PTSSP Chapter128

Pseudo-Historical Forum Style Side Story

[Original Poster]

As the title says, I work part-time in my school library’s ancient books department. While I was organizing the stacks today, I suddenly stumbled upon a book titled [Taichu Palace Ballads]. It’s about Emperor Wuzong of Qi and Empress Xie. The author’s pseudonym is “Black Clouds Covering Snow[i]“.

Initially, I started reading out of boredom, but I ended up shipping them so hard that I honestly don’t know which way is up anymore…

To be honest, although I suffered through reading the [Book of Qi] under the tyrannical pressure of my advisor, hardly a word of it actually stayed in my head. It also feels like the emperor of Yanjia era, and his empress doesn’t have much presence in it. Is there anyone familiar with that period who can explain? Were those two really this sweet in history as well?

#1L

It’s normal that they don’t have much presence. Emperor Wuzong only reigned for a few years before abdicating, and his son Emperor Xuanzong was a sage ruler who restored the dynasty, so the father naturally ended up rather obscure by comparison… Even among scholars who specialize in period studies of Qi history, “the Yanjia era” isn’t exactly a prominent field of research.

#2L

Does anyone understand how incredibly cute Empress Xie is? I’m not just talking about looks, but that certain vibe that radiates between the lines. He gave off a bit of spirited, and feisty energy.

#3L

I totally get it! There was one-time Emporer Wuzong was in a towering rage because his ministers were neglecting their duties. No one dared to say a word, but Empress Xie, who had just woken up and was completely out of the loop, wandered into the Imperial Study with messy hair and his night robe still on. He blankly said to Emporer Wuzong, “Don’t you think your socks feel a bit tight today? That’s because you’re wearing mine…” And then Emporer Wuzongs anger just… evaporated…

#4L

I’m shook. Is the person above sure they’re reading official history?

#5L

Yes, child, yes. I remember that passage too. It should be from the [Daily Record of the Zhaoyang Hall].

#6L

The veritable records are honestly wild. I don’t really remember anything about their family affairs, but I do remember that in the A5-sized edition of the [Daily Records], the description of Empress Xie’s appearance alone stretched for nearly 5 cm of text. I have no idea what kind of strange people ended up on the historiography team…

#7L

The [Book of Qi] is pure flattery. “When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility upon a man, it must first grant him a handsome appearance, a strong body, a brilliant mind, a good temperament, excellent cooking skills, and a devastatingly beautiful, adorable wife.” Emporer Wuzong opens his “power fantasy” novel and goes, “This isn’t even satisfying.”

#8L

You’re missing the “East Asian toxic family dynamics” and the “feudal tyrant father” opening. Emporer Wuzong opens his “angst” novel and goes, “This isn’t even tragic.”

#9L

If we’re talking about tragedy, it has to be Empress Xie’s life story. His entire family was gone, leaving only a single nephew.

#10L

According to official histories, there was roughly a five-year gap between Emperor Wuzong’s deposition of a consort and his later elevation of an empress. Regional records from Yongzhou also note that Empress Xie once served under a local official there, quite far from the capital.

#11L

Just saying, with that kind of time span and physical distance, they still managed a HE. In a costume drama, that would easily be stretched into a 50-episode saga of “love and hatred across an ocean of grief.”

#12L

Not necessarily. Maybe it was a political exchange? The population of the Xie Clan of Chen Commandery remained a prominent local family until the end of the Qi Dynasty. Although Emporer Wuzong curtailed the aristocratic families, he still had to maintain appearances through marriage too, right?

#13L

Can the conspiracy theorists and party poopers please go and start your own thread…

#14L

It seems to be commonly known that Emperor Wuzong was a ruler with real political power, not someone constrained into “serving” anyone for the state, and from a practical standpoint of power and interest exchange, there was no need for him to marry only one person, have children only with one person, or spend all his time exclusively with one person either, hah…

#15L

Why can’t it be because Empress Xie was objectively very talented? Emporer Wuzong probably had PTSD from dealing with those high-ranking officials since he was a kid. Appoint a prime minister and he might rebel today; appoint a general and he might rise in revolt tomorrow. In comparison, it would be far more reassuring to rely heavily on one’s own beloved wife.

#16L

Exactly, according to the [Book of Qi], the regulations for expanding the civil service examinations under Emperor Xuanzong were drafted by Empress Xie, written there in black and white. And don’t forget, during the Zhenyou era he served as Right Vice Minister of the Department of State Affairs, so this was all within his professional domain.

#17L

If you list Empress Xie’s official duties over the course of a year, they’re basically the work of the prime minister and the Department of State Affair combined.

#18L

He was relatively mindful of his image while serving as the empress. It was only after Emporer Wuzong abdicated and they went back to being Prince Zhao and Princess Consort that they truly unleashed their natural personalities.

