Chapter 130: A Virtuous Name Spreads Through the World

Flowers do not bloom forever, and beauty does not last a hundred days. It was hardly surprising that the arrogant and overbearing Shangguan family met such a miserable end.

At most, people were puzzled by one thing: why had Her Majesty given Shangguan Qingyun two separate opportunities to write a Letter of Repentance?

After all, based on the Empress’s usual ruthless style, she should have raided their estate and exterminated the clan long ago. Why give them any room to breathe?

Could it have been for the sake of Miss Shangguan?

Rumors had trickled out from the palace that once Miss Shangguan learned of the atrocities committed by her family, she hadn’t pleaded for mercy at all. Instead, she had repeatedly begged Her Majesty to handle the matter with strict justice, seeking closure for the commoners they had tormented and the loyal officials they had suppressed.

After the sentence was passed, the kind-hearted Miss Shangguan had reportedly locked herself in a Buddhist hall for several days, praying and seeking atonement for the victims of her family’s crimes.

Xiaobai: Cough, cough. That’s not what happened at all. Luo Wushuang was being way too rowdy at night, so Shangguan Liqian kicked her out to sleep in the study.

Xiaobai: Then, for the sake of her own dignity, Luo Wushuang insisted that the future Empress was praying for the people in the Buddhist hall. She claimed she only slept in the study because she didn’t want to sleep in the bedchamber alone. Who would have thought the ruler of a nation would lie like that? It was a very convenient misunderstanding.

Looking at it this way, it seemed Miss Shangguan hadn’t pleaded for her family’s lives.

Besides, given how the Shangguan family had treated her in the past, most people felt she would have been justified in kicking them while they were down. Why would she help them?

Perhaps Her Majesty wanted to avenge Miss Shangguan and used this slow process to humiliate the family?

But there were many ways to humiliate people; one didn’t necessarily have to…

The court officials speculated endlessly about Luo Wushuang’s motives.

However, the cleverer individuals soon realized the true purpose behind the Empress’s actions.

Despite the total collapse of the Shangguan family, Shangguan Liqian’s reputation hadn’t suffered in the slightest.

Logically, even if Miss Shangguan had severed ties with them, people should have come forward to gossip or criticize her the moment the family fell. After all, there was never a shortage of pedantic moralists who loved to occupy the moral high ground, ruthlessly attacking others just to gain attention.

Yet this time, there wasn’t a single whisper of scandal.

To suppress all dissenting voices, one required absolute power.

The person capable of doing this—and willing to do it—was obvious.

This was precisely why Luo Wushuang had spent over a month dealing with the Shangguan family instead of finishing them off in three or five days. She wasn’t afraid of the trouble.

While the Shangguan family was busy tearing itself apart from within, Luo Wushuang hadn’t been idle.

Under her silent instructions, the palace maids and eunuchs who went out for supplies “accidentally” spread word of how kind and merciful their future Empress was in her daily life.

Even stories of Miss Shangguan’s childhood were “unintentionally” leaked by these servants.

During this period, if you stood in any tavern or teahouse, you could hear the local storytellers giving emotional performances about the hardships the future Empress had endured within the Shangguan household.

She had lacked food and warm clothing since she was a child, and she was frequently bullied and insulted by her legal siblings.

Despite living such a difficult life, Miss Shangguan remained pure of heart.

The stories claimed that while accompanying her legal mother to a temple to burn incense, she encountered a pathetic beggar. Despite her own poverty, she generously gave the beggar the few coins she had saved and the steamed bun she had been too frugal to eat that morning.

Xiaobai: Don’t doubt it—that little beggar was Luo Wushuang. And it only happened once, hahaha!

No one doubted the story, because the storytellers were incredibly specific about the time and place.

Later, when Miss Shangguan caught the Empress’s eye, she was exploited by her father, her rewards were seized by her legal mother, and her blood relatives acted like leeches, desperate to suck her dry.

Even after all that, Miss Shangguan remained incredibly kind.

According to the servants, Miss Shangguan had been in the palace for nearly two years and had never once punished a servant or lost her temper. They claimed they had never met such a wonderful master.

Shangguan Liqian: Forget not punishing them, I barely even see them! I’ve been in the palace for two years, and I was locked up for a year and a half…

Then there was the matter of the Shangguan family’s execution…

Miss Shangguan hadn’t pleaded for the main offenders, but when the Empress intended to execute the Nine Clans, she had begged for mercy on behalf of those innocently involved.

Out of respect for Miss Shangguan, the Empress had commuted the sentence from the Execution of the Nine Clans to the Execution of Three Generations.

Now, among the elders and youths of the six clans who had narrowly escaped death, who didn’t feel a deep sense of gratitude for Miss Shangguan’s mercy? They were all but ready to set up longevity tablets in their homes to offer her daily prayers.

Furthermore, whenever a disaster had struck a province in the past, Miss Shangguan was always the first to urge the Empress to release relief funds.

There were countless such deeds.

The storytellers turned these incidents into short, serialized tales, broadcasting them throughout the teahouses and wine shops.

Through these recitations, Shangguan Liqian’s virtuous name gradually spread through the Imperial Capital.

In a short time, the citizens of the capital were filled with goodwill toward this future Empress. They felt that having such a woman as their Empress wouldn’t be bad at all.

What? Miss Shangguan was a woman? What of it?

As long as she was kind-hearted, cared for the people, and could help them lead better lives, did it really matter who the Empress was?

Even if the Empress chose a man as her consort, would that man necessarily be better than Miss Shangguan?

Under Luo Wushuang’s deliberate push, not only was Liqian’s reputation untarnished by her family’s fall, but she had also gained immense public favor.

The citizens of the capital all had relatives and friends outside the city walls.

Word spread from ten to a hundred, and a hundred to a thousand. Soon, Shangguan Liqian’s reputation for virtue and kindness spread across the world.

Once the people learned that the Empress and Miss Shangguan were truly in love, they began to secretly look forward to the grand wedding.

Amidst this atmosphere of silent acceptance and anticipation, the days passed by, one by one.