Decisive empress x upright, courteous imperial tutor
In the seventh year of Yong'an, Gu Qingyun, the Grand Princess who guarded the nation, marched on the palace with her army, deposed the emperor, and seized power. The following year, she adopted the reign title Chengtian and ruled as regent in her own right as a woman.
In just one year, she ruthlessly purged the old faction, overhauled the official system, and enforced sweeping reforms.
Throughout the court and country, anyone harboring ambitions of dissent was executed without exception.
Even Chi Zheng, her former tutor and a censor-in-chief renowned for his integrity, was stripped of his office, demoted to a court scholar, and confined to the inner palace after defying her and refusing her decree in the Golden Hall.
Scholars and officials alike considered serving a female ruler a terrible disgrace.
Gu Qingyun thought Chi Zheng probably felt the same way.
That was why he had said, "For teaching you poorly, my guilt is all the greater."
And why, time and again, he submitted memorials begging her to grant him death.
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Yet one evening in late spring of the third year of Chengtian,
clouds hung low over the still waters, and a fine rain fell.
The wind slipped through the window, making the candlelight waver red.
The conscientious emperor had been poring over memorials for a long time, a hint of fatigue in her eyes.
She looked up and saw her court scholar in a thin spring robe. The corner of her mouth lifted. "Today, Teacher, you don't seem as eager to avoid me as usual."
He lowered his eyes with a faint smile. "Your Majesty rises before dawn and retires late. I am only doing my small part as your court scholar."
Gu Qingyun raised an eyebrow, plainly unconvinced.
"Do you truly think that if you insist on staying by my side, I'll let your beauty cloud my judgment?"
Chi Zheng thought that perhaps Gu Qingyun would never know:
He would rather spend his whole life confined within palace walls, because he simply could not let her go,
just as she could not let go of this boundless empire.
[Reading Guide]
Both are each other's first, happy ending, 12-year age gap
Theme: Making dreams come true
