Li Qingyue, the good-for-nothing third young lady of the Minister’s residence, became the exalted Consort Yao through a twist of fate. But just after entering the palace, she was set up and lost her chastity. Once the empress seized on this as leverage, Li Qingyue was banished to the Cold Palace, where she endured contempt and humiliation.
The one who had taken her innocence was the young man she had long cherished. He ascended the throne and became the new emperor. Defying the ministers’ opposition and the Empress Dowager’s threat to take her own life, he insisted on deposing the empress and marrying Li Qingyue, the disgraced consort and his concubine stepmother, as his own empress.
“On the day I returned victorious, I knew you were the one I would marry. No one could ever take your place in my heart.” Qin Zheng held Li Qingyue tightly and refused to let go.
“My husband, actually, that day I was certain too: I would marry no one but you.”
In the second year of Zhengyang, the disgraced consort Li Qingyue entered the central palace, becoming the most honored woman in the world.
“Which would you choose, me or the throne?” Li Qingyue lay across Qin Zheng’s lap and teased him. The eunuchs and palace maids nearby dared not even breathe at her words.
“Without you, the throne means nothing to me.”
Li Qingyue giggled. “Then abdicate.”
Without a second thought, Qin Zheng prepared to draft an edict of abdication. Li Qingyue hurriedly stopped him. “Are you crazy? Why would you give up being emperor?”
“If you wish, I can make you emperor, and you’ll become an empress for the ages.”
Li Qingyue knew he meant every word. Leaning against him, she said, “I’m not in the mood to deal with all those affairs of state. I’d rather be your wife, not your empress, not your consort, just your wife.”
Emperor Zhengyang ordered the harem disbanded and a system of monogamy implemented throughout the land.
He said it was the greatest gift of love.
