inspire-indiana Chapter 288 Returning to the System
Chapter 288 Returning to the System
After the Empress's death, Emperor Ruiqing did not appear to be particularly grieved.
He ordered his men to place the Empress into the prepared crystal coffin, and he stood guard by her side all night. When he opened the door the next day, he appeared normal, but for some reason, the servants felt that the Emperor looked gloomy.
The Emperor handled the matters methodically, one by one, and then summoned the Crown Prince to his presence.
Back then, the Crown Prince chose a young son from a relatively powerless imperial family. He was only fourteen or fifteen years old when he entered the palace, and now he is over twenty years old and has grown into a handsome and dashing young man.
Unlike previous crown princes who stayed in the palace all day, he built his own residence outside early on and followed officials from various places to gain experience.
When the Crown Prince heard the news of the Empress's death, he was in the suburbs, inspecting the farmland with officials from the Ministry of Personnel. His hands and legs were covered in mud.
Upon hearing the news, he felt a ringing in his ears and his knees went weak. If the official beside him hadn't caught him in time, he probably would have fallen into the paddy field.
"Your Highness! Your Highness, please accept my condolences! Please take care of yourself!"
I don't know how much time passed before I heard someone calling my name. It seemed to come from somewhere near and far, and I couldn't hear it clearly.
Then, they saw the people standing on the ridge of the field kneeling down in the direction of the palace, prostrating themselves and kowtowing one after another with sorrowful expressions...
The crown prince felt as if he had been punched in the chest; the uncontrollable pain and soreness quickly spread from his heart to his entire body, causing him to involuntarily hunch over.
"Your Majesty the Empress! Your Majesty the Empress!" the people called out spontaneously.
The Empress is a kind and benevolent person. Together with the Emperor, she has done many things that benefit the people, and the people know this in their hearts.
Right and wrong, merit and demerit, may indeed vanish in the blink of an eye, but they will live on forever in the hearts of the people and in the history books.
"My lady..."
The Crown Prince murmured along with the common people. Although he was the Crown Prince, he did not address the Emperor and Empress as Father and Mother. From the beginning, he could sense that the Emperor did not want him to be his heir.
There was no deep father-son affection between him and his father. He was simply teaching him to be a qualified crown prince and a qualified emperor. More than a father, his father was a strict and exceptionally wise teacher.
The Crown Prince respected and admired him, but not to the point of being overly attached to him. His relationship with the Emperor was like that of a ruler and his subject.
But the Empress was different. Before she entered the palace, her family was not harmonious. Her parents quarreled, and her father took four or five concubines. Her mother secretly shed tears every day.
Although they were members of the imperial family, due to the emperor's measures to weaken the nobility when he first ascended the throne, they did not live a luxurious life, but rather lived frugally.
His father was a typical member of the imperial clan, extravagant and unsuccessful, earning not a single copper coin except for his stipend as a member of the clan.
With several concubines to support, the family could hardly make ends meet, but his father didn't care. When the family ran out of money, he would blame the housekeeper's wife without any regard for right or wrong.
Later, he took the initiative to manage the household accounts, and within a few months, he had the courtyard under his thumb. Even his father had to consider his feelings before spending money...
His mother still cried all day long and seemed to ignore him. At such a young age, he seemed to be the backbone of the family, but he felt no joy at all.
He was good at reading from a young age and loved reading. Since his family couldn't afford a good tutor, he read and studied on his own. Because he was a relative, he never thought about taking the imperial examinations.
But then the emperor suddenly announced that he would choose the heir to the throne from among the children of the imperial clan, causing great turmoil among the imperial clan. Those imperial clan members who usually caused trouble and played around with cats and dogs suddenly disappeared as if they had vanished into thin air.
He didn't care about it.
But the commotion was so great that even his father, a nobody in the clan, knew about it and even started having fantasies.
He just scoffed at it and continued living his life as usual.
It wasn't until the palace held its entrance examination that he stepped into the main hall for the first time in his life, not daring to look up at the extremely majestic figure sitting on the dragon throne.
"Raise your heads, everyone. What, you don't even dare to look at me?" A gentle voice came from above, and everyone raised their faces in fear, including him.
Only when he looked at it for a moment did he realize what true royalty meant.
Completely different from his relatives, who were just drifting through life like his father, he witnessed for the first time what imperial power truly was. His past ten years of life seemed to vanish in an instant, leaving him feeling as if he were standing on a cloud.
