The first chapter of Favoured Imperial Concubine Goes on Strike Every Day will be coming out today. Please check out the novel page here if you are interested!
Translator: Jalyss
Editor: Odyssey
Chapter 273 – My Son Has Facial Paralysis (part 4)
In Peaceful Age Palace, the empress dowager heard Li Su talk about Li Chen’s background and the two wiped away tears together.
“His father died to protect my father. I only found out when I was handling my father’s funeral. But for the past three years, I also lived in a daze and didn’t think of him. When I remembered him this time, I asked Uncle Zhong to inquire about him. Only then did I find out what his life was like during the past three years. I was so sad and wanted to do something for him. I didn’t plan on getting married anyway. I just wanted to adopt a child. When I saw him, I decided to adopt him,” Li Su said as she wiped away her tears.
“He is a good boy, and you are a good child. Just be happy. We and the emperor have no objection.” The empress dowager wiped away her tears.
“Thank you, Empress Dowager!” Li Su said with a tearful smile.
If you just have one child, won’t it be a little lonely? Find a few more so you have company!” The empress dowager said after thinking about it for a moment.
“This matter… I haven’t thought about it yet. I’m still a child myself, and I don’t understand what it’s like to raise a child. If I raise too many, I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it well. Besides, Chen’er is a bit introverted. If there are too many children, I’m afraid that he will be wronged,” Li Su said seriously.
After hearing Li Su’s words, the empress dowager couldn’t say anything. Yes, she was also a child. She grew up at the border, and after returning to the capital, she kept her filial piety behind closed doors. She remained ignorant like a child. Forget it, she wouldn’t worry about her anymore.
“What you said also makes sense. You are the righteous daughter of Ours, so he will be Our grandson. Someday, you should take him into the palace to show him his grandmother and uncle.” The empress dowager smiled.
Li Su nodded. “Okay, when he recovers from his injuries, I will take him into the palace to greet Empress Dowager and the emperor. By the way, Empress Dowager, do you have any medicine for removing scars? I want to take some back for Chen’er. Although it’s okay for a boy to have some scars, I still think a chubby one is cuter.”
The empress dowager couldn’t help but laugh. The child was five years old. If he was five years old, it would be cuter if he was chubbier. But if one followed Su Su’s concept of raising a child, if a child was still chubby at the age of 15, it would make people worry. “Okay. Zhao Tianfu.”
“Yes, this servant will go.”
After a while, Zhao Tianfu came back, followed by a few palace maids. The maids were carrying trays that had various ointments for removing scars.
“Reporting to Empress Dowager, these were all developed by the Imperial Hospital. They are very effective in removing scars, especially this bottle of snow-white jade cream. Last year, Concubine Yang accidentally injured her face, leaving a scar. She used this cream, ” Zhao Tianfu said respectfully.
Li Su’s face was full of joy. “Really? Great! Empress Dowager, I want all these, okay?”
The empress dowager smiled again. “Of course. Zhao Tianfu.”
Zhao Tianfu immediately gave everything to Wen Mo, who followed Li Su into the palace.
Li Su said with a smile, “Thank you, Empress Dowager. You are so kind!”
It was just some medicine. In exchange for a good comment the empress dowager listened and laughed again.
After Li Su left the palace, the emperor came to Peaceful Age Palace to greet them, and the empress dowager was in a good mood.
“Every time County Princess Hengyang enters the palace, empress mother is in a good mood,” the emperor said with a smile.
“Well, Su Su’s child is very cute. We like it,” the empress dowager said with a smile. She only had two sons. Although the late emperor had seven daughters, they were not her own, and she was too lazy to pay attention to them. There were two granddaughters in her grandson’s generation, but they were still young and not interesting.
“If empress mother likes her, she can be called to the palace often.” The emperor smiled. “Why did County Princess Hengyang come this time?”
“You are pretending in front of Us again. For what reason is Su Su entering the palace for? We don’t believe that you don’t know.” The empress dowager gave the emperor an angry look.
The emperor laughed. “It’s all your son’s fault. Don’t be angry, empress mother.” Then, he said, “It’s just an adopted son. If County Princess Hengyang likes it, then it’s fine! But, does County Princess Hengyang really not plan to marry again?”
“Forget it. Don’t force her. She is now at this age. Most of the people who are similar to her and worthy of her already have families. Should she be relegated to a side room for others? How insulting! If so, General Li won’t be able to relax in heaven!” The empress dowager gave the emperor a pointed glance.
Her son was born and raised by her. How could the empress dowager not know his thoughts? When Su Su first entered the capital three years ago, the emperor fell in love with Su Su, but at that time Su Su had a marriage contract. As the emperor, he couldn’t do something scandalous, like stealing the wife of a minister, so it was put on hold. He didn’t expect that three years later, something like this would happen to the Jiang family, and Su Su divorced. The emperor thought about this again.
But the empress dowager would not allow such a thing to happen! Su Su was her adopted daughter. This was a banner erected by the imperial court in order to show the importance it attached to the meritorious ministers who defended the country. If this banner was moved by the emperor to the harem, the meaning would change!
