Chapter 220: Family Background

On the journey back, Shen Miao thought about Empress Xian De's words and her heart could not calm down for a long time.

Consort Jing was at a stage that 'mother and child was safe' and Empress Xian De did not have any wrongs because of the matter, thus everything looked like it had ended satisfactory but Shen Miao felt that something was not quite right. Upon returning back to the residence of Prince Rui, the skies was almost about to brighten and thus it was too late to sleep, moreover Shen Miao did not have any mood to rest.

When Jing Zhe and Gu Yi saw it, they instructed the small kitchens to make some sweet soup for the both of them. When Shen Miao and Xie Jing Xing returned to the room, the doors were locked and they sat in front of the table before Shen Miao looked at Xie Jing Xing, "Consort Jing is pregnant. What will the Lu family do?"

It was reasonable to say that Consort Jing' child was very precious since Emperor Yong Le did not have other children and if she was carrying a son then if there was no accidents, the future position of the Monarch would logically go to the child in Consort Jing's womb. Logically it would be like this but from Empress Xian De's words, this was not so, which made the matter somewhat thought provoking. Could it be that Emperor Yong Le still had other children otherwise how could it be so? The Lu family current had no fear due to Consort Jing but was Emperor Yong Le's plans for the Lu family this shallow?

Shen Miao did not feel that it was possible.

When Xie Jing Xing heard those words, he said plainly, "Imperial Older Brother has taken action against the Lu family. There is no difference if one survive or not."

Those words meant that the child in Consort Jing's womb was one matter and the Lu family's ending was another. At least Consort Jing would temporarily save her life with the child but the Lu family would fall according to plan.

Shen Miao frowned, "I spoke to Her Ladyship the Empress and felt somewhat strange. One heard that Her Ladyship the Empress had a miscarriage and it was caused by Consort Jing. Not mentioning if it was intentional or not, no matter how magnanimous Her Ladyship the Empress is, how could she watch Consort Jing living safely and well for so many years?"

Xie Jing Xing was pouring a cup of tea for her and his actions paused when he heard those words.

Shen Miao stared at him, "Tell me honestly why the Emperor do not have any children till now? Was it deliberate or without any choice?"

No matter how she thought, she felt that it was just too strange for Emperor Yong Le not to have any children. Every Emperor, be it if he was a wise Monarch or incapable ruler, would want to have more children. The more children there is, the more checks and balances there would be and the Imperial court would be more stable. Even Fu Xiu Yi did not have a shortage of children. Previous Shen Miao felt that it was strange that Emperor Yong Le was so outstanding in court and the commoners lived and work in peace, so how would the court be unstable now? She then understood when she knew about the reason of descendants. Just because of one point, which was that Emperor Yong Le did not have any children, the court would be rather vocal. Speaking of which, Emperor Yong Le was considered very capable. If it was any other Emperor, if they did not have son, one feared that they would long be gone and demoted to an ordinary person, much less keeping the power balance for years.

Xie Jing Xing looked back at Shen Miao after a long time and his gaze was somewhat strange, "You really want to know?"

"Ever since you were brought back unconscious from the Imperial Hunt, I felt that some things would change but at that time I just arrived in Long Ye and did not know much of the situation in Great Liang and thus was unable help in anything. Thus other than going to Feng Tou Zhuang to look for that person, one was unable to help in anything." Shen Miao said, "I do not like being passive. If there is a day that you have to do something big, I would find that I am useless. But I do not have any knowledge so even if I have the heart to help, how could I even help?"

Xie Jing Xing looked at her for a while and he suddenly sighed. Half of the sigh was gratification and the other half was teasing as he stroked her head, "Not only our Jiao Jiao can scheme against others, she can also be considerate of others."

Shen Miao brushed his hands away, "You can't always let me be a rice worm that only knows how to eat."

"I dared not underestimate you." Xie Jing Xing smiled, "Since you want to know, I will not conceal it. You told me that you had a realistic dream and that dream was very tragic. Now what I will be telling you is not a dream but things that indeed happened."

"It would take at least half a year with fast horses to reach Ding capital from Long Ye. Did you always want to know how I became the son of the Marquis of Lin An? Even though one knew of one's identity for so many years, one did not return to Great Liang. It was not because I did not want to return but I could not return." The gaze in his eyes gradually became sharper.

