chsdbacks Chapter 54 Thunderclap in the Deep Palace
Chapter 54 Thunderclap in the Deep Palace
This title was like a needle, piercing Li Lizhi's consciousness unexpectedly.
She turned off the video.
The hall fell completely dark, the twilight swallowing up the last rays of daylight. The tablet screen automatically turned off, and the black panel lay quietly on the couch, like a silent piece of black jade.
Li Lizhi sat by the window, her dinner almost untouched.
The evening breeze, carrying the chill of early autumn, drifted through the half-open window. Li Lizhi felt her palms were slightly sweaty. The wooden partition, wrapped in a handkerchief and hidden in a secret compartment, felt like a burning ember, searing her heart through the wooden divider.
"Empress Wu..."
She silently repeated those two words in her heart. Not "Empress," not "Empress Dowager," but "Empress Wu"—how could a woman be called an "Empress" yet remain independent of the emperor? Unless…
Unless she herself is an emperor.
Li Lizhi closed her eyes. The thought was too horrifying; even just thinking about it made her feel suffocated.
Since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, has any woman ever ascended the throne? Even when Empress Lü ruled as regent during the Han Dynasty, she was ultimately "ruling as regent," not "becoming emperor." Yet the drama uses such explicit language—"woman," "ascending the throne," "Empress Wu ruling as regent"...
She held the tablet as if it were Pandora's box. Opening it revealed the future; but even when closed, those futures continued to rage in her mind.
At the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), the side hall of the Lizheng Hall was established.
Li Lizhi lay awake in the darkness. The dripping of the water clock sounded like the beat of a countdown. She got up, put on her coat, and went to the window.
At the beginning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM), in the study of the Eastern Palace.
Li Chengqian put down his pen and rubbed his temples. The LED desk lamp cast a soft glow, illuminating the pile of memorials clearly. The sky outside the window was still a deep blue; dawn was still some time away.
"Your Highness," the eunuch said cautiously, "Princess Chang Le has arrived and says she has urgent business."
Li Chengqian frowned. At this hour?
"please."
When Li Lizhi entered the study, Li Chengqian immediately noticed something was wrong—her face was as white as paper, her eyes were bloodshot, and there were teeth marks on her lips. Yet her gaze was unusually clear, as if she had undergone some kind of baptism.
"Step back, all of you." Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable authority.
The study door closed, leaving only the brother and sister in the room. The candlelight flickered, casting a large shadow on the wall.
Li Lizhi took out a tablet from her sleeve, but did not turn on the screen. Instead, she placed it on the desk and pushed it in front of Li Chengqian.
"Qingyi forgot it in the warm pavilion." Her voice was unusually calm. "I looked at what was inside."
Li Chengqian's gaze fell on the tablet. He didn't move, but just stared at the black board for a long time.
"You already knew." Li Lizhi wasn't asking; she was stating a fact.
Li Chengqian slowly raised his eyes: "I know a little."
"From when?"
"From the moment Qingyi first brought a letter home," Li Chengqian said in a low voice, "I guessed it the moment she mentioned 'future generations.'"
"Then why didn't you ask?" Li Lizhi's voice began to tremble. "Why didn't you ask what happened to her afterwards? Why didn't you ask about the fate of the Tang Dynasty? Why didn't you ask... who would become emperor?"
Li Chengqian fell silent. He stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the deep night outside.
"Changle," he said softly, his back to her, "If you were Qingyi, a three-year-old child, and someone asked you 'When will I die?' or 'When will my dynasty perish?' what would you think?"
Li Lizhi was stunned.
"She'll be afraid." Li Chengqian turned around, the candlelight casting flickering shadows on his face. "She'll feel that this Crown Prince isn't concerned with the help she brings, but rather with a future she can't control."
He walked back to his desk, his fingers tracing the smooth surface of the tablet: "The grain seeds Qingyi brought will ensure that the people of Henan Province may not go hungry next year. The medicine she brought has alleviated the illnesses of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. The agricultural books she brought have made my disaster relief strategy in court more comprehensive—these are all real and tangible help."
His gaze fell on the pile of memorials: "As for the future... Chang Le, if a person knows when he will die, he will live every remaining day in the fear of a countdown. If a dynasty knows when it will perish, it will hasten its destruction in suspicion and madness."
Looking at her elder brother, Li Lizhi's turbulent emotions gradually subsided, replaced by a deeper sense of shock.
"Moreover," Li Chengqian's voice softened further, "what good would it do to ask? If Qingyi said that I would die in a certain month of a certain year, and that the Tang Dynasty would decline in a certain month of a certain year—what could I do but live in constant fear? Should I start purging the court now? Should I be suspicious of everyone who might threaten my throne?"
He shook his head: "The current clarity and order in the Zhenguan court is hard-won. Father Emperor trusted his officials and the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was harmonious, which is why we have seen such a prosperous era in recent years. I cannot ruin all of this because of a future that has not yet happened."
The study fell silent. The first chime of the morning bell rang in the distance, deep and resonant, piercing the darkness before dawn.
"But..." Li Lizhi's voice was very soft, "that woman... Wu..."
"I know," Li Chengqian interrupted her, his eyes clear. "From the first time Qingyi came, from the subtle reminders in the letters she brought home—'be close to the virtuous and keep away from the wicked,' 'value the people's hearts,' and 'be cautious in employing people'—I guessed that I might have taken a wrong path. A path... that would give others an opportunity to take advantage of it."
Li Lizhi's heart sank.
"That's why I won't ask." Li Chengqian slowly sat down, picked up a memorial, and said, "I will use my own eyes to walk my own path. I will make the Tang Dynasty so strong that even if such a person appears, she will not be able to easily shake the foundation of the Li family."
He opened the memorial, his voice steady: "If the pest infestation in Henan Province is not controlled in time, tens of thousands of people will starve next year. This is my 'now'."
Li Lizhi looked at her elder brother. In the soft morning light, his profile was clearly defined, his eyes focused and resolute. At that moment, she suddenly understood—Chengqian wasn't indifferent to the future, but rather, he was shouldering it in the heaviest way possible.
He transformed his fear into a sense of responsibility.
"Then this..." she pointed to the tablet.
"Keep it for now," Li Chengqian said. "Wait for Qingyi to come and get it. That child doesn't know anything, that's for the best."
"If she asks..."
"Just say you kept it for her." Li Chengqian paused, then looked at Li Lizhi. "Changle, this matter ends here. We know, that's enough. Leave the rest to me, to time, and to... this Zhenguan era."
Li Lizhi remained silent for a long time before finally nodding slowly. She wrapped the tablet up again and tucked it into her sleeve.
When she returned to her bedchamber, the morning light was already streaming through the windows. Li Lizhi opened her vanity case and placed the tablet back on the bottom shelf. Before closing the lid, she took one last look at it.