When he first returned from the palace, he was in a daze for several days, but he was also clearly aware that there was a chasm between him and the palace that he could not cross.
However, he was not completely ignorant of the subjects being tested; on the contrary, he seemed to be more proficient than the other members of the clan around him.
The Emperor's examination of them was not just this one time, nor was it conducted over just a few days.
Instead, over a period of more than a year, there were frequent school exams with no fixed time or content. Most of the relatives and children he knew went from being enthusiastic at the beginning to complaining, and later even became quite flustered and displeased.
Because of the repeated unexpected events and lack of preparation, they, and their families, felt uncertain and uncertain...
Moreover, it cannot be concealed or faked. It might be okay once or twice, but with more and more times, it will completely expose a person's true nature.
Even though they knew the emperor's intentions, they were powerless to do anything about it...
Emperor Ruiqing has always been like this; he has his own style of doing things, and no one can sway him.
Sometimes he seems even arbitrary and haphazard, making him incomprehensible. But upon closer examination, he is always quite ingenious, meticulous, and insightful, and he always manages to achieve his desired goals.
Emperor Ruiqing did not force every member of the imperial clan who participated in the examinations to persevere from beginning to end.
However, once you give up, there's no chance of competing again...
So even though their families urged them to continue, those relatives and members of the clan gritted their teeth and persevered.
But the more they do this, the more their shortcomings and fatigue become apparent, leading to widespread complaints.
The allure of the throne was simply too great.
To rise above one's station and become the master of the world is a dream that most people wouldn't even dare to imagine.
It's like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey pulling a millstone; no matter how unreachable it is, it's unwilling to give up.
So, during the first half of the year, not a single person was missing from the examinations held in the main hall.
But in the latter half of the year, some people stopped coming, and the emperor said nothing, neither asking nor blaming them.
Later, some relatives shamelessly pleaded with Emperor Ruiqing, hoping to give their children another chance, but were only turned away by Emperor Ruiqing's ambiguous smile.
With the rules set in advance, doing this would only bring shame upon oneself, and no one would dare to try it again.
But the crown prince, who was then a member of the imperial clan and was not taken seriously, did not think that way. He found that he was not afraid of each examination. He was not happy when he answered well, and he was not discouraged when he answered poorly. Instead, he became more courageous after each setback and looked forward to the examination that might come at any time.
At the time, he didn't think about gaining the emperor's favor or hoping to become the crown prince; he just felt joy and happiness.
Because what he sees and thinks now is something he could never have experienced when he was confined to his mansion for the past ten years or so, spending his days dealing with a few coins' worth of account books and watching his parents become a resentful couple. The Emperor's examination of him made him feel as if he had seen the vast world and the bright universe that he had never known before.
For more than a year, he lived as if in a dream. He didn't even have time to consider whether what he was doing was good or bad. He read countless books and pondered countless questions.
He was overjoyed to hear the teachings of the senior officials in the court and to be favored by the great Confucian scholars who were different from the mediocre scholars at home who spoke only of formalities and embellishments.
Knowing that the Emperor would no longer conduct examinations for them, he knew that the Emperor had already made his decision.
He never thought about what would happen to him, but he felt like he had just woken up from a dream, and he would never again have such a happy and intoxicating time.
It wasn't until the emperor personally selected him to enter the palace and teach him that he saw stars and thought he had misheard the name.
Shocked and oppressive gazes, filled with jealousy and resentment, came from every direction and every position, like fine, dense spider silk, surrounding him completely.
He felt as if he couldn't breathe...
He even forgot to express his gratitude, and stared blankly at Emperor Ruiqing, who sat on the dragon throne with a calm expression, as if he had just spoken casually.
Emperor Ruiqing was also looking at him.
This was the first time in over a year that the Emperor's attention had been entirely focused on him.
It made him tremble all over, frozen in place, unable to move, because he was so taut that his spine even felt a slight pain...
He never dared to ask why the emperor had chosen him. Over the years, he had gradually transformed from someone who was ignorant of the ways of the world and even thought himself stupid and useless into someone who no longer belittled himself and had made up his mind about the world.
Emperor Ruiqing's teaching of him was not about giving him lessons, which were done by tutors. Emperor Ruiqing simply kept him by his side and ordered him to do many things. From the beginning, he made him do things that he did not understand at all and had never been involved in before.
He was at a loss and made mistakes repeatedly. Even he himself felt that he was not up to the task and dared not continue. However, Emperor Ruiqing did not blame him. But at that time, he really wished he could be severely scolded so that he could feel at ease.