Xie Jing Xing's real name was Xie Yuan and his styled name was Jing Xing, the meaning was from the phrase of 'behold a tall mountain that have an upright scenery (高山仰止,景行行止)'. That meant that the person who gave him the name had hope that he could be a noble and upright person. Not mentioning if the meaning of those words were achieved but the person who gave that name had deep love for him.

The person who gave him the name was his Imperial Father, Emperor Xiao Wu, Xie Yi Long but the one who gave his styled name was his Imperial Mother, Empress Jing Xian, Empress Xiao.

Originally Emperor Xiao Wu was the most outstanding Emperor of the dynasty of Great Liang. He had military power in his hands, calmed the four seas, was very handsome and heroic. If there was one thing not good, it was because he was the youngest son and the Imperial family of Great Liang would only pass the throne to the eldest and not the younger ones and this was the rules since the beginning. However Xie Yi Long was too outstanding and the more outstanding a person was, one would not even put such light matters in his eyes and it was difficult to press his ambition down. It was unfortunate that Xie Yi Long was the former and in addition, the Crown Prince at that time was inferior to him so Xie Jing Xing embarked on the route to fight for the heir apparent at the end.

The route to fight for the heir apparent was very smooth for Xie Yi Long as he had the innate advantage. He was the son of the Empress and had many meritorious military accomplishments thus Xie Yi Long devised a plan to frame his blooded Eldest Brother, the Crown Prince and angered his Imperial Mother to death, controlled his Father and successfully ascend to the Imperial throne and became Emperor Xiao Wu.

In the journey of the fight for the heir apparent, one was bound to give up some things, like family relations and like love. At that time Xie Yi Long felt that all these were not important as he was an ambitious person so he married the daughter of the Prime Minister Xiao's family. The Xiao family was the head of the civil officials and by marrying the Xiao family's daughter, he could win the majority of Great Liang's civil officials' aristocratic families. Moreover the daughter of the Xiao family was an exceptionally beauty and was intelligent and magnanimous. There was no disadvantage of having an intelligent beauty so this marriage was extremely advantageous.

After ascending to the Imperial throne, Emperor Xiao Wu and Empress Jing Xian had proper respect and concern for one another and Emperor Xiao Wu was a wise Monarch and Empress Jing Xian was famously virtuous under Heavens and it looked ideal. Not long later Empress Jing Xian gave birth to Xie Chi and he became the Crown Prince. Originally Great Liang's land had gradually expanded and the strength of the nation had gradually became the strongest among the three country so everything looked blissful.

But the most difficult thing to retain in this world was remain unchanged.

Empress Xiao was married to Emperor Yong Le when there was chaos and the husband and wife complemented each other in literary and military knowledge. Xie Yi Long had ambitions and Empress Xiao was composed. Xie Yi Long had high level of means and methods and Empress Xiao was resourceful and intelligent.

However when the enemies outside gradually disappeared, the spear would be aimed at the people around.

Emperor Xiao Wu was one with ambitions. At the beginning he used many means and ways to gain the throne and his ambitions came from his desire. He gradually became suspicious that the Xiao family had the intentions to be the relatives that weld power. The more Empress Xiao was virtuous and intelligent, the more suspicions Emperor Xiao Wu had. In order to balance off the power of the Xiao family, Emperor Xiao Wu opened up the Inner Palace. There were a number of aristocratic families in the Xiao family and he promoted them and let the Xiao family fight with them and in the Inner Palace, he let Empress Xiao fight with those women from the aristocratic families.

Empress Xiao was intelligent and proper. After marriage, she had always been adhering the family teachings of treating one's husband as Heavens and in addition Xie Yi Long was an outstanding talent among people, they had gotten along for many years. However all those mess of women started to give birth to Princes and rack one's brains to even threaten Xie Chi's position of the Crown Prince and finally Empress Xiao could no longer sit back and ignore it.

Every female, even the weakest of all female, would all become a beast in order to protect one's child, moreover Empress Xiao was not a weak white rabbit. In Xiao family, an aristocratic family, for her to become the most outstanding Young Lady, naturally she had brains, thus she started to counterattack strongly.

