The imperial guards filed in from behind, but were immediately dismissed by Dugu Luanyue with a wave of her hand.
In the Qianyuan Hall, only their family of four remained. The wind howled, much like the surging tides in their hearts.
The tides ebbed and flowed again and again.
Seeing Huo Wei with the two children, the scene was extremely harmonious.
Her eyes welled up with tears. She stood still, not knowing whether to step forward or back away.
Huo Wei stroked the heads of the two children. His big hands easily covered their small heads. The cold and fierce look in his eyes softened a bit.
After a while, he glanced sideways at her and said, "What do you mean by secretly raising my children?"
Dugu Luanyue: "..."
Nanny Mei Jiang and Su Rou rushed into the hall in a panic. Seeing the prince and princess sitting on the ground looking at the portraits peacefully, they both let out a sigh of relief and smoothed their chests.
Su Rou whispered, "The guards of the Southern Chu Palace are bound to be laughed at by the Northern Yan Emperor."
Nanny Mei Jiang said, "Hurry up and take the little masters to the Shoukang Palace. The Empress Dowager is about to faint."
The two children were carried away. Huo Wei stared straight at them and said, "Fine. Go and say goodbye to the Southern Chu Empress Dowager. I will definitely take these two children away."
Scared, Nanny Mei Jiang and Su Rou quickly carried the children away.
After leaving Danyang City, Huo Wei had hidden his identity and followed Shen Guilan. After entering the palace, he went to find Xie Si'an on his own.
This child was extremely interesting and not shy at all. It seemed that he had a natural affinity with Huo Wei.
Xie Si'an generously led Huo Wei to his mother's bedroom and said that he looked very much like the person in the portrait in his mother's palace.
Huo Wei also asked him why, as a prince, he called the female emperor "mother" instead of "empress mother".
Xie Si'an said that Dugu Luanyue had taught him so since he was a child, hoping to reduce the unnecessary rigid rules in the palace and add more warmth of an ordinary family.
In just a few hours, Huo Wei learned from Xie Si'an how she had survived these years.
It turned out that Dugu Luanyue was very busy most of the time. He had grown up beside the Empress Dowager, but she would still find time to accompany him.
Dugu Luanyue was in a very complicated mood at the moment. She thought she should explain what had happened back then:
"Huo Wei, back then when I said I would take the abortifacient, it was just angry words. I never wanted to give up the children from the very beginning.
On the day I returned to Southern Chu, I knew that the secret letter was a setup. Even without Shen Guilan's later evidence and explanation, I knew that you were unaware of what happened back then."
Huo Wei stood up from the ground, clapping his hands. "I don't need your explanation. Now I just want the two children."
Dugu Luanyue frowned and her expression darkened. "I won't give you the children. You're an emperor. You can have other people bear children for you when you return to Northern Yan."
Huo Wei glared at her with his thick eyebrows. "Why don't you hold a beauty pageant and have children with different men?"
Dugu Luanyue's face showed anger. "What do you mean? You come to ask for the children as soon as you arrive in Southern Chu. The children were born by me. What does it have to do with you?"
Huo Wei sneered. "If it weren't for all my efforts these days, would you have had the children?"
Dugu Luanyue: "..."
She was silent for a moment and then tugged at the corner of her mouth, trying to ease the tense atmosphere:
"Look, you've come from afar. You haven't even had a stroll in Southern Chu yet. Tomorrow, I'll take the children and go for a good walk with you in Jinghua City.
If you miss them in the future, you can spare some time to come and see them."
Huo Wei cast a cold glance at her with his black eyes. "There's nothing to talk about. If you want to talk, go talk to the one million strong army of Northern Yan."
She knew that Huo Wei would use this to blackmail her.
Compared with the one million strong army of Northern Yan, Southern Chu was indeed in a weak position.
A hot summer wind blew in, making the hall extremely stuffy.
Dugu Luanyue's long eyelashes trembled slightly. She sat under the orange palace lantern, her solitary shadow silent.
Huo Wei realized at this moment that his words had been a bit too harsh.
He softened his expression and said, "Since you've kept the children and the misunderstanding has been cleared up, why didn't you say a single word for five whole years?"
She lowered her long eyes. "In the first few years after I ascended the throne, my days were not peaceful. And even if I told you, what could it change?
You and I are in the north and the south respectively. Why should I disrupt your life? For things with no good outcome, I'd rather not say a single word."
Huo Wei tightened his face and said angrily:
"You could have resolved all difficulties by allying with the Sheng family. You like arranging alliances the most, so why didn't you do it this time?"
Dugu Luanyue felt sick to her stomach. Huo Wei's mouth was still as venomous as before. Every word stabbed into her heart.
The corners of her eyes turned red. "If I allied with the Sheng family, I would have to send our children away. Their status would change from the children of the female emperor to the adopted children of the clan;
If I allied with the Sheng family, I would have to spend my whole life with someone I didn't love the most, and even bear children for them.
There are not many things I can hold on to for myself, but for the things I can hold on to, I will fight for them with all my might.
I know you're angry, but I also know that I can't whole - heartedly be with someone without considering anything.
The current situation is the result of my countless times of perseverance for my heart.
You can't take these two children away, because I'll only have these two children in my life."
After she said this, the meaning was clear enough, melting most of the ice in Huo Wei's heart.
Seeing her red eyes and the tears welling up, Huo Wei's expression became even more solemn:
"Do you think you can make me soft - hearted and let me leave silently by shedding a few tears?"
They didn't reach any conclusion that night.
The next day, Huo Wei returned to Northern Yan. Not long after he arrived in Northern Yan, Shen Guilan reported all the things that had happened in the Southern Chu royal family and court in the past few years one by one.
Shen Guilan had been extremely busy recently. There were dark circles under his eyes. He said tiredly:
"Empress Lingxi has had a hard time in the past few years. Stop competing with her for the children.
It's not easy for a woman to carry a child for ten months and give birth. She still has to attend court. Where does she have so much time to have children?
You're a man. This kind of thing doesn't take much time. How about holding a beauty pageant for Your Majesty next month?"
Huo Wei ignored him. He kept thinking in his mind why that woman had endured so much hardship with the children but still refused to soften her attitude.
He said in a deep voice, "Since she doesn't know how to be submissive, then I'll make her face the hard way."
Early the next morning, Huo Wei, dressed in imperial robes, stood on a high platform and said, "I'm seriously ill and unable to have offspring. There's no cure. The Northern Yan dynasty may have no heir."
Shen Guilan, as the prime minister, was standing in the front row. He almost lost his balance.
The court was in an uproar. Some officials knelt down sorrowfully and cried, "Heaven! Is this the end of Northern Yan?"
Some royal officials from the clan proposed:
"Your Majesty, do you want to choose a gifted child from the clan as an adopted son? He's also of the Murong family's bloodline and can be trained as the heir to the throne."
Huo Wei stood up from the dragon throne and walked forward. His voice suddenly became solemn. "No. I only said that I won't have any children in the future, but I never said that I didn't have any children in the past."