Chapter 373: Chapter 373

As if wanting to sweep away all the previous gloom, after the Crown Prince was reinstated, An Ning's coronation ceremony as Empress followed with extraordinary grandeur.

On the day of the ceremony, looking at the new Empress before them wearing phoenix robes that highlighted her twelve points of noble elegance, not only did the consorts led by Consort Hui have complex expressions, even the imperial princes seemed somewhat dazed.

"Truly unexpected," amidst the crowd, the Tenth Prince couldn't help but whisper to his Ninth Brother while lowering his head. "After such a major incident earlier, not only did Her Majesty the Empress remain unscathed, but now she's even..."

"What's so surprising about that!" Yin Tang clearly didn't think much of it.

If his own princess consort could be as beautiful and capable as Her Majesty the Empress, he'd happily elevate her too.

Given how the Emperor's temper fluctuates unpredictably, he actually felt Her Majesty the Empress had been wronged!

Raising his head to gaze eagerly ahead, Yin Tang couldn't help but click his tongue softly.

And that last time, wasn't the First Brother asking for trouble himself?

Could His Majesty's actions be guarding against us, his sons?

Stealing a glance at the Second Brother, the Crown Prince, who was focused on something with a vaguely dark expression in his eyes, Yin Zhen quickly lowered his head. He couldn't help feeling that the Second Brother today...

Regardless of their inner thoughts, on this day, everyone maintained smiling faces on the surface...

However, just a few days after this spectacular ceremony, news suddenly came from Yonghe Palace that Consort Shu had passed away.

At that time, An Ning was chatting with her elder sister. Aside from the servants of Changchun Palace, the happiest about An Ning becoming Empress was undoubtedly her Wei family sister.

Empress Dowager! With this position, our younger sister won't have to worry about her future anymore. Heaven knows how overjoyed I was upon hearing this news.

Excitedly holding her younger sister's hand, Eldest Sister Wei was about to say something when an announcement came from outside the door.

Consort Shu is gone, so quickly?

An Ning was momentarily stunned, setting down the incense tools in her hand before turning to ask the palace servant beside her:

"Wasn't she perfectly fine a few days ago? Did something happen?"

"Replying to Your Majesty, aside from Your Majesty's coronation as Empress—this great joyous event—there haven't been any major incidents in the palace recently."

When mentioning the coronation, Chun Lan's face still showed unstoppable joy:

"Oh, that's right, Your Majesty. Some time ago, several consorts went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager and encountered the Side Consort Wei from Warm Commandery Prince's mansion. Ah, no, we should call her the Dowager Consort now."

Thinking of the young commandery prince who inherited the title last year, a junior palace maid behind Chun Lan couldn't help but blush.

"I heard that Dowager Consort is also a great beauty!"

Of course, she couldn't compare to our mistress. But for some reason, when Consort Shu heard this surname, her face immediately turned pale.

Reaching this point, Chun Lan inwardly scoffed but still smiled as she replied:

"Just sharing the same surname as Your Majesty was enough to scare her like that! Besides, Side Consort Wei's original surname is Juechan, completely unrelated to Your Majesty!"

This Consort Shu really... it shows that people truly can't have a guilty conscience.

An Ning, who roughly understood the reason: "..."

But Juechan—it seems that's the legendary Consort Liang. So she entered a prince's mansion. The reason she's been so quiet all these years, An Ning estimated, was firstly because Warm Commandery Prince's mansion was somewhat distant from the main lineage and not particularly close to the imperial family. Secondly, this Side Consort Wei was truly a low-profile person.

If not for the formal establishment of the heir last year, she probably wouldn't have appeared in public much.

But it wasn't particularly surprising either. Unlike the original host's family, the Juechan family still had some connections in the palace. They probably noticed something wrong when Consort Shu reached into Xin Zheku and quickly had their beautiful daughter lay low.

Quite a fortunate coincidence...

Judging by Chun Lan and others' expressions, it seemed this Side Consort was living quite comfortably now!

It appears Lady Guargiya was greatly stimulated upon realizing she'd targeted the wrong person?

With such an incident in the palace, An Ning, as the mistress of the rear palace, couldn't just sit idle. She immediately issued orders, and Eldest Sister Wei soon took her leave.

After all, as the mistress of a palace and mother of a prince, An Ning didn't shortchange her in the funeral arrangements.

