Thirty Inquiries to My Father

  When the eunuch arrived at the front of the Zhaofang Hall, carrying the imperial edict from the Front Palace, Liu Ying stood up solemnly and blocked his path. "This is my empress dowager's inner palace," he said. "Without an invitation from the empress dowager, how dare you enter?"

  "Your Highness," the eunuch said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "this is indeed the palace under the Empress's jurisdiction, but this empire belongs to Your Majesty. I hold an imperial edict in my hands and dare to enter any place." He strode past Liu and into the Xihedian Hall outside the palace, shouting, "Declare that Pinghou Zhang Jiao has secretly entered the Changle Palace, defiling the palace, now following the Emperor's will, take him away!" With a wave of his hand, he ordered the attendants behind him to enter. Zhang Jiao merely sneered a few times, closed his eyes, and let himself be taken away in chains.

  "Brother Ao," Lu Yuan shrieked from behind him, covering his chest with his sleeve and chasing after him out of the palace. Below the palace steps, Zhang Ao turned around to look back, his eyes dim and sorrowful, as if bidding farewell.

  Lu Yuan's whole body shook, and he knelt down, supporting himself against the temple gate.

  "What nonsense!" Lü Zhi hastily arrived, inquired about the situation, and slapped Liu Ying on the face. "Your sister has a woman's heart, you're the crown prince, don't you understand the weight of this? Your father is worried that we don't have any leverage to force them to surrender, but you...you actually gave it away?" Lü Zhi was so angry that her whole body trembled.

  "Mother," Lu Yuan's hair was disheveled, his eyes dull, "don't blame Yingdi, it was I who asked him to help me. He probably didn't know the danger involved, but he couldn't refuse my request—"

  On Liu Ying's right cheek, five finger marks were clearly visible. Lü Zhi glanced at them and felt both heartache and resentment. "You're always so soft-hearted," she said bitterly. "You don't resemble your father, Liu Ji, at all. No wonder he often says you're not his son. You really don't resemble him."

  Liu Ying trembled slightly, her face revealing a hurt expression. Zhang Yan, who was watching from under the swing, saw clearly that the young man's eyes were desolate and felt a pang in her heart. She wanted to rush over and hug him, but was pulled back by someone behind her with great force.

  "Are you crazy?" Lü Yi said in her ear, "Even if you're favored, you should look at the situation and timing. Is this the time for you to rush up and intervene?" Holding Zhang Yan's hand, she ran out of the inner court without looking back, only stopping after turning a corner. She then handed Zhang Yan a handkerchief, saying, "Wipe away your tears, look at you, crying like that."

  Zhang Yan took it over and wiped his face randomly, unwilling to say, "What's wrong with not being like the emperor?" If Liu Ying was really of the same virtue as her father, she would be even more afraid to get close to him.

  "That's also true." Lü Yi nodded in agreement, "The Emperor is a rare good person, not as cold-blooded as the Empress. But Ah Yan," she curiously glanced at Zhang Yan, "you're not worried about Princess Chang, but instead feel indignant for the Crown Prince who suffered injustice?"

  Zhang Yan's heart was first empty, then fearful, and she forced a smile, saying, "Because I know my mother won't be in trouble." History clearly recorded that this time the princess who would marry into Xiongnu would not be Lu Yuan.

  "How did you know?"

  "I just know."

  A childish but genuinely true response.

  Xuanping Marquis Zhang Ao was once again brought to the Imperial Censor, charged with privately entering the Changle Palace. Lu Yuan couldn't help but laugh at this, fortunately her father the Emperor didn't add another charge of defiling the palace, or else she really wouldn't be able to bear it.

  "Your father intends to use this to coerce you and Zhang Ao into separating," Lü Wei said calmly, "Manhua, what do you plan to do?"

  "Empress Dowager," Lu Yuan raised his head and looked at Lü Zhi, "what do you think?"

  A stern look flashed in Lv Wei's eyes, "You should know that only because my daughter is here do I acknowledge Zhang Jiao as my son-in-law. If you were to lose her, I wouldn't care if he lives or dies. Let him stay in the廷尉 then, after all, he has been there before and is familiar with it."

  Lu Yuan burst out laughing and said in a soft voice, "Empress Dowager, you can bear to part with him, but I cannot. There's no other way, it was Manhua who implicated him to this extent, so Manhua must take responsibility for one or two things."

  "Man Hua," Lv Liu's face turned solemn, and she suddenly gritted her teeth, saying, "Actually, things may not be without a turning point."

  She whispered a few words in Lu Yuan's ear, and Lu Yuan slowly lowered his face, hesitating, "Is this okay?"

  "The Empress Dowager doesn't know either," Lü Zhi said with a bitter smile. "Let's see if you have the guts to gamble."

  "Empress Dowager," Ruyuan thought for a moment, smiled slightly and said softly, "Please convey a message to the Emperor on my behalf. I'd like to see him." However, her expression changed, cold and hard, "I won't go to that Divine Temple of his. As his daughter, I'll use my face as a daughter to humbly request that my good father, the Emperor, condescend to come to the Pepper Chamber Hall to meet with me. After meeting, I will naturally tell him about my decision."

  "Man Hua," Lv Liu heard a resolute tone from her words, and her heart was deeply grieved. She tightly grasped Lu Yuan's hand.

  "Don't worry, Mother," Ruyuan smiled. "I don't want to go to Xiongnu at all." She threw herself into her mother's arms and said intimately, "Daughter still wants to accompany Mother and grow old together."

  Unfortunately, perhaps it will never come true.

