Although the royal brothers had no feelings for the chair, the relationship between the King of Huainan and Emperor Jingren was different. Emperor Jingren was the legitimate son of the emperor. In the Xia Dynasty, the eldest son was the heir. Since his birth, his position was unshakable. The King of Huainan was only two years younger than Emperor Jingren. The Queen at that time, who is now the Queen Mother, attached great importance to the education of the King of Huainan and told him from a young age to assist his brother.
The two brothers had always had a good relationship. When Emperor Jingren ascended the throne, Prince Huainan was only sixteen years old and had not yet been enfeoffed. Emperor Jingren deliberately kept him for two years, and only let him go to his fiefdom after he was eighteen years old, and gave him the best fiefdom.
Although they had not seen each other for two years, Emperor Jingren and Prince Huainan kept in touch. Judging from the letters, their relationship was not alienated, but became closer because of the distance. Prince Huainan often wrote in his letters, asking Emperor Jingren to give him a little nephew as soon as possible, and he had prepared a large warehouse of gifts for the 100th day.
Emperor Jingren doted on his younger brother whenever he could. Apart from the empress, he was the second person who could make him go against his principles.
There were often censors who impeached the Prince of Huainan for raising private soldiers and having a rebellious heart. Emperor Jingren always suppressed such memorials and never let anyone bring them up in the court. In his opinion, it was reasonable for his brother to raise more soldiers to protect him. In fact, even if the Prince of Huainan did not raise private soldiers, Emperor Jingren could not help but want to send a team of people to protect his brother.
The reason why Emperor Jingren loved the King of Huainan so much was not only because they had a good relationship since childhood, but also because the King of Huainan was very strict in his rule and never oppressed the people in his fiefdom. Moreover, according to regulations, all taxes in the fiefdom should belong to the Huainan Palace, but the King of Huainan still handed over most of the taxes to the national treasury every year. Huainan was known as the granary of East China. The grain and cotton handed over by the King of Huainan accounted for one-fifth of the annual national treasury income. The King of Huainan could have kept this large amount of grain for himself. It would not be a problem to support 100,000 soldiers in a few years, but the King of Huainan never did so and always paid taxes in an orderly manner. Emperor Jingren was the first to disbelieve that he had a rebellious heart.
But now he had no choice but to believe it!
The mastermind behind the assassination seemed to be a foreigner, but upon closer inspection, all clues pointed to the King of Huainan. With such a meticulous plan, if it weren't for the Queen's martial arts that were beyond everyone's imagination, Emperor Jingren would have been killed or captured long ago. Without someone who knew the capital very well behind the scenes, it would be impossible to arrange it. If this was not done by a foreigner, then it could only be the King of Huainan.
Emperor Jingren was furious, but the Empress was not surprised at all. She calmly poured him a cup of tea and said, "Anger hurts the liver. Your Majesty, drink some tea to calm down before thinking about this matter."
The tea brewed by the empress had a special light fragrance. Anyway, Emperor Jingren just felt that it was different. The tea was a little hot and needed to be drunk slowly. Emperor Jingren tasted the tea bit by bit, and slowly he was no longer so angry. Instead, he pinched the empress's fingertips and sighed deeply.
"I, I am really sad." After the anger, Emperor Jingren was left with sadness. "My royal brother has followed me since he was a child, and we do everything together. I am the crown prince and cannot make any mistakes, so he took the blame for climbing trees and taking bird eggs, so as to prevent the court officials from impeaching the crown prince for being immoral. He once said that Xia can have a cynical prince, but it must not have a crown prince who is obsessed with playing with things. He plays with me, and he is the only one who bears the blame for the mistakes. He is my younger brother, and I will protect him for one day while I am in power. How could he, how could he..."
The more Emperor Jingren spoke, the more grief-stricken he became. The betrayal of his family members made it difficult for him to bear it. Just holding the Queen's fingertips was not enough to give him strength.
So the queen stood up silently and stood beside Emperor Jingren, wanting to raise her hand to gently touch his shoulder to give him strength. But unexpectedly, Emperor Jingren hugged the queen's waist and pressed his face against her. Given the queen's height, the part that Emperor Jingren pressed against happened to be the queen's lower abdomen.
Queen: “…”
This was probably the biggest crisis in the Queen's life. She was happy that Emperor Jingren relied on her so much, but she was also afraid that Emperor Jingren would rub his face against her belly. She was no longer the Queen who could sleep with Emperor Jingren and remain calm. Now... she often couldn't control herself.
Fortunately, Emperor Jingren was very obedient. He just wanted to get closer to the queen, to hug his beloved and give himself strength. So he stayed close to her quietly without any other movements.
The queen just breathed a sigh of relief and raised her hand to touch the smooth long hair of Emperor Jingren. How could he touch the emperor's head casually, but the queen wanted to touch it, and Emperor Jingren did not stop her.
"Jinyi, give birth to a prince for me." Emperor Jingren said suddenly, his face pressed against the empress's belly.
Queen: “…”
"I didn't let the imperial physician treat me because I felt that I was still young and not in a hurry to have children. I also felt that there was nothing wrong with me. But now that Jinyi and I want to have a child, I will no longer be afraid to seek medical treatment and will let the imperial physician treat me carefully." Emperor Jingren let go of the Queen's waist and looked up at him.
The Queen tried to maintain a calm expression and asked, "Your Majesty has never been anxious about having an heir. Why is he suddenly..."
"After this assassination, I feel it is more reassuring to have an heir. And I want Jinyi's child, but I am not in a hurry whether it is a boy or a girl, as you and I are still young. If it is a boy, he will be the prince, and I will teach him how to govern the country, and Jinyi will help him to strengthen his body. If it is a girl, she will be my princess, and I will spoil her all my life." Emperor Jingren closed his eyes and imagined. The more he spoke, the more he felt that such a future would be beautiful.
The queen was almost unable to keep calm, so she could only hold Emperor Jingren's hand and said with a stiff upper lip: "I will do my best."
Hearing the Queen's words, Emperor Jingren smiled happily. He held the Queen's hand and said, "I will work hard too! I calculated the Queen's days. Did she just leave before going to the hunting ground? It's noon now. It's not good to have sex during the day. I will come to Qifeng Palace tonight."
The queen suppressed her desire to cry and said with difficulty: "I will prepare the bed for you."
He was so nervous that he even used the wrong words, but Emperor Jingren was in a better mood now and did not care about the Queen's words. He stood up and tiptoed to kiss the Queen on the lips, then ordered lunch and sent it to Kunning Palace from the imperial kitchen.
With the Queen's comfort, Emperor Jingren temporarily put aside the matter of the King of Huainan and became in a good mood. After he had a happy meal, he took Eunuch Lian to the Imperial Study to deal with today's political affairs.
The Queen was left alone in the palace, and she rarely felt sad.