The Empress's First Running Dog

Chapter 82 The Empress's Past
The best academic performance, but the worst in schoolwork? Zhao Duan instinctively sensed that there was something fishy going on.

On the Emperor's Tower, Xu Zhenguan was silent for a moment before he said, "Because I am a woman."

Zhao Duan was stunned: "That's it?"

"Otherwise?" The White-robed Empress turned her head and glanced at him, "Isn't that enough?"

She picked up the jar of wine, tilted her head back and took another sip, then threw the huge jar over the railing, and it shattered to pieces with a "bang".

The palace servants below were not surprised at all, as if they were used to it.

Xu Zhenguan said with a hint of self-mockery:
"Since ancient times, princesses have had titles but no power, even those born into royal families are no exception.

If I, a princess, study harder than all the princes, especially the crown prince, and spread the word, wouldn't it make people say that the men in the royal family are incompetent? Let a woman suppress me?

Moreover, the prince should develop self-confidence since he is young. Too many setbacks will be detrimental to the development of the emperor's dignity... My father believed this without a doubt, so he told the Grand Tutor to rank me last."

Zhao Duan remained silent, thinking that it might be because the Third Princess was not loved by the late Emperor.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be only one princess in the school, and she should be ranked at the bottom... Unbelievable.

"So, Your Majesty was often depressed at that time?" he said slowly.

Xu Zhenguan nodded and said softly:
"At first, I was kept in the dark. Every time the school results were announced, I would come to the watchtower to relax when I was in a bad mood.

The scenery here is beautiful. I have a telescope that I can put on my eyes to see the lives of people in the city...that life is far more vibrant than that in the palace.

Humph, the princess is not allowed to go out before she reaches adulthood, but the Emperor's Tower is at the edge of the imperial city, and there are government offices below it. It is the farthest place I can get away from the palace.

It was also at that time that I first learned to drink, and I asked Mo Chou and Sun Lianying to secretly find it for me.

They were so scared at that time. If the emperor knew about this, they would be punished with a stick if they dared to give the princess wine."

No wonder the two of them are deeply trusted by the empress... Zhao Duan thought to himself.

And notice that when the empress referred to herself, she changed it to "I".

He said, “But you still know it.”

"Yes," Xu Zhenguan exhaled the alcohol and smiled:

"After a long time, Grand Tutor Dong couldn't stand it anymore and told me the truth in private. Then I knew that in terms of talent and learning, I was the best.

Since then, I no longer cared about the school, and I learned the four words "hide your strength and bide your time". My father, the emperor, gradually stopped paying attention to me... As long as I didn't compete with the prince, he didn't care about anything else I did."

Zhao Duan said: "So Your Majesty has started practicing?"

Xu Zhenguan corrected:

"It's reading and cultivation. There is a library in the palace that collects all the books in the world. It is near the armory and few people visit it. I became a frequent visitor and my cultivation level also improved."

Zhao Duan took a risk and tried:
"Your Majesty, did you have the ambition to take the throne at that time?"

Xu Zhenguan raised his hand and called for a jar of new wine, then shook his head and said:
"No. Even if you don't want to believe it, before the Xuanmen coup, I never thought that I could really become a female emperor."

You keep calling me "I", which is not very convincing... Zhao Duan complained.

Xu Zhenguan was probably getting drunker and wanted to talk so much that he said to himself:

"At first, I was just holding back my ambition and wanted to prove that I was no less capable than others. Until that year, Prince Jing went to the capital to ask for marriage..."

Zhao Duan pricked up his ears alertly:

"Proposing marriage?!"

……

……

The capital city, on the only way between Tianzi Tower and the Zhao family.

There is a snack street. As the night goes on, the number of people decreases.

On the long street, a tall old man walked quietly, with an immortal look as he walked.

"What would you like to order, old man?"

In a soup and noodle shop, the middle-aged boss put a towel on his right shoulder, glanced at the old man who came into the shop, and asked.

Zhang Yan smiled and said, "Do you have any hangover soup?"

"Have you had a drink, old man?" the soup and cake shop owner said suspiciously.
"It can be made now, but you have to wait a while."

