“You are a new Emperor. Although you are the rightful heir, you don’t have enough people to help you. In addition, Empress Dowager has been in power for many years. It’s impossible for you to eliminate her power right away, so what you have been doing is wait and consolidate your power quietly.”

I paused for a while before continuing, “You have endured for two years, and now there is a chance in front of you, the Yunxi rebellion. Although you hesitated, you have already decided to appoint Yang Yu to put down the rebellion. As soon as Yang Yu leads the army away, Chu wang would lose his support, then you could take advantage of that, right?”

Qi Sheng remained quiet, but I didn’t really need him to answer that.

I smiled and said, “But with such a good opportunity, it would be a pity if all you ever achieve is the removal of Chu wang. So, you think it best if you could also take this opportunity to get the Zhang family involved. But I have been way too careful and indecisive. As long as you don’t have a son to succeed you, I wouldn’t dare push for the cooperation between the Zhang family and Chu wang. So, you decided to push me a bit.”

That’s why you put me in house arrest. Even the Empress Dowager could not enter my Xing Sheng Palace, yet you would allow the Zhang family to come and visit me.

He thought that I would make a mistake after knowing that my identity was exposed. He was counting on me to send a wrong signal to the Zhang family as a response to the way he treated me.

I smiled. If it weren’t for Madam Zhang’s visit, I would never suspect Qi Sheng’s intention.

Though I knew that’s a trap, I jumped right in, without knowing why he did that, or how meticulous he had laid the trap.

And in an effort to play along, I even went so far as to tell my family about my dangerous situation.

He was satisfied. Although the Xing Sheng Palace was still quarantined, no one had made any trouble for me since then.

It wasn’t until Yang Yu put down the rebellion and Yang Yan entered the palace that I began to connect the dots. I finally understood, and everything began to make sense.

Qi Sheng had been setting me up every step of the way, and I simply played along with his game, and that’s how I made it so far. I told him all about the Zhang family and Bathroom Lord, just to convince him that I was only trying to get a second chance with him.

Because I knew clearly from the beginning that since I set foot on this “Crown Princess” path, I had no way back. The only position that I could occupy in the end is “Emperor Dowager”, and not a useless princess.

I wouldn’t become a princess. Once the Zhang family started the rebellion, I would be the first one to be killed.

The most crucial battle had already begun. I must win.

I turned back to look at him, phrasing the speech in my heart. I tried to wipe that disdainful look off my face, but my lips subconsciously lifted up, “You have long noticed that something is off with me, right? You kept it in your heart and only acted on it until now. You waited for me to make the mistake of pushing the Zhangs to Chu wang and securing an impossible marriage, didn’t you?”

Qi Sheng remained silent for a long time. Finally, he said, “You are smart.”

I laughed, “Just finger it out after what has happened. What else do you have up your sleeve? Just get Zhang Ling involved or take the opportunity to eliminate the entire Zhang family?”

Qi Sheng whispered to me, “There should never be riots in the Northern frontier.”

I nodded slowly. In this case, then it was the removal of Zhang Ling, and with him, half of the Zhang family. If that happened, the power of the Zhang family would be greatly reduced.

I asked again, “He Bingze has always been loyal to you, hasn’t he?”

Qi Sheng replied, “Yes.”

I smiled slightly, “Only an innocent girl would believe that man would turn his back on his family for love.”

Qi Sheng said nothing.

After a while, I decided to talk about the most import thing. I needed to tell him that my soul should have been a girl instead of a man.

This matter concerned how Qi Sheng would see me in the future. I couldn’t let him feel difficult when facing me.

I took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “Qi Sheng, that night you ask me whether I am a man or a woman. In fact, I have been asking myself the exact same question. I have been raised as a man for more than a dozen years, and then I was returned back to be a woman again. The guy said that I have always been a woman, and the reason for my torments was because they made a mistake, and I have been living like this ever since.”

I paused, and quietly turned back to look at him, “Actually, I have thought about suicide a long time ago, but I never had the courage to went through with it.”

Qi Sheng asked, “And now you have?”

I shook my head, smiling, “No, but then again, I have been a woman for longer than I could remember, and even gave birth to a child. To give up now would be a total waste.”

Qi Sheng’s lips unnoticeably crooked up a bit.

Somehow, something about the way his lips moved hit me from within. I looked at him and asked, “Could I ask you a question in return?”

Qi Sheng nodded.

I asked, “Do you find me disgusting? If you do, then to what extent? Do you find my very existence revolting?”

