Baili Mingshen was silent for a moment.
"So what do you intend by saying this?"
"Ye Ziāan cannot stay!" The Empress Dowager had always acted decisively; otherwise, Baili Yan would not have chosen her as Princess Consort Zhuang years ago. Yet people change, and though she remains decisive, her heart is no longer as pure as before.
"Mother Empress, you!" Baili Mingshen was furious. "Mother Empress, do you know what youāre saying? Father Emperor just passed, and you want your son to do this, defying Father Emperorās wishes. How do you expect me to explain this to the ministers?"
"Fool!" said the Empress Dowager. "Do it discreetly, and who would know? Or do you wish to live in constant anxiety?"
"Mother Empress, why should I be anxious?" Baili Mingshen stared at her. "Though Iām not as wise as Father Emperor, I know that as long as I conduct myself rightly, he cannot find a reason to depose me."
"Moreover, heās already quite old. He wonāt outlive me, will he? What should I be worried about?"
After some thought, he asked, "Mother Empress, was it Uncle who prompted you to do this?"
The Empress Dowager might have felt that now that the Emperor was her son, the whole realm belonged to her son, making her less concerned with propriety in speech than before.
"So what if it was?" The Empress Dowager sneered. "After all, Ye Ziāan is an outsider. How could he be closer to you than your uncle? Even if Great Zhou needs a Grand Chancellor, it should be your uncle, not him."
"Ha!" Baili Mingshen laughed. "Uncle as Grand Chancellor? He sure dares to dream."
"You..." The sarcasm in the Emperorās eyes provoked the Empress Dowager to anger. "What do you mean by this? Are you looking down on your maternal family? Do not forget that your success today is inseparable from their support. Are you trying to be ungrateful?"
It would have been better if the Empress Dowager hadnāt mentioned this, but saying it brought out the resentment in the Emperorās heart.
"According to Mother Empressās words, my ascendancy was not due to Father Emperorās succession but rather to my uncleās support?"
Of course, the Empress Dowager could not admit this, as that would be claiming her son and the Situ Family conspired to usurp the throne.
"No, mother, thatās not what I mean."
"Hmph, whether or not you understand, Iāll speak plainly. If Ye Ziāan cannot stay, then Uncle should definitely go."
"What did you just say?" The Empress Dowagerās eyes instantly widened.
"Do you think Father Emperor left his decree for what reason? It was to guard against the Situ Family, to prevent the dominance of maternal relatives and their meddling in state matters. More so, it was to prevent you and Uncle from using filial piety and familial ties to manipulate me and harm Great Zhou! If I have a sword hanging over my head, it was placed there by Uncle."
This was the only thing he could think of at the moment regarding testing the intentions of the princes, which he hadnāt figured out yet.
In the past decade, since Ye Ziāan left the court, the Situ Family relied on the Empress Dowager to consolidate their power, growing extravagantly wealthy, and their mansion is rumored to be more luxurious than his palace.
Father Emperor tried to rein them in more than once; in his view, had Father Emperor lived another two years, he would certainly have dealt with the Situ Family.
"Mother Empress has reached the age of enjoying a peaceful retirement; staying in the palace to cherish grandchildren daily would be delightful, wouldnāt it?"
He added after a pause, "As for the affairs of the harem, let the Empress manage them."
The Empress Dowagerās face turned exceedingly sullen; she could never have imagined that Baili Yan would end up guarding against her own family.