The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

"He was trying very hard to stir up my unwillingness, and what he said did make some sense. It shows that sometimes I am really afraid, afraid of those strange things, and also afraid of you who are regarded as a great enemy by them."

"However, there is one thing I am very sure of. They chose me because they wanted to control me. I could choose to stand on their side, but I ultimately chose you and the path you brought me."

"After all, when they were trying to persuade me, they kept saying that you... subverted the authority of men, killed the Lu clan, and so on. They thought I should care about this."

"But in fact, I care more about the road and the world you brought me. It made my... great and glorious."

"He cannot deny your brilliance, so he instigates me to hate you, to hate you from a man's perspective. But he has never thought about it. In my eyes, 'male' is just a modification of gender for people. Besides being a man, I am first and foremost a person, and moreover, the monarch of mankind."

"The hierarchy is based on moral principles. As an emperor, the last thing I should do is to violate moral principles, because that would be like raising a butcher's knife and swinging it at myself... But who am I? You, me, and our daughter don't need to worry about moral principles. Yuanjun... Yuanjun can overturn these moral principles and rebuild a more glorious Great Sheng! Then the relationship between the emperor and his subjects, father and son, and husband and wife, which I should protect the most, is not important!"

"He looks at me as a human, so I will use my identity as a human to face an extraordinary being like Him. But I never think that humans are born to be weak and accept all of His inducements, threats, and instructions!"

"How dare such a narrow-minded alien dare to control me?!"

"Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Lu Yesheng laughed crazily, but Xie Yuzhen could hear sadness and fear in his incoherent words.

"But I feel so bad..." He closed his eyes, and his voice suddenly dropped. "I feel suffocated. I have thought about killing you countless times, but I can't deal with those strange things. I am even more afraid that if you die, this world... I will become so miserable."

He grabbed Xie Yuzhen's hand and said, "Look, my hands are starting to get cold. You and that thing, your destiny, and its coercion, have slowly tightened the rope around my neck, suffocating me, but making it difficult for me to die."

"I can't break free, and I dare not break free."

He raised his head, a thin line of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth: "I am the monarch who rules the world! I am an emperor, but I have fallen into such a situation where I can't say what I want and can't control myself. Isn't it ridiculous to say it, but my time is running out. I have always acted arbitrarily. In fact, it's okay to admit my retreat and incompetence. Xianming, don't despise me."

"I understand, Your Majesty." Xie Yuzhen waited quietly for the emperor to finish speaking before speaking.

Her eyes were still gentle, and her posture of supporting the emperor was still intimate, but her tone had a bit more of a sad and happy meaning: "I can't say what I want to say, and I can't help myself. I understand all of this."

"After all, this invisible but suffocating shackle, wrapped around my neck, tightening little by little, and I am powerless to break free, is the shackle that has been pressing on me all the time since the day I was born as a woman."

"I understand that very well."

She patted the emperor's trembling back gently like a mother, and all the latter's sounds were blocked in his throat.

for a long time.

After a long time,

The emperor spoke in a hoarse voice: "Sacrifice, for the sake of interests, for the sake of interests that are more in line with the status quo, there will always be some people who are sacrificed. From now on, the objects of sacrifice will be reversed, but it is also worth it, very cost-effective."

As he spoke, he gave a wry smile as if trying to escape. "I want to leave my name in history, but if I do, I'm afraid that many people will secretly hate me in the future. You know what I mean? Those so-called century-old families love this the most. When the people in power oppress them, they are as respectful as the most docile guard dogs. But when they can't be suppressed, they will stand up again, raise their paws and hold their pens, and wantonly throw dirty water on others."

"Your Majesty, rest assured. From now on, it will not be only men who can write history. The girls under my command may have complaints about your character, but they will never do anything to slander you or confuse right and wrong." Xie Yuzhen laughed, as if the man in her arms was not dying, but the two of them were chatting casually under the shade of flowers as usual.

"Speaking of this, when I was raiding a certain house, I found a book of 'unofficial history' about this dynasty. In it, the girls that I liked the most were all changed to men. For those that couldn't be changed, they made up fathers and brothers for them, not only taking away their merits, but also matching them with men to make them the wives of certain families."

Her eyes turned a little colder. "They even wrote that our Emperor Yuan was actually hiding from the palace struggle and dressed as a woman to show weakness. Sigh... When that person was interrogated, he shamelessly said that dynasties often fall, but aristocratic families always exist. After thousands of years, the great prosperity will vanish into thin air. Only those of them who hold pens and books and embellish history will be regarded as the truth by the world."

"I didn't kill him. I just had his fingers chopped off and his tongue pulled out. The only pity is that he probably won't live to see the Great Sheng disappear into thin air."

Xie Yuzhen didn't know how long his daughter, who had practiced the complete immortal method, could live, but it should be a long time.

It has been so long that all these old-fashioned and sour Confucian scholars have died, their corpses have turned into rotten mud, and their despicable thoughts are destined to never see the light of day.

"...I seem to hear the noise outside getting quieter."

"Yes, it's too small. Baohui should be on the way."

"She is weak, how can you trust her with the most crucial part?" The emperor asked with a smile, "She has a very awkward personality. Although she regards you as her mother, she is secretly resentful."

"Baohui just wanted to compete. She wanted to prove something, so she ignored her own illness and traveled around. She was willing to risk her life. Her persistence is comparable to that of Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Rong Le, and... this concubine. I love her persistence and hard work, so I am willing to help her prove herself."

The sounds of killing that Xie Yuzhen heard gradually stopped. She looked outside the palace gate and said, "She ignored the danger and went out of the city alone to unite the grassland tribes that did not want to rebel, and cooperated with the city defenders to defeat the rebels. She was filial to her parents and made great contributions to the country. Such a loyal and filial daughter can also take on the important task of leading the army back to the capital to quell the rebellion of Princess Rong Le and others."

"If she cooperates with Yuan Jun, it will be like sisters from the Heavenly Family helping each other. If she...she will become a bloody stroke that can shock everyone above Yuan Jun's authority."

Even his loyal and filial merits of suppressing the rebellion today and saving his parents, the emperor and the empress, would become evidence of Lu Baohui's ambition, secretly manipulating treason and taking advantage of the opportunity to ascend to the throne.