The term 'Empress Dowager' was only gifted to the previous imperial concubines who have children for the Emperor. Even then, those who only bore princess might not even be granted this title since women were not eligible to take the throne. (depending on the new Emperor)
But aside from the Imperial Concubines, there was also one more person who could obtain this title.
The Empress.
Or to be more exact, the Empress of the previous Emperor.
This person was exactly the Empress of the previous Emperor, Empress Yan. She was the second Empress since the first Empress died young and since then, she had survived for nearly 9 years in the Imperial Palace. Right now, she had obtained the title of Empress Dowager Yan.
"Please be assured, Your Majesty. This one will do the work splendidly." Empress Dowager Yan bowed towards the Emperor politely. Even her speech was completely respectful as she didn't dare to use harsh words against him.
Emperor Yang Zhou nodded. "Bring the second prince to the cold palace and let him cool down his head. I shall check on it later."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After saying everything that was needed to say, Emperor Yang Zhou walked out of the room. Long Qian Xing passed another look at Empress Dowager Yan but he didn't say anything and walked out with Emperor Yang Zhou. They walked out of the harem with Nan Luo trailing behind them.
"Your Majesty, for her to be able to survive in that cutthroat place even without bearing a child, you have to be careful of her," Long Qian Xing reminded in a low tone.
He might not be an expert in terms of this things, but he had heard of some things. In this world, women were often seen as nothing more than a tool to bear children for the men. If they couldn't bear a child, their worth would be less than women who bore children for the man.
The Empress was the most powerful person in the entire kingdom, second only to the Emperor. However, if she couldn't bear a child for the Emperor, it meant that she was nothing more than a figure.
Yet, Empress Dowager Yan still survived.
She didn't bear any child, but she was still highly respected and her position as the Empress was not given to anyone else. It was quite outstanding considering that Prince Yang Zhou's mother was so favored that even Empress Dowager Hai was so jealous since she couldn't be compared.
In that situation, Prince Yang Zhou was proclaimed as the Crown Prince.
Thus, it become a battle between Empress Dowager Hai and also the Prince Yang Zhou's mother. All this time, Empress Dowager Yan was staying still at the back and yet she still somehow held onto Emperor Xuan's heart.
How?
Long Qian Xing didn't know and didn't feel like want to know. As a modern person, he was a man who preferred to just have one woman rather than an entire harem and ended up in such… horrifying situation.
"I still need her." Emperor Yang Zhou's reply was succinct.
Long Qian Xing sighed but didn't say anything more. His role was only to help His Majesty, but what the other party did exactly was clearly not his business. In any case, he had already warned the Emperor and would not do anything else.
Nan Luo tilted his head. "Why do you not want me to follow you inside?"
"Empress Dowager Yan is a dangerous person. She might not wield any sword and have much authority left, but if she targets you, you might not be able to survive." Long Qian Xing passed a look at Nan Luo.
"Nonsense! I'll just beat her up if she dares to threaten me!"
"She might even target your sister if she recognizes you."
Nan Luo immediately stopped complaining. He wouldn't care if that Empress Dowager Yan targeted him because he believed that he would be fine. But if that woman dared to target his sister because of him…?
He would never be able to forgive himself.
"Tsk."
"If you want to be able to protect your sister, you should train more." Long Qian Xing shook his head. He looked into the distance as the sky started to brighten. It was sunrise. "You can return with Old Master Nan and try to stay low. Don't leak out your interference to anyone."
"Ah, Hou Liang is already known as Grandpa's men, though." Nan Luo recalled that Hou Liang was fighting at the path.
"Don't worry. There's no survivor."
Nan Luo was stunned. He glanced to the front where Old Master Nan had already finished cleaning up. Hou Liang was standing beside his old master while looking at Nan Luo and smiled as if there was nothing.
"In that case, I'll return. Don't come searching for my sister again! I'll be the one to tell her everything that happen today."
Long Qian Xing was speechless.
He didn't even have any plan on telling Nan Hua about the matter today, though?
"Keep everything under wrap. Don't let anyone knew about it." Emperor Yang Zhou walked towards the main hall.
"Yes."
Long Qian Xing lightly stretched his hand. He hated doing work like this, but since they wanted to play down this matter, he had no other choice.
Sigh.
He really wished that he could just return to the frontline and no longer dealt with these annoying officials ever again. But until Emperor Yang Zhou could stabilize a bit of his position, this Emperor would need any help he could get.
'Well, it's not that bad to learn more things either,' Long Qian Xing consoled himself internally as he pushed himself for more work.
Drap! Drap! Drap!
"Grandpa!" Nan Luo dashed towards his grandfather. "Are the works done?"
"Yes. We're going to keep this matter under wrap, so you're not allowed to tell anyone, understand?"
"Yes!" Seeing the death aura around his grandfather, Nan Luo could guess that his grandfather would punish him by asking him to copy those books again if he dared to even speak a sentence about this matter.
He would never ever speak about it!
His mouth is completely sealed!
"Your Majesty, wait a moment."
