The late emperor's body was placed in Taiji Hall of Taiji Palace.
In the mourning hall, crimson banners were hung high, the imperial bed was set up between the pillars, the late emperor had changed out of his death clothes and covered himself with a large burial quilt. The weather was getting a little hot, and ice was placed under the bed, with wisps of white steam rising. The hall was filled with people kneeling, the smell of sweat mixed with the fragrance of ambergris and sandalwood, and the faint stench of corpses, making people feel suffocated. The buzzing chanting of monks and Taoists made people feel dizzy and drowsy.
The emperor and the empress had a deep love for each other. Since the death of the late emperor, the empress had not eaten a single grain of rice and only had some thin porridge and soup. She personally did everything for the late emperor, including changing clothes, bathing, trimming his beard, cutting his nails, etc., and refused to let others do it for her.
After the small funeral ceremony, when the new emperor ascended the throne, she could no longer hold on and knelt in front of the coffin, her face pale and shaky.
The new emperor was filial and advised the empress dowager to go to the side hall to rest. The empress dowager refused. The new emperor asked again. All the officials advised the empress dowager to take care of her health. Only then did the empress dowager let her son support her and go to the side hall.
The Queen Mother lay on the couch and slowly drank a bowl of ginseng and deer antler soup. She dismissed the servants and said to her son, "Now that you have ascended the throne, the harem cannot remain empty. When your father dies, you should appoint a queen and canonize concubines."
She paused and said, "By the way, I have placed Ruan Sanniang in Baode Temple. Now that you have just ascended the throne, the eyes of the court officials are on you. After a while, let her enter the palace with a different identity."
The Queen Mother smiled as she spoke: "She is Xiao Ling's cousin and she grew up with you. You were attracted to her at first. Since you and Xiao Ling are not destined to be together, you should just take her as a consolation."
Huan Xuan looked indifferent: "Queen Dowager, don't forget what you promised me."
The Queen Mother glanced at the third son with a reproachful look and said, "Don't worry, I promised you that I would give you the antidote after I ascend the throne, and I will not break my promise."
As she spoke, she took out a small celadon bottle from her bosom and handed it to him: "Ask someone to deliver it to General Xiao."
Huan Xuan did not answer it immediately, but looked at her coldly: "I have one thing I don't understand, I hope the Queen Mother can help me solve it."
The Queen Mother's eyes moved slightly: "You say."
Huan Xuan asked, "When was the poison administered?"
The Queen Mother smiled and said, "The antidote has been given to you, what's the point of asking these questions."
Huan Xuan said, "My son just doesn't understand."
"That's all," the Queen Mother sat up from the couch, "You and I, mother and son, there's nothing we can't talk about."
She paused and said, "On the day she entered the palace to say goodbye, she ate some cakes and pastries in your father's bedroom."
Huan Xuan nodded: "I see, the Queen Mother is indeed very cunning. Even someone as alert as Xiao Ling was fooled."
The Queen Mother smiled slightly: "I am your mother after all, so it is inevitable that she will be less defensive."
Huan Xuan took the medicine bottle and pulled out the cork, only to see that it was half filled with cinnabar-colored pills, each only the size of a red bean.
He poured out two pills, rolled them in his palm, and said thoughtfully: "She is a sentimental person, I believe she will not be wary of the medicine sent by my confidant."
The Queen Mother's face froze, and then she smiled in disbelief, as if she was telling a joke: "Do you suspect that the medicine is poisonous?"
Huan Xuan said nothing, but just looked at her with eyes as sharp as knives.
The Queen Mother looked annoyed: "If you don't believe it, find a dog or a person to try it out to see if it is poisonous..."
Huan Xuan interrupted her and said, "No need, I'll just try. Just find someone who hasn't been poisoned, and there will be no problem."
The Queen Mother looked stern: "You..."
Huan Xuan didn't wait for her to finish her words and put the pill in his palm into his mouth.
The Queen Mother hurriedly grabbed his arm and said, "No..."
Before she finished speaking, she knew she had exposed herself.
Huan Xuan poured the pills in his hand back into the porcelain bottle and put a cork in it: "Am I right? The antidote that the Queen Mother gave me is a deadly poison. If someone who has been poisoned takes this medicine, he will only die faster."
The queen's face turned pale and blue: "I have only met her once, and we have no grudges against each other. Why would you want to kill her? I just want to force you to stop you from doing something wrong..."
Huan Xuan said: "I just want to know why the Queen Mother wanted to kill her."
He looked at her coldly and said, "When the Queen Mother gave her the poisoned scripture, Huan Rong was still your good son. Could it be that the Queen Mother had the ability to foresee the future and knew that he could use Xiao Ling's life to threaten me one day?"
The queen couldn't help but step back a bit. When he uttered the word "I", she inexplicably felt a sense of intimidating oppression - the oppression from power.
She frowned and said sternly, "That's all nonsense! I gave her the scroll because it was your eldest brother's legacy, so I left it to her as a souvenir."
Huan Xuan said: "If it wasn't my eldest brother's relic, she wouldn't have opened it."
The Queen said, "Even if she has been poisoned, if I really want her to die, I can just not give her the antidote. Why would I bother with this?"
Huan Xuan said: "First, putting poison in the scriptures is different from taking it orally. The Queen Mother doesn't know how long she has been reading the scriptures and whether the poison she has come into contact with is enough to kill her. Secondly..."
He raised his eyelids: "The Queen Mother wants me to kill her myself."
The queen forced a smile and said, "Why should I do this? If she dies immediately after taking the medicine you gave her, the three towns might rebel. What benefit will it bring to me, the Queen Mother of Dayong?"