To be able to walk with Emperor Xiao Wu over from the chaotic days, Empress Xiao's ability naturally could not be underestimated. How could those rich, beautiful and delicate females could compete? It was just inviting humiliation to oneself. Xie Chi was safe and sound and Empress Xiao was repeatedly victorious. She had shown her strength and her brains were extremely good that it shocked those female and no one dared to act rashly.

However the intelligent Empress Xiao would also make a mistake. The more outstanding she was, the more upset Emperor Xiao Wu was.

Emperor Xiao Wu became more guarded against her and even began to find her mistakes. At the beginning it was only placing some opponents for Empress Xiao in the Palace then he would watch on coldly at their battles. At the end, it was consciously be bias with the other party and whatever Empress Xiao did was wrong. He also started to directly suppress the Xiao family without hesitation.

Empress Xiao felt very upset but she had thought that Emperor Xiao Wu was her husband and one would be confused at some point in one's life. She only need to protect her position and let Xie Chi grow up safe and sound and watch as Xie Chi smoothly succeeded in ruling the country.

Who knew that those females would have ideas on Xie Chi?

At that period of time, Emperor Xiao Wu suddenly warmed up to Empress Xiao and Empress Xiao did not why he behaved as such. After not long, Prime Minister Xiao suddenly took the initiative to resign from his post.

Xie Yi Long was one who had good means and methods. Even though the Xiao family was vicious, they could not compete with Xie Yi Long. It took a few hundred years for the Xiao family to have a Empress from their family, for this Empress, the Xiao family would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves.

When Empress Xiao knew of the matter, it was already too late. She then know that all the warm nights were only an act of XIe Yi Long's schemes and felt nauseating but she did not think that she would be pregnant.

This flesh in her womb was different from Xie Chi as it came to this world by Xie Yi Long's deliberate and hypocritical schemes. When Empress Xiao was pregnant, she would often think that if it was a son, he must not be like his Father. He could have ambitions and create crafty plots and machinations but he could not make use of another's sincere heart. That was the most despicable behavior and was also the most shameful thing.

After getting pregnant, there were many areas that became inconvenient for Empress Xiao but she did not expect someone to take advantage of her current situation and take action upon Xie Chi.

Xie Chi was drugged.

It was a very strong and sudden poison and if it was not because of the old relations between the Prime Minister Xiao and the head of the Gao family that the head of the Gao family personally take charge, one feared that Xie Chi could not survive at that time. Even though he had survived, the master of the Gao family had diagnosed that the poison had entered the organs and one was only prolonging the time. Xie Chi could not live pass thirty five and this poison would also affect his descendants. From that time onwards if he had any children, it was inevitable that they would have congenital deficiency or they would also have the posion in their body. In any sense, it was all not a good thing.

The master of the Gao family was a rare God-like doctor under Heavens and for him to say such things, Xie Chi's doomed fate was almost fixed. The other party was targeting Xie Chi's life, even if they could not have his life, they wanted to ruin his entire life.

Empress Xiao had never expected that she would end up in such a situation as she was the most outstanding Di daughter in the Xiao family, was a revere Empress and virtual reputation under Heavens. In order to protect her, her family clan had voluntarily retired from Great Liang's officialdom and two of her children, one could not complete one's life under such sinister schemes and the other was the fruit that grew under the poisonous scheme.

The one who did the poisoning was investigated but it was the favoured consort that Emperor Xiao Wu just raised. Empress Xiao brought that favoured consort tied up to the Imperial Gardens and sliced her flesh, piece by piece and she personally watched as she took her last breath. All the palace maids and eunuchs in the Imperial Gardens were trembling as they watched and they almost fainted. However Empress Xiao felt that there was no meaning to it.

Emperor Xiao Wu naturally scolded and blamed the favoured consort and he personally judged the crimes of the favoured consort and comforted Empress Xiao. As Empress Xiao heard his gentle words, her heart was as cold as ice and her mind was filled with caution and vigilance.