Qi Sheng fell silent for a while and whispered, “No.”

I calmly said, “If so, then how about I continued being your Empress? There is no one in this world better suited for this position. I don’t seek power for my family, nor do I scheme for your favor. I will manage your harem and raise your children. Who else will do a better job than me? Plus, I have no one backing me and that means you will have complete control over me.”

Qi Sheng’s face remained emotionless, and after a long while, he asked, “What do you want in return?”

I thought hard for a while and replied, “I want a life of peace, health and prosperity.”

The whole palace was engulfed in utter silence in which Qi Sheng’s long breathing could be clearly heard. A long while passed before he slowly nodded his head, saying, “Fair enough.”

Those two words were soon followed by yet another while of silence.

Deep down, I was pleased by how persuasive my argument had been. Qi Sheng had clearly believed what I said.

I got up from the bed, tidied up my robe, smoothing out every crease on it like this robe was the very thing that marked my status as the Empress, and slowly kneeled down in front of him, making a proper kowtow with my head bumped against the back of my hands. Then I solemnly said, “Your Majesty is most gracious.”

Qi Sheng remained silent, and when I finally looked up, he had already gone, and the palace was once again empty.

I felt a huge relief as I collapsed right back onto bed, feeling as if my head was going to explode from the headache.

In fact, even if I didn’t beg him, Qi Sheng would allow me to keep my position anyway, as he still needed me to appease the other half of the Zhang clan and to show to the court that what happened to Zhang Ling was a collateral damage brought about by Chu wang.

If I was right, then Qi Sheng wouldn’t even kill Zhang Ling. Instead, he would simply deprive Zhang Ling of his military power and put him in house arrest as a way of making compromise to the Zhang clan and showing his respect and love for me.

What he wanted, was simply my gesture of submission.

If that was really the case, then my servile behavior back there was exactly what he wanted. A wise man could bear the unbearable to achieve his goal. Why couldn’t I do the same?

I rubbed both of my temples with my hands, while secretly swearing, “Just wait and see. Who will be the last one standing in this game of patience! I am more formidable a competitor than you would think when it came to patience. You would see!

Xie Yi walked in with a jade bowl in hands and softly said, “Your Majesty, you have finally woken up. Come drink this bowl of medicine.”

She walked up to help me up. I stared at the black fluid in the bowl and exclaimed, “What’s this? Why would I be needing medicine? “

Xie Yi’s eyes were reddened with tears welling up. She lowered her head and said, “Two days ago, Your Majesty contracted fever and have been out for nearly two days.”

I was stunned by what she said and suddenly realized what happened to me.

No wonder I felt like I had been sleeping for a long time. It was because I was fallen ill.

This was the first major illness I contracted ever since I got into this world and it took me a few days to recover. When the baby was brought to visit me, she could barely recognize me and started crying as soon as she was placed in my hands.

It suddenly occurred to me that this was no way to raise a child. No matter what, it had taken me great efforts to give birth to her and leaving her in other people’s care would only lead to the result of raising up a child who barely recognized me.

With this thought, I started to divert much of my attention to the baby, spending a good part of my time playing with her and only sending her back to sleep when it was dark.

During this period, Qi Sheng had visited my place several times, and each time he would visit the baby and then left. For a few times when he bumped into me, he would put up a casual look like nothing had ever happened.

One time, Xie Yi and I tried to trick the baby into opening her mouth to see whether she had grown any tooth. But no matter what we tried, the baby simply kept her mouth shup, not the least interested by our moves.

Just when I was at my wits’ end, Qi Sheng, who somehow appeared on my side, walked up and pinched the baby by the chin. The baby immediately opened her mouth.

He then said nonchalantly, “See?”

My… How much time did you spend on practicing this move?

I was stunned by his adept move, but when I snapped out of the trance, I immediately yell out, “Let go, let go!”

The baby immediately started crying.

Qi Sheng awkwardly withdrew his hands. On his otherwise calm face was a trace of visible embarrassment.

I was rendered speechless and lowered my head to appease the little baby with soft voices. But surprisingly, by the time she stopped crying, she stretched her arms toward Qi Sheng with an aggrieved look on her face…

A gentle smile broke out on Qi Sheng’s face as he took the baby from me. He even cast me a gloating look.

I smiled, seemingly not affected by his apparent taunt. But deep down, I was very disappointed by how ungrateful my baby behaved.

With this baby between us, the tension between Qi Sheng and me had started to thaw, and by late February, Qi Sheng finally lifted the ban on Xing Sheng Palace.