In the seventh year of Zhanghe, when Emperor Ming was still the crown prince, he went to Chang'an to investigate the corruption case of officials in Sizhou under his father Emperor Zhang. He lived in the palace of the old palace in Chang'an and met Dou Yue, a sixteen-year-old.

Not long after, he fell in love with Dou Yue, and when it was clear to the point of being strong, both of them were unable to control themselves. Afterwards, Emperor Ming promised that Dou Yue would welcome her into the palace when she ascended the throne.

Unexpectedly, the world was unpredictable, and Emperor Zhang's political reforms had many disadvantages, which led to civil unrest in various places. It happened that relatives from outside were in power and interfered in politics, and the government was in turmoil. After Emperor Zhang's death, Emperor Ming temporarily suspended his ascension to the throne and ran around to deal with the chaos in various places, and temporarily put the matter of preparing gifts and marrying Dou Yue behind his head.

At that time, Dou Yue was panicked and could not wait for Emperor Ming who came to welcome her into the palace. He was disheartened. However, he was reluctant to leave the fetus in the mansion, so he told Dou Taijun about this.

Dou Taijun and Dou Jue, who heard about this, were furious. They immediately packed their bags and prepared to go to the capital to ask Emperor Ming. Unexpectedly, Dou Yue said that if Emperor Ming really didn't want to marry her, there was no need to force her.

Dou Yue is a very strong-willed person and never bows his head in front of others. Even if Emperor Ming did not fulfill his promise, she could not hold her face down and went to the capital, kneeling in front of him and begging hard.

In her eyes, instead of cutting off the love thread and causing the pain in the second half of her life, it is better to break it up and never look for the unfaithful person again. When the fetus in her belly is born, she will go to Beiping, far away in Youzhou, where she lives in seclusion and no longer asks about worldly affairs.

However, although she had such determination, Dou Taijun and Dou Jue agreed to her request and silently protected her when she was pregnant. In order to protect her sister's last reputation, her brother Dou Jue lied to the outside world that his wife was pregnant and suppressed Dou Yue's pregnancy. But in the end, Dou Yue did not go to Youzhou to live in seclusion as she thought.

On the eighth day of the ninth lunar month of the year of Yongchu, Dou Yue gave birth to a baby boy who died of a postpartum hemorrhage, and was only eighteen years old.

The son she gave birth to was Dou Jue, the third son born to her wife, Dou Xunen, whose courtesy name was Cen Sheng.

From then on, the Dou family lost a young and beautiful girl. Everyone knows that in the year of Yongchu, Dou Yue was traveling outside the mountain city and was assassinated by a bandit on the road.

In the middle of the second year of Yongchu, Emperor Ming cleared the disadvantages and disasters left by Emperor Zhang's new policy. Only then did he remember what he promised to Dou Yue, so he immediately ordered someone to go to the Dou Mansion at Zuofengyi, Chang'an to inquire about the situation. Only then did he learn that the second girl of the Dou family had been killed in Yongchu for an accident.

Emperor Ming was deeply saddened and immediately ordered Dou Jue to enter the capital, keep him in the capital, and ordered him to serve as the head of the nine ministers.

The Dou family did not want to enter the court to become an official, and Dou Jue even resented Emperor Ming because of his sister's death. When he first arrived in the capital, he was unwilling to stay. Until he saw the queen's crown robes placed in the old mansion of Emperor Ming's Eastern Palace, he realized that he was originally going to welcome Dou Yue as his queen, but because of his busy government affairs, he lost the only opportunity to stay with his beloved.

When Dou Jue saw Emperor Ming regard Dou Yue's relics as treasures, the hatred in his heart seemed not as powerful as that.

He agreed to Emperor Ming's request and stayed in Luoyang to serve as the Taichangqing.

Emperor Ming seemed to have all his guilt towards Dou Yue into glory and wealth and gave it to Dou family.

Dou Jue served as Taichangqing for only two years, and Emperor Ming transferred him to the Eastern Prefecture Office as the chief officer.

At that time, too many people opposed Emperor Ming's choice. But he insisted on doing so.

During the Yongchu and the early Yuan Dynasty, the Dou family became the leader of the gentry, enjoying great power and the trust and favor of the emperor, and was a prominent family that everyone wanted to cling to.

For this reason, Emperor Ming inadvertently paved the way for his meeting and recognition with Dou Xunen.

If Dou Xunfen had not been appointed as the Luoyang Order, who happened to be framed by a tragedy in the ninth year of Yuanchu, Kyoto, and caused a prison disaster, Dou Xunen would not have hurried to Luoyang City. He would not have been appointed by Emperor Ming for his outstanding talents, and became an official in the court, and became a friend of the Ming Dynasty.

After learning that Dou Xunen was likely to be Dou Yue's son, Emperor Ming couldn't wait to recruit Dou Jue into the palace to inquire about this matter.

Although Dou Jue had promised his mother that he would never disclose this to anyone, including Emperor Ming. However, under the threat of the emperor, he even told Dou Yue that he died of labor due to a difficult birth. Dou Xunfen was the truth about the emperor and his son.

The emperor felt a lot of pain and even more annoyed, and wanted to recognize Dou Xunen.

However, Dou Jue stopped him.

Dou Jue asked Emperor Ming to place the deceased Dou Yue first and asked him to maintain Dou Yue's reputation; to maintain Dou's century-old reputation; to maintain Dou Xunen's youthful and free and happy life, and not to recognize him.

Emperor Ming thought about it over and over again and reluctantly agreed.

But since then, he treated Dou Xunen completely differently than before. A discerning person could tell at a glance that Emperor Ming treated Dou Xunen as loving as his parents.