Did Emperor Xiao Wu know of this matter or not? Empress Xiao felt that after being married to Emperor Xiao Wu for so many years, she should examine him carefully again. Even if Emperor Xiao Wu did not know about it, this favoured consort was raised up to go against Empress Xiao. One did not kill Bo Ren but Bo Ren died because of one. (Bo Ren is a character in Three Kingdoms and this is a phrase usually used to describe regret, remorse and sadness that one has cause another's death)

At one side, defences started building up in Empress Xiao's heart but at the other side, she pretended to be wan due to the misfortune that befell on her son.

The untreatable poison in Xie Chi's body was not circulated out but who would know if others would know about it in the future? However the most worrying thing for Empress Xiao was that it was almost time to give birth to the child in her womb. Emperor Xiao Wu was suspicious of the Xie family's treatment of Xie Chi and if the child in her womb was a son, if anything happen to Xie Chi, the child could replace Xie Chi's position and sit on the Crown Prince's position. One do not know if he would be the next Xie Chi? If it was a daughter, Empress Xiao was not willing to let him stay in the Palace and be manipulated daily and unable to control one's destiny.

The most important thing was that Empress Xiao would be starting to fight back. After giving birth to this child, she wanted to return individually all the suffering the Xiao family, Xie Chi and her experienced. With a newly born, there would many inconvenient things and maybe he would be controlled by others, so she had to find a way out.

'Substituting a raccoon for the Crown Prince' was generally speaking that the Crown Prince that was replaced would be far away from everything that he should have and that raccoon would be able gain everything that did not belong to one.

Empress Xiao gave the newly born child to her confidant and said, "Behold a tall mountain that have an upright scenery (高山仰止,景行行止). His styled name will be Jing Xing (景行). If one day he grows up to be a man of indomitable spirits, he can scheme and plot but he can never use another's sincere heart." She took a hard look at her child for the last time and said, "Send him away."

In two months that a number of horses died in exhaustion, that half a year journey from Long Ye to Ding capital, because Xie Yuan's first contact to this world and what welcome him was that he had to flee. In those days of escaping, his eyes were widen and he was babbling as he learned to fight with this world.

In the residence of the Marquis of Lin An in Ding capital, Princess Yu Qing was about to give birth.

Empress Xiao's confidant originally followed Empress Xiao's order and wanted to send Xie Yuan to an ordinary wealthy family to be away from the Imperial court disputes. However that day when the confidant was investigating in the streets, one had accidentally learned that Princess Yu Qing was also about to give birth and the child's name was already set as Jing Xing.

The confidant had thought that it was truly a coincidence.

That was a night that filled with wind and rain. There was a heavy rain that fell in Ding capital and the rainwater diluted the blood that was in the courtyard, dimmed the female painful screams and also covered up the faint baby's cries.

That child with the name of Xie Jing Xing was one that was very fated with Xie Yuan as he die before he was born. The confidant hesitated for a moment when holding the baby but he had made a decision that he was happy for life.

He turned Xie Yuan to Xie Jing Xing and from then onwards his name was Jing Xing and there would no longer be any styled name. He was the little heir of the residence of the Marquis of Lin An that held the expectations of Empress Xiao and the hope of Princess Yu Qing to live in this world well.

Not long after, the wealthy household that was initially chosen was completely eliminated in a night. No one knew why but those who knew were clear that Emperor Xiao Wu had discovered some clues and rush over to eliminate. One did not know it was fortunate or a bane but because of the confidant's momentary slip, Xie Jing Xing had avoided this struggle between life and death.

It seemed to be a fated destiny.

There were nonstop filthy things in the residence of the Marquis of Lin An. Madam Fang and her two sons kept creating issues and Xie Jing Xing's only support was Xie Ding's favour. However Xie Ding's favour was not often a good thing as Xie Ding would often not be in the residence as he would be in battle most of the year. It was very difficult for XIe Jing Xing, a young child, to survive at the mouth of beasts. If Empress Xiao's confidant did not help secretly, one feared that he would long become soil in the ground and had a reunion with the genuine heir of the residence of the Marquis of Lin An. Not only that, the Emperor of Ming Qi was also suppressing the Xie family secretly.