Huan Xuan said, "The Queen Mother has never cared about the country and the people. You know if the antidote is given and Xiao Ling is safe, I can still abdicate and pretend to die in Heshuo to find her even if I ascend the throne. You've gone to so much trouble, but it's all in vain. Secondly, if Xiao Ling dies in my hands, the three towns will be in turmoil, and I can't just sit back and watch. If the emperor doesn't want to be the emperor anymore, he will have to continue to do so, and he will have to fight against the Xiao family's army."
The Queen said, "If it is really as you said, you will definitely not let me go. What good will it do me?"
Having said that, her body trembled involuntarily and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Huan Xuan stared into her eyes and said, "Because you only want to kill her and torture me, and you don't care whether it benefits you or not. You only hate the Huan family, you don't care about the country and the people. Whether the three towns are destroyed or the Huan family is destroyed, you are happy to see it happen."
He paused and said, "I just don't understand why the Queen Mother must want her to die?"
The Queen Mother's face sank. Her face was still the same, but she seemed like a different person, as if she had taken off a mask. There was nothing underneath the mask but hatred.
She suddenly smiled: "You really came here to defeat me, but in the end, you are the one who understands me best."
She stared into her son's eyes and said, "Actually, among the four children, you are the one who looks most like me."
Huan Xuan just sneered.
The Queen Mother spoke word by word: "I want to kill her because she should not be alive."
The hatred in her eyes seemed to condense into venom and flow down: "Yer was originally a favored child of heaven. If he hadn't met her, he would have lived a glorious life and would have become a wise ruler. Ye'er gave up his throne for her, disobeyed his mother, and finally lost his life for her. He is lying alone in the ground. Why can she be free and at ease?"
It was as if a sharp claw was tearing at Huan Xuan's heart. After his elder brother's death, how could his Sui Sui ever have a day of freedom and ease
When mentioning her eldest son, the Queen Mother's expression suddenly became gentle, with a strange light flashing in her eyes. The past ten years seemed to disappear in an instant, and she returned to the happiest days of her life.
Huan Xuan felt a chill down his spine as he watched.
The Queen Mother muttered in a dream, "Do you know? On the day Xiao Ling entered the capital, Ye Er came into my dream. He said that he was very cold and lonely in the underworld, and he wanted Xiao Ling to accompany him. He was good in every way, but he was blinded by that woman. Even in the underworld, he still missed her."
She paused and said, "Although she is not worthy, who asked Ye'er to like her? As long as Ye'er likes it, I will find it for him..."
Huan Xuan said coldly: "You are crazy."
"I've been crazy for a long time," the Queen Mother smiled silently, her eyes suddenly condensed into sharp arrows, "You shouldn't touch Ye'er's things! You beast!"
Huan Xuan said: "You keep saying you are doing this for your elder brother, but in fact you don't care about him at all, you only care about yourself."
The Queen Mother's eyes flashed with anger, and then she laughed again: "You can't save her no matter what. You guessed right, the antidote is fake, it's poison, it will only accelerate the onset of the poison. I don't have an antidote at all. The only person who knows the formula of this medicine, Zhao Kun, is dead. Even if Hua Tuo is reborn, he can't save this bitch. Sooner or later, she will go to the underworld to serve my Ye'er, it's just a matter of sooner or later."
Her eyes were full of sarcasm and laughter: "You can only watch her die."
Huan Xuan's eyes did not reveal the fear and despair she had expected. His expression could be described as calm: "Even if I can't do anything, I can die with her."
He paused and said, "Your Majesty, do you think I was deceiving you just now?"
The Queen Mother suddenly noticed that his eyes were a little bloodshot. He had been busy with the emperor's funeral for days and was worried about Xiao Ling's safety. Even though his eyes were bloodshot, she would not think of poisoning.
She suddenly pulled open his collar and saw some small rashes on his neck.
Huan Xuan said, "Does the Queen Mother think that you are the only one who can obtain the poison? If you suspect that I am lying to you, why not wait and see. The poison I took must be more than Xiao Ling, so I think it will take effect faster than hers."
The Queen Mother's face turned pale, and her voice trembled slightly: "You are really crazy. You don't even want your life for a bitch..."
Huan Xuan straightened his collar that was wrinkled by the Queen Mother and said calmly, "There are still about a few days before the poison takes effect. The Queen Mother might as well consider handing over the antidote, or..."
He raised his eyelids and looked at her coldly: "Watching this face completely disappear from the world."
The Queen Mother staggered a step: "I said I don't have an antidote..."
Huan Xuan said nonchalantly: "It doesn't matter if she doesn't have it. At worst, I will die. I will go with her and I won't be alone on the road to the underworld."
The Queen Mother said: "You will not abandon the country and the people..."
Huan Xuan said: "Since the Queen Mother can abandon the country and the people for her elder brother, why can't I do the same?"
He suddenly changed the subject: "But the Queen Mother's words make sense. As a royal family, I have my responsibilities. So I will not watch the Great Yong Dynasty fall into the hands of people like you. I also want to thank the Queen Mother for pushing me to the throne. I have already drafted a will. After my death, the throne will be passed to the tenth prince, and the eldest princess will be the regent. Of course, when the eldest princess gives birth to a child safely, the prince consort will tell her everything the Queen Mother has done.
"As for the Queen Mother... She was so grief-stricken over the death of the late Emperor that she asked to be with him at the Imperial Mausoleum."
He saw the queen's eyes and sneered, "I know that the queen mother is not afraid of death, but I am a filial son. I will order people to accompany the queen mother every step of the way to prevent her from doing anything extreme out of grief. I must make sure that the queen mother lives a long life."