56 Decrees - Part 2

As soon as Su Li entered her room and saw those beauties piled upon her bed, her blood pressure went off the roof. With a single glance, she could understand whose hand was instigating all this from the shadows. Still, for the sake of the argument, she questioned them and their response proved her right.

No, no, no, Not on your life.

The lady sitting at the highest position in the Imperial Palace must have lost her mind due to menopause, Su Li thought.

What other explanation did she have?

Su Li was so perturbed by what the empress dowager had done that she didn't even consider that her train of thought was going on the wrong track.

She didn't need to think about that person's womanly cycle, she needed a fast solution to the problem that had arisen. She could guarantee that the news of her expelling those girls from her room won't take long to spread and her prediction came true.

She had heard in her original world that the walls of The Imperial Palace were high but now, it seemed that even these walls had ears.

What no communication with the outside world?

The Imperial Palace was more like a

sieve, even her personal matters were a topic talked about with abandon.

What Su Li hadn't realised was that her actions would lead to other problems as well.

These days the maids etc of the palace seemed to dress up more than usual to attract His Majesty and there seemed to be a lot of so-called chance encounters.

In The Heavenly Hall, Secretariat Lu stood at the foot of the dais and once again tried to broach the same subject with His Majesty. Everyone knew that if their family's daughter(s) could catch His Majesty's heart at this point in time, it would be beneficial to them. Maybe they would be known as the maternal clan of the next heir to the throne.

Secretariat Lu was an old official who had served three monarchs in his time at the court so, most people respected him and gave him face. Moreover, one of his granddaughters had been close to the empress dowager since childhood. They had already asked for this favour from the empress dowager but the reply they got wasn't heartening.

Empress Dowager had sent the message that they should try a frontal and back attack, otherwise, His Majesty wouldn't say yes, no matter what.

Therefore, he stood in the centre of the audience hall and said, "Your Majesty, the Inner Palace is empty. The world and your loyal subjects want you to have children as soon as possible. You don't need to give the girls a high position but a vacant Inner Palace isn't suitable for the monarch of a country."

Secretariat Lu further spoke about how one had to plan for the future and the monarch should have someone to take care of his needs etc etc.... It was a long speech and very emotional. As if Secretariat Lu couldn't wait to give up his heart for the monarch he served.

Su Li listened to all of that with a stoic face but she really couldn't endure it any longer.

She had been under such tremendous stress and these people couldn't give this one topic rest.

His Majesty suddenly smacked the armrest of his throne and Secretariat Lu gulped his remaining words.

The Emperor smiled softly and said, "Beloved official" but before he could continue, Secretariat Lu's back broke out in a cold sweat.

His Majesty's twinkling eyes, soft smile and 'beloved official' had become the bane of the Imperial Court's ministers existence. Whenever this happened everyone knew someone would be out of luck very soon.

"Your Majesty..." the official tried to speak but was cut off by the monarch.

Su Li was so frustrated that her dam broke and she took out all her pent-up emotions on the person standing at the foot of the stairs.

"Beloved official, Zhen will lay down these words today and I hope that everyone will pay heed to them. If anyone has any opinions or worries about state affairs, you all can bring them up to me at any time and I'll listen to you and act accordingly."

His Majesty eyes bored one by one into every person present in the hall and he had this hard look in his eyes which made their hearts tremble in nervousness.

"Zhen is patient enough to listen to all your worries in matters pertaining to the country but if anyone speaks about Zhen's personal matters or tries to manage Zhen's Inner Palace, Zhen will gladly play with you till the end and will return back everything with a ten-fold interest."

Su Li really was fed up with this issue. They kept buzzing around her like annoying flies and kept on yapping about the same thing over and over again. She decided that she will put an end to it today,by putting the fear of gods into everyone present here in The Heavenly Hall.

His Majesty further continued, "Later on, don't blame Zhen for being heartless and ruthless in this matter."

Su Li felt weary to her bones, therefore, with a wave of her hand she said, "Court dismissed" and left The Heavenly Hall with a depressed air weighing her down.

The officials and the Imperial clan members were left behind to look at each other with dismay. With the way, His Majesty had brushed his sleeves and left in a rage, it was apparent that this matter had irked him to no end.

Moreover, this was the first time he had spoken in such a harsh manner since he took his position. Everyone shuddered to think the resulting fallout of today's court session.

What happened in court quickly reached the ears of Empress Dowager. She knew she had overstepped her boundaries when she had sent those girls to her son. At the end of the day, he was her son but before that, he was the high up monarch above all else.

How could she have forgotten this point in her urgency for his lifelong matter?

Listening to the reports of today's happenings, she knew her son would know that Secretariat Lu had spoken so vehemently only because he had her backing. Thinking about it, Inner Palace couldn't interfere with the matters of the court.

If someone held onto this point, wouldn't it raise difficulties for her son?

Empress Dowager made a swift decision to go and explain everything to her child and promise him that she wouldn't ever risk his reputation because of such matters ever again.