He apologized to the emperor, but was only lightly forgiven and then asked to do other things. Sometimes his mistakes could be rectified by others, but other times he did cause undesirable consequences.
After several such experiences, he could no longer bear the torment and often suffered from insomnia. Finally, he told Emperor Ruiqing what was on his mind.
But the Emperor merely glanced at him and said, "Now you feel better because I scold and reprimand you, but who will scold and admonish you in the future?"
One sentence left the crown prince stunned.
He had thought that the emperor might not care about him, but then he thought that he was just making wild guesses. If the emperor didn't think he was a promising talent, why would he put him in the palace to be personally taught?
He had thought a lot, but he never expected to hear these words from the Emperor.
"What's the use of seeking peace of mind? Does peace of mind mean that mistakes are no longer mistakes? Or does peace of mind mean that you can take it for granted that you've learned your lesson and that this matter can be turned over and forgotten?" The Emperor looked at him calmly.
“A mistake is a mistake. You need to know that, and you need to remember it forever. Remember how you feel right now. In the future, many people will only comfort you, advise you, and flatter you, making you feel like you can't do anything wrong, and that it doesn't matter if you do. Remember what you're thinking right now, know what it feels like to be heartbroken when you're wrong, and don't forget…”
"Yes."
The prince replied that he would keep these words firmly in mind.
His years in the palace were not without their challenges, but the Empress remained steadfast in her ways.
The Empress never treated herself as a son; she was not good at getting along with children and had no maternal love.
But the Empress was always gentle and kind, and the palace was full of life. Everyone loved the Empress.
Whenever he thought of the Empress, he would recall the kites she made for him when he was young, the sweet and delicious pastries, the warm and brightly colored winter clothes, and the lucky money she would specially give him after the palace banquet every year during the New Year.
"I haven't given any New Year's money to the younger generation yet," the Empress said with a smile.
There were no children in the palace. He had heard countless times that others speculated how guilty and tormented the Empress was because she had no children, and how unwilling she was to see the Emperor appoint a member of the imperial family as the Crown Prince, with a sorrowful face every day.
That's all nonsense...
The Empress was extremely happy. She didn't want to have her own children. He could tell that she didn't have any affection for him. It wasn't that the Empress was bad; she was a good person, but she wasn't his mother.
The emperor didn't like children; his heart belonged only to the empress.
This most distinguished couple in the world seems to be different from ordinary couples.
Even the late emperor, who spent most of his time traveling and whose whereabouts were rarely seen, and the current Prince Qin, did not treat him like an elder.
His Highness Prince Qin was gentle yet serious, and he never treated him like a child or a junior, but rather regarded him solely as the Crown Prince.
But he felt extremely happy. He respected the Emperor, the Empress, and Prince Qin. There were no better people than them, and no better days than these.
Some officials speculated that as he grew older and was no longer the emperor's biological son, he might develop disloyal intentions. But only he knew that he had no such desire. If only he could live a few more years like this.
But... those days are over.
The crown prince immediately wanted to enter the palace, but was turned away.
The eunuch Xi came to see him: "His Majesty...His Majesty said that you should...do...do what you are supposed to do."
The crown prince remained silent, his heart filled with sorrow.
The next day, he finally saw the Empress for the last time. After listening to the Emperor's teachings, the Emperor looked at him gently and said, "It is time for you to continue on your path."
"Your Majesty..." The Crown Prince choked up, his eyes reddening. For some reason, he seemed to have foreseen something, but he dared not say anything.
Finally, he asked a question that had been on his mind for many years: "Your Majesty, why did you choose me back then?"
"You and I looked quite alike when we were young," the Emperor said calmly.
The Crown Prince couldn't tell whether the Emperor truly meant it, but a surge of emotion welled up within him. He resembled the Emperor, and he wanted to be a wise and benevolent ruler like him.
Three days after the Empress's death, the Emperor lay on his bed, refusing to eat or drink, and then passed away peacefully.
Unbeknownst to anyone, at the very last moment, Emperor Ruiqing suddenly opened his eyes, his expression clear and inexplicable, as if he possessed a transcendent wisdom. He looked into the distance and suddenly laughed.
Li Ruan, we will meet again.
-
Lu Liruan suddenly opened her eyes, her thoughts a jumbled mess, and she heard a voice in her ear.
"Congratulations, host, you have successfully completed the mission!"