Chapter 31 Persuasion

  The woman wearing a veil stretched out a snow-white jade-like palm, slowly lifting her veil to reveal a mature and beautiful face. —— It was actually the Empress Dowager who should be in the palace handling state affairs!

  The monk immediately burst into tears, took a step forward and knelt down on the ground, his hands supporting himself on the ground, trembling non-stop, saying in a low voice: "Imperial Grandmother... Your unfilial grandson has caused you trouble..."

  It turned out that the monk was actually the second prince Xia Zhao, who had made a vow with Zheng's second daughter but was forced to flee into the monastery because he went against the ancestral teachings of not marrying into one of the four major families.

  Ever since Emperor Xiaoming fell ill suddenly, the affairs of Great Xia have been managed by Empress Dowager who has been holding court and listening to politics for eleven years.

  The Empress Dowager saw Xia Zhao and was also very excited. She quickly stepped forward to help Xia Zhao up, with tears in her eyes: "You child, really have a heart of gold, gone to Jiangnan for five or six years, not even saying you'll come back to see your imperial grandmother."

  Xia Zhao became a monk at Jiangnan's Jiangzhou Da Zhao Temple, where his maternal clan, the Jiang family, was located. It was far from the capital city and it was normal that he couldn't come back.

  Xia Zhao was born to Empress Jiang, but was raised by the Dowager Empress from birth and was the only grandson she personally brought up, so her feelings towards him were different from those of her other grandchildren. She loved him dearly.

  At first, if it weren't for the fact that everyone in the world knew about it, even the Empress Dowager wouldn't have dared to go against the ancestral teachings, Xia Zhao wouldn't have ended up shaving his head and fleeing into the Buddhist monastery.

  That was still in the tenth year of the Ming calendar. Now it is already the sixteenth year of the Ming calendar, December, more than six years have passed.

  Xia Zhao is no longer the young man who was once infatuated with love. In his years at Da Zhao Temple, surrounded by ancient Buddhas and scriptures, he has become more subdued, and this environment has been helpful in calming his fiery temper.

  Looking at his calm demeanor, and the deep-seated sorrow that couldn't be wiped away from the bottom of his eyes, the Empress Dowager sighed and wiped away her tears, saying: "You child, just like your father, are both foolishly romantic. Although as ordinary men, these are rare good qualities, but as emperors, you can't be like this. Can't you change? Zheng Xiang Rong has been dead for five or six years already, do you really want to spend the rest of your life in a temple?"

  Xia Zhao opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

  The empress dowager wouldn't let Xia Zhao speak, and with a sarcastic tone said: "If you really want to spend the rest of your life in the temple, have you thought about whether others will allow it? Some things, you think that by retreating and hiding you can avoid them? You don't fight or struggle, but others won't let you be either. They must eliminate you before they can feel at ease. If you can't even see this, if you can't understand this, then I've wasted my time raising you. From now on, I won't bother with you anymore."

  Xia Shao silently smiled bitterly. He knew that the Empress Dowager was telling the truth. If he hadn't been driven to desperation this time, why would he have sent a message to the Empress Dowager through his trusted servant girl, Situ?

  The owner of the Rongsheng Inn, Situ Xiuwen, was originally a senior palace maid by the side of the Empress Dowager. After reaching middle age, she was released from the palace and married a man from an ordinary family, hiding her surname and name, opening a small inn, living a carefree life.

  However, Situ Xiuwen, although she had left the palace, was still secretly receiving her salary and position from the government office, helping the Empress Dowager to gather information outside the palace. Even Xia Zhao did not know what specific tasks she was doing. He only knew that if he wanted to contact the Empress Dowager outside the palace, he just needed to send a message to the owner of Rongsheng Inn. This matter was known only to those closest to the Empress Dowager.

  "Think again, that person will be the supreme ruler of the world in the future. Do you really think that by hiding in the empty gate, you can make him feel at ease? If he were truly at ease, there wouldn't be today's pursuit and your plea for help." The Empress Dowager pulled Xia Zhao to sit down with her on the kang under the south window, carefully examining his appearance.

  In these five or six years, Xia Zhao's life has been pretty good, but he has become somewhat thinner, with a hint of melancholy lingering between his eyebrows.

  Xia Zhaoye looked up at the Empress Dowager, and with one glance, he couldn't help but be surprised. "Empress Dowager, are you really a fox spirit? After all these years, you're still as beautiful and charming as ever, not looking old at all!"

  She doesn't look old at all. Her skin is as smooth and transparent as an apple, shining with a full luster, her eyebrows are fine and long, a pair of fine and long phoenix eyes, the charm in the flow of her eyes is naturally captivating.

