#emperor yang

[sporadora]

ah yes my favourite divorced secret coparents ever

[neo--queen--serenity]

I think it’s easy to forget how Ah-Duo and the Emperor’s relationship haunts the romantic narrative between Maomao and Jinshi.

It’s not addressed often, but based on what little we’re told, it’s very likely that Ah-Duo was (and still is) the love of his life.

She was the Emperor’s childhood sweetheart. She was his only consort for over a decade. Ignoring how rare that is—how it would have been encouraged for a prince to take more than one concubine—he refused to take on any other consorts for the first ten years after Jinshi's birth. He only accepted other concubines after the former emperor passed away, and he ascended the throne.

For as the current emperor, he could no longer avoid the obligation of taking other consorts, producing heirs—especially since he knew Ah-Duo could no longer bear him children.

Despite losing her womb, the child Ah-Duo gave him is the only one that has survived into adulthood. A child he dotes on, loves dearly, and who he deeply wants to be his heir, despite Jinshi's clear objections. And it makes sense why he'd want Jinshi to succeed him. He's the only child he bore with the woman he loves most, who bears such an uncanny resemblance to her, who shares her intelligence, charm, and cleverness.

He loved her so much that he kept her—a woman who could never get pregnant again—in the rear palace for over eighteen years. It hurt their relationship to have her caged there. The one solace they had was being able to be near Jinshi as he grew up.

And by the time the Emperor gives in to the political pressure to replace Ah-Duo with a younger (fertile) consort, he does something that we haven't seen any other emperor do so far: he allowed Ah-Duo to leave the rear palace. Not only that, he gave her the Southern Imperial Villa: an entire compound (comparable to a small palace itself) to call her own in the royal capital, where she can live her life comfortably and privately. It isn't true freedom—not really—since she doesn't have jurisdiction to travel the world as she's always wanted, but it's a hell of a lot more freedom than any other consort has ever received up to that point.

And he leaves the palace often to visit her there. This is extremely uncommon; in theory, an emperor should have no further reason to interact with a former consort if the woman cannot serve the baby-making purpose she was chosen for. He gave her a residence in the royal capital because wants to keep her close. He wants continued access to her, even after she's comfortably installed in her new life outside the palace.

Jinshi knows all of this, and is painfully aware of how easily history could repeat itself with him and Maomao. Jinshi knows how trapped and stifled Ah-Duo felt in the rear palace, knows it strained her relationship with the Emperor, knows that it ultimately pushed her away from him, emotionally. It did not affect the Emperor's love for her, but it did affect Ah-Duo's love for him.

Jinshi watched his own parents' romantic relationship fall apart due to the absolute power that came with his position. He wasn't able to avoid claiming his title as the Moon Prince; he'll do anything he can to avoid making Maomao feel the same way Ah-Duo felt.

[elitemaomaosequanimity]

Maomao : I am inevitable

[justanapothecary]

[jinkazuiyue]

[angelltheninth]

Actually given that Emperor Yang is such a dad I think he would visit Lishu to tell her the worst dad jokes of all time and just... she has to laugh, she can't tell the Emperor that his jokes aren't good

And while Ah-Duo was in the palace all three of them would hang out and Emperor Yang would tell Lishu stories of his youth and say how he was all cool and badass, only for Ah-Duo to later dispute it and reveal that the Emperor was a damn goofball

[rolandab]

Ah Duo lowkey has one of the most frustrating situations you would be in. Imagine being the milk sibling of the crown prince and he makes you his wife even though you dream of leaving the palace and becoming a merchant. But I guess it’s okay because he seems to love you (?) and who are you to refuse a prince.

BUT THEN YOU LOSE YOUR WOMB GIVING BIRTH. You’re considered useless for the time period and you’re constantly in fear for your child’s life after seeing the treatment you received during your birth. But it’s okay your son is alive and the crown prince still loves you (ig) and keeps you as his wife despite your inability to bear more children.

You make a decision to swap your babies with your mother in law and she agrees. But the boy in your hands now has died, having formed a deep connection over the months spent together despite him not being your son. You carry this guilt of being grateful that it wasn’t your son who suffered his fate.

You and the crown prince more or less become more like friends than lovers and you live out the rest of your days in the inner court, forever confined inside, only being able to see your child from a distance.

Your husband is now the emperor but you’re not the empress. He has started taking other consorts and you just want to leave as you see your duties to already be done. Then your grown son now becomes a “eunuch” in the palace. To see him almost everyday but not being able to treat him like a son and tell him that you’re his mother.

Everyone in courts seems to want you out, seeing you as a useless consort who can’t bear children and somehow you’re content with the idea of leaving. Your son is safe and you finally leave, yet somehow still chained to your previous life.

It’s a life no one can escape.

Even in the light novels it’s clear that the emperor still hold some sort of affection towards Ah-Duo, but I just know she must feel like a caged bird, forever forced to play role she did not want or believe she wasn’t born to fulfill.

And now she’ll stop it from happening again to her son and Maomao. Even if it means having Yang break his promise to her. Hell, he broke the first one so why not break the second one. Just to make sure her son could be happy. 😭😭😭

[mariazalea143]

Teasing Jinshi 💜✨️