Chapter 929
Chapter 929 The Dream of Becoming the Female Ruler
The Imperial Noble Consort had stayed in the palace for many years. Since she said so, there must be a reason.
Lin Mengya also found it strange. She had observed Princess Tiancheng carefully.
Thus, she knew that behind that woman’s innocent and lovely appearance was surely a selfish person.
“She has kept all the good stuff to herself. How could she give it to her mother for filial piety?
“She would never do that unless she had ulterior motives.”
All of a sudden, Lin Mengya thought of a possibility.
“Sister Zhao, have you noticed that since that madam took over, the Empress’s meals dishes with strong smells like fish, beef, or mutton have been served in the Empress’s daily diet? But such dishes are not steamed or stewed but are cooked in heavily-seasoned ways.”
Zhao Ran had been in charge of the imperial kitchen for many years. Besides, she was a perceptive person, so she had no trouble going through those dishes served lately.
She nodded and confirmed this point.
Then, she said, “That’s right. In the past, the Empress’s taste was light, and sometimes she didn’t even eat any meat. But in the past half a month, the Empress’s taste has changed. But we all thought that the Empress became like this because it was getting cold. Now I also feel strange after I heard what you said, Your Highness. And every time that dish came in, the Empress either finished it up or gave it to others as a reward. By the way, she has rewarded Princess Tiancheng like this several times.
“However, I know that Princess Tiancheng never eats such food. But when the plate was returned to the imperial kitchen, it was all clean. I was puzzled by that, too.”
The food for royals might sound unremarkable. These were just meals. How could there be anything special about it?
However, Lin Mengya was keenly aware that something was amiss.
In a sense, His Majesty and the Empress were both obstinate people.
As such, they would not easily change their habits.
But within just half a month, the Empress changed from a vegetarian to a carnivore.
This change seemed to be a little hard for a normal person to achieve.
After all, if a person had been a vegetarian for a long time and suddenly began to eat meat, she would probably be psychologically and physically uncomfortable for a while.
But the Empress and Princess Tiancheng did that. Wasn’t it weird?
“It seems that even though tigers do not eat their cubs, there is a gradually maturing tigress that is planning to devour her mother’s flesh and drink her blood.”
A cold look surfaced in Lin Mengya’s eyes.
Zhao Ran and the Imperial Noble Consort were perplexed at first, but as they thought about this, they felt their hair stand on end.
“You mean, Princess Tiancheng has been poisoning the Empress’s food?” the Imperial Noble Consort said in disbelief.
After all, she only had one son at that time, so she was particularly gentle and tender to other people’s daughters.
Although she and Princess Tiancheng had become estranged because of all kinds of things, she still remembered Princess Tiancheng as a smart and lovely girl.
How come she had become so vicious now? Why would she not even spare her own mother?
“I don’t think the princess would go that far. Or is there something else we don’t know?”
Intuitively, the Imperial Noble Consort thought that Princess Tiancheng would not be like this.
However, Lin Mengya and Zhao Ran held the opposite belief.
“Your Highness is kind. Naturally, you think that as a daughter, she would not do something this treacherous. But those people can’t be measured with ordinary moral standards. If Princess Tiancheng truly did this, I’m afraid that I have already guessed her purpose in doing so.”
Imperial Noble Consort Dehui was still having trouble convincing herself of this, but rationality eventually triumphed over her feelings.
That was because she realized that what her daughter-in-law said might be the truth.
“You mean…”
The Imperial Noble Consort opened her eyes wide, and so did Zhao Ran.
That was because this was more surprising to them than Princess Tiancheng poisoning her birth mother.
“That’s right. I guess Princess Tiancheng wants to be the heir to the throne, or rather, the Queen ruling the country!”
“Was she wishing to be the first Queen in the history of Jin State?”
Princess Tiancheng was really ambitious, and she was also witted and good at maneuvering.
In that way, many things would make sense.
“This… is ridiculous! How can a woman rule the country? She must be out of her mind!”
The Imperial Noble Consort’s pretty face turned pale. She had never imagined that a woman could claim to be the ruler of the country.
Zhao Ran was with her, but Lin Mengya didn’t think so.
She came from modern society, where there were not only female rulers but also female presidents and prime ministers.
Therefore, she believed that there was nothing wrong with women’s ruling. She even hoped to see women like the ambitious Empress Wu Zetian in those states.
The biggest fault of Princess Tiancheng was not that she was a woman, but that she did not have the broad mind and bold strategy of Wu Zetian to lead a state.
Thus, she was destined to fail.
