Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Du Ziguo turned and hurried toward the side hall.

Du Xuefu had already regained consciousness. She wailed, “It was Xiao Ronghua who pushed me! If not for her, how could I have been stabbed? She even threatened me, saying she would kill me!”

Du Ziguo immediately covered her mouth. “You listen to me and remember this: you voluntarily blocked the blade for His Majesty. No one ever pushed you. Do you understand?”

Du Xuefu tried to speak again.

I walked in and spoke softly to Du Ziguo.

“Minister Du, please forgive me. The situation was critical at the time, and the imperial physicians were at their wits’ end. The Noble Consort was discussing the matter of the assassins with my Father Emperor, and Miss Du had lost consciousness. I could only use words to provoke her, hoping to spark a will to live so that I could take the opportunity to pull out the blade. As for the pushing, I might have bumped into Miss Du in my panic, but it was certainly not intentional.”

Du Xuefu said excitedly, “You’re lying! You did it on purpose… hiss…”

In her agitation, her wound tore open.

I sighed and said slowly, “Miss Du, if I hadn’t happened to bring Miss Song over at that moment, you would likely be dead by now. If I truly wanted to harm you, I wouldn’t have saved you. You don’t have to acknowledge my favor as your savior, but you shouldn’t twist the truth.”

I turned and left.

It didn’t matter whether Du Ziguo believed me or not. I just wanted him to know that while his precious daughter was seriously injured, his sister had no time to care about her life or death.

I was very curious to see who he would choose between his sister and his daughter.

Du Xuefu remained in the palace to recover.

Noble Consort Du assigned six palace maids to personally attend to her.

One of them, a maid named Huaying, soon stood out.

She treated Du Xuefu as her own master, being meticulous and thoughtful during the day and staying by her side without even undressing at night.

By the time Du Xuefu recovered, Huaying had lost a significant amount of weight.

Du Xuefu once asked her why she was so loyal.

Huaying replied quietly, “You are my master. It is only natural for a servant to be good to her master.”

Du Xuefu smiled triumphantly. “You are indeed a good dog.”

She took pride in ordering Huaying around, acting as if the inner palace were her own home. Her arrogance was even more blatant than Noble Consort Du’s. It took several reprimands from the Noble Consort before she finally reined in her temperament.

Noble Consort Du intended to send her out of the palace after the banquet celebrating her recovery.

To this end, she specifically petitioned my Father Emperor for a decree to bestow the title of Commandery Princess upon Du Xuefu.

Everything was ready, awaiting only the banquet.

On that day, the palace, which had been quiet for a long time, seemed to wake up. Lanterns and streamers were everywhere, and silver light shimmered.

Du Xuefu wore a pink dress, her hair styled in a charming ‘ling-she’ coil. The phoenix-in-flight floral ornament on her forehead was exquisite and magnificent. Holding a light silk fan, she exuded the bright and naive charm unique to her age.

My Father Emperor nodded with a smile and couldn’t help but praise her.

“‘Snowy skin and flower-like face, a beauty beyond compare.’ You are truly a daughter of the Du Family.”

As Noble Consort Du smiled, the expression on her face gradually faded.

“Among them was one named Taizhen, with snowy skin and a flower-like face.”

This line comes from Bai Juyi’s ‘Song of Everlasting Regret,’ describing Consort Yang.

Consort Yang was once the Princess of Shou. Emperor Ming of Tang took his son’s wife for himself, first placing her in a Taoist temple before bringing her into the palace as his favorite consort.

Furthermore, people said Consort Yang resembled Emperor Ming of Tang’s late favorite, Wu Huifei. Even more ironically, the Prince of Shou was the son of Wu Huifei.

I don’t know if Noble Consort Du thought of this, but she was clearly displeased.

She was nearly forty and drank beauty-enhancing soups every day. But time is heartless, and the day when a beauty fades must eventually come. The bright and beautiful Du Xuefu had once been the joy of her boring palace life, but now that the fruit was too fresh, it had become an eyesore.

She gave a thin smile. “Indeed. Xiao Lang, are you remembering the past?”

My Father Emperor, still oblivious, pulled Noble Consort Du into his arms and laughed. “Exactly. You and I were the same back then, but now we are both old.”

Noble Consort Du’s hand tightened slightly. The decree to name Du Xuefu a Commandery Princess was never sent out; instead, she was merely given some jewelry as a reward.

