Chapter 531: Chapter 531

"Who do you think I am? Ning Xu?"

Rong Heng felt truly powerless. Why had she no confidence in him?

"You are not Ning Xu, and I am not Yuan Yuan. But, Rong Heng, you are the Emperor, and if I become the Empress, we’ll lose the novelty and drift apart. Isn’t it better to stay ? I don’t feel there’s anything wrong with it."

"You might be fine, but our son will become a child without status. He could be a legitimate son, why do you want him to be a child of a mistress without any status? How will he face the future? By relying on my favor? Do you think that is a lasting solution? Yuanyuan, can’t you sacrifice for your son and reluctantly become my Empress? Rest assured, I will give you the greatest freedom. If you want to leave the palace, I’ll let you leave. Whatever you want to do, I’ll allow it. Can’t you be persuaded even with this?"

Tangyuan’s stubbornness nearly exhausted Rong Heng’s patience, and in the end, he left angrily with a flick of his sleeves.

Watching him leave in frustration, grabbing at his hair, Tangyuan couldn’t help but laugh and cry, "This man... how can he be so impatient?"

But then she thought, perhaps it was her own obstinacy that was making him crumble?

She truly did not want to be Empress. It wasn’t as if she was being capricious here, right?

Seemingly to find a reason to convince herself, she asked her son after his lessons,

"Would you like it if we stayed in the Imperial Palace forever?"

"Mother, does that mean I won’t be called a bastard anymore? Is that the only way I would be Father Emperor’s child?"

Upon hearing the word ’bastard’, Tangyuan’s fury was triggered instantly: "Who? Who says that about you?"

Rong Yue pursed his lips and his eyes reddened, "They all call me that, saying you are a wild woman from outside, and whether I am your birth child is still unknown..."

Tangyuan’s heart shattered, especially when her son’s tears began to roll down. She stood up abruptly and strode out, lifting her skirt. Read full story at novelꜰire.net

"Mother, where are you going? Mother, wait for me!"

"Stay here and don’t move. I’ll be right back."

As Tangyuan’s figure disappeared at the entrance of Changchun Palace, Rong Yue, who had been tearful moments before, curved his lips in a triumphant smile. Then, a shadow landed before him.

"Master, how was my acting? Mother believed it, haha. Don’t they think about who her son is? Whoever dares to talk about me like that is just asking for trouble, right?"

Qingfeng bowed admiringly, "Congratulations, young master. You will soon be known as Third Prince!"

However, Rong Yue wasn’t as thrilled as one might expect, "I don’t actually want to be a Prince at all. But I want my dad and my mom to be together, so that’s the only way I can think of because Daddy said that if I don’t stay, I won’t be able to see him. No one would be there to help Mother if she is bullied, and I don’t want Mother to be mistreated, so I had to become a little traitor!"

For a three-year-old child to have such logic and clarity in his thoughts, Qingfeng was truly impressed.

And he couldn’t help but admire his master’s prophetic planning; indeed, the trump card is played at the very end. Despite the Empress not being swayed at all, even in her anger, now she had come right to their doorstep. He suspected his master was about to act a bit haughty.

Indeed, just as Qingfeng had imagined, Tangyuan hurriedly found her way to the Imperial Study only to be stopped by the ever-smiling Chief Guard Ming Yue and the Chief Eunuch. However, instead of being made to kneel outside like everyone else, she was invited to wait in the side hall.

"Madam, our Emperor is still discussing matters inside. Would you please wait here for a bit?"

But she hadn’t expected that her wait would lead her to fall asleep. She didn’t know how long she had slept; when she woke up, she found herself lying on his Dragon Couch. There he was, dressed in bright yellow undergarments, sitting beside her, idly flipping through a book with a look of utter boredom. The moment she opened her eyes and saw the situation, she suddenly turned over and grabbed his sleeve.

"I’m right here; why are you so agitated? Tell me, what’s so important that you waited for me for three hours without leaving?"

At this, he put the book down on the blanket and glared at her with some hidden annoyance.

"If I say you’re sincere, you came early. If I say you’re not sincere, you actually fell asleep? Do you even take me into your consideration at all?"

Tangyuan rolled her eyes at him, "I was just sleepy, okay? Can’t I sleep? Who knew when you’d finish up? Sitting and waiting is exhausting. I just lay down to wait, and before I knew it, I fell asleep. It’s all your fault!"

Rong Heng took a deep breath, feeling as if this woman was going to infuriate him to death, "You dare to blame me?"

"Of course, I blame you! Who else should I blame? I hadn’t even finished speaking this morning, and you left. You showed no courtesy at all!"

Rong Heng chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I was afraid of staying and getting so angry with you that I would die, letting you become Empress. Would that make you even more miserable than killing you? Do you care so little about the position of Empress?"

That was exactly the sentence Tangyuan had been waiting for. She quickly chimed in, pressing his shoulder with an obsequious face.

"I do care about it! The position of Empress, oh, I’ve even dreamed of becoming Empress, really! I was just joking with you earlier, don’t take it seriously. I will, I will—when is the coronation? I promise to cooperate with you!"

Rong Heng looked at her as if she were a ghost, recoiling from her flattering smile and shrinking back a bit as he scanned her from head to toe with a sideways glance.

"Are you out of your mind? What’s gotten into you? This morning you were all principled, and now you’ve changed?"

Yet inside, he was secretly amused. This woman, she really needed her weak spot pinched. After all, in her eyes, her son was more important than him, and that was no good. He needed to find a way to cure this woman of her bad habit.

"Didn’t I say it? I hadn’t finished speaking this morning before you walked away. I waited all day for you to come to me, but you didn’t, so I had to come on my own. I’ve thought about it. You were right, how could my child be called a bastard? Without a status, I’m bringing Ayue down. So, I’ll do it, I really will. Tell me what to do; I promise to cooperate. Does that work for you?"

He found her fawning smile so irritating that he pointed a finger at her, "No, I’m angry now. What do you take me for? And what about the position of Empress? Is it something you just come and go as you please, wanting it one moment and tossing it aside the next?"

Tangyuan gave him a cold look. Oh, he’s putting on airs now? A little bit of sunshine and he starts to shine? As if she cared about the damn position of Empress.

Inwardly, she rolled her eyes extensively, but on the surface, she forced herself to grin until her cheeks twitched.

"Don’t be like that. You know I’m scared. The thought of the Yikun Palace in Dongru Country is seared into my heart like a hot iron, I—"

"Enough. Don’t mention Dongru Country again. The person who hurt you has long turned into bones. Why would you still think about him? You want to be Empress, fine, but you’ll have to sign an agreement with me. You can’t sneak away again. Otherwise, you might as well not take the position of Empress at all. Occupying the toilet but not pooping, is that reasonable?"