She asked one of the mamas to inquire about His Majesty's current whereabouts. When she was informed that His Majesty was in his Imperial Study, she got ready, picked up a bowl of soup as a pretence, gathered her retinue and went to the Imperial Study.

When Su Li was informed that the Empress Dowager was waiting outside the Imperial Study to ask for an audience, she could discern why the lady had come running to her.

Hearing footsteps, she quickly put away her morose thoughts. The sliding door of the study opened, and there was Empress Dowager with a tray in her hands. Though it was hard for Su Li to look at her mother without remembering the number of problems the said person had created for her with her well-meaning meddling, she called out a greeting and saw the surprised but happy expression on the lady's face.

With a faint smile, she endured all the fussing typical of mothers all over. Anyway, she was too tired from all the talk in the court today, to protest much.

The Empress dowager hadn't thought that her son wouldn't reprimand her for her folly. She had really been too muddle-headed to force things this way. This might become a thorn in His Majesty's heart and cause friction between them, therefore, she came to smooth things over.

Su Li knew if she didn't say anything, the other person would worry needlessly.

"Queen Mother, don't worry about what happened in the audience hall today. Am not angry at anyone. I just don't want to deal with those matters at the moment,since father emperor passed away not too long ago."

Empress Dowager saw how her son didn't look at her while speaking. He was evading her eyes. She came to a sudden realisation that he behaved more like a chaste woman than a young man with passion.

Could it be that there was an issue with his body?

She couldn't reconcile with this fact. However,if it wasn't that then why would he not even have a single bedchamber maid?

Good heavens! So her pitiful son was actually… actually impotent, was he?

No wonder! No wonder he seemed so reticent to taking in harm members.

The Empress Dowager looked at her child with wide eyes and spoke abruptly: "Your Majesty, you're saying that...."

While The Empress Dowager's thoughts were galloping wildly, what was Su Li thinking?

A person could question that how come this ninny didn't realise that she was creating so many misunderstandings?

The answer: Su Li misinterpreted the widened eyes of the Empress Dowager. She thought that the lady had understood her reservation in this matter as her filial piety towards her departed father.

Therefore, Su Li nodded her head all the while portraying a look of deep grief on her face and said, "Yes".

This affirmation would cause her so much embarrassment in the future that Su Li would think back to this moment and want to slap herself on the face and ask her past self to not speak anyhow without understanding everything.

Empress Dowager:"...."

She felt like such an idiot, a complete fool.

What most powerful woman in the dynasty?

What role model for the nation?

What kind of a mother was she that didn't even think of this?

Her son had to expose his wounds to her before she could even understand his suffering.... Her poor child.

When had he realised this truth?

It must have been so painful and difficult for him to come to terms with this kind of a problem.

She had to make discrete inquiries for a reliable Imperial physician. If anyone caught wind of such a matter, wouldn't they force her child to abdicate his throne or even force him to adopt other people's flesh and blood as his own?

Su Li saw the lady looking at her with a strange sort of helplessness and tenderness in her eyes and understood that her filial piety had moved the other person.

Well, that was good. Good.

Atleast, this excuse would give her time to think of the next excuse she would need to use when this topic was raised again in a few years. However, until then, she could rest easy.

If the Empress Dowager helped her fend off all those vultures eyeing the position of an Empress by her side, it would free her of a lot of worries and nobody would dare play dirty tricks to coerce her.

Meanwhile, thinking further, The Empress Dowager had a million ideas flash past in her mind in a blink, and she thought of a temporary stopgap.

If she brought in a girl from a scholarly family who were just paper tigers without any real power to their name, it could stave off any suspicions and also act as a cover until she found a prescription for her child.

Empress Dowager started hesitantly, carefully considering how to say this without harming her son's dignity, "I'll look into things."

The two people in the Imperial Study were silent for a while, each making their own plans and their plans lead to a hilarious but beautiful misunderstanding which would take further turns and twists as time progressed.

A few days later the news leaked that the Empress Dowager was looking into the family registers of many well-known families in the kingdom.

Everyone had the errant thought that the exalted Empress Dowager must be checking and rechecking facts and figures so as to choose a noble girl of exemplary lineage as her daughter-in-law.

When this piece of information reached Su Li, she thought that the Empress Dowager was helping her fend off people from her back so she was happy with it and didn't comment upon it.

Furthermore, listening to the news, Su Li had a great eureka moment. If the Empress Dowager could do it, so could she as well.

She could look through all genealogy books and try to find a person named Zhou Sheng.

This way the second edict of His Majesty was decreed.

It read, 'By the mandate of the Son of Heavens, everyone is ordered to submit a copy of their genealogy books to The Emperor within a fortnight, with the latest additions to the family. It has also been decreed that any aliases used by the clan members are also to be mentioned along with their name on a separate page and included inside. If any information is deliberately withheld, it would lead to the exile of the entire clan to the borders. So ordained by His Majesty, so mote it be.'

When this edict was read by the Head Eunuch, the ministers of the Imperial Court were stunned but many of them felt a faint inkling of joy as well.

The information they had received about the Empress Dowager looking at their family registry's wasn't wrong. His Majesty had really started looking for Her Majesty, The Queen.