During the funeral, the Eighth Prince cried so heartbrokenly that he fainted multiple times. However, Emperor Kangxi showed no reaction whatsoever from beginning to end, even specifically ordering her to be buried with the rites of a Noble Lady, making his displeasure almost overt.

This move undoubtedly made the already awkward Eighth Prince even more uncomfortable.

For a time, brothers who weren't particularly close became even more distant, though everyone maintained proper appearances on the surface.

His Majesty, how could he treat me so heartlessly...

An Ning somewhat understood His Majesty's thinking. Actually, over these years, he probably never gave up searching for the true culprit behind the "drugging incident" back then.

The reason he never truly dealt with her, aside from lacking concrete evidence and uncertainty, was probably more about using her as bait.

Like now in Yonghe Palace—just from what An Ning observed, His Majesty's spies were certainly not few.

Including the years of cold treatment toward the mother and son, and the various lower-ranking consorts who provoked them both openly and secretly—it was all likely observation of Lady Guargiya's reactions.

Who would have thought that this seemingly not-too-bright woman, upon detecting something wrong, would behave so cautiously that despite repeated provocations, she never made a move.

And now she died so neatly—how could this not displease this extremely controlling emperor?

Especially since, thanks to An Ning's kind guidance, just before the funeral, he received news from his spies in the Eighth Prince's mansion.

Apparently, that day the Eighth Prince and his wife had a big argument in their room, during which it was revealed that Lady Guargiya had drugged the Eighth Princess Consort's tea, most likely with a medicine that causes infertility.

What's important is that even an extremely skilled physician—an old subordinate of Prince An—still couldn't identify the composition or effects of this medicine.

Excellent, targeting a daughter-in-law—suspect plus one.

Unknown mysterious medicine—suspect plus another.

Obtaining and administering medicine right under the noses of Kangxi's spies without detection—suspect plus yet another.

Guo Luoluo still hasn't conceived—suspect added again.

Plus An Ning's previous condition... At this point, An Ning had no doubt that this petty emperor had already convicted her eighty percent in his heart.

Look at His Majesty's expression these days—so dark!

Poor Eighth Prince. After the Crown Prince's reinstatement, while watching his brothers successively receive promotions—even the Ninth Prince is now a Beile—he remains a prince without any title!

But this had nothing to do with her. Aside from the semi-monthly routine greetings being somewhat bothersome, An Ning's life as Empress wasn't much different from when she was Imperial Noble Consort.

At most, having the official title made things more convenient.

And this single source of annoyance completely disappeared after they moved to the gardens...

Every day she played the zither, blended incense, occasionally went out boating for sketching, read books while listening to the young maid read storybooks—her days were extremely leisurely, completely unaffected by this matter.

As if someone completely unrelated had simply passed away.

Considering how she had never targeted Consort Shu or the Eighth Prince over the years, Kangxi's eyes unconsciously flashed with some darkness:

"A-Ning, regarding your inability to conceive and bear imperial heirs over the years, you don't seem particularly regretful?"

That evening, after some exertion, just as An Ning was preparing to sleep, a somewhat low voice suddenly sounded in her ear.

Feeling the intermittent warmth in her abdomen, An Ning was momentarily stunned before slowly opening her eyes and giving an almost imperceptible yawn:

"Finally asked. I was wondering how long you could hold out?"

Glancing at him with amusement, An Ning then said: "Do you want to hear the truth or lies?"

The person beside her snorted lightly: "Today I have nothing else in abundance, but time I have plenty."

Implied meaning: Let's hear both then!

"The lie is that I'm naturally broad-minded and never dwell on established facts."

"Hah, I can tell that's truly fake!"

Broad-minded? Looking at the person beside him, Kangxi inwardly scoffed. Over the years, who was it that would pettyly remember every slight inconvenience and find ways to retaliate later?

"Speak, what's the truth?"

Hearing the urgency in the other's tone, An Ning instead fell silent before finally speaking after a long while:

"With my status, if I truly had a child—if it were a princess, or someone without great ambitions, that would be better. But if not, when that day truly comes, do you think they wouldn't eventually resent their mother who offers no assistance?"

"If they were ever cold-shouldered by Your Majesty due to their background, or suffered injustice, do you think they would resent you—their Emperor Father who holds great power and controls their future—or take it out on me, their mother who has nothing?"

In the darkness, An Ning's voice turned slightly cold.