The most important thing was that Su Su’s temperament was not suitable for living in the harem.
The emperor’s face darkened slightly, and then he raised his head and smiled. “What empress mother said is that the county princess is only in her youth, so it is too…”
“Everyone has their own aspirations. This is what Su Su means. We respect her!” The empress dowager glanced at him and lowered her gaze.
The emperor sighed in his heart. As an emperor, there were many times when he had no choice but to bury his feelings in his heart for the sake of the country.
“That being the case, in the future, empress mother will often summon Hengyang to enter the palace to pay her respects!” the emperor finally said.
“We understand,” the empress dowager said softly. When she saw that the emperor was a little depressed, she said, “Does the emperor remember? When you were a child, you liked to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cakes. You had to eat them every day. But after eating them for a month, you got tired of it. Since then, you have never eaten it again. It has been so many years, and you refuse to touch it again. Sometimes, if you like something, you don’t have to keep it by your side and keep it for yourself. Appreciate it from a distance. What you like may last longer.”
The emperor looked at the empress dowager. When he met the eyes of the empress dowager, who saw everything, he smiled helplessly. “I can’t hide anything from empress mother! However, your son understands what empress mother said.”
“That’s good! Although you are the son of heaven and the ruler of a country, you can’t do whatever you want. How many pairs of eyes are watching you?! You can’t forget how you got this throne.” When she thought of the past, the empress dowager couldn’t help but have red eyes. Her youngest son was implicated and died.
When they spoke of the past, the emperor’s face was solemn. “Don’t worry, empress mother. Your son knows!”
That was all. It was just a momentary feeling, and it wasn’t a necessity. In the future, he would treat her as a younger sister!
Li Su was unaware of this small disturbance. Although she and the emperor were known to be siblings, there was still a difference between a monarch and his ministers, and between men and women. In order to avoid suspicion, she had only seen the emperor once since she entered the capital. She did not know that the emperor had thought about her.
But even if Li Su knew about it, she probably wouldn’t take it to heart. How good was it to be free? Why didn’t she think about talking about her feelings with the emperor? Since ancient times, women who had a relationship with the emperor had a few good endings.
Li Su returned to the house with those medicines for removing scars and excitedly presented those treasures to Li Chen. “Look, mother requested all of these from the palace. They are very effective at removing scars. We will wait for your wound to heal, then just give it a try. Although men don’t need to pay too much attention to their appearance, you are still young, so you can put aside men’s standards for the time being.”
Li Su talked a lot, and Li Chen kept his face paralysed. No matter what Li Su said, he always looked like that.
The few maids who served him were helpless. How could this young man have such a personality? Although their county princess grew up at the border, she was also the general and his wife’s treasure. Only others have followed her, and she did not ever have to please others.
Now, the young master was new to the county princess, but if this young man will always be like this, maybe the county princess would get bored someday. Until then, what could they do about the young master?
The maids were dying of worry, but Li Chen didn’t realise it. He stood there with a blank face, letting Li Su grab his arm and try the scar medicine on his old scar.
After coming out of Li Chen’s room, Li Su let out a long sigh. No wonder the original owner didn’t like Li Chen. With his temper, anyone other than her would not like him.
She was the only one who could stand his cold face and speak up for herself.
“County Princess, the young master is…” The one who spoke was Caiyue, the eldest maid that Li Su sent to serve Li Chen.
“Is he always like this? He doesn’t say a word?” Li Su asked.
Caiyue nodded helplessly. If it weren’t for the fact that the young master woke up from a nightmare at night and called for mother a few times, they all thought the young master was dumb.
“The young master has always been like this. When this servant gave him medicine every day, he was in a cold sweat and didn’t make a single noise, even though he was in pain. This servant quietly asked Uncle Zhong to see if he could figure it out. It turned out that, when the young master was beaten before, if he cried out in pain, that vicious woman would hit him harder. Over time, the young master became like this.” Caiyue thought for a while, and said softly, “County Princess, don’t be mad at him.”
Li Su smiled. “With how old I am, why would I be angry with him?! Who doesn’t have any awkward children? You forgot that, when we were at the border, the little girl of Uncle Wang’s family would let everyone hug her except him. But when Uncle Wang left, she cried more than anyone else…”
While talking, Li Su couldn’t laugh anymore. Caiyue and others also had sad expressions on their faces.
The thirteen members of Uncle Wang’s family, young and old, all died three years ago during autumn.
“County Princess!” Wen Yu gave Li Su a worried look.
Li Su waved her hand. “I’m fine.” Then, she remembered something. “I plan to conduct a ceremony for those who died in Xining City. In fact, this matter should have been done three years ago, but at that time I …”
Wen Yu quickly said, “It’s not too late now. I’ll go find Uncle Zhong.” The people who served the county princess all saw how the county princess survived for the past 3 years. None of them had the heart to blame the county princess.
Now that the county princess was better, they were happier than anyone else.
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