Zhang Yanyi sat down at a table under the awning outside the shop and said with a smile:

"No hurry, take your time, I'm just waiting for someone to come."

The middle-aged boss suddenly realized:

"Did the old gentleman prepare the soup for his friend? I don't know where he is so I can estimate the time." Zhang Yan, one of the four "celestial beings" of the Dayu Dynasty, the old celestial master of this generation in the Tianshi Mansion, the legendary strongest cultivator of the time, smiled.

He raised his eyes, looking over the awnings of the shops on both sides of the street, and looked at the bright "Tianzi Tower" in the distance, and said leisurely:
"That's hard to say..."

……

"Proposing marriage?"

Zhao Duan frowned. This was knowledge he had never known before.

Xu Zhenguan suddenly threw him a jar of wine and said:

"I'm asking you to drink with me, but I'm not asking you to stay away from alcohol. Drink this jar and I'll tell you what's going on."

After a pause, he added: "It is not allowed to be discharged."

"As ordered..."

Zhao Duan smiled bitterly, thinking that with the alcohol tolerance he had developed in his previous life, he would have no problem dealing with this ancient low-alcohol liquor.

He immediately picked up the jar of wine heroically and gulped it down without using his internal force to expel the alcohol.

Xu Zhenguan nodded with satisfaction and said:

"Prince Jing asked the late emperor to marry me."

Isn't this a close relative marriage? Zhao Duan couldn't believe it.

Then he remembered that Prince Jing was not the biological brother of the late emperor, but a prince conferred by an earlier emperor.

In addition, in the history of this world, the royal family was not so strict about inmarriage within the clan.

Compared with childbirth, the political significance of "closer kinship" is more important.

There are even cases where close relatives marry but have no children, and then have concubines give birth to children to inherit the throne.

It’s Prince Jing again. The sorcerer almost hurt me before, and the prince wants to snatch my empress... Zhao Duan is not happy.

He developed hostility towards the "Prince Jing" whom he had never met before.

"How did Your Majesty respond?" he asked sourly.

Xu Zhenguan looked at him with a half-smile and said:

"Of course I don't want to. Who the hell is Prince Jing? How dare he lay his hands on me? Under the pressure of the late emperor, I simply packed my bedding and went to live in Shenlong Temple, where I wanted to shave my head and become a monk.

The late emperor saw that I was determined, and since Prince Jing had a bad reputation, my brother the Crown Prince and my mother tried their best to speak for me, so the matter was dropped. "

Her tone was casual, but Zhao Duan was frightened when he heard it.

Can you imagine how resolute and strong the Third Princess must have been at that time?
Xu Zhenguan said calmly:

"Since then, I have made up my mind to control my own destiny in this life. I don't want to marry, even if Emperor Taizu climbs out of the imperial mausoleum to force me to marry.

There is amazing power hidden in the calm tone.

This is something that cannot be said easily... Zhao Duan's heart moved, and he tried to test it in a way that was in line with his character:

"Then what kind of man can win the heart of His Majesty?"

Xu Zhenguan looked at him strangely, then smiled after a moment:

"At least you can't do that now."

Zhao Duan was not convinced: "People also grow up."

Xu Zhenguan laughed in silence. Perhaps he was drunk, or perhaps he was in a good mood after doing something "pleasant" tonight. He did not scold, but said softly:
"Then you should work harder."

"What did your Majesty say? I didn't hear it clearly." Zhao Duan blinked.

Xu Zhenguan brushed his sleeves and returned to the table, his face stern:
"Nothing, I'm hungry, I want to eat, tell me some interesting stories outside the palace while drinking, immediately, right now."

"…I obey your order."

So, in the quiet night below the Emperor's Tower, while a group of palace maids hung their heads and waited, the drunken female emperor began to feast without any image.

Zhao Duan sat next to her and told her stories.

The night is getting darker.

When the "female prime minister" dressed in a female official's robe and a wingless black gauze on her head, with a cold and elegant temperament, arrived at the foot of the watchtower, she couldn't help but frown:

"Is His Majesty not coming down yet?"

(End of this chapter)