As for using her intelligence to help him compete for the throne and demonstrate her own abilities and value—An Ning hadn't even considered it. With the Qing imperial family's abnormal education practices, not raising children by their mothers' sides was bad enough, but after entering the study, contact time became pitifully scarce.

With that, maternal affection? Please.

An Ning thought without surprise:

If that happened, the first thing he'd probably do upon ascending would be to guard against and restrict his own birth mother. Working hard for half a lifetime only to produce someone who betrays his mother—she wasn't that bored!

Brainwashing, reform, strengthening the nation—don't even think about it. Unless necessary, which feudal royal family would willingly weaken its own power?

Even with Xi'er from her previous life—so exceptionally intelligent—An Ning guessed that given the social circumstances at the time, for the sake of future generations, Xi'er would at most choose to reform and delegate power only when she was about to abdicate and could no longer truly wield authority.

In reality, anyone proposing this would be considered an enemy by those in power—the most troublesome political adversary, not a birth mother.

No matter how you look at it, it's all effort with no reward...

Besides, with His Majesty's temperament, if she truly had children, she definitely wouldn't have her current status and freedom. Why bother?

Trading ten or twenty years as so-called Empress Dowager for most of her lifetime's comfort and freedom—this deal would be far too unfavorable!

Of course, this was under the circumstance that she had the ability to forge her own path. For the original host's situation back then, having offspring was necessary for having a future.

Consort Shu's move was truly vicious, no question about it.

"Isn't the current situation perfectly fine?"

After the silence, An Ning finally spoke gently, her already somewhat cool features appearing even more uniquely beautiful under the moonlight:

"I don't need to scheme endlessly for my child's future, don't need to endure the pain of childbirth, and you don't need to worry about me scheming against you for the sake of my child."

"And you can have a peaceful, safe rear palace..."

In the darkness, the woman's voice carried some distraction. Knowing she wasn't lying, Kangxi's expression instead grew even more complex. Staring at her for a long time, he finally spoke in a deep voice:

"For imperial sons, even if they have some divergent thoughts, filial piety ultimately comes first!"

Seeing her expression of "Mmhmm... you're absolutely right" while clearly not taking his words seriously at all, Kangxi became both angry and amused:

Reaching out, he firmly grasped the jade-like hand resting beside her.

After who knows how long, he finally sighed deeply:

"A-Ning, your temperament truly hasn't changed one bit over all these years."

"Whether in love or hate, you're equally stubborn. At the slightest flaw, you want to discard it entirely, not realizing that in this world—not to mention imperial families—even ordinary relationships rarely involve truly pure emotions."

Seeing her remain silent, he snorted again with some dissatisfaction:

"You always say I'm petty, but aren't you equally stingy yourself? Thinking that I treat you with more utility than sincerity, you always overlook my good points. Even though I've indulged you in every way over these decades, granting almost every request, even making you Empress against all opposition—you still refuse to truly care for me..."

His words made it sound like he was genuinely complaining with grievance.

Ignoring his rhetorical question, An Ning curled up in the warm bedding and quickly closed her eyes.

After a long while, in the darkness, someone spoke with near stubbornness:

"Whether A-Ning is willing or not, you and I are definitely not destined for only this lifetime as husband and wife..."

Feeling the arm around her constantly tightening, An Ning thought to herself that it seemed some plans needed acceleration.

As he aged, he would only grow more suspicious...

Early the next morning, just after leaving Qianqing Palace, the system in her spiritual sea couldn't help but sneakily probe:

"Host, what did you secretly use on that scumbag emperor just now?"

"You'll know in a while..."

"Tsk!" Upon hearing this, the system snorted with clear dissatisfaction.

"Host, you're truly amazing—so gentle and soft-spoken one moment, then striking so efficiently the next!"

"What kind of talk is that!" Leaning on the soft sedan chair, An Ning couldn't help but laugh:

"Wasn't that person just now similarly full of sweet words and tender affection, while privately still ordering people to search for some poison!"

Claiming he wanted to make her passing less painful.

He wanted to take her with him, while she only took ten years of his lifespan.

Tit for tat, perfectly fair.

What, the Empress position was already compensation? Well, did she, the person involved, agree to this compensation?

Though of course she'd accept it.

She thought she'd have to wait a couple more years, but contrary to An Ning's expectations, during an ordinary Western Hills hunting expedition in the 49th year of Kangxi's reign, an accident occurred...