Now throughout the capital’s streets and alleys, teahouses and taverns, everywhere there were people discussing Great Zhou’s victory in this battle. Some praised Ji Zeyu for his brave and skillful fighting, some praised Pang Xiao for his divine military tactics, truly worthy of being the War God Prince. Even the various loyalist armies that had come to the king’s aid, as well as those common people who had voluntarily joined the military, all had people giving them thumbs up and calling them heroes.
But there was just no one praising Li Qitian.
Li Qitian had ordered people to continuously gather intelligence for several days, and the answers he received were all the same, making the pent-up frustration in his heart grow ever heavier.
The Empress Dowager had fallen gravely ill from the grief of losing her beloved daughter, and even now would shed tears whenever she saw Li Qitian, clamoring for him to capture Qin Yining to avenge Li Helan. Li Qitian was extremely irritated, and whenever he saw the Empress Dowager he felt vexed. These past days, whenever he could avoid going to Ci’an Palace, he had tried his best to stay away.
However, while he was unwilling to go, the Empress Dowager would come looking for him herself, and without waiting for the palace attendants to announce her, she would swagger right into the imperial study.
“Emperor!” The Empress Dowager’s hair was disheveled, her dark azure brocade robes were wrinkled all over, her eyes were red and swollen, her lips were dry and cracked. She strode up to Li Qitian’s desk and slammed her hands—adorned with ruby rings and jade thumb rings—heavily onto the table.
“You must avenge your sister! Go capture that Qin woman! Capture that Qin woman and cut her to pieces!”
Li Qitian kept his head lowered reading memorials, saying indifferently, “The Empress Dowager has been worrying excessively and toiling too much. This is precisely when you need to rest and recuperate. How can you be troubling yourself to come out at this time? Someone come, escort the Empress Dowager back to her palace to rest.”
Xiong Jinshui nearly cried on the spot, but he was helpless and dared not disobey the imperial command, so he could only resign himself to his fate.
“Empress Dowager.” Xiong Jinshui bowed his head and bent his waist as he approached the Empress Dowager. He had just opened his mouth to address her when the Empress Dowager viciously slapped him across the face.
“Get lost! Did this dowager speak to you!”
Xiong Jinshui was struck so hard he spun around in place, then immediately took the opportunity to roll away.
Li Qitian finally looked up impatiently, staring at the Empress Dowager and asking in a deep voice, “Mother Empress, what exactly do you intend to do?”
“Mother Empress, Mother Empress… Hahaha!” The Empress Dowager burst into wild laughter, tears streaming from her eyes. “You ask what I intend to do, you tell me what I intend to do? Lan’er was your sister! She was your blood sister! She was killed by someone, and now her body is not yet cold, yet you won’t think of ways to avenge her. What kind of older brother are you!”
Li Qitian impatiently slammed down his memorial, braced his hands on the desk edge and stood up, glaring angrily at the Empress Dowager. “Mother Empress, do you think I am very idle?”
The Empress Dowager gritted her teeth and said, “What do you mean by that! Our family leaped from common people to today’s status, and I have never demanded anything of you. Every time there was any matter, didn’t I stop opposing once you glared at me? But is this a small matter this time? Your blood sister was killed by someone, my biological daughter was killed by someone! I’m merely asking you to avenge your sister—what’s wrong with that!”
“You’re thinking of the problem too simply.” Li Qitian rubbed his brow, forcibly suppressing his anger. “I have so many matters to handle every day, constantly facing those ministers in court who all harbor their own schemes, as well as traitors who might turn around and rebel at any moment. You are, after all, my birth mother, yet you don’t know to care for me more or show me consideration. Instead, you pressure me at every turn! I am already sufficiently overworked, and there are already enough depressing matters weighing on my heart. Are you trying to pressure me until something happens to me before you’ll be satisfied!”
“Who’s constantly demanding you do things? How is it that when your empress and those consorts’ families have matters and come seeking you, you agree with just one word, but why must a mother have to beg you three or five times! You’ve changed, you’ve completely changed—you’re no longer that filial son!”
“Unfilial?” Li Qitian strode around the desk and came right up to the Empress Dowager, looming over her as he stared down at her. “You say I’m unfilial? Do you know how emperors throughout history have dealt with those relatives who attempted rebellion!”
The Empress Dowager was intimidated by Li Qitian’s imposing manner for a moment. The things her maternal family had done back then were indeed not honorable, and this had become Li Qitian’s most commonly used leverage against her.
The Empress Dowager’s tears of grievance fell. “Were those things done by me? Every time you grab onto this matter and won’t let go—have you forgotten who gave birth to you and raised you! You ungrateful wretch!”
“Yes, you are my Mother Empress. But you should know that just based on what those few people in your family did, it would have been lenient punishment for me to have them executed and their families exterminated! If it weren’t for the fact that you are my Mother Empress, do you think they would be living comfortably until now!”
“You did indeed give birth to and raise me—have I been unfilial to you in daily life? Is there anything you wanted that I didn’t satisfy? I am currently losing sleep over the possibility of treacherous ministers plotting rebellion, yet you, as my mother, have you ever cared about me? Have you ever helped share my worries? As Mother Empress, have you never thought about being good to your own son? Now you come speaking to me in such a resentful tone—do you think I won’t do anything to you?”
“You’re threatening me! If you’re not afraid of bearing the infamy of murdering your own birth mother, then go ahead and kill me! An emperor is supposed to govern the realm with benevolence and filial piety—what the hell are you governing!”
“You!”
Li Qitian clenched his jaw tightly, the lines of his mandible appearing several degrees sharper than usual.
Just at this moment, urgent footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall. Someone was running quickly toward them and, without waiting to be announced, pushed open the hall doors.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!”
Li Qitian looked toward the hall entrance with a dark expression. The person who had come was actually one of his most composed secret agents.
For such a composed person to be this frantic, and for a secret agent to run here so conspicuously—such abnormal behavior made Li Qitian’s heart skip a beat.
Could it be that Pang Zhixi had brought people to attack?
Li Qitian’s face instantly turned dark and grim. Even the Empress Dowager, who had been crying and shouting, was frightened into silence and looked at the secret agent with confusion.
“What matter? Report!”
The secret agent pointed breathlessly toward the direction of the city. “In the city, suddenly, suddenly someone has posted a public notice—it’s a letter written to Your Majesty.”
“What? A letter written to me? Who has such audacity to dare post it publicly in the city!”
“In response to Your Majesty, the signature on that letter reads… Former Dynasty Prince, Zhou Lian.”
Li Qitian suddenly stared wide-eyed, momentarily so shocked he was struck speechless.
Former Dynasty Prince Zhou Lian?
Hadn’t all the princes and princesses of the Northern Ji Kingdom already been killed by him? He hadn’t even spared the imperial clan members—how could one suddenly appear now?
“Impossible. I already eliminated all the remaining Zhou clan remnants of the previous dynasty’s tyranny back then. How could a former dynasty prince suddenly emerge now? Anyone dares to write me a letter and even make it public—they’ve truly eaten a bear’s heart and leopard’s gall! Go, investigate carefully, and capture that madman who dares impersonate a former dynasty prince!”
The secret agent knelt on the ground, his legs beginning to tremble. “Your Majesty, that letter bears… the former dynasty’s… imperial seal…”
Li Qitian stammered and stepped back two paces, nearly sitting directly on his desk. “Impossible, impossible…”
Though he said this, no one knew better than he that back then, he was still secretly dispatching people to search for the Northern Ji Kingdom’s imperial seal, with no results to this day!