The Situation between Emperor and Empress

Her new body was called Su Xiurong. She was nineteen. And she was the Empress of the Shengyuan Dynasty. Although, history was not Chuwei’s strong suit, she was absolutely sure there was no Shengyuan Dynasty in Chinese history.

She had a headache. She rubbed her temples. She didn’t know what to think.

Even if she had to transmigrate to ancient times, it should at least be a dynasty she had an idea of; then, she could pose as a prophet of an unknown god. But instead she was in an unknown time and space and the body is the Empress.

How did this dark skin become Empress? Please, even if she didn’t understand what the Emperor was thinking, she understood men. A man would not set up such a person as Empress of the country. So there must be value to this person, hence, the Emperor had to close his eyes and set up an ugly queen.

As she spent a few more days in the palace, she began to gain a general understanding of the situation. Although Xiurong is Empress, she was not favoured by the Emperor at all. This is normal. There are so many “white bubbles - young cotton” beauties in the harem that he would not want to smash a piece of charcoal.

From what she had gathered, this charcoal didn’t actually want to marry the Emperor and vice versa. Xiurong was a distant relative of the Empress. Orphaned in childhood, she was adopted by a childless Lord – and not the kind of useless villain that did this kind of thing to curry favour with the Dowager that was often portrayed on TV.

He was a mighty general, brave and good, who won many frontier battles for the dynasty.

When the young emperor ascended to the throne, the imperial power was almost entirely controlled by the Dowager Empress. Although, after the Emperor proved himself, she relinquished the power. However, the Dowager still held a lot of influence in court, even if she was truly his biological mother, the Emperor was still wary, so that when the Dowager presented Su Xiurong for him to marry and make Empress, the Emperor could not refuse.

But Chuwei wondered; how could the Dowager allow her son to marry Su Xiurong? Xiurong apparently had a gentle temperament; she played Qin chess well and was well versed in calligraphy. It was too late to spoil, although she looked bad, it was a “moral character first – appearance second” in the case of the Empress of the country. Therefore, Xiurong married the Emperor at the age of sixteen and became Empress.

The Emperor did not care for Xiurong. In the past three years, he had only visited her palace a handful of times. The Fengyi Palace where the Empress resided was no better than the cold palace. Xiurong had only two royal maids. And when she fell into the lake a few days ago, only the Dowager cared about her well-being. The Emperor left with barely a glance at her.

She had been filled in on the lay of the land by her hand maids.

But, Su Xiurong had died when she fell into the lake and now Chuwei’s soul resided in her body. She didn’t expect that she would be going back to her original time and space, for her body had been blown to pieces when the plane crashed. She still remembered the pain and she had been strangling her brother.

If it hadn’t been for that damned boy winning a prize ticket for two to go to Paris they wouldn’t have been on that plane. And they dragged along Du Miaofu. And the result? Buried at sea! Thinking of her brother and best friend, Chuwei was deeply saddened. She could not help but burst into tears. When her parents had died in a car accident, she and her brother Jiang Haocheng were left behind. Although, she quarrelled everyday with her damned brother, how could she ever abandon her baby brother?

Du Miaofu, her friend who had been dragged around by her; her only female friend. They had a good relationship, like sisters. When Miaofu also lost her parents, it was Chuwei that stood beside her and kept her from becoming a ghost herself.

One could cry for days, but it would not change the cruel fact. Chuwei had a strong heart otherwise she would not have been able to resolutely go to school after her parents died. Although there had been a life insurance pay out, after covering the cost of the funeral, what remained wasn’t enough to cover the future living expenses and tuition for both her and her brother.

Jiang Haocheng had wanted to drop out of high school, but she directly raised her fist and flattened him. What a joke! What could a sixteen year old do? She, Jiang Chuwei, did not want a brother who only had a high school diploma. She ordered him to continue his studies and she would be responsible for money. She got a runner job at a magazine. Although she was just an assistant, she had been worked to death. Although she was a young girl, she was treated like a handyman; she ended each day bone tired and damning the names of her senior colleagues, especially those women who saw her as an enemy of women, throwing so much work at her. But she grit her teeth and worked hard. She learnt as she worked. After her income was stable, she began to take night classes and worked part time. She rose from assistant to editor and eventually became the editor in chief. She never cried. She didn’t have the time. If she had time to cry tears, best use it to rise up and use her eyes to laugh at the people who bullied her.

She, Jiang Chuwei, was an arrogant imperious woman.

After two weeks of arriving in this strange land, she calmed down, reviewed what she knew, and prepared to face what her new future brought.

‘Niangniang, are you alright?’ her two handmaids asked her. Her face was gloomy. The two looked at each other; they were very worried about their mistress. Their mistress had become very strange since recovering from her fall in the lake. She had asked some strange questions, then she burst into tears scaring them – crying for a day, then became quiet. When she cried silently, they were worried, they didn’t know what has happened to their Niangniang.

But after a few days, she stopped crying. The maids breathed a sigh of relief; who could have predicted the mistress started asking them who they were and who she was and said she didn’t have any memory.

