QT: TPE Chapter 43.1

By gouging out his eyes, he would never have the possibility of succeeding to the throne.

For someone like Li Xu, who harbored ambitions for the throne, this was worse than death. Then he would be put to death.

Her hatred for Li Xu was no less than that for Princess Minghua. She didn’t think that she was vicious enough in dealing with him.

The Emperor nodded with delight: “Of course. I was just about to punish him. I have been watching him for some time now, as he was forming cliques with court officials. Now I am just waiting to punish him.”

The Emperor answered readily.

The moment the Emperor learned that Xu Lingyi was pregnant, he already considered Li Xu a dead man.

Not only Li Xu, but also other unruly members of the imperial clan. After his imperial son was born, he would deal with them one by one. Those who disobeyed would be killed directly.

He would pave the way for his children and prevent anyone from threatening the throne that belongs to them.

The Emperor agreed too readily, so Xu Lingyi asked, “Your Majesty, what if the child in my womb is not a prince?”

Although she knew that she was carrying a boy, the Emperor and Empress Dowager did not.

But she knew that the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had very high expectations for the prince.

The Emperor’s decisive handling of Li Xu suggested that he had already decided that the child in her womb was a prince.

“Actually, I have thought about this issue as well.” The Emperor said.

“I have too few children. If my beloved concubine were to give birth to a princess, she would be a treasure to me. However, a prince would be the best. With a prince, my empire would have a successor, and those ministers would have no excuse.”

“If it’s a princess this time, as long as my beloved concubine can give birth, I can continue to try. Let it blossom first and bear fruit later¹The Chinese idiom ‘先花後果’ (xiān huā hòu guǒ), literally translating to “first flowers, later fruits” or “let it blossom first and bear fruit later”, is a metaphor describing a specific, often gender-related, order of events, with broader implications of patience and natural progression.

The phrase is traditionally used in old literature to describe having a daughter first (the flower) and a son later (the fruit). In traditional Chinese patriarchal, agrarian, and Confucian society, this was viewed as a natural or auspicious progression, sometimes implying that the “flower” (daughter) brings the “fruit” (son/child) in due time.. Perhaps next time it will be a prince.”

This was the Emperor’s plan. Now that Xu Lingyi was pregnant, he and the Empress Dowager saw hope. Although they dared not ask for more children, it was still possible. What people fear most is losing hope.

“If there is still no prince after a few years, I do not intend to adopt an heir from the imperial clan. Perhaps I will find a scapegoat from the imperial clan, but I would prefer my grandson to be the emperor; at least he is related to me by blood.”

Xu Lingyi had heard the Emperor say similar things before.

So she knew very well that if she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she would never have had a chance to act against Princess Minghua.

She was protected because she was the Emperor’s only daughter, and the Emperor placed great importance on bloodlines.

The Emperor felt no affection for the deceased emperor and even harbored deep hatred for him.

As a result, all of the late Emperor’s other sons were also killed by the Emperor.

The imperial relatives who remained in the imperial clan did not have a particularly close relationship with the Emperor.

This showed the Emperor’s aversion to the late Emperor and his imperial brothers.

But while the Emperor was cold-blooded and ruthless, he was exceptionally indulgent toward his children.

Fortunately, she was reborn and received a cheat.

This time, Princess Minghua could only die.

Xu Lingyi already had a plan in mind, and now, she was just waiting for the right time to implement it.

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