“Is this the reason why Tiancheng poisoned the Empress? As long as the Empress is still alive, it is impossible for her to ascend the throne, right? The Empress wants to be the Empress Dowager, but she puts all her attention on the Crown Prince. Even if the Crown Prince is not suited for the throne, the Empress will never give up. But I don’t understand why Tiancheng wanted her brother and mother to rebel. Once the rebellion succeeds, her dream of becoming the heiress to the throne will be shattered, won’t it?”
That was something that the Imperial Noble Consort could not figure out.
After all, Princess Tiancheng’s dream could be fulfilled only if the Crown Prince was unable to ascend the throne.
But now—she couldn’t see any sign of success in Princess Tiancheng’s moves.
“It’s because she wants to be the female ruler that she has to force the Crown Prince to rebel. I reckon she has hatched three plans. If the Crown Prince succeeds, she will be the biggest contributor to it. The Crown Prince is very mediocre, and his mind and means are perhaps not Tiancheng’s match. By then, Tiancheng will be extremely powerful, and enemies like Prince Yu will be eliminated. This way, it will be easy for her to become the crowned head.”
Although Lin Mengya was not sure before, she had considered such possibilities.
Now the key points were straightened out, some matters were linked together. Like a string of pearl necklaces, many trivial clues were now connected, having a clear storyline to support them.
“Taking a step back, if the Crown Prince fails to force the emperor to abdicate, then he will lose the qualification to compete for the throne. But with the participation of the Empress, I’m afraid that the Empress will be deprived of her title as well. If I were Tiancheng, I would definitely pick a suitable time to express goodwill to His Majesty, and then put all the blame on the Crown Prince and the Empress, pretending to be innocent and implicated. After that, I would find a way to get His Majesty to give me what I want. In this way, Princess Tiancheng can protect herself and earn His Majesty’s trust. Although the throne can’t be passed on to her, His Majesty will definitely give her other things as compensation. Then, she can use her first move to reach her aim. As for her last plan, well, it is a very risky move, but the reward is worthy of the risk. She just needed to wait until His Majesty and his sons all died and marry a man easy to manipulate. As she would be the only royal descendant at that time, her husband would naturally ascend the throne. By controlling her husband, she would finally be the actual ruler. This way, one of her children would one day succeed on the throne. With all things considered, she would be the winner of this game no matter what.”
Lin Mengya had never admired anyone, but now, she had to admit that she held Princess Tiancheng in admiration.
In order to become the first female ruler since the founding of the state, Princess Tiancheng had racked her brains.
To Tiancheng, this war must be staged. Because, in this war, both her brother and the competitors for the throne, such as Long Tianyu, would be weakened a lot.
In this world, whoever had the strongest fist could decide everything.
Regardless of the treatment of females as inferior to males, as long as Tiancheng held the heavy weapon in her hand, no one would dare to defy her.
From a certain point of view, Lin Mengya actually held Tiancheng in high esteem.
But at this moment, she only felt that Tiancheng was stupid, extremely stupid!
That was because Tiancheng had miscalculated the force that would ultimately determine the succession of the throne.
Tiancheng was wrong about the force hidden in the darkness that existed just to maintain the orthodoxy of the royal family.
Like her father, Tiancheng believed that the force would eventually defend the throne for the sake of the Long family.
Therefore, no matter which one of them died, the throne would still end up in the hands of the Long family.
However, people’s hearts were unpredictable, especially after they experienced the sweetness of power. Who else could continue to stay true to their hearts in the face of such temptation?
The answer was none.
Therefore, Lin Mengya and Long Tianyu had never thought of relying on the power of those people.
What was more, once Long Tianyu became the new emperor of the Jin State and consolidated his power, he would pull out this rotten tooth without hesitation.
They would never allow these people to disrupt the state power in Dajin.
The ones guarding the throne could only be themselves.
If a man couldn’t even protect what belonged to him, what was the point even if he became the emperor?
Right now, those people were just watching this good show, watching these foolish descendants of the Long family fight to the death over the position of the puppet emperor.
When their strength was almost exhausted, the monster hidden in the darkness would attack with overwhelming strength.
Either they would pick the most submissive person they deemed to be the emperor, or they might replace him.
This was like asking an enemy to act against his interests. Thus, how could her beloved husband, the prince, not be prepared for the lurking danger?
Hence, in this war, Long Tianyu would not only make the Crown Prince the target of public criticism but also make His Majesty give up the high position that he had occupied for more than 30 years.
More importantly, he wanted to ruthlessly deter the tiger hidden behind the throne taken by the Long family.
After this was done, he, Long Tianyu, would be the only master of the Jin State, while the others could only be his subordinates.
Indeed, only Long Tianye could possess such a domineering and unyielding character!