They were scared and quickly got the doctor. The doctor’s prognosis was; the Empress may have hit her head on a rock when she fell into the lake and had temporarily lost her memory. She may get better, but when that would be even he was not sure.

They resolved to take care of their mistress with all their heart, but these days, they began to feel that their mistress’s personality was completely different.

They have been serving her since they were all children and therefore, they had a good understanding of their mistress’ personality. It was as though their Mistress had become a stranger. Not only different mannerisms but she also gave people different feelings.

Before, their mistress was gentle and placid when facing the coldness of the emperor and the loneliness of her palace. There was always a faint sorrow in her eyes, but they were just little maids they could not do anything for her.

But now, she was completely different. Her tone of voice had become strong, her eyes were bright and direct, no longer cowering. Although it was the same person, compared to the previous bleak countenance, their mistress seemed much happier.

To be honest, they were gratified by this change. Although, she had amnesia as long as their master was happy, they were happy.

‘Nothing,’ Chuwei replied waving her hand dismissively. She looked at her two maids. They were sisters; Xia Xi and Chung Xi. They had served Xiurong since childhood and grew up together. They entered the palace with Xiurong. They had provided a lot of information to her about the life of her predecessor. Xia Xi was tall and beautiful, steady and a little awkward. Chun XI was petite and cute with a very likeable personality. The point was Chun Xi and Xia Xi looked better than Xiurong. The two maids were unnerved by Chuwei’s stare. Chun Xi could not help but ask,

‘Niangniang, why are you looking at us so?’

Chuwei could not help but reach out and pinch her cheeks, ‘Look at this beautiful girl! Your skin is so touchable.’

She stared directly at Xia Xi’s full bust and then looked down at her non-existent chest and wondered if there was any green papaya juice to drink.

‘Niangniang…’ the sisters cried. Xia Xi hurriedly comforted her, ‘Niangniang, you have a gentle temperament, you can draw and write poetry. You are much better than Chun Xi and I.’

Chun Xi nodded immediately, ‘That’s right, Niangniang is very clever, not like Chun Xi; I can’t even embroider flowers.’

Believe me, I can’t embroider now, Chuwei retorted silently.

Seeing the two girls trying comforting her, she could not help but say, ‘Well that is true, nothing more to be said.’

She touched her face, although her skin was very dark, the feel of it was very good; silky soft. This at least made her happy.

‘From today, prepare coix seed, red dates and white fungus for me. Make into a pastry or a sweet soup.’ She would try eating more white dishes, see if she could lighten her skin tone. She looked down at her flat chest.

‘For my meals, pig feet, chicken feet and fish.’ Xiurong was too thin; if she got fat then the asphalt road would at least get a rounded speed bump. As for the 34E she missed, best to forget it. Since she was destined to stay here, she could only go with the flow. First, let’s try and see if this appalling skin could be saved. As for the rest, she would deal with it later.

Taking a deep breath, Chuwei made a fist and decided to take each day at a time in this Shengyuan Dynasty.

♛

As the Emperor of his country, Xiahou Yin was wise.

He ascended the throne when he was seven years old. At fourteen, he officially took over all imperial powers. Under his rule, the dynasty flourished, the people lived in prosperity and the military strength was high; other countries did not dare invade easily.

In addition to his wise governance  , the biggest hero was the Empress Dowager. When he was enthroned in his childhood, if it hadn’t been for his mother, everything would have been blocked. Instructing him in politics, guiding him in the governance of the state, handling the power of the military; he was afraid that if it hadn’t been for her, the villains would have won. There would not be prosperity and stability today.

And when he was old enough, Queen Mother did not care about holding on to the power. She handed over the reins, no longer managing any political affairs; her only command was for him to be a wise decisive emperor. He was respectful to his mother, although there were rumours that his mother’s family was interfering with politics, and fears the influence his mother had and military authority in the hands of his mother’s brother in law; the great general. But on the day she handed the country to him, his uncle, the mighty general, knelt before him and pledged his loyalty and devoted his life. He knew he had nothing to beware of these two relatives.

It was his good luck to have a good mother and a loyal vassal. Therefore he was kind to his two relatives. As long as it was within his power, he would not refuse their demands. So when his mother asked him to take Su Xiurong, he did not argue. He had little impression of her. All he knew was that she had been adopted by his uncle. But, there had not been many opportunities for them to meet and when they did, she spoke little and kept her head lowered.

The first time he had a good look at her was on the day of the wedding. Although, he did not pay attention to women, but when he saw Su Xiurong, he wasn’t pleased. In short, when he saw her appearance, he turned off the light performed his bridal night. After that, he didn’t go to Fengyi Palace much.

It wasn’t that he wanted to be cold; he had wanted to enjoy newly wedded bliss. So he would occasionally go the Fengyi Palace, but his Queen always had her head down and spoke softly and said little. He felt it was boring and went to Fengyi Palace less and less. (  At the time, a group of showgirls came to the palace, so he acquired a few concubines, and began to favour one or two. So of course, he would forget he had a Queen, if it wasn't for the Empress Dowager reminding him about her.

Xiahou Yin reluctantly put down the memorial in his hand and looked at the Empress Dowager sitting in the soft couch before him,

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