Empress Lihua AU Concept
okay so i have see a lot of different but rather similar versions of the Empress Lihua idea and i want to kind of reason out a concept for it but i don't want to particularly write it as a fic. i have too many as it is lol
so starting with the assumption that Lihua is promoted to Empress Consort because her son lives, i do not think that means that she hires Maomao. Gyokuyou hired Maomao because she was raised the way she has, to take advantage of all the options laid before her and win them with smiles, as she did to Maomao, Lihua's ladies are all of a high and fine pedigrie and Maomao was not needed on her staff like she was needed on Gyokuyou's and she wouldn't have been wanted either, we see that time and time again. All it takes to save Lihua's son is someone reading that note and giving the information to Lihua. Something that would also mean that Maomao never heals Lihua in the aftermath and thus also never earns her favour.
a child isn't even named in this time period before 100 days because of how likely they are to die, so if we assume that it is 100 days before the Emperor names that boy the crown prince and has Lihua ascend to Empress. This would free Jinshi from the burden of the crown a little bit, but i fear it would also put pressure on Jinshi to give up his farce, someone else has the title he wanted gone so its fine now. This is more to do with something that i particularly love about LN5 and its that Jinshi has a vibe in LN5 or rather the LN6 prologue that being a prince isn't all that bad so long as he will never become Emperor, it is only when nothing changes, as he realises with the bride banquet and with the Maomao argument does he realise that he needs to be fully out out. I don't think Jinshi would give up Jinshi though, i think he would want to let court continue to think of him as sickly and let them truly start thinking of Lihua's son as the crown prince.
i think through to the culmination of the Shi clan arc things would largely be the same as canon. Shin is still trying to take her revenge against Lihua, and that will get foiled, but i think Gyokuyou would be targeted more, Lihua is out of reach for the clinic women, but still being visited by the Emperor more than any of the other rear palace consorts (Lihua, like Anshi, are in the inner palace but not the rear palace) she is the easiest target for their rage, there is a chance there to make things more fraught for Maomao but still things are largely the same i think. The Shi clan take Maomao, and Jinshi is spurred into action, revealing himself as the Moon Prince, and very capable, and a threat to the crown prince who in this au would have gotten a better foothold than Gyokuyou's in canon because they were not competing with Jinshi right away.
the bride banquet can not be held in the Yi-Sei as a result. That was done in large part because of Gyokuyou's ascension, so instead it would likely be held in the central region if not the palace itself, he would still have Maomao there and would still make his advances, and the mistakes would still be made, though the notion of becoming Gyokuyou's enemy is likely not as great a worry for Maomao. Gyokuyou's son is competing with Lihua's son's for a title, not Jinshi primarily. i think she would still have the issues caused by Joka's reminder that she is just a whores daughter, but i think Maomao would have to be more plain in her words there, noting that she can not marry a prince. That's the issue with Jinshi he is a prince.
weirdly this brings up some concern about how Lishu's story would play out what with the story from the west and the white lady and her cult and all the stuff that feels like it was set up in the journey west that ends up not happening in this au. i think her ladies bullying would always have ended as it did though, with accusations about infidelity, and a breakdown from Lishu. I also love Bashu too much to ruin that for her...
this also means, that things with the shrine maiden would play out very differently, because so much of that and Alya's stuff was set in motion at that banquet in the Yi-Sei and if that is not held, would Lahan have brokered that agreement on Jinshi's behalf for her to get into the rear palace, and get them info on the shrine maiden, and do some good for relation with Shaho.
more importantly though, i do not see a version of this au where Yi-Sei does not revolt in some degree. A world in which Gyoku-ou seizes power from his father to rid Yi-Sei of foreign influence that starts a war with Shaoh as he wanted to in the first place feels very realistic to me, and very interesting. Also the way that everything with Rikuson's revenge would play out if he never got the green light from Gyokuyou, because she was never forced into realising the power she held because people weren't trying to kill Jinshi for her son in this AU.
the idea of this au is most interesting to me for all the drama and issues it would cause with Yi-Sei.
also the plague stuff becomes a divine boon in punishing Yi-Sei for forsaking the empire which is delicious. The plague would still hit the rest of Li, but that is something that they were still able to prepare for in canon, just without learning about the windreaders and their birds.
there is for sure something very fun in the politics of the au, but it is a far darker version of events in my opinion.