#19L

That’s hilarious. There’s even an entry in the [Veritable Records of Emperor Xuanzong] describing a case where the two of them disagreed politically and ended up arguing in court. Seeing his parents; basically, his general and prime minister in a “cold war”, Emperor Xuanzong thoughtfully sent messengers to tell them privately, “Don’t go back to the Prince’s Mansion tonight, stay in the palace.” Both of them agreed very readily on the surface, but guess what happened next?

#20L

Prince Zhao and his Princess Consort both snuck back home in the middle of the night from different directions only to find the other had just arrived: “It’s one thing for me not to come back, but why didn’t you come back either?!”

#21L [OP]

By the way, I forgot to add one more thing. You won’t believe this, but there are actually explicit scenes in this book too, and they’re very vividly written. It’s like the author was lying under the imperial bed writing it from firsthand observation.

Though I can’t accurately verify the year it was written, it’s definitely ages away from the Yanjia era; otherwise, nobody would dare risk their head making up such things about the Emperor and Empress…

Even if we take a step back, what if Emperor Wuzong and Empress Xie were actually in a purely Platonic relationship?

#22L

Don’t make the two of them laugh. Forget unofficial histories, why don’t you open the [Veritable Records of Emperor Wuzong] and the [Daily Records] and count exactly how many times “The Emperor visited Zhaoyang Hall” actually appears?

#23L

Later on, Emperor Wuzong didn’t even “visit” Zhaoyang Hall anymore; he straight-up took over and moved in permanently.

#24L

The Lu family being full of saps is a fact. While Emperor Wuzong wasn’t the only emperor in the Qi dynasty to have only one wife in his harem, he was certainly the only one who handed the dragon bed over to his son so he could go run off and sleep with his wife.

#25L

So, were Emperor Xuanzong and Princess Mingyi both biologically born to Empress Xie?

#26L

Of course they are. Do you want to go dig up the [Book of Qi] and see just how many long-winded, glorious titles Emperor Xuanzong piled onto Empress Xie during his reign? One doesn’t show that kind of filial devotion if those they aren’t biological.

#27L

LMAO, Emperor Xuanzong basically treated his own mother like a living “vocabulary notebook.” Every time he came across a beautiful phrase, he’d just pile it onto Empress Xie. Honestly, Zhaoyang Hall probably didn’t even have enough space left to contain all those characteristics.

#28L

A few years ago, the Municipal Museum held a special exhibition of funerary objects from Emperor Xuanzong’s tomb. I remember there were many items belonging to Emperor Wuzong and Empress Xie; including daily necessities and such. The parent-child relationship must have been excellent; he couldn’t bear to bury those things when his parents passed away but instead kept them for years and finally took them into the afterlife with him.

#29L

This family really doesn’t seem like “plastic familial affection.” Last year when I visited Dongxuan Temple in Nanjing, I heard the guide say that when Princess Mingyi reached marriageable age and didn’t want to marry, Emperor Wuzong simply had Dongxuan Temple thoroughly renovated and let her take religious vows to become a Daoist nun instead.

#30L

Princess Mingyi probably didn’t enter the Daoist order just to avoid marriage; she seemed truly devoted to it. Her elder brother even gifted her several more temples during his reign.

#31L

But Princess Mingyi kept several male favorites; there are three recorded with full names right in the [Book of Qi].

#32L

So what if she kept them? It’s not like she was married.

#33L

Even if she were married, she could still keep them. Her parents and brother didn’t even have a problem with it, so why are you being so nosy?

#34L

Her mother was a famous legendary beauty, so she certainly wouldn’t be any worse off. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of being “kept” by a wealthy, powerful, and attractive woman, beyond the obvious benefits?

#35L

Based on contemporary accounts, the personalities in this family actually differed quite a bit. The only two things they all had in common were longevity and good looks.

#36L

I’m an art history major, and the artistic value of Princess Mingyi’s paintings is incredibly high, they are practically priceless at auctions. The old lady lived to just over a hundred years old. She never married or had children and lived in peace; her entire life, apart from teaching the Daoism, she was devoted to promoting the arts and literature.

#37L

I once read a short essay; it was a bit mystical, but honestly quite romantic.

It said that in her late years, Princess Mingyi petitioned the emperor at the time, saying she wanted to move from the Princess’s Mansion back to the residence of her youth. Prince Zhao’s Mansion had been vacant for many years by then, so the emperor granted it to her to live in.

She spent her remaining years painting every day within the mansion. Then, one day, the attendants could no longer find her. All they saw upon the table was a painting depicting the entire garden of Prince Zhao’s Mansion. There were many small figures in the painting; some the attendants didn’t recognize, but they recognized the young Emperor Wuzong and Empress Xie, as well as the young Emperor Xuanzong and Princess Mingyi. Everyone said that the Princess hadn’t passed away but had returned to the painting to reunite with her parents and brother.

T/N: The end of the story guys, thanks for reading!