In such an environment, Xie Jing Xing gradually grew up. He was thankful that the confidant placed him in such a cruel environment so that he would not be too uncomfortable when facing his future rugged route. He trifled without respect and casually and rode his horse undisciplined all around Ding capital streets and alleys. He was unbearable and made one have headaches but just like Empress Xiao's expectation, he grew up to be a man with indomitable spirits. He did not use another's sincere heart. Even though he had an casual and ridicule appearance, he respected every sincere heart, like Princess Rong Xin, like Su Ming Feng, like the Marquis of Lin An and like Shen Miao. He had lived very well in Ming Qi's Ding capital and he only relied on himself, thus he had the ability to act against the enemy in the dark.

How about Empress Xiao?

In those years, Empress Xiao had been missing her youngest son and was saddened by her eldest son's experience that she decided to fight back.

Weren't you afraid that this Empire would end up in the hands of the Xiao family? Weren't you most concern about this? Then I will snatch it from your hands and stomp on it under one's feet. At that time would you feel a little regret for what you had done today?

Empress Xiao was a daughter from the Xiao family and her abilities and stratagems did not lose to a male. Because of the anger she became even more spirited, whereas Emperor Xiao Wu started to get old. His state of mind and attention were are dispersed by all the concubines in the Inner Palace and all his ambitions had gradually faded away after he was free of worries.

Life sprang from sorrow and calamity and death came with ease and pleasure.

When Emperor Xiao Wu passed away, there was only Empress Xiao accompanying him. Empress Xiao said, "May Your Majesty rest assure. As we are husband and wife, ChenQie will not let you feel too lonely during the journey to the underworld. All the females and concubines that you have favoured before in this Palace, ChenQie will let them accompany you during the journey and all of your children, with the exception of the Crown Prince, ChenQie would not miss out on any one of them."

Emperor Xiao Wu's eyes widen.

"And there is still more." Empress Xiao seemed to have thought of something and leaned over to speak by his ears, "Our youngest son is living well. Those people that Your Majesty sent to Ming Qi had killed the wrong people. After a few more years when this government is settled down, ChenQie will bring him back to be recognised by the forefathers since the Great Liang Empire needs someone to continue governing. ChenQie's heart is tender so the brothers still bear the surname of Xie. If ChenQie's heart is as hard as Your Majesty, the dynasty name of the empire of Great Liang would have been changed."

"Your Majesty, walk the journey down well. ChenQie will hold on this Empire first." Empress Xiao stood in front of the bed smiling very softly.

Emperor Xiao Wu could not close his eyes at the hour of his death.

Empress Jing Xian became Empress Dowager Jing Xian.

Xie Chi became Emperor Yong Le.

Xie Jing Xing was still in Ming Qi's Ding capital and was grouping along the dark road. He ignorantly came to knowledge of his own family background but was told that his birth Father was seeking to kill him and his birth Mother had trapped his birth Father to death. Currently the wind direction was at its most critical, thus one could not take unnecessary actions.

The events of the world all arose from many causes and just like what Empress Jing Xian said, she really clean up the Inner Palace of Great Liang. All those mothers and sons that once threw their weight around and targeted them became Emperor Xiao Wu's companions. She then said to Xie Chi, who had become Emperor Yong Le, "AiJia is cold and cannot manage matters outside but AiJia can still give you a clean Inner Palace. From now onwards there are no vile characters in the Inner Palace. You only need to promise AiJia one thing, that is to keep this empire in the palm of your hands and never let it collapse."

The Lu family and Ye family were Emperor Xiao Wu's confidants and were extremely cunning. As the saying went, a centipede dies but never falls down. Because of the complicated forces, they were not easily uprooted thus Emperor Yong Le had been secretly scheming to deal with these two families.

Empress Dowager Jing Xian passed on two years later. Her head suddenly fell to the desk when she was reading the Lu family's memorandum and did not wake up anymore. The Gao family said that it was due being physically and mentally exhausted that she had exhausted all her energy. However the day before she even spoke to Emperor Yong Le with a glistening expression if they should change to a new tactic for the year's grand ceremony and perhaps they could think of a way to let Xie Jing Xing take a trip back to Great Liang.

It was difficult to predict matters of the world. In her entire lifetime, she was unable to have the opportunity to reunite with Xie Yuan again.

On that day, Heavens had separated the people.