Day after day, year after year, as long as they were in front of people, they would wear a graceful and luxurious mask. Both Empress Dowager Li and Zhu Yijun knew this. However, it was strange that the more they knew something, the harder it was to explain it. The more they wanted to take off the mask, the more they couldn't take it off. In the end, they couldn't even tell if the mask was a mask or their true face.
Just like now, even though Empress Dowager Li disliked her eldest son, she still had to wear a graceful and luxurious smile to show her elegance and motherly heart. She also had to show her love for her eldest son. Zhu Yijun also had many dissatisfactions and even hatred for his mother. However, he had to put on the appearance of a filial son to show his concern for his mother. At least, he had to let everyone see a scene of harmony between mother and son, even though it was no secret that the Emperor and his mother didn't get along.
Zhu Yijun helped his mother into his palace. A group of eunuchs and serving girls knelt to welcome her and enjoyed the respect of the people. For Empress Dowager Li, who came from a small family, this was a great enjoyment.
However, Empress Dowager Li wasn't in the mood to enjoy this honor. Even though there was no flaw in her expression, Zhu Yijun could see something in her eyes. He felt uneasy and felt that he had overlooked something. Also, Empress Dowager Li didn't come with good intentions this time.
Zhu Yijun helped his mother sit down and then he sat next to her. Empress Dowager Li ordered people to serve the Emperor. Plate after plate of food was served. Then, other than Empress Dowager Li's personal serving girls and Zhu Yijun's personal eunuch, everyone else left, leaving the mother and son alone.
When the first dish was served, Zhu Yijun was shocked because he found that these dishes were all from when he was very young and still living in the prince's manor. At that time, Empress Dowager Li had specially made his favorite dishes for him. There was basically no meat, but each dish was full of childhood memories.
Slowly, Zhu Yijun's eyes became moist.
"I still remember that time, you were still young, only three or four years old. At that time, the previous Emperor hadn't become the Emperor yet and we didn't live in the Imperial Palace. We lived in Prince Yu's manor. At that time, the previous Emperor told us to live frugally and not spend too much money. The food and expenses in the manor were all tight, and we didn't even think about eating delicacies. Even so, we occasionally ate meat and often ate vegetables, but we still felt that vegetarian food had a different flavor.
When the late Emperor ascended to the throne, our family moved into the palace. Our days were comfortable, and we didn't have to worry about food, clothing, and other necessities. But no matter how much we ate the delicacies of the past, we couldn't taste the same as we did in the past. Back then, we could eat vegetarian food happily. But now, we were tired of eating delicacies of the past. What we missed the most was the food we ate in the past.
Emperor, look at this dish. This is a simple stir-fried green leafy vegetable. It was my favorite dish when I was young. I was born in a small family, and my family only had a few acres of farmland to live a frugal life. I didn't even have the chance to eat fresh vegetables when I was young, much less meat. Eating a fresh green leafy vegetable can make me happy for a long time. No matter how much time has passed, even now, I feel much happier eating it than eating fish and meat. "
Empress Dowager Li smiled gently and personally picked up the chopsticks to serve Zhu Yijun. Zhu Yijun suddenly felt a little flattered, and his desire for family was softened little by little. His childhood, which lacked maternal love, made him yearn for his mother's love. This dream seemed to be coming true today.
Therefore, even simple dried vegetables, simple green leafy vegetables, simple green beans, and simple braised meat could make him very happy. He was much happier than eating delicacies in the past. Although eunuchs always tried their best to satisfy their master's taste, no matter how delicious the food was, it couldn't replace the taste of his mother in Zhu Yijun's childhood memory.
Zhu Yijun, who grew up in an environment that lacked family love, so the taste of his mother was especially precious.
Empress Dowager Li continued to ramble.
"Don't look at how glorious and mighty the former Emperor was. Although Lord Jiajing only had two sons who lived to adulthood, Lord Jiajing's temperament was unpredictable. Until you were born, no one knew whether it was the former Emperor or the former King who would become Emperor. After you were born, everyone knew that it was the former Emperor who would become Emperor. Therefore, the former Emperor liked you very much, and because of your birth, he was able to secure the position of Crown Prince.
Before you were born, life in the manor was hard. Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, controlled the court for decades, and the country was in chaos. The most abominable was Yan Shifan. Not only was he corrupt, but he also wanted to corrupt the former Emperor. He embezzled the former Emperor's monthly allowance, causing the former Emperor to search the manor for valuables to bribe Yan Shifan. That was how he got the monthly allowance.
Just think about it, how arrogant would that be! Thanks to Xu Jie, the First Minister of the Cabinet at that time, who overthrew Yan Song and restored justice to the world, we can have today. Otherwise, we don't even know if we could leave the manor alive. Now that I think about it, those days were really hard. Who would have thought that the dignified Prince Yu's Manor, the son of Lord Jiajing, could not even compare to the food of the small rich families in the capital. On normal days, we could not even see oil, and in the manor, we only dared to eat fish during festivals. "
This was the first time that Zhu Yijun heard his mother ramble on about these things that he had no memory of before and after he was born. He finally understood why his father and mother were so obsessed with money when he was young, and also understood why his mother loved money so much, and even had an insatiable attitude — it was all because of how poor they were at that time, and how poor they were.
As the Emperor's own son, he couldn't even get to eat food during the New Year and other festivals. What kind of life was that? How did those bastards bully the descendants of the royal family?
Thinking of this, Zhu Yijun, who was wolfing down the food, was even more determined to launch a military coup to regain power. He wanted to use Xiao Ruxun's army to wipe out these bastard civil officials and replace them with his trusted subordinates. He wanted to regain control of the court, reorganize the court, take away all the power that the civil officials should not have, collect all the taxes from the scholars, and ruthlessly suppress the arrogance of the scholars.
Let you be arrogant! Let you be arrogant! Even I, the Emperor, look down on you! Let me give the order! An illiterate soldier can make you reincarnate as a human again! Humph! Be an honest man and start anew!
Zhu Yijun's conviction became firmer and stronger.
Empress Dowager Li was still putting food into Zhu Yijun's bowl.
"Come on, my son, eat more. Eat more now. Even if you can't eat more in the future, you won't miss it. Eat more, eat more, eat more, no matter where you go, you won't be cold. Hahahaha, eat more, eat more …"
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
