Autumn Festival Banquet, and there were still a lot of things to arrange. She had to stand up quickly and say goodbye.

Li Su looked at her back and shook her head helplessly. “A-Xu, do you think the empress is getting older?”

“The empress manages the six palaces with all her energy,” Wet Nurse Xu said with a straight face. This was how Empress Jiang looked like an empress. She had power and all the palace affairs were in her hands. She wasn’t like the empress dowager, who just wanted to sleep for a few more hours every day and didn’t care about palace affairs.

Li Su clicked her tongue. Anyway, she didn’t understand Empress Jiang. Emperor Long’an was not someone who favoured concubines and exterminated his wife. Even if he was dissatisfied with Empress Jiang, he still gave her the honor of being an empress, and her son was the crown prince. It could be said that, so as long as Empress Jiang did not make big mistakes, her position would be stable. But Empress Jiang was still stubborn and refused to relax in the slightest.

Wet Nurse Xu was a little speechless. You are lucky to have met the late emperor. Otherwise, would you have even survived in the harem, let alone become the empress? When you became the empress, the late emperor thought of everything for you. You just needed to have fun. Empress Jiang was not as lucky as you. The current emperor was not a person who was fond of children. His thoughts were all in the past, and the only patience and warmth he had were directed towards you. In order to consolidate her position, Empress Jiang must not be exhausted!

“Hey, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. Do you think that damn boy, Defang, will come back?” Wet Nurse Xu, who had been following Li Su for a long time, couldn’t keep up with Li Su’s thoughts. Just now, Li Su mentioned the empress and now Li Su was talking about Prince Bao again.

Wet Nurse Xu was stunned for a rare moment before she said, “Maybe the prince won’t be able to come back in time. Jiangxi is far from the capital.”

Li Su was not disappointed either. “That damn boy must be having fun outside. He left his mother behind. Oh, I’m so envious. I also want to go out to play out there!”

Wet Nurse Xu couldn’t help but roll her eyes. The empress dowager missing the prince was false. The last sentence was true! It had been several years, and His Majesty even dedicated his own son, His Royal Highness, to play with you. Why are you still thinking about running out? You have a delicate body, yet you are still thinking of going out there to play? Wouldn’t that just be bullying yourself?

Wet Nurse Xu did not persuade Li Su to take advantage of the situation. She changed the subject very skillfully. “Empress Dowager, His Majesty is coming for lunch. What do you think we should prepare for lunch?”

Sure enough, Li Su was easily distracted. She sat up straight and discussed the lunch menu with Wet Nurse Xu. When she confirmed the menu, most of the morning had been spent. For the rest of the time, Wet Nurse Xu called the little palace maid again to paint Li Su’s nails, and then asked people to bring over the new tribute materials from Jiangnan. She then summoned the embroidery lady from the to discuss what clothes should be made of that material.

When playtime was almost over, Li Yuanqi also left school. He ran in, quickly paid his respects, and went to Li Su to excitedly talk about today’s classes and what happened.

After a while, Emperor Long’an and Empress Jiang also arrived. The most noble family in the world had a meal together.

Li Su thought that she had a really fulfilling day!

After lunch, Emperor Long’an accompanied them to talk again, then left. He took Empress Jiang with him. Empress Jiang originally wanted to express her motherly love and coax her son to take a nap. She didn’t expect that her son would ignore her and only pay attention to Li Su, saying that he only wanted imperial grandmother to coax him. Empress Jiang had no choice but to follow Emperor Long’an sadly.

She also didn’t expect that after leaving Peaceful Age Palace, Emperor Long’an would say that he still had a memorial to review, so he let the empress go back to the palace on her own.

Empress Jiang was angry and anxious, but she didn’t dare to say anything, so she had to swallow her anger and go back to the palace.

Li Yuanqi was actually a very well-behaved child. He said he wanted Li Su to coax him, but in fact he fell asleep by himself not long after he lay down. Li Su also had the habit of taking naps. When she saw him sleeping so sweetly, she felt sleepy too and repeatedly yawned.

When Wet Nurse Xu saw this, she quickly helped Li Su back to the bedroom, took off her hairpin, took off her outer dress and embroidered shoes with pearls, and covered her with a quilt.

Wet Nurse Xu did not leave immediately, but stood by the bed and stayed silent for a while until she heard the sound of steady breathing. It was only then when she left quietly.

“Wet Nurse, the empress dowager has gone to bed. You should sleep for a while too!” the little palace maid said softly.

Wet Nurse Xu shook her head. She was old and she slept too much during the day so it was difficult for her to sleep at night. Unlike the empress dowager, no matter how much she slept during the day, she was still able to sleep at night. His Majesty was even very envious at this quality of sleep.