After my mother read my mind, my whole family rebelled

Chapter 242 Alone

Imperial Palace, Fengxian Hall.

After all the officials left the court, Xia Chongwen came to Fengxian Hall again.

Sitting on the tall dragon throne, he looked around.

The hall was empty.

The court, which had been noisy just now, was now silent.

Xia Chongwen suddenly felt a little sad. He also knew that most of the civil and military officials didn't really care who sat on the chair. As long as they didn't lose their official hats, it wouldn't make any difference if someone else sat on the chair.

I don't know how long it took, but the eunuch Wang Gonggong knocked on the door outside the palace.

"Your Majesty, the Queen is here."

Xia Chongwen seemed to be startled, and then he came to his senses, "Let her in."

The current queen is Zhang Mingbao, and her elder sister Zhang Mingyu is now Xia Linan's crown princess.

Originally, Empress Dowager Lu wanted Xia Chongwen to enthrone another concubine, Ma, as empress. However, the only thing he did after he ascended the throne that went against Empress Dowager Lu's wishes was to enthrone Zhang Mingbao as empress.

After Prince Ning launched the "Jingnan" campaign, he finally could not withstand the advice of the officials. To avoid suspicion, Xia Chongwen had to follow the advice of Empress Dowager Lu and the officials and sent Zhang Mingbao to the cold palace. However, he did not make up his mind to depose the empress for the time being.

At this time, Zhang Mingbao was able to come to Fengxian Hall, which must have been secretly approved by Empress Dowager Lu.

After entering the palace, Zhang Mingbao bowed to Xia Chongwen and said, "Your Majesty."

"You're here." Xia Chongwen felt all kinds of emotions when he saw Zhang Mingbao. He glanced at Zhang Mingbao indifferently and then shifted his gaze to the outside of the empty hall.

Zhang Mingbao didn't disturb him, but just stood quietly not far from him.

Xia Chongwen watched for a long time until a palace maid came in to light the lamp. Then he turned around and asked Zhang Mingbao, "Did the Queen Mother ask you to come?"

Zhang Mingbao nodded and said yes.

"What did she ask you to come here for?" Although Xia Chongwen guessed that Empress Dowager Lu must have asked Zhang Mingbao to come to Fengxian Hall, he really couldn't figure out why she asked Zhang Mingbao to come here at this moment.

"My Queen Mother let me out of the cold palace so that I could persuade Your Majesty to come."

Zhang Mingbao's face was as calm as usual. Since she married Xia Linan, she could no longer cry, laugh or make a fuss as freely as before.

"Oh? You're trying to persuade me?" Xia Chongwen asked with a hint of sarcasm, "Are you trying to persuade me not to kill your elder sister?"

"Your Majesty, please forgive me," Zhang Mingbao immediately knelt on the ground after hearing this, "My mother only brought a message to Your Majesty."

"Why are you kneeling for no reason?" Xia Chongwen frowned slightly, "Why did she ask you to come and persuade me?"

Since ascending the throne, Xia Chongwen has gone from being submissive at first to now cleaning up the complicated relationships of the Lu family in the court without leaving any trace.

Empress Dowager Lu seemed to have accepted her fate and no longer interfered in state affairs easily.

But at this time, they sent Zhang Mingbao, who had long been banished to the cold palace, to Fengxian Palace, just to bring a message?

Xia Chongwen stood up from the dragon throne, walked down the steps slowly, walked to Zhang Mingbao and helped her up, "Now that Fourth Uncle's troops are approaching the capital, I have also drafted the edict to depose the queen, and Eunuch Wang will pass it to you."

Zhang Mingbao slowly stood up and looked at Xia Chongwen.

He is clearly the young emperor.

But at this time, his face was full of vicissitudes.

In Xia Chongwen's eyes, she could no longer see any of the high-spirited vigor and vitality she had when she ascended the throne.

She understood that Xia Chongwen wrote the decree to depose her because he thought that if the army in Kyoto was defeated, she would only be a deposed queen, and King Ning would not make things too difficult for her.

But is Zhang Mingbao the kind of person who only cares about life?

Originally, Lu wanted her to take a message to Xia Chongwen, hoping that Xia Chongwen would write a letter to Xia Yu, expressing his willingness to use the Yangtze River as the boundary and divide the country with Xia Yu.

But she really didn't want to say this.

"Your Majesty, you and I are also husband and wife."

Zhang Mingbao's calm words made Xia Chongwen's eyes red.

Yes, apart from their royal status and the constraints of the dragon throne, they were originally a loving couple.

"But......"

Zhang Mingbao reached out and gently covered Xia Chongwen's mouth to stop him from speaking.

"Your Majesty, wherever you are, I will be there." She gently leaned on Xia Chongwen's shoulder, "I can sit on the dragon throne, and I can also sit on the wooden stools of ordinary people."

Xia Chongwen was shocked and looked at Zhang Mingbao with gleaming eyes.

Almost.

He was almost led astray by Zhang Mingbao.

Zhang Mingbao's words were so shocking that they struck directly into Xia Chongwen's heart.

He almost really believed that he could still live a peaceful life as an ordinary person.

How can it be?

Even if he wanted to, the other person who sat on the throne would not agree!

Xia Chongwen narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhang Mingbao in front of him again and again, as if he wanted to see through all her thoughts at once.

Did someone instigate her to persuade herself in this way?

Mother?

impossible!

She understood better than himself what would happen if the king lost the throne.

Zhang Mingyu?

possible!

In the end, they still reached out to the person sleeping next to them.

Xia Chongwen suddenly pushed Zhang Mingbao in his arms and said, "Go back."

"His Majesty......"

Seeing that Zhang Mingbao wanted to say something, Xia Chongwen had to close his eyes slightly and waved his hand, "No need to say more, you can go back."

Zhang Mingbao was startled and asked her to go back.

Back to where?

Since I'm going back, I can only go back to the cold palace.

The word "go back" made Zhang Mingbao realize that Xia Chongwen still did not trust her in the end.

"Chen and concubine retire."

After Zhang Mingbao stood up, she shook her body gently. She just tried her best to raise her head, not wanting the tears in her eyes to fall.

Xia Chongwen heard the sound of the palace door opening and closing, and he knew that they could never go back to the way they were before.

Ever since he could remember, he had always been strictly disciplined by Mrs. Lu. On the contrary, his half-brother, who was a few hours younger than him, was spoiled by Mrs. Lu and became lawless.

He even secretly suspected that the younger brother born to Crown Princess Chang was actually Lu's biological son, and he was only named the Crown Prince because he happened to be born a few hours earlier than his younger brother.

As he grew older, his mind became more sensitive and suspicious.

After the death of the crown prince, he became even more taciturn and had almost no friends.

It was only during the spring garden tour that year that he met the sisters Zhang Mingyu and Zhang Mingbao by chance. From then on, he truly felt the feeling of being remembered and cared about by others.

Originally, he was interested in Zhang Mingyu, but Lu asked him to marry Zhang Mingbao.

When the imperial edict came out, he truly experienced the meaning of the word "destiny".

After ascending the throne, he felt more helpless and powerless.

Although he was the emperor, he was forced to do so and was powerless.

It took him almost a year to fully realize this.

I also understand that the supreme ruler of the world is naturally "Gu"!