People who do not know the truth think that Emperor Ming loves the house and the mistress. While favoring Dou Jue, they also attach importance to his son.

However, even though Dou Jue and Dou Taijun tried their best to conceal Dou Xunen's life experience, this matter was found out by Emperor An Ningxiu, who had been made the crown prince at that time.

Emperor An knew that his father was obsessed with Dou Yue, whom he met in Chang'an, and even knew that his favor for Dou Xunen was far more than that of all the princes in his peers.

He knew that Emperor Ming even had the idea of ​​welcome Dou Xunen into the palace and being named the king. Emperor An was afraid that one day, Dou Xunen would be named the king as he had guessed, and one day he even took away his position as the crown prince, and since then he has ascended to the Great Wei.

So he secretly planned to force Dou Xunen into a death strife and kill him.

Emperor Ming vigilantly noticed the matter. The extremely intelligent Dou Xunen also noticed the strangeness. Once he grabbed his aunt Dou Yue's death, he found the truth of that year and also knew his true identity. Even though he was shocked in his heart, he felt as if he had swept him away and felt cold all over, he still accepted the matter with his teeth.

However, when he learned the truth, he did not want to recognize Emperor Ming. Instead, on the second day after he found out the truth, he entered the palace and resigned from Emperor Ming, hoping to return to his hometown, wait for his mother and grandmother at home, and never return to the capital.

Emperor Ming refused to give up and asked him again and again about the real reason why he wanted to return home. Dou Xunen was unwilling to say much and insisted on resigning. Emperor Ming was unwilling to force him, so he had to let him go.

In the tenth year of the Yuan Dynasty, Dou Xunen wanted to bring Cao Xiu to Chang'an, but he knew that he met a killer sent by the prince on the way. He was in danger several times and almost died on his way back to Chang'an.

Only then did he realize that even if he was willing to keep the secret of Emperor Ming and his aunt in his heart and not tell the mystery of his life experience forever, the prince, who was cruel and suspicious by nature, would never leave any threat that could shake his position in the Eastern Palace.

If he sits and waits for the prince to ascend to the throne and become emperor, then Dou is likely to cause a great disaster because of him.

At that time, Cao Xiu had almost married into the Dou family, but the two sides could not declare it to the public because the matchmaking betrothal gift had not been agreed upon properly. Dou Xunen informed Cao Xiu of his life dispute.

When Cao Xiu learned that Dou Xunen wanted to go to the capital and tried his best, he resolutely chose to support him.

Not long after the two returned to Chang'an, they returned to the capital.

Seeing that Zuo Fengyi Duke Dou Jue was surprised when he returned, Dou Taijun was even more uneasy. He always felt that he knew something that he would travel between Chang'an and Luoyang without bothering.

Dou Xunen told him frankly, knowing his life experience.

Dou Jue and Dou Taijun looked at each other, and were even more shocked by the bold decisions they made.

Dou Yue is Dou Taijun's beloved daughter. At that time, Dou Yue's death made the old lady feel sad. Therefore, she should be more pampered with Dou Xunen, who was born to him, for fear that he would suffer grievances.

Dou Xunen can be said to have grown up with all kinds of favors and love. Therefore, he values ​​family interests and relatives’ safety.

If he just knows how to escape, the prince will be fearless.

He can only take the responsibility he should bear to protect Dou's comprehensiveness.

Dou Taijun naturally supported his decision as unconditionally as Cao's, because she trusted Dou Xunen's ability and talent, and even more trusted her decisive decision and courage.

Dou Jue was skeptical about Dou Xunen's choice because of the ruthlessness of the prince.

It was because of this doubt that Dou Jue fell into the trap of Prince Ning Xiu and Huai Wang Ning Zheng step by step, and eventually made an irreparable mistake and regretted it for life.

Cao Xiu and Dou Xunen were pregnant when they entered Beijing again.

At that time, the northern border was about to raid the Huns. Dou Xunen revealed his life experience to the world openly. After recognizing Emperor Ming, he specially requested an order to go out to the northern border, in order to win a refreshing victory, drove the Huns back to the grassland, and won military merits and then returned to the title of King of Luoyang.

Emperor Ming answered his request.

Dou Xunen went to the northern border, and Cao Xiu stayed in the capital to wait for him to return.

When the prince Ning Xiu saw that Emperor Ming wanted to welcome Dou Xunen back to the palace, he was anxious and tried every means to prevent him from going to the north to earn military merits.

If this matter fails, he has a bad idea and wants to attack Cao, pretending to be the one from Emperor Ming and kill him, so as to provoke the father-son relationship between Dou Xunen and Emperor Ming.

King Ningzheng of Huai was puzzled by Dou Xunen and went to Beijing and Chang'an repeatedly to investigate the matter. Seeing that Emperor Ming favored him very much, he became even more suspicious. Finally, when he found out the truth, he did not feel too surprised or panic in his heart, but instead felt a little excited.

Compared to his brother Ning Xiu, born to his mother, Dou Xun's kindness and talent are indeed more popular than Ning Xiu. Dou Xun'en has never been interested in power. At this moment, in order to make Ning Xiu understand that he was not the fish on the chopping board and could kill him, so he faced the challenge and planned to recognize Emperor Ming.

Ning Zheng was too happy to learn that he wanted to return. What's more, he and Dou Xunen have always had good friends. If he could get his help in the future, perhaps the Eastern Palace would change its ownership soon, and he would be the only candidate for the prince.

However, when the position of the chief general in the northern border was taken away by Dou Xunen, he found that it seemed that the relationship between him and Dou Xunen was not as good as a friend, and there was more of an opponent's relationship between them.
Chapter completed!