  Lu Yuan shed a tear because it fell into Lü Zhi's arms, but Lü Zhi didn't notice.

  In the third month of the ninth year of Han, on the thirteenth day, Emperor Gao of Han Liu Bang stepped into the main hall of Chang Le Palace's Zheng Hall for the first time in a long while.

  Lu Yuan sat on the embroidered couch in the temple, leaning against the screen, and saw Liu Bang's black boots with golden thread and dragon embroidery appearing outside the temple door. He smiled slightly, clasped his hands together and bowed down, "Greetings to Your Majesty." As elegant as ever.

  "Manhua," Liu Bang smiled and walked forward to support her, saying, "You and I are father and daughter, why so formal and distant?" However, Lu Yuan stubbornly refused to get up, and Liu Bang gradually lost his smile, standing up straight and saying, "You still won't do it?"

  "Father Emperor, go ask the entire palace," Lu Yuan raised his head, his face expressionless and bland, "which woman is willing to leave her hometown and family, to that desolate and ignorant Xiongnu grassland?"

  "Manhua," Liu Bang's voice softened, his expression sincere. "Don't blame the Emperor, the Emperor has no choice for the sake of this great Han dynasty. From a public perspective, you are the Eldest Princess of the Great Han, and should be loyal to the country; from a family perspective, you are my daughter, so just bear with it for your father's sake."

  Lu Yuan looked straight at his father and suddenly asked, "Father, are you willing to send away Qi Yi?"

  "You." Liu Bang flew into a rage, pacing back and forth several steps, flinging his sleeve and scolding, "Don't be unreasonable and cause trouble."

  Lu Yuan seemed to have not heard, and directly stepped forward step by step, "Can the Emperor swear that for this life, he will never replace his younger brother as the Crown Prince?"

  "You yourself are not willing to suffer for me at all, why should I suffer for you?" She burst out in tears.

  "Liu Manhua," Liu Bang's face turned black with rage, he took a deep breath, and no longer bothered to maintain the gentle tone, bluntly reverting to his true nature as a scoundrel, shouting angrily: "I'll decide whether you're allowed or not, I'm your birth father, for children like you, marriage is just a parental order, a matchmaker's words, you have to obey, whether you agree or not, in the end if I get fed up, I'll tie you up and send you off to the Huns' diplomatic carriage."

  "Who is my father?" Lu Yuan suddenly stood up, rushing towards Liu Bang. The palace maids and attendants around were shocked, their souls flying out of their bodies. Seven or eight hands grasped her tightly, unable to move forward another inch. Lu Yuan was filled with sorrow and indignation, struggling desperately, staring at the man who called himself her father, just inches away.

  "From the time you pushed me and my brother off the carriage, the father in my heart has been dead." She shouted, tears falling from her reddened eyes, "Even a tiger does not eat its own son, but in your heart there is only your kingdom, only Qi Yi and his son, what about us three mother and sons?"

  "Nonsense!" Liu Bang was enraged to the extreme. "Rebellious girl, what evil spirit have you eaten? How dare you speak to me like this?"

  "Don't forget," he slowed down his voice and said solemnly with his hands behind his back, "Zhang Ao is still locked up in the Tribunal."

  "My daughter remembers." Lu Yuan covered her mouth, smiled miserably and looked at the son in the arms of the pale-faced wet nurse in the inner palace, then looked towards the direction of Princess Sa's palace, furious, "If you have the ability, Emperor Father, you can drive us four to death, and your heart will be clear."

  Her emotions reached a boiling point, and after finishing the sentence, she suddenly broke free from the palace maid's restraints, rushed to the screen with a clatter, grabbed the bronze sword on the wooden grid above, drew it out of its scabbard with a whoosh, and the cold blade emitted a wisp of cold air, flashing a bright light.

  "Princess," everyone shouted in unison.

  She held the sword to her neck, opened her eyes wide and shouted, "Isn't it just flesh and skin received from parents? Today, I will return them all to you, and I won't owe you anything. If you really have the ability, take my corpse to Xiongnu and give them a real and true Long Princess. See if they are willing to abandon living grain, cattle and sheep for a dead Long Princess."

  "Mother," a shrill cry pierced the air, Zhang Yan burst out from behind the pillar of the rear hall, her long skirt fluttering open like a beautiful camellia flower, but unfortunately not suitable for running, after running a few steps she fell to the ground and rolled two or three feet before grabbing onto her mother's hem.

  "The sound of her skirt being torn was like a sudden clap of thunder."

  "Ah!" A burst of bright red blood splattered onto a pair of sparkling eyes.

  With a loud clang, the blood-stained bronze sword fell to the ground, followed by Lu Yuan's slow descent, his beautiful eyes closing gently, a red mark on his neck, and blood flowing instantly like a winding river.

  "Hurry up and call the imperial physician," the eunuch shouted, directing the nearby palace servants to bandage Ruyuan's wound and stop the bleeding. Tu Huo pulled Zhang Yan away with all his might, his eyes red with rage. When he turned back to look at the crowd surrounding the eldest princess, Ruyuan's sword had been used with too much force, penetrating layer upon layer of white gauze, which was still seeping outwards.

  "Manhua," Lv Liu stumbled in, grabbing her husband's hem tightly, her eyes red as if possessed by a demon, venomously saying, "Liu Ji, do you have to drive my daughter to death before you're satisfied?"

  Alright, I promise this torture will end here.

  It seems to have brought Liu Bang a lot of scolding.

  Shout loudly and let's use pink ballots to vote him out!

  Tonight at 11 o'clock go to bed for the second time.