Du Xuefu was clearly disappointed, but she could only grit her teeth and thank him for his grace, drinking glass after glass of wine in frustration.

That night, my Father Emperor was locked out by Noble Consort Du. He apologized for a long time.

He said he knew he was wrong and shouldn’t have mentioned getting old.

He said his darling would always be young, that he was the one who had aged, and that he was a terrible scoundrel.

Noble Consort Du ignored him.

Father Emperor wandered outside for a long time, drinking to drown his sorrows.

However, when he woke up, he found that the person on his pillow was actually Du Xuefu…

As the first ray of morning sunlight shone down, two screams echoed through the vast palace.

One was from my Father Emperor, and the other was from Du Xuefu.

Noble Consort Du stood at the door, her face ashen.

She efficiently gave each of them a sharp slap.

Du Xuefu was sent out of the palace in a small sedan chair, while Father Emperor went to the morning court looking listless.

Noble Consort Du conducted a thorough investigation of Fengluan Palace. It was found that the drunk Father Emperor had pulled the drunk Du Xuefu aside for a heart-to-heart talk. In the end, they had supported each other back to the bedchamber. The servants claimed they had tried to report it, but Noble Consort Du’s door simply wouldn’t open…

That day, Noble Consort Du smashed the magnificent Fengluan Palace, laughing and crying as if she had gone mad.

She repeatedly muttered:

“‘When a gentleman is indulged, he can still be excused; when a lady is indulged, there is no excuse, there is no excuse…’ Hahaha… Xiao Lang, what if I waited for you to come back? What does it matter?”

However, this was not the worst of it.

The worst was yet to come.

Father Emperor was distracted and absent-minded during the court session.

The ministers took the opportunity to urge him to appoint a Crown Prince.

Because Noble Consort Du was infertile, the only person in the harem with a son was Li Cairen. When Li Cairen was pregnant, the soul inhabiting Father Emperor’s body was that of my fellow transmigrator.

Now, the Emperor felt nothing for that child; instead, he loathed him.

In his heart, that was a bastard fathered by another man.

To make him appoint a bastard as the Crown Prince was more painful than killing him.

But as fate would have it, that was his only son.

In a fit of rage, Father Emperor ordered several ministers to be flogged.

After the court session ended, he was met with a palace in shambles, its contents smashed and scattered across the floor. Noble Consort Du knelt amidst the wreckage, her mind seemingly vacant, as if she had lost her wits.

In that moment, Father Emperor’s heart ached for her.

With tears streaming down his face, he knelt with Noble Consort Du in the middle of the chaos, embracing her as he made a solemn vow.

“I cannot give you the position of Empress; I have failed you in that. But I promise you, the title of Empress Dowager will certainly be yours.”

He immediately issued an imperial edict sentencing Li Cairen to death and ordering her five-year-old son to be adopted under Noble Consort Du’s name.

When the decree reached Li Cairen’s palace, she summoned every ounce of strength to break free from the hags sent to execute her. She ran to the front of Empress Mother’s palace, her head thumping against the ground as she kowtowed, screaming for help.

Blood soon trickled down from her forehead.

She seemed oblivious to the pain, each strike of her head against the stone floor delivered with desperate force.

The doors to Fengyi Palace opened.

Empress Mother stood at the entrance, dressed in her formal court robes, looking dignified and regal.

She ordered her attendants to help Li Cairen inside and protect her. Then, leading a grand procession of palace maids and older servants, she marched toward Fengluan Palace.

The guards tried to block her path.

With an air of absolute authority, she pushed them aside and forced her way in.

Inside, Father Emperor and Noble Consort Du were sharing an intimate moment, feeding each other. Empress Mother’s intrusion shattered the tender atmosphere.

Father Emperor roared in anger, “Who gave you permission to barge in here? Get out!”

Empress Mother held an edict high in her hand and said calmly, “An edict from the late Empress Dowager forced this concubine to come. Your Majesty may choose not to acknowledge your mother, but as a daughter-in-law, I do not dare to be unfilial.”

The Empress Dowager was a thorn in Father Emperor’s side.

He had failed to see her one last time before she passed, a failure in filial piety that was indefensible regardless of the circumstances.

His face flushed red, his eyes burning with fury, yet he found himself unable to utter a single word.

Empress Mother ignored him and turned her gaze toward Noble Consort Du.