  In Xia Zhao's memory, the Empress Dowager seemed to have been this way since eleven years ago when her father suddenly fell ill and lay in bed, the Empress Dowager's face seemed to have stopped changing.

  The empress smiled lightly and stroked her own cheek, smiling as she said: "This ah, you have to ask Xiang Rong's older sister Su Huan. It's her unparalleled medical skills that help me maintain my looks. Otherwise, I'd be no different from those old hags outside."

  "Zheng Suhui's medical skills are truly unparalleled in the world. If Old Master Sheng were still alive, I wonder if he would be even stronger than her." Xia Zhao couldn't help but compare Zheng Suhui's medical skills to those of Old Master Sheng.

  The empress dowager's face sank, and she coldly sneered: "That old scoundrel of the Sheng family doesn't shed tears until he sees a coffin. He harmed your father, the emperor, making him like a 'living dead man', lying in bed for eleven years. I let the entire Sheng family accompany him in death, that's being lenient to them!"

  Xia Shao sighed, reached out and grasped the Empress Dowager's hand, saying sincerely: "Imperial Grandmother, what happened back then was indeed Lord Sheng's fault. However, you've already punished him, so let it be. Those four families are also the foundation of our Great Xia Dynasty. The Sheng family cannot be exterminated."

  The Great Xia Imperial Family has an ancestral training. It is said that if the four major families are destroyed, the Great Xia Dynasty will also be overthrown.

  For this reason, although Old Master Sheng committed a heinous crime punishable by the extinction of nine clans, the Empress Dowager could not annihilate the entire House of Sheng and had to compromise by exterminating only the direct line of descent.

  "Moreover, the Sheng family's medical skills are said to be passed down only through the direct line. Now that the direct line is all dead, only Zheng Dainai, an outsider, has grasped some of the Sheng family's medical skills. In fact, it's also a bit of a loss.

  This matter, Xia Zhao had long wanted to advise the Empress Dowager about, but at the time, the Empress Dowager was so angry that she wouldn't listen to anyone's words, and only thought of killing all the Sheng family members to vent her anger!"

  Zheng Suxin is indeed the closed-door disciple of Old Master Sheng, but those authentic and orthodox medical skills of the Sheng family will not be taught to her.

  The empress dowager later also came to understand this point. Although she was also somewhat regretful, her personality was stubborn and hard, and she never admitted her mistakes. Therefore, for this matter, whoever mentioned it would have their head chopped off by her. Now, there is no one who dares to mention this matter in front of her.

  Only Xia Zhao, because she was brought up by her since childhood, had a different emotional connection with others, so she dared to speak in front of her.

  The Empress Dowager remained silent for a long time, not wanting to mention this matter again. She turned her head and looked at the room where Xia Zhao lived, asking: "What do you plan to do? I can save you once, but I won't be able to save you for your whole life. You're still young, but I'm already in my twilight years. Once I'm gone, who will protect you? Who will help you?"

  These days, Xia Zhao had thought it through clearly. Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to contact Sister Situ.

  Xia Zhao shook off her robes, got up from the kang, knelt down in front of the Empress Dowager, grasped her knees, and looked up to say: "Imperial Grandmother, please allow Zhao'er to return to secular life."

  The empress dowager paused for a moment, her red and moist lips slightly curled up, and the joyful color gradually emerged from the bottom of her heart.

  "Have you figured it out?"

  "The grandson has come to his senses. As a member of the imperial family, he had nowhere to retreat to anyway. --- Wanting to become a monk and end this miserable life is too naive for him."

  "The tree wants to be still but the wind will not stop. It's good that you want to understand." The empress dowager smiled like a peony in full bloom, her beauty beyond compare.

  Xia Zhao, although a junior, couldn't help but be dazzled by such extraordinary elegance, and hastily lowered his head, not daring to look at the Empress Dowager's face again.

  The empress dowager smiled and stroked his neck, "That's good. Wait for me to arrange. How have you been living here? Does anyone know your identity?"

  Xia Shao smiled wryly and said, "I didn't know before. But after today, they must have guessed a few points." Without saying anything else, the Empress Dowager left the palace, accompanied by eunuchs who were all masters of their craft. Those people only needed to meet with members of the royal family once, and given the cleverness of the royal family, if they still didn't know, then they must be pretending to be stupid.

  "What do you want to do then? Exterminate them? In my opinion, just exterminating one family is not enough. This entire Wangjia Village must be...” The Empress Dowager had probably been sitting in the highest position for too long, looking down on these people as if they were mere radishes and cabbage, cutting them down or chopping them off as she pleased.

  "No way!" Xia Zhao frowned, "Imperial Grandmother. They saved my son, if they die because of this, my son will have too much sin, I'm afraid he won't be able to ascend to the highest position!"

  ……