“The child is innocent. You have snatched him away and now seek to kill his mother. He will grow up to hate you, to resent you. If he does not hate you, if he does not resent you or seek justice for his own mother, then he is a heartless, ungrateful wolf-and such a person would never show filial piety to you, his adoptive mother. Even if you become the Empress Dowager in the future, what of it? The fate of the previous Empress Dowager will be your own.”

The late Empress Dowager’s end was known to all.

Father Emperor had fallen out with her over Noble Consort Du, and they never saw each other again until her death. Her eyes had remained wide open when she passed; she had died with a grievance unresolved.

I never met the Empress Dowager, but I had heard her stories.

Empress Mother said that from Father Emperor’s perspective, the Empress Dowager was a meddling, cold-hearted, and tyrannical woman who tore lovers apart. But in her position, she had to perform her duties. In that seat, she couldn’t simply consider Father Emperor’s preferences; she had to consider the stability of the empire and the peace of the people.

She had risked her own son disowning her to cut off the Du Family’s path to becoming powerful imperial in-laws.

She sacrificed her personal happiness for the greater good.

She was a person of true, profound wisdom.

Empress Mother said that if one wants to accomplish anything of substance, it is impossible to please everyone. By choosing one group, you will inevitably offend another. No one is exempt; it only remains to be seen whether the future deems the act a merit or a fault. The Empress Dowager did not regret it, and neither did Mother.

Noble Consort Du was livid.

“Zhang Zhi, I have enjoyed exclusive favor in this palace for years. Have I ever driven you and your daughter to a dead end? If it weren’t for the fact that I cannot conceive, do you think I would care for another woman’s child? Today, I will have this child. Even if he dies, he will be my son. This consort does not care for his filial piety; this consort only cares that those who obey me prosper, and those who oppose me perish!”

She had gone mad.

Empress Mother looked at Father Emperor and said coldly, “Your Majesty let the Empress Dowager die with regrets in the Nine Springs. Do you now intend to separate another mother and son by death? If Your Majesty insists on killing Li Cairen, then this concubine will fight to the death to take that child and raise him under my own name. If Your Majesty spares Li Cairen’s life, this concubine is willing to lead all the consorts of the palace to Shanglin Nunnery to pray for the nation. I shall never set foot in the palace gates again for the rest of my life, allowing Your Majesty and the Noble Consort to fulfill your fairy tale of being a couple for a lifetime.”

She held the edict high and knelt.

In that moment, Father Emperor was stunned.

I do not know what he was thinking.

He stared fixedly at Empress Mother for a long time before squeezing a few words through his gritted teeth: “I grant it. You are to leave the palace within three days.”

Later, I thought about it for a long time and eventually understood. He likely saw the shadow of the Empress Dowager in Empress Mother.

He feared Empress Mother.

Because she was another existence of moral righteousness that he could not defeat.

Three days was a tight deadline.

Yet, the consorts throughout the palace reacted as if they had received a great amnesty.

Perhaps, compared to a cold palace where one could lose their life at any moment, Shanglin Nunnery was indeed a better place to be.

Empress Mother packed her things quickly. The only thing she couldn’t let go of was me.

That night, she and I knelt together in the small Buddhist shrine in the palace. Empress Mother stared blankly at the Buddha statue.

The statue was cold and unfeeling, yet it was the sole spiritual solace for countless people in the palace.

“Do you still remember that other Father Emperor?

“He was a good man. Back then, he asked me if I was willing to leave the palace. I was tempted. The palace is a lonely place; even counting how many fruits grow on a tree is considered a pastime.

“But I looked at him and couldn’t say it. It would have been easy for me to leave, but he would have had to take immense risks to hide my tracks. He had only just arrived and taken over a mess; I couldn’t hold him back.

“I told him I hadn’t decided what I wanted yet. He told me to tell him once I had. That ‘thinking’ lasted for many years. Before I could tell him what was in my heart, he was gone. In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

“Now, I can finally leave the palace. But Ronghua, what about you? You will encounter countless difficulties in the future. With no one to rely on, what will you do?”

She held my hand, overcome with grief, her voice choking up.

I whispered softly into her ear, “Mother, I have always remembered what he said-that other Father Emperor. You and the other consorts can leave in peace. Your daughter relies on no one; I can rely on myself.”

Only after you all leave can I truly spread my wings.

Only then can I slay any god or Buddha that stands in my way.